329. Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter 계룡선녀전 (2018) Korean

Moon Chae Won, Ko Du Shim, Yoon Hyun Min, Seo Ji Hoon, Jeon Soo Jin

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

This one surprised me with how it went many times. The first two episodes were supremely cheesy and everyone was overacting and it was borderline stupid. I wasn't sure if I could take Fish Bangs (Yoon Hyun Min) acting like he couldn't act for 16 episodes. I wasn't sure I was okay enough with the fairy tale when the "Woodcutter" was such a jerk. But I guess that could be true to life, IDK. Then the next few episodes completely changed my mind and I was decently hooked. It wasn't my favorite drama, but I certainly appreciated it more. I especially loved the bromance between Fish Bangs and that cute little TA. But then the genre or direction or whatever changed again....

It really started spinning our heads with the who is who and completely complicated backstory around the fairy tale. It obviously wasn't the classic retelling when the woodcutter died before she could get her wings back and go to heaven. Then it went to a bunch of celestial beings backstory drama that I wasn't expecting at first. I liked it... at first.

286. Witch's Court 마녀의 법정 (2017) Korean

Jung Ryeo Won, Yoon Hyun Min, Jeon Kwang Leol, Kim Yeo Jin

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A+++

We finally watched it! And I'm so glad we did! We started watching it around the time it came out as our girls night with my sister, however the first two episodes proved more than we wanted her kids to see, so we had to choose a different one for that. (We ended up watching Two Cops). So as soon as we finished one of the other dramas we were already watching we started again, and it was amazing.

I love it because it is about her and it stayed about her. In fact while they had a good partnership, Fish Bangs (Yoon Hyun Min) had more of the role that the female leads usually get, the "Man Candy" if you will. I loved their relationship. They were so good for each other. The writing was so strong from start to finish. It was full of wonderful character development, especially for Ma Yi Deum, our wonderful leading lady. Jung Ryeo Won did amazing in it. She deserves all the awards!

251. Tunnel 터널 (2017) Korean

Choi Jin Hyuk, Yoon Hyun Min, Lee Yoo Young, Jo Hee Bong

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I usually just like OCN dramas and this was no exception.  It was great.  I loved all the characters.  The bromances between all of our violent crimes team, and especially between our leads (Meat Head/86 and Fish Bangs FTW!).  So good!  I loved the girl who was, besides that one lapse of logic they made her have so she could be vulnerable enough for the plot to move on (it was super stupid), super smart and bad-a.  I loved her relationships with our bromance too.  I loved how suspenseful it was at times, although some of N's scenes made me have to scream in a pillow because we were watching them at midnight and I didn't want to see bad things happening to my secret secret Vixx bias.  (Screaming spoilers into pillow- you cannot hear them).  All of the men were very cool, and attractive.  Love me some Fish Bangs... and Choi Jin Hyuk... and Kang Ki Young... and N.... so many to love!  And it was some of the better police work I have seen in a drama about police in a while.  It was like they actually did stuff, and not just visiting the crime scenes.  They all pulled their own weight and we saw them do stuff.  Although I don't know why they always have to be so obsessed with getting a confession.  Just indict him!  I did have some concerns with some of the things that they decided to just gloss over.  It was a time travel drama, about a cop from 1986 jumping forward to 2017, but they didn't bother much with the typical time travel stuff, like the butterfly effect, etc. because he stayed most of the time in the future, without much changing the past, etc.  I guess if he is from the past that makes more sense, but his return is bound to change things in the future, but they don't really bother much with it.  Everything they did in the drama could be negated, but whatever, we don't have to see that, and the drama was really good so it doesn't matter.

234. Discovery of Romance 연애의 발견 (2014) Korean

Jung Yu Mi, Eric Mun, Sung Joon, Yoon Jin Yi, Yoon Hyun Min, Kim Seul Gi

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: B

I guess you can't technically say it belongs to the same franchise as "I Need Romance" since it isn't the same network, but it is the same writer, so it definitely has the same flavor.  But it was also different enough to be not completely associated with it.  Lizabreff still likes to say that it is the best of the "I Need Romances" but I might rank it on the same level as I Need Romance 3.  I do like how it has the interview style, where all of the characters are interviewed to show their inner thoughts.  I thought this was cleverly done, as it allowed for the differences in opinions and memories, because half of this show was about the past and what happened during the five years that the main couple dated and how they fell apart and why.  It shows how people have different perceptions of what happened, remember things differently, and nothing is 100% someone's fault.  I liked how the story built from the memories, to make us see that neither one of them was innocent and they both did plenty of stupid things while they were younger and more immature.  It also showed how their relationship had affected each of them in positive and negative ways.  She had become more confident in herself, but had also become manipulative.  He had become more stubborn, but also more aware.  This also left room for plenty of development for their characters which was also nice.  However, in true "Romance" form, the show was dragged out so that the couple would not get together until the last episode, because these shows are about messy, messy relationships where all the ugly comes out before we finally see them get to where they are supposed to be, in the last episode.  This meant frustration as the main love triangle dragged out for forever, even though we knew that Dr. Derpface and her romance was kind of toxic, as she manipulated him and he let her.  We also just really wanted him to be with the other girl.  Thank goodness we had the other couple, Fish Bangs and Seul Gi to make everything better.  They were probably the cutest ever.  I love both of them, so that could only be good things, and it was.  They were hilarious and adorable.  So yeah, good show, if you want a messy, frustrating, but growing and developing love triangle.

189. My Daughter, Geum Sa Wol 내 딸 금사월 (2015) Korean

Baek Jin Hee, Yoon Hyun Min, Park Se Young, Do Sang Woo, Jeon In Hwa, Son Chang Min

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

This show is long, overly dramatic, and ridiculous, and I loved it.  I guess sometimes you just have to watch 50 episodes of cray cray.  I was so entertaining to see all the craziness.  I especially loved telling Lizabreff about all the crazy things that were happening, because she couldn't even handle hearing them.  She'd look at confused and weirded out, wondering how there could be that much ridiculousness in one show.  I mean there were 51 episodes, but there was enough crazy for at least five shows shoved into this one.  The bad peeps are just so bad.  They kind of boggle my mind at how entitled they think they are.  They can't fathom someone getting revenge on them for the nasty things they have done in the past.  They are outright offended at their getting their just desserts, and then they act as if the law couldn't possibly apply to them.  In fact they are the perfect bad peeps to make you super happy and excited to see their demise.  You just can't wait to see them get what they deserve.  But then it's also about stopping the cycle of revenge.  But whatever.  I watched it for Fish Bangs, and I don't regret it at all.  In fact, I loved every second he was on screen.  Sadly, the crap had to happen to make him act dumb for a while, but he was one of the most likable chaebol leads I've seen in a while.  I also just laughed as I saw Son Chang Min act out the villain.  Even he couldn't take his character seriously.  I loved all of the senseless growling he did, because his character was that crazy.  Well, it looked like he was enjoying himself, even if he is a better actor than that role was written.  The worst part was probably how easily the bad peeps were able to bounce back every time.  It's like no one took anything against them seriously.  They were all like cockroaches.  Indestructible to a ridiculous point.  But then, so was Hong Do.  Baked Potato must have almost died like five times in the course of the show.  That's the kind of ridiculousness that was going on.  We even wrote a song about it.  But if you want something overly dramatic and entertainingly so, this is definitely that.  I loved watching it.  It was just pure dramatic entertainment.

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.

My Secret K-Biases, Ridiculous Dislikes, and People I Can't Take Seriously

I don't know why I am not completely honest with my feelings, even down to the celebrity crush level.  I guess I am just a compulsive emotional liar, especially to myself, haha.  You know when you secretly like someone but it's so secret that you don't even tell yourself?  It's not just me, right? ... Ahem.  Well, I do this all the time, and then when I finally realize it and admit it, I'm suddenly like "why did I never...?" or "I can't believe I didn't just admit this..." or "what was I thinking?"

I also have unreasonable dislikes for people.  Sometimes they are based on an impression from a drama that remains long after they are no longer playing that character, but I still can't separate them from that character, and sometimes it is because I think their face looks creepy.  I tell you, they are unreasonable and also a total joke (because I actually don't hate them as people or anything, I just like to hate on them).  I also have people that I just can't take seriously and will lovingly laugh every time I see them do anything... anything at all.

The Nicknames of The Heartless Cruel City

A while back I finally got around to watching Cruel City.  It was amazing.  My queue is filled with melodramas, dramas, and heavy thrillers that I want to watch but usually put off as I waste my time with the fluffy romcoms.  I get around to them eventually, but not as quickly as they deserve.  But I'm glad I finally got around to this one, because it was really good.

I actually really love crime noir things, which is why I try to save them for a special time, when I can really savor them, but it usually turns out that I never have time for them and end up not watching them for forever.  I'm learning to just start them and make time for them.  Because they will be that good.  One thing that is always good about crime noir is the rich assortment of characters who all deserve a great set of nicknames.  Half of them only have nicknames in the show anyway, because that is apparently how the crime world works.

152. Falling in Love With Soon Jung 순정에 반하다 (2015) Korean

Jung Kyung Ho, Kim So Yeon, Yoon Hyun Min

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A

The only thing that made this drama work was Jung Kyung Ho.  Seriously.  He made a total jerk cute and likable, and then his sudden transformation believable, and then totally cute.  Wow.  The plot was... yeah... not my favorite.  The whole return to me heart transplant crap... not cool.  However, it is sad to announce that this was probably the least lame part of this show.  I hated Fish Bangs (Yoon Hyun Min) so much, and the ridiculous dramatic crap of the show's other plot was just lame.  Murder investigation, potentially cool.  How they handled it, not cool at all.  It was basically just 10 episodes (at least) of Fish Bangs being super smart and one step ahead of everything, and being a smug jerk and then them miraculously getting the evidence they need at the very last minute.  Also, they never explained how the happy ending was quite possible.  They just sort of wrapped everything up in a bow.  However, despite all the crappiness, which basically equals a stagnant drawn out corporate makjang fest, the characters were fun (except for Fish Bangs who was one of the worst villains ever).  Well Soon Jung wasn't a very dynamic character, but not the worst I've seen.  She was never annoying and at least started out at a good place, even if she never really grew at all.  I really just fell in love with Kang Min Ho (Jung Kyung Ho), except I really miss his hair from the beginning.  Hair style change for the NOT win.  How could they mess with his luscious locks?  That swoop back of sexiness?  Sad day.  So basically I loved all the parts with Kang Min Ho in them, tolerated the ones with everyone else in them, and was yelling in anger and frustration at all the parts with Fish Bangs.  The problem was that Fish Bangs was in way too many scenes.  Oh well.  Whatever.