335. Romance is a Bonus Book 로맨스는 별책부록 (2019) Korean

Lee Na Young, Lee Jong Suk, Jung Eugene, Wi Ha Joon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

This drama was definitely of the feel good variety, where you fell in love with all the characters and the dramatic crap was to a minimum. I also loved that it had more of a down to earth feel while still being the stuff of fantasies with a cute, perfect, younger guy/noona romance that brings on the feels. The fact that Cha Eun Ho (Lee Jong Suk) is an all around nice guy, extremely talented, and is super hot and respectful might seem a little less realistic, but it doesn't make it any less fun to watch. It made me like it more. He was supportive rather than "taking the lead" like is common in so many dramas. When Kang Dan Yi (Lee Na Young) made her choices, he respected them. When his superiors at work made choices, he supported them. Everyone had a good synergy. The realistic parts were the things they were all struggling with, and I loved how everyone had their own struggles, but that no one was unreasonably mean, bad, or unrealistic. By the end you just love everyone and are full of the feels and smiles. So I really loved it.

238. Seven First Kisses 첫 키스만 일곱번째 (2016) Korean

Lee Cho Hee, Choi Ji Woo, Lee Joon Ki, Park Hae Jin, Ji Chang Wook, Kai, Ok Taecyeon, Lee Jong Suk, Lee Min Ho

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A++++

Ok, so we all knew what this was before we started it, right?  A web drama commercial where a bunch of hot oppas were a little bit more of sell outs than normal for a CF.  But the good thing about it was that it was also a parody of all the drama genres and styles, because you can't take it seriously and I don't think it took itself seriously and definitely none of the actors did.  So it's a fun way to do a CF and its definitely a good way to look at the hot boys, so win-win?  It's ridiculous and hilarious.  So now here is a summary of what I thought of all the different stories:

Lee Joon Ki- creepy stalker who got away with it because he's the sexiest man alive.  I really think he got shafted by being first because it made his "first love/loved from afar" story line come off as creepy and stalkerish.  Especially the part where he has a slideshow of all his stalker pics he took of her.  That aside, he was probably one of the more swoon worthy oppas in the show.
Park Hae Jin- Tsundere boss?  Workaholic?  His story was one of the ones that made more sense, since it was just more natural since he was the boss character.  We also got lots of lovely forearm shots, and his swoony smile, so overall good.
Ji Chang Wook- Spy.  I kind of love how they typecasted everyone to their most famous roles.  Park Hae Jin was the tsundere/slightly creepy until you realize what is going on, and Ji Chang Wook was Healer again.  They went through all the thriller/spy stereotypes too, and it was hilarious.
Kai- the most awkward ever.  Kai = no acting.  Kai's hair = yuck.  It was just awkward, the whole time.  He was the tutoring student, so it was another squirrely, awkward noona romance.  And it was worse because there was zero chemistry on his part.  Just awkward.
Ok Taecyeon- absolutely hilarious.  He was the chaebol makjang character, and it was amazing.  I was just laughing the whole time.  The water slap, the kelp slap, the evil bitca, the evil mother, the birth secrets, it was hilarious and adorable.
Lee Jong Suk- this one was probably the most logical of all, as he was himself, filming a CF with her, and they were adorable together.  It was the one that was probably the most natural.  She also seemed to have good chemistry with him as well.
Lee Min Ho- was that even an episode?  I did like how awkward this one was, because she was assuming it was like all the others, and acting all full of herself, and everyone was like wut?  But then it was like just awkward the whole time, and Lee Min Ho's was like "what am I doing here?  Why did I agree to this?" the whole time too.  So this one doesn't even count.  It's just pure awkwardness.  Plus, he didn't even get an attempted kiss, so what is this 7 kisses thing?  It was like 6 1/2 first kisses.

Okay, so now, if I had to pick one of them to be my "kiss" choice, I would probably chose them in this order: 1. Lee Jong Suk, 2. Park Hae Jin (Hae Jin and Jong Suk might just be tied for first), 3. Lee Joon Ki (3rd now because of how stalkerish his story was), 4. Ji Chang Wook, 5. Ok Taecyeon- because I say no to that kind of drama in real life, 6. Lee Min Ho- because he's at least close to my age, 7. Kai- because that kind of awkward noona romance is a no.  This is probably a good indication as well of how sexy they were too, strongly based on the story lines as well.

And rating them based solely on their endings might put it at: 1. Ok Taecyeon-his ending was just too hilarious, 2. Lee Joon Ki- because his ending made his story much cuter 3. Ji Chang Wook- because his ending was bad-a, 4. Lee Jong Suk, 5. Park Hae Jin- both closely following the others in cuteness, 6. Lee Min Ho- because he didn't have an ending, 7. Kai- because his ending added nothing.

I could probably also rate them on how cute their BTS videos were, but that is just being silly (but Joon Ki was adorable in his) and basically just rating how much I love all these boys in real life (which would probably be a different post entirely).  So I will not, but they are worth watching (except I didn't bother watching Kai's).

Don't regret watching this.  It's pure fan fiction, so just indulge and enjoy.

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.

216. W 더블유 (2016) Korean

Lee Jong Suk, Han Hyo Joo, Jung Yoo Jin, Kim Tae Hwan, Kim Eui Sung, Lee Si Eon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

Interesting premise and even more interesting execution.  Every preview made Lizabreff say: "what!?!" and we could never anticipate fully what would happen next.  It was very nice in how unpredictable it was.  I also liked the creation of the other world.  Like the fact that it was a manhwa world governed by the rules of manhwa, such as the cliffhanger ending to episodes and the rules of the character descriptions and roles, etc.  It was pretty clever in that respect.  But that also meant that the plot and worlds were also very complicated, and since it was a fantasy genre, anything could go.  So we never know what craziness would happen next.  This, however was the very nature of the plot.  Even though the world or story was predetermined, the will of the characters made it so that you couldn't just dictate an arbitrary ending.  The characters had to be satisfied.  The laws of the manhwa had to be satisfied.  It was all very complex and wonderful.  There were also so many good characters and actors to pull it off.  Such as Lee Si Eon as Soo Bong.  He was just amazing, poor little assistant artist.  I was impressed, as always, with Kim Eui Sung.  That man is just a good actor.  His characters were probably the most complex, and he handled them so well.  The crowd favorite would have to be the crazy fanboy hospital professor Mad Dog (Heo Jung Do) who represented all of us every episode as we watched.  He was so perfect.  I would have liked to have seen a Puppy/Yoo Jin love story.  I thought they had more chemistry together than she had with Lee Jong Suk.  Like literally Kang Cheol was never going to see her as more than a friend, but she had chemistry with that Puppy Namja everyone kept calling oppa and hyung, even when he was younger than everyone in real life, haha.  I know some people didn't love the ending.  It was about what I expected.  I'm not sure what else was supposed to happen for the ending to make any sense.  So I thought it was great.  I liked all the twists and complex themes, and of course the love story.  I will watch pretty much anything for Lee Jong Suk, but this show was well worth it.  He was great.  The show was great.  Plus, lots of blood AND lots of cute.  Cool!

The Sweetest Nicest Man in the World, Who Also Happens to Be a Murderer

There were so many things I could have written about Pinocchio, such as how much I love both Lee Jong Suk and Kim Young Kwang, because they are so tall and beautiful.  Or how much I actually love Park Shin Hye in this.  I mean, what the heck!  I have never been so impressed with her.  I absolutely love her and Lee Jong Suk together, and I never thought that would have happened!  They are going for the list of best couples in my book right now.  The dad and grandpa are amazing as well, but the thing that I feel most compelled to write on is the older brother, Ki Jae Myung.  This is a bit overdue, but I have to talk about the serious dilemma I went through.  Seriously, Jae Myung, can you confuse and pull on my heartstrings any more?

From moment one, even when he was a kid, he was so real to me.  Then he seemed to have grown up to be so sweet and nice, even if he was a bit bitter about the dad thing still, but then... andwae!

Bromances that Saved the Drama

After finally finishing Doctor Stranger, after falling so far behind while on vacation, I felt the need to appreciate bromances.  Mostly because that was by far my favorite part of the drama.  Sure I liked the love story, and wanted there to be two couples rather than a love triangle, but mostly I just wanted North Koran and Revenge Boy to love each other like I knew they really did.  I wanted them to just break down all that crap and just be besties for forever.  Seriously.

Men That Make Me Watch Dramas Against My Will: Smile Edition

Some actors just have that amazing power of making me watch a drama in spite of my better judgement.  I know the show will be crap/lame/bad/cray cray/super dramatic and so on, but I still watch them because of that one actor.

Sometimes it's to the extent that I've watched every show they've been in, and some of them were so bad (I'm talking to you, Yoon Si Yoon!)

Sometimes it's because of their smiles.  Those smiles that can make me watch even the dumbest of dramas.  Stop killing me with those smiles, you... super attractive and beautifully smiling men.

Sometimes watching that show ends up to be not that bad of a deal, but sometimes you finish and say to yourself "why the heck did I just watch that?" and then you see that man's smile again and you know why and feel no shame.  In fact, you hop online to look up another show he's been in, because you just can't get enough of that smile (or that neck and the rest of the face/body too).

Those are the some of the ones that I'm talking about here.  Bad or good, these dramas were watch purely for that man and his amazing smile.

128. Pinocchio 피노키오 (2014) Korean

Lee Jong Suk, Park Shin Hye, Kim Young Kwang, Lee Yu Bi

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

What a consistently good drama!  I was blown away by Park Shin Hye, who I typically think is just ok or even blah, but she was so good in this one and had amazing chemistry with Lee Jong Suk.  Hurray for them.  What I liked about the show the most (at the moment) was that the characters developed well and the plot developed well.  It was very well written in the fact that we got hints of what was going down from the beginning and there wasn't a sudden change in direction, any dragginess, or any real ridiculousness.  I'm not saying it was perfect, but it was solid and I respect that.  The ending was super delightful.  It was paced well and tied all the loose ends well, and just left you with a smile.  That's how they are supposed to end, even if the must use a time jump, so long as it's not a dumb one or a "can only fix the problem with a time jump" type deal.  I liked it.  The only thing I wanted to know was how long Hyung has to stay in jail for.  That's the only thing I missed or they didn't tie up, but I guess it's not that important (only it is, because I loved Hyung).

94. Dr. Stranger 닥터 이방인 (2014) Korean

Lee Jong Suk, Jin Se Yeon, Park Hae Jin, Kang Sora 

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

This was one of those dramas that I loved while I was watching it, but during the week I would forget how much I liked it and would have to force myself to watch it again when the next episodes came out.  Then I would remember that I liked it and all would be okay.  I think that this drama suffered the  most from trying to be too many things at once.  It was a doctor drama (not my favorite ever), a North vs South political drama (more liked by me), a revenge drama (I'm totes ok with those), a romance love triangle type deal, a evil puppet master pulling strings drama, and a finding my lost mom drama.  Yep, too many things at once, so I feel like some of the aspects weren't as developed as they could have been.  Such as revenge boy actually enacting his revenge.  I loved that side plot, but it really was like an after thought when it finally happened.  I wanted it to happen sooner so North Korean Boy and Revenge Boy could continue their bromance.  That part was my favorite part.  I did really like how most of the characters were well developed so that we could relate to them.  At least with the four main peeps.  The bad guy was as two dimensional as they come.  Seriously well played, but just a bad dude who pulls strings and kicks puppies or threatens to kill moms, etc.  The last few episodes were probably the weirdest in being both rushed and then draggy.  They kept throwing in things when it could have wrapped up nicely, but they did need to get rid of ALL the bad guys (since there were like 3 or 4) and then have it come full circle to show the depth of true love.  Also you always gotta throw in a "One Year Later" time just so that everyone can be happy, show how they've grown, and get as many people together as possible.  Still, even with all that silliness, I still liked it.  Especially the four main characters.  Lee Jong Suk and Park Hae Jin rocked their bromance and respective characters.  I think Lee Jong Suk was what really got me through it.  But I was also really impressed with both girls, especially Kang Sora, who made her other girl character likeable and very sympathetic.  She was awesome.  So even if it's too much and too intense, I still enjoyed watching it, just taking the overdramaticness with a grain of salt... maybe multitasking during every operation scene.  Too many of those (darn doctor dramas).

31. School 2013 학교 2013 (2012-2013) Korean

Choi Daniel, Jang Na Ra, Lee Jong Suk, Kim Woo Bin

Drama Rating: 8/10      Neck Score: A

Ok, this one made me fall in love with a lot of people.  Choi Daniel is one of them.  I loved his character in this one- well his drawling mannerisms.  I also loved the bromance between Lee Jong Suk and Kim Woo Bin.  So good.  What I liked most about this drama was that it wasn't just a cheesy high school flick, but it was an honest statement on the trials of school life.  Every child was important and had a little plot.  Jung Na Ra being the teacher who cared and tried hard, while Choi Daniel being the teacher who was jaded and had to learn to care again.  There is some hinted romance between those two, but they stopped focusing on that pretty quickly.  It was just a real drama with real problems and not having a sugar coated ending.  It was like real people trying their best.  My personal favorite was Kwak Jung Wook's bad boy character Oh Jung Ho.  That guy is a good actor (compare to Shut Up Flower Boy Band) and even the typical bad boy was shown in a sympathetic light.