Atypical Family was defo also an atypical drama if only they had put those girls together instead of forcing a guy on her
but it had a whole different vibe to any other dramas.
Flex x Cop was a lot deeper and had more heart than I expected. it was a team that had my money on them.

2024 has been good, especially The Atypical Family and Doctor Slump, but none of this year's dramas have made my favorites of all time.

The lows are the same lows every year -- serial killers (Lovely Runner, Miss Night and Day) and dramas going south in the second half (A Good Day to Be a Dog, Lovely Runner).

Good
Connection, Uncle Samsik, Crash, Tell Me You Love Me, Knight Flower, Chief Detective 1958

Surprisingly good
Blood Free, Missing Crown Prince, Sweet Mobster

Bad
Captivating the King, The Impossible Heir

The absolute highlights:
- Parasyte: The Grey
- Marry My Husband
- Pyramid Game
- Crash

The absolute low:
- Hierarchy

There have been some disappointments, but outside of Hierarchy, nothing has disappointed me so much to the point I almost regret watching it, so I'd say it's been a good year so far.

Biggest surprise: TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME. A well acted and written drama that really hit the mark on interpersonal communication, difficulties in relationships, disabilities and introspection.

Biggest letdown(s): The sink hole demise of the classic weekender. LIVE YOUR OWN LIFE was beyond terrible if that will be the bottom of this genre's fall.

I haven't watched many 2024 shows yet, but what does stand out for me is Uncle Samsik. That's TV on another level, with outstanding cast and a historical backdrop that's so interesting from our point of view (for the people then those must have been devastating times).
For me the biggest letdown so far has been - sorry - Lovely Runner. I know it is the highlight of many around here but for me, I couldn't make it past mid-second episode. Maybe sometime later (but by browsing through the recaps of later eps I doubt that).

The Highs:
Wonderful world
Chief detective 1958
Deaths Game
Knight Flower
Crash

The lows:
Almost everything else for various reasons, mostly bad writing.

Overhyped/Overrated but still entertaining:
Marry My Husband
Queen of tears
Lovely Runner

For me, 2024 is disapointing for now.

Flex X Cop was the only drama that kept its promise of being fun with great characters' development.

There were Kdramas with a very good start but lost me in the middle like Lovely Runner or Wedding Impossible.

Like Flowers in Sand was good but sadly the writer waited to long to reunited the old friends and I didn't specially liked how they handled the ML's career.

I liked Queen of Tears mainly for the leads and I was disapointing by the lack of skinship in their couple.

Pyramid Game was an interesting drama and I liked the lack of male characters. But again, bullying + rich people is not my favorite theme.

My favorite drama is surprisly a Cdrama with Will Love in Spring.

This is a controversial choice but a drama high for me was High School Return of a Gangster. I really enjoyed that show as I was watching it and it made me curious about the trio of young actors. I learned the actor who was in Twinkling Watermelon is an idol and he can speak english fluently (also the show once again made me lose faith in subtitles because he said one word in english and it was subbed a different word even though the gist is the same). This was the main bully's first role and I just thought he has such (comedic) potential in him that it made me wanna see him be in other projects. As for the main actor, I had a new appreciation for him after previously seeing him in All of Us are Dead. He did such a good job playing this role.

Another high would be Knight Flower. I was so into that show that I was watching unsubbed videos just to see what would happen in the newest episodes. I liked the comedy and action and I liked the way the romance was portrayed; it was adorable, crushy vibes even though it was older characters & actors which is new to me. Plus as someone who isn't much into romance, this hit the right balance for me. Ahh, I really enjoyed his show. (I'm not sure it came out in 2024 but this was the only other project that came to mind after High School Return).

Drama lows? Hmm, I think Miss Night and Day is becoming this. I didn't have any expectations (or at least I don't think I did) but I thought the premise was fun and the show would be funny and so far, it's not delivering on the funny for me. The only reason I'm still watching is for the reveals of people discovering her secret and Lee Jung Eun but ugh, I'm just not into this.

Sadly, no Kdrama thus far has been able to reach the bar that's been set by Will Love in Spring.

Atypical Family and Flex x Cop have been my favourites Korean shows so far.

Tell Me That You Love Me, too was really good... Though I'd have loved a better ending, but I'll take it as a nod to the Japanese original.
I had super high hopes that Midnight Romance in Hagwon would recreate that magic, but it's been not as gripping as I expected with the romance itself a distant second to the politics... Maybe a fault of the English title giving false expectations, from just "Graduate". Still have to watch the last 4 eps tho, so fingers crossed it'll end well.

And I don't even want to speak about my massive QoT disappointment... It had so much potential, got totally derailed by the writer's power trip.

Crash turned out meh.

The others were all watchable, but unmemorable for me- Marry My Husband, Wedding Impossible, Knight Flower, Sand Flower etc. Unmotivated to watch anything of the others that have just done, or currently showing. Blah.

Highlights💙
My Lovely Runner
Doctor Slump
Connection
Pleasant Surprises🎉
Flex X Cop
Knight Flower
Crash
Disappointments😭
Wedding Impossible
The Impossible Heir
Captivating The King
Didn't expect much so I don't really care😂
Queen of Divorce
Dare to love me

Like Flowers In Sand, Lovely Runner, and The Atypical Family were the highs of the first half of 2024 for me.
The Queen of Tears is not really a bad drama, but it could have been so much better. It gets a low mark from me.

This year has not been generally great. Many disappointments, many drops, and stretches of slumps. Too many serial killers, too much shiny dramas that had no substance, too much stupid drinking in lieu of real story or character development, lots of pretty faces that aren’t showing much emotion or good acting.

BEST and HAS STAYED AT THE TOP

LIKE FLOWERS IN SAND The show stayed with me because completely embodied acting of Jang Dong Yoon as Baek Du, and the development of depth of other relationships besides the OTP. The phenomenal acting of the supporting actors, especially Choi Moo Sung and Jang Young Nam, also made this show stay at the top.

SHOGUN. Amazing acting, beautiful cinemotography and complex story telling.

LOVED, LOVED WHILE WATCHING, BUT SOMEHOW HAS FALLEN SINCE

LOVELY RUNNER I really, really loved this show while watching it. However, since it ended, it has slipped in my affections. I think it has some to do my reaction to the hype, but also, I think since the story was primarily about the OTP with little or no development of many of the other characters or relationships or even their individual passions beyond each other, the lasting impact of the show has lessen. Maybe my reaction to the show was like an initial infatuation—it was pretty intense at the time, but without more to sustain it, it fades. But all in all, no regrets and a fond memory.

. SURPRISES
MY SWEET MOBSTER Great mature actors bringing the comedy and the heart. If this keeps going, it will be a favorite.

DREAMING OF A FREAKING FAIRY TALE With only 10 short episodes and no expectations, this turned out to be a nice little treat that was nothing more, but nothing less.

i> ATYPICAL FAMILY I had a lot of problems, mainly the neglect of a child, with the first episode. However, I kept with the show til the end. It wasn’t perfect, but it kept getting better in a way I still don’t fully understand. Ina ended up being the heart of the show even if she wasn’t the main character because I rooted for her from the beginning (even if was just to get out the neglectful house) and rooted for her til the end.

. MEDIOCRE WHEN IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER
DR. SLUMP. Too much aegyo took over when the slump part had been really good. Also, the medicine practiced by the doctors and received by the doctors was bad.

WEDDING IMPOSSIBLE Ugh. It had the potential to be so much better, but it used a gay character to propel the plot and then did nothing else with him than speak about him and lecture him about how he should not run away from his problems without giving him much agency or story. And the OTP just fizzled out as if their only spark was from fighting.

BAD AND MADE ME MAD ENOUGH TO DROP
IMPOSSIBLE HEIR This is what happens when a story with lots of plot has no logic or heart and some painfully bad acting.

...

2024 is a dichotomy for me. I think I pretty much enjoyed everything I watched, but only a few things really were surprises. I love a time travel, Sci-fi fantasy and this year definitely satisfied that craving.

The most surprising was Lovely Runner for me. I knew after the first episode I would love this little underrated show and I was wholly right. However, how the actors’ popularity went off the charts was not expected at all, and with all their fan meets, they are still capitalizing on that.

I thought I would like Doctor Slump more. It was just fine.

I enjoyed High School Gangster, even with all its problematic themes and premise.

Marry My husband and Queen of Tears were both overrated for me, but I did like watching both for lost of their runs.

Atypical family was quite nice though. I think the hype equaled its execution.

I was just reflecting on my bean list that it's going to be hard to divide beans, as I only finish dramas I reasonably like, and then what show do I steal its bean to give to Lovely Runner? It makes me think I should go back and watch the last few episodes of shows I've dropped, but four hours is a lot of my life to give to a show I don't like for a bean.

I have an unusually high amount of romcoms on my list so far this year. It's been a great year for chemistry between leads, so even if the shows had problems, the couples kept me watching.
They at least deserve their own bean: Queen of Tears, Doctor Slump.
I need to find more beans for: My Sweet Mobster, Freaking Fairy Tale, Lovely Runner, Like Flowers in Sand (is that last year or this year?)
Also procedures have done well: Crash and Flex x Cop
Personally, I have a soft spot for Shop for Killers, and I'm really enjoying Connection.
Beans I could pull: Death's Game, and then I feel bad for the incredible cast who acted so well, despite the frustrating overarching theme on suicide. I also feel torn about Wedding Impossible, the one rom-com where the awful ending outshone the OTP.
But, this is a problem I don't mind having!

Lots of Honesty going on here so here it goes
Love me when it’s over😍😍😍

The Best: Flex X Cop- best ML, best cast, best music, great story. This would get all my beans SO FAR! Fun to see a lot of love in this prompt room for this show. Team Flex🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻💜💜💜

The Good
My Demon ended Jan 20
My Man is Cupid Ended Jan 19
Like Flowers In Sand Ended Jan 31
Love Song for Illusion

The Bad
Doctor Slump
Lovely Runner

The Ugly
Chicken Nugget

One thing to note: I don’t watch live so I still have a lot of your favorites to watch. Thanks to this great prompt, I have a good list to choose from.

My biggest drama high is Tell Me That You Love Me. It is taking my best drama of the year award when the beanie ratings comes up in December.

Coming close to it is Captivating the King. I wasn't exactly a fan of Jo Jung-seok. I had only seen him in Hospital Playlist and I thought he was too over the place there. He was everywhere and it had me wondering whether and how he ever got any work done. But here, in Sejak, I was charmed by his aura. Gosh! This man exudes excellence and is the reason Captivating the King capitulated to my drama highs.

Also Uncle Samsik. I have no words for this one except it is the first kdrama piece I'm watching with its setting in the 50's and 60's. I generally avoided them but this one did a good job.

Drama lows: Nothing Uncovered. I can start writing a whole lot of things about this that made it sink down the drain but I'll just say I liked it when it was investigating and just that.

Tabong's experience in kdramaland 2024 (first half).

1. Favorite thing that happened:
Like Flowers in Sand.

Honorable mentions:
Tell Me That You Love Me
Love For Love's Sake
Long Time No Sex
Unpredictable Family
Midnight Stress in Hagwon
The Woman Who Plays (for now)

2. Letdowns (aka. regret not dropping them):
Welcome to Sam Dal-ri
Lovely Runner
Wedding Impossible

3. Neutral:
Park's Story
Queen of Tears
Frankly Speaking

4. Dramas that I probably should've watched/finished but lost the timing to and now I know they're going to be stuck on my watchlist for a decade or so:

Knight Flower
Wonderful World
Crash
Flex X Cop

Thanks for the prompt @missvictrix

Unexpected joys
Crash - I didn’t even know there was an action comedy genre turns out I loved this genre as a kid and still do
Uncle Samsik - who knew politics could be so interesting
High school return of a gangster - fantasy comedy one of my favourites
Dreaming of a freaking fairytale - an actual rom com and done well

Enjoyed a lot but had elements that irritated a little
Dr Slump - excessive drinking with prescription meds and characters that I wish didn’t need to be there having too much air time
Lovely runner - characters that didn’t need to be there having too much air time
Tell me that you love me - characters that I wish didn’t need to there
Queen of tears - characters that I wish didn’t need to be there having too much air time

Enjoyed but had elements that irritated a lot
Welcome to Samdalri excessive drinking by the sisters and characters that I wish didn’t need to there
My sweet mobster loving but already has characters that I wish didn’t need to there having too much air time

Started so well then…
Wedding impossible
Queen of divorce
Frankly speaking

I'm not sure I had high expectations for the year. I was SO looking forward to QOT but that was a bit of a disappointment for me storywise. The acting was great and the cinematography stunning but...but...something was missing (don't come for me, beanies, I know I'm in the minority in this opinion! 😍)

I was pleasantly surprised by Marry My Husband. Every single episode was bringing it. 🔥 And after all that personal drama for Park Min Young, I was very happy this show was a success.

My stand outs so far:
A Shop For Killers 9/10
Branding in Seongsu 7/10
Flex X Cop 8/10
Tell Me That You Love Me 8/10
Blood Free 9/10
MY SWEET MOBSTER 10/10 💗🦞

Special mention:
Crash

My favorite dramas in this first half of 2024 have been
Atypical Family, Knight Flower and Death's Game. I never got bored while watching them. They have good script, good acting, production...
I had a good time with Wedding Impossible too, and now I'm having fun with Sweet Mobster.

The mini drama Under the Gun was a nice surprise.

I didn't love Lovely Runner as much as other beanies, probably because I couldn't connect with the main couple, but the OST was great and there were some good comedy moments.

Shows I think could have been better (but I didn't drop): Frankly Speaking, Parasyte the Grey, Love song for illusion (so many good songs, btw), My Happy Ending, Park's Marriage Contract, Sweet Home 2, Captivating the King...

The Great
None

The Good
Doctor Slump
Freaking Fairytale
Knight Flower
Parasyte The Grey

The Fair
Lovely Runner
Captivating The King (just for JJS)
Marry My Husband
Like Flowers In The Sand

Bad

Queen of Divorce
Queen of Tears
Miss Night and Day
Wedding Impossible

My favorite so far :❤️
Doctor Slump

The dramas I enjoyed :🩷
Lovely runner until episode 10
Pyramid game
Marry my husband until episode 11

Dramas I disliked:
Queen of tears
Frankly speaking
A killer paradox
Wedding impossible
Branding in seongsu
Fr**aking Fairytale

This is what I loved so far this year:

1. A SHOP FOR KILLERS - Lee Dong-Wook surprised me in this Wolf & Lone Cub type action-thriller. My friends had been pushing me (while I dug my heels in) in front of the Lee Dong-Wook Oppa Truck for ages and this is what finally tipped the scales for him HAHA!
2. LIKE FLOWERS IN SAND - I was reluctant because I'm not a wrestling fan but loveable Baek-Do solidified Jang Dong-Yoon as my leading K-Drama Oppa
3. CRASH - I adore this one so much because the cast brought their A Game and it made me laugh. The only drama I've always looked forward to watching every week.
4. LOVELY RUNNER - It was the sort of fluffy confection-like rom-com I love (except for the killer part).
5. BLOOD FREE - It's thought-provoking and a highly engrossing watch.. except that they really didn't nail the ending.

These were the "misses" for me this year so far:

1. FLEX X COP - I just couldn't get past Ahn Bo-Hyun to enjoy this. He really irritates me.
2. ATYPICAL FAMILY - Dropped after a couple of episodes as life is too short for a depressing drama.

I wanted to watch quite a few dramas like MARRY MY HUSBAND and KNIGHT FLOWER but none of the streamers I subscribe to carry them.

highs for me: Atypical Family , The 8 Show, Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale.

I enjoy Miss Night & Day, despite the obvious ageism because, unfortunately, we have a driven character who came back to solve an old (and still active) murder case paired with a 50-year-old cleaning lady who has no experience of working in the prosecution. I'd have preferred if they focused on her inexperience rather than her age, but at the same point, it wasn't completely unrealistic (and that's probably why we were so fast to scream red flag). Ultimately, the ML doesn't need to be a green flag for me to enjoy the story, and I'm not lying, I'm loving that murder trope because, for once, it is meaningful in the life of a prosecutor. (rather than in the life of a maths tutor or the life of a composer, like we've seen recently)
Granted, this may affect the love story, but I don't think it's entirely fair to ask him to be a green flag when he's been flanked without his knowledge by a cleaning lady as replacement for an office assistant... I'd been fuming too (but I wouldn't necessarily focus on her age) Yet, we've seen him being respectful with her when she was as a cleaning lady. His problem is not necessarily her age, as far as I can see; it's having had something whom he judged incompetent replaced by someone who is even worse, as in completely untrained and inexperienced. It's been mentioned before that he doesn't like to work with others, specifically because they don't have the same work ethic and brains— which was his problem with the first office assistant. Do I wish he would tell her openly? Yes, but honestly, it feels a little easy to scream ageism when they forcibly gave the guy someone who has zero training or knowledge to assist him. I don't mind the script going there and being unfair because it's more realistic that way.

Was Like Flowers in the Sand 2024? It's also a high.

I feel Marry My Husband ranks in the neutral dramas. It was bearable but not that good that it deserves all the praises... I dropped out of boredom... Was it satisfying? I don't know... Is it satisfying to watch someone having so little self-respect that they need to first go through terminal cancer + murder to finally realise they were an easy target? Did she become a bad-ass in her second time alive? Not sure... She worked extra hard to surround herself with absolute jerks the first time around and then spends all of her second life cutting ties with said jerks while Prince Charming is supporting her (because apparently he feel in love with her grey mouse abused self in the first life.... sure, nothing is more appealing that a woman who lets herself being used to the point of death...) I had the same problem with this one that I had with Perfect Marriage Revenge. I just could not bring myself to care for the instant glow-up girl and her I'll-do-anything-for-you-because-this-is-my-purpose-in-the-plot...