Women Who Make Me Watch Dramas Against My Will: Tiny Edition

With several of my current favorite dramas ended or ending, I felt the need to show some love to some of my favorite actresses again with another list of women who make me watch dramas against my will, especially since some of them were starring in those ending shows.

This time the loose theme linking them all together is "tiny" because while these women are giants in their acting abilities and awesomeness, sometimes their size, age, or cuteness makes you want to just put them in your pocket and take them home.  I mean that in the best possible way.  I love these women and though they be little they are fierce and can hold their own on screen, and they deserve some love and respect.

221. Moonlight Drawn By Clouds 구르미 그린 달빛 (2016) Korean

Park Bo Gum, Kim Yoo Jung, Jung Jin Young, Chae Soo Bin, Kwak Dong Yeon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

And yet another tale of Lizabreff and I not finishing a drama right away because of reasons that weren't really reasons.  Once again we were watching too many dramas at once, and we sacrificed this one so we could finish the others.  Of course, like always, we stopped right before it got good again.  It was getting boring and we couldn't handle it.  We weren't ready for all the crap that was inevitably going to happen after episode 12, so we just stopped before 13.  It probably didn't deserve that, since it was by far a better drama than most the other ones we actually finished at the time, which I gave much lower ratings (cough cough Moon Jun Ki ahem Cinderella and the Four Knights cough cough).  I think it was too many sageuks for Lizabreff.  She'll be the first to admit they are not her thing, and as soon as they get slow she struggles.  I think that was partially what happened, plus the other sageuks, and it was just too much.

So, I ended up just finishing it alone, much later.  It took me no time at all too, which makes this whole story pathetic.  In like two or three days I finished the remaining 6 episodes.  Why was that so hard?  I was super into it too.  Nothing was hard to watch, it was all just normal good sageuk.  Not even the bad kind, the normal good kind.  I do have to say that the last episode was not good.  It did not measure up to the quality of the rest of the drama, which is often the case with any given drama.  However, this erred on the side of being too happy and gooey.  No way any of that was possible.  It was like they just threw all reality out the window and made every happy ending fantasy come true.  It was cheesy and bad.  Sorry that I actually wanted Bo Gum to die?  Not because I hate him, I love him. But I thought a tragic ending would have been nice.  It's not like that historical figure didn't die young.  Apparently he did, so what was that ending?  Spoilers, he doesn't die.  Sorry.  I know it was based off of a novel, but not having read it, all I had was the historic context, but I probably should have just left that part alone.  Then the cheesiness could have prevailed.  But I guess it did make an obvious point about what the title was about in the end, tying everything up with a nice big bow, the end, everything is great.

So, it wasn't a bad drama by any means, and I can see why it was so popular, although maybe not agreeing to that whole extent.  It wasn't amazing or anything, just good.  The acting was stellar through out, although I will say that Yoo Jung looks young for her age and Bo Gum looks exactly his age, so no one but Dong Yeon looked 18.  I liked to point out all the age gap romance scenes, which annoyed everyone else, mwahaha.  It does have all those sageuk tropes, with the girl dressed as a guy, but it was fresh in the execution.  At least what she had to go through to be a eunich was interesting.  I loved the bromance the best.  Kim Hyung and the prince were my OTP.  Wah, that scene at the end when Kim Hyung... wah!!!!!!  I liked how the second female lead was nice the whole time and liked Jin Young just all the time, even when he was being annoying.  His ending was super weird and unnecessary, but whatever.  At least he got lots of pretty clothes.  Lots of pretty men in pretty clothes all around!  Yay!

Korean Movie Night: Because I Love You 사랑하기 때문에 (2017) Korean

Cha Tae Hyun, Kim Yoo Jung, Seo Hyun Jin 

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: B

Despite how generic the name of this movie is (I kept forgetting it's name because there are a million titles that sound similar) this is a different sort of movie.  It's comedic with a lot of heart, but also has some twist and stuff that I wasn't expecting.

Cha Tae Hyun gets into an accident and dies... or at least wakes up in not his body.  He doesn't remember who he is, but he knows he's not a high school girl.  He meets another high school girl, who he is able to explain the situation to, and who soon becomes his best friend to help him figure out what is going on.  And it doesn't stop with the high school girl.  He jumps around to a police detective, a old grandma, and a high school teacher.  Each time he has to help them with their situation, and play cupid.  In turn, he is able to slowly remember who he is and what he needs to do to stop this body jumping.

This is great because not only do we have Cha Tae Hyun acting like all these different people as he is in their bodies, we have them, acting like he is in their bodies, and they all do a great job.

It was fluffy and cute, but also interesting, with some of the twists that I wasn't expecting.  I loved how it became a growth process for everyone.  He helped them, but they also helped him to grow as well, and to fulfill his own wishes.  It has a lot to do with being selfless and love.  It was cute and I do recommend it.  It made me laugh, cry, and all the good emotion stuffs.

180. Love Cells 1&2 연애세포 (2014 & 2015) Korean

Kim Yoo Jung, Park Sun Ho, Nam Ji Hyun, Baek Sung Hyun, Im Seul Ong, Jo Bo Ah, Park Eun Ji, Choi Young Min

Drama Rating: 7(4)/10     Neck Score: A

I was bored one day, so I decided to watch Love Cells 2.  Don't ask me why I watched the second season before watching the first, I was probably just too late to search for the first one while the second one was right there in my suggestions feed.  It might be a good thing because it was so much inferior to the first season that had I watched the first I might have been doubly disappointed.  It was just boring.  The only thing good about it was Kim Yoo Jung and Im Seul Ong fighting and him distracting her with a laser pointer.  The rest was just over-the-top and not in a good way.  Then I watched the first one and I finally realize why everyone loved it so much.  It's hilarious and full of interesting plot twists.  It also made so much more sense with her having magic tools (awesomely advertised by Park Joon Hyung) to help him and there being the awesome Kim Woo Bin cameo as the King of Romance/Love Cell Hunter.  Also, Jang Hyuk cameo.  That man is amazing.  So much good acting with no lines.  It was over-the-top and in a good way.  It was hilarious.  It also left us surprised and in a good way.  Not so predictable.  So I highly recommend the first season and not the second one.  Unless you really loved the first and want more Navi.  Just know, it's highly inferior.

144. Angry Mom 앵그리맘 (2015) Korean

Kim Hee Sun, Kim Yoo Jung, Ji Hyun Woo, Ji Soo, Baro

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

This was an incredibly heavy show, especially in subject matter.  Definitely not for the faint in heart.  But it was really well done, and had plenty of cute stuff along with all the nasty yucky crap that was happening.  I guess I just get twice as angry if crap is happening to kids than if the same crap is happening to adults.  Sleeping with and killing students, not cool.  Using kids as pawns, not cool.  Ripping off schools, not cool.  So much not cool crap happening.  But I feel like the end was really good, and the moralizing good, and not too overly preachy.  I really like how the real hero of the story is the mom, just like the title indicates.  It's about a mom being fearless and making a difference.  The moral is that we need good moms and dads, and that is a cool message.  Ji Soo, who played one of the students Go Bok Dong, was just perfect.  Everyone was perfect.  So, while it was really hard to watch, especially at the beginning when like multiple students were dying and tons of crap was happening, it was worth it.