#tale of the secret royal inspector

[destieltropecollection]

DESTIEL TROPE COLLECTION 2023 | DAY 5 | Magical/Fantasy

The Bad Luck Witch | Destielshipper4Cas (AO3)

Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 2,239 Main Tags/Warnings: Witch Cas, Human Dean, Witch Inspector Dean, First Kiss, First Scenting, Falling in Love, Getting Together, Omega Castiel, Alpha Dean, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Fantasy Summary: Castiel is not the best witch around. His spells usually go awry and now one of his incantations has attracted a witch inspector who keeps sniffing around his little cabin in the woods.

Magic Kiss | Destielshipper4Cas (AO3)

Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 2,817 Main Tags/Warnings: Witch Cas, Hunter Dean, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Strangers to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Omega Cas, Alpha Dean Summary: Castiel’s powers only work when his lips touch the object he wants to enchant. When an alpha keeps coming back for injuries that need healing, a lot of kissing ensues.

cake or death | @sharkfish

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 2,863 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Tentacles, Cecaelia Castiel, Porn with Feelings, Friends to Lovers, Fuck Or Die Summary: “It’s a cursed fertility idol,” Cas says. “It compels procreative activity by causing discomfort, to severe pain, to death, the longer you go without having sex.” “Death?” Dean repeats. “Fuck or death?”

Dusk when I met you | @deanabean

Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 3,005 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Fae, Fairy Tale Elements, Arranged Marriage, Fae Castiel (Supernatural), Human Dean Winchester, Shapeshifting, Attempt at Humor, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Love at First Sight, Cursed Dean Winchester, Fae politics, Canon Elements Summary: The first thing he saw of Dean Winchester was his aura, and he knew then, he hadn't ever seen anything or anyone more beautiful in his entirely too long existence. Castiel blinked. Still no bigger than a flying, winged, little thing. He stared down at the freckled face of the man who was distanced to save them all. In a blink, Castiel has fallen. A blink and he was gone. As he stared at the now-open green eyes of the man lying still in front of him. How would he ever begin to explain any of that?!

Seven Thousand Nights of Darkness | @envydean

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 3,272 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe, camping trip, Drowning, Non-Human Castiel, Tentacles, Dubious Consent, Dubious Consentacles, Curses, Implied Past Abuse, angst with an odd ending, minor character injury, Anal Sex, Restraints, Manipulation, Bottom Dean Winchester Summary: When Dean goes for a walk down to the river, he finds some mysterious carvings on a rock. What he's not expecting is to fall through the rock into dark water only to be saved by someone who isn't quite human...

In His Palace | @whichstiel

Rating: Mature Word Count: 4,979 Main Tags/Warnings: Twelve dancing princesses, Fairy tales, Fae and fairies Summary: Every night twelve princesses go to bed with twelve pairs of perfectly neat shoes. Every morning, the royal princesses are exhausted, and their shoes are ruined. Enter Dean Winchester, determined to solve the mystery and win himself a kingdom.

candle in the mirror | @demonmary

Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 6,672 Main Tags/Warnings: Teenagers (18), Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Fortune Telling, Christmastide Summary: “Svyatki.” Castiel pronounced, always one for tradition. “It’s the perfect time for contacting the spirits and our ancestors, the best time for reaching forward into the future.” Cas tipped his head towards Dean and lowered his voice as if the next part was a secret. “It’s magic, Dean. Everything has meaning, it’s all signs.” ______________ What starts with Dean finally agreeing to spend a night of Christmastide fortune-telling with Castiel ends a way that neither of them could have predicted.

You're a witch, Dean-o! | @songliili

Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 7,258 Main Tags/Warnings: Witch Castiel (Supernatural), Apprentice Dean Winchester, Age Difference, but they're legal, Getting Together, Castiel and Dean Winchester Falling in Love Summary: Dean Winchester finds out he's a witch, but the road to become one is not that simple.

trustworthy for such work | @sharkfish

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 7,474 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Djinn Dean, Dragon Cas, Demisexual Castiel, Mutual Pining, Magic, References to Addiction, Friends to Lovers Summary: "It’s a fucking sauna in here, are you kidding?” Dean says. Cas scowls. “I turned the heater down for you.” “It’s a hundred degrees outside, dude,” Dean says, rolling his eyes. “I’ll make you a deal. Heat goes off, and I’ll huddle with you for warmth.” Cas remembers the dream, Dean nestled so close and warm, and he nods. He tries not to look fear-frozen as he watches Dean get up to turn off the heater and then sit back on the couch, closer to the center, beckoning Cas closer.

Non Solum | @thisisapaige

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 16,060 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Witch Castiel, Hunter Dean, Hurt/Comfort, Strangers to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending Summary: Castiel lives a quiet life, a solitary life, a lonely life. He cannot risk anyone finding out he is a witch, lest any hunters seek out his isolated cabin in the frozen Northern Wastes. Interacting only with those who require his healing services, Castiel constructs an existence that ensures he will be alone. Alone, that is, until a bloodied, dying man crawls up to his front door and threatens to tear down everything Castiel has built.

Under the Red Hood | @readingprofoundbonds

Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 16,659 Main Tags/Warnings: Animal Transformation, Mentor/Protege, Summary: Having been under Wolf’s Night for more than ten generations, Dean trained under the Order of the Hunters to slay the wolf that has been taking the children from Chesterford. Donning his red hood, he seeks out this monster to make Silver Ash safe again.

Solstice | Destielshipper4Cas (AO3)

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 17,302 Main Tags/Warnings: Witch Cas, Hunter Dean, Strangers to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Cuddling, Bottom Cas, Top Dean, Omega Cas, Alpha Dean Summary: At 40 years of age, recluse witch Castiel has yet to find a human to bond with—the one thing that could help stabilize his fading powers. Enter hunter Dean Winchester who is trying to break a curse that’s keeping him and his brother apart. What starts as an arrangement of convenience soon turns into something else entirely.

Honey pies | @whichstiel

Rating: Mature Word Count: 49,356 Main Tags/Warnings: Diamonds and toads fairy tale, Baker Castiel, Engineer Dean, Magic, Curses, Pie Summary: Once upon a time there was a boy who did something good for a stranger…and was cursed for his kindness. When Castiel was young he gave a hungry traveler pie. In return, she bespelled him: whenever he spoke, fresh mini-pies fell from his lips. From that day on, he never spoke lest he reveal the forbidden magic that inhabited him. Now Castiel sells pies from his food truck, Honey Pies, and silence is second nature. One day he meets Dean Winchester, an engineer who promises a miracle. After years of solitude and secrets, can Dean pull Castiel from the shadows? Castiel signs on as his test subject and hopes for normalcy; the last thing he expects is to fall in love.

Breathing Into You | @casblackfeathers

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 110,296 Main Tags/Warnings: merpeople, mer!castiel, bottom Dean, top Castiel, slow burn, enemies to lovers, canon-typical violence, tattooed castiel, tattooed dean, slow burn, romantic dean, true mates, roommates, angst with a happy ending Summary: ‘Beware the deep sea, that’s where the monsters come from.’ Dean had heard these words since birth, his father’s warnings shaping him into the man he is today. That’s not the root of Dean’s hatred for merpeople, though. Twenty years after the day tragedy had touched the Winchesters’ lives forever as well as the end of the Great War between humans and mer, Dean is still haunted by that moment. But loving the sea is just as much a part of him as the dread for the merfolk, so when he isn’t working at the local bar, he is there, underwater, immersed in the vast blue his mother used to speak of in her bedtime stories. Dean knows, however, that the sea can be as ruthless as it is soothing. When he is caught in the middle of a storm and faces the anger of the waves, the mysterious appearance of a stranger with blue eyes as clear as the waters Dean loves losing himself in forces Dean to question the truth behind his father’s old mantra.

Dragon Hunt | @peanutbutterjelly-pie

Rating: Explicit Word Count: 171,882 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Dragon Castiel, Knight Dean, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Slow, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending Summary: What is a former knight fallen from grace supposed to do when one day, after almost a decade of scouring the outskirts of the kingdom for his missing brother, he finds himself confronted with a powerful, terrifying and also ridiculously weird dragon? Yes, exactly: team up with the guy and scam oblivious people out of their money! Easy as that, right? + (In which Dean ends up stumbling upon a strange, blue-eyed dragon and before he even knows what's happening he is in way too deep to get out again.)

[mariana-oconnor]

The Greek Interpreter pt 3

Back to Mr Melas and his mysterious plaster-faced man.

...as he opened the door of our room he gave a start of surprise. Looking over his shoulder, I was equally astonished. His brother Mycroft was sitting smoking in the arm-chair.

Given the fact that it seems as though earth's orbit through space is more erratic than Mycroft's schedule, and easier to divert, this is quite astonishing. Also... didn't they literally just leave him? The man must have moved like the wind.

"Here it is," said he, "written with a J pen on royal cream paper by a middle-aged man with a weak constitution. 'Sir,' he says, 'in answer to your advertisement of to-day's date, I beg to inform you that I know the young lady in question very well. If you should care to call upon me I could give you some particulars as to her painful history. She is living at present at The Myrtles, Beckenham. Yours faithfully, J. Davenport.'"

Is she really living there at present? Mr Davenport? Is she? are you sure she isn't living somewhere else right now?

Also, lol at Mycroft being sure to put in the type of pen and the fact that the writer is middle-aged and has a weak constitution.

It was almost dark before we found ourselves in Pall Mall, at the rooms of Mr Melas. A gentleman had just called for him, and he was gone.

What? The man who was told he would be in grave danger if he told anyone, and then you broadcast the fact he had told people in all the daily papers is missing? I'm sure this is absolutely fine and in no way at all worrying. Definitely not connected to the fact that you broadcast the fact that he had told people the villain's secret in the newspaper.

Mr Melas is totally fine.

"He wasn't a tall, handsome, dark young man?" "Oh, nor, sir. He was a little gentleman, with glasses, thin in the face, but very pleasant in his ways, for he was laughing al the time that he was talking."

Well shucks. Who could have foreseen this? No way to have stopped it. Absolutely unpredictable circumstances here. No one to blame. No one at all. It was impossible to foresee this turn of events.

"He is a man of no physical courage, as they are well aware from their experience the other night. This villain was able to terrorise him the instant that he got into his presence. No doubt they want his professional services, but, having used him, they may be inclined to punish him for what they will regard as his treachery."

Excuse me? 'no physical courage', wtf is that supposed to mean? How is courage physical, for one, and secondly, did we listen to the same story? Where he managed to get information from the prisoner without alerting the bad guys even though he was scared. Then afterwards, rather than staying quiet for his own safety he brought the tale to the attention of people he thought could help? Wtf do you consider courage, Holmes? And then he just went about his day, knowing his life had been threatened? no physical courage?

Gonna have to respectfully disagree on this point.

Also 'they may be inclined to punish him for [...] his treachery'? You think?

So weird that no one seems to have seen this coming. Like, my dudes, you took an ad out in the paper. In the era when everyone (except Holmes) reads the paper. What did you think was going to happen?

On reaching Scotland Yard, however, it was more than an hour before we could get Inspector Gregson and comply with the legal formalities which would enable us to enter the house.

'We can't go in without a search warrant' is an age old complaint, it seems. I love that this is in here.

"You may have observed the same wheel-tracks going the other way. But the outward-bound ones were very much deeper--so much so that we can say for a certainty that there was a very considerable weight on the carriage." "You get a trifle beyond me there," said the inspector, shrugging his shoulder.

Little sad for Gregson that this is 'beyond' him. This is one of the clearest and simplest pieces of evidence we've seen Holmes provide.

"It is a mercy that you are on the side of the force, and not against it, Mr Holmes," remarked the inspector, as he noted the clever way in which my friend had forced back the catch. "Well, I think that under the circumstances we may enter without an invitation."

Yes. Because you got that search warrant... that you mentioned before. Not by name, exactly. But you got legal right to enter the property. So... you can enter the property? Unless you still needed an invitation even with that, but if you had an invitation wouldn't you already have right to enter? Or maybe they were legally only supposed to enter while someone was present.

He dashed up, the inspector and I at his heels, while his brother Mycroft followed as quickly as his great bulk would permit.

Did Watson mention that Mycroft is fat? I'm not sure he did.

Peering in, we could see that the only light in the room came from a dull blue flame which flickered from a small brass tripod in the centre. It threw a livid, unnatural circle upon the floor, while in the shadows beyond we saw the vague loom of two figures which crouched against the wall. From the open door there reeked a horrible poisonous exhalation which set us gasping and coughing.

Well this is horrifying. Slowly gassing people to death. These guys are really horrible. Such a terrible way to kill someone. Are they trying to make it seem like an accident?

"Where is a candle? I doubt if we could strike a match in that atmosphere. Hold the light at the door and we shall get them out, Mycroft, now!"

Because an open flame is... better than a match? I do not understand this logic.

The other, who was secured in a similar fashion, was a tall man in the last stage of emaciation, with several strips of sticking-plaster arranged in a grotesque pattern over his face. He had ceased to moan as we laid him down, and a glance showed me that for him at least our aid had come too late. Mr Melas, however, still lived, and in less than an hour, with the aid of ammonia and brandy I had the satisfaction of seeing him open his eyes, and of knowing that my hand had drawn him back from that dark valley in which all paths meet.

RIP Paul. They really fucked you over with that newspaper ad, didn't they? Your full name just out there in the world, being suspicious. Or maybe you outlived your usefulness to them.

Glad Mr Melas is okay, and it's nice to see Watson using his expertise to save the day a little bit. Even if the circumstances are pretty awful. This story is pretty dark, especially compared to the blue carbuncle goose chase (even with its brief commentary on the prison system) and the yellow face was pretty optimistic, even if I feel like everyone needed a lot of therapy. Here we have a man imprisoned, tortured and then gassed to death. And another almost suffering the same fate.

Watson's poetic turn of phrase softens it a little, but also makes it a bit more melacholy. Bleak, I think is the word I would use for this one.

His visitor, on entering his rooms, had drawn a life-preserver from his sleeve, and had so impressed him with the fear of instant and inevitable death that he had kidnapped him for the second time. Indeed, it was almost mesmeric, the effect which this giggling ruffian had produced upon the unfortunate linguist, for he could not speak of him save with trembling hands and a blanched cheek.

I am informed that a life-preserver is a type of bludgeon. And this little giggling man sounds utterly terrifying. I would absolutely do whatever he said if he threatened to bludgeon me to death. Watson seems surprised that Mr Melas is suffering from trauma. I get that Watson's a little... unhinged? regarding life or death situations, but between this and the lacking physical courage comment from before. Rude. Guy almost dies multiple times and it's definitely partially their fault for not trying to protect him. And they're busy judging him for going along with it.

And now we get a bit of an exposition dump.

...the unfortunate young lady came of a wealthy Grecian family, and that she had been on a visit to some friends in England. While there she had met a young man named Harold Latimer, who had acquired an ascendancy over her and had eventually persuaded her to fly with him. Her friends, shocked at the event, had contented themselves with informing her brother at Athens, and had then washed their hands of the matter.

A+ friends she has there. Wow.

'Acquired an ascendancy over her' is such a poetic turn of phrase for 'manipulated and controlled her'. This whole story is tragic and horrible. And so dark.

The brother, on his arrival in England, had imprudently placed himself in the power of Latimer and of his associate, whose name was Wilson Kemp—that through his ignorance of the language he was helpless in their hands, had kept him a prisoner, and had endeavoured by cruelty and starvation to make him sign away his own and his sister's property.

Seriously, this is horrible. Oh look, these people have no support system and no way to communicate, let's take advantage of them and torture them and no one will care. If it wasn't for Mr Melas, no one would even have thought to look.

...the plaster over the face had been for the purpose of making recognition difficult in case she should ever catch a glimpse of him. Her feminine perception, however, had instantly seen through the disguise when, on the occasion of the interpreter's visit, she had seen him for the first time.

'Her feminine perception'... i.e. the disguise was terrible and she actually knew what her brother looked like. Feminine perception. Maybe I should argue that in the next D&D session 'my character's female so I should get advantage on perception checks, Sherlock Holmes says so.' Lolol. This is made more amusing to me by the fact that I am both female and well-regarded as being one of the least observant people most of my friends and family know. My mother makes a game of it sometimes 'can you tell what's different in this room?'

No. The answer is always no.

Months afterwards a curious newspaper cutting reached us from Buda-Pesth. It told how two Englishmen who had been travelling with a woman had met with a tragic end. They had each been stabbed, it seems, and the Hungarian police were of opinion that they had quarrelled and had inflicted mortal injuries upon each other. Holmes, however, is, I fancy, of a different way of thinking, and holds to this day that, if one could find the Grecian girl, one might learn how the wrongs of herself and her brother came to be avenged.

Fuck yeah, Sophy. Stab them. I hope they knew it was you as they died. There is at least a little satisfaction in that. There's a whole story in those last few sentences which would be an epic revenge tale.

I had genuinely forgotten how many of these stories end with things happening off screen without Holmes or Watson being involved. This is another case where the villains get their justice meted out extra-legally, but this time it at least seems to have been a result of their actions rather than divine intervention. The point of the stories is clearly the method not the resolution.

It's... not satisfying. And like I mentioned before, it's a really dark tale. I didn't not remember it ending so horrifically. Also Sophy's friends are all terrible and should be ashamed of themselves.

I watched Magpie Murders on the BBC this week and the whole thing revolves around the fact that the last chapter of a whodunnit is missing. They say multiple times that it's the most important part of the book, and I don't necessarily disagree, but its strange to see in these stories, which were not the first mystery stories but early in the genre's evolution where the emphasis lies. Whodunnit is important, but the comeuppance clearly isn't. And even the who isn't as important as how Holmes gets there.

The slight mentions of mesmerism are interesting, and could totally be rolled into my 'Holmes but supernatural' alternate universe, where Kemp is accomplished at mind-control. That would make it even darker, if anything though.

This whole thing is just a tragedy from start to end.

Copper Beeches next - and I've read that one many times. Copper Beeches and the Solitary Cyclist used to be my favourites as a kid. I'll be interested to see how much I remember. Also, it'll be interesting to see what current!me makes of past!me's taste.

[dangermousie]

This is super helpful!

Side note: if TKA had too much murder for you, Under the Queen's Umbrella probably will too. And I am not sure about Three Musketeers.

So, I excluded: any war-heavy epics (so definitely avoid 6 Flying Dragons, or anything Lee Bang Won adjacent, for that matter. I am currently rewatching My Country which is in my Top 10, but you would NOT like it), dramas with tragic endings, dramas with heavy dose of mysticism/supernatural, time slip, or generally too much murder (TKA v Matchmakers was actually a super helpful benchmarks.)

Here is the list in addition to the ones I mentioned or others like Royal Secret Inspector and Joy that were mentioned in comments.

Dae Jung Geum (2003) - this is the oldest drama on the list, so you have to be OK with a drama that looks older. This said, it was a huge hit and is a female centric story with little murder. FL starts out a cook and ends up as first female royal physician.

Ballad of Seo Dong (2005) - once again older and might have too much murder (not sure?), this is a star-crossed story between royals of two rival kingdoms. I am putting it on the list because out of all pre-Joseon sageuks, this is the closest to meeting your preferences but honestly, probably not.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010) - by far my favorite drama on this list. Our heroine is a girl crossdressing as a boy to attend Sungkyunkwan, the prestigious university. There her paths cross with a very upright son of a minister, a rich kid, and a potential rebellious one. It was a big hit for a reason - the characters are great, the romance top-notch and it's just a delight.

Dong Yi (2012) - the most traditional drama on the list (and the longest, at 60 eps), this follows a woman who rises from servant to favorite royal concubine. She's pretty saintly so there isn't much murder. You have not to mind polygamy or age gap.

Maids (2014) - I sort of struggled as to where recommend this one because it's probably a bit too grim/murdery for you. But you mentioned non-royal-adjacent sageuks and while they do exist and I adore them, they tend to be the most grim/bloody of the lot. This is one of the few that's not fully like that.

100 Days My Prince (2018) - a fluffy romcom piece about a prince with amnesia.

Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency (2019) - a group of hot dudes engage in matchmaking and are tasked in getting the king's chosen bride up to snuff. It's vvvvvv fluffy but cute.

The Tale of Nokdu (2019) - I don't think there is too much murder but perhaps on the cusp for you. Our ML cross-dresses as a girl to hide and runs across the fun fierce young heroine.

Secret Royal Inspector (2020) - not to be confused with Secret Royal Inspector and Joy which is an entirely different drama with different actors that would also fit but someone recommended to you already. Basically our protags travel Joseon and solve crimes. Because there are crimes there is some blood but it's a pretty lighthearted drama.

Bossam (2021) - an excellent daily life sageuk. It addresses the custom of "kidnapping" widows so they could have an excuse to remarry. This story starts when a low-life ML hired to kidnap one such widow kidnaps the wrong woman by mistake. It can be pretty grim but it's such a lovely hopeful drama and surprisingly low on murder.

Moonshine (2022) - about Korean prohibition in Joseon times. I am not a big fan (tho the romance is occasionally cute) but it's def fluffy.

Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist (2022) - what it says on the tin. Two seasons. It's sort of a psych procedural set in ye olde tymes.

Joseon Attorney (2023) - once again what it says on the tin. A procedural with an underlying revenge for wrongs plot.

Knight Flower (2024) - our FL is a meek widow by day and Robin Hood by night. This is more a comedy than anything.

This is not the world's largest list because no blood excludes a LOT but hopefully it's something.

PS I second @aceinthetrap comment that if you enjoyed Live Up To You Name, you might like Queen In Hyun's Man (2012), about a nobleman who acquires a talisman that under certain conditions transplants him into the modern world and he crosses paths with an actress.

I wanna watch another good sageuk so bad this year, but I haven’t found anything that appeals to me. Anyone have any suggestions for something that isn’t all death and destruction? (And with no time travel, because then that doesn’t really count as a sageuk.)

[sleevebuscemii]

screaming and crying and throwing up

[driftbending]

taecyeonokay: #어사와조이 #밤씬 #누가누구게?

[kdram-chjh]

Kdrama: Secret Royal Inspector & Joy (2021)

Secret Royal Inspector & Joy - OFFICIAL TRAILER | Korean Drama | Taecyeon, Kim Hye Yoon

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcxbNDWXGUE

[krautundkimchi]

FIRST LOOK

My gal Kim Jo Yi

My boi Ra Yi Eon

The (dimple) couple I am most looking forward to this year

Excitement level sky high!

[deonideatta]

Highkey planning on watching taecyeon's upcoming drama even though I rarely watch sageuks

[kittychicha]

SO THERE'S GONNA BE A DRAMA STARRING TAECYEON AND KIM HYE YOON ?????????? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[staydandy]

Whump List Library - South Korea 🇰🇷

As of June 4, 2023 this Library will no longer be updated. Please refer to the New Version here.

A list of whump lists I’ve made ^^ .. click the titles to go to the lists Obviously this is a WIP .. links will be added as I go .. but I guess till all the links are added, it’s kinda a preview ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ To Directory

100 Days My Prince (2018) - Full List

Adamas (2022) - Full List

Alchemy of Souls (2022) - Full List

All That We Loved (2023) - Full List

All the Liquors (2023) - Full List

Arang and the Magistrate (2012) - Full List

Are You Human Too? (2018) - Full List

Arthdal Chronicles (2019)

At a Distance, Spring is Green (2021)

Awaken (2020)

Bad and Crazy (2021)

Bad Guys (2014)

Bad Prosecutor (2022) - Full List

Big Mouth / Mouse (2022) - Full List

Black Knight (2023) - Full List

Blind (2022) - Full List ... bonus : Character Key

Blueming (2022)

Brain Works (2023) - Full List

The Bridal Mask (2012) - Full List

Café Minamdang (2022) - Full List

Chimera (2021)

Clean With Passion For Now (2018)

Color Rush (2020)

Confession (2019)

Crash Course in Romance (2023) - Full List

Criminal Minds (2017)

Cross (2018)

Crowned Clown (2019) - Full List

D-Day (2015)

Defendant (2017)

The Devil Judge (2021) - Full List

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (2022) - Full List

Doctor John (2019)

Doctor Prisoner (2019)

Duel (2017)

Falling for Innocence (2015)

Falsify (2017) - Ful List

The First Responders Season 1 (2022) - Full List

Flower of Evil (2020) - Full List

The Forbidden Marriage (2022) - Full List

From Now On, Showtime! (2022) - Full List

Glory Jane (2011) - Full List

God’s Quiz (2010) ... 5: Reboot (2018)

The Golden Spoon (2022) - Full List

Good-bye, Mr. Black (2016)

Good Doctor (2013) - Full List

The Great Seer (2012) - Full List

Grid (2022) - Full List

Gu Family Book (2013)

Happy Merry Ending (2023) - Full List

Healer (2014)

The Heavenly Idol (2023) - Full List

He is Psychometric (2019) - Full List

Hello, God (2006)

Hwarang (2016)

Hyde, Jekyll, Me (2015)

If You Wish Upon Me (2022) - Full List

I’m Not a Robot (2017)

Individual Circumstances (2023) - Full List

Insider (2022) - Full List

Introverted Boss (2017)

Island - Parts 1 & 2 (2022-2023) - Full List

Item (2019)

It's Okay, That's Love (2014)

Jinxed At First (2022) - Full List

Jirisan (2021)

Just Between Lovers (2017)

Kill Me, Heal Me (2015)

The King’s Face (2014) - Full List

Kiss Sixth Sense (2022) - Full List

Kkondae Intern (2020)

Kokdu: Season of Deity (2023) - Full List

The Law Cafe (2022) - Full List

Life on Mars (2018) - Full List

Link: Eat, Love, Kill (2022)

Lovers of the Red Sky (2021) - Full List

Love to Hate You (2023) - Full List

Lucky Romance (2016)

Mad Dog (2017)

Melo Holic (2017)

Melting Me Softly (2019) - Full List

Memories of the Alhambra (2018)

Memorist (2020)

Military Prosecutor Doberman (2022) - Full List

Mirror of the Witch (2016) - Full List

Missing: The Other Side (2020) - Full List

Moonshine (2021) - Full List

Moorim School (2016)

My Love from the Star (2013)

Mystic Pop-up Bar (2020)

Once Again (2022) - Full List

Once Upon a Small Town (2022)

One Dollar Lawyer (2022) - Full List

One Ordinary Day (2021)

Pinocchio (2014) - Full List

Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist (2022) - Full List ... Season 2 (2023) - Full List

Priest (2018)

Prison Playbook (2017)

Project Wolf Hunting (2022)

Psychopath Diary (2019)

Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People (2017)

Reborn Rich (2022) - Full List

Remember: War of the Son (2015)

Reunited Worlds (2017)

Revenge of Others (2022) - Full List

Risky Romance (2018)

Rugal (2020)

School 2013 (2012)

Secret Royal Inspector (2020)

Sell Your Haunted House (2021)

Shark: The Beginning (2021)

A Shoulder to Cry On (2023) - Full List

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (2018)

The Sound of Magic (2022) - Full List

Stealer: The Treasure Keeper (2023) - Full List

The Tale of Nokdu (2019)

Taxi Driver (2021) - Full List ... Season 2 (2023) - Full List

Time Between Dog and Wolf (2007) - Full List

Tomorrow (2022) - Full List

To My Star (2021) - Full List ... 2: Our Untold Stories (2022) - Full List

Train (2020) - Full List

Tunnel (2017)

Uncanny Counter (2020)

Unintentional Love Story (2023) - Full List

Unlock My Boss (2022) - Full List

Vagabond (2019) - Full List

Vampire Detective (2016)

The Veil (2021)

Watcher (2019) - Full List

Weak Hero Class 1 (2022) - Full List

When the Devil Calls Your Name (2019) - Full List

Where Stars Land (2018)

While You Were Sleeping (2017)

Wok of Love (2018)

Yong Pal (2015) - Full List

You Raise Me Up (2021) - Full List

You’re All Surrounded (2014)

Youth of May (2021) - Full List

Zombie Detective (2020)

[killerandhealerqueen]

the WIP, hand it over

Appreciate you asking, bestie.

So, what I have in mind is writing another wuxia au for Killer and Healer because I had a great time writing the last one (and I always like to write an au at least twice (mafia aus don't count, I love mafia aus so I'm always thinking of those fuckers)) and it's gonna be a multi-chaptered fic and a case fic...but with a twist! It'll be a supernatural wuxia case fic au. (explanations are gonna get long so it goes under the cut)

So, Jiang Yuelou is a detective/royal inspector/crown prince (this last part is kept a secret for reasons I haven't figured out yet) and Chen Yuzhi is a fox spirit doctor who works in the "Ghost Market" of the kingdom. Why is it called the Ghost Market, you ask? Because that's where all the "weird" happens...it's where the demons, mythological creatures, and outcasts live. (It also only opens at night so...Ghost Market).

I've got I think at least 8 cases planned out

Illegal black tea/herb being sold/is killing people - the case that leads Jiang Yuelou to Chen Yuzhi because the tea/herb is only sold in the Ghost Market and Chen Yuzhi is a doctor in said Ghost Market so he'll be able to recognize the tea/herb (lowkey inspired by the first case from Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty)

Ghost Brides (or Jue Yuan) - Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi leave the city of Jing'an and head to Yingtai, where their women are either being "sacrificed" as "ghost brides" or their women/daughters are stolen by the jue yuan (this case is kinda iffy because ghost brides are an easy fix, the jue yuan are a little bit more complicated and since I want each case to have a happy ending, I'll have to decide which one I wanna go with...the Jue Yuan would be more interesting because it would force Chen Yuzhi to disguise himself as a woman to get capture by the jue yuan so that he and Jiang Yuelou can wipe them out but again, if you click on the link and read about the jue yuan, the whole premise of them is a little....hmm. Idk, we'll see)

Missing children - Guhuo Niao - Nanzhou - after solving the last case, Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi head to Nanzhou to solve the case of missing children who are captured by the Guhuo Niao (a nine-headed demonic bird sometimes transforms into a human woman that kidnaps children). A happy ending, of course, the children are found and the Guhuo Niao is defeated/sent on her way/killed (I gotta figure out how I wanna get rid of her)

Jiangshi - Guangzhou - Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi then head to Guangzhou to deal with a case of Hopping Vampires (or Hopping Zombies) (this idea is courtesy of @tolkiennaite111) and they find out that some fucking quack wants to see if they can reanimate the person they love...so to see if he can, he creates a bunch of Jiangshi, who are pretty much killing/absorbing the qi of the people in the village

Poison - Tianjin - if there's not a poisoning case, what's the fucking point, you know? Do I actually know what I'm going to do for this case? Nope. All I got is that it's a poisoning case in Tianjin and Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi have to go solve it

Now, the next three cases I'm having Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi go back to Jing'an but these three cases are gonna be connected. So, we'll start with an assassination attempt in an inn (someone tries to assassinate Jiang Yuelou while they sleep) and while Jiang Yuelou is fighting off the assassin, someone else is kidnapping Chen Yuzhi (because they know he's a fox spirit) and taking him away to join a circus full of creatures/humans that can shape shift into different demons.

And once Jiang Yuelou realizes that Chen Yuzhi is gone it's a full on manhunt. But they can't find him and Jiang Yuelou is called back to the palace by the emperor (his father Bai Jinbo) and tells him to get ready because in a few weeks time, there is going to be some sort of big celebration and people from all over the kingdom are gonna be coming.

So Jiang Yuelou prepares and then on the day of the celebration, the fucking circus shows up and all of the humans in the circus are in their animals forms but they have no control over their own mind and body because the circus master has had a longstanding grudge against Bai Jinbo and so wants to use the celebration as a great time to assassinate the emperor.

So he sends his "animals" to attack the royal court and Chen Yuzhi, of course, goes straight for Bai Jinbo but Jiang Yuelou quickly stops him and stops the guards from killing him because that's not a demon, it's a person, it's his person, don't kill him. Thankfully Chen Yuzhi is able to shake off the incense/concoction that was in his body and instead attacks the circus master in his demon form but is hurt because fuck one of the royal guards who thinks that Chen Yuzhi is an actual demon.

Again, happy endings all around, but there is a good hurt and comfort scene of Jiang Yuelou having like all the healers, both from the kingdom and the Ghost Market, heal Chen Yuzhi because he can't lose him. How am I going to end this fic? No idea. But this is what I've got so far. Probably won't end up writing it until my winter break because I've got grad school stuff and other WIPs to worry about at the moment, but I'm excited for this one...I think it's gonna be good

Thank you again for asking me about this, oh it feels so good to get it out of my system

[sleevebuscemii]

me in a zoom meeting arguing with tvn to get them to delay the release of taecyeons drama because I’m too busy to watch it rn

[zhoufeis]

MISCHA’S KDRAMA REVIEWS 2.0

The not-so-newbie newbie finished 20 21 Korean dramas. I adjusted the ratings of the 10 dramas I made a review of in the past. I’ll link that post too; the adjusted ratings you can find here (with a little explanation in case I adjusted the ratings). The 11 new dramas will be rated and reviewed under the cut. It’s a bit spoilery, but not in a way you’d remember.

Dramas under the cut with longer reviews: Doom at your service | Happiness | Hometown Cha Cha Cha | I’m not a robot | Moon Lovers | My Only Love Song (please excuse me for finding out only afterwards that the actor is the worst) | My Roommate is a Gumiho | Secret Royal Inspector & Joy | So I Married an Anti-Fan | Vincenzo | Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo

Dramas with ratings that I’ve (partly) adjusted and have reviewed before: A Love So Beautiful | Bring it on, ghost! | Extraordinary You | Hotel del Luna | Radio Romance | Romance is a Bonus Book | Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung | Run On | The Tale of Nokdu | W Two Worlds

Rated from worst to best:

#21 로맨스는 별책부록 Romance is a Bonus Book (2019) Rating: 2,0 of 5 stars. I adjusted it down, it’s as terrible as before but I have more comparison now and it’s just the worst Korean drama I’ve seen. The review can be found HERE.

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#20 어사와 조이 Secret Royal Inspector & Joy (2021) Rating: 2,3 of 5 stars. I love Taecyeon and Kim Hye-yoon, which is why I started this show. The show has an A+ cast. Unfortunately, that’s the only good thing I can say about it. The show is an utter bore. Nothing happens, the characters are flat, the scenery is - considering that they travelled through all of Korea to film this - rather underwhelming. I was desperately looking for a plot, but tbh, nothing keeps your interest. I’ve noticed that problems arise the moment I start liking the villain(s) more as the leads. Happened here. Tae Seo is a much more interesting character because we actually get to see layers to him and his motivations for his actions are explored and are actually complex. Every other character rather stays dull. I liked the fact that we had comedy, but it came the point where I was sick of it. I didn’t cry once with this show, I also barely laughed. The first 3 episodes were fine, episodes 4 and 5 were amazing. Afterwards, it was all terrible. The writing was all over the place, the cinematography alright-ish, the characters flat enough. We focused too much on side characters and kept introducing characters that no one cared about. While I did like that the girls had scenes on their own, they were usually so detached from the “important” storylines that they just added to the boredom. The chemistry between Taec and Hye-yoon was undeniable but I’ve never seen a drama that gave so few scenes to its main ship, specifically because the show was promoted with their amazing chemistry. Don’t even get me started about how the show could have great messages about feminism and grief and abandoned children but falls short on all of them because it doesn’t treat the characters in a suitable manner. Eventually, you could have read out of the show that every woman at that time who was unhappy in her marriage could only blame herself cause she could have just quit. It’s not like there’s further consequences, am I right? It’s not like women could get murdered when getting divorced in such a time era. And do not get me started on Tae Seo. Like wtf was that? THAT’S how he dies??? What are you trying to sell to us???????? He deserved SO MUCH better. All in all? A show with a lot of potential that failed completely in execution. Completely. And it’s boring on top of that.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: the cast is really A+, episodes 4&5, TAE SEO!!!!!!! Negative: everything else.

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#19 간 떨어지는 동거 My Roommate is a Gumiho (2021) Rating: 3,0 of 5 stars. I literally have no idea why the hell everyone loved this show. It was fine for the most part. Fine as in: no harm done, also I’ve forgotten what was the storyline even, except that she lived with him after swallowing the golden thingy. I liked the second male lead more, he had more charisma. Well, sorry, okay, maybe it’s because the ML’s actor isn’t my cup of tea. I tried Search: WWW too and thought he was... boring (For everyone’s information: I can’t put Search: WWW because I genuinely didn’t watch the show, but I did watch each and every single scene of Lee Jae-wook and Lee Da-hee, they were soooooooo cute). Sorrrryyyyyy, I know many of you like Jang Ki-yong, but he’s not my cup of tea at all. Meanwhile, Lee Hyeri is incredible and outshines him all the fricking time - I’m watching her on Moonshine right now and she’s great and her co-stars are much more charismatic and interesting. The secondary couple was nice though. I didn’t finish it however. After episode 12, I called it quits. It was just too boring and the storyline too dull.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: Lee Hyeri, the secondary couple, the second male lead. Negative: well... everything else.

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#18 신입사관 구해령 Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung (2019) Rating: 3,3 of 5 stars. This rating was adjusted DOWN as I’ve been trying very hard to remember what the show was about but couldn’t really except for the things that the title gives away lol. No, honestly, I’m still convinced the show ain’t terrible but it’s also not something you will remember 2 years later.  The whole review can be found HERE.

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#17 갯마을 차차차 Hometown Cha Cha Cha (2021) Rating: 3,4 of 5 stars. Another Tumblr favorite that I don’t entirely understand. I liked the first few episodes. The FL was great. However, it bothered me from the start that the show loved mansplaining. Like instead of showing what a strong, intelligent FL we had, she constantly had to be corrected by the ML - in her behavior, in her way of thinking, but even in her skills in mathematics and the like. It bothered me from the start but I was like: ‘kay, we can ignore that. What I couldn’t ignore was how she turnt into some clingy girlfriend the moment they got together. It sincerely annoyed me how both, ML and FL, lost their... personalities the moment they got together. And Jesus, his backstory revelation was so goddamn melodramatic I wanted to choke. I could oversee their cheesiness that was much beyond good and bad (I did feel the need to punch them every now and then), but the show shined in its first few eps through interesting characters and non-melodramatic storytelling, which is precisely what I enjoyed about it. And it turnt its two main characters into some lovey-dovey ship with no personalities anymore, and the non-melodramatic storyline into double-melodramatic storytelling. At some point, I started to wonder if I was watching a Mexican telenovela now with surprisingly good cinematography. Ah, right, the amount of 50k side characters and side ship no one fricking cares about also added to the telenovela theory. A show that started strong but turnt... cliché. Ofc we ended this with a wedding *sigh*

Favorite character(s):

Positive: everything in the first few episodes (minus the mansplaining), the cinematpography in general, the banter between the two leads in the first few episodes, a good senstivity to emotions and feelings. Negative: the amount of irrelevant side ships of side characters i really didn’t care about at all; everything in the last few eps concerning characterization, storytelling and just... generally... writing.

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#16 빈센조 Vincenzo (2021) Rating: 3,6 of 5 stars. Why the hell did Mischa rank this show so badly, you ask? Well, I’m sorry, I cannot help it as this show was an utter letdown in its last few eps. Let’s start with the good thing: This show was quality. You can tell from the first second you enter it, the cinematography is beyond, the plot was intriguing, the characters are incredibly sharp and complex and unique. I clearly remember I was AMAZED beyond compare by episode 6. It was some sort of How to Get Away with Murder show, but like 5 times better, spiced up with better and more consistent characterizations. All of this was well done. Problems started arising around episode 10, when the show started dragging things out. By episode 12, everyone could tell how this storyline would end. I wanted a conclusion, maybe then get to the final storyline with the Mafia. Instead... we just dragged on and on and on. By episode 16, I was just annoyed because I either wanted a plot twist or a new layer in the storyline. It wasn’t given. Instead, we sidelined Cha-young for no reason whatsoever and went with all the clichés that Korean dramas could give. I could have forgiven this - I really could have... if the writers hadn’t screwed over all character and relationship development in its last episode to write an “open ending” that no one wanted. Cha-young deserved her happy ending and not some stupid “I’ll wait for you”-storyline for a guy who doesn’t deserve it. She deserved better. We deserved better. This show deserved better. 16 eps would have also been beyond sufficient. Besides, I have not forgiven them for how I will never get this pic ouf of my mind of Taecyeon’s character’s death. I’m traumatized by it. Objectively, it’s a well made and well written show. But there’s so many flaws in the last episodes and the ending that I just cannot rate it high as it didn’t leave me with a good feeling after all. I kind of just wish I’d forget about this show.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: cinematography, incredible plot twists, CHA YOUNG!!!!!, A+ cast, intriguing and interesting, characters are complex and unique. Negative: drags on in the last few eps, screws over character and relationship developments for the sake of writing a “unique” ending, leaves you unsatisfied.

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NEXT UP: All shows I sincerely enjoyed until the end!

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#15 런 온 Run On (2020) Rating: 3,8 of 5 stars. Rating adjusted DOWN. Look, let me explain: this is a very, very well-written and well-directed show. In my personal opinion, it just doesn’t have this obsession factor as other shows. It has great characters, relatable characters, to be precise; it has good storylines, it’s adult, it’s metaphoric, it treats all its topics with sensitivity. The relationships are great, the friendships are nice, it’s a slice of life made into art. It’s wonderfully made - it’s just not the kind of show I’d rewatch really or get obsessed with. Objectively, it’s one of the best out there though. So if you enjoy show that show you a slice of life, this one is TOTALLY worth your time! My whole review can be found HERE.

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#14 라디오 로맨스 Radio Romance (2018) Rating: 3,9 of 5 stars. Rating adjusted UP. This is a truly nice show that is so deep that it’s truly a tragedy that there’s a useless love triangle on there. The love triangle adds nothing to the story and is just nothing but annoying. The backstory... the way it deals with depression, with grief, with PTSD, but also with feelings in general... The way it promotes kindness and celebrates compassion and empathy... Amazing.  My old longer review can be found HERE. This would be one of the best if it just wasn’t for the love triangle. If we cut that part, we could have sized down the show to 12 episodes - and those would have been awesome.

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#13 아름다웠던 우리에게 A Love So Beautiful (2020) Rating: 3,9 of 5 stars. Rating adjusted UP. I have to admit I just love this show, it’s so cute and lovely and makes you feel so melancholic. I personally consider it to be the lighter, less complex version of Our Beloved Summer - a currently airing Korean drama that has me OBSESSED. For everyone who wants to see a lighter, funnier, less heartaching version, A Love So Beautiful is perfect for that.  My old longer review can be found HERE, even though it’s probably not that fair towards the show.

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#12 그래서 나는 안티팬과 결혼했다 So I Married an Anti-Fan (2021) Rating: 4,0 of 5 stars. I honestly only started this for Choi Soo-young and I didn’t have any large expectations - and I was positively surprised. It was such a lovely show with a nice ML and FL; I loved their dynamic early on and I loved seeing them grow together. This show truly know how to write a mature adult relationship and, yet, they also knew how to write enemies-to-lovers. I sincerely enjoyed this show and while it gets a bit boring in the last 2 eps, it’s still easily watched. I also discovered Choi Tae-joon through it. It was funny, it was cute. A nice romcom for adults! The only rather annoying thing were the secondary couple. Not only were they beyond toxic, they were also beyond annoying, constantly dragging down the ML with them. But ignoring them, this was a great show I highly recommend if you love romcoms! If we compare it A Love So Beautiful and Radio Romance, we can say that Radio Romance is rather concerned with emotions and experiences than with comedy. Radio Romance is an exploration of characters and how past experiences and feelings can shape the way one perceives the world; A Love So Beautiful celebrates youth and the growth people go through by telling the story of two high school teenagers who grow into adults who have to manage their lives; So I Married an Anti-Fan is a romcom - enemies to lovers who get over first loves and past heartbreaks and grow together by trusting each other and confiding in each other.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: loved the actors, loved most of the characters, well executed enemies-to-lovers storyline (not every enemies-to-lovers storyline should exist, but this one is great), all in all a lovely romcom. Negative: the toxicity of the secondary couple and of the two characters involved in it. I just wanted them to break up and to both get out of Hoo Joon’s life forever.

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#11 마이 온리 러브송 My Only Love Song (2017) Rating: 4,0 of 5 stars. WARNING: The main actor is a sexual predator (Netflix offered this show to me and I had no idea who he was, but I’d like everyone to consider for yourself if you want to check out the show anyway or not - with the knowledge that I didn’t have.) Leaving aside the fact that the main actor is the worst, this show is cute. It feels a lot like an ancient Chinese drama as it involves time travel and rather short episodes and is a lot more light-hearted than the typical sageuk. As it is short, and so are the episodes, it’s fast-paced and genuinely always a pleasure to watch. The dynamics work out great, the friendships are beyond adorable, the ending is well-deserved. I personally cannot find any flaws in characterizations, development or writing. It’s just really well-made. The camera work and editing could be better at some points, but it’s clearly decent. Its only real flaw? The main actor. And it’s a shame because the show is awesome.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: I love almost everything about this show, but mostly... the fact that it feels a bit like an ancient Chinese drama rather than a sageuk. China is better than Korea at ancient dramas and this show just has those nice cdrama vibes I’m always looking for. Including the enemies-to-lovers I always love. Negative: I’ve said it like a dozen times, you know who it is.

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#10 달의 연인 - 보보경심 려 Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016) Rating: 4,2 of 5 stars. This show should and could be rated higher. It should be rated higher if I didn’t have many shows I subjectively consider to be better because I’m a romantic. And it could be better if Tumblr hadn’t drawn a wrong image of this show. I don’t know which ones of you have watched it or not - but I can assure you, I have no idea why the hell Tumblr is shipping the two leads. Like WHAT. THE. HELL. They may be the most toxic leading couple I’ve witnessed in any Korean drama. No, wait, I KNOW they are. And the thing is - the show wasn’t drawing them in a positive light. They were clearly presented as negative. He gives her up for power. He literally doesn’t fight for her. But even their beginning is so beyond questionable as he is rather obsessed with her than anything else - and she is in love with another. The reason why I like this show anyway is because I never had the impression that the show was wanting you to ship them. The writing was trying to intrigue you in the storyline - and God, it did. The deaths. The pain. The betrayals. The suffering. The manipulations. I died one thousand deaths. The amazing cinematography, the complex storytelling, the most cruel depths of human evil... it’s all right there. This show is SO well made. Just that Tumblr doesn’t understand anything about it. It just sees a rather toxic ship and goes OTP OTP OTP. No. This show is good for so many reasons and NONE of them are the leading couple. However, individually, the two leads are great. Acting is beyond compare, they have a star-filled cast and they knew how to make use of it. An incredible show - if you wanna watch something intriguing and wanna step away from shipping for a moment, watch this one. It leaves you speechless.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: everything. IU tho. IU always. And Nam Joo-hyuk. Negative: whatever the hell romantic bullsh*t Tumblr made out of it.

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#9 싸우자 귀신아 Bring it on, ghost! (2016) Rating: 4,2 of 5 stars. Rating stayed the same. My review of it can be read HERE. What can I say? My fave drama of Taecyeon, it was one of my first too, I will love it forever.

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#8 어느 날 우리 집 현관으로 멸망이 들어왔다 Doom At Your Service (2021) Rating: 4,4 of 5 stars. The problem with this show is easy. This show is, easily, one of the best out there. But. But. But. The love triangle. I have literally nothing, NOTHING, NOT A TINY LITTLE THING, to say about visuals or directing or writing or acting - as long as it concerns Myul Mang and Tak Dong-kyung and their related storyline. However, for some totally unknown reason, some writer decided to write a love triangle of the secondary characters in there that was not only terrible but also beyond unrelated to the actual storyline. Like WHY THE HELL DID I HAVE TO SIT THROUGH THIS LOVE TRIANGLE??? On top of that, Lee Soo-hyuk is the worst actor I’ve watched on a Korean drama. You cannot enjoy all actors, and I said before I also didn’t really like the one on Gumiho but the one on Gumiho is still so much better than this one. I may not really enjoy seeing Jang Ki-yong but he’s most definitely bearable. Meanwhile... Lee Soo-hyuk is not. He has two facial expressions, can’t talk properly and I downright hated watching every scene he was in. To the point that I just stopped watching his scenes. Meanwhile, Kang Tae-oh is one of the best actors to exist and he was given so little to work with. Nevermind the fact that I also automatically rooted for him in the love triangle even though I just really hated this love triangle from the beginning and every episode got worse. But anyway, back to the good part of this show, which was literally everything that wasn’t the love triangle. The show had me from the very first episode, I was completely intrigued by the storyline and enjoyed the ride. Also sorta adore to have happy endings; I have to endure life anyway, so I’m not opposed to having overly happy endings like this one. It personally would have destroyed me if I didn’t have one. I just wished the show had simply only had 12 episodes instead of 16 and threw out the entire storyline of the love triangle. Then this show would be a 5/5.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: Literally everything that wasn’t the love triangle; those incredible acting skills of Seo In-guk and Park Bo-young. Negative: the love triangle; the lack of acting skills of Lee Soo-hyuk.

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#7 역도 요정 김복주 Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo (2016) Rating: 4,5 of 5 stars. Probably one of the few Tumblr favorites that rightfully deserves its praise and approval. What a beautiful, beautiful show. So pure, so fresh. A little bit of feminism and a little bit of enemies-to-lovers added on top of that with nice, enjoyable side characters, great cameos (KANG CHUL!!!!!!!!!), and a well-rounded show that lacks nothing. I’m deducting 0,5 stars because I could have someeeetimes lived my watching well without the uncle’s love life and because I didn’t like the message about Jun-hyung’s mother being forgiven for abandoning her son. Let us start holding our parents accountable. Other than that, a perfect show with a great cast and great dynamics. And very nice messages. Needless to say, Lee Sung-kyung and Nam Joo-hyuk are wonderful together.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: loved the entire vibe, the cast, the visuals, just loved it. Negative: tiny things I mentioned in the written text.

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#6 해피니스 Happiness (2021) Rating: 4,7 of 5 stars. I went to watch this because I kept seeing it on Tumblr and because... Han Hyo-joo. Duh. I didn’t go in there with a lot of expectations; after all, it looked like zombies and like... not sure that’s for me. Except... it wasn’t a zombie show. It was a show about a pandemic, making references to the COVID-19 pandemic... and its measures. The show had a sort of critical eye on the entire handling of things by the government and there were multiple occasions at which you could clearly draw some parallels. It leaves you thinking, it leaves rich people in a quite negative light, but its message is actually something else: Don’t lose your kindness towards other people in rough moments of your lives. We live together and we should try to treat each other with kindness and respect, not to point the finger at everyone who seems different or thinks differently. Be kind, show respect, treat people the way you would want to be treated as well. Being humane is not the appearance or the lack of a virus; being humane is about who you are and who you want to be.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: a critical but not problematic view on pandemics and the way people treat each other during such; a nice adult love story as side plot; unique characters; a realistic resolution; very pleasant cinematography: Negative: i just wish it was longer lol

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#5 조선로코-녹두전 The Tale of Nokdu (2019) Rating: 4,8 of 5 stars. This show’s rating has been adjusted up because this is, without any doubts, the best sageuk out there. Interesting plot that doesn’t drag on, wonderfully lovable characters, plot twists to leave you gasping, pretty cinematography, nice directing, tragic pasts, and a wonderfully heartaching, pure romance. A beautiful, beautiful ending that gives you everything you wanted. And it knew how to treat Kang Tae-oh’s acting skills well, like Run On did too, and not how Doom at Your Service did. How could you possibly ask for more? Original review HERE.

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#4 로봇이 아니야 I’m not a Robot (2017) Rating: 4,9 of 5 stars. The only reason why this show loses 0,1 points is because I expected something different when I went into it. I was expecting a sci-fi show. Okay, no, even though it has science fiction parts, that’s not the focus nor the essence of the show. The essence of the show is celebrating human relations. Celebrating that we are living in societies, that we care for one another, that we live and laugh and love, that we show kindness and adoration, forgiveness and sadness, happiness and love. That we move on, that we experience life at its fullest and move on from past experiences that shaped us, that made us who we are, but that should be left behind to move ahead. That nothing is more beautiful than being close to the people who value and treasure you and love you with your flaws. The show makes correct use of its side characters and never steps away from the main storyline. This show is the romcom with the most beautiful messages you can find and as it adds a bit of science fiction and a lot of tragedy into it, I could not do anything but love it.

Favorite character(s):

Positive: the messages, the entire cinematography that makes it look like a hollywood movie, the acting, the EVERTYHING. Negative: the only minor thing I would need to complain about that I didn’t particularly enjoy that he went to the military in the end - like i get it, full circle to the first scene - but I’m never with military arcs lol.

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#3 어쩌다 발견한 하루 Extraordinary You (2019) Rating: 5,0 of 5 stars. The first 3 ranks haven’t changed at all. It’s still those 3 shows and I don’t think something will ever beat them. However... I said it last time already, the 3 of them are interchangeable. So today, I feel like ranking them like... tomorrow it’s changed. 3 incredible shows, not to ever be beaten. Entire review can be found HERE.

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#2 호텔 델루나 Hotel del Luna (2019) Rating: 5,0 of 5 stars. Loved it back when I first rated it, still love it now. Nothing changed. A Korean drama beyond compare. Check out my entire review HERE.

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#1 더블유 W Two Worlds (2016) Rating: 5,0 of 5 stars. Rating adjusted UP because it is my first and my forever beloved Korean drama. Jesus, I love it so much. So, so, so much. Yes, it has minor - MINOR - flaws in the end but it is MY beloved. Lee Jong-suk and Han Hyo-joo for the win!!! HERE is my original entire review of it.

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Abandoned shows because I really didn’t enjoy them: Goblin | Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol | My First First Love | Memories of the Alhambra | Uncontrollably Fond | Search: WWW (watched Lee Jae-wook and Lee Da-hee’s scenes though) | Strong Girl Bong-soon | Love Alarm

Shows I started that I didn’t get very far yet though: My Country - The New Age | Signal | The Crowned Clown | Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

Shows I am currently watching that will be on the next ratings: Our Beloved Summer | 100 Days My Prince | Moonshine

[jaejoongs-nipple-piercing]

Because it's the first time (SHINee Minho) ✅ (watched once)

Revenge Note 2 (Samuel) ✅ (watched twice)

It's ok, that's love ✅

Kill me, heal me (Ji Sung and Oh Ri Jin)✅

Protect the boss (Jaejoong) ✅

Codename: Jackal (movie)✅

Vincenzo (Taecyeon)

Time Slip Doctor Jin (Jaejoong)

Triangle (Jaejoong)

My secret love (Ji Sung and Oh Ri Jin)

Tunnel (with N)

Tazza

Legend of the blue sea (Shin)

Boys over flowers (Korean and Japanese versions)

Meteor Garden (Chinese version of Boys over flowers)

Secret Garden ✅

The heirs

Empress Ki

Woojins' movie/drama about the secret class nobody can find out about

Kdrama that Wonho has a cameo in

Coffee Prince

Drinking Game/Drinking Solo (working on it)

Secret Royal Inspector and Joy (Taecyeon)

Let's Fight Ghost/Bring it on, Ghost(Taecyeon)

High Kick Through The Roof (1 & 2)

My ID is Gangnam Beauty

What's wrong with Secretary Kim?

Spy (Jaejoong) ✅

Witness drama with Luhan helping a blind woman

The Untamed (Xiao Zhan and Yibo)✅

Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Untamed) anime ✅

(Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai BL dramas go here)

Thailand F4 drama

I am not a robot ✅

Cherry Magic (Japanese BL)

Beautiful Reborn Flower (C-drama)

Dream High (K-Drama)

Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth (K-drama)

Ghost Doctor (K-drama)

Dream Garden (C-drama)

Do it all your way (K-drama)

Tree with deep roots (K-drama)

The Guardian (K-drama)

High-end crush (K-drama)

TharnType (Thai drama)

The Red Sleeve (K-drama)

Meow, the secret boy (K-drama)

Let me be your knight (K-drama)

Entertainer (K-drama)

User not found (K-drama)

The beauty inside (K-drama)

Sword snow stride (C-drama)

Psychologist (C-drama)

Now, We are breaking up (K-drama)

Cinderella’s Sister (K-drama)

Strong woman Do Bong Soon (K-drama)

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (Goblin) (K-drama)

Scarlet Heart: Ryeo (K-drama)

Color Rush (K-drama with Hwall from The Boyz)

My roommate is a gumiho (K-drama)

Dr. Jin (K-drama with Jaejoong)

Manhole (K-drama with Jaejoong)

Photo people in Paris (variety show with Jaejoong and Samuel)

Photo people in Tokyo (variety show with Jaejoong and Woohyun)

Fall in love with my king (C-drama)

The maid of the blind master (C-drama)

The birth of a Mrs (K-drama)

Flower of evil (K-drama)

Tale of the Nine tailed (K-drama)

Emergency couple (K-drama)

More than friends (K-drama)

2018 SBS Gayo Daejun music festival (Korean)

W (K-drama)

Short lived love (K-drama)

Weight-lifting fairy, Kim Bok-joo (K-drama)

Listen to my heart (K-drama)

Playful kiss (K-drama)

The return of Superman (Korean variety show)

While you were sleeping (K-drama)

After school club (variety show)

Sunset in my home town (K-drama)

Voice (K-drama)

Happy Together (K-drama)

By chance (K-drama)

The king (K-drama)

Commitment (K-drama with TOP)

Star: Radiant Love (K-drama)

Big (K-drama)

Dramaworld (K-drama)

The Divine Fury (K-drama, horror)

Children of Nobody (K-drama)

Midnight Runners (K-drama)

Familiar Wife (K-drama)

Ms. Perfect (K-drama)

Idol King of Cooking (K-drama)

Tomorrow Boy (K-drama)

Cheer Up! (K-drama)

2015 Idol Star Athletics Championships-New Year Special (variety show/competition)

Suspicious Partner (K-drama)

So I married the anti-fan (K-drama)

True Beauty (K-drama)

Backstreet Rookie (K-drama)

Silent sea (with Gong Yoo)

Miracle that we met (K-drama with Kai)

Haru ga Kita (J-drama with Kai)

Andante (K-drama with Kai)

7 First Kisses (K-drama with Kai)

Chico Bank (K-drama with Kai)

EXO Next Door (K-drama with Kai and rest of EXO)

To the beautiful you (K-drama with Kai)

SMTown the Stage (movie with Kai )

Miracle (Korean special with Kai)

EXO’s Ladder Seasons 1-3 (Korean tv show with EXO members)

Kai’s bucket list (Korean tv show)

New World (Korean tv show with Kai)

KAIst (Korean tv show)

The Takfather (Korean tv show)

Hello, You ( Korean tv show)

Honeymoon tavern (Korean tv show)

Six Sense 2 ( Korean tv show)

Gym Jong Kook (Korean tv show)

EXO Arcade 2 (Korean tv show)

Idol Dictation Contest (Korean tv show)

The Devil Wears Jung Nam 2 (Korean tv show)

Miscellaneous Goods (Korean tv show)

STAY BODYLUV (Korean tv show)

SuperM: As We Wish (Korean tv show)

Mtopia highlights (Korean tv show)

Mtopia pre-release (Korean tv show)

Mtopia cookie clip (Korean tv show)

Mtopia (Korean tv show)

After_zzZ (Korean tv show)

SuperM Midterm Exam (Korean tv show)

RARE-TAEM (Korean tv show)

Dong Dong Shin Ki (Korean tv show)

SuperM: The Beginning (Korean tv show)

Midnight Idol Season 1 (Korean tv show)

Let’s Go, Man Soo Ro (Korean tv show)

Workman (Korean tv show)

Stage K (Korean tv show)

Sim for you: special hard drive run (Korean tv show)

Sim for you (Korean tv show)

EXO Arcade (Korean tv show)

UNDER19 (Korean tv show, special director and in episode 11 as a guest)

Music Bank in Berlin (Korean tv show, guest in one episode)

Star Road: Kai (Korean tv show)

Amazing Saturday (Korean tv show, in episode 118 and 135-136)

EXO From Happiness (Korean tv show)

EXO Tourgram (Korean tv show)

Park Jin Young’s Party people (Korean tv show)

2017 Idol Star Athletics Championships (Korean tv show)

Star Show 360 ( Korean tv show)

Exomentary live (Korean tv show)

Yummy! Yummy! (Korean tv show, in episodes 3-4)

Knowing Bros (Korean tv show, in episodes 85, 159, 208, 245, 309)

EXO’s Second box (Korean tv show)

EXO Channel (Korean tv show)

SurpLines EXO (Korean tv show)

EXO 90:2014 (Korean tv show)

The Ultimate Group (Korean tv show)

XOXO EXO (Korean tv show)

Roommate Season 1 (Korean tv show)

EXO’s First Box (Korean tv show)

EXO Oven Radio (Korean tv show)

EXO’s Showtime (Korean tv show)

The return of Superman (Korean tv show, guest in episode 257)

Comedy Big League Season 5 ( Korean tv shiw, guest in episode 388)

A song for you 1 (Korean tv show, guest in episodes 1-2)

After School Club (episodes 9 and 165)

I live Alone (Korean tv show, guest in episode 372)

Beatles code 2 (Korean tv show)

Weekly Idol (Korean tv show, guest in episodes 103 and 108)

Immortal songs: singing the legend (Korean tv show, guest in episodes 116, and 118-119)

Hello Counselor: Season 1 (Korean tv show, guest in episode 145)

Running Man (Korean tv show, guest in episodes 171 and 209)

Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook (Korean tv show, guest in episodes 277 and 508)

Happy Together Season 3 (Korean tv show, guest in episodes 513-514)

Radio Star (Korean tv show, guest in episode 646)

Star King (Korean tv show)

Infinite Challenge (Korean tv show, guest in episode 345)

Pops In Seoul (Korean tv show)

Happy Camp (Chinese tv show, guest in episodes 20130706 and 20140705)

MUSIC STATION (Japanese tv show, guest performer)

Infinite Showtime (Korean tv show with ot7 infinite members)

No.Mercy (debut

Ever Night (C-Drama)

Legend of Fuyao (C-drama)

Hot-blood dance crew (Chinese dancing variety show)

Idol Producer (with Jackson and Lay, Chinese idol singing show)

Whirlwind Girl (C-drama)

Whirlwind Girl 2 (C-drama)

The Golden Eyes (C-drama with Lay)

Never gone (C-drama with Kris)

Sweet Sixteen (C-drama with Kris)

Negotiator (C-drama with Tao)

Forward Forever (C-drama with Tao)

The Mystic Nine (C-drama with Lay)

The Fate of Swordsman (C-drama)

Princess Agents (C-drama)

The Fox’s Summer (C-drama)

The Love Knot: His Excellency’s First Love (C-drama)

My Amazing Boyfriend 2: Unforgettable Impression (C-drama)

Cinderella Chef (C-drama)

So I married my Anti-Fan (C-drama)

The Last Wish (C-drama)

The Song of Glory (C-drama)

Eternal Love (C-drama)

Once Upon a Time (C-drama)

The secret of love (C-drama)

@bandluvr97

[krautundkimchi]

[티저] 11월, 대환장 수사쑈가 온다!? {어사와 조이} #어사와조이 EP.0

First teaser for Royal Secret Agent and Jo Yi to be released in November!

[dangermousie]

2020 End of Year Post - kdrama edition

You can find my 2020 cdrama post here: dangermousie.tumblr.com/post/638449659546845184/2020-end-of-year-post-cdrama-edition

This is only going to cover kdramas that aired in 2020; if it originally aired another year, it’s not on this list.

It’s been a pretty lackluster kdrama year. There are probably only 5 kdramas I truly loved and only three of them I was really obsessed over. Better luck in 2021!

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

42 Born Again - so bad, so incoherent, so insane, I have no idea why the leads signed up for it (and unlike some of the other watchers, I think it was awful from the very start.) There is literally nothing about this drama that makes sense.

41 Love with Flaws - a bunch of people who should be tried under the Geneva Convention.

40 Sweet Munchies - Jung Il Woo proves his inability to pick a functional script.

39 Meow the Secret Boy - if you ever wanted to bang a cat, this drama is for you. Not being a furry, however...

38 Do Do Sol Sol La Sol - I lost braincells just typing out this title.

37 When I Was the Most Beautiful - the only way it’s not the dumbest, most pointless melo of 2020 is because Born Again considerately came out the same year.

36 Woman of 9.9 Billion - if you want to watch an artsy French movie about miserable people, but only badly made, boy do I have a drama for you.

35 Lies after Lies - screams after screams.

34 Backstreet Rookie - people were up in arms about various problematic plots. I am a survivor of many plots much more problematic but even I couldn’t survive how utterly boring and annoying this drama was and how utterly irritating the leads were. This has taken Ji Chang Wook off my top favorites into “should I even check his latest Lovestruck in the City? Probably not” territory almost single-handedly (Melt Me helped, to be fair.)

33 Men Are Men - boring is boring.

32 Dinner Mate - two beautiful boring people eat out a lot.

31 Was It Love - no it wasn’t.

30 Alice - Joo Won in the shower can make up for a multitude of sins but not plot nonsense of such magnitude. When you find yourself thinking it would be better if he hooked up with the alternate universe version of his mother because at least then something entertaining would happen, you know it’s bad.

29 More than Friends - started out OK, then made me hate basically everyone and kept going.

28 Start-Up - honestly, it’s probably more decent than its place here, but the toxic and batshit fandom for it (the worst this year) made me feel like breaking out in hives any time it’s even mentioned.

27 The Spies who Loved Me - how to take a good cast and waste it.

26 Private Lives - it was good but it never took off with its concept and spent more time on the incoherent plot than the OTP which was its one strength. It’s a decent drama but coming after Heartless City and My Beautiful Bride from the same writer, it’s a disappointment.

25 Record of Youth - as high as it is due to Park Bo Gum hard carrying this entire awful drama on his shoulders and doing it so well I finished it. Alas, while he is in one drama (and that drama is great), the rest of the characters and the entirety of the script are a pointless useless mess.

24 Do You Like Brahms - excellent first third, mediocre middle, and terrible last third. I don’t know what musical term applies to this? Diminuendo, I think.

23 I’ll Go to You When the Weather is Nice - nice and mellow but nothing much happens.

22 Forest - mainly for Park Hae Jin’s excellent and frequently naked bod.

21 The Ballot - I didn’t love it as much as everyone did but it was well-made.

20 Hyena - more romance and less weird law stuff would make it better.

19 365 Repeat the Year - surprisingly solid.

18 The Game Towards Zero - see 365.

17 When My Love Blooms - very old fashioned, very lovely.

16 Chocolate - also very old fashioned and very lovely but also with Yoon Kye Sang performing medical procedures bleeding and shirtless. MMM.

15 (tie) Secret Royal Inspector - a fun if run of the mill sageuk.

15 Find Me In Your Memory - best melo this year.

14 Mystic Pop Up Bar - surprisingly good even though I wasn’t planning to check it out.

13 Where Your Eyes Linger - came out of nowhere but was tender and hopeful and lovely.

12 Itaewon Class - Park Seo Joon hard carries a drama that is already excellent. Love it.

11 Psychopath Diary - Yoon Shi Yoon is such a treat in a hilarious, cynical, dark comedy.

10 Kairos - more like ouroboros.

9 Queen Love and War - in a year where sageuks are very rare, this was solid and surprisingly moving and shippy.

8 The King Eternal Monarch - people didn’t like it but I did. It’s no masterpiece and both the leads and the writers have better dramas, but it was a lovely romantic fairy tale for me.

7 Mr. Queen - sharp, hilarious, and some of my favorite actors.

6 Psycho But It’s OK - healing, sharp cinematography and even sharper chemistry.

5 Crash Landing on You - the last ep pissed me off so much this drama is dead to me but I loved it so much until then I can’t place it lower in good conscience.

4 Train - who knew I would go this hard for an OCN drama or that OCN would do romance so well? But this time-travel mystery romance is just incredible and I shipped the OTP and rooted for the characters and loved every last bit of it.

3 Run On - this is the drama Record of Youth wanted to be but failed. Smart and lived in, you feel like you are peeking at real people, but also even four episodes in, I am so invested in the main characters separately and together, and care for them so much, it’s a little frightening.

1 (tie) Tale of the Nine Tailed - my perfect fantasy romance. I liked it better than Goblin, yeah I said it.

1 Flower of Evil - all the tropes I love in one incredible package. I would rewatch episodes waiting for new ones trying to puzzle the story and to stay withdrawal but it works just as well on rewatch. Lee Jun Ki brings his trademark tortured intensity and for once, both his leading lady and his script back him up and are worthy of that. It’s perfect.

FAVORITE DRAMA

It’s a tie between Tale of the Nine Tailed and Flower of Evil but if I had to pick just one, FoE, because it had me seriously obsessed and guessing about the protagonist and gave me the narrative tropes I love so much and an OTP that statisfied all my hurt/comfort kinks and then some.

WORST DRAMA

Born Again - honestly, this is so bonkers it almost becomes good but alas...

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Do Hyun Soo/Baek Hee Sung, Flower of Evil - he is so messed up, so on edge, so traumatized. Yet capable of so much warmth and caring even as he himself doesn’t realize his humanity. FoE is basically a story of a man pushed and punished by the world for his entire life who, because of one woman, finds a safe place and peace and slowly comes to life without realizing it, and watching his desperation to keep this small bit of normalcy is so heartbreaking and exciting all at once. Plus, you start the drama thinking he’s a psychopathic serial killer and end it (if you are me) thinking he must be protected at all costs and if anyone even looks at him wrong they must suffer, and that’s quite a change!

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Nam Ji Ah, Tale of the Nine Tailed - she is so funny and tough and smart and loving and amazing that I will totally buy that a literal demi-god will do anything and everything for her and love her for literal eternity.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Dad in Record of Youth - yes in a year with serial killers and supernatural demons, I picked a normal character from a mediocre drama. It’s his everyday awfulness to his family that hits so hard and I am sad he never got his comeuppance.

FAVORITE SHIP

Ji Ah x Yeon - a fearless reporter and an immortal demi-god who’s been hoping for his human beloved to reincarnate. A really rare set-up where the OTP is equally ride or die, so compatible and completely BAMF. I got why he waited for her for that long and then fell in love with her all over again. Perfection.

Runner up: Flower of Evil - he is so messed up he literally does not believe he is capable of love or empathy, but he falls in love with her anyway and so utterly she permeates his entire life. She is tough as nails and only believes what she sees and is the sole person who believes in him against the world. She loves him but he needs her. She needs him but he loves her. They are amazing.

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Seo Dan x Gu Seung Jun, Crash Landing on You, North Korean x Conman were so good I shipped them harder than the main OTP and the end of that storyline pissed me off so much I dumped the drama and didn’t finish it for months (and it’s still dead to me.)

NOTP

Record of Youth - it started out and they didn’t have much chemistry but the dialogues were interesting and I thought the chemistry would grow. It didn’t and deteriorated, their dialogues became boring and relationship had zero development (about as much as the supposed female lead.) I think we were supposed to feel bad they broke up and they were going for a bittersweet open ending, instead I found myself happy about the break up of two incompatible, chemistry-less people and hoping for the love of God they never get back together.

FAVORITE SCENE

Yeon and the bridge of knives, Tale of the Nine Tailed - Yeon choosing to undergo the creeptastic bridge of knives for a chance to save Ji Ah, who at that point he is not aware is the reincarnation of his Joseon love because, as he says, he doesn’t care if she is or isn’t, it just would be more horrible to have her die than to undergo the horrific torture he is undergoing, and then the sequence with his catching her, her weeping over him and the fact that she is the original Joseon girl revealed and all the bandaging and his watching her sleep and all that loveliness, is everything for yours truly.

Runner up: Hyun Soo having that break-down at the cliff at the end of ep 15 of Flower of Evil as Ji Won desperately tries to convince him she is alive and he finally stumbles to her.

Runner runner up (it’s my list, I will do what I want): Do Won preparing to blow his brains out to give a chance to Seo Kyung to live in Train.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Seon-Gyeom, Run On. Yeah, I know. Im Siwan is tiny, delicate featured and has a runner’s build, none of which are things that normally appeal to me. But his character is so odd, so honest, so unflinching in pursuing what he thinks is right, so incapable of self-pity despite plenty of reasons for it, and so ridiculously attractive when he smiles, I don’t even care.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Kim Bum, TotNT - I started out being annoyed by him and ended up looking forward to his scenes and being distraught by his ending.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

Honestly, none. I was fine with all the endings. I wouldn’t mind seeing post-end life of Tale of the Nine Tailed characters or the OTP settling into their literal new world in Train, but I am good.

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Time jump that solves all the problems off screen or alternatively years pass and everyone is frozen - something that kdramas need to learn and need to learn badly. See Record of Youth, Brahms and Start Up.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Men who are ride or die for their OTP - this was a great year for this - the male leads of four of my five dramas were beyond anything on that scale (only exception is Run On because it’s still too early to tell there.) Yes PLEASE.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

This was a banner year for that what with Start Up, Do You Like Brahms, Record of Youth, and Private Lives all starting out well and nosediving off the cliff but winner is Crash Landing on You. I loved it so much for bulk of its run but the last episode pissed me off so much I deleted all my files and called it a day.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

Flower of Evil - I had no expectations of this drama and wasn’t even planning on watching it despite liking both the lead actors because yet another “look at evil serial killer be evil” drama with no romance was not my thing. Luckily someone convinced me there might be some romance and I peeked curiously. Honestly, their promo campaign was the most misleading and dumbest thing ever.

Runner up Psycho but it’s OK - I have never liked Kim Soo Hyun in anything before and the drama premise seemed WTF but it was shockingly good and KSH totally blew me away.

Hardest Working Lead

Yoon Shi Yoon - he starred in two (!!!) dramas in 2020 playing three characters and not only were both these dramas awesome in a lackluster year, but if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew it was the same actor and the fact that the characters shared a face, I would have never believed that they were played by the same actor. So good!

2020 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

None. Covid Year gave me PLENTY of time

BEST NON-2020 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2020

My Beautiful Bride and Deserving of the Name - I was obsessed with both of them and honestly, they were much better than the bulk of 2020 kdramas I watched.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2021

The Moon That Rises in the Day, Hong Chun Gi, Joseon Exorcist, Island,  Frightening Cohabitation, Snowdrop.