438. Love Unexpected 不可思议的爱情 (2021) Chinese

Fan Shi Qi, Qi Yan Di, Wang Xu Dong, Shen Yao, Zha Jie, Wang Xu Dong

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I started this one because I wanted something fluffy, and then stopped it because it looked too cheesy and Ke Si Yi seemed annoyingly cheerful and air headed. But for some reason I went back to it the next day because I had nothing better to watch. After getting further into it, it totally surprised me with the premise, which wasn't what I expected it to be at all. I knew it was about an emotionless man and an overly emotional girl, but it's totally sci-fi because they get it switched so that he ends up feeling her physical pain and she can feel his emotions. Suddenly, it became super interesting. I also grew to love the overly emotional mess that Ke Si Yi was, and was super impressed with the dead pan, emotionless acting of the male lead Xu Nuo (props to Fan Shi Qi, he did a great job). It was a very interesting concept to have a couple fall in love when he literally can't feel emotions, but she can feel his. Interesting in how she distinguishes the two emotions and how they can also get confused. It definitely surprised me as it became the show I was looking forward to every week, which was hard because it wasn't getting subbed fast enough for me. It would thankfully be done by the end of the week (right before the new episodes came out), it's just that when you know they are there, taunting you, not getting subbed, it was hard to be patient. But I guess my impatience speaks to how well I loved this show.

439. My Little Happiness 我的小确幸 (2021) Chinese

Xing Fei, Tang Xiao Tian, Huang Yi Lin, Li Chuan

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I started this one because I needed a modern Chinese romcom to help me be more patient while waiting for Love Unexpected to be subtitled. I had been hearing good things about it, and I was curious to see Tan Xiao Tian be the male lead after watching him be the second lead in Put Your Head on My Shoulder (also seeing him have a serious glow up since then too, rawr). It's the same girl too, which is always funny. Something for all those SLS shippers, I guess. Totally different characters though, which gives props to Xiao Tian. I really loved the dynamic between the leads. They had great chemistry and also it was a much less misunderstanding filled plot than most. Which means that yes, there were a lot of misunderstandings (the biggest one was annoying but manageable) but that they were solved really quickly. Mostly, I loved how mature the main couple was for the most part. They were both working professionals (she was interning to become a lawyer and he was a surgeon) and respected the other's profession a lot.   In fact, their proficiency in their professions was even an attraction for them. The fact that she fell for him at first sight because she saw him save a man at the airport and he had that competent doctor glow is just cute. I really love how much they supported each other in their jobs too, and supported each other with their jobs too.

437. Run On 런 온 (2021) Korean

Im Siwan, Shin Se Kyung, Sooyoung, Kang Tae Oh

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Dang it, I started this and then it didn't save, and somehow got published before it was finished, lol. I'm not sure why this review was so hard to write besides all that. I loved this drama, but it's also hard for me to describe in words that will accurately show how great it is. It's like a melodrama that was instead turned into a slice of life, if that makes sense. It has all the tropes of a typical melodrama set up, with the orphans, the chaebols, the overly ambitious politicians, celebrities, and quirky artists. But instead of it being a dramatic mess, instead it humanized at these typically stereotyped characters and made them real people. Incredibly flawed and lovable people. I very much appreciated that there weren't those lame tropes like love triangles, but instead we got multiple sets of people developing their relationships in very organic ways, where the biggest tests of their relationships are getting to know each other and working out differences. Not that other things don't also influence and that there weren't any misunderstandings, there of course were, but they were the real kind and the couples were really good at talking through them instead of being dumb. That was probably the best part, it was full of communication, but also the dialog felt very organic and real. It let the characters be awkward, imperfect, and lovable.