232. Laurel Tree Tailors 월계수 양복점 신사들 (2016) Korean

Lee Dong Gun, Jo Yoon Hee, Cha In Pyo, Oh Hyun Kyung, Ra Mi Ran, Choi Won Young, Shin Goo, Kim Young Ae, Hyun Woo

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

50 episode family dramas are not everyone's cup of tea, but they are starting to be mine.  You have to pick a good one of course.  One that has something that grips you enough to make you want to stick around for 50 episodes.  This one might just have been 4 hot men in suits.  No, it wasn't just because all of these 4 male leads in this were super attractive and people I love, it was for the characters themselves.  Every single couple was cute for the most part, which meant that I was shipping everyone.  Even the villains were not that villainous.  Yes, that means the show was cheesy and moralistic and everyone got redeemed to a point at the end, but it also means that this is a show where people learn and grow, and I loved the journey.  It was downright weird to see flashbacks to the start when everyone was a young idiot or disliked each other, or had misunderstandings, etc., because by the end they had all matured and it was wonderful.  Now I had to talk myself into watching this, because it was 50 episodes.  I love Lee Dong Gun and I love Ra Mi Ran.  Then Choi Won Young tipped the scales for me.  He is my ahjussi actor, one of the ones that I love the most, so I just had too.  Then I was not disappointed.  He was a rock star (literally) who then became a trot star so his honey voice was responsible for most of the OST, which I cannot complain about.  We also saw him start off as a selfish has been full of pride to becoming the most humble family man.  We saw push overs becoming pillars of strength, and we saw people becoming family and having a family.  It was basically adorable.  I think I cried during every wedding scene (literally did during my ahjussi's wedding.  The sunshine couple- so cute!  The cheesy couple (the OTP, Dong Jin and Yeon Sil)- too adorable!  I loved how all the families felt real.  My favorite family might have been the antagonist's family, Dong Jin's ex-wife and her step family.  I know that mom was my favorite.  I loved Hyo Won and Hyo Sang's brother/sister teasing.  I loved Hyo Sang even though he was a little poo butt with an inferiority complex.  I did tend to hate the ex-wife and ex-girls friends who were the bitcas of the show, as well as the fake husband, who was a crazy liar gangster, but even they had their redeeming qualities.  Yes, the show was long.  Yes, it had it's fair share of makjang (you guys know that I actually like that stuff), but it was cute, and it game me the feels.  Now, I'm going to go listen to Susanna's Handkerchief for the umpteenth time.

126. The King's Face 왕의 얼굴 (2014) Korean

Seo In Guk, Shin Sung Rok, Jo Yoon Hee, Lee Sung Jae, Kim Gyu Ri

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

This drama was half boring and half so infuriating that I was screaming at the screen.  It was only those two options, there was really nothing in between.  But it did have basically the entire cast of Gaksital in it.  Just switch out Joo Won and Park Ki Woong for Seo In Guk and Shin Sung Rok and it's pretty much the same cast.  This was basically a dramatized history, which is super fascinating and stuff, but long and boring.  There were too many year jumps that slowed things up too much every time things did get exciting.  That's the problem with dramatizing history, you have to stick to the facts (which of course you should, because it's wrong and bad if you don't) and that draws things out and makes things generally less exciting.  Then there are the evil peeps.  I hated Kim Do Chi, which is so weird to say because I love Shin Sung Rok, but he was so good at playing that turd faced evil fanatic dude that I would scream at him whenever he was on screen.  And seriously that ending scene was just ridiculous.  I don't know.  Anyways, Seo In Guk was amazing, but to sum this show up: Gwanghae is awesome, but went through so much crap that all we could do was scream in frustration multiple times every episode.  Also, comparing this to Jung Yi, which is also about Gwanghae, that prince sure has a lot of first loves who dress like boys.  Weird.