289. I'm Not a Robot 로봇이 아니야 (2017) Korean

Yoo Seung Ho, Chae Soo Bin, Uhm Ki Joon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I'm so lazy, I'm finally writing the post for this like what, a week after the fact?  Oh well.  Still having computer issues.  I really loved this show though.  It was cute, and fluffy, and full of heart.  I loved almost every single character and was rooting for them.  What was there not to love when I had my puppy Yoo Seung Ho, who was overly lovable in this, one of my favorite girls Chae Soo Bin, and naturally my Grumpy Cat (Uhm Ki Joon)?  Also the ensemble was great and included more favorites, including Kang Ki Young, Eom Hyo Seop, and Seo Dong Won (although he was a bit frustrating at first).  Everyone did a great job and exceeded my expectations.

I'll admit I first got excited about this drama, it was because Dong Ha was supposed to be the lead.  I absolutely love him, while I didn't have any particular feelings about Yoo Seung Ho, although he's a cute puppy.  Grumpy Cat made me watch it anyway, but I had no problems with the leads once I started the show.  This role was made for Yoo Seung Ho.  He was perfect.  The perfect combo of awkward, innocent, cute and naive/prickly.  The cutest lonely boy with trust issues ever.  He stole the rest of the show for me that though I still loved Grumpy Cat so much, he was so clearly not the guy that I couldn't even mourn for him... but there was little reason to.  Things turned out just perfect in all aspects.  What a bunch of cute nerds!

I was also really impressed with Chae Soo Bin's robot acting abilities.  She was so very clearly two different people, one the actual robot and then the human girl it was based on.  Even when there were memory overlaps it was pretty impressive to see her be both.  Although it was weird to see her literally be both, like interacting in the same shot.  Weird.  Whatever, the show was good, I loved it and looked forward to watching it every week.  Fun and cute.

Men Who Make Me Watch Dramas Against My Will: Ahjussi Edition

It's been a while and I've realized that I need revisit this topic of actors who I love so much I watch pretty much anything for them.  I realized that I need to pay homage to the Ahjussi in my life, because as I grow older, the oppas I like are pretty much all really ahjussi.  Am I really that close in age to 40?  Eek!

Yeah, that's the definition I'm going to use for Ahjussi- 40 and up.  Omo, do I love the ahjussi these days.  I find myself way more attracted to them, and able to connect to them, then say, those puppies in the high school dramas.  Yeah, when I do watch the high school dramas I am checking out the teacher actors, like in School 2013 or Sassy Go Go, who have some of the oppas (or donggaps) that I love.  So here is a list of "Ahjussi" actors (some of who are just barely 40) who I would watch anything for, or have watched complete nonsense for, or would just love to see in everything.  Can't they just be in everything so the quality of everything goes up?

273. Nightmare Teacher 악몽선생 (2016) Korean

Uhm Ki Joon, Kim So Hyun, Lee Min Hyuk, Seo Shin Ae

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

After the lameness of Golden Cross, I needed to see my Grumpy Cat (Uhm Ki Joon) in something more worthy of his greatness.  What better than a webdrama where he is a teacher who is making his students live their nightmares so he can steal their souls and teach them life lessons?  Answer, lots of things, but this was also a good option.  It was actually not too bad for a webdrama.  It wasn't that creepy, sadly, and it was very moralistic and stuff, but I still liked it.  It was done in serial format, with a new kid with a new problem every two episodes.  Some of the mini story arcs were more relatable than others, which really helped with the quality or enjoyability of the story arc.  Lizabreff couldn't get into the story about the overachiever student who studied until he lost his memory of anything else, while I cared less about the girl who wanted to look perfect and be the prettiest so she went all Dorian Gray on us.  Although I liked the Dorian Gray part of it.  We also both struggled with the lonely, dreamer girl who dreamed herself a boy friend and a stalker.  Why would you want the stalker?  He turned out only slightly less scary than the boyfriend actually.  While her stupidity was the worst, I loved that one the best because it was probably the creepiest one.  The end was almost the creepiest, which I was excited for, but it stayed pretty tame and not horrific like I wanted.  Oh well.  It was very moralizing and we all learned a lesson.  The end.  The important part was that Uhm Ki Joon was amazing and I loved him, as he just stood there, being awesome and leading the kids to their doom... haha.  It was a good drama to appreciate him in, and that's what I needed, so it was perfect.

269. Golden Cross 골든 크로스 (2014) Korean

Kim Kang Woo Lee Si Young, Uhm Ki Joon, Han Eun Jung, Jung Bo Suk

Drama Rating: 3/10     Neck Score: A+++

Let's take a guy with a normal family who has struggled a bit because they are as good as they are normal, even though they fight and stuff and don't get why they have to suffer when they are good, and then let's ruin their lives completely just to give us the premise of this show: a secret chaebol organization that steps all over normal people for their greedy, economic controlling power.  There, we have the set up for a perfectly normal revenge drama.  Prosecutor in training, who also happens to be a former Taekwondo star, whose family struggles because of his super upright, honest banker dad, losing everything when his said upright, honest dad is framed for murdering his little sister.  It's obviously set up so this prosecutor will go on a holy rampage and take this secret organization down with his smart brain and snazzy taekwondo skills.  His crush is both the villain's daughter and the prosecutor of his father's case, that's going to lead to a bit of drama, exciting!  Typical revenge melodrama, right?  Well, let's take this typically set up plot and logical progression and do the opposite of everything logical.  That equals this show.  I was so disappointed.

241. Defendant 피고인 (2017) Korean

Ji Sung, Uhm Ki Joon, Kwan Yuri, Oh Chang Suk, Uhm Hyun Kyung

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Woah.  What can I say besides "this show was amazing?"  I loved it so much.  It's mosaic structure at the beginning was great, as we flashed between the past and present and Ji Sung not being able to remember anything.  He was amazing.  I also loved Grumpy Cat.  Well, I loved to hate Grumpy Cat in this, while also just loving him.  He is just so good at what he does.  He plays such well rounded villains.  Even when they really aren't well rounded individuals.  Seriously though, how did he make me feel for him and despise him at the same time.  He was a horrible, psychopathic evil dude, who also just wanted to be loved.  To be normal.  To have everything he was always denied (from his perspective).  How did he make me cry at one moment and then rage scream the next?  Darn it, Grumpy Cat!  I love you, man!  Then we have a huge cast of just the best and worst people ever.  It was always fun to see how the best people in this show were the people in prison.  I loved the cellmate bromance between all 6 of those men.  They were the best.  There were so many good twists and turns in this show.  It always kept me excited.  Then, when I thought I couldn't handle another episode with another truck of doom, or another perjury ruining everything, they twisted the normal tropes and made me laugh.  Optimus Cheol Sik for the win!  It had the right amount of drama, intensity, tears, and humor.  Just the way I like it.  I felt all the emotions.  It had a stellar cast, mostly.  Even the less good peeps were passable.  Loved that it was not about romance, although I would have been fine with the brother-in-law and lawyer hooking up.  I loved the one side couple that did happen, but that is a story for those that see it.  Once again, it was amazing, and I loved it.

Madame Derp Face Antoine: Bad Nicknames That Are Clearly Out of Love

I'm super enjoying Madame Antoine right now, and mostly because besides being funny in its own right, it is the perfect ground for Derp Face (Sung Joon) to do what he does best.  Make derp faces.  If I tried to capture every face he makes that makes me laugh, I would basically just have to be constantly taking screenshots the entire time instead of enjoying the show.

Which brings me to the perfect time to discuss this topic, which I had been meaning to since I admitted that I was crushing on Fish Bangs: my habit of creating horrible nicknames out of endearment.

"I love Choi Daniel in So Ji Sub's Body" and Some Nicknames in Phantom

I was surprised at how much this drama sucked me in at once.  Now I regret not watching it when it first came out, but not at the same time, because now we could watch it as fast as we wanted... and that was very very fast.

How could I resist watching it when I finally figured out that it had some of my favorite actors?  So Ji Sub (that man is just so very sexy), Choi Daniel (I'm pretty sure I just want to marry him, he's so freakin' hot), and Uhm Ki Joon (also known as Grumpy Cat). Once I figured that out, I was watching it pretty much the next day.

Now to talk about this show without too many spoilers or whatnot.  But it's old, so that shouldn't be too big of a problem... unless you're like me and waited to watch it...

121. Phantom 유령 (2012) Korean

So Ji Sub, Lee Yeon Hee, Uhm Ki Joon, Kwak Do Won, Song Ha Yoon, Choi Daniel

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

Blow my mind, why don't you!  Amazing!  I usually predict everything before  it happens, but not so much in this one.  Especially in the first few episodes.  Tricked us.  Then they kept trying to trick us, but we did figure things out a bit better once we got more familiar with the style.  It's more like an American cop show than a Korean drama.  The style of tropes that is, although it's still very Korean.  Also, there are just so many awesome people cast in it.  I started it for So Ji Sub, Choi Daniel, and Uhm Ki Joon (aka Grumpy Cat) but I ended up just loving Kwak Do Won (who I hated in Good Doctor).  Man that dude is a good actor.  Crazy Cow was my favorite character, and I thought I was going to hate him.  That just shows you how much the first two episodes tricked me.  Also this has about as much romance as 3 Days, in the fact that it really doesn't have much of a romance, at least not the one that you are going to expect.  It just keeps wishy washing around with the main romance, but that is not even a problem.  I would give it a higher rating, but there were a few holes in the plot, even though it was pretty much awesomely written, and there was some frustration (especially with a few of the tiny plot arcs that were suddenly too predictable), but really, I just loved this show.  Except I am now really paranoid about cyber security, which I was already super big into.

72. Scent of a Woman 여인의 향기 (2011) Korean

Kim Sun Ah, Lee Dong Wook, Uhm Ki Joon, Seo Hyo Rim

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I never thought I would love watching a show about cancer so much.  I watched this one with lizabreff (who loves Lee Dong Wook) and we had the best time of it.  I still occasionally break out into a chorus of "You are sooooo beautiful!" which was the awesome Junsu OST (yay JYJ!).  Junsu didn't just do the OST for this show, he had a cameo appearance too, which showed me to be much for of a fangirl for Junsu than I thought (I still love you Jaejoong!)  As silly as the plot is with a girl realizing she has terminal cancer and deciding to live her life instead of wasting it at the sucky job she has and so suddenly has a rich chaebol dude fall in love with her is, it was so much fun to watch.  Both men (named "Sad Puppy" and "Grumpy Cat" by us) were very loveable.  There really wasn't that huge love triangle type deal, because Grumpy Cat (Uhm Ki Joon) was just a friend who wanted the best for her, even if he unknowingly made Sad Puppy(Lee Dong Wook) jealous and thus take more action.  Even though the plot is sad, with her basically dying through the whole show, it was still hopeful and funny enough to make up for it.  However, this might just be the whole experience of watching with friends that made me like it more.  It's pretty silly really, and the other girl is a bitca who pulls lots of nasty tricks.  However, the chemistry between the main couple is off the charts, and that sexy tango scene... wow.  Sad Puppy makes it sexy (even when Grumpy Cat is a better dancer).  So even if the premise or actual show is still, grab a friend and watch it anyways, because it is compelling enough to keep you watching despite all else.