Our Times 我的少女时代 (2015) Taiwanese

Vivian Sung, Darren Wang, Dino Lee, Dewi Chien

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A

I randomly saw a review of Our Times in my YouTube suggestions, and I was like: is that Darren Wang? And then I looked it up and got super interested and found a subtitled version to watch. It's a really fun coming of age/high school/first love type movie, about a girl who gets a chain letter and sends it to the school's bad boy because she saw him picking on her crush, the school perfect prince. The great part is that he figures out who sent it to him (and made him get hit by a car) and she is forced to be his errand girl. But then of course they are going to actually become friends, especially when they figure out that their respective crushes are in a relationship and they team up to break them up and help each other get with their crush. It's definitely on the light hearted side, even though Darren Wang is playing a bad boy who is the leader of a gang and constantly getting in fights. He is more like a hurt puppy whose bark is worse than bite, which is honestly a role that Darren Wang excels at. 

Korean Movie Night: My Sister, the Pig Lady 돼지 같은 여자 (2015) Korean

Hwang Jung Eum, Lee Jong Hyuk, Choi Yeo Jin, Park Jin Ju

Movie rating: 6/10     Neck score: A

Maybe because I loved Go, Pig Lady so much, I was really interested in this one. Also, I love the entire cast, so I had high expectations. It is slated as a romantic comedy, and while it did have some comedic elements, I would not say that it is a comedy. Really most of the comedy was trying too hard, so it fell a bit flat, or it was the painful, black sort of comedy that you laugh, but also want to cry. Like the scene where the two drunk girls crash their scooter into the pig pen. Funny, but not. It's a tragedy, really. What it should be called is how an awesome girl's life was ruined by falling for the wrong man, or how three girls fighting over one douche-bag is always a bad idea. Sisters over misters, girls. Come on!

I guess you could say this show is painfully funny at times, because it really does capture what life in a small town is like. And this town is way too small. It's either on an island or a tiny coastal town (I don't remember), but it is even further shrinking because the main industry, silverfish fishing, is in decline because all the fish have disappeared. Along with them, all the young people. Especially the young men. This leaves the town with only one eligible bachelor and three girls to fight over him. That is just a recipe for disaster. On top of that, Jae Hwa (Hwang Jung Eum) has become the breadwinner of her falling apart family and she is putting her dreams on her pigs to save them.

Korean Movie Night: Collective Invention 돌연변이 (2015) Korean

Lee Kwang Soo, Park Bo Young, Lee Chun Hee, Jang Gwang, Lee Byung Joon, Kim Hee Won

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: ?? (A?)

I was both happy and sad to watch this because while Kwang Soo is an amazing actor who can emote even with a fish head on, it meant that I didn't get to see his face the entire time, and that always makes me sad. Plus, it is a show about a man who gets turned into a half fish man, so how happy could it be? It was definitely designed to get you in the feels. It brings up the dilemma of what is right, between the advancement of science and cultural economy and human rights. The whole time everyone is fighting over Park Goo (Lee Kwang Soo) and what should happen to him, Goo is just so humble and patient about it. It makes the heart bleed for him.

Korean Movie Night: Socialphobia 소셜포비아 (2015) Korean

Byun Yo Han, Lee Joo Seung, Ha Yoon Kyung, Ryu Jun Yeol

Movie Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

We finally had another Korean Movie Night, and we were trying to decide what to watch.  We were thinking of watching Chingu, but weren't in the mood for sad, but somehow that message didn't get all the way through to Lizabreff who suggested Socialphobia.  I was thinking more on the lines of thriller so we all agreed, and then didn't consider that this was still going to mess with our heads.  It was a thriller, but more of a psychological one.  It was freaking messed up, and left us feeling weird.  That's not to say it wasn't good.  It was amazing, but that was because it was so real.  This is the world we live in.  A world where people troll people on the internet because it doesn't seem real, and they don't realize the consequences of what will happen.  People's lives are ruined.  People die.  It was an amazing show of the consequences of social media and cyber bullying.  It was sick.  It was also an interesting paced movie.  Since all the action was literally online, it had the effect of being both boring and stressful.  Curdy couldn't handle the stress part, but I was also having problems staying away.  It was a lot of reading, a lot of silence, and very tense all at once.  A very interesting movie, but not for the faint at heart, or the short attention span.  It probably messed me up more than Chingu would have, but I still loved it.  It's gritty and real, from the fact that no one is a good person, but no one is a bad person.  From the fact that this is how messy life is, and how all our actions have consequences.  It was brilliant and not a fun watch, but a good watch.

270. I Order You 당신을 주문합니다 (2015) Korean

Jung Yoon Ho, Kim Ga Eun, Jang Seung Jo, Baek Jung Won, Jo Yoon Woo 

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A-

I never thought I'd live to see Yunho out acting anyone, but he was way better than our female lead in this.  He wasn't amazing or anything, but he was decent.  The show was just fluffy, but that is what we wanted.  Nothing better than a web drama when you want fluffy, because they can't afford to waste time on anything, although they still managed to do it.  We burned through the first like 12 episodes in one night, and let me tell you they were the best episodes, full of her falling in love with his face and cooking over and over, and him falling in love with the way she appreciated his food, over and over.  He was on the teasey side, which was generally cute.  He could also be a bit of a butt.  She was generally smart and nice, although she was not great at acting.  The flowerboy coworkers were the best.  It was literally The Flowerboy (who is in all the flower boy dramas) and this tall oppa that we liked.  He was smiley.  Also, her younger brother is pretty cute and awesome too.  Just saying.  The second male lead was a cutie too, I called him Diddy Kitty (like the Diddy Kong of Kitty- aka Kim Jae Joong) because he looked a lot like Kitty.  This, of course lead to much TVXQ jokes.

The last four episodes were needlessly dramatic and mopey and since we saved these for the next day, we were even less able to pay attention while the shiz hit the fan and the girl literally became the worst person in the world.  She was even worse than the last minute bitca they added.  So it ended.  Like I said, fluff.  But while it was mostly enjoyable, it had way more drama then say Wednesday at 3:30, which is a comparable web drama full of fluffy Beanie.  So, this is still good if you want a bunch of cheesy fluff and happen to like Yunho (which I not so secretly do now, how did this happen!?!?!) but be warned, it is also ridiculous and mopey in spots.

Korean Movie Night: The Beauty Inside 뷰티 인사이드 (2015) Korean

Han Hyo Joo, Park Seo Joon, Juri Ueno, Lee Jin Wook, Lee Dong Wook, Go Ah Sung, Yoo Yeon Seok, Lee Dong Hwi 

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

It's hard to know who to put down as "starring" in this, besides Han Hyo Joo and Lee Dong Hwi, because there are tons of people who play Woo Jin, our main character, because this is a movie about a man who changes bodies every time he wakes up.  He doesn't just change his face, but who he is completely.  He can become a woman, a child, a grandmother, anyone, every time he wakes up.  So I've listed some of the people who played him during pivotal moments.  I didn't particularly like the actual love story plot as much as I loved the execution of the premise.  It was a very interesting concept in the fact that we never knew what Woo Jin used to look like, so everyone who played Woo Jin was Woo Jin.  So really there was no starring role beside Han Hyo Joo.  It was really good how each of them played him, because they were all him, but also had their own twist.  You could always tell it was Woo Jin, which was fantastic.  I also really liked how it dealt with the trauma it would have on the people around him.  He felt sorry for himself, but then he was forced to look at the effects it had on his mom, his friend, and his girlfriend.  It was very interesting, and also very awkward at times.  It just has some inherently awkward situations, like when he was a girl or a kid, or a grandma.  But I think even the awkwardness was handled well, so it became an interesting story, full of emotions and perspectives.  On the whole, it was good.

C'est si Bon (2015) Korean

Jung Woo, Kim Yoon Seok, Han Hyo Joo, Kim Hee Ae, Jin Goo, Jang Hyun Sung, Kang Han Neul, Jo Bok Rae

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

I liked this mostly for the music rather than the plot.  The plot was simple and pretty typical.  A young singer falls for the wrong girl and has a hard time.  But boy was the music beautiful!  Those honey voices!  Sigh!  It was just great.  It was also a good snap shot into the past, a little history of music and culture in the 70s.  It is a story about the fictional third member of the duo Twin Folio and how he came to be a member and then not debut with them.  Jung Woo was perfect for that awkward, country boy role.  There were lots of good moments, lots of funny moments, and yes some meh moments too.  Ultimately the music won me over, but the plot was not that compelling to me.  That being said, the music and flavor is enough to have me recommend it, as is the acting and singing.  Just don't expect something deep.  It's more just an enjoyable snap of the past, in the 1970s folk music craze.

161. Oh My Ghostess 오 나의 귀신님 (2015) Korean

Park Bo Young, Jo Jung Suk, Kim Seul Gi, Lim Ju Hwan

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

You really shouldn't watch a drama over the space of a whole year.  Because if you have a million days in between each set of episodes, then you are going to forget what happens and be less involved with the characters so the feels don't mean as much.  That's what we did, and it was a sad mistake.  So I was watching this with my friend who is really busy, and then I got a job where our schedules didn't align well, so we never had time to watch it.  But she was so determined to finish it with us that I couldn't refuse, so we took a million days to watch it.  Like a whole year.  This meant that by the end, I didn't remember most of what happened earlier.  This was good for Luscious Locks though (Lim Ju Hwan who did not have luscious locks in this one) because it made us way more focused on his brilliantly subtle acting in the last few episodes.  Because literally all the feels came from him in those ones.  He caught our attention from the very start because even when he was acting like a sweet nice guy he was somehow creepy at the same time.  And it was very subtle and it was wonderful.  I do remember really liking all the characters.  However it seems like it was two different dramas.  Jo Jung Suk and Park Bo Young had a cute rom-com going there with the ghost possessing and seducing, which was cute and fun.  I loved both Park Bo Young and Kim Seul Gi's portrayals of the ghost.  They were both brilliant.  Sadly I didn't like the normal girl Park Bo Young without the ghost, because she was lame and boring, but she got better, which was good.  So we have a cute rom-com with an adorable couple, and the group of idiot chef boys who were hilarious, especially when they sang "congratulations!"  Then all the sudden it's a super dark murder mystery and really, really creepy.  And there are still random hilarious dorky scenes of the idiot chef boys being weird bros.   Then there is more creepy where Lim Ju Hwan is amazing with his actions and facial expressions, and then we have an needlessly slow last episode that felt really draggy, especially since they had to have a time jump.  Lame.  But whatever.  All the actors were amazing, and I'm sure if you watch it all consecutively it will make way more sense and be lots better.  I still liked it, but I don't know if I can give a fairer review than this, because of my unique experience.

Splash Splash Love 퐁당퐁당 LOVE (2015) Korean

Yoon Doo Joon, Kim Seul Gi, Jin Ki Joo, Ahn Hyo Seop, Kim Kap Soo

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

I can't believe I forgot to write the review for this earlier.  I loved this show/movie/drama special!  But since it's only 2 episodes, I naturally just forgot about it, haha.  One of the best and cutest time travel type deals ever.  Also gender bender things.  Because it is so short they didn't have time to mess around with the typical stereotypes, such as when he discovers that she's a girl, etc.  They all just assumed that she was a guy because she was wearing her hair in a topknot... or bun or whatever.  It's just cute and funny, and both Doo Joon and Seul Gi do a super good job with it.  It has the right type of humor for the time travelling and gender bending.  I was satisfied with the ending too.  So if you need something short and good, I definitely recommend this one.  It's super cute and fun.

178. Six Flying Dragons 육룡이 나르샤 (2015) Korean

Yoo Ah In, Kim Myung Min, Shin Se Kyung, Byun Yo Han, Yoo Kyun Sang, Chun Ho Jin

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Slow clap.  I loved it.  Seriously long, but never boring.  I actually had some trepidation about starting it because it was so long.  I saw who was in it and what it was about, and I got super excited.  Then I saw how long it was and I was like... ew.  Then I kept hearing such good things about it, that I decided to just watch it anyway.  It was amazing.  I started it with Curdy at first, which slowed me down considerably.  We were already way behind, but we ended up not being able to watch more than one episode at a time because it was too heavy for her.  Soon it was harder and harder to get her to make time for it.  When I saw how into Madame Antoine she was (much more of her type of show), and how she'd drop everything for that one, I knew I needed to press on alone.  Honestly there were times when I could only watch one episode as well, because it is pretty heavy, but it's totally worth it.  I was super sad when Gil Tae Mi (Park Hyuk Kwon) died.  He was my favorite, Gil Seon Mi (also Park Hyuk Kwon) just wasn't as cool.  But at least Gil Tae Mil had one heck of a death scene.  Another sign that this was amazing was that it made me do more research about this period than other sageuks have.  I had to look up everything that happened to see what was the fake and what was the real.  Everyone did amazingly.  Seriously.  I've seen most of these actors before, and have been impressed with them generally, but never so impressed with them as I have been in this one.  Round of applause for every one of these cast members.  I was especially proud of Shin Se Kyung because she was probably the one that's been hit or miss the most for me, but she did awesome.  I love her strong character.  Booyah.  Another thing I love about this is all the character developments.  No one was the same person at the end as they were at the beginning.  Some people changed more than others, but there was absolutely no stagnant characters.  Moo Hyeol (Yoo Kyun Sang) was one of the most startling of the changes, since it was so abrupt, but obviously Bang Won (Yoo Ah In) was the biggest.  But because everyone was constantly changing, I never could love or hate any person 100%.  They were all super dynamic, well-rounded characters.  I couldn't be on any side completely.  That went for the villains too.  I couldn't decide who was worse, because they all took turns being the worst and sympathetic.  Our heroes all took turns doing dumb things and being less sympathetic too.  When it came down to it, only the completely fiction people had less bad decisions, but that makes sense too.  They let everyone be real and conflicted, and messed up, and it was marvelous.  So worth the 50 episodes.  I couldn't give it any less, even if the very last episode was a bit draggy.  I mean, they had to resolve what they could so we didn't think too ill of anyone... only they could have, but it was still ok.  They tried to end on a hopeful note, I guess.  But still, slow clap for awesome.

203. Eating Existence 먹는 존재 (2015) Korean

Ahn Young Mi, No Min Woo, Yoo So Young

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

I was super weirded out that this show was labeled as NC-17 on Viki.  What made it NC-17?  No Min Woo's shirtlessness?  I mean, that did happen a lot.  Maybe just his face is NC-17, haha.  But this show is not about him.  It is just a short little story about a girl named Yoo Yang and all the weird thing she does as she essentially grows up, I guess.  It's based on a webtoon, and since I liked this, I might have to try and find it in English... if that exists.  Anyway, she gets drunk, mouths off, gets fired, decides to become a writer, gets a boyfriend, they eat a lot of food, and then she has a bunch of growing pains trying to get enough money to buy the food she loves and juggling all her different relationships and what they bring.  That kind of stuff.  It's a bit random, but very enjoyable too.  I liked it.  It could have been longer.  I would have watched it.

189. My Daughter, Geum Sa Wol 내 딸 금사월 (2015) Korean

Baek Jin Hee, Yoon Hyun Min, Park Se Young, Do Sang Woo, Jeon In Hwa, Son Chang Min

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

This show is long, overly dramatic, and ridiculous, and I loved it.  I guess sometimes you just have to watch 50 episodes of cray cray.  I was so entertaining to see all the craziness.  I especially loved telling Lizabreff about all the crazy things that were happening, because she couldn't even handle hearing them.  She'd look at confused and weirded out, wondering how there could be that much ridiculousness in one show.  I mean there were 51 episodes, but there was enough crazy for at least five shows shoved into this one.  The bad peeps are just so bad.  They kind of boggle my mind at how entitled they think they are.  They can't fathom someone getting revenge on them for the nasty things they have done in the past.  They are outright offended at their getting their just desserts, and then they act as if the law couldn't possibly apply to them.  In fact they are the perfect bad peeps to make you super happy and excited to see their demise.  You just can't wait to see them get what they deserve.  But then it's also about stopping the cycle of revenge.  But whatever.  I watched it for Fish Bangs, and I don't regret it at all.  In fact, I loved every second he was on screen.  Sadly, the crap had to happen to make him act dumb for a while, but he was one of the most likable chaebol leads I've seen in a while.  I also just laughed as I saw Son Chang Min act out the villain.  Even he couldn't take his character seriously.  I loved all of the senseless growling he did, because his character was that crazy.  Well, it looked like he was enjoying himself, even if he is a better actor than that role was written.  The worst part was probably how easily the bad peeps were able to bounce back every time.  It's like no one took anything against them seriously.  They were all like cockroaches.  Indestructible to a ridiculous point.  But then, so was Hong Do.  Baked Potato must have almost died like five times in the course of the show.  That's the kind of ridiculousness that was going on.  We even wrote a song about it.  But if you want something overly dramatic and entertainingly so, this is definitely that.  I loved watching it.  It was just pure dramatic entertainment.

186. Bromance 愛上哥們 (2015) Taiwanese

Baron Chen, Megan Lai, Bii, Li Shao Xiang, Yuan Chen, Mandy Tao

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

This was not a great drama.  It wasn't even that good.  What it was was super sexy.  I mean there is super hot Baron Chen constantly making sexy eyes at Megan Lai, like from episode 1, when he is supposed to think that she was a man.  He was still pretty visibly hitting on her, which is weird, but since she wasn't a man it was like "instinctive"...?  I guess.  Well, as weird as it was it made it very, very addictive.  The chemistry between that couple was great.  Also, there was good interactions with the side characters for the most part.  Also, can I say something about Baron Chen's hair.  It's super amazing.  I like want to touch it.  Sadly, Bii's story line was pretty boring.  They didn't even kiss, which was lame because she tried to hint to him that he needed to, but he didn't still.  I wonder if it just got cut out or if they needed to keep them the "innocent" couple since the main couple was clearly gender bending and on the sexy passionate side.  That little baby doll girl was pretty annoying too.  She was just all over the place and pretty lamely written.  Oh well.  There was the lovely Bii soundtrack, which makes up for that, because Bii has an angel voice.  He even like live voiced it once and it was amazing then too.  I'm still pulling for Sean Lee (Li Shao Xiang) as a male lead.  Let's see, he went from 3rd couple dude in Love Family to 2nd couple chef dude in Love Myself or You, now he is 2nd male lead in this... can he be a male lead in 2016, please?  #SeanLeeForMaleLead2016!  He is in a show but it looks like he's the 2nd lead/2nd couple from the poster.  Anyway, ahem.  The plot was dumb.  They threw a bunch of gangster crap, cancer crap, awkward love triangle, pretty much everything, but none of it so intensely that the show was actually about it.  It was basically about them falling in love, which is good, but that meant that it was a little all over the place because everything got resolved so quickly, including the part where she lied to him about her gender... so it's not a good show, but it's addicting as candy, and about as fluffy as candy... so super enjoyable to watch.  Plus, Baron Chen's hair.  Woop.  Lizabreff was always commenting on his "bedroom eyes" which are magically sexy/sensual and adoring at the same time, which makes all of us swoon along with our lovely tomboy.  I love how she stays strong the whole time too, being super aggressive in the relationship too.  Anyway, it's enjoyable and that's about all I can give it, but hey, that's enough.

169. Twenty Again 두번째 스무살 (2015) Korean

Choi Ji Woo, Lee Sang Yoon, Choi Won Young, Kim Min Jae, Son Na Eun

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

It is a bit ridiculous how long it took me to watch this.  That was not because I didn't like it, but because I was watching it with Lizabreff's mom, and let's be honest, moms are busy.  So after it became apparent that she probably couldn't finish it with me and me being on a dearth of shows I actually wanted to watch, I finished it without her.  I really needed a show like this right now, so it was no surprise that after I started watching it alone I finished it in like two or three days (I think we had only watched like 6 episodes together).  This show is cute.  Well, basically Lee Sang Yoon, aka Dimples, was cute.  The show was also cute.  I loved how it was about Ha No Ra (Choi Ji Woo) learning to be her again, realizing what she had lost and what she could still gain.  I loved the things that she never regretted and the things that totally pissed her off.  Also, it made me want to eat ddeokbokki.  I also really loved how her son's college experience was almost a foil for her own life and how he too had to learn things about himself, his mom, and what he needed to do with his own life.  There was a lot of learning and growing that was awesome.  There was also a bunch of hilariously adorable Dimples being petty, jealous, and ridiculous.  It was so much fun to watch.  I want one of those, please.  I also have to give a slow clap for Choi Won Young for being an amazing actor and playing her idiot, narcissistic husband so well.  I love that actor, but he was thoroughly loathable in this show.  Good job.  It did get a bit draggy at the end... well the last episode was a little lack luster and anti-climatic.  I think that it was because they wanted to portray a new beginning rather than and ending or happily ever after.  But this made it a little slow and unexciting at the end.  But it was certainly cute right up to the end with a lot of good resolutions.  No weird loose ends.  Yay.

193. High End Crush 고품격 짝사랑 (2015) Korean

Jung Il Woo, Jin Se Yeon, Lee Si Eon, Yoon Bora, Moon Se Yoon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

This might be one of the best web dramas I have seen.  I mean, it's twenty 15-min episodes of Jung Il Woo going crazy because he has a crush on Jin Se Yeon.  Hilarious.  So we have a super successful, top of the food chain CEO of an entertainment center who doesn't believe in one-sided loves, he thinks they are only for pathetic people and that he can get anything he wants.  Famous last words.  He immediately falls for this girl that they randomly pulled off the street (well, after she beats Lee Si Eon over the head trying to "save" Bora) for a photo shoot.  She lives in the mountains and is practically from the Joseon period with how much she understands the complexities of Seoul.  She's tech savvy and smart (I mean, she had zero learning curve when it came to texting on her brand new smartphone), but really clueless when it comes to relationships, etc.  Aka, an organic person.  It is just a bunch of misunderstandings because they think completely differently.  It does get a bit draggy, if that is possible, because of how long those misunderstandings can go on, but it was highly enjoyable.  I also really loved the Soon Jung cameos with Jung Kyung Ho and Kim So Yeon being MCs or news anchors who are conveniently talking about just what the Organic Girl needs to help her understand the situation or her feelings.  I did love how simple it was.  There was no love triangle needed, because there was plenty of drama developed with just those two not understanding each other, especially since they didn't understand how they felt themselves for the longest time.  I like how it had time to show their relationship developing, etc.  I fully enjoyed it.

179. Reply 1988 응답하라 1988 (2015) Korean

Lee Hyeri, Ryu Jun Yeol, Go Kyung Po, Park Bo Gum, Lee Dong Hwi

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

Well that was a perfectly wonderful drama that fell flat on its face in the end.  Everything was wonderful until they finally did a time jump.  Then all the sudden they tried too hard to wraps things up too suddenly.  You know, the things they'd been neglecting while they spent more time on the gloriously awesome other things.  I mean neglecting all the romance in favor of family and community matters.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the family and community matters.  This show was one big neighborhood romance as opposed to a romance or love triangle.  Well that's what I thought it was until they forced it back into a love triangle husband hunt in the last few episodes.  Narratively, the romance didn't make sense.  I have no idea why they wrote it that way.  Why would they make us care about one person so much that they completely neglected building up the person who was actually going to end up married to her?  Mmmm, no.  Not okay with it.  I cared about every single character in this drama.  I was absolutely in love with Jung Bong, and Samcheonpo (Kim Sung Kyun), and Cheetah Ahjumma, and Jin Joo.  All five of the kids.  Literally everyone was compelling.  Their stories together, the little mundane things.  All of it was so good.  The only thing that wasn't good was the way they handled the romance.  It was like the battle of the 2nd male leads.  They made us care about Jung Hwan by showing us his feelings from episode 1, and then they made both him and Taek do nothing... for the rest of the series.  We never knew what Deok Sun was thinking.  She ended up being an impressionable girl who married the only guy who ever actually did something, after 6 years of doing nothing because the writers are lame, and we never knew what she was feeling the whole time.  I might have given this show a 9 or a 10 if the ending hadn't been so lame, but that really leaves the last impression, doesn't it?  I was actually so angry at the way they played so mercilessly with my emotions that I didn't even want to finish episode 19, and if it wasn't for Jung Bong's scenes being next I probably wouldn't have.  They literally spent so much time making me hurt for Jung Hwan that I literally didn't care about anything else.  That's just messed up.  Literally the only good thing that happened after the time jump to 94 was Sseuregi Oppa.  The end.  They needed to balance the romance with the neighborhood love so we actually have time to care about the couple.  We needed to see the couple grow, not have their love force fed to us in the last two episodes.  Like, they literally rammed it down our throats in such a way that even if I was team Taek I wouldn't have been satisfied.  Like seriously no.  Very badly done.  Narratively, it was a huge slap to the face to all characters involved.  I mean, Cheetah Ahjumma going through menopause was more compelling than the love story, and that is a fact.  So the ending gets a 1 or a 2.  The rest of the series gets a 9 or a 10 (because they made me love them) so that evens out to a 7 or 8.  Since I want to be generous and try to not let the bad aftertaste taint how fun the rest of the show was, I will make it an 8, but that is being very generous on my part.  (She's not even sitting next to him in this poster!)

192. Falling For Challenge 도전에 반하다 (2015) Korean

Kim So Eun, Xiumin, Jang Hui Ryoung, Jang Yoo Sang

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A-

This was another cute, short web drama.  I like Kim So Eun, so I thought I might as well watch it since, with 6 nine minute episodes, it is only an hour long.  That always makes things rushed, especially in the romance department.  But this was about working together and growing together.  It's about a struggling club that's purpose is to take on challenges.  It only has two members, both girls, but magically it gets two boys to join (hmm, two boys and two girls?).  One of them is Xiumin, who is a mime, or Pierrot as they call it, in training.  Anyway, I spent the whole show being weirded out by all the people that Xiumin reminds me of.  Basically I would describe it as this: If G-Dragon and Baek Jin Hee were to have a love child... and if Yoon Doo Joon was somehow also related, or at least around to train him in facial expressions, then that about sums him up.  At least I know why he is one of my friend's Exo bias (especially when she also loves G-Dragon) because he's cute and has a great smile.  But he also looks like he's twelve, so I only want to pat him on the head and tell him he's cute, that is all.  It was a good little web drama.  I liked the documentary style.  It made it a bit different, so that was nice.

182. Love Me, If You Dare 他来了请闭眼 (2015) Chinese

Wallace Huo, Ma Sichun, Edward Zhang, Wang Kai, Andrew Yin

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A++

I'm impressed.  This actually managed to creep me out a little at one spot.  Like I got little chills and thought "maybe I shouldn't be watching this alone at night" like I was.  But the fact that this was go good in spite of the horrific English speaking actors that had overly large parts in this is impressive too.  The second half of the show takes place in the U.S. so it is chalked full of actors speaking English who are supposed to be American.  There was that Susan FBI Profiler who was better than most English speaking actors in an Asian drama in the fact that she at least tried to sound American, but she also sounded like she was trying to sound cool and sexy all the time.  Then there was the dude from internal affairs who was clearly Russian and struggled with pronouncing his lines.  He acted a bit better than most.  There were a few others who just made me laugh every time they were on screen, like Dr. Barnes and that old dude... hahaha.  But a show can be better than its English speaking actors, which is a relief.  This show was full of hot Chinese men, such as Wallace Huo, who I started the show for.  He was a good pick for this egotistical criminal profiler with a potential dark side, since he plays creepy, egotistical, and cute all really well.  His creepy side is even sexy, which is true but weird to say out loud.  Then of course there is Wang Kai, who has a blessed jawline.  But the neck I fell for the most was Andrew Yin (Yin Zhen) also known as Cute Neck or the Baby GD Best Friend.  I thought he was just cute at first, and then I saw him in a polo and was a goner... happy sigh... Ahem, back to the important part.  The show itself.  There were lots of nice plot twists and darkness.  It certainly didn't hold back in the gruesome crimes department.  They were all pretty bad, which was good for a crime drama, and then when it started getting really psychological in the plot twists, I liked it even more.  There were several times when I thought everyone was going to die it was so good.  Like everyone.  But then there were also really confusing moments with... alternate endings?  I'm not really sure what was going on there.  Like what could have happened and then what really did?  Still confused about that.  Oh well. Also, some of the solutions seemed a bit fantastical.  Well... I guess it goes both ways when it comes to predicting what the hero or villain will do.  I could predict some things, but other things were not necessarily surprising, but not typical, which is generally good.  Basically it was a good, dark, psychological crime romance with good plot twists, plenty of blood, and a bunch of English speaking actors that just have to be tolerated because the rest of the show is good.

181. Oh My Venus 오 마이 비너스 (2015) Korean

So Ji Sub, Shin Min Ah, Yoo In Young, Jung Gyu Woon, Henry Lau, Sung Hoon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

This was way better than I thought it was going to be.  I mean, shows about weight loss and having to change your image to find love and happiness are blech to me in typically.  But I love So Ji Sub and Shin Min Ah, and them together was sure to be worth something even if the plot was meh.  But it surprised me.  It wasn't about getting a makeover and getting a man.  It was about being healthy and healing, but it was more about total healing, like attitude, heart, emotional, etc.  The OTP was better than expected too.  What genuine people.  They were both people who weren't going to put up with crap, we honest about how they felt and especially about each other.  He fell in love with her way before she lost weight and suddenly became beautiful, so when he saw her dimples for the first time, that was cute.  They were overly cute and not in a bad way.  In fact there was really no one to hate in this show, unless it be that step-uncle, the grandma, PD Ex, and naturally the stalker pervert.  But even they were only mild hates.  They generally made everyone redeemable.  I actually was just as invested in the second leads romance as I was in the main leads.  I love Yoo In Young, so much that I looked to her for inspiration in my latest hair style.  So I liked that her character was not just bitca in this one, but that she had the issues she was dealing with (however badly she was) and we were more anxious about her bad decisions than about hating her.  And Wiener Thinker was surprisingly a nice guy and not the d-bag ex we expected him to be.  I loved them together and was more frustrated about them at the end, and whether they would get together or not, than anything else.  You know you have a good set of couples when every one of them makes you say "those two! Oh!" when they are doing something cute.  Then of course Henry and Sung Hoon were adorable and sexy.  Basically there was a decent set of characters which made up for any plot holes (why did there have to be a car accident and a year recovery gap?  Huh?) and silliness.  There was only one episode that was insufferable and made us tweet to get through it, and even that one wasn't that bad.  So basically if you want good chemistry and a couple that isn't afraid to express themselves, this is probably a good option.  I mean, how many other dramas have the girl seducing the guy?  Repeatedly?  So even if it had a few cheesy parts and a few head scratching moments, it was better than most romcoms I've seen.  Good job.

More of MarlubsGD's K-Dreamland Adventures

I know I said I was going to have Lizabreff's dreamland adventure next, but she honestly doesn't have them as often, and certainly doesn't write them down as much, so instead I will share a bunch of dreams I had over the last little bit.

There is less interaction because of how busy and how ridiculously different our schedules are these days.  Sigh.  It makes drama watching together extremely difficult.  Sad day.  Well, at least I can dream.