345. WWW: Search 검색어를 입력하세요: WWW (2019) Korean

Lim Soo Jung, Lee Da Hee, Jeon Hye Jin, Chang Ki Yong, Lee Jae Wook, Ji Seung Hyun


Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

I both loved this drama and got bored with it at the same time. I loved the three powerhouse women and their complicated and awesome relationship. I loved seeing them at work and together. For the most part I loved seeing their relationships, but I feel like there could have been less of some of them. In particular, I think they wasted too much time on the Ta Mi and Park Morgan couple, especially since it was a lot of the same things and was the main cause of the show being draggy. I'll be honest, I paid the least amount of attention to all of their scenes. On the other hand, I could have watched much more Hyun-Ji Hwan scenes, and ate up every second of Ga Gyung and her husband. I wouldn't have minded slightly more of them. But, ultimately, I just wanted more of the women being awesome.

This really was the show that we needed, focused on three women in the internet industry because it not only showed women in strong positions and highlighted some of the struggles women in the workforce face, but it also highlighted a newly powerful industry that hasn't really had as much focus: the internet search engines. Showing how much political and social power search engines have today was super fascinating, from the real time search trends, to social media and vlogging. Showing how it could destroy lives, cover scandals, or shoot someone to sudden fame was really interesting. I especially loved the constant discussion of ethics on the internet and how search engines need to be non-biased and impartial, fighting even the government to protect the privacy of the users.

326. The Beauty Inside 뷰티 인사이드 (2018) Korean

Seo Hyun Jin, Lee Min Ki, Lee Da Hee, Ahn Jae Hyun, Lee Tae Ri, Moon Ji In

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

This was one of the dramas I was the most upset about losing legal access to with the death of DF. But I wanted to finish it enough to find another way, it just took me a while to do it. You loose a lot of steam when you lose your streaming platform, apparently (fist shakes towards those responsible for throwing off my groove and ruining a lot of people's lives in many ways). Anyway, to the actual drama. I was interested in this, having watched the movie a while ago. There were obvious differences in the premise right away. The roles were switched. It was the female lead who had the body changing problem and had her change just once a month for a week instead of a different person every time they sleep. And instead of being a normal person who loved her, our male lead had face blindness on top of it. Well, face blindness seems to be the latest trend in weird problems, starting around the time of Girl Who Sees Smells? Sometime around then, I think. Well, since then I've seen everywhere as a replacement of amnesia almost. Anyway, this wasn't the only drama that had it during it's airing time. 100 Days My Prince also had a face blind character. But I digress.

309. Queen of Mystery 2 추리의 여왕 2 (2018) Korean

Kwon Sang Woo, Choi Gang Hee, Lee Da Hee, Park Byung Eun

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: B

This "season" left me liking it about as much as the first season did. I liked it while I was watching it, but got annoyed at all the lose ends it left. Because it keeps assuming that it's going to get another season, while I keep assuming that it won't. Also it annoys me how it spends so much time on other things instead of focusing on the main plot like it should. What does it think it is, an American TV show? But other than the ending and the lack of real progression, it was it's good old charming self. I love that we got to delve deeper into relationships and develop new ones. I missed some of the old characters and liked some of the new ones. It was one of the more decent second seasons.

227. I Can Hear Your Voice 너의 목소리가 들려 (2013) Korean

Lee Bo Young, Lee Jong Suk, Yoon Sang Hyun, Lee Da Hee, Jung Woong In

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

I fell in love with every single character, except the few who had no redeemable qualities, such as Judge Seo, but even the horrible bad guy, Min Joon Gook had his sympathetic moments.  But every character was well rounded and likable.  I have never had second lead syndrome quite like this.  I have also never been this attracted to Oska (Yoon Sang Hyun).  I was a little shocked there, but he was so adorable and such a good person!  I also loved how much growth all the main characters had, from traumatic experiences, to developing better relationships, to becoming a better lawyer/prosecutor, to just growing up and being adult... or even realizing that being a murderer was totally the wrong thing to do, no matter how crappy your life was at that moment.  Our female lead, Kim Hye Sung (Lee Bo Young) was super flawed, a self-centered super snarky girl who you couldn't help but love and appreciate.  Park Soo Ah (Lee Jong Suk) was both super childish and mature beyond his years, and so very complex.  He was both a puppy and a namja.  Then you have the cop turned lawyer, Cha Gwan Yoo (Yoon Sang Hyun) who is too idealistic and nice, but super good at his job.  Prosecutor Seo Do Yeon (Lee Da Hee) is Hye Sung's childhood frenemy, who has to deal with perfectionism and a black and white upbringing.  The relationships between all the characters made them all grow and become better, as did the traumatic ordeals they had to go through, constantly almost dying and having their worlds turned over.  I also loved the minor characters, such as the Judge, who was just the best.  I really can't believe I didn't watch this when it came out, because it is amazing.  I've never enjoyed a law drama quite this much.  I felt like they were a little better at making those court scene a little more realistic and less over dramatic.  Obviously not perfect, this is still a drama with some fantasy, but you could tell they put a bit of work in, and it paid off.  It was just a really solid, enjoyable, intense drama.  One where the love triangle actually fills you with feels and you are actually torn instead of just annoyed, and you have feels for all the characters instead of just the OTP.  Standing ovation.

165. Mrs. Cop 미세스 캅 (2015) Korean

Kim Hee Ae, Kim Min Jong, Lee Da Hee, Son Ho Jun

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

Well, the basic concept of this drama was good.  I liked that it was about strong female characters who kicked-a.  I also liked how the title character was an ahjumma who couldn't really run or fight anymore but she still kicked-a in awesomeness.  The cases they worked on were good at first.  Then it all went campy.  The writing was always bad.  The dialog was just awful.  It made the lead male come off as a pervert at first.  I was all "wut?  I started this show for this?"  But it was just incredibly bad writing.  I mean, it took 18 episodes for the younger couple to kiss, and I don't even know how the older couple suddenly managed to be together.  It was like random and not supported when she finally started taking him seriously.  I don't think it was doing Korean police any favors either, because it made them all come off as violent and hot tempered.  So much police brutality, tsk tsk.  The bad dude was also just way over the top.  If he can do something bat-shiz crazy, you can count on him to actually do it.  From smashing statues full of gold bars to ordering hits on cops, to laughing insanely as he fakes his own death by lighting a car on fire.  Yeah, the concept was good.  I was hoping for something as good as Angry Mom.  Instead, I got campy cheese that had some attractive men in it and some awesome bad-a women.  Yep, the women ran the show in this and the men looked pretty.  At least there was that role reversal aspect.  Everything else... meh.