Puck! 퍽! (2016) Korean

Lee Kwang Soo, Jung Hae Kyun, Son Soo Hyun, Kwak Dong Yeon, Jo Yoon Woo

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A++

I can't even handle how much I loved Lee Kwang Soo in this.  I hate sports movies, but I love Kwang Soo, so I watched it.  He is so amazing.  We have all seen him do mostly comedy, which he is brilliant at, so it's always so great to see him pull of serious so amazingly well.  This was basically, in a nutshell: a loan shark lives for a season (like, the hockey season).  Loan shark thug Kwang Soo beats up peeps.  Almost kills someone.  Has to be less violent when getting money back for his boss.  Ends up joining a hockey team so they can win, so he can get the money.  Evil dude tries to get rid of team.  He finds team spirits, etc.  It was basically the plot of every sports movie, but it was also about how sucky life is.  He became a loan shark thug because his wife put him in debt.  He kind of turned off his emotions, etc., to survive.  The other team players also have their own problems.  The end, like most Korean movies, is really open ended and non-conclusive about that part of the stuff.  The life sucks stuff.  But it also still has the miraculous sports movie ending, so it really made me like it better than most.  Plus, Kwang Soo is amazing.  There was one scene in particular that his neck was so sexy (in that red letterman jacket) that I couldn't handle it (fans self).  Whew!  So, it was way better than most sports movies.  It made me cry, but that might just have been because Kwang Soo.  But, yes, it was good.

204. Click Your Heart 클릭유어하트 (2016) Korean

Kwon Min Ah, Baek Joo Ho, Kang Chan Hee, Kim Ro Woon, Lee Da Won, Kim Hwi Young

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

So this was kind of fun, especially as a concept, as it was a choose your own adventure type deal.  But naturally we had to watch all of them.  Especially since there was only 7 episodes and they were only like 15 min long.  I guess this is a pretty good way to publicize a new group.  All for boys were from the rookie group Neoz (which has way more boys, so this is just four of them).  Each boy represents one male lead stereotype.  Jerk popular boy, best friend nice guy, cutie angel boy, and chic bad boy.  The first episode introduced all of them, and from there you got to pick who was pitted against each other and then who would win.  So there is story A. Jock vs bestie, and B. Cutie vs. Bad boy.  We followed our hearts the first time and ended up with the bad boy.  His story was the most compelling.  Our next favorite was the best friend.  Then as a story we liked the jock better than the cutie boy... but as characters we liked the cutie boy way better, because the jock was a jerk.  Typical jerk male lead.  Boo.  Personally, I couldn't handle that cutie kid, because he was way too young for me, but as a cute dongsaeng, he was adorable.  I also loved how Min Ah actually had a character and it made sense for her to be with any of them, some more than others (like in the order of how we liked the stories).  She had that bad luck thing, but she also had attitude and a bit of sass for the most part.  Anyway, I thought it was fun and cute.  Definitely good for some fluff and stuff.

178. Six Flying Dragons 육룡이 나르샤 (2015) Korean

Yoo Ah In, Kim Myung Min, Shin Se Kyung, Byun Yo Han, Yoo Kyun Sang, Chun Ho Jin

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Slow clap.  I loved it.  Seriously long, but never boring.  I actually had some trepidation about starting it because it was so long.  I saw who was in it and what it was about, and I got super excited.  Then I saw how long it was and I was like... ew.  Then I kept hearing such good things about it, that I decided to just watch it anyway.  It was amazing.  I started it with Curdy at first, which slowed me down considerably.  We were already way behind, but we ended up not being able to watch more than one episode at a time because it was too heavy for her.  Soon it was harder and harder to get her to make time for it.  When I saw how into Madame Antoine she was (much more of her type of show), and how she'd drop everything for that one, I knew I needed to press on alone.  Honestly there were times when I could only watch one episode as well, because it is pretty heavy, but it's totally worth it.  I was super sad when Gil Tae Mi (Park Hyuk Kwon) died.  He was my favorite, Gil Seon Mi (also Park Hyuk Kwon) just wasn't as cool.  But at least Gil Tae Mil had one heck of a death scene.  Another sign that this was amazing was that it made me do more research about this period than other sageuks have.  I had to look up everything that happened to see what was the fake and what was the real.  Everyone did amazingly.  Seriously.  I've seen most of these actors before, and have been impressed with them generally, but never so impressed with them as I have been in this one.  Round of applause for every one of these cast members.  I was especially proud of Shin Se Kyung because she was probably the one that's been hit or miss the most for me, but she did awesome.  I love her strong character.  Booyah.  Another thing I love about this is all the character developments.  No one was the same person at the end as they were at the beginning.  Some people changed more than others, but there was absolutely no stagnant characters.  Moo Hyeol (Yoo Kyun Sang) was one of the most startling of the changes, since it was so abrupt, but obviously Bang Won (Yoo Ah In) was the biggest.  But because everyone was constantly changing, I never could love or hate any person 100%.  They were all super dynamic, well-rounded characters.  I couldn't be on any side completely.  That went for the villains too.  I couldn't decide who was worse, because they all took turns being the worst and sympathetic.  Our heroes all took turns doing dumb things and being less sympathetic too.  When it came down to it, only the completely fiction people had less bad decisions, but that makes sense too.  They let everyone be real and conflicted, and messed up, and it was marvelous.  So worth the 50 episodes.  I couldn't give it any less, even if the very last episode was a bit draggy.  I mean, they had to resolve what they could so we didn't think too ill of anyone... only they could have, but it was still ok.  They tried to end on a hopeful note, I guess.  But still, slow clap for awesome.

198. Marriage Contract 결혼계약 (2016) Korean

Lee Seo Jin, Uee, Kim Yong Geon, Park Jung Soo, Lee Whee Hyang, Kim Young Pil, Kim Yoo Ri, Shin Rin Ah, Kim Kwang Kyu, Lee Hyun Geol

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

An oddly perfect mixture of adorable and crying.  This is full of all those stereotypes of melodramas.  Cancer, more cancer, evil chaebols, contract marriages, selfish male leads with mommy and daddy issues, that bitca who is the same character in all her shows, the works.  But then it somehow uses those stereotypes in a completely different way.  Maybe it's just because Lee Seo Jin is amazing (he is my spirit animal), but he really turned that typical rich chaebol with family issues into a complete different type of character.  He was also believable and completely too perfect to be believable at the same time.  He started out as a jerk ladies man who was willing to buy a liver to save his mom and turned into an adorable dad and husband who knew how to play with kids, cats, and comfort the girl so she didn't feel like a patient or pitiful.  It was too adorable.  Those dimples!  I liked most all the characters except the bad peeps of course.  That dad was the worst ever.  But I liked his real mom.  I even related a bit with the idiotic older brother and wife, even though I also disliked them.  At least you could see where everyone was coming from.  Uee had a lot of great ugly crying.  Unfortunately for me it was too long.  So many long crying scenes.  She did a good job being a mom and a cancer patient.  So maybe it was all just melodrama held together by the amazing charisma of Lee Seo Jin, but I liked it despite all the craziness.  The ending was a little abrupt, since there was no real resolution, and I cried plenty of times, but I consistently liked.  Especially after the first couple of episodes.  It was pretty good.

Things Dudes Don't Do to Other Dudes (#tdddod) or How to Fail the Gender Benders

So, Lizabreff just finished watching To The Beautiful You.  I'm not sure why we started it.  I think we just needed to watch something stupid, so this was perfect, because it was completely stupid.  The thing that it was the worst at was the whole girl dressed up as a guy.

I mean, there is no way that Sulli would pass for a boy ever anyway.  But she didn't even try to act like one.  And from the start Hyun Woo didn't treat her like one... neither did Minho for that matter... instinct?  Cough cough, unlikely.  Anyway, we started this hashtag #tdddod for all those moments when they obviously treated her like a girl, or she obviously was 100% not acting like a dude and no one seemed to care, because it was that bad.

199. To The Beautiful You 아름다운 그대에게 (2012) Korean

Choi Min Ho, Sulli, Lee Hyun Woo, Kin Ji Won, Seo Jun Young, Kang Ha Neul, Hwang Kwang Hee

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A

Also known as Poobutt.  Mostly because my new nickname for Minho is now Poobutt.  Tae Joon was just a grumpy poo butt, and then he was an awkward poo butt after he started to like her.  Also Goo Jae Hee had no character.  She was just awkward and there.  I wondered why the couple was so awkward for me, and it was because Sulli can't act.  You know who can act and stole the show?  Lee Hyun Woo.  I absolutely loved him, and his adorable smile and his squeaky little voice.  He totally stole the show.  Like, completely.  In fact he and Kang Ha Neul (affectionately called Moobs) were the only kids who could act really, oh and Samcheon (Seo Jun Young).  It was just a completely ridiculous show that was fun to watch at first because it was so flipping ridiculous, but then when it got mopey in the last 6 episodes, it was so boring and lame it was almost completely unbearable.  Maybe because once everyone knew she was a girl we couldn't do any more tweets with the hashtag #tdddod (things dudes don't do to other dudes).  There were almost too many to tweet all of them.  It was ridiculous.  Basically she was never convincing as a dude.  When they finally got around to it there were some good bromances.  I missed that little bitca Kwanghee being gay for Hyun Woo.  He totally disappeared by the end.  Weird.  Also I liked all the teachers.  I mean, that hot doctor (Ki Tae Young).  And my OTP was the teacher and coach.  They were adorable.  Basically I loved all the side characters and thought the main couple was a pair of boring poo butts... who can't really act.  And.... yeah.  That's basically it.

196. Come Back, Mister 돌아와요 아저씨 (2016) Korean

Jung Ji Hoon (Rain), Kim In Kwon, Oh Yeon Seo, Kim Soo Ro, Lee Min Jung, Lee Ha Nui, Choi Won Young, Yoon Park, Lee Tae Hwan, Kwak Deon Yeon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: B

I didn't exactly expect this one to be quite this serious.  I mean, they die they come back as Rain and a woman.  That part has to be hilarious.  But then again, they are dead, so what happy ending would there be?  Can I just day that Oh Yeon Seo is amazing?  I already loved her, but she played Han Gi Tak, or Kim Soo Ro, so well, especially at first.  A gangster dude in a tiny girl's body?  Amazing.  The walk, the talk, she had it all down.  It wasn't just a dude, it was Soo Ro.  Rain also did a great job of capturing the mannerisms of Kim In Kwon.  The second male leads, Choi Won Young and Yoon Park, were probably the most confusing part for me.  They were either completely crazy (with jealousy) or a complete slimeball one moment, and then strangely sympathetic at the next.  I hated Slimeball (Yoon Park) more because he should have been a nicer person as the friend of Kim Young Soo (Kim In Kwon), while Cha Jae Gook was just always a crazy nom.  But maybe I am prejudice because I frankly just love Choi Won Young... like a lot.  He plays creepy and crazy so well... well, just everything so well.  Also, huge shout out to Lee Ha Nui.  She's my woman crush for forever.  She did so well!

So, the ending made me cry.  I didn't cry during the end of Descendants at all, but this one had me almost balling.  I didn't love everything about the ending, but it was well written at least.  It was not cheesy, it was bittersweet and good.  There were a lot of tropes or plot twists in the show that I thought I was going to hate that were written well enough that I was pleasantly surprised.  I ended up liking most every episode.  The only thing I didn't like was their attempt to redeem Slimeball.  I say no to that.  Although I saw it coming for him and Crazy Ex.  Scarface is probably the worst person, so I'll leave it at that.  Also Puppy Namja (Lee Tae Hwan) and Kang Ki Young were together again.  I love those two and their bromance.  Best thing that came out of King of High School, so yay.