Overall comments of the dramas I have watched since the end of 2105:
Love me if you dare
Status: Dropped
Comments: I felt rather sad that I dropped this drama. It was one of the best dramas that I have watched. But towards the end, there was just no tension anymore and it just got very repetitive. Plus the feminist in me just could not stand the girl being so whiny anymore. Instead of being a power couple, she was holding him down and I just could not stand that.
Most memorable: The cases. The exploding chemistry between the leads.
Would I recommend? Yes
Despite not finishing it, I still think it’s a good watch. There is enough wit, gore and mystery which I all enjoyed very much. If only they had developed the lead female character in a different way it would have been a perfect score.
Descendants of the Sun
Status: Completed
Comments: This show. It was the very oasis that the drama desert desperately needed. I have heard criticism against DOTS being cliche. I agree with that but i also feel that it is also this cliche that made it a big hit. The show cleverly put the cliches that we know , the love at first sight, the disapproving father , the bromance and wrapped it up nicely with beautiful cinematography (excellent camera work and scenery), a whole new context (military and doctors, a new foreign country, no longer the USA anymore haha) and captivating OST. So, we get a drama that is filled with all the things we are familiar with that is just presented in a whole new way. And this is why I feel DOTS was such a quality drama. It just shows that kdramas or dramas in generally have so much more potential.
Most memorable: Ep3 when the soldiers and the doctors worked together to save that prince. My heart was literally in my throat the whole time and I worried so much for Yoo si Jin when he decided to disobey orders and go ahead with the operations. It made me think a lot about how the role of the small individual and how tied up one really is. There was also the conflict of values and mission, of the soldiers and doctors and hence their conflicting priorities and actions.
Would I recommend? YES!!!
I feel like this is the drama to show non drama fans and draw them in to dramaland. But first you must first warn them about the cliches and cringe worthy scenes.
Reply 1988
Status: completed (in 3 days)
Comments: I hate this show …. for making me cry in every freaking episode. If you are like me and are particularly sensitive to such family dramas, then you might want to prepare like 10 boxes of tissue before you start this. Contrary to what most people might say, I feel that instead of the younger cast, I feel that the older cast ie the ajummas and ajusshis ie the mums and dads were the ones who carried the show. In fact, I think the scenes were 90% older cast and 10% younger cast, which I have no complains about. The older cast were more mature in their acting and showing their emotions so I really appreciated that. I was displeased however, with how they suddenly switched Deok Sun’s partner to Teak just for the sake of having a plot twist. I mean plot twists must also serve a narrative purpose but here the plot twist is so gimmicky it was so unnecessary. What about my poor junghwan huh. The scriptwriters be better watching their backs. He might just come out of the TV screen and at gunpoint, demand that you write him a happy ending. Teehee.
Most memorable: so many things. This line “Parents are not born as parents. We are also learning.” This episode: dads are not superheros. This sound: Meh-ehh. This couple: sun woo and bora.
Would I recommend? YES YES YES
Especially to those rebellious kids out there. Just make them watch this and all them rage hormones would be tamed. I too watched this at the crossroads of my life and it make me reflect a lot. I would not say it has totally changed me but it has definitely made me appreciate my parents a lot more. LOVE YOU MUM AND DAD.
Let’s fight ghost
Status: Dropped
Comments: I only started this show because I heard my boss talking about it so I decided to take a look. What a huge disappointment it was.When my boss described the drama to me, I thought that it would be those drama where they tackle a different theme each episode through the different ghosts that they meet, very much like many anime series. From the episodes that I watched, I see that they were indeed going for such a format. However, the focus was put on the wrong characters. Instead of giving more screen time for the ghosts and fleshing out their story lines, more time was given for the dumb and dumber duo. Although the two of them did grow on me, I still think it would have brought the drama to a higher level of quality if they had focused on the ghosts instead. All in all, I think it was a wrong directive decision to focus on comedy instead of the untapped potential of the stories of the ghosts. So many themes such as domestic abuse, abandonment, lost love etc, were just briefly mentioned when they could have been explored at with so much more depth.
Most memorable: The dumb and dumber duo. When the show failed to provide what i came for, I had to settle for this. While their jokes were not all hits, they were still enjoyable to watch.
Would I recommend? Know what you are getting into.
As with most things, it’s all about managing expectations. I went into the show thinking I would be getting a show with touching mini stories but instead I got a comedic show. So, the decision to watch this show would be up to your own discretion.
Cheese in the trap
Status: Completed
Comments: This show, similar to reply 1988, came to me at an appropriate time so it holds a special place in my heart. I love this show for challenging all that we know about appearance and reality, for showing us that not humans cannot be clearly put into a dichotomy of evil and good. That it’s more often than not, it’s always conditional evil instead of intrinsic evil. Most characters in the drama, are only pushed to be evil due to the circumstances, and for Yoo Jung, he turns to his evil side only as a way of retaliation or our of good intentions for Seol. However, as we see from the drama, this still does not mean they can be forgiven because at the end of the day, evil is still evil and it can hurt innocent others (Seol) when it gets out of hand.
Of course, i cannot talk about this drama and not mention the behind the scenes saga. Don’t you just hate it when the narrative is destroyed by reality. Actually, in hindsight I would not have notice the flaw if I had not known about the BTS drama. However, since I did know of it, it just brought to light how underdeveloped Yoo Jung’s character and that just raised more questions and the drama just got more confusing and I was unable to appreciate it as much as before.
Most memorable: Ep3 When Seol faced communication problems with her group mates. I loved it because of how it real it was. I kinda disliked how they didnt really find a solution for it though, they did mention it in later episodes but it wasnt the solution that I wanted.
Would I recommend? Yes.
Despite the hiccup towards the end of the drama, the drama is still a very thought provoking drama that looks into intentions and personalities of people. Definitely a good watch.
Nixesty 