257. Queen of Mystery 추리의 여왕 (2017) Korean

Choi Gang Hee, Kwon Sang Woo, Lee Won Keun, Shin Hyun Bin, Kim Hyun Sook

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

I liked it enough to binge watch it over the weekend, but was left unsatisfied by the ending.  It was like it wanted to be too much, and in the end was rushed and too open ended.  I liked it when it was just two stubborn detectives, one a cop and the other an ahjumma, but when they tried to make it a romance it fell a bit flat.  They definitely had something, but it wasn't the romantic kind of love, so I was glad that they left that as open as the rest of the end.  It was pleading to be at least a 20 episoder, or have a sequal season, but it was neither of those things either.

They had plenty of cases where they built up the characters and developed relationships.  They also hinted at a bigger mystery of what happened to his first love and what happened to her parents, but they didn't really start tying it all together and giving us any information on that until way too late in the show.  The last two episodes were way too rushed and almost felt like a totally different drama.  It made the last episode so draggy, because I knew it was ending, but it was acting like it had 4 more episodes to go.  This made it both draggy and rushed as they crammed all they could in, and then left it open, saying they solved that much of it, but it's not over yet.  Duh duh duhhhhhhh.

Lame.

I knew they were going to try for a romance, but I kept being conflicted about wanting to.  I saw him liking her, but I thought it would be ridiculous for her to like him back, especially when she was married.  They also didn't do a good enough job making her husband unlikable.  I don't cotton to cheating and having couples get divorced so the OTP can be together, so the only way to make that work would be to have him be a complete evil jerk, or have their marriage be over right at the beginning, before any main couple relationship could start.  They did neither.  The husband was only human and an idiot, and it was clear that he loved her (although he probably loved himself a little more).  He could also just be weak and ambitious.  None of those are quite enough to lead to cheating or a divorce, but maybe a fight and some repenting are in order.  It was ambiguous whether any cheating actually happened, so I could never completely hate him.  That's just my opinion.  I was torn a lot because the main couple does have a good chemistry, but not necessarily romantic.  Friends is fine.  It's almost a bromance.  Although the real bromance is steamier.

I did love Sissy Cute Neck's (I'm sorry, that Phantom nickname will never go away) relationships.  He had a puppy crush on his "teacher" and an awkward bromance with the male lead, who loved to tease him.  It was great.  I loved the couple pajamas parts.

I really think they didn't use the main plot enough.  The second female lead was barely in it.  I would have loved to see more Jang Do Jang, and to know much sooner why our detective was so obsessed with catching him.  So many things could have been better.  It was ok as it was, but ultimately disappointing.

What was not disappointing, because Ahn Kil Kang is never disappointing, was the side characters and secondary romance.  I was hoping that was going to go down from the start.  Yes!  Other than that, it was decently creepy at parts.  I loved the creepy use of that Rose of Sharon song, it did its job well, but as for well written and ending, the drama stalled and putted across the finish line.

172. Sassy, Go Go 발칙하게 고고 (2015) Korean

Jung Eun Ji, Lee Won Keun, Cha Hak Yeon, Ji Soo, Cha Hak Yeon (N), Kim Ji Suk

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A++

I don't normally like high school dramas.  I think cheer leading is stupid.  I liked this drama.  Why?  Because it wasn't really about cheer leading and it wasn't the typical angsty high school drama.  It was about being friends, working together, and for realsies high school issues.  Yes, it was still ridiculous and over the top a lot, but it managed to stay cute and fun thr whole way through.  This was probably because the bulk of the cast was dynamite.  I mean, Sissy Cute Neck (Lee Won Keun) was adorable.  We've appreciated him since his Phantom days, and he was literally the only good thing about Hyde Jekyll Me, so it was good to see him finally rocking a lead.  Eun Ji was just great.  A lead girl we could actually get behind, even when she was being way too nice.  Ji Soo, oh my freak.  He can even make bad writing and cheese crap good.  That boy is amazing.  I loved the bromance between Ji Soo and Sissy Cute Neck.  Best bromance ever, which lead to the best resolution of a love triangle ever.  I also really loved the childhood besties that were Eun Ji and N.  Even though N is not amazing yet, he wasn't the worst idol newly turned actor ever, and it worked for his character.  I heart Kim Ji Suk.  Can I just marry him now?  The teachers in high school dramas really get shafted a lot, but he really made his role awesome, but then I am also highly biased.  The worst part of this show was the ridiculous ways they neatly wrapped everything up in the end.  I like that they tied up all the loose ends and hinted at all the ships that we had (like the teachers), but it was admittedly cheesy.  So it was a good drama, but not like amazing.  I think the Ji Soo shippers might have had a harder time with it than I did.  I consistently liked it (except when they were smacking on my Kim Ji Suk, then I was angry).

136. Hyde, Jekyll, and I 하이드 지킬, 나 (2015) Korean

Hyun Bin, Han Ji Min, Sung Joon, Lee Hyeri, Lee Won Keun

Drama Rating: 2/10     Neck Score: A

For a drama about Seo Jin, they really focused on everyone except Seo Jin.  They had a huge long series of episodes that were completely about Dr. Derp Face (aka Sung Joon) and a hugely drawn out, lame, mopey, crappy bunch of episodes about how stupid bitca Robin didn't want to disappear.  It was absolutely lame and dumb.  I never loved this show to begin with.  It never had gripped me like Kill Me Heal Me did, where I wanted the next episodes to be out from the first week.  I watched it because I love Hyun Bin.  Hyun Bin did a very good job, but I am worried that he will never make another drama again because this was so awful.  I've also decided once and for all that I do not love Han Ji Min as an actress.  She's just not that good.  She lost out to Hwang Jung Eum (who I think is guilty of over acting during comedy and is only good at melodrama) with her underacting.  She was just not very good and having an annoying character at the same time made it worse.  So pretty much everything about this show was bad except Hyun Bin.  And only Hyun Bin as Seo Jin, because Robin's character was so lame, annoying, and unnecessary (and played so well by Hyun Bin) that I just hated him the whole time too.  So really this show deserves the 2/10 I gave it.  I had so much potential (with Hyun Bin being cast in it) and it lived up to none of it ever.  Not even once.  It was pretty lame from the beginning and became absolutely horrible by the end.  What were they even thinking?  At least Hyun Bin is hot... as Seo Jin.  That hair and those glasses were the only things helping me through, but they weren't in it enough to save anything.  Boo!