Just Between Lovers.

I know this is universally loved, and as a Junho fan and an ardent devotee of slice-of-life melancholic dramas, this one should be one of my favorites. But I ultimately found it disappointing.

The writer definitely doesn't shy away from showing the reality of grief--how devastating it is and how it never really ends--but I also found the writing to lose steam about halfway through and start throwing tragedy on top of tragedy in order to create new obstacles for the central couple. I think a stronger writer would have been able to generate internal conflict based on their personalities and relationship alone without bringing in more death and illness. So the romance, sadly, fell flat for me despite the actors' chemistry.
Finally, again, I love Junho, but at times I struggled with his character's gruffness and nastiness at key moments. That started to feel tired and repetitious at the halfway mark as well.

And the ending was very anticlimactic.

My ID is Gangnam Beauty: Painfully slow and boring story that has no point. The lead is insufferable and insecure, and she learns nothing after all that plastic surgery.

Personal Taste: Downright offensive with the endless gay jokes that sounded like they were written by immature children. The anti-gay rhetoric ruined what could have been a meaningful story.

Oh, and I couldn't get past episode 3 of The Tale of Nokdu. Everyone raves about it, but I just don't see it.

Same with Yumi's Cells. The cartoon made it feel really childish, and jerked me out of the story. Couldn't make it past episode two after several attempts.

1. Vincenzo - forced myself to finish watching it but never understood the reason why people loved it.

2. Squid game - watched it and was ok with it but again, never understood the hype. We had a better drama on similar topic “liar game” but appreciate the worldwide recognition it brought out to kdrama.

3. Boys over flower - still hate it. This drama should never have existed.

4. Heirs - horrendous.

5. Arthdal chronicles - zero value.

6. Jirisan - terrible execution.

Definitely Vincenzo.
Hospital Playlist 2, Goblin, CLOY and Itaewon Class, oh there are so many.
And... probably super minor opinion, but 2521....　There I said it.
To me, it's just a melodrama with a lot of coincidence that is pretending to be slice of life...
I'm not into the show that is trying to be something it's not in general.

This is a consequence of expectations and spoilers.

I watched the first 6 episodes of Our Beloved Summer live and was obsessed with it and thought Choi Woo-shik was the most heart-fluttering character of the year. But then life became so busy that I didn't have time to follow it weekly, so I decided to save it to binge once it was over.

Episode 6 ended on Choi Woo-shik confronting Kim Da-mi revealing that he remembered what happened that night and them crying. So for weeks, I was giddy about him confessing and kissing her and them getting back together. My expectations were sky-high. But during this time, freaking YouTube kept recommending scenes from the drama and literally spoiled all the kisses for me.

Finally on the weekend of Episode 14, I was so excited to rewatch the first 6 episodes because this was going to be my favorite drama of the year, then watched up to Episode 11... and was so deflated that I no longer loved it. The next weekend I finished the last 5 episodes still not loving it.

Now I'm full of regret. Would I still have loved it if I had watched it live? Would I still have loved it if YouTube (screw you, YouTube!) hadn't spoiled it for me? Would I still have loved it if the story had been better written?

But this may not fit this topic of "the drama you couldn’t love even though you wanted to" because I've convinced myself that I still love it.

Finished:
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?: annoying ML, cliche (but not in the fun way) romance. Not enough Kang Ki Young.
Dali and Gamjatang: only liked the first 2 episodes (and Min Jae's suits).
My Rommie is a Gumiho: didn't like the gumiho.
Tale of the Nine Tailed: didn't like the gumiho, or the FL or the plot.
The Red Sleeve: hated the ML.
Our Beloved Summer: well...

Dropped:
Vicenzo: I just didn't get into it.
Rooftop Prince: I don't remember much but sudenly it went from comedy to the FL crying day and night? somthing like that.
My GF is a Gumiho: I didn't like the gumiho.
My Unfamiliar Family: makjang (not the fun kind).
Hello Me: the FLs.
Itaewon Class: the FL.
Hometown Cha Cha Cha: I know the FL went there to make her business and she should adapt but damn, can they give her a break? I remember feeling suffocated watching the first episode, and I wasn't even there. At the end of the episode the only character I liked was the FL, tbh.

Honorable mentions:
Lost: I was expecting something different. I'll give it a second chance, tho.
Into the Ring: I liked the show, but I feel like I didn't LOVE it like everyone else? I haven't even finished it. I want to, but it's not a show I feel like binge-watching. I think it's because of the politics. I hate politics.
A Business Proposal: I've only watched 3 episodes and the lie is already driving me crazy. This show doesn't have the great Veronica Park to make me stay for 16 episodes so I hope the lie ends soon, tbh.

Because This Is Our First Life: I really, really wanted to like this drama. But it lost me around the time his hair changes (I remember thinking he suddenly became less attractive lol) and I had to drag myself to the end as it got more and more stupid. By the end I was only watching for one of the friend’s storylines.

Descendants of the Sun: the heroine is a doctor, so you’d think she’d be quite smart, but you would never know based of ANY OF HER ACTIONS MY GOD. All the shirtless soldiers in the world were not enough to compensate.

Hometown Cha Cha Cha: I really wanted to like this. I love Shin Mi-na. But it was never as charming as it wanted me to think it was, and the episodes were soooooooo long. I will finish it one day, probably, but for now I am stalled at episode 12ish.

One The Woman: I don’t know that this was super popular on DB but it definitely got super high ratings. I was keen to see Lee Sang Yoon in another comedy because he’s great in Second 20s - unfortunately he’s so heavily made up and filtered he looks more like a computer animation than a person. I found it too distracting to keep watching.

I wanted to love ' Run on ' and ' Age of youth 2' but somehow I didn't. For Run On, I actually forced myself to finish and to this day I don't understand the rave about it. For Age of youth 2 it's a different story: I so loved the 1st one that I found the second one to be disappointing. While everyone else loved it, I found it to be okay, and "meh" compared to the first one.

I tend to give new shows a few weeks of runtime so I can monitor Beanies' reactions and decide which to pick up. Sometimes I see so much excitement/love for a drama, but when I try to watch it... it really doesn't draw me in.
The ones I tried really hard to like...
Hospital Playlist - everything JJS is special to me but even he couldn't keep me invested to watch this show past the halfway mark.
Human Disqualification - aka Lost, which lost me after episode four due to the agonizing pace and just the agony of the characters. I felt depressed watching it, so had to stop. And I generally love misery in my kdramas!
Descendants of the Sun - I really wanted to stick it out for the bromance at the very least. I really tried.
Seven Day Queen - TOO MUCH, it was too much, knowing it was going to break my heart.

And lastly, the two I keep side-eyeing but haven't found that spark of interest yet to start watching:
Hotel del Luna and Squid Game.

I know I am in a distinct minority but my nominee is my least favorite drama of 2017: WITCH’S COURT (2017) (Viki US).
The way Ma Yi-deum (Jung Ryeo-won) treated Yeo Jin-wook (Yoon Hyun-min) annoyed the h*ll out of me for the entire drama.
Right off I am a YHM fan (from HEARTLESS CITY (2013). I know it is crazy but when I was watching that show and observed the treatment YHM (see I equated him with his character) was getting I felt like I was watching a relative get the rough treatment at work.

There were and are too many dramas that I really wanted to love as beanies but I just couldn't and I hope my list doesn't hurt anyone🙏

The Red Sleeve - finished.
For me there are nothing special with the plot. I know already that the King had a lot of concubines. If the plot really centered around the court maid instead of the King love story, it will be more interesting.

Hometown cha cha - dropped
Cannot stand with arrogant FL characters.

One beloved Summer - dropped
Cannot stand with arrogant FL characters.

A Business Proposal - on going.
The writer is still in high school? It is like all the cliches in Kdramaland put it into a blender and tadaaaa...

Crash Landing on You - finished
Cringy....

Its Okay not To Be Okay - dropped
Cannot stand with arrogant FL characters.

Itaewon Class - dropped
Cannot stand with arrogant FL characters.

What's Wrong Secretary Kim - dropped
Cannot stand with arrogant ML characters.

Just Between Lovers - finished.

i just could not get into Squid Game, Vincenzo or Secret Garden. i love the actors but the storylines just didn't do anything for me.

Oh, I have quite a few.. but my top 3 are :
1) Run-On - I finished this, but I really could not understand how it got so popular. I thought it was just ok, but the romance (s) did not just land. I honestly don't remember the plot and the scenes anymore.

2) Human Disqualification - I LOVE Ryu Jun Yeol - I worship the ground he walks on - but I just couldn't go through this drama after Episode 1. Too slow for me - and I also hate the FL's character - she may have some valid grudges, but posting those terrible comments online turned me off. I also realized that I really did not like noona romances.. I have somehow dropped or never watched this genre.

3) IOTBNO - I know Oh Sung Je won awards for his portrayal here, but as a mother of an autistic child, I was turned off by one of the scenes in episode 2 or 3 - the way they directed, edited, and acted and that background music) when he was wandering off - were done for comedic effect and I was offended by it. Another turn-off was the locker scene where the FL touched the half-naked ML without permission - that was plain and simple sexual harassment. If the genders were reversed, people would be up in arms already, but here, we were supposed to swoon?

After years of watching dramas, I just realize that I might not be as emotionally invested as other beanies here lol. My first drama was All About Eve, released in early 2000s I think. I’ve watched quite a lot since then. But I cannot think of one single drama that I really want to put effort to love. If I don’t like even some part of a drama, I just drop it, move on, no hard feelings. Maybe because there are so many other dramas I could love without trying too much?

Maybe the closest would be Partner in Justice 1-2. I love Jung Jae-young as Baek Beom and the overall story that consists of cases by cases. But the story also managed to successfully show the worst types of human being, in the form of the Head Prosecutor and usually the victims’ family. I still rewatch it from time to time on Netflix, and just skip the blood boiling scene.

Goes to show how unique beanies are, though we all love dramas in general. Mine would have to be the recent hits since the pandemic actually, CLOY, World of the Married, Squid Game, All of Us are Dead. Maybe I just have prejudice against hyped shows? Though I have a general rule of avoiding shows that unnecessarily add stress to an already stressful life in the middle of a pandemic. Haha
Ah. Shopping King Louis also. It was highly recommended by my sister and beanies but I really found it meh. I struggled with finishing it actually.

Oh no this posted when I'm sick...

typed out a whole long ass comment. wasn't happy with it. will come back tomorrow and see how I feel 😂😂

At this point with these sorts of posts, I’m going with what comes to mind first, here’s some that are from the top of my head:
- Just Between Lovers
- Oh Hae Young
- BOF
- Goblin
- Forest of Secrets (Stranger)
- Heirs
- most Kim Eun Sook dramas
- most Hong Sisters dramas

DOTS - I found the plot too contrived and OTT.

CLOY - I tried watching it and couldn’t get through the first episode, for same reasons as DOTS.

Start Up - I really wanted to like this one. I like all three leads. Enjoyed KSH in Two Cops, Suzy in While You Were Sleeping, NJH in Weightlifting Fairy. But I just can’t get on Start Up. Too slow, too much panning and lingering.

Vincenzo - I tried reading the recaps on Dramabeans (my favoured thing to do, thank you writers) but I couldn’t even get past the recap of episode 1.

My Love From The Stars - I did watch all of this, but only because I wanted to know what happens. But I did not enjoy it. Did not like the FL’s character, the ML’s hairstyle… I just want to reach into the screen and trim his fringe.

The Moon Embracing The Sun - I watched a few episodes, mainly when the story was still on their childhood. Then I couldn’t continue. The plot was just too tedious.

Top on my list is Healer.
Maybe it’s because I only get to watch the show in 2020 but everything about it felt so dated and formulaic for me. Boring villain and overpowered ML didn’t help either.

Second is The Uncanny Counter.
I was expecting TUC to be a wacky fantasy show with plenty of comedy regarding the group’s cover as a restaurant workers (ala the movie Extreme Job), only for me to find the story somewhat heavier than what I expected. To make it worse, the villain turned out to be of the similar type as Healer’s. Funny thing is I watched TUC straight after finishing Healer and still tired with all the political scheme and and tussle for power, so I had no choice but to drop it.

Also, nobody mentioned Start Up yet? Lol..
Hated the dumb characters and weird sisters relationship.

I only discovered the world of KDramas three quarters of a year ago, but I watch diligently and have gotten many great tips here.

Dramas that could hardly captivate me and that I even stopped watching:

- Descendants of the sun (how many disasters are possible in such a short period of time anyway?)
- Secret Garden
- 1 % of something (after a few episodes I quit the series because the male main character was too exhausting and the female main character too naive for me)

My toxic trait is starting a drama , not necessarily hating it but struggling to continue watching after a while , i just get lazy after a while or lose interest. Here are a few dramas that i just could'nt be bothered to continue watching:
- Descendants of the sun: I've tried to watch show several times each time i zone out 5 mn after starting, i just couldn't vibe with it
- Hotel del Luna: I really enjoyed IU's performance, her outfits , her character , everything about Jang Man Wol but it wasn't just enough to keep me hooked. The ML was slightly boring too.
- Vincenzo: i really enjoyed the drama but i stopped watching at ep 16
- Boys over flowers: the acting is tragic , the relationship is toxic AF
- Heirs: I just don't undersand the hype and that's okay
- Sisyphus: IT WAS BAD, VERY BAD...
- My mister: God i loved this drama , it was soul crushing , after a while it just became too much for me, i think i might revisit it one day

Funny @missvictrix quoted Vincenzo for the theme of this chat. This is the one drama I resisted watching for one whole year despite all the raves and discussion. Nah, not interested because it is SO NOT my thing. Not a fan of SJK but I like JYB. Then, two months ago during a drama slump, I clicked the play button at Netflix and will blame Netflix for making things too easy to watch.

Ep 1 done, not liking it. Continuing watching it as I got time to kill…. until probably 1/3 into the drama, I found it bearable … then got addicted half way through. By the end, it’s like you can’t quit a good old Western to see the fall of the baddies. Not all the baddies are that watchable but that lady lawyer/strategist here is deliciously wicked and almost invincible.

I wouldn’t say I love the drama but I know what to watch next time I need something to de-stress.

One admission, I love the Geumga Plaza crowd A LOT!

I’m Not Robot : I finished this drama full episode but as long as I remember, i skipped so much scene, even when the main otp on screen.

Descendant of the Sun, the Heirs, Crash Landing on You, it's okay not to be okay.. I just not really into overhyped drama.. so if you ask did I even try to watch these drama, even just one episode? Nope.