411. Signal 시그널 (2016) Korean

Lee Je Hoon, Kim Hye Soo, Cho Jin Woong, Jang Hyun Sung, Jung Hae Kyun

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: B

I honestly don't remember why I didn't watch this one as it was airing. The two possibilities are that it was either not subbed on a site I subscribe to (I think that's the most likely) or that I was watching too many heavy/dark dramas at once and I couldn't. I do usually need to watch like 3 fluffy types to every 1 heavy one. Call it escapism. Anyway, once I miss the concurrent airing window, it's way easier to put it off in favor of currently airing ones, so even when I knew it was available on the Netflix, I still waited until my love of Kim Hye Soo made me finally just do it. (You'd think my love of Lee Je Hoon and Cho Jin Woong already would have, but I guess not). It's all about timing. Anyway, it's one I always wanted to watch, heard so much good about, and now finally did. It was worth all the praise too. It literally wrenched every emotion from me. Every single kind. All the feels! It was good.

294. Doubtful Victory 의문의 일승 (2017) Korean

Yoon Gyun Sang, Jung Hye Sung, Kim Hee Won, Choi Won Young, Yoon Yoo Sun, Jang Hyun Sung

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: B

This one might be one of the better named dramas if it is the literal "beginning of doubt" or "doubtful victory" over the whatever translation "oh, the mysterious" in the fact that our leads are the underdogs the entire time. It's pretty doubtful that they are going to win the entire time, since they are constantly at a disadvantage and being played by everyone, and reacting instead of acting. It actually makes it pretty stressful. It's like constantly life or death and no one can break out of the manipulation and they just have to grit their teeth and try. Then there are so many bad guys, and the bad guys are all so tight knit that I wondered if they were ever going to turn on each other, and it was all pretty stressful. But at the same time I just enjoyed it, and maybe that was because I enjoyed almost all of the characters, bad and good.

277. Queen for Seven Days 일의 왕비 (2017) Korean

Park Min Young, Yeon Woo Jin, Lee Dong Gun, Jang Hyun Sung, Kang Shin Il

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

I don't remember why it took me forever to start this one.  But I do know why it took me forever to finish it, and neither reason was because it wasn't a great show.  I think I was swamped with dramas at the time and I had to put it in the queue, but as I had only heard good things about it, I knew I had to watch it.  I ended up just watching it alone, because we can't watch all the dramas together because then it would never happen, even though Curdy is totally in love Yeon Woo Jin.  But that didn't stop them from jumping in and watching the super dramatic parts.  They even got mad one time when I watched the next episode without them because it was the part where he was finally going to put everything on the line for her.  I think it had been too long since we'd watched a full blown romance.

So I struggled watching it in the middle probably because I was too into it and I couldn't handle it at the time.  I think I was too stressed and it was so hard at the time.  But that was why it was so good.  It was about a very controversial time in history, with another one of those brotherly struggles for the crown where no one really wins because they're family, but everyone has some reason for being sympathetic.  But those brothers were the worst as they caught our girl in the middle.  I couldn't handle that at the moment, so I had to take a really long break.  But then, as I had to take a picture for my Tiny Edition of Women Who Make Me Watch Dramas Against My Will, and it worked.  I love Park Min Young enough that I finished the drama.  I was also just ready again.  Ready for a good but hard to watch in parts drama.  I had watched enough fluff and was ready for some meat, because that is what this show is.  The real stuff.

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.

85. Three Days 쓰리 데이즈 (2014) Korean

Park Yoochun, Son Hyun Joo, Park Ha Sun, Yoon He Joon, So Yi Hyun, Jang Hyun Sung, Choi Won Young

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: B

Loved this drama!  Super cool action drama where Park Yoonchun is a secret service man who has to find the president after an attempted assassination, and then figure out all the different conspiracies and things that the president is up against (or maybe involved in, etc.).  Well, it is a bit Michael Bayish, in the special effects department, which is a huge part of it.  Seriously, this show is all about the action and very, very minimal romance.  It it supposed to take place in like 9 days tops.  Like each mission is 3 days.  But I loved the police girl, so smart and cool.  Lots of twisted mysteries with people double crossing other people and lots of peeps dying.  There is a lot of blood and death.  Really it's a great action drama that is perfect for the action and not so much the realisticness or whatever.  It's a fun action drama.  Also the bad peeps are really good at being bad.  They're pretty muc completely cray cray, which makes for a good action show.  Also, Park Yoochun is great as always, and even hotter when beating people up (especially in that black hoodie, rawr!)

25. Vampire Prosecutor 뱀파이어 검사 (2011) Korean

Yeon Jeong Hun, Lee Won Jong, Lee Young Ah, Jang Hyun Sung

Drama Rating: 7/10      Neck Score: A

I don't normally like vampire anything.  I feel they are an overused not so cool monster option.  But I actually liked this.  I'll admit I watched this initially for Yeon Jeong Hun, but from the first moment I liked what they did.  It's like the Korean Law & Order only the prosecutor is a vampire who uses his skills to solve the crimes.  He can like "read blood" to recreate the scene, and if he drinks a bit of the victim's blood he can see their last few moments to get clues as to who their killer is.  Then it's more of a serial with new cases each episode, but also an over arching storyline of him trying to find the vampire who killed his little sister and made him a vampire too.  Another good point is the girl.  Lee Young Ah plays an awesome bad-a prosecutor chick who might have roots in the mafia.  She's never the damsel in distress, and if she is, she puts up a really good fight and never looks like a sissy.  Yes, this is making vampires sexy, which is my least favorite thing... but he was sexy before he was a vampire and it's not about that, it's about solving crime, which is awesome.