400. Never Twice 두번은 없다 (2019-2020) Korean

Park Se Wan, Kwak Dong Yeon, Youn Yuh Jung, Oh Ji Ho, Ye Ji Won, Park Ah In, Song Won Seok, Joo Hyun, Jung Suk Yong, Ko Su Hee

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

This wasn't my favorite weekend, family, freaking long drama, but I like it okay. I was invested in all the characters enough to get excited each week for it, but it was also just not the best. It was about a bunch of people living at an inn boarding house type deal, and they are all on their last chance at life, grasping for straws. They all also have a common enemy in the family of Guseong Hotel group, who were all conveniently the people who somehow screwed them all over so that they are on their last chance. There was so much fate between this found family that it was ridiculous. But the dynamic of the found family was good, and the chemistry between the main couple was such that I kept coming back for more, even though the plot wasn't always my favorite. Basically it's the rich people kicking the poor people down until they finally unite enough to get some revenge and redemption, etc.

321. My ID is Gangnam Beauty 내 아이디는 강남미인 (2018) Korean

Im Soo Hyang, Cha Eun Woo, Jo Woo Ri, Kwak Dong Yeon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I really had to steel myself up to watch this because you might know how I feel about surgery scenes and how it keeps me from watching medical dramas because boo surgery scenes every single episode. Well plastic surgery is worse I guess because it is on the face and makes me cringe. So I started this one, got to the scene where the scalpel was touching the face and I was like "nope!" and stopped. But I kept seeing cute spoilers and I wanted to watch it, so I tried again, and looked away at the scalpely parts. This show was much more about how beauty standards and bullying affect women than it was about plastic surgery. That was more the byproduct of how Korea views women and beauty. So that scene at the start was actually very well done and poignant. The montage between her childhood trauma from bullying and the surgery scenes was super well done. It hit me in the feels, and really told you what this show was going to be about.

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!

Puck! 퍽! (2016) Korean

Lee Kwang Soo, Jung Hae Kyun, Son Soo Hyun, Kwak Dong Yeon, Jo Yoon Woo

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A++

I can't even handle how much I loved Lee Kwang Soo in this.  I hate sports movies, but I love Kwang Soo, so I watched it.  He is so amazing.  We have all seen him do mostly comedy, which he is brilliant at, so it's always so great to see him pull of serious so amazingly well.  This was basically, in a nutshell: a loan shark lives for a season (like, the hockey season).  Loan shark thug Kwang Soo beats up peeps.  Almost kills someone.  Has to be less violent when getting money back for his boss.  Ends up joining a hockey team so they can win, so he can get the money.  Evil dude tries to get rid of team.  He finds team spirits, etc.  It was basically the plot of every sports movie, but it was also about how sucky life is.  He became a loan shark thug because his wife put him in debt.  He kind of turned off his emotions, etc., to survive.  The other team players also have their own problems.  The end, like most Korean movies, is really open ended and non-conclusive about that part of the stuff.  The life sucks stuff.  But it also still has the miraculous sports movie ending, so it really made me like it better than most.  Plus, Kwang Soo is amazing.  There was one scene in particular that his neck was so sexy (in that red letterman jacket) that I couldn't handle it (fans self).  Whew!  So, it was way better than most sports movies.  It made me cry, but that might just have been because Kwang Soo.  But, yes, it was good.

122. Modern Farmer 모던파머 (2014) Korean

Lee Hong Ki, Park Min Woo, Lee Si Un, Kwak Dong Yeon, Lee Ha Nui

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: B

I just need to forget the last 15 min, because they tried to be funny and it failed, which is weird because it was only time they've ever failed at being funny, in my opinion.  It was like they didn't know how to end it, especially in the romance department, so they tried to make it cyclical.  Whatever, it was a super lame that bumped this show from a 8 to an 7.  I think it didn't help that I had to wait a whole week for the final episode due to a scheduling thing, which heightened the anticipation for nothing.  But this show was still amazing.  I have not laughed so much at something in a very long time, everyone was awesome, and the running jokes were hilarious.  This show was truly delightful, but had a hard time wrapping up, so we'll just pretend that never happened and love the rest of the show for it's hilarious and perfect comedy.