I hate Gonlin too. I only finished it for the wacky friendship between Gong Yoo and LDW, but I hated everything else.

My problem with Goblin is it never lived up to the promise of its first two episodes. They were fantastic, but then it just started spinning its wheels and writing itself into uncomfortable corners. The draggy pacing and obnoxious PPL didn't help either. I had the same issue with Signal, another show that started with a bang but then turned into a rather mundane procedural script-wise.

Literally the first drama that popped into my mind. I dropped it after 2-3 episodes but my husband watched it through. I could only eyeroll at what I picked up through my secondhand viewing. I really didn’t like Kim Go Eun in it and I still haven’t really recovered from my distaste for her since then.

Caveat: If I watched this when I was in my teens, maybe even early 20s, I know I would’ve lapped this show right up.

I had trouble getting into Matchmakers.

There were aspects of Goblin that I really liked, but it was hard to get past the icky romantic relationship between the ML and the much younger FL. Perhaps a better actress could have made it work.

I'm with you about The Matchmakers, too. While I can see why it endeared itself to so many people, it left me cold. (BTW... Like Goblin, it had a couple disturbingly far apart in age—this time a teenage prince and 30-something woman. I'm all in for noona romance, but I'm a hard no on ajumma romances—even if it's accurate in a historical context.)

King the Land is the most underrated drama on DB! 😂 A total of fifteen people love it at most! 😂

I don't think Sisyphus is even "rated." Everybody hated that drama.

As a dum dum girl back in the day, I loved Full House. But I don't know if ajumma would still adore it as much if she watched it now. I think there were themes in Full House that resonated with me at the time. Descendants of the Sun and Eternal Monarch downgraded themselves due to casting. I think the ML was miscast in Descendants of the Sun and FL in Eternal Monarch as well. They brought the drama down. It could have been a high B or low A with better casting. But the bad acting dragged it down and did no favors to the script. Good casting can make a drama watchable and bad casting exposes all the flaws in a mediocre script.

I vote for 1,2,6,8
Of particular note is 2. King the Land
This popular series was so shockingly bad it should be ex-communicated and exiled from the romcom genre. An absolute bastard child that discredits the genre

Another vote for Just Between Lovers. Haven't watched most of the others exactly because of the hype.

I watched Sky Castle and Designated Survivor from beginning to end (and attempted to watch Vincenzo but did not make it very far) and I have to agree with you. Sky Castle and Designated Survivor are perfectly watchable but also completely forgettable. There's nothing special about them. They helped to pass the time in a relatively entertaining way. But I highly doubt these dramas would make it to anyone's favorites list. It's not must watch television by any means. And they don't really leave you with any warm feelings.

I'm with you on Itaewon Class.

"Beautiful boys-lead dramas" and "douchebagging central male folks" have led me to drop many a drama. Or never start watching in the first place.

Seconding Call it Love.

I really wanted to like Call It Love, but the FL didn't do it for me. I felt her acting at least in the beginning was not good enough for lead.

Yes to Master's Sun and MLfAS.

I think several of these suffered from miscasting of one of the leads, which made it unwatchable for me at least. I would have continued watching Descendants of the Sun, Eternal Monarch, Penthouse, Queen of Tears, and My Love from Another Star if it weren't for one of the leads.

Me: pulling out the old fainting couch. Lol, 3 of my all time favorites.
All this just reaffirms that ‘There is no accounting for taste’.

ohhh you stirred my pot with Signal and Tunnel hahaha

I remember liking I Remember You and Tunnel but I could not for the life of me tell you now what they are about lol It’s the same with My Holo Love — watched it and enjoyed it at the time and then completely forgot about the plot

Tunnel was overhyped? I thought it didn't get any hype. But both Signal and Tunnel were good. You just need to be in Sherlock mode to enjoy them maybe?

I had to drop It’s Okay to Not Be Okay halfway for those ^ reasons, too. I found the drama’s treatment on the topic of mental health to be grossly misleading, unfair, stigmatizing, and false

I didnt like that drama because for me, it really dragged and they were trying too hard to convince me in words and I didnt feel it.
but it is only overrated on this page - most of the world doesnt even know it exists.

yeah I didn't like the vibe of the FL in It's Okay Not to be Okay. Or it was maybe just the drama in general. It was like, "okay this doesn't seem very fun" So I just dropped it in the first episode. This happens a lot to me though.

Re: Love Next Door. The fact that I missed a week and didn't bother to go back speaks louder volumes for me.

My alarm bells went off as soon as I saw the cast for Queen of Tears!

I couldn't finish Vincenzo but it was because of the leads that I didn't like. I didn't even make it far enough to ponder the violence.

Vincenzo was so tonally inconsistent and it just got worse over the show

it was too packaged, too glossy and not organic enough. the chicken nuggets were not organic lol

it's if depression were a drama

This.

yep yep yep yep yep~~~

I'm going to be controversial and offer another perspective on dramas like My Ajusshi. Like, what if the cast and directer were different? What if the leads didn't play their characters with so much obvious depression and desperation? What if the director didn't make the drama so gloomy? I am going to say that I might have enjoyed watching My Ajusshi with a totally different cast. I didn't enjoy either of the leads' acting.

With shows like Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, I know myself, my tolerance for aegyo is very low. So I know going in that I will not enjoy it as much as others. This doesn't disappoint me.

But I love crime thrillers, I love time-travel, I love bickering snapping old friends, so I feel a lot of disappointment when I don't end up loving a show like Goblin or Signal.

the premise of Squid Game sounded so violent and bleak that I got depressed just reading about it lol.

I liked and enjoyed it, but didn't love Lovely Runner. I just didn't feel the romance. I was happy, that they had a happy ending, but that's it.

It's like my feelings for the first season of Bridgerton. I liked it and and it was fun to see a historical romance brought to life. But I was absolutely obsessed with the second season.

I didn't like the FL in Lovely Runner, something about her acting irked me. So I didn't make it past episode 1.

I was also going to say LR

I'm one of the few that find the ML in Good Manager creepy instead of funny with that face he does.

You might even see people putting Train WAAAAY above Tunnel or Signal!! 🤣🤣

I love how beautifully diverse the comments on this post are!

hmm interesting observation you make about Lee Dong Wook re: romance. You know what, I saw him in a reality show and didn't like the way he interacted and treated the girls. It was kinda impersonal and callous. He didn't cross any lines or do anything inappropriate but I agree with you from what I saw that he's not someone suited for romantic ML. Also in interviews with his FL in Goblin, he always seemed disinterested and kinda a**hole.

Agree that Train was a fun and thrilling watch but it wasn't in the same league as Tunnel or Signal. But I loved watching Train because it was so unusual and thrilling. It goes on my list of recommended thrillers. But Tunnel and Signal go on my favorites list. And the funny thing is that I already forgot a lot of the stories but I just remember the overall feelings these drama evoked.

Oh my god, yes about Judge From Hell! I truly do not see what other people are seeing regarding that show.
I genuinely just always notice how expensive it looks and that's the biggest takeaway for me. Park Shin Hye's hair is nice too haha (and I only remembered that after a while haha)

Your comment about Lee Dong Wook only doing bromance reminds me of the funniest scene in Touch Your Heart- where he comes home after being out all night wearing a soccer shirt borrowed from the FL, and his flatmate thinks he has been doing early morning soccer training. Best interaction of the whole drama.
Casting directors do often just cast to type, so its no surprise to hear people comment he is awkward and cold towards women IRL.

Red Sleeve was disappointing to me as well. I think you are right, maybe it was uneven. I think it is tricky for a Sageuk to make the female characters satisfying to modern audiences while also staying true to the history and culture of the time. I think that may be where this faltered (for me) and became uneven (for me).

by the end of it, wanted to personally strangle every single character.

🤣🤣 Same here.
Felt the same urge near the end of One Spring Night, including the director.

Feel free to bash and/or vent it. I share your pain.

Kim Go Eun was absolutely unconvincing as a cop in Eternal Monarch. And it was far from her first project so she has no excuse. It just felt like she had no confidence in herself for some reason. She was so woefully unsure of herself that I almost felt sorry for her. I was cringing on her behalf. Or maybe she's just not suited to playing cops. And she didn't have chemistry with the ML.

Ah, Mister watch-my-flat-acting-i've-ironed-it-just-for-you from The King: Eternal Monarch of extreme boredom?
Tempted to agree to with you :)

He's watchable in Legend of the Blue Sea but mainly because of the awesome FL. But I think the best performance I've seen of his was in Eternal Monarch. I really liked the way he portrayed his character but the FL ruined it for me, sigh.

and Kim Soo-hyun ugh agh I can't even begin to express how much I wanted to continue watching Love from Another Star but he ruined the drama for me as well...

He’s decorative cardboard to me. A complete charisma black hole

For me, anything Hong Sisters, Kim Eun-sook and Park Ji-eun.

I agree about Gong Yoo. I've got half way thru Coffee Prince, and every time someone raves about it I think that maybe I will finish it one day... or maybe I won't. But Hong Sisters I adore Korean Odyssey, in spite of the messy script and ppl hijacking the ending.

lol @ Gong Yoo hate. here's the thing I need to tell the world: I think Gong Yoo looks like Mr Bean. ahahah.

Agreed about Rooftop Prince. A total dud. 😴
But unlike you, I did not enjoy Queen In-hyun’s Man.
I don’t exactly hate Gong Yoo, but I admit I could never see what all the fuss was about.

oh I'm sorry you weren't able to enjoy it. yes I agree overhyping can ruin a viewing experience. also maybe some dramas just don't age well or lose their shine past a certain age. I was a lot younger when I watched Strong Woman and I wonder if the dramas I enjoyed at that age would still be enjoyable to me now.

Goblin is one of the great, must watch K-drama classics in my book I think mainly because the second leads' story was so riveting - it dealt with the question of how do we make amends and atone for past wrongs? I found the way the screenwriter answered that eternal question fascinating and satisfying. Basically she's saying that some wrongs are so grievious that the current generation can't possibly forgive it. So it takes one generation to forget somewhat what happened, and the next generation, or next reincarnation has a chance for relationships to be restored back to normal. I found it applicable to larger issues such as the grievances China and Korea as well as their descendents around the world have against Japan. And why it's still lingering and festering for so long. 1) Because Japan on the government level seems insincere and details are lacking in school textbooks so students in Japan grow up not knowing the extent and seriousness of the war crimes 2) Conservatives in Japan are allowed to deny war crimes and accuse China and Korea of bringing up bygones for political gain. It's just a vicious cycle of denial and simmering resentment. I feel like this is the first time I've seen the issue of making amends covered so poetically in a drama.

Oh yes, forgot to add this one to my own list, too 😅😅

I didn't like Coffee Prince in 2007 either, if that is any encouragement.

I could have skipped the last episode or two and been perfectly fine...

yes the ending was very unsatisfying and cheapened the story. I hated the last one or two episodes so much. They didn't do the story justice.

"I was expecting more from this classic drama and was a bit disappointed at the end when no one’s journey took them as far as I was hoping." well said!!!

The main lesson to draw from Coffe Prince is that love is only fair because of love, not because of justice. [From here, Lots of SPOILERS].
Every single relationship is strange and flawed, and you don't have to like Eun-Chan's sister. But Eun-Chan loves her. Eun-Chan finances her mother and her sister's life styles because they can't do it themselves. That is horrible, but it is also lovely. The knucklehead guy is happy just to follow that sister around and be her doormat and knight, so we can hope Eun-chan can let go of that responsibility, but not that it will suddenly be fair. And her mum will have one? two? lovers to take over, so that Eun-chan can be free.
The OG Café owner is sponsored by someone (surprise twist) who loves him, and he used to sponsor a lady whom he loved and who lied to him all the time.
ML was angry at his father for many years because of (major spoiler, right?) and that wasn't like he thought at all.
That young guy at the café ... does he have crush on both parts of the OTP? Seems to me that, yes, and when he is disappointed he outs FL - such a bad thing to do. And that cool Japanese guy follows his love around to support her, or as some creep would say "protect [her] whether [she] like[s] it or not". So he is shook off.
So many flaws, so much love.

The romantic chemistry was non-existent in Eternal Monarch. Is the FL just not suited for romance? I felt like she's not very good with her co-stars in Eternal Monarch and Goblin.