296. Grand Prince 대군 - 사랑을 그리다 (2018) Korean

Yoon Si Yoon, Jin Se Yun, Joo Sang Wook, Ryu Hyo Young, Son Ji Hyun

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A+

I knew what it was going to be like when I started it. I saw all the warning signs that said: "this is not going to be a good sageuk" and yet I watched it anyway. Why? Because I will watch anything for Yoon Si Yoon. I know, that's not wise. But I've already done it for every other of his dramas, why stop now?

The acting wasn't really the issue. While I'm not a huge fan of Jin Se Yun, I'd say it was never her fault that she show sucked. It was 100% the writing and plot. It just kept getting more and more ridiculous. People fell for the stupidest traps, it was pretty bad. It was also that I hated Joo Sang Wook's smarmy character, Jin Yang, so much that I had to multitask every time his character got any screen time at all. Which meant that I couldn't watch it during my lunch break on my phone, but only at home where I could Duolingo or puzzle game it up, especially during Jin Yang's smarmy yucky pitty parties of nasty justification. He did too good a job being a yucky boy. He pissed me off all the time.

Birth of a Beauty: How One Couple Made a Drama Worth Watching- or why they should let couples be cute for longer

Having just recently finished up the ridiculous Romantic Comedy Revenge Melodrama that was Birth of a Beauty, I feel inclined to discuss why I even watched it in the first place and what made me keep watching it.  It was like the best and the worst at the same.  Insanely cute romantic comedy, ridiculous and scream worthy makjang.  I guess the balance was enough to make me keep coming back?

This is the reason I started it:

And this is why I kept watching:

But there is so much more to it.

2015: The Year of Sexy Necks

Every year I make a calendar for myself, so I get exactly what I want and that sense of accomplishment.  I usually have a different theme each year (such as smiles or flower boys), and this year I decided to use my list of the Top 10 Sexy Necks as the general theme of 2015's calendar.

There was so much I could have put in here, and so many ways to do this, but I finally decided to count down to the number 1 on this list, and use the two remaining months for the other honorable mentions and general hot guys that I like and wanted to use.

127. Birth of a Beauty 미녀의 탄생 (2014) Korean

Han Ye Seul, Joo Sang Wook, Jung Gyu Woon, Wang Ji Hye

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

The thing that makes this show work is how flippin' adorable the main couple is.  But they are pretty much the only likable people in the entire show.  Well Secretary Choi and the PD chick and maybe the mom and friend are ok, but everyone else in the show are evil murderers or just plain stupid (Oppa and Granny).  I loved their revenge comedy stuff from the first half, and I love love loved them falling in love and being cute together, but then when it got serious it got draggy, and I really hated how they kept the other chick around for like ever.  She was one of the worst, evilest bitca ever, and she needed to be punished harder than she was.  I shouted hateful things at her every time she was on the screen.  Also Wiener Thinker and Dog Poop Face (the other men in the show) were just annoying, evil, and dumb.  So much hate for everyone else and so much love for the main couple.  It made it a bit hard to watch because there was so much ew, but then there was also so much cute that it was never as bad as we thought it was going to be, so it was a weirdly good and bad drama at the same time.  Definitely over-the-top ridiculous in plot, but full off adorableness at the same time.  Well, it is what it is.

83. Cunning, Single Lady 앙큼한 돌싱녀 (2014) Korean

Lee Min Jung, Joo Sang Wook, Kin Gyu Ri, Seo Kang Joon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

Like I said in the Emergency Couple Review, this one was the much better done divorced couple getting back together.  Also, I am now very in love with Joo Sang Wook.  It was the promos of him being a complete nerd that made me want to watch it.  Also, the humor was way better.  They knew how to keep it classy, even when they were being hilariously horrible to each other.  Plus her giving him a rash from the flowers she knows he allergic to leads to him shirtless, so yeah, keeping it classy (winky face).  They got married young when he was a student and then when he quit his stable job to start his own company and times got too hard, they ended up breaking up.  Then, when she finds out his company is now successful, she plots revenge since rather than acknowledging her help, he insults her.  What's great about this is that they are both at fault and horrible to each other, and both so completely still in love with each other, that it builds well.  It's also a good blend of emotional drama and hilarious comedy.  However there are some episodes that are hard to watch.  Episode 14 I think.  The other peeps, who happen to be brother and sister, both go so completely cray cray and evil that I couldn't stand it and had to force myself through that episode.  Thank goodness it was just one episode, because everyone is pretty honest in this show, sometimes anyways, that even when dumb things like noble idiocy are attempted, they don't work.  This show also does a much better job of showing her being in love with him even though she is resisting, so that it's not like a complete 180 change when she suddenly wants him back, because it's not suddenly.  They literally want each other back from day 1, but just don't know it yet, because they haven't realized it.  The ending was so much better too.  I thought it was pretty refreshing, since the other dramas I was watching at the time both ended lamely.  Also, best confession ever:  "I've got plastic flower" (aka love sickness).

54. Good Doctor 굿 닥터 (2013) Korean

Moon Chae Won, Joo Won, Joo Sang Wook, Kim Min Seo, Cheon Ho Jin

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A

I know a lot of people had a hard time finishing this one.  Some because it was too intense because it was about an autistic pediatric surgeon who is being used for hospital politics crap, some because having an autistic man, who acts more like an eight year old sometimes, as the romantic lead was too much for them.  I know that for me watching kids who were sick, dying, or needing surgery was hard.  But it got much better once you get passed episode 6.  Medical dramas are not my favorite, but this one wasn't too bad.  I thought Joo Won did an amazing job of acting autistic, and personally I liked the Joo Won/Moon Chae Won couple.  They were both so awkward in different ways.  Once again, Moon Chae Won is great.  She was so crude and awkward in this one, such a different character from The Princess's Man.  Yep, one of my faves.  I did like how there were really no love triangles, they toyed with the idea, but nothing annoying or anything.