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.
For the first time since we started this blog, we took a break and stopped watching dramas and blogging altogether. Literally for five months we watched nothing and trust us as drama fangirls of the worst kind it was hard, really, really hard. However, it was something we had to do. Exam season was in full swing, our brother’s wedding took on a life of its own and work had suddenly become really demanding. Thankfully everything has settled and we can return to our fangirl ways. Hurray!
We intend to jump right back in and blog on a regular basis and luckily for us we’ve found a couple of dramas that we’re really loving and can easily fangirl about for hours.
We heard positive murmurs about it but certainly didn’t expect much of it. Then we tuned in and we were hooked. We loved how dark, intense and smart the drama was. We sat at the edge of our seats from start to finish and now we want more!
If you’ve ever stumbled across our blog before, you may have noticed that we often stick to the light and fluffy. We admit it, we love us some romance and a happily ever after, so we tend to avoid genres that involve crime squads and drug dealers that love to kill people with golf clubs. However we’re happy to make an exception on this occasion. Yes, we know that we will probably regret it and be crying our eyes out because we rooted for a character/ OTP that are doomed to die but we’re hooked. Sleep be damned.
Thank goodness we’ve got six episodes to work our way through. The idea of having to wait to tune in would drive us mad.
The plot is shown from two perspectives. First the crime squad that have been assembled to bring down a massively successful drugs ring headed up by a crazy lunatic called Scale (he’s the golf club welding killer). The second perspective is from Shi Hyun aka The Doctor’s Son, who is trying to overthrow Scale and become the big boss in charge.
Ultimately their target is the same but for two very different reasons. The pace is fast with plenty of twists and turns along the way. We love how the writer has made these characters smart and not dumbed them down for the audience’s benefit. They know exactly what is going on and why things have happened. It’s such a pleasure to watch a drama where we’re not waiting in frustration for the characters to realise what the hell is going on. It makes it easy for us to respect them and eager to see what they do next.
For us the best thing about this drama is definitely Jung Kyung Ho:
What a pleasant surprise.
We have a thing for flawed characters that often lose out in dramas but our love (obsession) for this character is on another level. We tuned in knowing there was no chance for a happy ending for this character but still we couldn’t help but get attached. He is just such a fantastic character to follow. He’s bad, a killer and oh soooooo hot. Wow, who would have thought that the adorable Jung Kyung Ho from Smile, you could be this damn sexy??? Certainly not us.
We love how he gives off this dangerous, untouchable aura; add the sharp suits and the 1920s hair- we’ve got a winner. Despite appearing calm and cool, you can see the dark undertones of pain and fury in his facial expressions and actions. He is one man we wouldn’t want to mess with… Maybe just make out with. Hehehe.
We love how he’s smart and ruthless but at the same time you see glimpses of his humanity through his friendship with Soo and his ‘Aunt’. Maybe it was his horrible upbringing in the Whorehouse or the desperately sad look on his face but we just want to take care of him and hope he lives happily ever after. Damn it, we’re just asking for heartache with feelings like that!
There were two major scenes that made us sit up and take notice of his character. The first scene was one where he and Soo were walking down a street and were attacked by hundreds of gangsters. Soo was naturally fighting them off to clear the way but Shi Hyun just walked through the violence like it was a normal sunny afternoon through the park. All we kept thinking was what is he capable of that no one is daring to touch him? Why does he look so calm and collected despite the madness surrounding him? The way the drama slowly presented the different facets of his character was just genius. At the beginning we got cold, calculating and super smart and then we got this:
OMG – honestly we sat there slack jawed in amazement at the scene above. Deadly and smart is a lethal combination and one we could happily watch.
We can’t wait to see how his character develops throughout the drama and don’t get us started on how excited we are about his romance. Please let it be epic, tell us we’re going cry like giant babies when they end?? Surely there is no other way but a tragic ending – he’s a killer and a baddie. Do we care? No, we’ll take it any way we can – gimme, gimme now.
The other leading man – Lee Jae-yoon as Ji Hyung-min
Considering we’re strictly team Shi Hyun, this character isn’t doing too badly as our obsessive cop tasked to bring down the baddies for the police.
We like how his morals are flexible and he’s got this deep rooted hunger to bring down the baddies at any cost. Also he’s just as smart as Shi Hyun. He was always at the forefront of the action and was completely aware of what was happening. The idea that he’s just as smart as Shi Hyun and is just as driven to destroy Scale and co is fantastic. We just love the fact that we don’t know what’s going to happen or who’s going to win in this battle of wills.
We like how his character is more emotional than Shi Hyun. He’s already lost his brother to drugs and his girlfriend is always at risk by being a part of his team. He has a lot to lose and that makes him a risk. He’s more than capable of just completely losing the plot and killing a string of people in his need for justice and revenge. We just know it’s going to be great viewing watching this character walk the thin line both morally and ethically in this drama.
Other thoughts:
We’ve seen very little of Nam Gyi Ri’s leading lady character yet. This actress has her fair share of haters but frankly we don’t mind her too much. Once you get past the plastic face, she’s alright. Also we actually really liked her in the terribly disappointing 49 Days.
When Soo was stabbed, who else gasped?? Seriously we thought he was a goner. We loved how Shi Hyun carried him out and took him to the hospital. Please drama, give us a good bromance if all else fails.
Who else is loving the musicality and cinematography in this drama? We remember watching City Hunter ages ago and loving its visuals and use of music. It truly looked amazing but we failed to connect with it on an emotional level. The characters just didn’t matter to us and as a result we couldn’t be bothered to tune in every week. We care about all of the characters in Cruel City and fingers crossed, we have a feeling it might be a keeper.
If you’re looking for something dark and exciting look no further!
So it wasn’t a shiny blue tracksuit this time but instead a face full of noodles and multiple kicks to the family jewels that made us go from being indifferent to suddenly appreciating Joo Won as an actor.
Frankly we thought this day would never come. For ages now, it felt like everyone had been fangirling about this actor and we just didn’t get it. He found him shouty and infuriating in Baker King and subsequently since, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to watch him overact his way through his later projects.
However, we had come to a dry patch in our drama viewing and this drama seemed right up our street. After finishingSchool 2013, we needed something light, fluffy and on the stupid side. We found Flower Boy Next Door far too lightweight for our liking and so we dubiously tried out Level 7 Civil Servant. With no expectations what so ever we found ourselves enjoying the setup and most surprisingly Joo Won as the most endearing but stupid leading man on screen. The more we watched, the more we found that we liked him. He soon became the only character we liked as he was the only sincere, honest character in the whole drama. Everyone else was lying or using him and well, we admit we can’t resist an underdog and Joo Won’s character was in a league of his own.
We watched up to around episode 8 before we went off to Malaysia and found that the drama was already waning. The plot was moving super slowly and the cute spy school set up had disappeared and had been reduced to the usual spy setup full of clichés and repetition. We had every intention of watching more but then we returned from our trip and it felt like everyone in the blogosphere had trashed the second half and had written the drama off.
The combination of our own hesitation and reading other bloggers thoughts has completely turned us off and it seems like another one bites the dust.
It’s a shame about the drama, as it was good when it was good but at least we managed to get over our Joo Won aversion and can officially remove another actor off our black list. Now if only we could get Kim Soo Hyun off the list, today would be a great day.
Come on 2013, give us drama lovers a winner! Yes, it’s only March but we need our drama crack. We need a drama that keeps us up all night, makes us obsess over it and yes, inspires us to fangirl about it on a blog.
We’ve shelved far too many dramas this year, we need a keeper.
Is it just us feeling like this? Does anyone have any recommendations for current dramas worth checking out?
For anyone keeping track, we’re sorry for being MIA for awhile. We actually went off to Malaysia for a few weeks and have returned with a bad case of the holiday blues. Usually the cure for the blues is to book another holiday as soon as possible but as we’re broke, we guess staying in and watching dramas will have to do.
It’s strange returning from our trip to the snow and cold. One moment we were sipping cocktails on a beach straight out of a postcard and then the next moment we’re back at work and rocking coats with gloves. Sad times.
If anyone gets a chance to go to Malaysia, we would highly recommend it, especially Langkawi. It’s very beautiful, has great weather and the locals are lovely.
We can tell you now we certainly don’t have this view from our window at home.
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
Aside from finding and loving Answer Me, 1997, no drama has really captured our attention the way we hoped for in recent months. This drama filled a void that reminded us why we tune in to Kdramas and why we keep coming back for more.
Sure the drama was far from perfect. There was some seriously dodgy acting from a number of actors and there were a couple plotlines that were executed quite poorly but as drama lovers for a number of years now, we know that some of our favourite dramas are not always technically the best. Ultimately the good far outweighed the bad in this drama and that is why we returned every week.
We were quite pleased with the way the drama ended. The drama could have gone down the obvious path of trying to please everyone with the perfect, happy and convenient ending but instead we got quite a realistic but hopeful conclusion to a refreshingly honest portrayal of school life.
The teachers realised that they can’t save everyone but they won’t give up trying and the kids learnt that in life some things don’t come easily but at the same time nothing is impossible.
The drama took a gamble by not having any romantic links and as the worst type of type of romantic, we were at first disappointed by the idea but after a few episodes we realised that maybe the introduction of romance would have complicated an already structured and plot driven drama. There were hints of romance between Ha Kyung and Nam Soon to keep us satisfied and of course we adored Teacher Jung and Kang together! Yes, we admit it we would have loved a bit of teacher romance but we’re not going to complain too much.
Reasons to tune is:
1. Bromance
Of course it’s all about the most perfect bromance we have seen on TV in forever!
Yes, Nam Soon and Heung Soo are the main reason why we returned every week. This is a great example of a friendship that is both believable and heartfelt. They represented misunderstood bad boys like no other drama has done in a very long time. Their relationship was fractured, had depth and made us fangirl like lunatics. They captured our attention and we were completely and utterly invested in their story. We cared so much for them as individuals but we couldn’t wait for them to get back together and be happy. We loved how the writer unfolded their story slowly and brought them together in a realistic and authentic way. It was far from easy and their reconciliation is one we feel will take time to heal completely but like the rest of the drama, we are left hopeful that everything will work out one way or another.
Boys – you will be missed, we loved your broody, angsty ways. Who needs romance when these boys loved each other this much!?
2. Jang Nara and Daniel Choi – please, please can you just get together in real life!
This is the second drama we have seen them in now and they remain as cute as ever.
Okay, now we’ve got that out of our system, we have to say that these two actors did a wonderful job of keeping the drama on the straight and narrow. As we mentioned earlier the acting is at times quite poor but these two characters did a brilliant job of portraying complicated, passionate individuals that are tested time and time again by rotten kids and horrible senior staff. We appreciated the fact that the writer didn’t make them super heroes that fix everyone’s problems and are worshiped for being pure awesome at the end. Instead we got two characters that tried their best and had to really earn the respect and support of the kids. At times the lack of support from the kids was frustrating to watch but it was realistic. Not all kids appreciate how much work the teachers put in or even realise how much they care. That is life.
The hopeful ending where the teachers are waiting for Jung Ho was a really sweet way to end the drama. It was an open ending that highlighted the best in both of them. Teacher Jung will never give up on the kids but now knows that you can’t fix all of them and Teacher Kang realised that there is more to being a teacher than their end results. The ending presented the bittersweet reality of school for a teacher and kept true to the feel and message the writer wanted to present.
3. Friendship
It was nice to see a number of friendships portrayed in various characters in this drama. We’ve touched on this before in other posts but we love a good friendship as much as a OTP. Sometimes dramas get obsessed with the OTP that they forget to give depth to friendships in dramas or don’t even bother to present any at all. As a result it’s nice to see the power of friendship and how you can get through tough times with the support of good friends rather than just your OTP.
The drama highlighted that friendship isn’t always black and white and they can be hard work at times but they are worth fighting for in the end.
4. Angst
Tune in for some lovely, lovely angst! The drama had some epic scenes that often come out of nowhere and reminded you exactly why you tuned in every week. We promise you won’t drown in the angst but there are some scenes that will make your heart ache in the best way possible.
“Do you think what I just gave up right now was school? What I threw away wasn’t school. It was you, you punk.”
Overall thoughts:
The drama takes a couple episodes to find it’s pacing but stick around you won’t regret it.
Last week’s episodes just killed us with its perfect, perfect angst. Seriously, we didn’t think the drama could top the previous week’s effects but how wrong were we. Our hearts ached in the best way imaginable as we watched Nam Soon and Heung Soo take steps to rebuild their fragile relationship.
I’m not a victim. And Go Nam-soon isn’t an assailant. We’re just… friends. Friends who were just unlucky… and now, we’re in the middle of working it out.
We love how the drama has shown the parallels between their happy past and their current state. The small snippets of the good times make the slow steps of progress in the present all the more precious to watch. Up until this week all we wanted from these two characters were for them to fight it out, cry, hug and get over their anger. Our impatient hearts thought it couldn’t take much more but the wait was so worth it. The waiting, the intense angst, regret and anger between the two characters was handled so well. It wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t over played and as viewers we couldn’t have been more pleased. Our hearts were literally lodged in our throats as Heung Soo and Nam Soon talked out their pain and hurt from the incident. The scene was just so electric. We love how Heung Soo is mostly all eyes and ridged jaw line but to finally hear his pain and feelings was so worth waiting 11 episodes and Nam Soon, our beloved Nam Soon was all kinds of wonderful in last week’s episodes. We were so damn happy that everything was finally working out for him and then for him to be asked to leave school was the perfect angsty twist to the story.
The lunch scene was another example of perfect angst in motion. Nam Soon asking Heung Soo to have his potentially final lunch with him was such a sweet moment. We loved watching him cry as they silently shared their meal together. Some of the best scenes in dramas need no words what so ever and this is just another example of what good writing and acting can accomplish.
We wondered what needed to happen to allow these two characters to make up. We really feared it would be something weak like locking them up in a room or making them play basketball together but the final push was the idea of Heung Soo losing his friend again. Sighs*/ Swoons* – Could it get any more bromantic between these two characters? It was just so perfect. Although now that they’re on the right track to friendship, we’ll be honest, we’re going to miss the angst ridden drama between the two characters.
We thought we were satisfied with just the development on the bromance front but then we watched the last five minutes of episode 11 and we swear we died and went to drama heaven.
How swoon worthy is this quote:
Because… you’re the teacher I wished I could be. You… are the teacher I tried so hard to be but couldn’t become… you are that teacher.
Yes finally, Teacher Kang has read our minds and said everything we’ve been waiting to hear from him since episode 1. Yay!
This was the sweetest non love confession we’ve seen in a very long time.
All we have to say is: ABOUT BLOODY TIME TOO.
The professional breakdown of Teacher Jung was so hard to watch. She’s such a lovely teacher that tries so damn hard to please those ungrateful brats and so to watch her be rejected not only by her peers but by the students was just too cruel. We actually like the fact that she gave up. It was frustrating watching her suffer every week. A normal person wouldn’t have continued on under such circumstances and if this drama does one thing well, it’s definitely the realistic characterization of Teacher Jung. She makes mistakes, gets upset and angry and we think we love her all the more for those qualities because we can relate to her on a basic level. We really liked how the writer slowly broke her spirit over the weeks, it made her decision to quit have a bigger impact on us as viewers and yes, it got us good! We can’t tell you how pleased we were when Teacher Kang chased after her.
We demand HEAs all around for our favourite teachers and bromance – anything less is unacceptable!
Can’t wait for this week’s offerings 🙂
Now, we just need to squeeze in a few hours to binge – sleep deviation or anti social behaviour should do the trick. hehe.
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.
Oh, Nam Soon just when we thought we couldn’t love you any more, you had to go and give up school for the sake of your friend.
For the last two minutes of episode 7, we sat there with a lump in our throats as we watched perfect angst and heartbreak play out right before our eyes. We knew that school would be the thing Nam Soon gave up but we thought it would be for something else like his future, his education ect but for him to state so sadly that what he was really giving up was Heung Soo broke our hearts a little bit. Seriously, these guys are nailing their OTP moments. Their relationship is so fascinatingly complicated and fractured that you wonder how the hell will they be friends again? Then you see how they just can’t keep away from each other and that they care far too much when they claim not to and you know that it will all be alright in the end…hopefully. Damn it, episode 8’s cliffhanger was so great, we can’t wait to see what happens next!
Nam Soon’s speech in front of everyone in class was so somber and heart achingly sad as he confessed to what really happened between them all those years ago. Heung Soo’s silent response was just perfect. The atmosphere in the room was so tense with shock that his response or lack of a response had a far greater impact than if he shouted and screamed his way through the scene. You could see his pain and rage plastered across his face as he silently listened to Nam Soon speak frankly about his actions. We like how the writer didn’t sugar coat his actions. Nam Soon was angry and immature and he did something that he would regret forever and regardless of what he does now there is no way of rectifying the results. It was one of those great OTP moments that you wait for in the drama. The drama had been leading up to this moment for weeks now and to finally hear the brutally harsh circumstances that broke them up and clearly see how hard it’s been for both of them was brilliant viewing and certainly didn’t disappoint in any way.
We still love Teacher Jung especially because she’s old school and burdensome!
Another week and another chance for Teacher Jung to be treated like shit by her boss and half the school but she still hasn’t given up on these rotten kids. It’s hard not to root for a woman so resilient.
We loved the scene where Teacher Kang turned the tables on the Head teacher and blackmailed her into allowing Teacher Jung to keep her tutor role. Yay for someone sticking up for Teacher Jung for once!
We like how Teacher Kang hasn’t completely reformed his selfish ways yet as highlighted in his decision to expel Heung Soo from school but you can see shades of improvement. We liked how he intervened to keep Nam Soon in school and he tried to make Heung Soo and Nam Soon make up. His scenes with Nam Soon always make us smile because you can clearly see how they don’t like each other but keep getting entangled in situations together. It was nice to see Nam Soon get a pep talk from someone other than Teacher Jung for once.
Other thoughts:
We still want Jung Ho to die – Please drama don’t redeem this pathetic excuse for a character!
We loved Ha Kyung’s scene with Heung Soo when she told him to stop being a idiot and stop smoking. The girl is fearless and so damn cool.
When are Nam Soon and Ha Kyung going to make out already!?
musthavesubs 