420. Good Casting 굿캐스팅 (2020) Korean

Choi Gang Hee, Yoo In Young, Kim Ji Young, Lee Sang Yeob, Lee Jun Young, Lee Jong Hyuk

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

Good Casting was a good combination of awesome spy action, comedy, and romance. It is the girl power spy show that isn't afraid to just be silly. The best part is that while all the women are off being bad-A spies and getting things done, the dudes all think they are in some kind of romantic comedy. But even though the ladies are pretty awesome, they are also pretty flawed, which I know made some people struggle at the beginning. This isn't a show about perfect, top notch spies. It's about a bunch of misfit spies who were thrown together to not get the job done, but they get it done anyway, even with all the slapstick.

Baek Chan Mi (Choi Gang Hee) is a loose cannon who lets her temper get the best of her, making huge mistakes. She lost the target and endangered a team member last time, so is determined to not to lose him this time. Hwang Mi Soon (Kim Ji Young) is basically retired and living the life of an ahjumma. She is rusty at best, but is still crazy good at undercover, in spite of her being past her prime. Im Ye Eun (Yoo In Young) is a white agent (think completely green). She's been working for the NIS for a while, but has kept out of the field and worked support and tech. This is her first field assignment. She is also a single mom. They are all put on a team to catch Michael, an elusive international technology thief/dealer. Michael managed to escape and kill Chan Mi's teammate last time, and this team is the last resort.

281. While You Were Sleeping 당신이 잠든 사이에 (2017) Korean

Lee Jong Suk, Bae Suzy, Lee Sang Yeob, Ko Sung Hee, Jung Hae In

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I went into this one with less expectations, because I haven't been super impressed with Suzy in the past, and I was not sold on the plot.  Still, I kept hearing good things, and I will pretty much watch anything for Lee Jong Suk, so I started it.  That probably helped me love it way more than if I had gone in with way high expectations.  I would still have liked it regardless though.  I loved that everyone has dreams, and not just Suzy.  It gave it a lot more of a dynamic.  I loved how it brought up the question of fate and can we change the future, and what consequences of that change are, good or bad.  I really loved how the romance developed and progressed as well.  It seemed a bit more organic than expected for a couple who had dreams about each other.  Especially when they would have a dream where they would progress faster, and they would not, because they would get scared or something.  It was great.  I loved the bromances, all the bromances.  The literal brothers, the cop and prosecutor, the senior and junior prosecutors.  I was actually super impressed in the lack of ridiculous love triangles.  Yeah, we did have a bitty one with Woo Tak, which was cute and sad, but I loved the friendship between all three of them more, since it stayed good.  But what I especially appreciated was how the "2nd female lead" wasn't really a thing.  She was never a thing in the whole triangle business.  I really didn't want a bitca in the mix, and she wasn't ever a problem.  It was actually kind of funny how petty and vain she was.  Then there was how the real second male lead was the bad guy, who I called Handsome Sseuregi/saekki, because Lee Sang Yeob is a very handsome man, but his character was the worst.  In fact, every time Lizabreff came in while I was watching she'd be like: "Who dat?" and I would say: "A gae saekki."  "But he's so handsome!"  "Yes, yes he is."  Plus he had the best clothes.  He did a really good job of being bad, but justifying himself thinking he was ok, but secretly loathing himself.  He was a good, complicated bad guy.  So all around I have nothing but good things to say.  I really enjoyed it, and I thought it stayed pretty consistently good too, although I'm not saying it didn't have issues and things it could have done better, it did, but it was still good and extremely watchable.