Bells or Buzzers - 2023 Drama Reflections

[themarchioness]

Topic 4: Your favorite relationship in a drama.

 

That's a hard one given how many dramas I loved this past year, but since I recently completed Wonderland of Love, I'll highlight the main couple from that drama.  I really loved their characters - strong, smart, independent, and with vision - and how they worked so well together.  I also thought Xu Kai and Jing Tian had amazing chemistry.  It made for a really fun, exhilarating watch!

 

For a non-romantic relationship, I thought I'd highlight the sisters from The Starry Love.  Twins and princesses, the female lead is the younger one who was born under an inauspicious sign and kept hidden and under a lock and key as a result.  She's the "devil" twin.  The second female lead is the older twin who was raised with gentleness and light, and got to enjoy all the benefits that come from being a member of the royal family.  She's the "angel" twin.  Despite the differences in the way they were treated and raised, what stood out to me was how close they still were anyway.  It would have been easy for one twin to feel jealous and resentful, while the other one spoiled and presumptuous, but that wasn't the case.  The older twin felt bad for her younger sister, and the younger twin appreciated the efforts that her sister went through to help her out at times, so they were super close and ultimately, their fates remained intertwined to the end.  

 

Topic 5: What drama did not meet expectations?

 

Hands down Only for Love... as a fan of the book, I was really looking forward to a drama bringing it to life.  In the book, the female lead was a quirky combination of professional, capable of work and a bit of a klutz and cuckoo when it came to her personal life, and I thought Bai Lu was the perfect casting choice for that role.  If there was anyone who could pull off both sides of that character, I felt strongly it could be her.  But in the end, I don't know why, but the drama just fell really flat in that regard.  The book is funny, but the drama... just made it all feel random.  The perfect example of that is the scene where the FL "looks" for the ML in the armrest of the car.  The drama leaves out the thoughts that lead up to that moment and all the thoughts that follow after she realizes the ML has caught her in the end, and in the end, it was just weird.  One of my friends who hasn't read the book told me she didn't understand the point of that scene and it was "random," but it's actually my favorite scene from the book!!  

 

The drama was also dragged down by all the filler stuff with the extra couples and business matters, whereas the book is more straightforward and focused primarily on the main couple.  

 

As for the ML and its casting of Dylan Wang... I have to say, the minute that decision was announced I didn't like it.  I didn't think he had the gravitas to pull of the role, and in the end, that's the only part of this drama that lived up to expectations (unfortunately).  Dylan looked like he was playing dress-up in his CEO role and the voice... well, as others have mentioned, he really should've been dubbed.  Oh well.  

 

For another drama that didn't live up to expectations, I wasn't going to mention it, but then I saw @SilverMoonTea bring it up and so I felt compelled to weigh in.  She's absolutely right!  South Wind Knows My Mood wasn't just bad, it was super bad.  And I totally watched it to its end just so I would feel qualified to say that, and because apparently I can't look away from train wrecks of dramas.  LOL.  Like @SilverMoonTea said, the ML gets sick/injured a countless number of times and it was mostly for the sake of layering drama upon drama, and I hate when scripts do that.  As an example of what I'm talking about, there's a scene where both are in Germany and the FL gets assaulted one afternoon.  Because she defends herself by whacking a beer bottle over the assaulter, she's the one who ends up in jail.  When she points out to the policeman that she was the one who was assaulted, the policeman tells her that the other guy shared a different story and because he looked worse off, they were going with his story.  He then told her that if she wanted to prove her innocence, she'd have to come up with her own evidence and she was like, "But how am I supposed to do that when you've locked me up in prison?"  I have to say, I have a lot of problems with the way the criminal justice system was portrayed in Germany... it's so lacking in logic.  At the very least, the police would've locked them both up and they definitely would've done their own investigation!  But the scriptwriters seemed to presume its viewers would all be stupid and decided to write their story this way, and it was all for the purpose of getting the male lead involved.  

 

Specifically, it was his housekeeper who learned of the female lead being locked up in prison and so she went to the male lead to tell him about that and suggest that they help the female lead.  The male lead only responded with an, "Okay," and sent the housekeeper away and pretended that he didn't care (because at the time, he'd been trying to push the female lead away due to his illness and the fact that he was stuck in a wheelchair and couldn't use his legs).  But not even a minute after the housekeeper left his office, he rolled his wheelchair into action and made it to the stairwell until he realized he'd have to go it alone since no one else was around and of course, ended up tumbling down the stairwell as a result.  Which... again, so stupid!  Why'd he send the housekeeper away if he was going to help the female lead?  Or why not at least call her back?  Instead, the scriptwriters must've felt that if they wrote the script this way, we would feel his sincerity as well as the depths of his real devotion to the female lead.  Unfortunately, it just left me feeling like the entire drama was a pile of nonsense!  

 

Okay, rant over, LOL.

 

Topic 6: Who was the best Appa and/or Omma?

 

I scoured my list of dramas watched in 2023 and it was pretty slim pickings.  If pressed, I would have to say the twins' dad in The Starry Love.  In the beginning, I hated him because I found him cruel and heartless the way he'd raised the female lead all because she'd been born under an unlucky star.  But it turned out that wasn't the case, that he's secretly been loving on her from afar, and it was a really emotional moment when the female lead learned how her father actually felt about her and he got to finally express how he felt about his daughter.  

 

In The Love that You Give Me, the main characters were the parents, and they were pretty great ones at that.

 

And if we're talking about important adult figures generally, the male lead's granny in Meet Yourself can't be overlooked.  She is the sweetest and has the best relationships with her two grandsons and the female lead.  She's the granny we would all love to have!  

[Tofu]

19 minutes ago, themarchioness said:

I thought I'd highlight the sisters from The Starry Love. 

I really liked their relationship. The only reason why I didn't put them on my list is because I'm still pretty bitter about the ending. Couldn't they at least show us the sisters one last time?! 

 

 

[themarchioness]

40 minutes ago, Tofu said:

I really liked their relationship. The only reason why I didn't put them on my list is because I'm still pretty bitter about the ending. Couldn't they at least show us the sisters one last time?! 

 

 

 

I hear ya!  Sigh... and this is why I normally stay away from xianxias because the likelihood of these kinds of ending is all too high.  

[stroppyse]

Topic 7

 

Moving on from the Omma and Appa to the whole family, biological or makeshift. Because blood is not the only thing that makes a family.

 

[OsmanthusTea]

 

Legend of AnLe

Such a waste of pretty people and chemistry. They managed to get 2 hottest stars in CEnt but they ruined it with such a cheap production and crappy script.

 

South Wind Knows My Mood

@SilverMoonTea and @themarchioness said it best. I dropped it like a hot potatoes.

 

 

 

 

A Journey To Love

The troop of macho assassins/spies/soldiers of The Wu State The Six Realms can't be more gossipy and petty than a coven of desperate housewives.....

 

My Journey To You

The Gong Bros and Sis are just awesome, throw in the Bros from the back hill they are perfect.

[mademoiselle]

Q7: What drama had the best family/squad?

 

I don't think I've any other answers but Castaway Diva.

 

P.S. Will @Tofu answer both Castaway Diva and Twinkling Watermelon? 😆

[JenL]

On 12/8/2023 at 9:28 AM, mademoiselle said:

@abs-oluteM @JenL I actually liked Where Star Land when it was airing. And to clarify, it wasn't because of Rowoon (he didn't get adopted here). Yes, people dropped the drama because they were annoyed with Chae Soo Bin's character. They were too quick to judge. They didn't want to give her character a chance to grow! And it was only a couple of episodes at the start, too! She was totally fine and awesome after that. It was the same with A Piece of Your Mind. If I hadn't endured 6 episodes of bloody Jisoo, I'd not have seen the good parts of Chae Soo Bin and Jung Hae In's relationship.

 

Yeah I totally agree. I liked the drama and thought that Chae Soon Bin's character was really only annoying in th first few episodes. It wasn't like it was half the series or anything like that. Anyway she developed quite a bit. But I guess some people just drop dramas really quickly  I tend to stick it out unless I really don't like it (The only drama that I dropped in recent years like hotcakes was More Than Friends)

 

On 12/8/2023 at 10:19 AM, SilverMoonTea said:

 

I'll be preparing  to watch with. But hope you guys sorted it out on 12 episodes, I can't do 40 eps 

 

Hahahaha, 12 episode dramas are the only way to go. If it's longer than 12 episodes of me and @Tofu fighting in a love triangle, then I'll just let Tofu have the guy and I'll turn into the sad mopey second lead 

 

 

13 hours ago, Tofu said:

Hahahaha! I would just give in because I avoid anything that's stressful. 

 

Nah, I feel like you and I like so many Oppas that we'd probably end up liking a whole bunch of the same guys and would end up with one each. No love triangle needed! 

[JenL]

Now to answer some questions: 

 

Q4: Which Kdramas did not meet expectations?

 

I don't think it was a particularly great drama year for me, so there might be...a few. A lot of these are not 100% terrible, however, that might be worse because they should have leaned into the strengths instead of created the outlined weaknesses.

 

Taxi Driver 2 / Deluxe Taxi 2 - Not going to lie, I was soooo disappointed in the second series. In the first season, the personal revange stories of the taxi crew and the episodic stories of the victims were amazing . The comedy was also on point and the cat and mouse storyline with Esom's character was all woven together nicely. However with the second series, there was something missing. It felt like a lot of the episodic stories were overly dramatic/ less belivable? I cant quite pinpoint it, but I didn't feel as deeply drawn to all the victim's stories. The comedy was overly slapticky and wasn't as sharp or witty as the first season and the lack of balance (ie. overdoing the goofy scenes) took away from the cool-vigilente-justice persona of Kim Do Ki. Without the personal need for revenge or being chased by the police, the series lost it's edge and didn't have as much momentum or excitement especially as @mademoiselle pointed out, it was really obvious who the bad guy was and there was no big plot twist otherwise. Was the series terrible annd unwatchable? No, but because the first series was amazing, this paled very badly in comparison.

 

Black Knight - I love sci fi/ dystopian dramas and this series had so much promise as a more unique environmental dystopian series. But it didn't really do much in the end. The story was overly straightward and then it ended. Perhaps it's because there was only 6 episodes. But I found it to be really lacklustre with an obvious bad guy, which is a shame because they had built up this cool world with lots of interesting characters. Also I believe Esom had given up doing Taxi Driver 2 to do this drama and it turned out to be just as so-so as the other 

 

Heartbeat - I really, really liked the couple in this, so it's not all bad. I'll remember it for the things I loved about it. And it started out with a lot of promise for me.. I mean, it had so many interesting elements and made use of a lot of vampire folklore . It'd also been while since there was a vampire Kdrama. However, the storyline became more and more lacklustre as the series continued. There was wayyy too much focus on the second leads (several episodes). And instead of trying to find a solution to the issues raiised, the main characters (well, really the Kdrama wirter) just gave up. Tragically, it ended up with the worst kind of ending (ie. an ending to rival Dodosolsollalasol and Monthly Magazine Home which had 2 of the worst Kdrama endings I've seen in every way). 

 

A Time Called You - I'm not sure if this should be on the list because I had very little expectations for this drama to begin with, given it was a remake of a Taiwanese drama that was not only well loved across Asia, but also had won multiple awards. Having seen and loved the source drama, it was disappointing to see them re-create the same story without the heart and playfulness of the original characters. It was very aesthetiic and pretty for sure. The actors did also try, given how much pressure was on them. It also followed the main story closely in a lot of ways, but it was rather mechanical and didn't quite capture the chemistry, the deep love and pain of the main characters nor did it capture the nostalgia for the era of the late 90's.

 

Destined with You (Sorry @mademoiselle) - Again, I really really liked some elements of this drama - This was one of the best performances I've seen of Rowoon, proving hiis ability in both tsundere and comedic roles. He also looked mighty, mighty fine in a suit all day  I just didn't think the storytelling was utilised to the best of it's ability. There was a lot of unneccessary focus on the  Rowoon's mum & dad & friend stoyline and Boss' romances which was neither funny nor thought provoking = they were all pretty cringe. The bad guy's storyline kind of dragged on for too long. I also didn't think the past lives storyline was woven in very eloquently. It's like sometimes, all of a sudden, they would dream about or remember their past lives for no good reason. Where is the cause end effect??? I do like how they seemed to explore the ambigiousness of whether magic/shamanism actually works. But it would have been nice if they had summarised that point a bit (without doing so, I felt like it caused a lot of confusion. But maybe they wanted people to think about it their own). All in all, I just wish they'd made the overall story better 

 

Hahah this is a long answer, but I just needed to get this off my chest. Thanks @stroppyse for asking this cathartic question.

 

Q5: Who was the best Appa/ Omma?

 

Appa -THE STEPDAD from Cast Away Diva !!!  Honestly, who else would sacrifice their career and life and almost end up in jail for identity theft becauuse he was trying to protect his family (Even though it wasn't his own biological kids, he looked after them in such a caring ad gentle way). 

 

Omma - Hahaha, I didn't want to keep reverting back to Strong Woman Nam Soon, but I just loved the mother in that. She was just the most over the top character and super, super extra as a person. But she was also a doting mother. I mean given how cool and rich she was, If I was searching for my mother, I'd totally be happy if it turned out to be her 

 

Q6: Which drama had the best family/ squad?

 

I think I'll have to go with Castaway Diva - I loved seeing Chae Jong Hyeop and Park Eun Bin casually playing around with N. Everyone seemed super relaxed and laughed a lot which transalated to good on-screen family vibes. Even the scenes with the stalker dad in the behind the scenes was pretty funny.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by JenL

[Tofu]

@JenL I agreed that Destined With You was a bit patchy. I enjoyed it at first, got bored in the middle, and it picked up again towards the end. If a couple gets together too early, I start losing interest especially if there's no storyline to keep me invested. This is how I felt with DWY, but I persevered for @mademoiselle. 

 

10 hours ago, mademoiselle said:

P.S. Will @Tofu answer both Castaway Diva and Twinkling Watermelon? 😆

Hahahahahahaha!!! I'll pick only one from each country of dramas I watched. 

 

My favorite family/squad in dramaland this year are...

Castaway Family - This family's bond was rooted in the trauma they endured together. Kang Appa loved his boys unconditionally and did everything he could to protect his family. The boys saw him as their real father and the mom grew to love him. They weren't your picture perfect family, but I sure was envious of how much they loved each other. Since Mok Ha didn't want Woo Hak, I think I know many people who would volunteer was tribute to marry him, so they can be part of the family too. Haha! 

To the Moon and Back - It's been a long time since I've finished a Thai lakorn, but I was happy this was the one I watched this year. Mata's (FL) family was the funniest and most supportive in Thai dramaland I've seen in a while. Mata was raised by a transgender father, who operated a drag show entertainment business. Her family were the people who worked as drag queens at the business. They are loud and obnoxious, but loved her so much. It sent a message that families does not need to be your traditional mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc. Chosen families are also family. The male lead's family was your typical toxic family in a Thai lakorn, so this contrast was refreshing. 

A Journey to Love - I just love everything about this squad. They are top tier! 

 

[liddi]

Q7 - What drama has the best family / squad?

 

It's the time for all the "Journey"s to shine!

 

A Journey to Love - the squad from Six Path Hall are hilarious, loyal to the hilt, extremely innovative, the best wingmen ever.

My Journey to You - apart from Gong Shang Jue and Gong Yuan Zhi, the Gong men certainly did not start off with much of a united front, but the familial ties that were revealed and the loyalty and fealty that was earned over the course of the drama is definitely the highlight for me.

 

Hononary mention:

Revenant - I am not sure if the trio can be considered a squad, but the moving bond and trust that grew from three lonely souls is worth the price of admission alone.

[gilaswan]

Not to expectations?

 

King the Land for me. It ended up being a tourism video for Thailand. 😅

 

Best family?

 

Castaway adopted family for sure. 

 

But I did like my deafie family too. They did their very best for each other, rich or poor. 

[stroppyse]

Topic 8

 

"Regrets, I've had a few..."

 

 

 

[gilaswan]

1 hour ago, stroppyse said:

Topic 8

 

Moving to the more personal. A relationship, romantic or not, that made you take note and fall in love with the characters, and possibly even the actors depicting the characters.

 

DWY. Shinyu and Hongjo. Not that I had not taken note of Rowoon before, but this pairing made me really notice Rowoon. 

[mademoiselle]

Hi @stroppyse, topic 8 is repeated. It was topic 4.

25 minutes ago, gilaswan said:

DWY. Shinyu and Hongjo. Not that I had not taken note of Rowoon before, but this pairing made me really notice Rowoon. 

I miss Octopus couple. I'm starting to really like the Demon couple, too.

[SilverMoonTea]

4 hours ago, stroppyse said:

Topic 8

 

Moving to the more personal. A relationship, romantic or not, that made you take note and fall in love with the characters, and possibly even the actors depicting the characters.

 

All romantic one because I'm romantic person at heart 😂

 

My Man is A Cupid

The ML met pretty veterinarian who's been single her whole life because of some curse. He took a pity on her, become interested on her and even jealous on her other suitors. Yet he still haven't realized and downplayed his own feeling. JDY played this role so well, normally I never really into him. Again, everyone go and watch this drama! 

 

Tell Me That You Love Me

This is a pairing of disabled man (deaf & I think mute as well - edit : he's not comfortable to talk) with a struggling actress wannabe. Despite his disability they able to communicate by heart and finding a way to bridge the gap. I think in a modern world where by people never really listening to each other properly, this drama felt like a fresh breath for me. The pace is a little slow though. 

[Tofu]

Sorry! The repeat question is my fault because I changed it up a bit on stroppyse last minute.

 

Here's the question for number 8:

 

[SilverMoonTea]

4 hours ago, Tofu said:

Sorry! The repeat question is my fault because I changed it up a bit on stroppyse last minute.

 

Here's the question for number 8:

 

I think I don't have any that I feel so strongly against. Maybe I should have cut shorter Real Has Come, as family drama is so draggy and the time can be allocated for me to do other stuff haha... A lot of drama like Kokdu or Heavenly Idol also kinda wasting my time with their strange plot & storyline.

 

KTL trigger - don't read if you love the drama.

Spoiler

And actually I quite dislike King The Land, but I can't be considered watching it too as I stopped at episode 3 😅 I found the FL not funny, especially the episode where she tried to spoke multiple languages (idk felt like a big showoff) and where she poops at her boss office 😅. I tried to stay after all that, but then she dropped the food in bus and screaming at it, didn't help. And by ep 3 he already all over her, like why? 

 

[mademoiselle]

13 hours ago, Tofu said:

Sorry! The repeat question is my fault because I changed it up a bit on stroppyse last minute.

 

Here's the question for number 8:

 

 

I'm with @SilverMoonTea on this one, another vote to King The Land. Same reasons as previously mentioned. I watched more episodes than Tea did, and each time, I kept brainwashing myself that it will get better. It did not. Male lead character was all talk, no action, or the actions happened behind the scenes. I think I dropped it after they went to promote Thailand, but "watch it" through other Havenites' updates. I honestly want to interview the actors and ask them if they thought this is a good script (don't tell me it has high ratings so it does not matter). That does not justify a "good" project.

[Tofu]

A Drama I Wished I Didn't Watch

My Lovely Liar - Not sure what happened but after a few episodes, it just seemed like the drama was not going anywhere. 

 

 

[abs-oluteM]

10 hours ago, mademoiselle said:

 

I'm with @SilverMoonTea on this one, another vote to King The Land. Same reasons as previously mentioned. I watched more episodes than Tea did, and each time, I kept brainwashing myself that it will get better. It did not. Male lead character was all talk, no action, or the actions happened behind the scenes. I think I dropped it after they went to promote Thailand, but "watch it" through other Havenites' updates. I honestly want to interview the actors and ask them if they thought this is a good script (don't tell me it has high ratings so it does not matter). That does not justify a "good" project.

Yes. I made sure I recapped this cuz I know that’s what everyone was doing 🤣🤣🤣. But the lines here were  so flat & the chemistry though decent , wasn’t like so hot for me .

I missed a number of questions as I’m on vacation. But I must say the drama that I was most disappointed with ( because I had very high expectations given how much I love both leads was rom com starring Jang Seung Jo & Kang Sora. It was JSJ’s first time leading a rom com & KSR’s comeback drama after giving birth. The leads had great chemistry but the plot progression was so darn frustrating. It was supposed to be a story of second chances for these exes but at the end things were so complicated , I couldn’t even root for them 😪

[Tofu]

@abs-oluteM I forgot that drama even aired this year. 

[mademoiselle]

3 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

Yes. I made sure I recapped this cuz I know that’s what everyone was doing 🤣🤣🤣. But the lines here were  so flat & the chemistry though decent , wasn’t like so hot for me .

I missed a number of questions as I’m on vacation. But I must say the drama that I was most disappointed with ( because I had very high expectations given how much I love both leads was rom com starring Jang Seung Jo & Kang Sora. It was JSJ’s first time leading a rom com & KSR’s comeback drama after giving birth. The leads had great chemistry but the plot progression was so darn frustrating. It was supposed to be a story of second chances for these exes but at the end things were so complicated , I couldn’t even root for them 😪

Hmm good one, maybe I should add The Perfect Strangers too. I thought Heavenly Idol is also another not worthy of time drama, though, it might be acceptable if the watchers felt "powered by Oppa".

[stroppyse]

Topic 9

 

Ugh. The heartbreak of this category!

 

 

Bizarrely enough, my pick for this category for this year was Strong Girl Nam Soon. The evil guy was the evil guy and NS ended up with the right relationship. However, everyone deserves to have someone to love and who loves them back without being betrayed, and it seemed as if everyone in Ryu Shi-oh's life had betrayed him. Kudos to Byun Woo Seok for playing RSO in such a charismatic way, even if RSO is also a psychopath, that I actually had moments where I wished that NS could really be with RSO and turn him from his path of evil destruction.

 

Also, my apologies for the original repeat of topic 8. I posted without really having the time to read it properly or even realize that it was a duplicate. Sorry!

[Tofu]

@stroppyse I dropped Nam Soon, but even so, I really wished for Byun Woo Seok to have a better ending. I have a soft spot for him ever since 20th Century Girl. Plus, he was handsome as the villain in Nam Soon, right? 

 

I don't think I shipped any doomed relationships this year. I've had quite a few SLS in the past, but I don't know if there was any I felt strongly about this year.

 

If I had to pick one, maybe The Starry Love. I don't even know if this one counts (LOL!) because the relationship I loved the most was between La Mu and Ye Tan (FL). La Mu is a shard that was reincarnated from Shao Dian You Qi (ML), so technically La Mu is the male lead. 

 

[SilverMoonTea]

On 12/14/2023 at 2:53 AM, abs-oluteM said:

most disappointed with ( because I had very high expectations given how much I love both leads was rom com starring Jang Seung Jo & Kang Sora. It was JSJ’s first time leading a rom com & KSR’s comeback drama after giving birth. The leads had great chemistry but the plot progression was so darn frustrating. It was supposed to be a story of second chances for these exes but at the end things were so complicated , I couldn’t even root for them 😪

What was the ending? I couldn't bother with it. Wasting their hot & sizzling chemistry. 

 

6 hours ago, stroppyse said:

Topic 9

 

Ugh. The heartbreak of this category!

 

 

 

Woo Hak and Mok Ha from Castaway Diva. They showed us so much potential started with friendship. It make me a little hopeful. But I think I was not even that mad too because perhaps I'm also not super invested to the drama. It was nice for probably like first 4 episodes only. 

 

Did I not embark on a lot of doomed love this year ?  It's a bit surprising.