198. Marriage Contract 결혼계약 (2016) Korean

Lee Seo Jin, Uee, Kim Yong Geon, Park Jung Soo, Lee Whee Hyang, Kim Young Pil, Kim Yoo Ri, Shin Rin Ah, Kim Kwang Kyu, Lee Hyun Geol

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

An oddly perfect mixture of adorable and crying.  This is full of all those stereotypes of melodramas.  Cancer, more cancer, evil chaebols, contract marriages, selfish male leads with mommy and daddy issues, that bitca who is the same character in all her shows, the works.  But then it somehow uses those stereotypes in a completely different way.  Maybe it's just because Lee Seo Jin is amazing (he is my spirit animal), but he really turned that typical rich chaebol with family issues into a complete different type of character.  He was also believable and completely too perfect to be believable at the same time.  He started out as a jerk ladies man who was willing to buy a liver to save his mom and turned into an adorable dad and husband who knew how to play with kids, cats, and comfort the girl so she didn't feel like a patient or pitiful.  It was too adorable.  Those dimples!  I liked most all the characters except the bad peeps of course.  That dad was the worst ever.  But I liked his real mom.  I even related a bit with the idiotic older brother and wife, even though I also disliked them.  At least you could see where everyone was coming from.  Uee had a lot of great ugly crying.  Unfortunately for me it was too long.  So many long crying scenes.  She did a good job being a mom and a cancer patient.  So maybe it was all just melodrama held together by the amazing charisma of Lee Seo Jin, but I liked it despite all the craziness.  The ending was a little abrupt, since there was no real resolution, and I cried plenty of times, but I consistently liked.  Especially after the first couple of episodes.  It was pretty good.

135. Kill Me, Heal Me 킬미,힐미 (2015) Korean

Ji Sung, Hwang Jung Eum, Park Seo Joon, Oh Min Seok, Kim Yoo Ri

Drama Rating:  7/10    Neck Score: A+

Ok, while this was completely makjang with the whole set up- I mean the birth secrets and corporate drama were off the charts- this was completely enjoyable to watch.  It's probably all Ji Sung.  I know it is.  Park Seo Joon was good too, even if he had to be the annoying oppa.  But Ji Sung!  He was amazing!  How he played every character with perfect emotion!  Right down to those eyes which they had to emphasize so much (Ji Sung does have super gorgeous eyes).  What I liked best was that it was always exciting and didn't make me want to chew my arm off ever.  Each of the multiple personalities were so lovable (I'll be honest and admit that I was also one of the many who were swept away by Shin Se Gi's animal charisma), so much so that when they all went away at the end I cried!  I was watching it at like 2am and was therefore more susceptible to tears, but still, it was touching.  Not a super huge fan of Hwang Jung Eum.  She can overact at times.  Usually in the "comedy" roles.  She was annoying as heck at the beginning, but I think she mellowed out a bit when the melodrama serious stuff rolled in.  I actually was fine with her at the end.  Anyways, yes there are lots of ridiculous and probably psychologically unsound things, but they managed to make it seem a little more plausible than other similarly DID themed shows that might have happened at the same time, so it was hard not to compare... I did try, but I just liked this one better.  Like a million times better (I still love you Hyun Bin!).  Even if some problems seemed to be magically wrapped up at the end... they were the less important ones so I was glad they weren't dragged out at least.  And can I just saw that Ji Sung's jaw line makes me very happy.  It's so sexy!

55. Master's Sun 주군의 태양 (2013) Korean

So Ji Sub, Kong Hyo Jin, Seo In Guk, Kim Yoo Ri

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

This is my favorite Hong Sisters drama (well tied for first with Greatest Love) but you have to be okay with horror to like it, because this is a Horror Romantic Comedy.  The first episode is probably the scariest too.  The first 15  min has some of the scariest ghost faces that will deter any peeps who are less enthusiastic about horror things.  I mistakenly recommended it to my younger sister, because I loved it so much, and she reported back that it was way too scary for her, which is something I haven't considered.  Even while my roommate finally watched it she needed me there for some episodes because they were on the scary side.  It didn't bother me, but it can, apparently, be a bit on the scary side (especially that stitch mouth granny in the first 15 min).  I watched it because it was the Hong Sisters, Horror Comedy, and Seo In Guk, but I came out completely in love with So Ji Sub.  Man that man is sexy.  He played vulnerable so well too.  Also, Kong Hyo Jin is awesome in this, but her hair and style is as tacky as always.  But her acting makes up for it.  I love the way the Hong Sisters always throw in lots of side romances, those are always cute.  This one has some hooky plot arcs, which is actually pretty typical for Hong Sisters.  They are good a comedy and pop culture references, but not so good at wrapping up loose ends and solid finishes (couch couch Big cough cough).  But this one, overall, was great.  Less love triangley and more ghosts and funny.  Also we got to see So Ji Sub and Seo In Guk sing the Three Bears song.  Win!