My watch list earlier this year was fairly dominated by C-drama but lately, the tide has turned towards K-drama again. J-drama has been almost a complete miss for me the last bit, which is too bad since J-drama really adds a much-needed variety to my watch list.
Time (Korean Drama, Finished)
Boy, this one was such a gem that completely took me by surprise. The story and acting were so superb that I broke my rule of not watching sad shows. Unfortunately, while I thought all the cast did a great job, I was especially impressed with Kim Jung Hyun’s portrayal of the hero so I was severely disappointed when Kim Jung Hyun had to quit the show early for health reasons…and had a very difficult time mustering up enough interest to finish the drama. I do feel guilty for losing interest since I am sure the rest of the cast and crew had to scramble the best they could to figure out how to finish the rest of the story without their hero. In fact, in an interview, Seohyun who also did a great job as our heroine admitted that it was quite challenging filming towards the end since they were pretty much filming live as they wouldn’t get their script until that very day.
Familiar Wife (Korean Drama, Finished)
This one ended a while ago but I finally got caught up and watched the whole thing in one shot. Overall, I thought the story was both entertaining and thought provoking. I did have to try pretty hard to not think about certain issues…such as did our hero do anything intimate with his first love/new wife. During the whole show, I keep reminding myself that our hero did change his past after all so the female second lead IS his wife in the new timeline…BUT that reasoning was shot to pieces when our hero started to get all jealous over the heroine’s relationship with his best friend.
Anyway, I enjoyed the show quite a bit…as long as I don’t poke holes into the story.
Devilish Joy (Korean Drama, On Air)
I am a bit behind on this one but I am enjoying it as a light and squeal-worthy romance. The evil villain parts of the story feel unnecessary to the storyline but I guess this show started off with a fairy tale vibe so how can the princess find her happily ever after with her prince if there are no evil villains to defeat?
Marry Me Now (Korean Drama, Finished)
This 50 episode K-family drama was really solid all the way to the end! I sort of wished the writer could’ve prolonged the two main leads’ (Lee Sang Woo & Han Ji Hye) “falling in love” period quite a bit longer but then that would’ve probably made it difficult to cover all the secondary storylines…which for once in a K-family drama, were all very engaging. The best I can usually hope for in a K-family drama when it comes to secondary storylines is that they are tolerable, so it was such a pleasant surprise to find a drama where the secondary storylines were so entertaining on their own.
My Only One (Korean Drama, On Air)
This is the K-family drama that followed Marry Me Now. Uee plays our heroine who is kicked out of her family home after her adoptive father dies unexpectedly and she is stunned to learn that she is not her parents’ biological child. Determined to make it on her own in this world even if she is completely alone, our heroine begins her new life…and soon becomes entangled with our hero (her boss at work) and her biological father who can only take care of his daughter silently as a stranger out of his great fear that our heroine would one day be labeled as a murderer’s child if their relationship was ever discovered.
I have been enjoying this one although I have to say, My Only One Falls smack right into the typical K-family drama where I watch it because I like the main plot line but is really tempted to just fast forward through all the secondary storylines. The two leads’ romance is cute but fairly standard K-drama fare, however, I really like the father-daughter relationship dynamic and finds it even more interesting (at least for now) than the two leads’ budding romance.
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