284. Bride of the Water God 하백의 신부 2017 (2017) Korean

Nam Joo Hyuk, Shin Se Kyung, Lim Ju Hwan, Krystal, Gong Myung

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A+

I wasn't going to watch this one, because it was obviously going to be not amazing.  But I kept watching all the clips and spoilers about it, and hearing about it from others, that I thought I would give it a chance.  Plus, I was having Gong Myung withdraws after Revolutionary Love finished, so I need to see it.  Plus, as everyone said, it's got a lot of pretty in it.  That's pretty much all it had in it.  It's rare to see something so fabulously bad as this.  It wasn't just because the actors were not the best.  I've seen Nam Joo Hyuk and Shin Se Kyung do decently well before, just not in this drama.  Although neither of them were so terrible that I wanted to cry or die even (most of the time), they were both not on their form at all and left much to be desired.  Really it was a combination of bad acting, directing, and writing.  I blame the writing the most for my lack of enjoyment.  It was just so bad, I didn't feel connected to the people who should.  I didn't care about the people I should, it was all just a big mess.  A big, pretty mess.

So, my biggest problem is that I just didn't care about the plot of the drama.  It just wasn't compelling to me at all.  In fact, I was probably watching it for all the wrong reasons, because I was way more compelled by the secondary couples and antagonist than the main couple.  It probably wasn't the best idea to watch a drama for Gong Myung when he wasn't even really in the first four episodes.  But he remained one of my favorites in all the other episodes.  I also related and cared about Lim Ju Hwan's character and story way more than anyone else.  So here is a list of the things I liked and cared about:

235. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo 역도요정 김복주- (2016) Korean

Lee Sung Kyung, Nam Joo Hyuk, Kyung Soo Jin, Lee Jae Yoon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A-

I went into this show with low expectations, because it frankly looked stupid.  I loved it.  Not necessarily for the plot, although that was different enough to be cool.  What I loved was all the characters.  The Bok Joon Hyung couple might have been the cutest couple ever.  They were honest and cute, and they just didn't hide things and were super real.  They are both little spaz cakes, adorable ones.  I loved all their friends, I loved their families.  Everything was just delightful.  The only annoying part was those rhythm gymnasts who were overly bitca. At some parts I was annoyed that the 2nd female lead had too much screen time, that was too mopey and dramatic, but I even ended up liking her in the end.  It was just super fun the whole time.  We would get excited and call it Uri Bok Joo and look forward to it all week.  I just loved how ridiculous and fun everyone was.  Nam Joo Hyuk was a spastic ball of energy, he was so random and goofy that I loved him, bouncing off the walls.  He was the best.  Lee Sung Kyung was awesome and full of swag.  I liked all the other couples, the hyung and friend, the samcheon's romance, it was all cute and fun.  I can't say much against it, it was fun and great.

224. Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo 달의 연인 - 보보경심 려 (2016) Korean

Lee Joon Ki, Lee Ji Eun, Kang Ha Neul, Hong Jong Hyun, Byun Baek Hyun, Ji Soo, Nam Joo Hyuk

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A+

At least there were pretty oppas.  Can't say much else for it, the writing was all over the place, but the actors did a good job in spite of that.  It's just that the characters flipped flopped around so much.  This made me hate the main girl, the character, not IU, and be very confused as to anyone's motivations.  The show would go through waves of being cute and then just stupid.  It was frustrating and more often than not I was bored and disappointed.  It changed so much that looking back we were like, "wait, was that the same drama?"  I totally forgot she was from modern times by the end because so much weird shiz happened.  The pace was the number 1 problem, and then consistency was a big deal, because the characters changed back and forth so much that you don't know who they are or what they are doing most of the time.  Also, mostly everyone but Joon Ki was annoying at least part of the time, and then they made Joon Ki act like an evil crazy person, so there wasn't even that.  It was one big eye roll most of the time, and particularly at the end.  It was ridiculous.  The show had fun moments, but was ridiculous most of the time.  I think one excuse for the bad writing is that they were trying to adapt a Chinese drama to Korean history, so they had to fit everything that happened into the drama into as much historical events as possible, but since the two don't really work blow for blow, some of it was so forced it was frustrating.  Also, what the freak ending!  It was kind of lame and weird.  Why did they try to redeem everyone?  So dumb.  No one wants to waste time on the turd bucket prince, or see how pathetic Wookie became.  So many flashbacks!  Just in case we forgot it really was the same drama.  Seriously.  But there were plenty of hot men.  I love Lee Joon Ki and he was amazing in all the crazy different things they made him do.  Kang Ha Neul consistently stole Lizabreff's heart, until he was crazy bad, and then at least he was still hot and a good actor.  Guyliner (Hong Jong Hyun) was also a favorite of mine, he definitely did a great job, plus had impeccable eyeliner and skin, even after hiding out in the wilderness for a year or so.  I loved Queen Yoo (Park Ji Young) she is the best!  All the queens were really.  Classy and amazing, even though the script sucked.  Nam Joo Hyuk's character was the smartest person in the show.  Really there were a lot of stupid people or at least stupidity in the show.  So yeah, liked the actors if not the characters were good.  It bounced between being interesting, cute, boring, and just horrible.  It was inexplicable how much it changed.  But at least Lee Joon Ki was beautiful, even when he was being crazy.  That's about it.