173. She Was Pretty 그녀는 예뻤다 (2015) Korean

Hwang Jung Eum, Park Seo Joon, Go Joon Hee, Choi Siwon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

This drama was just fun.  I had a lot of fun watching it, even if there were gaping holes at times.  Like, it bothered me at first that they had Seo Joon come off as such a jerk-faced butt head at first.  That seemed to be way out of character for him.  Even with stress and misunderstandings as an excuse.  But they made up for it in a big way.  By the end, they were one of my favorite couples of all time.  What a cute OTP.  I really had second lead syndrome for Siwon, especially when he was making all those amazing faces.  So much fun!  I also loved the friendship between Hye Jin (Hwang Jung Eum) and Ha Ri (Go Joon Hee).  We see so many bromances that it was refreshing to see a... what is the word for that?  Womance?  Yeah, something like that.  I shipped that friendship.  As frustrating as it was, I liked that they had the relationship grow before he knew who she was.  That made it more real and feely when he finally found out.  Then I could ship the OTP like crazy.  I liked how they showed the level of understanding between our main couple that made them perfect for each other and helped us (well me anyway) get over Siwon.  I loved Siwon to the end, but I knew that he was just friends material, because there was that level of knowing and understanding that was missing.  That might be why I loved it so much.  There was no bitca and no evil second male lead.  I loved everyone in the whole show.  When Ha Ri started falling for Seong Joon, I was worried for her because she was going to get hurt, and the guilt she was feeling, yeah no bitca there, just her being stupid.  And Siwon was like the nicest (and goofiest) guy on the planet who saw her beauty from the start.  Cute!  Although, I did think that his part was too drawn out and mopey at the end.  That was a bit boring.  I even cared about the silly side romance between Gold Digger and Happy Boy.  Anyway, no, it's not perfect, but it's fun.  And I have to give it major props for avoiding some of the major tropes, such as prolonged noble idiocy, bitcas, one year time jumps (with long distance relationships that magically last even when they lose contact), and makeovers that last forever.  They touched on all of them, but twisted them for the better.  Bravo!

172. Sassy, Go Go 발칙하게 고고 (2015) Korean

Jung Eun Ji, Lee Won Keun, Cha Hak Yeon, Ji Soo, Cha Hak Yeon (N), Kim Ji Suk

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A++

I don't normally like high school dramas.  I think cheer leading is stupid.  I liked this drama.  Why?  Because it wasn't really about cheer leading and it wasn't the typical angsty high school drama.  It was about being friends, working together, and for realsies high school issues.  Yes, it was still ridiculous and over the top a lot, but it managed to stay cute and fun thr whole way through.  This was probably because the bulk of the cast was dynamite.  I mean, Sissy Cute Neck (Lee Won Keun) was adorable.  We've appreciated him since his Phantom days, and he was literally the only good thing about Hyde Jekyll Me, so it was good to see him finally rocking a lead.  Eun Ji was just great.  A lead girl we could actually get behind, even when she was being way too nice.  Ji Soo, oh my freak.  He can even make bad writing and cheese crap good.  That boy is amazing.  I loved the bromance between Ji Soo and Sissy Cute Neck.  Best bromance ever, which lead to the best resolution of a love triangle ever.  I also really loved the childhood besties that were Eun Ji and N.  Even though N is not amazing yet, he wasn't the worst idol newly turned actor ever, and it worked for his character.  I heart Kim Ji Suk.  Can I just marry him now?  The teachers in high school dramas really get shafted a lot, but he really made his role awesome, but then I am also highly biased.  The worst part of this show was the ridiculous ways they neatly wrapped everything up in the end.  I like that they tied up all the loose ends and hinted at all the ships that we had (like the teachers), but it was admittedly cheesy.  So it was a good drama, but not like amazing.  I think the Ji Soo shippers might have had a harder time with it than I did.  I consistently liked it (except when they were smacking on my Kim Ji Suk, then I was angry).

168. Yong Pal 용팔이 (2015) Korean

Joo Won, Kim Tae Hee, Jo Hyun Jae, Chae Jung Ah, Jung Woong In, Stephanie Lee

Drama Rating: 3/10     Neck Score: A-

Hmm, what can I say about this drama.  It's nonsense.  There was a time in the middle where I was at least enjoying the crazy mess of revenge.  People were being killed right and left, and the main girl was bat shiz crazy.  That was kind of fun to watch.  But the rest was a little boring.  Then it was extended.  Two whole episodes of nothing.  Absolutely boring and lame, and the whole time I was just hoping that she would die, only I knew she wouldn't, because I had heard it had a "happy" ending.  Well, it did have Stephanie Lee coming back, playing the deus ex machina to force a "happy" ending down our throats.  There are some very interesting dynamics that kept this show from just being a series of painfully obvious tropes strung together with a whole lot of crazy.  Joo Won's character really doesn't do anything but cry the whole second half of the show.  Basically he is a male "Candy" while Kim Tae Hee is the evil chaebol.  He does about as much as Candy and has zero power the entire time.  He rarely gets to act and have it be meaningful, he's just acted on and being pushed around (but he was one of the only actors who could act, there is at least that).  The role reversal was a bit interesting.  The amount of moral ambiguity and justification is ridiculous.  Literally everyone gets away with murder.  Is anyone actually punished in this show?  Not that we see.  Revenge is taken, people are killed, that's about all the justice that is served and there is no justice there.  I loved that the girl went bad guy and killed everyone (except the evil brother's death was lame).  It was so ridiculous how literally everyone died halfway through the show.  But then redeeming her?  No.  Forgiving her?  No.  Him going back to her?  No, no, no, no.  What lame sauce crap was that?  All I wanted was for her to die and him to move on and get together with Stephanie Lee like a year later.  Instead we got two episodes of boring and a lame-a ending.  What utter nonsense.  Boo!

37. Shut Up Flower Boy Band 닥치고 꽃미남 밴드 (2012) Korean

Sung Joon, L, Jung Ui Chul, Jo Bo Ah

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

The darkest of all the Flower Boy series.  Obviously the really hot flower boys are the band.  It's even called Eye Candy.  Also the girl is probably the least important person in this show, as opposed to the other shows which are centered on her.  This is about the band and all the trials of being high schoolers that don't fit in, first because they are poor bad boys in an underground band suddenly going to a fancy rich school when their school closes down, and then when they are scouted into an entertainment agency and have their debut, they are once again not fitting in as they are now celebrities.  It's a story about working hard, following dreams, and protecting your friends.  Also, don't get attached to Joo Byung Hee (Lee Min Ki).  I did and was heart broken when he suddenly died.  Yeah, that's right, I spoiled it.  He dies in episode 2.  But I was so confused when I thought he was the main dude and then all the classic main couple tropes started happening between the chick and Sung Joon.  He was the hottest too, but he died.  I did say it was dark.  The other worst part of the show is when they cut Sung Joon's hair.  It was so wild and great before and they ruined it.  But the OST is amazing.  I love the OST way more than the show itself (which I did like, it's just rather heavy for a Flower Boy show).  Especially these songs: Jaywalking & Wake Up.  Also Kwak Jung Wook amazes me by playing a preppy rich smart kid from the rival band at the rich school and is hilarious.  Also a 100% polar opposite from his bad boy character in School 2013.  Wow.