281. While You Were Sleeping 당신이 잠든 사이에 (2017) Korean

Lee Jong Suk, Bae Suzy, Lee Sang Yeob, Ko Sung Hee, Jung Hae In

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I went into this one with less expectations, because I haven't been super impressed with Suzy in the past, and I was not sold on the plot.  Still, I kept hearing good things, and I will pretty much watch anything for Lee Jong Suk, so I started it.  That probably helped me love it way more than if I had gone in with way high expectations.  I would still have liked it regardless though.  I loved that everyone has dreams, and not just Suzy.  It gave it a lot more of a dynamic.  I loved how it brought up the question of fate and can we change the future, and what consequences of that change are, good or bad.  I really loved how the romance developed and progressed as well.  It seemed a bit more organic than expected for a couple who had dreams about each other.  Especially when they would have a dream where they would progress faster, and they would not, because they would get scared or something.  It was great.  I loved the bromances, all the bromances.  The literal brothers, the cop and prosecutor, the senior and junior prosecutors.  I was actually super impressed in the lack of ridiculous love triangles.  Yeah, we did have a bitty one with Woo Tak, which was cute and sad, but I loved the friendship between all three of them more, since it stayed good.  But what I especially appreciated was how the "2nd female lead" wasn't really a thing.  She was never a thing in the whole triangle business.  I really didn't want a bitca in the mix, and she wasn't ever a problem.  It was actually kind of funny how petty and vain she was.  Then there was how the real second male lead was the bad guy, who I called Handsome Sseuregi/saekki, because Lee Sang Yeob is a very handsome man, but his character was the worst.  In fact, every time Lizabreff came in while I was watching she'd be like: "Who dat?" and I would say: "A gae saekki."  "But he's so handsome!"  "Yes, yes he is."  Plus he had the best clothes.  He did a really good job of being bad, but justifying himself thinking he was ok, but secretly loathing himself.  He was a good, complicated bad guy.  So all around I have nothing but good things to say.  I really enjoyed it, and I thought it stayed pretty consistently good too, although I'm not saying it didn't have issues and things it could have done better, it did, but it was still good and extremely watchable.

215. Uncontrollably Fond 함부로 애틋하게 (2016) Korean

Kim Woo Bin, Bae Suzy, Lim Ju Hwan, Lim Ju Eun

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A+

This was a pre-produced drama that was written and edited as if it was a live shoot drama.  If they had all that extra time to produce and edit it, couldn't they tighten up the writing, make the second half decent, and not overuse flashbacks?  No?  Well, I guess not then.  While I'm not wholly unimpressed with this show, it definitely fell short of its potential.  Especially in the writing department.  By the end of this show it was so ridiculously over dramatic about dumb stuff that we just laughed.  I couldn't even cry.  The characters were so flip floppy and all over the place that it made them less sympathetic, and the ridiculous stunts they pulled at the end were hilariously bad.  Couldn't they have come up with something better?  Nope.  However, there were things about this show that consistently impressed me.  The OST was pretty amazing, as was the not OST but overused New Empire song A Little Braver.  It was fun to sing along to.  I was consistently impressed with Kim Woo Bin.  Even though his character was written stupidly, his acting was amazing.  He really acted those sick scenes really well.  I was also impressed with little things like the blood when he ripped his IV out.  Yes, there should be that sort of thing if you are ripping a needle out of your body in such a rash manner.  Little things like that were impressive.  Im Ju Hwan, aka Luscious Locks, had some nice moments, but he ended up being so pathetic.  Sad day.  He acted it well too.  Suzy... did the best she could, but her character was pretty lamely written, which proved to be too much for her acting chops, but she did try, which was good for her.  Crazy Eyes, well Lim Ju Eun did fabulous, but that character was just crazy.  The bad guys were all pretty over the top, and there were lots of annoying or hateful characters.  Then they tried to redeem people way too much at the end, which is  little dumb and made it draggy.  They just had horrible pace and timing, so especially in the second half, the show was just ridiculous.  Oh well.  Woobs was amazing still, even if he character wasn't that likable a times.  I blame the writers and not him.  He was great.