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.

220. Bad Guys 나쁜 녀석들 (2014) Korean

Kim Sang Joong, Park Hae Jin, Ma Dong Seok, Jo Dong Hyuk, Kang Ye Won

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I finally got to watch this, I'm a little upset it took me 2 years, because it was amazing.  It was my jam.  I mean, bad guys who are really kind of good guys (I have such a thing for bad guys), fighting crime, and bromance.  So much freaking bromance!  I absolutely loved all of them.  Teddy Bear (Ma Dong Seok) who was just my fave.  Psycho (I was already totally in love with Park Hae Jin) was just perfect.  Sexy (Jo Dong Hyuk) has the best neck, and he was so cool too.  Mad Dog (Kim Sang Joong) and his amazing way of saying "saekki."  I loved how well rounded and complex all the characters were.  They all had their reasons, and problems, and you could see their growth from being animals to becoming human again.  There were some plot holes.  Mostly because it was so short and the main plot had to get rushed a bit at the end.  I would have been fine with it being 16+ episodes.  I loved it.  I mostly hated how annoying they made the girl at times.  She was cool too, until they made her do stupid things without enough reason just to move the plot along.  That was too rushed.  But the fighting.  Whoooo.  Sexy.  It made so much sense.  It was nice and classy.  Brutal and street fighty.  Oh yeah.  Season 2, please.

185. Cheese In The Trap 치즈 인 더 트랩 (2016) Korean

Park Hae Jin, Kim Go Eun, Seo Kang Joon, Lee Sung Kyung

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

Problem #1: I started this show 100% for Park Hae Jin.  Problem #2: The PD is an idiot or something and cut all of Hae Jin Oppa's scenes out.  Problem #3: that gave Freaky Eyes (Seo Kang Joon) too much screen time.  I actually thought he was pretty likable in this show, but why are we wasting so much time on the 2nd male lead?  It makes no sense, the PD must be crazy.  Problem #4: After episode 6 this show stopped making sense and being likable at all.  It was like stuck in a loop of not progressing and being overly dramatic that made me very sad.  I started getting less and less interested in the drama as it went, and every preview made me want to watch the next episode even less.  I finally found the webtoon in English, hoping it would make me like the show again, but it made me hate the show more, because the webtoon actually made sense and was infinitely better than the show.  It made me angry that the show kept getting farther and farther from the webtoon, shafting my leading man and making no sense ever.  So upsetting.  What makes this more upsetting is that the show gripped me in the first episode.  I was already excited for Park Hae Jin, but the show itself was interesting and different, and then it went to the same old lame stuff while also being ridiculous.  I mean, who cuts the male lead out of the show?  That makes no sense.  The character was complex enough without it being further misinterpreted without enough screen time.  The editing also made the once interesting female lead character of Seol into the typical boring, confused, pushover girl for most of the second half too.  She still had good moments, but they were just moments.  Problem #5: that was the most lame-a ending in the history of once good shows.  Well, it was right up there anyway.  Literally this show is Fall In Love With Me bad, only it is worse because it fell from a higher spot.  It definitely had a similar fall for me enough to make me feel FILWM syndrome only this usually did live up to the predicted lameness.  It wasn't quite so bad as FILWM, until the last 2 episodes which were just lame.  So it wasn't as epic, but it was probably just as disappointing because of how much ruined potential there was.  So, I basically forced myself to finish it, only paying attention to the parts with Park Hae Jin, which were way too few and far between.  Sadly, this show had such good potential, as the original material (aka the webtoon and the actors' capabilities) was so good to begin with.  But in the end, it was just disappointing.  Disappointed!

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.

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).

73. My Love From the Star 별에서 온 그대 (2013-2014) Korean

Jun Ji Hyun, Kim Soo Hyun, Park Hae Jin, Yoo In Ah

Drama Rating: 6.5/10     Neck Score: B+

I hope no one gets mad when I say that Kim Soo Hyun's neck is a little short... (they totally stretched his neck in the poster to make him taller than her) and a total trunk neck... or that this show kinda wasn't my fave.  Obviously I still liked it, but the ending kinda killed it for me.  So, I might have been more interested in the creepy killer plot (and just the creepy killer who is so hot) than the love story, so after that was resolved it was sooooooo boring.  The show is way fun though, and different enough with the whole alien thing that it was good.  I loved watching it (until Shin Sung Rok was captured and it dragged out the last episode, with all it's sadness, into like 2.5 episodes) and it was definitely well done.  Super props to Jun Ji Hyun, she was amazing in the role of  Cheon Song Yi.  Also, Do Min Joon (Kim Soo Hyun) was great at the whole alien thing and pretending he didn't like her when he did, and basically being an old man in a young man's body, etc, so good.  The whole murder mystery creepy killer for me was really compelling and how it was going to get solved, etc.  I guess if I just try to remember before the slow stretched out ending, I would probably rate it way higher.  Funny how endings, because they are the last things we watch, can totally ruin shows for us.  But seriously, this wasn't the worst ending in the world.  It was just boring and stretched out.  There wasn't much else they could do.  They kinda wrote themselves in the corner.  Also, there are some hilarious parts, such as the Heirs reference that had me howling because it was unexpected, or the ET reference with her little brother (played by Ahn Jae Hyun) getting a man crush on Do Min Joon.  Good show, just a boring ending.  That's all.