Over the summer we sort of fell out of love with dramas. We know – how could this happen!? We’re shocked and saddened as well.
Sure, we’ve taken reluctant breaks before in the past due to life and other factors but the desire to tune in was always there. However this summer we found that nothing grabbed our interest. It was like a switch button went off in our heads and suddenly we didn’t care. Our addiction and obsessive ways were over.
Sadly when you have no desire to watch dramas, blogging about them becomes completely redundant, hence the reason for the long absence from the blogosphere.
However now that our London summer days appear to be truly over and we’re back in a routine with work/ college ect maybe it’s time to return to the comfortable embrace of watching dramas and fangirling about the good, the bad and the outrageous.
Oh okay, it may also have something to do with:
Lee Min Hoo -It’s been far too long. Sure he doesn’t have the sexy curls but he still looks fine to us! Come on, look how fugly that suit is but somehow he’s still making it work.
And
Kang Ha Neul may have made us want to vomit into the nearest bin after his super sweet/ nice guy performance in Monstar but he sure is pretty.
And
Oh we love Kim Woo Bin! He is by far our biggest draw to The Heirs. We utterly adored him in School 2013. We loved the brooding, the angst and the hot glaring. Yes please, sign us up for this drama!
So gutted he’s the secondary love interest.
Also
We finished Cruel City recently and appear to be suffering from JKH withdrawal symptoms. Jung Kyung Ho, let us count the ways we love you. Sighs*
Hehehehe, who are we kidding, we can never stay away for long!
If it’s not obvious, we’re looking forward to the potential car wreck that is The Heirs and re-starting I can hear your voiceafter all the fan love it received.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent Taiwanese or Japanese drama to watch? Its been so long since we’ve watched a good drama from either country.
The Musthavesubs girls are all sick and unfortunately for us it isn’t pretty! We’ve abandoned school/ work and found ourselves wrapped in blankets sneezing and coughing our way through the last couple of days.
What is a girl to do when she is hurled up in bed unable or unwilling to do much?
Yep, you guessed it – watch a drama!
However when you’re this sick, it’s hard to focus on the subtitles, the plot or appreciate the cool/ breezy style the director is trying to portray, so times like this provides us with the perfect opportunity to raid the back catalogue and go all old school. Yay.
Sometimes all you need are your favourite drama tropes to make you feel better. It’s familiar and safe but still has the ability to make you turn into the worst type of fangirl around. Sickness be damned.
Here are our top five favourite old school drama tropes that remind us why we love dramas so much:
1. Poor girl meets super rich chaebol – Come on, it’s a classic!
Okay it’s been done to death over the years but who doesn’t love the idea of Lee Min Ho, Roy Qiu or some other hot actor stepping up and falling madly in love with some poor but brilliant girl that could be you!? Who doesn’t want to see them defy all odds – crazy parents, jealous ex girlfriends and their own stupidity to win the girl and get their happily ever after? Sign us up, we’re sold.
2. When hate turns to love – watch out for the fly kicks, death threats and other delightful pre-romantic interludes
We love when writers have the OTP hate each other at the start of a drama. Sometimes we love this more than the HEA. This is where you see all the magic. Their verbal sparring, their unspoken hot sexual tension and the anticipation of what is to come – the romance! The slow but obvious build up of friendship and romance is always a pleasure to witness. We love watching their insane and often hilarious interactions as they keep finding themselves at odds and somehow thrown together in ‘random’ situations. Of course they are, it’s a drama!
We really hope that this drama trope never becomes unpopular because we sure would miss all that fun, silly banter between the OTP.
3. The perfect love rival – the leading lady never had it so good!
Yes, yes, we have a ridiculous soft spot for love rivals and we need help but we can’t help ourselves. It’s only because we know that they get their hearts broken and lose the girl by the end of the drama. How can we not feel sorry for them?
What is a drama without that secondary character waiting in the wings to sweep in and take care of the leading lady when she needs it most? For us, a drama without a love rival isn’t a true drama. Yes, they can be annoying, frustrating and make you want to punch them in the face but they’re a necessity that you need to accept comes with the package. They are like Brussels spouts at Christmas, not to every ones liking but a must nevertheless.
4. She has twelve jobs, goes to school and doesn’t take your shit – Give us an old school, tough leading lady any day.
We adore old school leading ladies of yesteryear with their multiple jobs, unreliable parents, tough attitudes but kind personas. Yes, she’s dirt poor but has the latest mobile phone and really cute clothes/ accessories but she’s earned it. Plus the poor thing will suffer so much more before she gets her happily ever after, so leave her alone.
As much as damaged, silent leading ladies are interesting. Or ambitious, smart ones make us appreciate them. We would happily watch a good old fashion fighter that never gives up and uses her courage, sarky wit and lovable charm to seize the day and get her man.
5. If you looked that good as a boy, wouldn’t you try it? – Cross dressing your way to a HEA
You would think watching a girl dress up as a boy and lie to her OTP would get boring after a couple dramas but no, it hasn’t and we have a feeling it won’t.
It’s all about the delicious angst and the conflicting feelings running through the leading man’s head. This particular drama trope works so well for us because it’s one of the few genres where the writer really develops the friendship between the OTP before it moves onto the romance. The leading man falls first and foremost for his friend – a person, rather than a pretty girl and isn’t that lovely for us fangirls to witness? Sighs*
Classic dramas = the best form of medicine for drama junkies
Another year down and another end of year post – Thanks for everyone that dropped by and read our fangirling, ranting and rambles this year. We thought this post would be short and sweet but by the time we had gathered all of our thoughts on 2012’s drama offerings we had somehow created this mega drama post that sort of took on a life of it’s own, so we hope you enjoy it and of course, please feel free to add your own thoughts, it’s always more fun with company!
2012 was a really busy year for us. We didn’t watch as much as we wanted and certainly didn’t blog as often as we wish we could. Which is a shame because we adore nothing more than sitting down and fangirling our way through dramas. Having less time to dedicate to our habit and becoming more picky over the years has meant that we have physically watched fewer dramas this year and have found that we have shelved more dramas than ever before.
This years offerings have been a lovely combination of the good, the bad and the dramas you wish you could erase from your memory. With cable dramas holding their hold and giving the mainstream networks a run for their money, we’re pleased with the vast number of options we’ve had this year as well as a positive shift towards dramas pushing the boundaries in terms of genres and plots on offer, which is always a good thing in our book. With two of our favorite dramas of 2012 coming from cable networks, we certainly look forward to see what they can offer us next year, so come on cable give us some goodies in 2013!
Below is our list of noteworthy dramas we’ve assembled from everything we’ve seen and shelved in 2012.
Completed dramas in 2012:
Korean dramas:
Answer Me 1997 – The jewel in our 2012 drama crown
Despite completing this drama very recently it still finished off the year as our favourite drama of 2012.
For us Answer Me 1997 felt like it was made with so much love. The writing is heartfelt, seamless and by the time it ended we knew we had finished something special. Something that would stay with us for a very long time. As drama viewers we watch plenty of dramas throughout the year all in anticipation that it will be ‘the one’ and guess what folks, Answer Me 1997 is it!
Funny, romantic, sweet and old school in the best way possible. Watch it, you will love it.
Wild Romance – the prize for the worst hair cut goes to….
Okay, this drama was all over the place. At first it was pee your pants hilarious. It was wacky, zany and so much fun to watch. We didn’t know that Lee Dong Wook was capable of being so funny and more importantly who knew that he could work a porno moustache but he did! Sadly, the drama took a dark, moody twist where the lead lost her spunk and became all needy and pathetic and the story went from silly fun to downright creepy with a crazy stalker.
The genre change gave us a little whiplash but despite that, the drama is well worth checking out especially if you’re a Lee Dong Wook fan.
Me too, flower – Our messy pick of the year
Technically this drama was a mess. The plot fell apart towards the end and the characters lost their spark. However, the OTP kept us coming back week after week. We loved them, they felt like a real couple to us. They were two very screwed up characters that came together and were somehow functional as a couple. When everything else was a mess in this drama, this couple somehow made it alright. Both actors were brilliant, especially Yoon Shi Yoon. He was all wrong for the part but he managed to carry this mountain of mess and made it work.
If you’re looking for an unexpectedly good OTP then look no further.
Nice Guy – The prize for the most screwed up couple goes to…
This drama was dark, depressing and intense. The writing, the acting and the way it was filmed was brilliant. That said, what was wrong with every single character in this drama???!!! Our heads hurt trying to rationalize their insane actions and there were multiple times when we wanted to punch a few of these characters in the face.
Reasons to tune in: Song Joong Ki
We’ve waited for so long to see him as a leading man in a drama and he delivered in spectacular fashion. Of course he was all kinds of hot but his acting was also wonderful. We look forward to his future projects where hopefully he doesn’t annoy the hell out of us.
If you like your dramas dysfunctional and screwed up in perfect Kdrama style, this one ticks all the right boxes.
Queen In Hyun’s Man – A nearly perfect moment in time
Nearly but not quite there.
2012 is most certainly the year of the time travelling drama and this drama is definitely up there as one to watch. We loved everything about this drama, it was beautifully executed, the OTP owned us completely and the plot was excellent throughout its run and then came that ending. Sighs* It was almost too good to be true and we were hoping that this would be that rare drama that was perfect but sadly the ending left a distinctly bitter taste in our mouths.
A lot of people loved the ending but for us it felt like a cope out. It was far too convenient and it killed some of the magic for us.
Don’t get us wrong, we gave this drama 9.5 out of 10, so we’re not going to complain that much, it’s just that it was sooooo close to being that perfect drama for us. The rare gem that we would love forever and having seen so many dramas of the years now, it’s no easy challenge to fall in that category.
Watch this drama, you won’t regret it, in our opinion it is one of the best romantic dramas to come out in a long time.
A Gentleman’s Dignity – Overgrown boys, bratty sisters who needed a slap and the realisation that we have no idea why we bothered tuning in…
Seriously, thinking back now, we don’t know what drew us to watch this Ahjussi drama where pretty much nothing happened across 20 episodes.
All we can really remember about this drama is our very strong desire to murder Im Me Ah Ri. She was a freaking grown woman that acted like a spoilt brat that cried and stomped her feet throughout the drama’s run. Groan*
The drama has left no real impact on us as viewers and there are no real moments that stick out from the dramas run.
Would we recommend it??? We’re not sure, we can’t actually remember.
This was our favourite (and only completed) Jdrama of 2012. It reminded us exactly why we love Jdramas and that maybe we shouldn’t give up on them just yet.
As well as being our favourite Jdrama, it also opened our eyes to Oguri Shun – why, why have we failed to notice this guy before???
The winner for unexpected crush of the year most definitely goes to Oguri Shun. He oozed chemistry, charm and strangely worked dodgy haircuts. Trust us, this drama has made fangirls out of us. heheh.
Back to the drama – the story was a simple love story between a socially awkward millionaire genius and a smart graduate who happened to end up working together and of course falling in love. The plot and the execution of the story was nothing to write home back but it was a pleasure to tune into every week. We were comfortable in the knowledge that the drama would make us smile and satisfy our fluffy drama needs in the best way possible.
If you’re looking for a decent Jdrama look no further, this one will steal your heart.
Taiwanese Dramas:
Skip Beat! – Our surprise delight of the year
Who would have thought that this would be the only Tdrama we completed in 2012? Definitely not us!
The drama had so much going against it – a very loyal and obsessive fan base for the manga, two Korean actors in a Tdrama – wtf?, terrible dubbing and our expectations in the gutter before we even began.
The drama wasn’t a ratings winner but we adored it. Once the drama fixed the dubbing issue and found their feet, this drama was great fun. Ivey Chen was fantastic as the crazy but lovable leading lady and Siwon made us even bigger fangirls after his brilliant performance as Ren/ Du He Lian. He played cold and damaged so well. Considering he could only act using his facial expressions, he was pretty wonderful.
When a drama has a broody Siwon and Donghae looking hot being bad – what are you waiting for?
Shelved Dramas:
Miss Rose – Another Roy Qiu drama we just couldn’t finish..
We know, we know, what is wrong with us? It’s not you Roy, it’s just everything else that ruins it for us!
Why are all of Roy’s leading ladies so hesitate to fall in love with this HOT HOT man? Why do we have to sit through so many episodes watching these annoying leading ladies cry over past loves or cry over the fact that they are scared/ poor/ stupid???
We were so excited by this drama but it got draggy so quickly. We wanted to love it but we just couldn’t.
We have no doubt we will one day finish a Roy drama but until then we’re more than happy to keep watching perving our way through all of his dramas until we find one. heheh
Shut up flower boy band – The best cameo in a drama goes to…
Oh, Lee Min Ki you came and went so quickly but we’re pretty sure that you made everyone that watched miss you just a little bit.
Not completing this drama is strictly an oversight on our part. All of the ten episodes we completed were brilliant. The drama was so good we made a freaking GIF out of the famous hug scene and considering we’re incredibly technically challenged that’s definitely saying something!
Life happened and we just never got around to finishing the drama. Maybe this drama will be in next year’s review or may be not…
I need Romance 2012 – When love rivals make you switch off
We switched off for one reason only – the loval rival made us want to vomit into the nearest waste basket. He was so sickly sweet and was such a soppy puppy that we just wanted to kick him. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that he shared ZERO chemistry with the leading lady. How is that possible – two attractive, young actors and still they failed to generate any chemistry between them- none, zero, zilch, how???
The King 2 Hearts – We know what you’re thinking, are we mad???
Yes, yes, we hold our hands up and question our sanity and poor taste in dramas for not having the desire to complete this drama. It just didn’t click for us. We didn’t have that emotional connection with the characters and as a result didn’t really care what happened to them.
Plus, watching the leading man shot his OTP in the chest sort of kills the romance for us. Just saying…
Big – The biggest disappointment of the year?? Possibly, maybe, yes…
How is it possible that the Hong Sisters could make such a boring drama???
Why did Gong Yoo have to look so damn hot in this drama?
(you’re welcome)
For that reason alone, we’re gutted this drama was a complete waste of time. Sob*
Other notable dramas for 2012:
Rooftop Prince – The other time travel drama
What is with his horrible hair???
It was a toss up between this and Queen In Hyun’s Man at the time and we picked the latter. Frankly was there any point starting another time travel drama after you’ve completed something that was so nearly perfect? Anything we watched after that epic, romantic drama would have just been crap.
Gaksital/ The Moon that embraces the Sun – When leading men turn you off…
Sorry Kim Soo Hyun and Joo Won, we’re just not fans.
– We’re sorry!!!!!
It’s the strangest thing. Pretty much everyone loves these guys with a passion but we just need to know their name is attached to drama and it’s a pass from us.
Maybe we will grow out of it like we did with Hyun Bin but until then it will take something seriously special to make us tune in or a shiny sequined tracksuit…
Time Slip Dr. Jin – We found the car wreck of the year
Thankfully we saved ourselves from this nightmare. We confess that it was endless fun reading the hilarious bitching and disgust at this poor excuse of a drama. Muhahah.
Final rambles for 2012
As you can probably tell from this post, this year hasn’t treated us too badly but of course heres hoping 2013 gives us a few more drama gems worth fangirling about.
Thanks for popping by and joining us in our rambles this year, we hope you return in 2013.
The past couple episodes have been quite stagnant in terms of any real progress. Considering how much we’ve been enjoying the drama, we confess to being a tad disappointed by the past couple episodes.
It feels like on one hand a lot has happened but at the same time nothing has changed at all. Cheng Kaun has still done nothing to acknowledge his feelings or taken any real action to win Si Yi’s heart and she has carried on in that same state of limbo where she doesn’t know where she stands. It clear to anyone with eyes and half a brain that he’s madly in love with her but still we’re left with this situation that hasn’t progressed since the start of the drama.
We just want him to grab her and kiss her already! It’s time to make a decision and take some action.
Okay, their hot Tango and the auction bidding war was moving in the right direction but still… we demand more.
Cheng Kaun as usual had some wonderful, thoughtful lines in the drama. We loved the scene where he asked her to run forward and not look back. It was sooooo sweet. In fact, he’s such a sweetheart that we fall more and more in love with his character every week. His actions in the past couple episodes have been quite unique for a standard alpha male. Usually, it’s the love rival’s job to step in and comfort the leading lady and be her emotional support. So it’s a refreshing change to see the leading man step up and take care of his leading lady when she needs it.
The way he looks at her kills us every time – it’s so intense!
A love rival with a real shot- who would have thought it was possible?
The writer has done so well in developing Yi Chun as a character as well as Si Yi and his past relationship. There is so much pain and heartache that it’s understandable that Si Yi has yet to completely recover. Come on, she was prepared to marry him. We adored the scene where Si Yi asked Cheng Kaun if he knew what it felt like to be betrayed by a loved one. It revealed the true extent of her heartbreak and her vulnerability and allowed Cheng Kaun to understand exactly how broken she was.
As much as we want to protect Si Yi like Mamma Luo and beat the shit out of Yi Chun with a broom, we can understand her choice to see him and hear him out. He was once the most important person in her world, it would be completely unrealistic if she could cut off so easily, plus boring for us as viewers. Heheh
We love the fact that Yi Chun has come out fighting. He wants Si Yi back and will stop at nothing to get her. For once it’s nice to see some fight in a love rival. We hate how dramas fail to give any real depth to love rivals. They are either really crazy or sickly sweet/ pathetic. Yi Chun as a character has depth to him. He has a strong romantic history, chemistry with the leading lady and professional credentials on his side. He’s a real contender, plus did you see their back hug? HOT.
Other thoughts:
Who else was happy that Vivian was absence for the past couple episodes? It’s just such a shame that the annoying brat returns next week. Groan*
We love Si Yi’s parents, they are so sweet! The scene where they phoned her up to see if she was okay while she was at the charity event made us smile because that is exactly what our parent’s would have done, right down to the bickering interruptions from Mamma Luo.
Sadly we guessed correctly about Xiao Ke’s boyfriend. What a pig, we hope he suffers. Muhahah.
Who else thought Si Yi’s make over for the charity event was wasted? The outfit was ill fitted and her hair made her look older than she is.
As anyone that may have read our past posts will know, we love Roy Qiu. Our embarrassing fangirling over this actor is scattered across our blog in a number of posts and let’s just say we’re so happy he’s back, horray!
Sure, Miss Rose is full of drama clichés and is hardly going to revolutionize the drama industry but we’re got to say six episodes in and we’re very happy viewers.
It took a couple episodes for us to really connect and love it like we do now but the wait was sure worth it.
We could happily spend multiple hours watching Roy stare hopelessly at his OTP like this:
So broody, yum.
Aside from loving Roy’s brooding, hot self, we love his character. We assumed that he would be very stereotypical- you know… cold, rich and a bit of a bastard but he’s not!
He thoughtful and considerate but still very much an alpha male – just the way we like them.
We like how he’s not a pig headed idiot like a lot of leading men at the start of a drama either. He acknowledges Si Yi’s worth and treats her with respect rather than just his Secretary. Who else loved the scene where he defended her against the rest of the office when they took advantage of her?
We think we may love Si Yi just as much as Roy’s Cheng Kuan. She’s smart, confident and isn’t a complete dumbo. Once again, we assumed that she would be a stereotypical leading lady but she’s incredibly well matched with her OTP and mostly stands her ground in the drama. She’s also quite funny as well, she’s got a quick wit that makes us grin and isn’t afraid to voice her thoughts and feeling with people.
The scene where she had to apologise to Vivian was really great. She stood up for her friend and refused to apologise for her actions for as long as she could. She only bowed down to pressure when her fellow colleagues faced Vivian’s wrath. How often have you watched a drama and thought; seriously people don’t act like that in real life? However her actions and feelings felt so authentic in that moment, that we couldn’t help but think that is how we would have felt and acted. Moments like that make it easy to connect and root for this leading lady.
The one thing we found lacking in Office Girls except for the really dragged out mid portion was the chemistry between the OTP. They had it but the leading lady in OG was so withdrawn and resistant to their relationship that at times we found ourselves struggling to care for their relationship. However, in MR the romance is mutually reciprocated and oh so delightful to watch.
For us, the turning point was episode 5, we went from enjoying the drama to loving it and hoping and wishing that we had another episode to watch immediately afterwards. The whole episode was full of unspoken sexual chemistry and consisted of mostly the OTP, just the way we like it.
We loved the scene where he’s drying her hair for her so she wouldn’t catch a cold. Come on, we all knew it was just an excuse to touch her! We adored that scene simply due to the fact it was so intense. Their unspoken feelings for each other was like a giant pink elephant in the room that nobody wanted to acknowledge.
As much as we love the great chemistry between the OTP, it’s the deeper connection between the couple that sets them apart from other dramas. The writer has successfully managed to present them as two very different people that could be friends. Their easy conversations and interactions makes us want to continue to watch them and see how long they will last before they rip each other’s clothes off and make out against a photocopier. Or even better the prospect of Cheng Kuan choosing Si Yi and risking his future as the golden boy to be with her. Heeee, we can’t wait. It’s been ages since we watched a decent Tdrama that made us gush over a worthy OTP.
He came back for her!
Who else is crazy excited about the appearance of Si Yi’s ex boyfriend in next week’s episode??? We can’t wait to see this additional obstacle arrive. We demand jealousy, longing and action from our leading man when he realises that he has some healthy competition! Hopefully Si Yi’s ex has chemistry with her and is presented as a real option for her love. We would just be in drama heaven if that happened. Sighs* If anything, we just hope that he’s more of a rival than Vivian, who frankly just needs to be pushed off a cliff!
We almost forgot how annoyingly frustrating love rivals could be. She is a freaking grown woman that spends her days crying ‘Daddy’ in a nauseating voice that makes us shudder. We like the fact that we know that she loves Cheng Kaun and try as she might, she can’t bring him to completely bend to her needs. He’s going through the motions out of loyalty and a ridiculous sense of obligation to her father, which sadly we can understand.
After episode six, we were ready to get our pitch folks and take a trip to Taiwan to beat the crap out of Vivian. How dare she make Si Yi stand out front to watch her car while she had dinner with her dad!? RAAAAGGGEE*
In fact that whole scene infuriated us…
Si Yi should have told her to stick her job where the sun don’t shine and what the feck was Cheng Kuan thinking allowing her to stand out there as long as she did?
Other thoughts:
Who else thinks it’s hilarious that both Cheng Kuan and Sheng Jun described Si Yi as average looking and like any old random person on the street?? Honestly, are they blind? She’s like this 6ft Amazon who we think is stunning.
There is something strange about Xiao Ke boyfriend. He was all standoffish and weird in his scenes. Ummmm, maybe he’s having an affair or maybe he’s just a bad actor? heheh.
The fortune teller has been hilarious so far. Yes, she’s totally over the top and silly but we swear we laugh every time she does her chant. Ganesh!!!!
We confess we can be fickle at times, we get swept up in the moment and find ourselves passionately loving or hating dramas/ characters ect and then we do a complete U-turn and wonder what the hell were we thinking.
In honour of falling in love with our lastest drama obsession – Queen In Hyun’s Man and giving Yoo In Na a shot despite our aversion to plastic faces, here is our random rundown of drama related U-turns from over the years:
An Actor we once hated: Hyun Bin
Boy, did we hate him so much after watching him in My name is Kim Sam Soon. The ego, the weasel like face, the frustratingly infuriating way he treated Sam Soon, just everything about him made us mad. He left a really bad taste in our mouth and we avoided his dramas like the plague. Then one day, we stumbled across a trailer for Secret Garden…
We went from scowling at a face we deemed weasel like to looking at him and suddenly realising what all the fuss was about. He was hot. He had unbelievably good chemistry with his leading lady, he cried beautiful man tears and he could sing. Also there is the fact that he sacrificed his life so she could live…
All it took was one over the top, shiny tracksuit and all was forgiven.
An Actor we once loved:
Kim Soo Hyun
This will upset a lot of people and even as we write this we’re preparing to hide for cover but it’s just how we feel.
We adored him in Will it snow at Christmas? His portrayal of the young Kang Jin was amazing. He was broken, intense but still so vulnerable. We confess he stole our hearts in that drama and apparently many others as well. There is no denying he is a great actor but as soon as something becomes overexposed or loved too much, it’s game over for us. A switch is turned off in our heads and suddenly, everything about them and their dramas are completely lost on us.
The nail in the coffin was his role as Sam Dong in Dream High – sure he’s cute but when people start claiming that he could be idol star with those dance moves, you know he must be overexposed.
We love this scene in Dream High, it’s so sweet.
A drama that we once loved and now wonder wtf were we thinking:
Baker King– we actually wrote a retraction post about this matter.
We remember being choked up at points, marathoning the drama because we just couldn’t get enough of it and gushing endlessly to anyone that would listen. Then we re-watched it and realised that we must have been insane because it was just ridiculous.
Damn those tears, we just can’t resist good man pain!
Even with the incentive of pretty man tears, this drama turned out to be long winded, repetitive and plain stupid at times. Hello, pretending to be in a coma to lure your enemies out is silly!
An Actor we want to change our minds about but never do:
Blue Lan
Why did it take our beloved Roy Qiu so long to become a leading man when Blue Lan clearly isn’t in the same league of awesome???
Strangely enough we’ve seen lots of Blue Lan dramas. At one point it felt like he was the only leading man available for a Tdrama. Sadly for us, every time we finished one of his dramas, we would say never again but like fools we return only to regret it later. It’s a vicious cycle and one day we’ll learn… hopefully.
The thing about Blue is that he’s not a bad actor, he can generate a decent amount of chemistry with his leading ladies and he’s not bad to look at either, (even the moustache was kind of working for us). It’s just that he plays annoying, frustrating characters that we want to punch in the face and he finds himself acting opposite love rivals that are just too perfect not to love.
We think that if he can get himself a decent role, he may turn it around and that is why we return in hope and anticipation that he won’t disappoint us again.
We guess, if it doesn’t work out, we can return to bitching about him and his fugly clothes and problem hair, we never get bored of that. Muhahah Seriously, what the hell was going on in P.S MAN?
With one sister on self imposed lockdown due to exam season, it looks like the Musthavesubs girls are going to be deprived of our favourite habit for awhile. Well for as long as our self control can last and between you and us…that won’t be long. Hey, they don’t call it an addiction for no reason. Hehehe.
To keep us on the straight and narrow- here is our top 6 cons list for being a drama addict:
1. Sleep deprivation! You have the real risk of turning up to work/ school looking like a panda bear because you have been up all night devouring your new crack drama and the worst thing is: you don’t care!
2. Your drama habit makes you think that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you were a cross dressing nun/ barista/ student. On what planet is this okay?
3. You find yourself spending far too much time on dramawiki and watching drama MVs on YouTube. Sadly for us, we have lost many hours watching MVs. Come on, one is never enough.
4. Guys in really tight clothes (possible women’s wear) and far too much makeup suddenly look okay. Once upon a time we liked our men to look like real men but since joining the dark side – we would happily share our hair products with them. We draw a line at makeup though, we do have standards.
Hahaha, this photo is so funny.
5. You spend your day at work/ school daydreaming about your new drama addiction and wondering whether subs will be available when you get home. When they are, you spend even longer waiting for it to fecking well buffer. It can’t be just us that have nearly destroyed a computer, waiting for a drama to hurry up and buffer already?
6. We sigh a heavy sigh, as we wonder when our very own emotionally stunted, rich chaebol with rock up and declare himself our OTP. We don’t even mind the dreaded wrist grap. Damn you, dramas what have you done to us that we don’t even mind a frigging wrist grab!?
Shit, this was meant to help but instead we want our drama fix now. Sob*
We were complete suckers for this drama and we are totally gutted that it’s ended. We even delayed watching the last episode because we didn’t want it to end so soon. Sob* Yes, we know what you’re thinking- what losers! Hahaha. We won’t deny it, it’s true.
We’ve read quite a lot of grumbles about the ending and in our opinion we thought it was as good as it could be considering the actual manga hasn’t finished yet and the drama’s arc ended at a random point in the actual manga.
For us, the most important thing about the ending was the fact that it remained faithful(ish) to the original manga but still satisfied our fangirl ways. We got a kiss didn’t we- sure the kiss was in her mind but still it was an actual physical kiss between the OTP (that is more than we got in I am Legend and It’s okay, Daddy’s girl). We also got an admission of feelings from them separately. For us, we felt that the ending was hopeful and uplifting but most of all, it made us want to watch more. Why can’t this drama become an annual thing? We would happily tune in every year and watch these awesome characters evolve. The ending was so obviously geared towards establishing a sequel and we know for a fact that if this drama was more popular, we would have easily got one. Now that is saying something considering how much we hate anything resembling a drama extension, sequel ect. Damn it, why do we always fall for the unpopular dramas that make us miserable when they end… Alias anyone?
A couple weeks ago we moaned about the slow progress on the romance front between Gong Xi and Lian but after episodes 13-15, how glad are we that we waited for all the good stuff to come all at once. The role play scene at Lian’s house was so hot! We had to fan our faces when Lian asked Gong Xi if she wanted him to teach her how to kiss. Heeeee.
We have to hand it to Siwon, the dude stepped it up a gear. He was rather stiff at the start of the drama but he came into the role really well. He managed to convey the cold, damaged side perfectly while presenting his unexpected crush on Gong Xi in a realistic manner. You could totally believe his feelings for her and watching him deal with them was a delight because he looked so damn cute when he was conflicted.
We also liked how Gong Xi realised she had feelings for Lian. She was oblivious for so long and then suddenly she had feelings she couldn’t work out. We like how she was the one that missed him when Dark Moon ended and more interestingly she was the one that envisioned their kiss. The writer gradually built it up and it felt like a natural development over the course of the drama rather than a last minute job to satisfy the masses.
Small grumbles in a sea of gushes:
We would have liked to have seen more of Shang…only a little more though. The oh so brief moments between Shang and Gong Xi left us wanting more of the same. We loved their hostile tension, the fact that you could see their shared history written all over their faces whenever they looked at each other and most importantly we loved how we spent the majority of the time wishing Gong Xi would punch him in the face one moment and make out with him the next. As much as we adored Lian and Gong Xi together, Shang and Gong Xi stole the show in every scene they shared.
We would have liked more Qin and Gong Xi time as well. Personally, we didn’t like the fact that Gong Xi already had some random friend that worked at the restaurant with her because it defeated the purpose of having a character like Qin. Qin is purposed to be Gong Xi’s first real friend and that is why Gong Xi is so over the top and possessive of her. Putting this fact aside, we loved watching their friendship develop throughout the course of the drama. We were worried when we heard that Bianca Bai was playing this role, just because Bianca always played that miserable love rival that annoyed the hell out of us. Plus we felt that Ivy and Bianca would look odd together. However, we were pleasantly surprised on all fronts. Bianca was brilliant as the abrasive but funny best friend and their interactions were so much fun to watch.
The CGI graphics were also quite funny. When we say funny, we mean bad. Thankfully this drama wasn’t afraid to laugh at itself because otherwise it would be quite embarrassing.
Finally, we have to mention the dubbing issue. The first few episodes were soooooo bad. We can’t help but feel that an actor’s voice and their ability to present their emotions through talking/ shouting ect is a vital tool to their craft. For us, dubbing totally takes away from the impact an actor can have in their role and it makes us wonder what Siwon and Donghae would have been capable of if they didn’t have that barrier impacting them.
Props go to the two actors, especially Siwon who did a fantastic job in the second half of the drama. We can’t help but think that you would have twice as much work to do when you lose the ability to speak as an actor, especially when you have to present such complicated feelings with just your eyes and physical gestures. He has really impressed us and we look forward to seeing him in his next drama- this time as an actor rather than just eye candy as we shamefully did in the past…. Well can you blame us? He’s hot.
Okay, back to more gushes (Sorry for those people looking for an impartial review)
We adored Ivy Chen’s depiction of Gong Xi. She had the perfect balance of presenting someone that was utterly insane but managed to be remain totally lovable throughout. She made us laugh a lot with her dark twisted thoughts.
Funniest scene in the drama is still the bike scene – where she ordered her evil spirits to park her bike for her while she got ready to face Shang. It was soooo funny; we must have been laughing for about 15 minutes straight.
For those people that thought she was annoying and over the top – you can talk to the hand because we thought she was a brilliant leading lady and was a breath of fresh air in a dramaland where all the leading ladies seem to be far too similar to each other.
Okay, so we loved the characters, the writing- especially how it followed the original story pretty well and the way the drama was produced. We could watch Gong Xi with anyone in the drama all day, everyday – that is how much we loved her and finally even though we’ve heard that Solo song a million time already… it’s still good.
The drama was an unexpected treat for us and we are so glad we stuck around till the end.
If you are looking for a decent Tdrama with laughs, lovable characters and that isn’t totally dragged out until you want to pull your hair out… then look no further.
How much we liked it: 9/10
How good is it technically: 8/10 – we would have given it more if it wasn’t for the dodgy dubbing issue.
Having seen our fair share of dramas over the years now, we love nothing better than to sit down and rewatch a classic drama from our back catalogue. Well, that is when we’re not obsessing over a currently airing drama or dealing with real life. When the mood strikes, we are more than happy to sit down and revisit a drama that takes us back to a time when we were obsessive fan girls and reminds us exactly why we adore watching dramas so much.
Dramas we have re-watched just because they are pure awesome:
Hana Yori Dango/ Boys before Flowers, Secret garden, City Hall, Pride, Que Sera, Sera, Soulmate, My Country Calls… okay this list could go on and on!
Our silly/ sweet pick – Nodame Cantabile
We’ve re-watched this drama so many times over the years, it’s a classic. This is one of our favourite Jdramas and is up there on our list of all-time favourites- that’s how much we love it. The drama is funny, silly and has plenty of heart. The musicality is fantastic and the OTP are adorable. If you haven’t watched this drama before, watch it and then rewatch it because it’s that good!
A drama we rewatch but have no clue why – Pasta
We adore the OTP, the easy breezy tone of the drama and the fact that absolutely nothing much happens other than the OTP making goo goo eyes at each other for 20 episodes. This is the epitome of a ‘fluffy drama’ and despite its flaws, we could happily watch this drama again and again because once in a while it’s nice to see a OTP that just love each other with zero problems in their lives and when they’ re this cute, how are we to resist?
A drama we watch when we’re depressed – Mars
When we’re depressed we like nothing more than to wallow in that misery and well Mars does the trick perfectly.
It’s dark, twisted and there are multiple scenes that will make your heart ache with pain in the best way possible. It’s hard to think of a drama that tops this one in regards to how dark and angsty it is and that is the reason why it’s scattered all over our 30 day challenge posts.
An episode of a drama we have watched multiple times – Yukan Club: episode 8
This is our random pick… really random. Let’s call it what it really is: A guilty pleasure.
If you have seen this episode you will know what we’re talking about, if you haven’t – you will probably wonder what is wrong with us. Hahaha.
Overall, this series was just okay but we remember watching this episode the first time around and we thought it was soooooo funny. We laughed nonstop for 45 minutes and by the end of it, we had the biggest, goofiest grins on our faces. The actual episode is beyond ridiculous but it was so silly and over the top that we were charmed from start to finish.
It has all of the following: A vengeful heartbroken gay villain, a seriously bad case of diarrhea, a bomb and plenty of cross dressing. What more can you ask for?
Why does he look so good as a woman!?
We watched it again a few times over the years and still we laughed at how outrageous it all was and despite knowing we shouldn’t love it… we still do.
Some dramas stay with you more than others. Elements like; your mood, when you watch it and how much time you have to dedicate to it, all factor in on how much you will love a drama. For us, the dramas listed above have made us very happy over the years and they are the reason why we continue to tune in because we hope to add to that list of dramas that make us fangirls that forsake sleep and real life to obsess religiously over a drama…well that is until you find the next one anyway!
How many times have you started a drama and adored it for exactly three episodes, then it suddenly changes on you and becomes this hideous thing that gives you violent thoughts and makes you think about the multiple ways the main characters can die a terrible death?
No, just us then? Muhaha.
For us, this is the most disappointing thing about being a drama fan. Your fangirl senses start tingling and you become all obsessive thinking about the drama all day and counting down the days till the next episode is out. You pin your hopes on it thinking that just maybe this is ‘the one’ or ‘the one right now’ and then wham bam – it’s over and you’re left thinking, why the hell did we waste all those hours in the first place?
Or worse, you are forced to shelve a drama because real life happens and you literally don’t have the time to watch it. The thing about returning to a shelved drama is that it’s lost that ‘in the moment’ crack factor and we can rarely bring ourselves to return to it despite loving it while tuned in. Sadly for us, we have dropped/ shelved a lot of dramas over the years for this reason alone. Damn you real life, you are a drama junkies nightmare!
A few notable dramas that fall under this category:
Office Girls:
We know what you’re thinking – weren’t they obsessing and gushing over this drama for ages? Yes we were, we admit it but honestly that drama extension killed Office Girls for us. We followed the drama through other blogger’s recaps and frankly that was more than enough for us. Some of those recaps were painful to read as it looked like the final part of the drama was dragged out to max as the television station milked this money maker for all it was worth.
At least Office Girls finally brought attention to our beloved Roy Qiu – no more love rival roles for this guy. Yay!
What’s Up:
We literally have two episodes to go but still we can’t bring ourselves to finish it and we don’t know why!! Seriously, the drama is brilliant and we’re thoroughly engrossed when we’re tuned in but as soon as we switch off, it takes a lot of effort to want to watch more.
Don’t look at us like that- we swear we’ll finish it soon!
Sungkyunkwan Scandal:
This was a drama that we were so utterly obsessed with and in love with for so long –(read our posts for proof – gush central!) and then subbing restrictions were applied and we were forced to go cold turkey. Trust us – we weren’t ready for that. Eventually when subs suddenly started popping up we had moved on to something else and never returned to the awesomeness that is Sungkyunkwan Scandal and all that hot bromance.
Finally there are the dramas that we started and then quickly dropped because they were frankly…crap:
Ring, Ring Bell, Drunken to love you, The Colour of a Woman, Thorn Bird (UGH).
Sadly for us this list is rather long and we could be here for a while.
musthavesubs 