404. Live Up to Your Name 명불허전 (2017) Korean

Kim Nam Gil, Kim Ah Joong, Yoon Joo Sang, Yoo Min Kyu, Um Hyo Sup

Drama Rating: 9.5/10     Neck Score: A+

I've wanted to watch this show since it first came out, but didn't for two reasons. One, it wasn't subbed legally anywhere, and two, it's a doctor drama and I usually struggle with those. I mean, everything is life or death and always about surgery, and that gets old for me pretty darn fast. At one point I was thinking: How many people are they going to kill off! Just learn your doctor lesson already!!! But, then it was subbed on Netflix, and I just had to get over the medical stuff and just watch it. It helped that I absolutely love Kim Nam Gil (especially after Fiery Priest). The premise just looked too good from the previews, as did the chemistry between the main actors. It's a time travel drama, where a famous Joseon doctor, Heo Im, travels to modern times and meets a resident who is already a super talented heart surgeon. It is past vs present and oriental medicine vs western. However, that really is just the super basic premise. The time travelling reminded me 100% of the time travelling of Queen In Hyun's Man, which is not a bad thing at all, since that drama was also amazing. But the only similarities are how our Joseon man travels back and forth, those mechanics of time travel, and not the plot or anything else. So yeah, it blatantly takes that concept, but why not? In Queen In Hyun's Man it was a talisman that transported him every time he "died" but in this one it was a magical needle box, since Heo Im was an acupuncturist. So I said, it could be boiled down to that same form of time travel with the past vs present in both customs and medical knowledge, but what it's really about is what it means to be a true doctor and what that looks like in both the past and the present.

403. The Ghost Bride 彼岸之嫁 (2020) Taiwanese-Malaysian

Huang Pei Jia, Wu Kang Jen, Ludi Lin, Kuang Tian

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

I binge watched this over the weekend, because it's fun and only 6 episodes. But, like all Netflix shows, I'm not actually sure if this is the first season, or if this was the whole show. I feels like the whole story is over, but they left the ending open just enough that I wouldn't put it passed them to add another "season" based on the show's success. I'd watch it if another season came out, not going to lie (I'd watch anything for more Chris Wu) but the story is clearly over. It would have to be a whole new story and adventure, resolving only that one moment that made the ending open enough to justify it. But like I said, it doesn't need it, the story arc with the whole ghost bride thing is done.

I started it based off of the trailers and story line, which looked interesting. It definitely lived up to that. Then we met Chris Wu's character and I got excited (I didn't know he was in it when I started- happy bonus!) and I would have finished it no matter what, so I'm glad it was awesome. My biggest complaint about the show is: what the heck did they do to Ludi Lin's eyebrows? It's like they filled them in way too aggressively, which makes it look like he's wearing fake press on eyebrows, like those fake fur type mustaches. It was incredibly distracting and dropped him to third place in the hotness list- the fact that his character was pretty lame too doesn't help. To be honest, as much as I love Chris Wu and think he's super handsome (he ranks high on my top sexy neck's list), the villain was probably the hottest in terms of pure physical good looks. He's another one of those "hot and evil" types, as the T-list would say. Character-wise though, I'm still 100% team heavenly guard Chris Wu. He's my style. Good and mischievous with a little bit of arrogance. But to be fair, hot and evil is also one of my types. Wishy washy childhood friends with fake eyebrows are not my style.

I guess I should talk about the story too. I loved it. It was interesting, fun, and also surprising. I didn't fully know what to expect, so the twists were nice. It's also a good balance between comedy, fantasy, and horror. It's obviously a ghost story, but it's also a murder mystery and afterlife crime story. Li Lan's father's business was ruined and his health is deteriorating. Then some old friends- a still wealthy family proposes a deal that can save them through her marriage to their son, who just recently died. Making her a ghost bride to appease the son who died too young and unmarried isn't exactly a way to treat old friends. As she is is trying to figure out the best option, she begins to be haunted by her proposed husband, and finds there is more to his death, and the family in general, than meets the eye. But then you have actual time spent in the underworld, plots, scheming, and trickery. Basically, it's a really fun story. They did rush the mystery part of the ending a bit, but since that's just one of the plots, it was fine. But I literally just ordered the book it's based on through my library, because I liked it that much. It's well worth the watch.

401. Pretty Li Huizhen 漂亮的李慧珍 (2017) Chinese

Dilraba Dilmurat, Peter Sheng, Vin Zhang, Li Xirui

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I knew I probably shouldn't have started Pretty Li Huizhen when Vin Zhang was the second male lead AGAIN, and he was just going to make me get SLS just like Siwon did in She Was Pretty, but I for some reason just did it anyway. Also, I probably should have looked up how long it was, because I struggled in the middle as they took a 16 episode K-drama (She Was Pretty) and turned it into a 40 episode C-drama. I did the math, removing the 5 minutes of intro and credits all C-dramas have, that's adding 10 hours to the story.... yeah, it got pretty draggy in the middle. Especially since I felt like all 10 of those hours were BEFORE he finally figured out who she was. Um, he's a very gullible, trusting dude, I guess. This did mean that there was way more time for character development for both our male lead and second female lead, but it also meant that there was a lot more time for them to stew on their life choices. She spent a lot of time feeling guilty (or justifying) about her lying and stuff. We did know what he was thinking more, but he spent a lot of time talking about his feelings with his friend and feeling like a cheater as he fell in love with real her while dating fake her...

359. Psychopath Diary 싸이코패스 다이어리 (2019) Korean

Yoon Si Yoon, Jung In Sun, Park Sung Hoon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

I don't know if I've ever seen a good psychopath thriller comedy that isn't just a super dark thriller that also happens to be funny in spots. This was a comedy that just happened to feature a psychopath. I wouldn't say it's scary really, but I would say that the acting was super good and did a pretty decent portrayal of a psychopath serial killer. But, considering the premise, you do have suspend a lot of disbelief too. It's literally a show about a pushover who loses his memory and is handed his identity in the form of a diary detailing the murders of a serial killer. Rather than freak out and reject that identity, he tries really hard to live up to it and be the psychopath he thinks he is. I guess it helps that he was a thriller junkie and has every thriller and horror movie ever memorized. That part didn't get lost when he lost the rest of his identity, to our own entertainment.

357. A Love So Beautiful 致我们单纯的小美好 (2017) Chinese

Hu Yi Tian, Shen Yue, Gao Zhi Ting, Wang Zi Wei, Sun Ning

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

I watched this one because of how much I loved Put Your Head On My Shoulder and that probably made it harder to like this one. It's the same basic plot, spunky girl/stoic genius, but this one should have been called "A Love so Frustrating" because it quickly became obvious that they both liked each other, but for some reason they still weren't getting together. It did make sense why, but that didn't make it any less frustrating. She's the typical spunky, artistic, but not any good at school, girl who is in love with her neighbor and is constantly following him. Her determination to win him over is the entire plot of the show. He is the stoic genius who is super handsome so everyone loves him, but he's got some severe emotional and trust issues, which means that her devotion to him is actually attractive to him, but he's got so many trust and abandonment issues that he's too scared to actually voice his feelings. He's also a tsundere, which is like a double whammy.

351. The Tale Nokdu 조선로코 녹두전 (2019) Korean

Jang Dong Yoon, Kim So Hyun, Kang Tae Oh, Jung Joon Ho, Kim Tae Woo

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

This is super late, so I'm not sure I remember enough to write a lot... and I'm also getting over a cold so my head is still cloudy as well. But I do remember liking it a lot. It's one of the ones that I looked forward to watching every week.

However, this felt like two different dramas: one where he cross dresses and one where the second male lead goes mega evil to stage a coup. They tie in together well, but the flavors are so drastically different that you forget the other one existed. I much preferred the cross dressing story too. Maybe because Jang Dong Yoon did a fabulous job, but also because it was different and refreshing while the highly political violent half is basically every sageuk out there. Not a bad thing, I did like all of it, its mostly how much it changed that made me forget. What I loved about it was that the characters didn't change even though how dire the situations got. They grew and adapted, but their basic character stayed them. Nokdu was Nokdu whether he was dressing like a widow or playing the soldier. You could even see the gradual decent of the villain into extreme measures. Just kidding, that was mind-blowingly unexpected. As was the death of who we all thought was the real villain.... wow.

352. Melting Me Softly 날 녹여주오 (2019) Korean

Ji Chang Wook, Won Jin Ah, Yoon Se Ah, Lim Won Hee, Jung Hae Kyun, Shim Hyung Tak

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

This... wasn't great. I didn't hate it, but it did feel a bit burdensome to watch. It was ridiculous, not really compelling, and the episodes felt twice as long as they actually were, making it so I could only watch one episode a day max, and didn't mind if I didn't watch it until later that week when I had nothing better to watch. It just fell way short of its potential. However, it was still well acted, especially with the generational gaps, with the frozen people fitting in with their same age, but actually 40-50s friends. Like, Ji Chang Wook acted like a 52 year old in a 33 year old body well, by virtue of how behind the times he was, and his old fashioned standards, etc. The evil villain plot seemed like an afterthought, even though they were hinting about it the whole time, but it just wasn't well thought out, I guess. It fell short of the potential it could have had and instead slipped into the same bad tropes, making our second leading lady be needlessly stupid and occasionally evil- the stereotypical bitca. I do like how they redeemed that mistake though. They just should have not made that mistake in the first place, but baby steps, I guess. I think I agree with some of the opinions that were going around on Twitter (I don't remember who said it, sorry!) that Na Ha Young should have been the love interest, and that would have made for a much more interesting drama. Bridging an age gap instead of the typical bonding over the common ground of being displaced in time and age. Both work, but one is way more interesting and intriguing. Oh well. Even if it was weak at best, the actors gave it their all, and that went a lot longer than some dramas, because their actor choices were awesome, especially for the age gap. I believed all the younger people could grow up to look like those older peeps. It was probably the best part right there.