The Haunted Palace took me by surprise.
I hope Our Unwritten Seoul sticks the landing.

Disney surprised me with 2 titles so far that I really enjoyed and will rewatch - Hyperknife and Nine Puzzles. Looking forward to the second half - Tempest, Murky Stream, Knockoff.....
Resident Playbook was worth the wait after multiple delays and postponements. Fingers crossed there will be a second season.

I feel that 2025 started with a bang! I will focus on only shows that were "highs" for me. and only the ones I completed. There are so many! In no particular order:

Way Back Love
Nine Puzzles
Study Group
Resident Playbook
Trauma Code

I feel like I'm forgetting some shows...

For Eagle Brothers.

This drama indicates that weekenders may return to greatness again.

I dont think anyone is expecting record breaking classics like "Five Enough", "My Golden Life", "Once Again", "Father is Strange", "What happened to My Family" or "Never Twice" but the sharp decline in quality over the years was shocking.

F.E.B feels like a step in the right direction.

The Highlights so far (in 3 tiers)

Top Tier:
When Life Gives You Tangerines (long format:16)
Way Back Love (short format: 6)

2nd Tier:
Dear Hong Rang (mid format: 11)
Nine Puzzles (mid format: 11)

3rd Tier:
Weak Hero Class 2 (short format: 8)
Study Group

Drama highs... I raise you The Haunted Palace. It is not a great drama. But it surely knew what it was and maintained it. I rarely sit down through dramas like this and I think The Haunted Palace is making me sit down with dramas I'll naturally not gravitate to, cut to First Night With the Duke.

But if I am going for highs, there is The Queen Who Crowns, For Eagle Brothers and When the Phone Rings.

For drama lows, somehow I always escape watching the lows so I only read them through the recaps... When the Stars Gossip. There are dramas that make me not like an actor or actress. When the Stars Gossip definitely did that with Lee Min-ho. Formerly I was ambivalent, now I gravitate towards no-like. I don't know how the writer thinks about writing such things his character did and expect me as a viewer to buy it because of the actor portraying the character or lead status. I knew I would dislike the character. And I was right for dropping it right at episode 1.

Ups and favorites:

_ Dead Hongrang.
_ When Life gives you tangerines.
_ The Tale of Lady Ok.
_ The Art of Negotiation.
_ Study Group.
_ Trauma Code.
_ Weak Hero Class 2.

Downs:

_ Heo's Diner.
_ Crushology 101.
_ Our chocolate moments.

And of course I have watched several dramas which fall in the middle.

So far I think I got 17 beans.

TRAUMA CODE was the best. Everything else is better left in silence.

Top:
- Namib
- Check in Hanyang
- Study Group
- Newtopia
- Friendly Rivalry
- Undercover High School
- The Divorce Insurance

Flop (only counting dramas I haven't dropped, the list would be a lot bigger otherwise):
- The Witch (still haven't seen the last 3 episodes, but there's no saving this)
- Resident Playbook

Perhaps a bit early, but Good Boy will probably end up in the "flop" category. If I ever finish it that is...

Happily surprised:
The Trauma Code -- I rarely watch/enjoy medical themed dramas but I loved this one for its bold characterizations and clever production style.
The Haunted Palace -- I also rarely watch horror, but then, this didn't end up really being that. Instead we got a creative fantasy sageuk, also with great characters and some memorable performances.
Our Unwritten Seoul -- So far this is exceeding my already positive expectations with a layered story based on an unusual premise and genuinely interesting characters.

---
Really enjoyed:
Undercover High School -- It may have fallen a little flat in the romance department but it had a retro feel that was really fun and surprises that played out all the way to the very end.
Melo Movie -- Beanies have been divided on this one but I loved the laid back vibe and low-key characters that I've come to associate with Choi Woo Shik. It was "melodrama lite" and I relished every moment.
Love Scout -- The ending was a bit of a let down but the 11 episodes leading up to it set a new standard imo for mature romances. We need more of these!

---
Lots of disappointments this year, unfortunately. Too many to list but there's the obvious When the Stars Gossip, plus virtually every romcom. I was especially frustrated with The Potato Lab and Tastefully Yours, both which should have been far better given their casts and promising storylines.

The ups
The Art of Negotiation
Trauma Code
Love Scout
Lady Ok
Dear, Hongrang
Nine Puzzles
When Life Gives You Tangerines

The downs
When The Stars Gossip
Divorce Insurane

Hits
1. When Life Gives You Tangerines
2. Our Unwritten Seoul
3. Love Scout
4. The Queen Who Crowns
5. Trauma Code
6. Undercover High School
7. Buried Hearts
8. Resident Playbook
9. The Haunted Palace
10. Oh My Ghost Clients
Flops
1. Motel California
2. My Dearest Nemesis
3. The Art Of Negotiation (I have been stuck on the last 2 eps)
4. Heavenly Ever After (only watched for the actors)
Big Flops
1. The Potato Lab
2. The Divorce Insurance
3. Crushology 101
4. Tastefully Yours
Didn't bother to watch
1. When The Stars Gossip
2. Kick Kick Kick Kick
3. Villains Everywhere
4. Mother and Mum
5. Pump Up The Healthy Love
6. Dear Hongrang (too dark for me)
7. Spring Of Youth
8. Second Shot At Love

I agree about "Unwritten Seoul"--I'm captivated with pretty much every frame. I felt the same way about "Tangerines." "Melo Movie" came close to this level of attachment, too. I've certainly reaffirmed my love and appreciation for both PBY and PBG.

The writing is not at the level of the above two dramas, but I found "Dear Hongrang" to be very watchable and consuming, thanks to a crackling pace and LJW.

"Resident Playbook" was a pleasant surprise in that I didn't expect to enjoy it or the central love story as much as I did. I went from indifference to the plot and characters to complete devotion in the space of about three episodes. "Study Group" was perhaps the one I was most shocked to have loved; I'm not into the teens-dealing-violently-with-bullying genre but this one managed to combine humor and well-choreographed fight scenes with plot twists in an addictive way that kept me hooked almost all of the way through (I did get a little tired of the violence by the end).

I'm not sure why I watched "Newtopia" all the way through. I guess I just really wanted to see what would happen when the leads reunited. I think if I had known it would take until the last episode for that to occur I would have dropped it.

I also liked "Potato Lab" and "Love Scout," although neither one rose to the level of me giving any thought to them after they finished their runs.

I've struggled to finish a lot of dramas that I started out liking including "Heroes--Trauma On Call" (clever and funny at times, but not compelling enough for me to want to keep going all the way through) and "Tastefully Yours" (I liked the first two episodes, but admit that some of the negative reactions here at DB have made me less motivated to return to it). I'm not sure why I stopped watching "Haunted Palace"; I just got bored, I guess. That's definitely the reason I dropped "Undercover High School." For me, that was one drama I feel was overrated here on DB.

"Way Back Love" and "Second Shot at Love" both charmed me at first, but I've yet to dive back into either after watching about four episodes. It's possible the problem there is that I'm not enamored with the ML.

Uncontested highlight of the year so far:
The Art of Negotiation (which I have already watched twice. What can I say? Fabulous ensemble drama. And accountancy drama is my catnip... 😊)

Extremely entertaining runners up:
Trauma Code
Buried Hearts (I forgive it the ending for being such a Festival of All My Favourite Tropes).

Lows of the year so far: how few dramas I have managed to finish in the first half of 2025. Not that there have been a lot of bad dramas, but for some reason there just haven't been many series that hooked my interest.

In 2025, there were not a lot of dramas that made me swoon or exciting.

When the Phone Rings was really swoony even if the story was kinda crazy.

Love Scout was pretty cute and swoony too.

Way Back Love was very touching.

In quality, there were When Life Gives You Tangerines (but I couldn't really get attached to the characters) and Trauma Code ( it was quite fun).

I guess the most disapointing was When the Stars Gossip.

I have a lot of hopes in Our Movie, I loved the first 2 episodes.

If Our Unwritten Seoul can land the second half, it will be a great drama too.

I've found this year so far to be on the middling side. A few enjoyable dramas, a lot of duds but nothing that I adored.
The highs (kind of):
-Nine Puzzles, a great FL at the forefront, an interesting mystery and a decent ending.
-Study group, very fun, likeable cast, great relationships and entertaining fight scenes, I also loved just how many amazing women were featured here, just as many as the men which quite rare for this kind of show (could've used more episodes though).
Weak hero class 2 and Trauma call, decent shows that could've been so much better if they were longer and had more time to flesh out their characters and dynamics.
The lows:
-Unmasked: Great premise but bad execution, the cases were all over the place, the characters were barely tolerable just a mess all around.
-Motel California: I disliked almost everything about this.
-The endless inane romance dramas with the exact same tropes, we need more of 2 fully realized people who meet, get to know each other and fall madly in love while they each deal with issues and grow as they support each other instead of endless reduxes of obsessed guy with zero personality/girl who acts like she can take or leave him.

P.S Depriving your MLs of complexity, an actual personality and your FLs of interiority in terms of their romantic feelings is not the progressive flex you think it is kdrama writers, just the opposite.

Drama categories for 2025

2025 has been the year of melodrama covering my favourite genres of slice of life and romance. The best drama has to be Tangerines but there are a number of greats in the top 10 dramas of this year.

Outstanding:
When life gives you tangerines
Way back love
Resident Playbook

Surprise hit (not my genre):
Study group

Enjoying so far different genres and quality withstanding (still airing so too soon to call):
Our Unwritten Seoul
Our Movie
Good Boy
Second shot at love
First night with the Duke

Low stress watch but if things weren’t so quiet (I probably would have dropped):
Heavenly ever after
Pump up your love

Ok until it wasn’t (aka worst ending so far this year):
When the stars gossip - what was that pick and mix ending?

Ridiculous treatment by adults towards a child (aka The Good Bad Mother award):
Motel California - horrible locals
My dearest nemesis - ridiculous grandmother forgiven far too easily
Spring of Youth - outrageous dad and CEO

Disappointed but finished (not sure why):
The divorce insurance
Crushology 101

Disappointed couldn’t even finish:
Potato Lab

There were a lot of highs that I loved (Way Back Love, Undercover High School) and enjoyed (Weak Hero Class 2), but would change parts of their plot.

There are a lot of known highs that I haven't started (Our Unwritten Seoul, Nine Puzzles, The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call) or yet finished (The Art of Negotiation).

Highlights:
Family Matters

Lowlights:
Kick Kick Kick Kick
When the Stars Gossip
When the Phone Rings
Love Your Enemy
Tastefully Yours (dropped)
Who Is She

It's been a year where I have come back to kdramas after a bit of slump, so lots of highs for me.

HIGHS
- Started the year with Trauma Code and Undercover High School (was looking for something light and easy) and both were great fun!
- Art of Negotiation - only picked it because of DB feedback and surprisingly enjoyed.
- Way back love (other than the ending 5-10 min) was beautiful
- The Witch - weirdly captivating despite really disliking the resolution
- Resident Playbook - almost middling but it really picked up and ended great!
- Tale of lady ok - Not sure if the drama itself was good, but I kept coming back with enthusiasm so a high for me

ONGOING
- Unwritten Seoul - depending on how the second half goes this drama might become quite special to me
- Our Movie - not started yet but I'm hoping!
- When life give you tangerines - still on ep3 so we will see.

LOWS:
-When the phone rings - again started my year with this and most of it was so so good but I just can't remember the end which means it probably was meh.
- Tastefully yours - I regret starting this one
- Potato lab - As a researcher I was excited for nerdy potato themed craziness and was deeply let down.

Art of Negotiation. The only drama I completed and now I'm re-watching scenes to try and figure out what twists and turns might await Season 2 (presuming it's already outlined)

I dropped everything else - even Undercover Highschool starring a major favorite Jin Ki Joo.

Collecting beanies this year just isn't going to happen.

I feel like this year’s been a bit underwhelming so far…Undercover High School was good but could have been better; Pump Up Your Love was actually not very good at all but I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it so what do I know 😅; I finished Resident Playbook but it was only ok, I won’t be rushing out for again….and I think everything else from this year I’ve dropped after one or two episodes?

Except The Haunted Palace - I’m enjoying that much more than I expected given I don’t generally do historical or horror (even if it is fantasy and comic).

I seem to be watching a lot more CDramas than KDramas this year, but if I eliminate the older Chinese Historicals that I've been catching up on, I find the 2025 balance sheet equal between them. Eight of each.

So far I've watched the eight 2025 KDramas: (listed from most enjoyed to least)
Squid Game 2
Dear Hongran
When Life Gives You Tangerines
When The Phone Rings
Love Scout
Dearest Nemesis
Tastefully Yours
When Stars Gossip🤦🏻‍♀️

CDRAMAS: 8 from 2025
Prisoner of Beauty
Perfect Match
Love & Sword
Legend of Zang Wei (on air still)
Flourishing Peony
Si Jin
Everlasting Longing
Les Belles

I found that last year's KDramas appealed to me a lot more than this year's offerings so far. Have been choosing to rewatch some old favourites instead, like Secret Love (Ji Sung was stellar in that tense journey from revenge to love) ) and "Secret Garden" (a breakout hit for Hyun Bin because of his hilarious off-kilter character which was the polar opposite of Captain Li in "Crash Landing on You") .