Best and Worst of 2017: Korean Dramas and their Couples, Genres, and Endings

I thought I would join the bandwagon a bit, with this whole "best of" end of year posts, because I might not have anything better to do (maybe) or because I wanted to just take a look at what we had to watch this year.  I remember how there was a big dry spell for a while, so looking at my list, a good percentage of the dramas I watched this year were old, or Chinese/Taiwanese.  I'm not counting those in this list (obviously, since this is for the KDs), but it shows how up and down this year has been.  We've had some really good ones, and a long spell of meh.

So I went over all the dramas, and by my rating, and other things like genre and elements in the dramas, I did a sort of awards ceremony, purely subjected to my tastes and preferences in how I enjoyed the dramas I watched this year.  In reading everyone else's posts about this sort of thing.  I agreed with most people's opinions, so hopefully this isn't anger inducing at all, haha.  So here are the winners of my best, worst, and meh, etc. lists.

280. Because It's My First Life 이번 생은 처음이라 (2017) Korean

Lee Min Ki, Jung So Min, Esom, Park Byung Eun, Kim Ga Eun, Kim Min Suk

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

I knew going in that I was probably going to like this drama, just based on the plot and the cast of characters.  I just didn't think I was going to get this obsessed with it.  This is easily a contender for the top drama of the year for me, and I'm not sure that it has any competition, I'd have to go back and do some research on it.  Maybe Defendant... but they are completely different genres, so they can both be the best, it's fine.  It was soooooo good!  It was so relatable, and hilarious, and deep, and full of the tropes that we love, but handled in a good and fresh way that made us laugh and squeal instead of roll our eyes and groan.  It helps that it had some pretty tight writing, great actors, and plenty of good chemistry.

I'm a sucker for tropes like contract marriages and forced living situations.  This has them both.  That hit it off right away too.  I also really love how it is about three friends and their lives, so we had three couples rather than the typical love triangle.  THERE WERE NO ACTUAL LOVE TRIANGLES!  Can I just say how happy I was about that?  I hate triangles of love, and that was not what this was about.  It was about learning about themselves and healing wounds, and understanding feels and most of all communication.  I loved how most of the plot was about learning how to communicate with the significant others, and with their inner feelings.  So all of the drama with the couples really came down to learning to communicate, which is both great and frustrating at times, when there is a lack of communication or understanding.