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.

Korean Movie Night: One Line 원라인 (2017) Korean

Im Siwan, Jin Goo, Park Byung Eun, Lee Dong Hwi, Kim Sun Young

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

We had another Korean Movie Night this last weekend to, it was part of our end of the Olympics party. Since we had some new viewers who maybe had never seen much before, we tried to pick one for a more general audience, so we ended up with One Line, a classic conman heist type movie. It's very Italian Job in spots, but all heist movies are fundamentally the same. This one actually had a lot of differences plot-wise. At least at the start.

We have Jin Goo who is a conman who helps people get loans- loan fraud. However he has principles, and he stays away from "dirty loans." He runs into Siwan, a college student and raw conman talent. He gets scouted and quickly climbs up the ladder. However, there is no trust and loyalty among conmen, and things get a bit crazy in the back stabbing department.

Madame Derp Face Antoine: Bad Nicknames That Are Clearly Out of Love

I'm super enjoying Madame Antoine right now, and mostly because besides being funny in its own right, it is the perfect ground for Derp Face (Sung Joon) to do what he does best.  Make derp faces.  If I tried to capture every face he makes that makes me laugh, I would basically just have to be constantly taking screenshots the entire time instead of enjoying the show.

Which brings me to the perfect time to discuss this topic, which I had been meaning to since I admitted that I was crushing on Fish Bangs: my habit of creating horrible nicknames out of endearment.

167. Misaeng- Incomplete Life 미생 - 아직 살아 있지 못한 자 (2014) Korean

Im Siwan, Lee Sung Min, Kang So Ra, Kang Ha Neul, Byun Yo Han

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Painful, hilarious, relatable, and amazing.  It's just about office workers, but it had me on the edge of my seat at times.  That PPT test, boy was that intense.  Whew.  It was painful because it was so relatable.  I kept cry saying "I know how you feel [Geu Rae, Pyeontae, Baek Gi, Yeong Yi]!"  It was just office work, but it was life or death to us watching it.  No one was completely evil, not even the bitca of an executive director... well, Department Head Ma might have been the worst... that sexist pig.  But I did like how it followed the stories of all four interns, and they each had their own relatable strugs.  It made it hard to watch, and also addicting.  So glad I finally got around to watching it.  It was so good.  So many good characters, so many funny facial expressions, so many crying times, so many lol moments.  Just a good, well rounded drama.

Memery of 2014... 2015... It's Just Meme Time

Just for fun, I wanted to do a post of memes created mostly for shows in 2014, but maybe I didn't get around to making them until just now... haha.  I'm really lazy when it comes to getting pictures ready.

Anyways, here is some fun.

95. Triangle 트라이앵글 (2014) Korean

Lee Beom Soo, Kim Jaejoong, Im Siwan

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

This drama was WAY better than I expected... but then I had pretty low expectations and literally watched it because of Kitty.  He was probably the most impressive thing about this.  His hotness (already off the charts) increased ten fold at least in this drama.  His acting was always pretty decent, but he's gotten so good.  His performance as Young Dal was amazing.  The drama is a bit on the long side (with 26 episodes) and so gets a bit draggy in the middle when you just want the pudding faced bad dude to get his comeuppances, and they keep throwing even more bad dudes into the mix.  More thugs that are good with knives, more ambitious directors finally making moves.   I also really loved Lee Beom Soo as the bad-a, anger management needing, police detective (some times called patch beard by me).  He really brought his character together.  I think one of the most redeeming qualities of this show is the character development.  Kitty starts out as a street thug that, while he is sympathetic and loveable, is still a jerk and pathetic piece of trash and by the end he is successful and happy and everything is good.  I really wanted them to give me a reason to like the turd faced little bro (Im Siwan).  That dude has some acting chops because I hated his character so thoroughly that I literally just called him Turd Face the whole time.  I wanted him to start to hate his pudding faced adopted dad and do something that would make me like him more, but his character was consistent too.  That's good character development.  Even when the characters grow and change they are still obviously the same character and that is good.  Well played if not well written.  So yeah, it did get a bit cray cray, but since it was a psychological action revenge thriller and people were constantly almost dying, it's an easy step to take.  At times I was right there with Kitty, wanting to beat the crap out of the bad guys too, but sadly I was held back too, not by my buddies but by the fact that it was just a show I was watching.  But while it went a little too long in drawing out the bad guys managing to stay on top so as to wrap everything up in the last to episodes, I still think that they managed to keep the drama pretty solid. Also all the girls in it were pretty solid, awesome girls who could pull their own weight.  Yes!