Korean Drama Year End Review 2014

I have pondered to write year end review since last year but just didn’t know where to start from. I take notes from many year end reviews from blogs like dramabeans, Koala’s Playground and such and have read nearly every review on them. That should give me an idea how to do it right? I’m not even sure why I want to do it, but let’s just say I want to share my opinion and views about dramas I watched in 2014. Upon recounting each and every drama, I knew I didn’t watch as many drama as years before. I dropped so many shows even before halfway. On the other hand the show I watched mostly are my favorites. In my opinion overall this year has better and more watchable dramas than 2013, but the dropping percentage is also higher. Without further ado, here’s my year end review for each network in South Korea.
Fated To Love MBC

I suspect there’s staff-changing on MBC that they can turn the table in 2014 and reigns almost in every slot, especially Mon-Tue slot. For years, especially in 2013 (because I only pay attention to dramaland since 2012) MBC had been known as crappy network with crappy ratings. They fell behind SBS and even, in some cases, KBS. But that’s not the story in 2014 because not only they garner high ratings and top spots over their competitors, they also produce quite many good dramas that ended up as my favorites this year. As if this year I’m fated to love MBC.

Empress Ki

First and foremost is 51 episodes sageuk Empress Ki. That’s my first experience watching 50-ish eps drama, for about 6 months long from October last year till April this year. Why did I end up watching it? Quite obvious the reason is Ji Chang Wook, my favorite actor and one of the most amazing 20-something actors. He’s the ultimate reason I ended up watching Empress Ki and I don’t regret the fact he’s in the drama. He took the role as whiny illiterate emperor, Ta Hwan, and ends up making most female fans wanting to be in his harem. LOL. So okay, Empress Ki is the kind of sageuk which really isn’t atypical sageuk. The female lead Ki Seung Nyang, played by Ha Ji Won, has 2 men (and more) to choose, either Goryeo King Wang Yoo or Yuan Emperor Ta Hwan. And it seems every male character in the drama either a) loves her b) protects her c) obsesses to her to the point of wanting to kill her. That’s how awesome Seung Nyang is.

The drama never has any boring moment because the writers always have twist and turns at every episode. Not only that, the drama is also really pretty with gorgeous costumes, beautiful backdrop and awesome cinematography. You won’t meet this kind of drama anytime soon. The chemistry between the leads are also strong to the point it drives fanwar and creates 3rd ship TalNyang (TalTal-SeungNyang). I admit I’m Team TaNyang all the way but the drama creates unnecessary love triangle just to make other ship alive. I wish the drama could be bold and just develops the love line between Ta Hwan and Seung Nyang properly but didn’t relegate Wang Yoo entirely to secondary character. Instead, every week we’re given small portion of moments for WangNyang and TaNyang and even the main female character here, Seung Nyang is confusing as hell. The drama is also plagued with too many villains doing evil stuff until the end and too many political problems to care about. But that’s what makes this drama fascinating, especially for someone who likes history and politics like me. This drama is perfect for me to analyze it from every political perspective and phenomenon. I could analyze it in 101 ways how the drama could go wrong, but instead my heart totally love the drama entirely with all its flaws and all. It’s the drama that command my attention all year long and even now I still rewatching it whenever I feel like. Empress Ki reigns my heart this year and maybe for years to come.

Fated To Love You 

Another hella ridiculous drama. Just by reading the premise it’s really ridiculous, two strangers happen to be drunk and sleep together in one room. Cue unwanted pregnancy, rushed wedding and forced-to-unite family. This drama relies heavily on Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara chemistry who is reunited after 12 years from Succesful Story of Bright Girl. Their chemistry is fantastic and they own their role like a boss. Jang Hyuk is super awesome as Lee Gun, hilarious chaebol guy with hereditary disease. While Jang Nara totally owns Kim Mi Young, a character may described as meek or doormat but she makes us all rooting for her instead of showing frustration. Their romance develops cutely and the humor really sold me.

Another good point for me is the supporting and secondary characters. I ended up rooting for them, whether it’s Mi Young’s Mom (Best Mom Of The Year!), Daniel (sweetheart!), Secretary Tak, Lee Yong, Grandma and others. The drama gives attention and develops each and every character, so everyone has a purpose in this drama, not just decoration. Even for second leads Daniel and Sena, I really wish them to meet another good person in the future. Although the drama suffers heavily from noble idiocy acts and too many unnecessary problems in the second half, fortunately it doesn’t take my patience and enjoyment and in the end we’re rewarding with sweet ending. Given how many dramas end up badly, Fated To Love You delivers solid ending, with sweet, heartwarming moments about Lee Gun and his family. One of the best drama in 2014 for me.

A New Leaf
How to make Kim Myung Min ridiculously cute and funny? Make him an amnesiac lawyer and spend the rest of his life repenting (drama’s another name is Repentance) and turning over a new leaf. I never thought I would say 42 years old ahjussi is cute until Kim Myung Min comes and shows his funny face.

Asdfghjkl. Gosh, I wish I could bring him to my house. A New Leaf, when I remember it entirely is kind of boring drama for people who don’t understand law (especially Korean law) because it has so many legal terms. The legal terms here is not even about murder/homicide that we can see littered legal drama/movie but about economics since Kim Myung Min’s character, Kim Seok Joo is business/industrial lawyer. My years learning international economics and such only help me a little to understand what’s the deal between the bank, interest rate, businesses, hedge fund, etc. It does make me to pay attention to each and every character’s statement as it will be important clues how it goes in the drama. The baddies are also not kind of people you can easily predict and Kim Sang Joong is perfect for the villain role here. The acting is top notch in this drama and I wish this drama won’t get cut by 2 episodes and therefore had abrupt ending.

Pride and Prejudice

Don’t be fooled by its title because it’s not an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel although the drama has running motifs of “pride” and “prejudice”. Set in Incheon Prosecutor Office, the drama follows the story of smart and righteous Prosecutor Goo Dong Chi (Choi Jin Hyuk) and his team against social injustice and crimes while trying to break off prosecutors’ corruption web in South Korea. Choi Jin Hyuk is deliciously hot in this drama and that’s not only because he’s smart, but he’s really squeaky clean, has great intuition and analytical thinking. Here he’s paired with MBC’s new leading lady, Baek Jin Hee and these two has really cute chemistry from the start. Their romance, although plagued with misunderstandings, rekindled in such romantic and earnest way and I really love their bickering and teasing of each other. On the other hand, we also have puppy Kang Soo (Lee Tae Hwan) who is just very cute, innocent and adorable.

From the start, the drama looks like building a story case by case carefully and as the story progressed, each case has connections to one another. So here we have very big relationship cobweb between the criminals, prosecutors, attorneys, and even innocent people who don’t know anything. That’s why every case and clue is important and we can’t skip or FF this drama. It’s kind of drama that you can just watch while doing anything else, but it needs our full attention to understand the plot. The plot can be dizzying sometimes if we don’t follow closely the story. It’s writer’s strength and weakness in my opinion, because while it’s good to have a drama that command our attention, some people would think the plot is too heavy and convoluted. Especially when I don’t understand Korean and I’m sure some words are lost in translation and therefore led to confusion. Still, PnP reaches the number 1 spot in Korea so that must be because people enjoying it right?

It’s Okay It’s SBS

Year after year I’m usually SBS loyal fan and some of their dramas are my favorites. But this year their dramas in general are not that good and even disappointing. Only two dramas that I love, You From Another Star and Pinocchio. Even so, it’s okay because it’s SBS.

You From Another Star

Hallyu Phenomenon and ratings monster this year! Undoubtedly it’s the most famous drama this year that soaring Kim Soo Hyun and Jun Ji Hyun’s name internationally and even become cultural phenomenon in Korea and China. I was looking forward to this drama that actualy began airing last year because PD Jang Tae Yoo, my favorite PD that directed “Painter of The Wind”, also directed this drama and of course Two Hyuns, KSH and JJH that proves to have amazing onscreen chemistry. I’m not disappointed at all with this drama. The directing and cinematography (for example time-stopping effect) is superb, the musical choices remind me to POTW, the acting (esp from Jun Ji Hyun) is amazing as hell, the romance between 400 years old alien and top actress is also adorable. The drama also can be really funny at times to make me laughing in stitches. Even though it’s only gimmick and broad comedy but the cast is not afraid showing their comedic range.

From the acting department alone, Jun Ji Hyun should get Daesang at SBS Drama Awards for her performance here as Chun Song Yi. Her character is complex diva with insecurities but has really funny side inside her. She’s not afraid at making her feelings known to Do Min Joon. Complete opposite to alien professor Do Min Joon, who doesn’t like human interaction, cold and aloof. It’s really fun to follow their journey as star-crossing lovers (literally!) and even though their journey is not always rainbow and sunshine, sometimes through tears and noble idiocy, I always support this couple from Day-1. Now if only I can stop the time and just watch them cuddling each other all day long.

God’s Gift 14 Days

I came to watch Lee Bo Young but ended up falling in love with Jo Seung Woo. He’s so awesome as Ki Dong Chan ahjussi, private investigator who often has blank memories and nightmare. And don’t ask me what actually happened during the last couple of minutes of the ending because I don’t know either. So if God gives me 14 days to come back and save someone I’ll definitely save Ki Dong Chan.

Doctor Stranger

Is there any team of doctors stranger than this? I can’t say any reason why I watch this other than I’m Lee Jong Suk’s fan and wants to support him. But then I understand basically nothing from this drama. I don’t understand why and how people doing what they do in this dramaverse? Why there’s so much NK spy stuff to care about while our leads cure the patients as their day job. Drama’s internal logic and characterization are failure from episode 1. I’m not impressed with any of the characters or even the actors. This drama also only deepens my hatred to Jin Se Yeon. Poor her who did nothing against me but her acting consistently sucks and a major failure in this drama. That’s why for anyone out there who consider watching this drama, please don’t!! Watching this will only freezes your brain and not even Park Hoon or Han Jae Joon can save you.

It’s Okay It’s Love 

Summer time, fun and breezy drama It’s Okay It’s Love comes. It’s not a bad drama per se. It’s rather courageous drama that takes the challenge to address mental issues in Korea. You have charming famous novelist Jang Jae Yeol (Jo In Sung) as a hero and psychiatrist with sexual paranoia Ji Hae Soo (Gong Hyo Jin). The combo has pretty solid chemistry and the drama has lots of skinships considering it’s prime time public broadcast drama.

Unfortunately, I can’t love this drama. For me this drama is just okay. They maybe dare to show mental illnesses in positive light, they may shower us with hot passionate kisses and other romantic lovey dovey things, I just can’t get behind the drama. I seriously think that the portrayal of the patients and mental illnesses are simplistic and sometimes infuriating. The psychiatrists would also probably be sued by their patients for their incompetence and no ethical work.

My Lovely Girl/She's So Lovable

Rain is lovable. End.

Pinocchio

Another Lee Jong Suk drama this year and thanks God he’s doing this drama after such hot mess that is Doctor Stranger. He deserves much better drama after that crap. Although Pinocchio is far from perfect drama, it bears closest resemblance to I Hear Your Voice – one of my fave drama last year – particularly because same writer/PD team and Lee Jong Suk. It’s reporter drama about 4 rookie reporters and their everyday hijinks. The four reporters are Choi In Ha, Pinocchio syndrome sufferer who can’t tell a lie or even think something untrue; Choi Dal Po/Ki Ha Myung, In Ha’s uncle and the one who bears tragedy from the past; Seo Bum Jo, chaebol son who chooses to be reporter; and Yoon Yoo Rae, an ex-sasaeng fan. The four reporters always run into each other when they investigate the news and sometimes have petty rivalry because they’re from different news station. I love the dynamics among the four with added layer of bromance, rivalry and romance. Not only them, but the supporting characters are also interesting. I love Choi Grandpa and In Ha’s dad, and love to hate Sung Cha Ok, one of the villains here.

Pinocchio basically heartwarming drama that doesn’t fear to create ridiculous premise, rules and excuse in order to make the plot moving forward. Even though with her Pinocchio Syndrome, the heroine can’t lie and she has to be honest all the time. It also uses the six degrees separation theory well, sometimes too well, because practically everyone and their dog connected in this drama. It’s one of few dramas that I enjoy right now. It’s great drama and I wish it will stay great in the next remaining episodes.

What’s With This KBS

I admit I don’t watch What’s With This Family, only few snippets, but I can’t resist the pun and wonder to myself what’s wrong with KBS this year? It’s maybe the worst year for them in terms of drama ratings and popularity. Last May, KBS staffs even held a strike against their employer and it slightly disrupted their day-to-day management. In terms of ratings, many KBS primetime dramas has abysmal ratings, even when the drama itself is not that bad. That’s why I question myself what’s with KBS?

Full Sun

One of my favorites this year and pretty solid melodrama. I don’t watch many melodramas this year but Full Sun definitely my favorite. Despite its winter backdrop, the show is not all dark and gloomy. It’s the case when melodrama gets right, not overwrought, but not easily written off as melo. The show starts strongly when our hero Jung Se Ro (Yoon Kye Sang) framed for murder he didn’t do and forced to spend years in jail, later on he vows to take revenge against the people who framed him. But in the process he falls in love with the daughter of his enemy (Han Ji Hye). The premise sounds familiar right? KBS already did 2 dramas with similar premise, such as Nice Guy (2012) and Secret (2013) but the execution makes the three dramas about the framed heroes/heroine feel different. Full Sun is a bit slower and not as suspenseful as the two but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it. In fact, I enjoy it a lot for the main couple and characters alone. The characters here feel and behave like normal human, although the premise is a bit far-fetched. What’s the chance you’d fall in love with the daughter of one person who framed you murder? Slim, isn’t it? Although dramaland has populated with people like them who always fall in love with their enemy’s son/daughter.

Then again, what Full Sun lacks in suspense and dramatic impact, they made up on the emotional front. And boy, I cried a lot for this drama, either because this drama hits me right in my heart or I’m just feeling sensitive. Watching the drama is like getting cry fix and even our hero cries a lot. The romance is the one that takes my attention though. Nowadays I rarely feel butterfly just because a couple cuddles up or kisses onscreen but Full Sun couple just as romantic as any melodrama couple you could imagine and their relationship is warm and hopeful too. I still can’t get enough of them whenever I remember their sweet, romantic moments. It’s almost feel poetic to me. In conclusion, Full Sun is as good as you want and becomes one very underrated gem this year.

Joseon Gunman

One of my biggest letdown of the year. An action thriller romance sageuk starring Lee Jun Ki, what could go wrong? That maybe the question on my mind when it first announced. I really like Lee Jun Ki in sageuk, action is his forte and no question needed regarding his acting ability. But the drama didn’t grab me the way I want to be. It has far too many plot threads to care for me. And even though acting is not the problem, I do hope different actress for the leading lady. Idk, even though Lee Jun Ki and Nam Sang Mi had starred together in Time Between Dog And Wolf, here their chemistry is not as good as reunion couple should be. Nam Sang Mi feels too much like damsel-in-distress. The plot becomes too murky and convoluted till I gave up understanding this drama. I didn’t even bother to finish the last couple of episodes even though the drama started out pretty well. On the bright side, the directorial looks classy, Lee Jun Ki looks different than your usual sageuk hero with his westernized look, the villains are legitimately sick people, and the editing is handled well. Oh well, I might finish the drama when I’m in the mood for some Lee Jun Ki.

Cantabile Tomorrow

With its cast, KBS had hoped to make rating hit from famous adaptation of “Nodame Cantabile”. Turns out the drama is total flop, in terms of ratings and remake. As a remake, many original source fans cried their concern even before the drama starts filming. When the drama was finally airing too many people compared it to the original and didn’t even give it a try. In terms of ratings, the drama only hovered at 5-6%, far less than any Joo Won’s dramas that usually ratings hit. Though the drama originally started quite rough, I’m glad that I stick with this drama till the end. The drama morphed into something more than just music or romance, but also friendship, youth and growth. The music is fodder for the characters to change and grow up. I’m glad I didn’t watch the original because otherwise I would keep comparing the dramas. Without any perception and knowledge beforehand I can enjoy Cantabile Tomorrow and it does make the drama more enjoyable. Maybe that’s why I feel like the only one that really like Seol Nae Il (Nodame) character. She’s really cute without even trying and her energy radiates to other people. Cha Yoo Jin (Joo Won) is also not as grumpy as usual drama hero. He’s genius, but considerate to others. The drama main plot itself is a bunch of adorable weirdos to create an orchestra. Overall it’s good drama that gives us warm and fuzzy feeling. It’s perfect for marathon because the drama is mainly not plot-driven but character-driven and good companion for anyone who loves classical music.

Healer 

Another Ji Chang Wook’s drama this year and I absolutely adore him as the titular “Healer”. Here Healer is not something related to medic or healing people literally, but it is codename for the best errand boy who would do everything for the clients, except murder. Ji Chang Wook is totally mesmerizing in this role, whether as night errand boy or just casual guy. Along with leads Yoo Ji Tae and Park Min Young they deliver solid acting and captivating story. The drama so far only aired 6 episodes and it’s kind of drama that you would sucked into the story and their world. The PD/writer so far are excellent to create a rich drama with political and social commentary without being too overwhelming. The characters are thinking and behaving like normal people, showing that drama can still be a drama without over-the-top people and hysteria. It’s just perfect at the moment and I hope the story will continue being awesome till the end.

Cable dramas:
I ended up skipping, not finishing or withholding lots of cable dramas. So here’s my short review on dramas I ended up watching from start to finish.

Let’s Eat

Very enjoyable food porn, great cast, slice-of-life drama. Love Gu Dae Young and Lee Soo Kyung together and individually.

Emergency Couple

Whatever happens with reunited exes here I’m not impressed. Lots of cute bickering, but overall forgettable romance. Only Chief Gook and Gookie are adorable.

***

That’s all for my first year-end review. I admit I didn’t watch as many shows as I want to be but this year has better offerings than last year. May 2015 be another great year for kdramas and I end up loving many more dramas to come.