348. When the Devil Calls Your Name 악마가 너의 이름을 부를 때 (2019) Korean

Jung Kyung Ho, Park Sung Woong, Lee Seol, Lee El

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

If nothing else, I loved the soundtrack. One thing I love about most music dramas is that the OST quality is much better, not always, but this time it certainly was. I have been listening to the songs I bought on repeat since I finished it. I am now a Liver and Gallbladder fan girl too. But the soundtrack wasn't really the only thing I appreciated about the show. It certainly wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It was just very different. But I did love the connection between music and art and having a soul. Also the concept that someone without a soul can't make music and can't cry.

I'm not actually sure what I expected anymore, but it certainly didn't end up being like that. I knew it was the story about a man who sold his soul to the devil. He made a 10 year contract with the devil to be young and successful at songwriting. The twist is that the devil didn't just give him inspiration, but he stole songs from other people to be that inspiration, effectively making Harib (Jung Kyung Ho) an accidental plagiarist. But he did sell his soul for it, so I guess it's not really accidental. Just unknowing. Then we have the devil who is a best a fallen angel. Also as close to a grade 1 soul, who is the most generous person we could meet.

243. Missing Nine 미씽나인 (2017) Korean

Jung Kyung Ho, Baek Jin Hee, Oh Jung Se, Choi Tae Joon, Lee Sun Bin

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A

Oh.... um... yeah... where to start?  Well, I liked the start of this, because it was crazy.  The whole time they were on the island it was good.  I liked the earlier mosaic of flashbacks to the island and her lost memory.  I was even fine with it turning into a murder horror flick, but then everything changed.  The first half was nerve wracking.  It was so life or death that it made us anxious to watch it.  Like, Curdy was constantly having to calm herself down afterwards.  Then, once they were all back in Seoul it became a typical lame melodrama where the now all powerful murderer has a all powerful gangster backing and everything sucks all the time.  It was like the writers gave up, because the longer the Seoul drama went on, the less it made sense.  It became unbearable during the last two episodes, where nothing was making sense and the writers unleashed a new wave of shiz to ruin our lives.  The worst part about it was that everything we loved was pushed to the back and then by the end completely ignored.  I just wanted our OTP's relation to be solidified, as in, I wanted them to kiss.  PLEASE!  LET THEM KISS!!!  They never did!  WAE!!!!!!!  The most sexy scene we got was her calling him Oppa.  I wanted more on Ji Ah and Ki Joon's relationship.  I wanted it to still be about the survivors, but instead it became about all powerful Tae Ho getting all the powerful people's trust when he was a murderer.  So ridiculous.  Then the writers gave up and wrapped it up in the lamest way possible, trying to redeem people?  No.  Trying to use the power of bromance?  NO.  Then it ended in what should have been a drug trip dream, but it was just a... well drug trip reality?  What was that ending?  I was so confused!  What was going on?  Why didn't they let them kiss!?!  Why is Tae Ho there?  Why are they painting like crap?  why is this the end?  Why didn't they kiss?  Why did they end it like this?  Why did they waste 8 hours of my life?  WHY DIDN'T THEY KISS!?!  Ahem.... yeah.  The ending sucked.

190. One More Happy Ending 한번 더 해피엔딩 (2016) Korean

Jung Kyung Ho, Jang Na Ra, Yoo In Na, Kwon Yul, Yoo Da In, Seo In Young

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

There were a lot of things in this show that were really fun.  And a lot that just left us shrugging.  I'll be honest, it wasn't the best writing wise.  It was kind of all over the place and weird.  I think the thing that really held it together despite the bad writing was how great the actors they got were.  They all did a solid job, even if I didn't like them.  I also have to say that I hated that annoying Creepy Doll Face (the 2nd male lead, Kwon Yul).  I don't get why everyone kept saying he was so handsome.  I guess he's not ugly, but he does kind of look like a creepy doll, with a weird pointy nose.  He even looks like a creepy doll standing in the poster too.  He just had weird lack of emotions and was basically the worst boyfriend ever.  Which made it really lame when they kept drawing out the inevitable break up and giving him way too much screen time in general, which meant that all the other couples got less screen time, which was sad, because I was super invested in all their stories.  I think my favorite couple was the player couple.  I wish they had gotten more screen time.  Also, the cancer couple was so adorable and I wished they had kissed.  But to be honest the best of the best was Sexy Man, aka Jung Kyung Ho.  He was like the perfect cheesy man.  So flippin' adorable.  His kid was awesome too.  As always, I loved Jang Na Ra, but since the worst writing was centered around her character, that was a bit frustrating, but she did a great job of it anyway.  And shout out too Yoo In Ah who played the most relatable older single girl ever.  Every scene was just perfect.  I know a lot of people complained about the ending (like Lizabreff's mom) but it really could have been worse.  It's greatest sin was that it was draggy about less important things and didn't give us quite enough of the cute that we wanted from all the couples.  That was probably the sin of the entire show.  It wasted too much time on lame crap and not enough time on the cute and the funny, which is what made the show good... when it had it.

The Nicknames of The Heartless Cruel City

A while back I finally got around to watching Cruel City.  It was amazing.  My queue is filled with melodramas, dramas, and heavy thrillers that I want to watch but usually put off as I waste my time with the fluffy romcoms.  I get around to them eventually, but not as quickly as they deserve.  But I'm glad I finally got around to this one, because it was really good.

I actually really love crime noir things, which is why I try to save them for a special time, when I can really savor them, but it usually turns out that I never have time for them and end up not watching them for forever.  I'm learning to just start them and make time for them.  Because they will be that good.  One thing that is always good about crime noir is the rich assortment of characters who all deserve a great set of nicknames.  Half of them only have nicknames in the show anyway, because that is apparently how the crime world works.

177. Cruel City 무정도시 (2013) Korean

Jung Kyung Ho, Nam Gyu Ri, Lee Jae Yoon, Son Chang Min, Kim Yoo Mi, Choi Moo Sung, Yoon Hyun Min 

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A+

While this was an amazing drama, the ending was still super hard for me to watch.  Mostly because WHY DIDN'T HE TAKE THE FREAKING GUN AWAY FROM HIM!  SOMEBODY COULD DIE THAT WAY!  Freaking Two-Faced Ahjussi.  Omo.  This drama is so good.  So dark.  I heard someone say they were watching this for them romance.  Um... what romance?  Do you mean bromance?  That is clearly the most important thing in this show.  I could start a drinking game: take a shot every time Soo is used as bait for a trap and almost dies.  Haha, I still love you, Fish bangs, and definitely love you in those suits. Rawr.  I was already in love with Paksa, so this was just a big indulgence to watch him being bad-a.  I think the best part of this show is the characters.  Not necessarily the police, although they are ok, but the drug peeps though.  Imo Noona was awesome.  I loved her, like a serious cool kids crush on her, because she was so cool... even though she was a little silly at times and had a weird crush on Paksa (but really, can you blame her?).  I loved how consistently loyal she was to all her friends.  Even Sapari Samchon was super relatable and well-rounded.  It was a good mixture of predictable and a bit less predictable, but that is me being too good at predicting.  But it had me on my toes, which was nice.  I do have to say that another thing I kept counting was how many times people were obviously drinking and driving.  Not shocking since everyone was constantly drinking, but then they would always have a brooding driving shot right afterward.  Um, no, Paksa, you shouldn't be driving after drinking multiple glasses of that strong liquor.  Haha.  Anyway, brilliantly good.

152. Falling in Love With Soon Jung 순정에 반하다 (2015) Korean

Jung Kyung Ho, Kim So Yeon, Yoon Hyun Min

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A

The only thing that made this drama work was Jung Kyung Ho.  Seriously.  He made a total jerk cute and likable, and then his sudden transformation believable, and then totally cute.  Wow.  The plot was... yeah... not my favorite.  The whole return to me heart transplant crap... not cool.  However, it is sad to announce that this was probably the least lame part of this show.  I hated Fish Bangs (Yoon Hyun Min) so much, and the ridiculous dramatic crap of the show's other plot was just lame.  Murder investigation, potentially cool.  How they handled it, not cool at all.  It was basically just 10 episodes (at least) of Fish Bangs being super smart and one step ahead of everything, and being a smug jerk and then them miraculously getting the evidence they need at the very last minute.  Also, they never explained how the happy ending was quite possible.  They just sort of wrapped everything up in a bow.  However, despite all the crappiness, which basically equals a stagnant drawn out corporate makjang fest, the characters were fun (except for Fish Bangs who was one of the worst villains ever).  Well Soon Jung wasn't a very dynamic character, but not the worst I've seen.  She was never annoying and at least started out at a good place, even if she never really grew at all.  I really just fell in love with Kang Min Ho (Jung Kyung Ho), except I really miss his hair from the beginning.  Hair style change for the NOT win.  How could they mess with his luscious locks?  That swoop back of sexiness?  Sad day.  So basically I loved all the parts with Kang Min Ho in them, tolerated the ones with everyone else in them, and was yelling in anger and frustration at all the parts with Fish Bangs.  The problem was that Fish Bangs was in way too many scenes.  Oh well.  Whatever.