Bells or Buzzers - 2023 Drama Reflections

[themarchioness]

Topic 7: What drama had the best family/squad?

 

Urgh... so many!  LOL.  I really liked the squad of firemen in Fireworks of My Heart (and if y'all are going to ask a question about best bromance, I'll go ahead now and award that to Yang Yang and Zhang Bin Bin).  There was such comradery and brotherhood, you could really tell how these men were each other's family as they lived and worked away from their own.  I also felt a lot of appreciation towards the ML's aunt/uncle/cousin in Fireworks of My Heart, as they provided love and support for him and the FL, who otherwise had crappy nuclear families.

 

I also really loved the group of friends in When I Fly Towards You and the entire village (especially the courtyard where the FL resided) in Meet Yourself - although most of the families in both those dramas were pretty great too (here's looking at you Zhang Lu Rang's parents... learn from the others!).  

 

Topic 8: A drama you wished you didn't watch

 

I hope I don't offend anyone by naming Forbidden Flower, but nope!  That was nonsensical drivel.  It should've been named Ode to Jerry Yan instead.  I also didn't love South Wind Knows My Mood (see reasons above) or Hidden Love (sorry, I know I am offending some with that one...) but at least the latter two, I was able to watch through to the end.  I had to do quite a bit of fast forwarding to get through Forbidden Flower, and it wasn't even that long of a drama to begin with!

 

Topic 9: A doomed romance that you were shipping anyway

 

Of the 2023 dramas that I watched, I really can't think of any!  So I'll cheat and name A Little Mood for Love, which is a 2021 drama that I watched in 2023 because of my newfound admiration for Zhou Yi Ran (as previously mentioned ;)).  In this drama, the FL had a younger sister who was smart, kind, an absolutely lovely person... but with absolutely horrible taste in men!  At the beginning of the drama, she divorced her husband who was a Momma's boy and a total slug - I'm not sure he even had a proper job, so good riddance to him.  But then she allowed herself to be swept away by this younger guy who she found charming and attentive, but was really a walking red flag of obsessive and mean.  Through all this, she had by her side her best friend from life who'd she known since college (and who was also the ML's best friend/coworker)... except she had no interest in him.  Which was heartbreaking because he was SUCH a good guy and had been pining after her since college already.  I'm still hoping given the way the drama ended their story line that maybe one day, once the sister has moved past her current heartbreak, she'll wake up to finally see the great guy she's always had standing before her and give him a chance.  They would be really cute and sweet, and that's the ending I imagine for them.  

[mademoiselle]

 

Daily Dose of Sunshine - Park Bo Young & Jang Dong Yoon. This is a mild one. I wasn't very invested, but I thought they were actually really matching, and the interactions were great. Old friends turn lovers, I would be convinced if they were to go down that route.

 

Moon in the Day - Kim Young Dae & Pyeon Ye Jin. Judging by the ending, do they qualify @Tofu?

 

Strong Girl Nam Soon - Byeon Woo Seok & Lee Yoo Mi. I'm not sure if I really ship this romance since I didn't watch the drama, but Byeon Woo Seok is so suave and handsome in there and from some cuts I saw, I really did want him to be with FL and hope that being with her would help him become a good person. And, of course, I was a lil' sad he killed himself.

 

Castaway Diva - Park Eun Bin & Cha Hak Yeon. I like Woo Hak and did wish we could clone Mok Ha for him.

Edited December 15, 2023 by mademoiselle

[Tofu]

9 hours ago, mademoiselle said:

Moon in the Day - Kim Young Dae & Pyeon Ye Jin. Judging by the ending, do they qualify @Tofu?

Hahaha, I think they do! The little crumbs they left us at the end was nice, but the emphasis on the age gap. 

 

[abs-oluteM]

18 hours ago, SilverMoonTea said:

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

They 

Spoiler

ended separating again. Really waste my time 😵😵

Doomed romance- same like @SilverMoonTea @mademoiselle …funny & adorable Woo Hak with MokHa In Castaway Diva. I wished that WH had another love line 😅

[Tofu]

@SilverMoonTea In Fireworks of My Heart, didn't you ship the doomed relationship there too? Haha! 

[SilverMoonTea]

3 hours ago, Tofu said:

@SilverMoonTea In Fireworks of My Heart, didn't you ship the doomed relationship there too? Haha! 

Haha I didn't watched it. Just thought from clips they look nicer.

[liddi]

Oh I've missed two questions!

 

8. A drama you wished you didn't watch

Hmm... I haven't watched anything that made me want to poke my eyes out yet. I didn't love LMLMV as much as I expected, but I do plan to revisit it when the scenes I am waiting for do show up, so that doesn't count. So I guess my inability to answer probably is a good thing.....

 

9. A doomed romance that you were shipping anyway

This is a tricky question... because the drama with the couple I love most has not finished airing yet.

Setting them aside, I guess I have no viable answers for this question either. The bane of watching only a handful of dramas this year. Gah.

[rocher22]

Hi Guys...

Even though Im a bit late to the party...   

 

 

I like the Topic Banners... 

 

 

Topic 1 :  What drama brought you  joy this year

 

 

I Am Nobody

The drama was so hilarious and the characters are so unique...

 

 

 

 

Unchained Love

 

The main couple was smart and there was no room for endless misunderstandings...  

 

ctto

 

 

 

Provoke

 

[rocher22]

Topic 2. A drama you watched without any recommendations

 

Ripe Town

 

It is a really good crime drama...I liked the whole cast.

 

 

 

 

Topic 3 : A drama you wished you watched sooner

 

Definitely, The Untamed...   

 

 

 

 

 

Silent...My fav Japanese drama... 

 

 

[Tofu]

4 hours ago, rocher22 said:

Silent...My fav Japanese drama

I loved Silent! It was one of my favorite 2022 dramas. 

 

 

[stroppyse]

Topic 10

 

You watch enough k-dramas or c-dramas or j-doramas, etc., you start noticing various tropes, like the ML grabbing the FL by her wrist to drag her around or fauxcest or the ML being totally mean to the FL before he falls in love with her, etc., etc., etc.  Which trope are you tired of and want to ban from all future dramas? 

 

 

[rocher22]

Topic 4 : Your favorite relationship in a drama

 

 

Ripe Town - the friendship between Mr. Zhong and the boy, Lu Zhi, although I was  completely

stunned  because of that plot twist in their relationship...

 

 

 

 

Enigma, thai drama - I loved all the scenes between the main leads...

 

 

 

7 Escape - my fav bromance...  Do Hyuk (Lee Joon's character) and the gangster 

 

 

I watched the drama because of Lee Joon...that was so makjang... 

 

 

[rocher22]

Topic 5 : What drama did not meet expectation.

 

My Lovely Liar,  Bloodhounds, Duty After School..

Sunshine By My Side..... I liked the chemistry between Xiao Zhan and the actress but there weren't

enough  romantic scenes between them. 

 

 

 

 

Topic 6 : Who is the Best Appa and/or Omma

 

Im not sure....

 

 

The parents from Sunshine By My Side

 

 

 

 

The FL's parents from The Youth Memories and the main leads as the parents... 

 

 

 

[SilverMoonTea]

6 hours ago, stroppyse said:

Topic 10

 

You watch enough k-dramas or c-dramas or j-doramas, etc., you start noticing various tropes, like the ML grabbing the FL by her wrist to drag her around or fauxcest or the ML being totally mean to the FL before he falls in love with her, etc., etc., etc.  Which trope are you tired of and want to ban from all future dramas? 

 

 

Maybe not to be ban, but every drama is having past lives trope right now and it's getting a bit tiring. 

 

And I'm also not so into sickness being brought up into the plot, I'm watching drama to get relax and this theme kinda stressed me out? Eventhough everyone was saying I like pale and sickly ML 😂

 

 

[themarchioness]

13 hours ago, SilverMoonTea said:

Eventhough everyone was saying I like pale and sickly ML

 

And I bet South Wind Knows took care of that soon enough!  Right??  Haha. 

 

Topic 10: What is a trope that should be banned?

 

The one where it is belatedly revealed in a drama that the leads actually knew each other in childhood.  It was cute enough the first time couple of times that trope was used, but then it became like a "thing" and suddenly it was en vogue to have a story where towards the end, it would somewhere be revealed - Surprise!  You actually crossed paths much earlier than you thought.

 

I actually still don't mind this trope when it is central to the plot, but a lot of times, these days, you'll have a drama where the leads meet in their adult life, go through a perfectly fine story to get to the end of the drama, and so when that end "twist" is added, it just feels extraneous.  If it doesn't add anything to the story or their relationship, I think a drama is better off leaving it out.  It doesn't make it any cuter, meaningful, or whatnot.  If anything, it just joins a host of other dramas who've done the same.

 

Another thing that makes my eyes twitch in dramas, those second leads who cannot get it through their thick heads that the leads are just not that into them and then feel soooooo offended when the other lead is chosen over them.  This may not be a trope so much as a character type, but if possible, I would like to abolish these types of characters, lol!  I get it.  They're often serve a purpose to the storyline so we probably can't get rid of them all, but it is too painful listening to their whines and reasoning!!!  It always makes me want to shake the screen and try and reason with them.  For example, I hate the logic of, "But I've known him/her longer."   Well, so what?  Love isn't a first come, first served sort of thing!  If anything, it just serves as further proof that you weren't meant to be if you couldn't have made the other person yours in all that time you've had together already.  Similarly, the complaint, "But I love him/her!"  Again, so what?  Does that mean they have to love you back just because you have chosen to bestow your favors upon them?  No!  Love doesn't work like that.  I want to tell these types of characters: Stop being childish, have more dignity and self-love!  The only thing you're doing is making yourself look ridiculous!  

[mademoiselle]

 

1. Makjang

2. Toxic triangle love

3. Crazy melodramatic/exaggerated acting/screaming/yelling like Penthouse and The Last Empress

 

I want to know what's yours, @Tofu

[SilverMoonTea]

2 hours ago, themarchioness said:

Love isn't a first come, first served sort of thing!  If anything, it just serves as further proof that you weren't meant to be if you couldn't have made the other person yours in all that time you've had together already.  Similarly, the complaint, "But I love him/her!"  Again, so what?  Does that mean they have to love you back just because you have chosen to bestow your favors upon them?  No!  Love doesn't work like that.  

Omg I love those quotes you mentioned highlighted in green. I worked whereby FIFO concept applied almost all the time 😂, unless the customer is first priority. So it's a great reminder that love doesn't work that way. 

[rocher22]

Topic 7...   What drama had the best family/squad

 

The ML and his bodyguards from Story of Kunning Palace...

 

 

 

The Moses Squad from Sunshine By my Side

 

 

 

 

Topic 8    A drama you wished you didnt watch 

 

The Longest Promise...it was a great drama but the ending was sad... 

 

 

 

[abs-oluteM]

Worst trope to ban - love triangle cuz I hate having SLS . I usually root for the ML, but of late I don’t know what’s happening to me 🤣🤣🤣. Did get @SilverMoonTea’s syndrome? 

 

 

[rocher22]

Topic 9   A doomed romance that you were shipping anyway

 

7Escape

Do Hyuk (Lee Joon's character) and Dami ...

 

 

 

 

Oasis, I liked the chemistry between the FL and the SL....

 

 

 

 

 

Topic 10    What is a trope that should be banned

 

Stupid love triangle.

 

The only drama I've seen where the love triangle is not annoying is KBS special drama Behind The Shadows

 

The girl was a true friend.

 

 

 

******

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by rocher22

[Tofu]

@mademoiselle I think everyone has already said it ----

 

Love triangles especially toxic ones should be banned. Only in dramaland will you find two people who spontaneously start liking the same person at the same time. Or a person who has liked someone for a long time, has never told them about it, and suddenly want to start opening up now that someone else has said they liked that person. 

 

[stroppyse]

Topic 11

 

The one you love to hate, whether it's the scheming ex or the one who wants to rule the world regardless of who gets hurt! However, can we all agree that without a good villain, most dramas would just be a nice, boring story?

 

[mademoiselle]

Who was the best villain?

 

1. Bloodhounds - Park Sung Woong

2. The Good Bad Mother - Ra Mi Ran

 

Park Sung Woong's villain in Bloodhounds is the typical villains in shows where he's cruel and kills etc. What makes him the best out of the lot this year is his portrayal of his character done very well. Super evil and cruel, down to even killing a pregnant woman.

 

And then there's Ra Mi Ran. We always have a parent that plays good cop, bad cop in the family, right? Omma is that bad cop/villain. She is a single parent who had to run the pigs farm on her own and take care of her son. Her tough love was so tough that it's considered abuse, but unlike the abusive father from Castaway Diva, she did it out of love (Asian style) and desperation.

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by mademoiselle

[liddi]

Acks - late again.

 

Q10. What is a trope that should be banned?

Just one? So hard pressed to choose! Apart from the usual suspects of scheming side characters trying to tear apart the OTP and amnesiac lead characters strung around by previously mentioned scheming side characters, another trope I am really tired of is the leads having some far-flung link back in their childhood, so that we can chalk their love up to fate, written in the stars since the beginning of time, or at least since their birth.

 

Q11. Who was the best villain?

Hmm... I won't quite describe it as "best". Although the diabolical, vengeful yet pitiful Hyang-I from Revenant is an obvious choice, I think for the terrible things she wrought across generations, the worst is still Na Byung-hee, who sacrificed her husband and her own son and grandson just to satisfy her insatiable lust for wealth and power. She may have been human, but she was anything but.

[rocher22]

 

The boy Lu Zhi from Ripe Town. 

Although he cant really be described as a villain because he just wanted to be free.

He was talented and kind boy but he was only a servant in the Lu household.

Since he didnt want to be a servant all his life, he and Mr. Zhong(another servant) came up with a plan

too kill the whole Lu family. 

That was a cruel and ingenious plan. Lu Zhi executed the plan perfectly.