444. Falling Into You 因為我喜歡你 (2020) Taiwanese

Puff Guo, Jiro Wang, Zhang Ben Yu, Chen Jiong Jiang

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I realized that it had been a while since I've watched a Taiwanese Drama (I've been focusing on Mainland China lately) and so I browsed what was there, and I realized that I had missed watching this drama with Puff Guo, which is terrible because I absolutely love her. I will watch anything and everything for her. Added bonus was that Jiro Wang was her male lead, and I don't mind that one bit. He's hot. So I immediately pressed play and it immediately filled the hole that my last fluffy drama ending had created. It was so cute and fun. I loved that it was shorter (13 episodes) so they didn't drag things out or waste time on unnecessary stuff. I loved that it was once again about a fighter girl, this time a taekwondo athlete, and a dude who falls in love with her because she's an awesome and a fighter, and I love the mutual respect. Were there still some problems? Yeah, it's awkward at times, but ultimately it was cute, fluffy, and funny. It was even on the meta side, especially with our self-centered, bubbly start up CEO male lead who thinks of himself as the male lead of a drama anyway, and so is constantly referencing it.

407. Triad Princess 極道千金 (2019) Taiwanese

Eugenie Liu, Jasper Liu, Chang Zhang Xing, Hung Yan Siang

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I don't know whether to appreciate or loath this Netflix entry into Asian dramas. I like that more are being produced and the better accessibility of it, but they keep trying to Westernize the format too much, which I hate. The thing I like the most about Asian dramas is that they are short, one season shows with a well structured arc that then ends. Triad Princess suffered from this new short seasons crap that is being pulled where they give the drama a 6 episode season and then waffle about there being a next season, so that the drama has to be completely wrapped up, in case there is no second season, but still open ended enough for there to be naturally another season should they decide it was popular enough? I've already had the struggle of waiting what seems like a full year for the next 6 episodes of Kingdom, but that one didn't end so much as pause. This one seems like they hopes to get a second season, but it doesn't look like that's the case, so I am reviewing it now.

403. The Ghost Bride 彼岸之嫁 (2020) Taiwanese-Malaysian

Huang Pei Jia, Wu Kang Jen, Ludi Lin, Kuang Tian

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

I binge watched this over the weekend, because it's fun and only 6 episodes. But, like all Netflix shows, I'm not actually sure if this is the first season, or if this was the whole show. I feels like the whole story is over, but they left the ending open just enough that I wouldn't put it passed them to add another "season" based on the show's success. I'd watch it if another season came out, not going to lie (I'd watch anything for more Chris Wu) but the story is clearly over. It would have to be a whole new story and adventure, resolving only that one moment that made the ending open enough to justify it. But like I said, it doesn't need it, the story arc with the whole ghost bride thing is done.

I started it based off of the trailers and story line, which looked interesting. It definitely lived up to that. Then we met Chris Wu's character and I got excited (I didn't know he was in it when I started- happy bonus!) and I would have finished it no matter what, so I'm glad it was awesome. My biggest complaint about the show is: what the heck did they do to Ludi Lin's eyebrows? It's like they filled them in way too aggressively, which makes it look like he's wearing fake press on eyebrows, like those fake fur type mustaches. It was incredibly distracting and dropped him to third place in the hotness list- the fact that his character was pretty lame too doesn't help. To be honest, as much as I love Chris Wu and think he's super handsome (he ranks high on my top sexy neck's list), the villain was probably the hottest in terms of pure physical good looks. He's another one of those "hot and evil" types, as the T-list would say. Character-wise though, I'm still 100% team heavenly guard Chris Wu. He's my style. Good and mischievous with a little bit of arrogance. But to be fair, hot and evil is also one of my types. Wishy washy childhood friends with fake eyebrows are not my style.

I guess I should talk about the story too. I loved it. It was interesting, fun, and also surprising. I didn't fully know what to expect, so the twists were nice. It's also a good balance between comedy, fantasy, and horror. It's obviously a ghost story, but it's also a murder mystery and afterlife crime story. Li Lan's father's business was ruined and his health is deteriorating. Then some old friends- a still wealthy family proposes a deal that can save them through her marriage to their son, who just recently died. Making her a ghost bride to appease the son who died too young and unmarried isn't exactly a way to treat old friends. As she is is trying to figure out the best option, she begins to be haunted by her proposed husband, and finds there is more to his death, and the family in general, than meets the eye. But then you have actual time spent in the underworld, plots, scheming, and trickery. Basically, it's a really fun story. They did rush the mystery part of the ending a bit, but since that's just one of the plots, it was fine. But I literally just ordered the book it's based on through my library, because I liked it that much. It's well worth the watch.

346. Before We Get Married 我們不能是朋友 (2019) Taiwanese

Puff Guo, Jasper Liu, Steven Sun, Phoebe Yuan, Nita Xia

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

I thought this was going to be an affair drama when I first started it, and the opening credits definitely seemed to confirm that, as well as the first couple of episodes. But the drama changed a lot as it went. Characters changed a lot as we got to know them and their motivations, but also as they grew and interacted with each other. Example: Chu Ke Huan came off as a douche (and borderline rapey even) in the first, maybe, three to four episodes. Li Hao Yi seemed like a nice guy, if not boring. Han Kefei seemed like an annoying and mean friend. But by the end, Ke Huan is clearly a sweetheart and the most observant and understanding guy, Li Hao Yi is an overbearing idiot, and Han Kefei is an MVP. It quickly showed that it wasn't about an affair, it was about character growth and realizing that just because something isn't wrong, or someone isn't bad, doesn't mean they are the right choice either. It's about self-discovery and getting out of a situation that would be eventually toxic, and maybe a potential affair (or should I just say meeting a person you click with more) can be the catalyst to realizing you need a change and need to change yourself. It also helped that Puff and Jasper have AMAZING chemistry. I loved them in Love Myself or You (aka Pleasantly Surprised), so this pairing was the reason I started in the first place. They did not disappoint in that aspect.

303. Meet Me @ 1006 1006的房客 (2018) Taiwanese

Lego Lee, Hsieh Nikki, Xie Kun Da

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

This is the highest rating I've ever given a Taiwanese drama, and it 100% deserved it! (Well, my love for Lego Lee might have inflated it a tiny bit.... maybe...). It was a mystery crime fantasy drama that actually surprised me and had me guessing. There were plot twists that I couldn't foresee that were actually good. It was a bit mind boggling, and that was awesome. Plus all the actors were really good and had good chemistry, and there was a wonderfully progression of our OTP. It was a very fun and watchable show. I'm sad it's over, but also glad that it ended so well.


So, it is about a time and space merging that happens in this one apartment every night from 10:06-10:52. The tenant who lives in the apartment 4 months ago, a rookie reporter, and the just suspended lawyer who takes over the apartment 4 months later, suddenly find their two versions of the apartment united making them "roommates" for 46 min every night.

304. Tree in the River 动物系恋人啊 (2018) Taiwanese

Mike He, Gillian Chung, Ray Chang, Sonia Sui, Ken Hung, Lin Yu Pin

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A++

I know that this show was going for a more realistic feel with all the relationships, and it might have started out that way, but I was soon just rolling my eyes at all the couples lack of communication and how contrived their resolutions were. Also how flip floppy they were. It was a bit too much for me. So while I never hated the show, it was never compelling for me. I just watched it because it wasn't annoying enough to stop, but I never looked forward to it every week or anything.

250. The Perfect Match 極品絕配 (2017) Taiwanese

Chris Wu, Ivy Shao, Ben Wu, Xiao Man, Nylon Chen

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A+

This started out really cute and fun, but like most dramas, it got really weird half way in.  Well, actually it started out so cheesy that I couldn't even watch it at first and I had to give it a second chance.  But for Chris Wu and his amazing chin, I did.  It got better for a bit, and then it got crazy.  The typical build of a Taiwanese drama seems to be a series of short but ever increasing dramatic episodes that just build up until you don't even remember how the show started.  Each problem gets resolved quickly enough that you don't hate it too much, but each problem is more ridiculous than the last until you are just watching it to see how the crazy will end.  Fall In Love With Me is the most extreme example of this.  The Perfect Match was no where near as bad, but certainly went full circle in crazy.

**Probably too many SPOILERS ahead, but these are really just how the plot goes.  You can still watch and enjoy if you're into this kind of crazy.**

260. The King of Romance 如朕親臨 (2016) Taiwanese

Lego Lee, Cindy Lien, Gabriel Lan, Serena Fang, Ricie Fun

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

This was completely not what I expected.  All of the synopses made it sound way more about reincarnation.  I wouldn't have minded seeing more of that either, but it really didn't need it, since that wasn't really what it was about.  It was about fate, but not in that way, necessarily.  I was surprised how into it I got, considering it seemed pretty typical.  She was the typical try hard candy character, and he was the gruff tsundere.  But I did like the twists they put in to keep it from just being that.  At least they set up the misunderstandings so they were a little bit believable.  He didn't think she was a stalker until it was suggested to him, after lots of awkward encounters.  She only thought he was a pyeontae because of an unfortunate overhearing of a slang term.  Yeah, it was pretty typical, but isn't that why we like it?

I did really like how they both had their careers.  While she was a hard working chef, we also got to see that she had her problems.  Her complacent attitude about her work or anything in life.  She was like the opposite of a perfectionist, where just good enough was good enough.  Almost right, and so on.  For a workaholic like her, that was an interesting combo.  It was like she was obsessed with working, but had lost her ambition and drive for improvement or perfection.

He was overly blunt, which is a typical trait for a male lead, but we also clearly got to see from the beginning that he was wearing a mask.  He was the cool, smart doctor, who said things too harshly, but he was also a softie.  We could tell that he cared about his patients, even when he seemed too gruff with them, as he would continue to take care of them off of work, or after his part was done.  He was an OB/GYN because he loved children and wanted to ensure their healthy and safe delivery into the world.  That's adorable.

I did say it was all about fate.  Gao Bing Bing, our female lead, is the romantic type who believes in reincarnation, and is waiting for her seventh lover, who she has dreams about from her previous lives.  Sometimes a soldier, sometimes and emperor, etc.  Wang Nuo, our male lead, is a doctor who believes in science.  They are first internet gaming friends who happen to be called Romeo and Juliet.  Then when they meet in real life, of course they don't like each other.  She thinks her fated match is her pastry chef teacher, Bruce Li (hahaha).  Wang Nuo thinks she is just annoying, especially since she doesn't take care of herself.  They meet in real life first as he steals her bike parking spot, and then as he is randomly her gynecologist.  Haha, she ran away as soon as he said she needed an internal check up.  Then he becomes her landlord... and so on.

I loved how their relationship grew.  From hating each other, to tolerating, to becoming friends, to falling in love, it was lovely to watch.  Especially as they were always on a different page, but somehow on the same page.  As they said in the show, they were on the same page of fate, or something like that.  Also, I love Lego Lee.  His acting is good.  He is especially good at crying.  He does this little lip tremble that is so good!  Also, he might be one of the only guys to snort up his snot while crying, and I appreciate that.  That's real crying there.  There were also some twists that I jokingly said would happen, then when it really did I shouted "omo, omo, daebak!" really loud because I had headphones on.  A plot twist that suddenly made everything make sense, but made that bitca first love girl go crazy.

The worst part about it was the drama at the end seemed a little forced.  All of the dramatic parts were super dramatic, that is just how most Taiwanese dramas work.  I got sick of that childhood friend/first love girl.  I wished there had been more to the second romance couple.  I don't know why she needed to break up with him just to figure out her feelings, etc.  Little things like that.  Mostly I just loved it, and especially the main couple.  They were cute, especially since they were mostly best friends, but also cute lovers.  His confession though.  Aw!

This is really long... I must have liked it... a lot.

197. Refresh Man 後菜鳥的燦爛時代 (2016) Taiwanese

Aaron Yan, Joanne Tseng, Lene Lai, Jack Li, JR (Jian Xiao Ru)

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A+

And so ends another Aaron drama... completely ridiculously... well, it's not Fall In Love With Me bad... but it was way less good than the start of the show, when I was actually excited for it.  I think everything went down hill after they were all racist and stuff.  It was all icky after that.  They couldn't come back from that.  Not really.  It was too horrible and inappropriate, etc.  Then the show got shortened, so the plot made less sense... but it probably would have been draggy and ridiculous if it had been 20 episodes, it would have just made more sense in the pacing department maybe.  I did really love the chemistry of the main couple.  Having seen one too many bad/no chemistry couples as it is, this was very important to me.  I loved how their relationship developed both in the past and present, with those flashbacks to high school that made the present more meaningful.  I hated some of the weird cheesy stereotypes it insisted on following.  Also, why was everyone in love with that girl.  Also, way too many FILWM cameos.  We had Jack Li and Aaron, but then we also had Lance.  Tsk tsk, that's too many.  At least the Oz in this one actually did stuff and worked their butts off, on the fear of getting fired and all.  I also liked how Jack Li actually did stuff instead of just staring off into the distance.  He was a little bitca who I hated, but at least he tried.  I especially loved how out OTP made out all the time once they got together.  Good job.  But, the only thing this show had going for it was the OTP and love story, and definitely not the rest of the plot.  All the office politics stuff was boring and then they got racist- yuck- so really the show could have been 10 episodes, with just the love stuff, and it would have gotten at least an 8, but since it had all that boring and racist stuff, it is only a 4.  A mediocre show with a good OTP (despite how dense and dumb she was when it came to love) and Aaron's pretty neck.  Also, what the heck was that breaking the 4th wall at the end.  Ew, no.

186. Bromance 愛上哥們 (2015) Taiwanese

Baron Chen, Megan Lai, Bii, Li Shao Xiang, Yuan Chen, Mandy Tao

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

This was not a great drama.  It wasn't even that good.  What it was was super sexy.  I mean there is super hot Baron Chen constantly making sexy eyes at Megan Lai, like from episode 1, when he is supposed to think that she was a man.  He was still pretty visibly hitting on her, which is weird, but since she wasn't a man it was like "instinctive"...?  I guess.  Well, as weird as it was it made it very, very addictive.  The chemistry between that couple was great.  Also, there was good interactions with the side characters for the most part.  Also, can I say something about Baron Chen's hair.  It's super amazing.  I like want to touch it.  Sadly, Bii's story line was pretty boring.  They didn't even kiss, which was lame because she tried to hint to him that he needed to, but he didn't still.  I wonder if it just got cut out or if they needed to keep them the "innocent" couple since the main couple was clearly gender bending and on the sexy passionate side.  That little baby doll girl was pretty annoying too.  She was just all over the place and pretty lamely written.  Oh well.  There was the lovely Bii soundtrack, which makes up for that, because Bii has an angel voice.  He even like live voiced it once and it was amazing then too.  I'm still pulling for Sean Lee (Li Shao Xiang) as a male lead.  Let's see, he went from 3rd couple dude in Love Family to 2nd couple chef dude in Love Myself or You, now he is 2nd male lead in this... can he be a male lead in 2016, please?  #SeanLeeForMaleLead2016!  He is in a show but it looks like he's the 2nd lead/2nd couple from the poster.  Anyway, ahem.  The plot was dumb.  They threw a bunch of gangster crap, cancer crap, awkward love triangle, pretty much everything, but none of it so intensely that the show was actually about it.  It was basically about them falling in love, which is good, but that meant that it was a little all over the place because everything got resolved so quickly, including the part where she lied to him about her gender... so it's not a good show, but it's addicting as candy, and about as fluffy as candy... so super enjoyable to watch.  Plus, Baron Chen's hair.  Woop.  Lizabreff was always commenting on his "bedroom eyes" which are magically sexy/sensual and adoring at the same time, which makes all of us swoon along with our lovely tomboy.  I love how she stays strong the whole time too, being super aggressive in the relationship too.  Anyway, it's enjoyable and that's about all I can give it, but hey, that's enough.

158. When I See You Again 他看她的第2眼 (2015) Taiwanese

Jasper Liu, Mandy Wei, Jet Chao, Ivy Wei

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

Generally good for a drama about misunderstandings.  I liked how in the relationships at least, it was pretty realistic. The main couple were pretty polar opposite, and naturally that was going to cause problems.  He was one of those nerdy geniuses who don't like people so much, and she was a super friendly take action girl.  Then you have the couple who are both sick in their own way, physically and emotionally who relate to each other and find healing, but not before a bunch of ridiculous revenge drama.  The worst part of this show is that everyone had to be redeemed, which is an old Taiwanese favorite.  The problem is that when everyone is redeemed, the show gets preachy, moralistic, and makes you want to gag at the end.  I didn't mind that the mom and antagonist were redeemed and learned their lesson.  That was a given from the start.  They were setting up that from the beginning when they bothered giving them things like tragic backstories and cancer.  But when they are also redeeming the random bully kid from their past?  No, that is just gag worthy.  Why!?!  But honestly, as a drama it was very watchable, even though it was a bit draggy in how long misunderstandings dragged on, and way too much screen time for the 2nd leads (you know, the people they insisted on redeeming).  I think I angry tweeted the most about how stupid the mom was.  She was supposed to be this powerful, accomplished CEO, instead she was a a petty, emotional, and manipulable mess.  So dumb.  But hey, she was redeemed in the end, so she's going to get better (cue the gagging).  Still, I liked it.

156. Drunken to Love You (aka Love You) 醉後決定愛上你 (2011) Taiwanese

Joseph Chang, Rainie Yang, Kingone Wang, Tiffany Hsu, Alien Huang, Tom Price

Drama Rating: 6.5/10     Neck Score: A

Probably the world's cutest OTP.  That's the only thing that makes this drama work.  You just fall in love with the main couple.  As for everyone else in the drama, they're actually not that bad, for 2nd male leads, 2nd 2nd male leads and crazy bitcas.  Kingone was a nice guy who messed up, Alien was a turd (and I love him unreasonably as an actor), but also an ok nice guy, and the bitca just didn't know how to give up because of her obsessive personality, but was still a nice person consistently, even though she made a lot of stupid decisions.  The biggest problem I had with it, is that I have Fall In Love With Me Syndrome, meaning that I don't trust Taiwanese dramas any more so at the first sign of crappy drama in the previews, and I panic and imagine the worst, making it hard to watch the next episode, but in this show's case, it was never that bad, and they were actually just tricking you into thinking it would be.  This is sort of a second in the series to Fated to Love You, and like it's predecessor, it is a roller coaster of draggy tiny drama.  The main couple can't be happy for more than two seconds because some random tiny drama happens.  It's frustrating as crap, but at least it never ACTUALLY gets Fall in Love With Me bad.  What makes it different from Fated is that Jie Xiu was a whole lot more mature than Cun Xi, who was a total butt.  In fact he was more like Lee Gun.  He was dedicated to making her happy from pretty much day one, and didn't take forever trying to figure out what he wanted and being hung up on "Anna."  I loved how quickly he got rid of that poster of Ai Wei.  Of course his being awesome and falling in love with Xiao Ru that quickly (but how could he not when she was that cool?) just made it harder to wait 18/30 episodes for them to get together because of all the stupid crap that went down.  But at least there was some cute in every episode to make up for the little bit of crap in nearly every episode.  Also, they have to make the ending cheesy and inappropriate. I'll take it, if it means that it is finally ending and I can get my happy ending for my dream OTP.

148. Murphy's Law of Love 莫非，這就是愛情 (2015) Taiwanese

Danson Tang, Ivelyn Lee, Jolin Chien, Jenna Wang

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

Slow clap for this drama.  It didn't really do all that crap that most Taiwanese dramas do.  In fact, it was the most consistently logical RomCom I've seen in a while.  It was probably a first for me that during the break up scene I was more inclined to say: "You go, girl!" than anything else.  Obviously I didn't want them to break up, but her reasons were so genuine and logical that I couldn't call her stupid, just cowardly.  The worst part of the whole show has to be how lame Jolin Chien's character was.  He was pointless to the point that I hated him.  He was just there.  He was a catalyst, not a character.  He never actually did anything but help her get together with the main dude, and not in a cool way either.  Anyways, Danson Tang is whew sexy.  Especially his stares.  Rawr.  So the whole show was about the ups and downs of relationships, and there was plenty of character growth for the main couple because of it.  That part was the best.  It was all about personal growth as well as growth as a couple.  It got a bit draggy in parts, but then made up for it with all too much sexiness and out right adorable.  It actually stopped at 19 episodes rather than continuing the draggy though, so points.  Ji Jia Wei (Danson Tang) is, in the cuteness factor, the best boyfriend ever.  Better still because he matures and really does become the best boyfriend, so then I can say he's just all around best boyfriend material.

120. Go, Single Lady! 真愛遇到他 (2014) Taiwanese

Ady An, Mike He, Shin, Zhang Xianzi, Fu Xinbo

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A-


I think the only thing wrong with this show is some dragginess.  Other than that, Mike He is amazing.  Seriously, Fangjiang Yu is one of the best male leads ever.  He's up there with Lee Gun in awesome leads.  I've never seen such an optimistic, hard working, nice, honest, and real chaebol type male lead.  This couple is one of my favorite ever.  I do like how they even set up the lamer plot points from the beginning, so it wasn't sudden birth secrets, we knew they were coming from the start, which made them more bearable.  Like most Tdramas, it did get draggy, both at the beginning and the end, and went dumb at the end, but not to the FILWM or even Autumn's Concerto extent.  It just got a little draggy and ridiculous separation and then it ended just as cute as ever.  I love love love how cute and funny this couple was.  Also, randomly Wei Chang turned out awesome too.  Shin doesn't have a yucky neck, but he does have a slightly weak chin, which is made to look worse because he's so tall he always has to look down, but even if he isn't that hot, his character made up for it a hundred score.  This show was just full of awesome people and was a lot of fun to watch.

103. Love Family 有愛一家人 (2013) Taiwanese

Chris Wang, Jack Li, Serena Fang, Amanda Chou

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A+

Why, oh why, Taiwan?  It started out boring, and then got decently good, and then went so dramatically drawn out that there was no way that couple could actually get back together again because he was being a noble idiot to the point of being an outright d-bag (complete with the side swoop d-bag hair) but no they wrap it all up in the last episode magically and fill it with cheesy crap hoping we'll forgive them.  Happens every time.  But, I do have to say that the bromance in this was the best in the entire world.  Sheng Ren and Long Shi were the best.  That bromance literally make everything worth it.  The part that bugged me the most was how she faked it, that really cheapened the whole emotional experience that we all went through.  She's one good actress... boo!  The writing was so bad in the last quarter that it almost ruined the earlier experience for me.  But they do love to drag things out, don't they?  Never making it so bad that you want to die, but always snatching happiness right at the moment it could have happened, right until the very end.  It's very frustrating when you've already sat through 60 episodes of fun and cute only to be tortured with 11 episodes of bitter misunderstandings before they lamely get together at the end.  Boo.

100. Love Myself... or You? 喜歡·一個人 (2014) Taiwanese

Puff Guo,  Jasper Liu, Lene Lai, Jolin Chien

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

There were times that I was ready to panic, because I was too scarred by Fall in Love With Me, and I feared that this would follow in it's footsteps... but no, it did not.  It was the normal ups and downs of a Taiwanese romcom.  If it was ever over-the-top, it was only in lighthearted cheesiness, which is this show's M.O.  But that is what made it so fun!  Especially after all of the three episodes of dramatic crap, it was so fun to watch, definitely what I needed.  Also every single man in this show is hot.  Every. single. one. of. them.  It's like you don't know where to look because they all look so good!  Ah Jie's dimples!  Swoon.  I fell for Hao Wei, the other man, and I especially loved the Chief (head chef) and loved his side romance.  So much fluffy fun!  Also, I just really appreciate Puff.  I think she's got a lot of talent.  So yes, this one is a fluffy one, but after some Tdramas that were airing at basically the same time (cough FILWM cough cough), this one was a refreshing breeze.

99. Sweet Sweet Bodyguard 剩女保鏢 (2012) Taiwanese

Alien Huang, Summer Meng, Li Li Ren, Yuan Ai Fei

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

The problem with these super long dramas (besides the fact that you have to wait for forever for them to get subbed) is that there is so much time for so much crap to happen.  And seriously in this one just about all the crap did happen, but it was strangely not as horrible as it could have been.  I actually started this one on accident.  It was autoplayed after I had finished an episode of something, and I was too lazy to be social that night, or even stop the autoplay, so I just let it go, and it hooked me right away.  It was delightfully cheesy and different enough to be interesting.  I think the biggest thing I liked about it, besides my deep obsession with Alien Huang, was how realistic it tried to stay while also being over-the-top and crazy.  There was a lot of very natural character developments, and especially a lot of natural relationship developments.  The main couple went from being enemies, to friends, to one-sided love, to the realization they liked each other, to lovers.  That was a good development, the sort that only comes when they make you wait 82 episodes for the happy ending (making the last two episodes the draggiest of them all).  However there was also a bunch of ridiculous situations that all seemed to get solved magically, from the bitca mother suddenly letting her ex-boyfriend (who didn't happen to be the actual father) continue to raise her kid to the thought dead dad magically being alive, rich, and eventually magically coming to the wedding and giving in to the daughter.  Yep, it was cheesy and magically solved a lot of the time.  I don't see why they had to make him blind so we could go through a couple more draggy depressing episodes right there at the end, but whatever.  At least his eyesight wasn't magically healed in the same way as some other temporarily blind story plots.  He did have to go to magical America to get surgery and wait a year (not the year wait!!!!) which is a bit more realistic.  Also, they had to trick us with the blindness until the very very end, and then only give us hints and innuendo to make up for those long drawn out episodes.  Oh well.  I was too invested in all the characters to stop watching because of some severely melodramatic plot twists.  It had it all, but I had to keep watching anyways.  Blindness, check.  Girl who refuses to get an abortion even though she might die, check.  Evil bitca moms being annoying for forever, check and check (since there were two of them).  That one grandma who just wants to match make and have great grandchildren, check.  But the characters all made it worth it to me, so I still liked it.  I just wish it would have been 75 or less instead of 82.  But that is more episodes of Alien Huang... until he was gone to America... those episodes I didn't like so much.

98. My Queen 敗犬女王 (2009) Taiwanese

Cheryl Yang, Ethan Ruan,  James Wen, Harry Zhang

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I think this drama was handled really well, in the fact that it never made me super angry and the random drama that was thrown in never got so bad that we crowed too loudly.  Also, the fantastic leads made it so worth it.  Ethan Ruan made me love him inspite of everything that happened in Fated to Love You, but he was like the perfect man in My Queen.  It's like the noona romance to end all, with an age gap of eight years.  Shan Wu Shuang is a successful editor for iWatch magazine, and Lucas is a "part time pro" who will do basically anything.  They meet on bad terms, but he soon discovers her true self hidden under that touch exterior.  Even when the other peeps come in and try to mess things up, this couple is solid in the fact that they're honest and frank and talk about things.  Even when they are fighting they are honest.  That's something we don't see enough of.  Maybe Shan Wu Shuang likes to hide her feelings a little more, but considering her hurt past, that's typical.  Also there are plenty of other cool peeps to just tell it like it is.  Also, love her mom.  She's the best.

93. Prince William 威廉王子 (2014) Taiwanese

Xie Kun Da, Andrea Chen, Gu Bao Ming, Paul Hsu, An Wei Ling

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: B

I liked this one a lot.  It wasn't too long (only 14 episodes) and it never got too cray cray for no reason.  I mean, it was about a dude who was a bit cray cray so they had to bring in a doppelganger so he wouldn't lose his CEO position.  The hardest part about watching this was waiting for it to get subbed, but now that it's all completely subbed that is no problem.  I've loved Kun Da since the Inborn Pair days, where he and Puff Guo had a more compelling and rewarding love story line than the main two peeps (who took forever to express their feelings).  However this one was less about love than it was about being a good person and loving and forgiving peeps.  So William has a super tragic past involving being kidnapped by his own mom, etc, and so when he is kidnapped again it triggers his panic disorder and PTSD and all that.  However this is like the real deal, not the random PTSD that they tend to throw into dramas, it's like a major plot point.  His already obsessive personality (probably a coping mechanism for the PTSD) and crippling trust issues really made for a powerful plot.  Then you have enough comedy with a fishmonger pretending to be the CEO and falling in love with the little sister... yeah.  No kissing, and not the best necks, but I really enjoyed this one and liked the drama crap even.  It was very well handled and likable.  You don't just get one Kun Da lead man, you get two!  No love triangles!  Yay!

92. Miss Rose 螺絲小姐要出嫁 (2012) Taiwanese

Megan Lai, Roy Qiu, Puff Guo, Jao Jun Ya, Tia Li, Paul Hsu

Drama Rating: 3/10     Neck Score: B

Emotional manipulation.  That was all this show was.  A butt load of emotional manipulation.  It started off so well too.  The premise of a hard working secretary making a bet with a fortune teller that she'd get married that year is cool.  But that plot was like the minor, minor detail and not the main plot.  She's an awkward secretary who ends up in this "golden boy of business's" life and makes him want to break free from his shackles of emotional manipulation.  He is indebted to his boss, who raised him and took care of his mom ever since his dad died, and so has to be engaged to his boss's spoiled daughter who still thinks of him as the chauffeur's son and treats him like crap, all to pay his boss back and take the role of successor.  Once he falls in love with the secretary, then everyone in his world gives him crap and keeps manipulating him, including his mom, who I seriously wanted to slap because she was the worst kind of manipulator.  Then there was the evil head of the secretary's company who was manipulating things because he didn't want the golden boy dude to remove him from the company he was embezzling money from.   Also there was the head bitca who trained the spoiled fiancee in the ways of the bitca, turning her from a spoiled but honest brat into a full fledged bitca.  Then there is the older dude who cruelly dumped the secretary girl for money and career, who decided that he made a mistake and turns into a cray cray creep trying to win her back.  Seriously, a whole lot of crappy manipulation that made it really really hard to finish no matter how hot Roy Qiu is.  Too bad he had to deal with all that crap all the time, I felt so sorry for him.  But Paul Hsu made up for a lot.  His character was adorable, even if his romantic counter part was "stone face" Tia Li.  She's actually way better in this one than she is in Fall in Love With Me, but I never believed she liked Paul Hsu's character, not good acting on her part.  Love Puff, but her character is not the best, but she played it very well.