420. Good Casting 굿캐스팅 (2020) Korean

Choi Gang Hee, Yoo In Young, Kim Ji Young, Lee Sang Yeob, Lee Jun Young, Lee Jong Hyuk

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

Good Casting was a good combination of awesome spy action, comedy, and romance. It is the girl power spy show that isn't afraid to just be silly. The best part is that while all the women are off being bad-A spies and getting things done, the dudes all think they are in some kind of romantic comedy. But even though the ladies are pretty awesome, they are also pretty flawed, which I know made some people struggle at the beginning. This isn't a show about perfect, top notch spies. It's about a bunch of misfit spies who were thrown together to not get the job done, but they get it done anyway, even with all the slapstick.

Baek Chan Mi (Choi Gang Hee) is a loose cannon who lets her temper get the best of her, making huge mistakes. She lost the target and endangered a team member last time, so is determined to not to lose him this time. Hwang Mi Soon (Kim Ji Young) is basically retired and living the life of an ahjumma. She is rusty at best, but is still crazy good at undercover, in spite of her being past her prime. Im Ye Eun (Yoo In Young) is a white agent (think completely green). She's been working for the NIS for a while, but has kept out of the field and worked support and tech. This is her first field assignment. She is also a single mom. They are all put on a team to catch Michael, an elusive international technology thief/dealer. Michael managed to escape and kill Chan Mi's teammate last time, and this team is the last resort.

Women Who Make Me Watch Dramas Against My Will: Second Leads and "Bitcas" Edition

I am so glad that as I was deciding to do this list, that there were so many wonderful women that I love that I could produce just as many of these lists for the actresses I would watch anything for, as for the actors.  I thought I would start with the ones that I fell in love with as they played the second female leads, the bitcas, if you will.  I love girls who play strong women, who play jerks, or even crazies, and are still so lovable and even the best thing ever.

They have such acting chops that even if I hate their character, I have to also grudgingly like them because they make them so sympathetic and real all the same.  You hate them, but also hate that you hate them because you love them too.  Or you hate that you love them, since they are being so evil... It all comes down to really loving them because they are awesome and play those evil or annoying roles like a boss.  So here are some of my favorite bad girls, who aren't your sweet young things, although they could play them like a boss too, because they are amazing.

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.

181. Oh My Venus 오 마이 비너스 (2015) Korean

So Ji Sub, Shin Min Ah, Yoo In Young, Jung Gyu Woon, Henry Lau, Sung Hoon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

This was way better than I thought it was going to be.  I mean, shows about weight loss and having to change your image to find love and happiness are blech to me in typically.  But I love So Ji Sub and Shin Min Ah, and them together was sure to be worth something even if the plot was meh.  But it surprised me.  It wasn't about getting a makeover and getting a man.  It was about being healthy and healing, but it was more about total healing, like attitude, heart, emotional, etc.  The OTP was better than expected too.  What genuine people.  They were both people who weren't going to put up with crap, we honest about how they felt and especially about each other.  He fell in love with her way before she lost weight and suddenly became beautiful, so when he saw her dimples for the first time, that was cute.  They were overly cute and not in a bad way.  In fact there was really no one to hate in this show, unless it be that step-uncle, the grandma, PD Ex, and naturally the stalker pervert.  But even they were only mild hates.  They generally made everyone redeemable.  I actually was just as invested in the second leads romance as I was in the main leads.  I love Yoo In Young, so much that I looked to her for inspiration in my latest hair style.  So I liked that her character was not just bitca in this one, but that she had the issues she was dealing with (however badly she was) and we were more anxious about her bad decisions than about hating her.  And Wiener Thinker was surprisingly a nice guy and not the d-bag ex we expected him to be.  I loved them together and was more frustrated about them at the end, and whether they would get together or not, than anything else.  You know you have a good set of couples when every one of them makes you say "those two! Oh!" when they are doing something cute.  Then of course Henry and Sung Hoon were adorable and sexy.  Basically there was a decent set of characters which made up for any plot holes (why did there have to be a car accident and a year recovery gap?  Huh?) and silliness.  There was only one episode that was insufferable and made us tweet to get through it, and even that one wasn't that bad.  So basically if you want good chemistry and a couple that isn't afraid to express themselves, this is probably a good option.  I mean, how many other dramas have the girl seducing the guy?  Repeatedly?  So even if it had a few cheesy parts and a few head scratching moments, it was better than most romcoms I've seen.  Good job.

157. Mask 가면 (2015) Korean

Joo Ji Hoon, Soo Ae, Yeon Jung Hoon, Yoo In Young

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A

They took an already stupid show and turned it into complete and utter nonsense.  No surprising at all.  This show was seriously a addicting as crack, so overly dramatic and ridiculous that I couldn't help but want more.  It was already nonsense, but it ended way lamely.  It was like a crazy barrel roll of madness that suddenly took an abrupt nose dive down to boring nonsense town.  Boo.  Ok, so Suk Hoon (Yeon Jung Hoon) was the best and the worst villain ever.  But mostly just the worst.  He seriously needs to be added to the hated villains list, because, he is loathsome.  Smirking all the time.  But he did make me laugh all the time.  Every time he dramatically opened a door.  I'm laughing just thinking about it.  Min Woo (Joo Ji Hoon) might have been one of the best heroes ever though, in the honesty department anyways.  He always saw through people's crap and was super up front.  He was always just asking "what the shiz do you mean by that?" or calling out the crap with a "stop lying about this," etc.  Cute couple, lots of cute moments, but really too many moments of stupidity all around... except Min Woo was a pretty constant smart guy that no one listened to.  Anyways, it was both painful and addicting and then absurdly boring.  By the end no one cared what was going on at all and there were huge plot holes and they tried to redeem everyone and it was so bad.  All I wanted was an overly dramatic ending, maybe with a murder/suicide of the bad couple.  That would have been perfect.  Sigh of disappointment.  I just wanted it to stay the same kind of bad the whole time.  Was that asking too much?  Apparently.  Boo.