222. Jealousy Incarnate 질투의 화신 (2016) Korean

Gong Hyo Jin, Jo Jung Suk, Go Kyung Pyo, Lee Mi Sook, Park Ji Young, Lee Sung Jae, Seo Ji Hye

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A+

What beautifully flawed people.  What horrible imperfections.  What lovable love triangles.  What perfectly wonderful acting.  I loved this show so much.  Never have I loved so many characters!  Everyone was just real and harsh and lovable.  Of course Jo Jung Suk was just perfect.  He nailed it.  He made us feel so many conflicting emotions and to be on his side no matter what, even when he was being a complete idiot, which he was often, that was the beauty of the show.  So many complex feelings and emotions, so perfectly portrayed.  It was beautiful.  My other favorites were the ahjumma frenemies love triangle, because it wasn't even a love triangle as much as a womance.  Going to be honest, we probably liked them the most because we saw ourselves in them.  I love Reporter Kye, because I related to her, I want to be her when I grow up.  Lizabreff connected to Chief Bang.  We just like to relate to the womances, apparently.  Also, Na Pyo Ri's little brother = yes.  Gong Hyo Jin was great as always.  I loved how much her character grew.  She started off being that same awkward character she always is, and then ended up being a strong woman.  I super loved their relationship and how they ended up as equals after starting off as a pushover girl and full of himself guy.  Also, the bromance.  Go Kyung Pyo and Jo Jung Suk's bromance was perfect, even in their merciless fighting over her.  The mudflat scene.  Need I say more?  It's pretty hilarious because I had to talk my sister through this show because there was so many raw feels and people being selfish jerks, which she hated but I loved, while she had to talk me through Scarlet Heart Ryeo because I thought it was stupid.  I guess to each their own.  This show was one of the best I've seen in a while.  It was 24 episodes and I didn't care.  It could have been longer and I would have been fine, so long as they kept the writing just as tight and consistent.  It was just delightful.

229. Go Ho's Starry Night 고호의 별이 빛나는 밤에 (2016) Korean

Kwon Yuri, Kim Young Kwang, Lee Ji Hoon, Shin Jae Ha

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

Nothing like a web drama full of fluff when you want the feels.  This was a particularly good web drama too.  The right amount of good characters with good development, oh and sexy men.  I loved Go Ho's personality, and she stayed consistent the whole time... well it's really short too, but even then inconsistencies happen.  I also really liked how every man she met and rated was deeper than she thought.  Her ratings for each man changed as she got to know them better and her perceptions of them changed.  She initially thought that they were all as she first saw them, so the character development was in her, but they were also willing to improve themselves too.  The humor was really nice too, it was quirky and also relatable, since Go Ho was a more real type girl who didn't hide her realistic struggles and be confused by all the different men who are attracting her attention.  She just admits it when she is attracted to them too.  But I especially love is how well then played up those hilarious attraction scenes with Kim Young Kwang.  The scene where he rolls up his sleeves and purposefully shows off his forearms... rawr.  Also, the jar opening scene when she is crazily attracted to him just because he opens the jam jar for her.  That's real life.  Kim Young Kwang's hands are sooooo fine.  I like stories where people learn things, and I feel like everyone learns something in this one, all of them coming out as better people, even if only slightly.  I like how they are each willing to improve themselves, and take the constructive criticism, etc.  anyway, it's a cute show and full of hot men, so yes.

218. Second to Last Love 끝에서 두번째 사랑 (2016) Korean

Kim Hee Ae, Ji Jin Hee, Kwak Si Yang, Kim Seul Gi

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: B

What started out as a great cast of characters was sadly lessened by not great writing.  The set up was decent.  I am a sucker for old people romances these days, and this OTP was my favorite.  They were so smart and cool about most things, and so complimentary to each other.  They really balanced each other out.  I didn't like it when Cordon was sweet on her, so that was lame.  There was no reason behind it really.  But then, that was probably because we were 100% behind the Cordon/Seul Gi romance, which might also be the reason I was so disappointed at the ending.  The ending was so lame.  The last two episodes were so preachy, boring, and slow.  All we wanted was all the couples (especially Seul Gi and Cordon) to make out!  Well, honestly the writing was pretty bad.  The villains' sole purpose in life was to screw over Kang Min Joo and especially Go Sang Sik.  Literally wanted them to crash and burn because they were too awesome to be left alone, apparently.  So lame.  That smarmy face was the WORST!  How did he not get investigated and fired a million years ago?  It made no sense, and then they dragged it out so that everything could dramatically be resolved at once and then make the last two episodes so boring that we couldn't pay attention.  How is it that the oldest couple got the most action?  The bar keeper and vice mayor?  They're the only ones who get to make out?  Why?  Let the bestie romance make out!  So while the characters (not the villains) were good, the drama wasn't written well and so was a bit lame.  But I still loved the characters enough to watch and finish it.  But that lame ending though.  Sigh.

Just a Moment of Cuteness with Louie-ya

So maybe I just needed to make this post so I could post these gifs that I made to be more shareable for Lizabreff's birthday, but since Louie is going to be mopey soon, or at least more dramatic, I wanted to relive some of the cuteness for a bit, because Louie.

This show is so delightful, so I just wanted to show some love before it might make me change my mind.  Hopefully not.

228. I Need Romance 3 로맨스가 필요해 3 (2014) Korean

Kim So Yeon, Sung Joon, Namgoong Min, Wang Ji Won, Park Hyo Joo, Yoon Seung Ah, Park Yu Hwan

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

This was by far the best of the I Need Romance franchise.  The characters were better developed, they were well acted, and the plot didn't suck.  It also had somewhat natural character arches.  The most far-fetched thing in the show was how perfect Derp Face's character was.  Sweet Potato Derp Face was so perfect and good that he basically couldn't exist.  Plus cute derp faces.  A man so patient and loving isn't realistic at all, but makes for good watching.  So many cuddles and warmness.  My favorite character was Se Ryung, the bitca.  Wang Ji Won did an amazing job with her.  I like how much depth her character had, she was a bitca, but she had her reasons too, and they weren't just because she was a bitca.  She had been hurt, she had her dreams and ambitions, and she was only interested in one man the entire time.  Even when she could have conceivably switched to another dude when the lead was interested in him, she stuck to the one man she wanted to get back.  I like how the plot was about Joo Yeon learning how to feel again.  She had become a robot and she had to be sweet potatoed into getting back in touch with herself.  The side couples were a bit annoying.  I liked the fling turned into pregnancy one ok, that couple was ok cute, but the young office romance was a little peachy.  The girl's voice just always sounded a bit whiny.  They also pulled every stereotype in the end, hitting all the issues, the modern woman stereotypes: take a year to travel to find myself (wait for me!), you don't have to make her quit because she's a pregnant single mom, we can be neighbor parents and raise the babies, etc.  It was a bit cheesy but you still got to appreciate and support it.  Also, it was remarkably (comparatively) low on the sexy time scenes the whole time, because the dynamic was different and the main couple didn't get together until the end, but that meant that the last couple of episodes were like constant bedroom scenes, to make up for the rest of the show.  I think everyone but the lead peeps had bedroom scenes until the last few episodes.  But it was a cute and satisfying show.

227. I Can Hear Your Voice 너의 목소리가 들려 (2013) Korean

Lee Bo Young, Lee Jong Suk, Yoon Sang Hyun, Lee Da Hee, Jung Woong In

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

I fell in love with every single character, except the few who had no redeemable qualities, such as Judge Seo, but even the horrible bad guy, Min Joon Gook had his sympathetic moments.  But every character was well rounded and likable.  I have never had second lead syndrome quite like this.  I have also never been this attracted to Oska (Yoon Sang Hyun).  I was a little shocked there, but he was so adorable and such a good person!  I also loved how much growth all the main characters had, from traumatic experiences, to developing better relationships, to becoming a better lawyer/prosecutor, to just growing up and being adult... or even realizing that being a murderer was totally the wrong thing to do, no matter how crappy your life was at that moment.  Our female lead, Kim Hye Sung (Lee Bo Young) was super flawed, a self-centered super snarky girl who you couldn't help but love and appreciate.  Park Soo Ah (Lee Jong Suk) was both super childish and mature beyond his years, and so very complex.  He was both a puppy and a namja.  Then you have the cop turned lawyer, Cha Gwan Yoo (Yoon Sang Hyun) who is too idealistic and nice, but super good at his job.  Prosecutor Seo Do Yeon (Lee Da Hee) is Hye Sung's childhood frenemy, who has to deal with perfectionism and a black and white upbringing.  The relationships between all the characters made them all grow and become better, as did the traumatic ordeals they had to go through, constantly almost dying and having their worlds turned over.  I also loved the minor characters, such as the Judge, who was just the best.  I really can't believe I didn't watch this when it came out, because it is amazing.  I've never enjoyed a law drama quite this much.  I felt like they were a little better at making those court scene a little more realistic and less over dramatic.  Obviously not perfect, this is still a drama with some fantasy, but you could tell they put a bit of work in, and it paid off.  It was just a really solid, enjoyable, intense drama.  One where the love triangle actually fills you with feels and you are actually torn instead of just annoyed, and you have feels for all the characters instead of just the OTP.  Standing ovation.

219. Cinderella and Four Knights 신데렐라와 네 명의 기사 (2016) Korean

Park So Dam, Jung Il Woo, Ahn Jae Hyun, Lee Jung Shin, Son Na Eun, Choi Min

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A

Fluff.  Fluff that turned into crap.  Well, it was already pretty crappy fluff, but it was just nonsense by the end.  The biggest problem: the pacing, which is really a writing problem.  They had Ji Woon (Jung Il Woo) being Emo Boy for too long.  Then they gave us exactly five scenes of them being cute together, so they would have something to constantly repeat in all those mopey flashback sequences, before ripping them apart again.  Then they had random corporate drama thrown in at the end, trying to change the genre of the drama, but it was magically solved in two seconds, because it was the last episode and it had to.  To make this all worse, this show was pre-produced, so they had time to make it better.  They had time to write it well and edit it well, but they didn't, and so it remains crap.  The great thing about it was that there were good moments.  Jung Il Woo is like the king of cutsy, so when our OTP was being cute, boy were they being cute.  But like I said, it was only like five scenes.  Also, we had to endure him being emo for too long so his cutesy potential was limited.  Park So Dam is like the cutest thing ever.  I love her and think she is a great actor.  Of course they had to mess up her character with bad writing at the end, but she acted it consistently well.  Ahn Jae Hyun was born to play a butt head.  Lee Jung Shin is adorable.  Choi Min is a sexy man, especially in those double breasted suits.  Mmmmm.  Worst parts of the show.  That mopey girl, Son Na Eun.  She made Ahn Jae Hyun look like he could act good.  She's runner up for the stoneface award, but she has her one talent.  Lame crying while sewing, or just while blankly staring into a distance not worth staring into.  There was also way too many plot holes.  Why didn't anyone ever believe in DNA tests?  You'd think that this would be the first thing you'd do.  So much drama could have been avoided!  But then what would they have done for 16 episodes?  Haha, it was so bad, but still strangely enjoyable to watch, but only if you are making fun of it the whole time and/or a huge fan of Jung Il Woo.  I might fit into both of those categories...