262. Father is Strange 아버지가 이상해 (2017) Korean

Kim Young Chul,  Kim Hae Sook, Lee Joon,  Jung So Min, Lee Yoo Ri, Ryu Soo Young, Min Jin Woong, Lee Mi Do, Ryu Hwa Young, Ahn Hyo Seop

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

I love a good 50 episode family drama, and that is exactly what this was.  So many wonderful characters that you can just grow to love, because you have all the time in the world.  I love it because you can take time to develop characters fully and let relationships build naturally.  This usually makes me way more invested in all the characters and all the relationships to the point where I'm crying and giggling at any wedding or big event near the end.  This was no exception.

The plot of this was a bit interesting, since it is focused on a family with three strong minded girls who all take after their strong minded mother, and then the one older brother who takes after the easygoing sweet father.  However there are, of course, family secrets- practically birth secrets here- when an idol turned actor shows up looking for his father who happens to be the dad of this family.  This is potentially bad because the main OTP is clearly this actor (Lee Joon) and his manager, who is the third child in the family (Jung So Min).  But they let us slowly unravel the secrets until all the crap hits the fan and it's all dramatic, and all that.

254. Drinking Solo 혼술남녀 (2016) Korean

Ha Seok Jin, Park Ha Sun, Hwang Woo Seul Hye, Min Jin Woong, Kim Won Hae, Gong Myung, Key, Jung Chae Yeon, Kim Dong Young

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I started this for Key, straight up.  I had heard good things.  I don't remember why I didn't watch it when it came out.  I remember Lizabreff was really excited for it, but we just never got around to watching it.  Which is weird.  But then I started watching it without her, which is also weird.  But that's what happened.  I was not disappointed.  Ki Bum was the best part of the whole show.  Di ro ri!  I'm pretty sure he's my spirit animal.  I mean, I guess Ha Seok Jin was a bonus... JK, I loved everyone in this whole show.  There was no one that I didn't like, and that was the beauty of it.  It was about people.  Flawed people who are dealing with a lot of crap.  We have the exam school teachers, who all have their own struggles, and the students, who are living under the cloud of the civil service exams and having to study all day every day.  So everyday someone is going to be drinking solo, for some reason, good or bad.  Or Ha Seok Jin will just drink solo every day because he's high quality trash and it's his time of "healing."  The show is basically advocating alcohol, but trying to also promote healthy drinking habits.  Really, I was all about those "high quality" snacks during all those drinking scenes.  They made me so hungry and jealous.  I loved how the characters all developed well and how I cared about everyone's story.  I was shipping everyone, even if I knew they were bound to be alone, because they were the second male lead.  Everyone had their times of being sad, but it usually wasn't stupid, it was realistic.  Only sometimes it was stupid.  Then everyone ended fairly happy, which is also good.  It was a good ending, although the last episode was so long that I am dead tired now because I stayed up too late to finish it.  It was a little slow paced, but there were a lot of loose ends to tie in the last episode.  I felt like they gave all the other characters besides the main couple more time to resolve, but since I loved them all that only seemed slightly weird.  They were trying to leave it open, I know, but it was a bit too open maybe?  I don't know.  It was still good, just too long for after midnight.  This noona is getting too old for that.