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kalena-henden · 6 months

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These are all the shows I’ve watched in 2023 so far...

finished:

Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow - Fantastic finish to the story! Top 3 Kdrama.

Unlock My Boss - Chae Jong Hyeop shines as an aspiring actor who winds up taking the roll of a lifetime as the new CEO of a tech company when the soul of the previous CEO gets stuck inside his phone. Wild concept but fun found family, corporate intrigue, and a sweet little romance that brews between the young new CEO and his assistant.

The Forbidden Marriage - Top 5 Kdrama. If you want romance, comedy, angst, and alot of love, this is your show. I had so much fun and was rewatching while it was airing.

King2Hearts - An unlikely romance sparks between a South Korean prince and a top North Korean (female) soldier leads to potential reconciliation between their two countries that is threatened by a crazy arms dealer whose cover is a magician. This a James Bond inspired, enemies to lovers, family dynasty, international war games drama. The unhinged villain has his own lair and minions but the only one who can match his off kilter mind games is the wily prince, who is equal parts smart, asshole, and lovable. The North Korean soldier is one of the only one’s who can go toe-to-toe with the prince to eventually bring out the best in him as they fall in love that is literally ride or die. There’s also a secondary romance with the princess and a royal guard. I loved parts of this and liked the rest.

Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist (S1 & S2) - I’m a big Kim Min Jae fan. He shines as a medical doctor who experiences trauma that drives him to suicide. He is saved by a passing noble woman and a short while later he saves her from suicide due to her own trauma. Both of them end up working at a rural clinic with another exiled doctor to treat the locals physical needs but also begin a new practice to treat people’s mental health needs as they try to recover from their own traumas. I loved S1 but S2 brought on some annoying new antagonistic love interests. It is a happy ending though.

Lighter & Princess - A poor computer programing genius clashes with an ambitious rich girl in his college classes but sparks fly when they vie for control of the school’s entrepreneurial programming club leading to unlikely but hard won romance. This was excellent.

Love to Hate You - A brash entertainment lawyer gets entangled with a romance actor who keeps his distance from women due to a trauma. A bit over the top, lots of role reversals but also fun. I liked it but didn’t love it.

A Very Secret Service (Au Service De La France) - This a dry, witty French comedy about espionage and spies in the 1960s. Quirky and enjoyable with good character development.

Taxi Driver (S1 & S2) - Lee Je Hoon leads this team of vigilantes who try to root out the evils of society for individuals in crisis that they were never able to do for themselves. The cases are mostly based on real life events. Violent, emotional, satisfying. I love this found family.

Crash Course in Romance - A beloved, handsome math academy professor falls for the single mother of one of his students leading to an uproar amongst the parents. There’s a cute love triangle with the daughter and her classmates (I’m Team Geonhu) and a unsatisfying serial killer plotline.

Gaus Electronics - This is an over the top, quirky, office comedy. It’s so crazy, especially at the beginning, that it’s almost too much but it’s smart and fun with an unlikely enemies to lovers romance that is quite sweet.

The Heavenly Idol - A high priest from another realm in the middle of a battle with the devil unexpectedly switches places with a failed idol grasping for his last chance at success. Kim Min Kyu is a great fish out of water but the story is a bit all over the place. I like his sweet healing romance with the band’s new manager though.

The King: Eternal Monarch - Parallel worlds, time travel, doppelgängers. Lee Min Ho, Kim Go Eun, Woo Do Hwan. There were some great concepts and good execution but it lacked the follow through to make it truly satisfying.

Dr. Romantic (S1, S2, & S3) - Top 10 Kdrama. A small town hospital where a visionary maverick doctor, Master Kim, mentors 30-something year old doctors with his unorthodox methods while they fall in love with each other. It has a huge found Doldam Family with the hospital workers of all ages and their complex relationships with each other. I love this show!

Our Blooming Youth - Park Hyung Shik leads this Joeson-era mystery romance. It’s okay but it’s too slow and doesn’t develop the characters enough. It should have been 16 episodes, not 20.

Call It Love - Introverted adults in their 30s try to overcome childhood trauma inflicted by their parents as they unwittingly fall in love while working together. This one is slower, complex and compelling. It’s one of my favorite dramas of 2023.

Please Don’t Date Him - I watched this solely for Lee Junyoung as a young firefigher who falls in love with a woman who works with A.I. in home appliances and stumbles upon a government spy program. It’s a light comedy if you’re looking for fluff.

Find Me in Your Memory - An actress who’s lost her memory and an anchorman who can never forget fall in love. I mainly watched this because of the actors cameo as these character in Sh**ting Stars. It was okay.

Healer - I know this is a fan fave but I liked it, didn’t love it.

Bora! Deborah (True to Love) - So much potential but a bit of a let down. I like both Yoo In Na and Yoon Hyun Min.

When the Weather is Fine - I was here for the small town romance with the local bookstore owner and the fun found family of their all ages book club. However, the last third of the story wallowed in the revealed family trauma too much and lost sight of everything else.

Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 - When this was on point, it was compelling, funny and so much darn fun! There was bromance, romance, adventure, healing, friendship, and battles both personal and national. It had some slow times but overall Lee Dong Wook was clearing having the time of his life and Kim Bum stole the show as Lee Rang came into his own.

Thirty But Seventeen - 10/10. Top 5 Kdrama. A teenage violinist gets into an accident and wakes up from her coma 13 year later to find the world vastly different. This was so much darn fun, great found family, cute romance, angst, and healing. Even when it was sad, I was so happy watching it. Shin Hye Sun, Yang Se Jong, and Ahn Hyo Seop are fantastic!

Something in the Rain - I wanted so much to like noona romance with Son Ye Jin and Jung Hae In but man did it drag. Her mother is especially heinous. I completed it which was difficult.

See You in My 19th Life - I weirdly dislike-watched this in one weekend cause I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was okay. There were some interesting things about it with the relationships and past lives stuff but not for me.

King the Land - Lee Junho acted his heart out in this fluffy romcom and Im Yoona was a worthy partner in crime. I came to have a good time and they gave it to me.

Heartbeat - Ok Taecyeon did a good job of carrying this unsteady vampire show that had some good moments but didn’t deliver on its premise.

Legend of the Blue Sea - I really do like Lee Min Ho. He has a casual charisma that is undeniable. Jun Ji Hyun was an excellent literal fish out of water. While I liked the intertwining of the past and present lives, the story never quite hit the mark for me. Liked it, didn’t love it.

Never Have I Ever (S4) - This show never let me down. A satisfying finale season!

Meteor Garden (2018) - I needed more Dylan Wang after Love Between Fairy and Devil. This was an unexpected crazy fun ride. It was so outrageous at times. It inspired me to one day watch all the adaptations of Boys Over Flowers, as I’ve already seen 3 now.

Hidden Love - A slow burn, age gap romance between a college girl and her older brother’s longtime friend. I really liked this but I wasn’t in love with it like everyone seems to be.

Nadiya’s Time to Eat - A fave Great British Bake Off winner’s cooking show. Inspiring.

Nadiya Bakes - And her baking show too.

Shadow and Bone (S2) - I think it improved on some things from the first season but they really crammed the second two books into one and some of Six of Crows too. Still a bit too fast-paced but I enjoyed it.

The Night Agent - An FBI agent gets an emergency call that starts a race to find a government mole and protect the informant. I binged this almost straight through. A good watch.

Queen Charlotte - This Bridgerton spinoff sheds light on royal power dynamics, mental illness, and social and racial divides.

LuLaRich - This is a compelling documentary on the rise and fall of Lularoe’s multi-level-marketing scheme. A must watch.

Sweet Magnolias (S3) - This is a comfort drama. I’m just here checking in to see how the little town is doing.

Star Trek: Picard (S3) - Showrunner Terry Matalas brings some of his 12 Monkeys (the tv series) magic to the final reuniting of the Next Generation cast while setting up a compelling potential Legacy spinoff.

My Lovely Liar - I enjoyed the romance between Hwang Minhyun and Kim So Hyun but the show itself is okay.

Destined With You - Magic, Curses, Past Lives, Symbolism, Spells, Fated Love. I thought it was going to be the next great fantasy romance but it chucked the fantasy halfway through and left a million unanswered questions at the end. At least we got a decent romance, even if the story lost its way. A big disappointment for me but I would recommend to see Rowoon acting his heart out in a cute romance.

The Uncanny Counter 2 - I was back to see the demon hunters fight for their humanity and loved ones again.

Celebrity - A solid takedown of influencer culture with mystery, intrigue, and a tiny bit of romance.

It’s Okay Not To Be Okay - I’ve been hearing about how good this drama is forever and it lived up to expectations. Great characters and development. I was surprised at how funny it was and enjoyed the romance too. Highly recommend.

True Beauty - This has been on my list for a long time and I needed more Cha Eun Woo while waiting for new episodes of A Good Day To Be A Dog. A great high school romcom with angst about a girl bullied for her acne getting a second chance at a new school who turns into a ‘goddess’ when she learns to do her own makeup. Love the romance, bromance and friendships! I love the second male lead as a character but never got second lead syndrome because I loved the main romance. I enjoyed the whole way through.

Beckham - A docuseries about soccer (football to the rest of the world) star David Beckham that made you feel like you had front row seat to his past triumphs and struggles through the reflective lens of the present.

#true beauty #dr romantic #it’s okay not to be okay #the forbidden marriage #thirty but seventeen #call it love #tale of the nine tailed 1938 #kdrama #kalenapost #kalena watched kdramas #tv #tv list

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alihi · 1 year

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You need to share your burdens, to lighten them - Hae Soo ( Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo)

Friday (February 10th) romance is a bonus book 🔖

a set inspired by your favourite quote or lyric [optional: from your favourite kdrama or original soundtrack]

#kdramasoverflowers2023 #kdramadaily #kdramaedit #summer strike #come and hug me #scarlet heart ryeo #still 17 #thirty but seventeen #soundtrack no.1 #i am not a robot #<3 #love all of them #day 3 #alihigifs

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kaylamlyrae · 3 months

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Because…I love my hair, it’s cold in Florida, and I didn’t intend to cosplay John Bender today, yet here we are…"Screws fall out all the time. The world's an imperfect place."

#self love #author #female writers #breakfast club #john bender #long hair dont care #weirdo #stranger things #dark fantasy #thirty but seventeen

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aylinaliens · 2 years

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Top five angst-with-a-happy-ending K-dramas!

angst with a happy ending is my FAVORITE i love it when a drama emotionally breaks me and then give me cute fluff at the end 🥰

1. Come and Hug Me

this drama truly has one of the most messed up plots out there. the FLs parents/brother were murdered by the MLs parents. i know what you’re thinking: how could this ever be a happy ending? well, there is. these two characters who went through literal hell together gets their happy ending and it’s WELL deserved. the journey is long and difficult and angsty. despite all of that the bond between the leads is actually the the sweetest thing ever. na mu and na moo were dealt the worst cards out there but they remained kind, loving, sweet, and caring. watching come & hug me felt like being punched and hugged at the same time.

2. Flower of Evil

this d r a m a. it’s so angsty and painful and intense. the FL and ML are already married & parents so the angst it delivers hits way harder. the FL is a homicide detective who, unbeknownst to her, marries a man with a dark dark past. she starts to investigate a string of murders that took place 15 years ago and starts to think that maybe her husband was the killer. the ML acts like perfect husband and father (his relationship with his daughter is so wholesome) but…is it real? or is it all pretend? flower of evil is full of pain and betrayal but it still manages to have a happy ending.

3. When the Camellia Blooms

the angst that WTCB gave us was unreal and so bittersweet but the ending was *chefs kiss*. dongbaek is a single mother who honestly is just trying to survive in a small town. she has to deal with prejudice and judgement at every turn. she ends up meeting youngshik, a police officer, who immediately falls head over heels. he’s so enchanted and amazed by dongbaek & is willing to raise her son. youngshik is a literal golden retriever so when things get angsty it HURTS. be aware that this does have a big side plot about a serial killer. it takes a lot of fighting and work for these two (three if you count her son). some of the side characters were infuriating but these two were cuties.

4. Just Between Lovers

yet another drama that feels like a punch to the face and a hug at the same time. this drama deals heavily with trauma and grief and survivors guilt. the FL and ML were both there as teens when the accident happened and lost people they loved. years later they cross paths and have to learn to navigate their feelings and trauma together. it’s angsty and a tearjerker but it’s also so sweet.

5. Thirty but Seventeen

Miss Shin Hyesun is the queen of angst with a happy ending trope (for the most part idk what happened with mr. queen). 30 but 17 is criminally underrated. when the FL is 17 she gets into an accident and is in a coma. the ML feels responsible for it so he closes himself off emotionally. 13 years later, the FL wakes up and crosses paths with the ML. neither remember each other though which leads to ✨angst✨. this drama is so heartwarming but also sad. it’s not as painful as the others but it certainly hurts. not only is it angsty but it also uses the cohabitation trope. it’s so cute GO WATCH THIS DRAMA EVERYONE.

Ask me my TOP FIVE anything

#kay answers #drama recs #giving recs is my favorite thing to do 💙🥰#come and hug me #flower of evil #when the camellia blooms #just between lovers #thirty but seventeen #kdrama #kdrama recommendations

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starlit-pathways · 10 months

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now, if i had a penny for every time shin hye sun starred as the female lead in a romcom drama in which:

there is a number in at least one of english translation of the title(s)

the male lead has vehicular ptsd relating to an incident in their shared past

there is a psychological age gap

she has a talent for music

she has had to wheel the very drunk male lead back home

i'd have two pennies, which isn't a lot – but even then, i'm still building up the parallels between the two in my head. i just know there'll be more to come.

#see you in my 19th life #thirty but seventeen #still 17 #korean dramas #kdramas #shin hye sun #performative journaling

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youknowihavenochingu · 2 years

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Mental health awareness in dramas 💙

It's Okay Not To Be Okay

Tomorrow

Our Blues

It's Okay That's Love

You Raise Me Up

Kill Me Heal Me

Just Between Lovers

Flower Boy Next Door

Lost

Thirty But Seventeen

#kdramas #it's okay not to be okay #mbc tomorrow #our blues #it's okay that's love #you raise me up #mbc kill me heal me #just between lovers #flower boy next door #jtbc lost #thirty but seventeen

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factorygirlsstuff · 4 months

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I been watching Shin Hae Sun’s dramas lately. Just finished Thirty but Seventeen and I loved it so much. I cried during the whole last half of the last episode and I don’t even know why lol.

My favorite is how they pretended like she was going to leave, like happens in so many dramas, and then they decided not to do the last episode break up/time skip thing.

Everything was so cute, the ending was perfect. I can’t believe that movie Senior Year was based on this lol. Also I didn’t recognize Ahn Hyo seop AT ALL till I looked him up.

Super cute, totally recommend.

#thirty but seventeen #still 17 #shin hae sun #ahn hyo seop #yang se jong

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consumeronionbulletin · 9 months

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Still 17 / Thirty but Seventeen (2018)

Overall, I liked this melodrama / romcom though I had some quibbles.

The premise is basically: "what would it be like if you went through a coma and skipped all of your late teens and twenties and woke up 30." I've seen this in a few movies (Big, 13 Going on 30, etc.).

Those movies used unexplained magic to cause the inciting incident. But the people who made this show decided to use a horrific accident where their best friend gets killed, their family abandons them, and the main character starts the first episode confused and homeless.

This is a pretty good example of the differences between Hollywood and K-drama-land...

What Worked

There were strong performances here, but Shin Hye-sun really carried this show. The premise could easily have turned maudlin or overly cute but Shin Hye-sun kept things grounded when they needed to be, while still making you empathize with the character.

The other characters were also pretty interesting (especially Jennifer!), and the writer and actors put alot of care into making them seem real when they could easily have been boring or flat. Even the antagonists (the jealous former rival, the handsy son-of-a-client, etc.) were mostly interesting, or at least fun to hate.

What Didn't Work

They shot this by splitting the (usually) hour long episodes into 35 mins, for commercial break reasons. This caused some issues with pacing / plotting. They also liked to tease the audience by dropping clues about connections that would move the plot forward, only to have the characters suddenly turn away from the "clue" and bury it for 4-5 episodes (or more). It makes sense for them to do that, in that it keeps the audience hooked and was much more common before binging / streaming became popular, but it still annoyed the crap out of me.

I also disliked the inability for the "adults" to have a serious conversation in the first half of the drama. Again, this was mostly for plot reasons, and had some justification with the past trauma aspect of the show, but it was frustrating. Another thing I disliked was the attempted love triangle thing between Yoo Chan and Seo-ri. They did a good job of handling the arc overall, but it just didn't land for me.

The Performances

Shin Hye-sun as ("still 17") Woo Seo-ri. I loved this performance. The overall arc for the character, which is basically "poor little orphan makes good" isn't groundbreaking, but Hye-sun managed to keep the character fresh and fun to watch. And that made the moments of sadness hit even harder.

Yang Se-jong as ("poor trauma boy") Gong Woo-jin. Another good performance. I liked the chemistry he had with Hye-sun's character, but what made this work was the way Yang Se-jong managed to portray the slow change from weird mountain man shunned by society, to hardworking family man, while still keeping the core goodness of the character intact.

Ahn Hyo-seop as ("the good nephew") Yoo Chan. This guy was fun to watch, and made a great foil (comedic and emotional) for the two leads. I especially liked the way they showed his differences in language (from living overseas part-time) and his upbeat attitude overall. The show would have been much more depressing without the lighter moments that he brought to it.

Ye Ji-won as ("the housekeeper") Jennifer. This character was straight out of a Wes Anderson film, and I loved the decision to play her that way. I liked Ye Ji-won in her role as the quirky mom in Introverted Boss but this was much more fun and memorable. I don't know that kdramas really need more housekeepers with martial arts skills and an encyclopedic memory of weird facts, but I for one would enjoy more characters like that.

Jung Yoo-jin as ("noona boss") Kang Hee-soo. I liked her in Romance is a Bonus Book and it's nice to see her in a more laid-back role. Enjoyed her interactions with Seo-ri and Woo-jin.

Lee Ah-hyun as ("absent mother") Gong Hyun-jung. Not in very many episodes, but I really enjoyed the scenes she was in. Just a cool character.

Ahn Seung-gyun as ("quirky coworker") Jin Hyun. He was fun to watch, but I never understood what his deal was, other than just being young and quirky.

The Rowing Crew. These guys were fun to watch, but kind of interchangeable.

Yoon Sun-woo as ("the doctor") Kim Hyung-tae. The actor did okay with what he was given, but it was basically another fake love triangle which I didn't like, followed by some minor character stuff which was only kind of interesting.

Wang Ji-won as ("the rival") Kim Tae-rin. I have mixed feelings about the character. I liked the sort of flashback / arrested development thing, but I feel like the resolution to this was maybe too fast. But the actor did a good job and I felt some real feels at times.

The Bad Client. I hated this guy, which shows that he did a good job. A little bit of a stereotype, but (like with loansharks and fascists), I never get tired of seeing this type of guy get what's coming to him.

So-ri's Family. Not really memorable, but they did a good job for the most part.

TL; DR:

It's billed as a romcom, but it's at least equal parts melodrama. Frustrating and endearing at times, but it's worth watching just to see Shin Hye-sun and Yang Se-jong at work.

#my kdrama notes #still 17 #thirty but seventeen #kdrama melodrama #i hate love triangles

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