433. Mr. Queen 철인왕후 (2020-2021) Korean

Shin Hye Sun, Kim Jung Hyun, Bae Jong Ok, Kim Tae Woo

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A+

I had my eye on this one when it was announced, and it did not disappoint. Although I'll admit that it was not exactly what I expected. I was thinking it would be more like a body swap, but instead it was a gender swap/soul swap. So not Secret Garden, but Scarlet Heart Ryeo except the person going back in time in the soul swap was a free spirited, playboy chef named Jang Bong Hwan, ending up in the body of Kim So Yong, the soon to be queen of Joseon. I was immediately caught when that free spirited chef was played by Choi Jin Hyuk. A lovely unexpected special appearance that made everything even better, especially since he still did the voice of the chef's thoughts inside the queen's body. So imagine deep manly voice as the petite Shin Hye Sun acted it out. I thought their team work was amazing. I have an even deeper respect for Shin Hye Sun in this role. It really felt like she was channeling Choi Jin Hyuk even down to the expressions. Then add in amazing chemistry between her and Kim Jung Hyun and yes, this drama was awesome. I haven't raved while telling people about dramas in a while, but I was totally talking  my sisters' ears off about this one.

402. Crash Landing on You 사랑의 불시착 (2019-2020) Korean

Hyun Bin, Son Ye Jin, Kim Jung Hyun, Seo Ji Hye

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I'm trying to not be bitter, but apparently I was way too angry with what happened in the last episode to do that, so I'm not sure how fair to the rest of the show this review will be. I have a bad habit (in all dramas) of investing too much into the secondary couples who always get shafted and never get enough screen time and then if there must be a tragedy it happens to them, because that way people will still view the entire show favorably because the main couple still gets a happy ending... well that's crap. Like I said, I'm bitter. Is this too many spoilers in the first paragraph? Oops. Well, honestly, besides the fact that my favorite couple got ruined, this show was fun. It wasn't super well written or even really realistic, but it was very enjoyable and addictive. It had that squee factor, I guess. It did the ensemble super well as well, which means that we cared about everyone in the show and not just the main couple, which is probably why it hurt so much. One thing the show could have more of though was editing. The episodes were just too long. I like my hour long shows please. Why we had to sit through an almost 2 hour final episode when all the joy was sucked out of it in the first 15 mins in beyond me. I was bored and disinterested for most of it. Probably because it was also draggy and I was in a bad mood by that point. But really, the rest of the show was fun to watch. Like I said, I'm obviously still too bitter.

295. Laughter in Waikiki 으라차차 와이키키 (2018) Korean

Kim Jung Hyun, Lee Yi Kyung, Son Seung Won, Jung In Sun, Go Won Hee, Lee Joo Woo

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A+

No! Waikiki is over! I miss it already! I haven't laughed that hard and that consistently for a long, long time. The show was the perfect combo of all the kinds of humor. Physical to situational. Even when you thought that you could predict what was coming, it still surprised with how funny they carried it out. They were all masters of comedic timing, physical comedy, and the awkward. It was the best.