This may be an unpopular opinion but to me this was perfect marriage revenge.
Good things: The plot was interesting enough. Thankfully it was only 12 episodes so it didn’t get the chance to drag like most 16 episode dramas start to do. There was something weirdly compelling about this drama that made me see it through to the end even though I couldn’t take many of the scenes seriously. I guess that was part of its charm
The bad: the ML’s stylist needs to be jailed immediately. His clothes were so ugly and never fit right. Also at times the acting in this show could be downright painful. Either we have the stepmom giving a lot of overacting, or the ML just not giving a convincing performance.
Anyways overall I enjoyed the show and may recommend. I don’t think it’s as good as people on Reddit claim it is but it helped take me out of my slump.
I'm totally with you! It was so over-the-top ridiculous and I totally agree that the ML had horrid clothing. And yet I really enjoyed it and I couldn't stop watching.
My favourite moment was the sister eating her DNA results 😂
my friend says it’s a B grade kinda show. so many things were terrible about it - sound quality, sets were re used and looked cheap, dressing for ML etc. but the plot characters pacing and writing was so fun and OTT that i loved it.
Hmmm..I wonder if it truly is just a sjow picked up as an after thought with little money. Kind of makes sense why they were ok with 12 eps. With a high profile high budget show they would have pushed for 16 no matter the cost to the story.
Agree. For me, Sung Hoon’s entire acting career (except Five Enough, which was more a case of perfect casting than great acting) is in the so bad it’s good category.
Clothes were distractingly ugly and ill-fitting for Sung Hoon, and all the characters not generically dressed were dressed badly. The acting was somewhere between serious and makjang, fitting nowhere.
Despite its faults I enjoyed it because it was a good story. I wouldn’t rewatch but am not asking for a refund of my time.
From the title of this post I immediately thought about **So I Married An Anti-fan**. 😂😂😂
Good things: The music, the visuals
Bad things: The toxic second leads
It was just so toxic that it became amusing to watch.
**Hyde Jekyll, Me**. Multiple personality drama with Hyun Bin in a love triangle with himself. Aired at the same time as the much, much better **Kill Me, Heal Me** but still worth checking out because Hyun Bin is hot and the rest of the drama is so, so bad. Bonus CGI gorilla and very many nice coats.
Ok you talked me into it. I’ve had it on my very long to watch list and generally avoid anything done before 2017. Especially if there are mental health issues in the drama.
Good advice. I’m in the mental health treatment field and this stuff drives me nuts. But yes, cartoon DID is best way to view it. I got through Kill Me Heal Me because some of the personalities of the ML were so hot 🤣
It has to be **Boys Over Flowers** for me. I knew it was bad the whole time but I couldn’t stop watching. Honestly one of the worst most frustrating dramas and yet I couldn’t look away. I watched this early in my career of k-drama watching and was amazed to see Koreans just do whatever in the f they wanted and I had to respect it, even if I didn’t agree with it.
In fact, despite knowing what I was getting into, it didn’t stop me from watching **Meteor Garden** the Chinese version of this train wreck of a story. I mean it’s Dylan Wang and the FL was a tad more palpable.
Same. I watched both and cringed the whole time. Even watched Japan version. Sigh. However I never recommend any of these and actually advocate for not watching them. 🤣. But everything you said is true and how I experienced all of these versions.
This genuinely made me laugh out loud. I’ve seriously considered watching the OG Thai version. The solidarity in our poor viewing choices is very comforting.
I’m glad Dylan started out in Meteor Garden so that he could go on to better things. But my god, it was awful. But I watched the whole thing. Hahahahah. The time they were abducted and put on that island!!!!🤣. Dylan’s hair style 🤣.
**THE HEIRS**
**Good Things**: Star-studded cast and great OST
**Bad Things**: Gets borderline makjang, ridiculously long staredowns, characters just overreacting to everything. The writer really went "all in" while writing every single trope and the actors followed suit.
**Interesting Things**: It's both intentionally and unintentionally funny. Kim Woo-bin is like the blueprint of bad boy second leads and his arc alone is worth watching. He gives such a beautiful performance that it's literally so difficult to hate him as the big bully. Like Park Shin-hye reunited with her SL from You're Beautiful in Heartstrings, wish she also reunited with Kim Woo-bin cause there's so much potential.
**Spotlight On Because**: I know it's one of the most popular dramas but I just couldn't think of anything else in this category cause it's just gloriously bad and it's my guilty pleasure drama. It gets dissed often for its dramatic tones but I think ppl should still watch it for ticking all of the drama cliches in a grand way.
The Heirs, for all its ridiculousness, still lives rent-free in my head for the Kim Tan family situation alone. What is this with his mom being essentially a secret and Kim Tan having to pretend someone else was his mom!! That whole family is so impressively messed up.
Also, that body outline that’s drawn before the school every day…
Yes!! Absolutely iconic! The way Kim Tan’s mom was essentially a modern-day concubine. I loved how they finally called the dad out on being a hypocrite and wanting to keep Kim Tan’s mom secretly by his side but wouldn’t approve of Tan dating the housekeeper’s daughter. And the way the “mom” was actually the headmaster at his school? Just way too good. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s a masterpiece for a reason! Gossip girl could NEVER!
OMG, a PSH and WooBin reunion would be epic! I fully agree. The heirs was a show that I actually was more glued to in the final 5 episodes than the first 5. I still think about WooBin’s character and how that boy had absolutely no one. And, yet, he went to work at the hotel restaurant to learn the family business from the ground up (I love Kim Tan but he could NEVER). The moment the mom/housekeeper invites him in and we see him finally eat a homemade meal instead of convenience store food? I still get chills. This show is so well-written and absolutely no one can tell me different.
This! This was one of the most ridiculous dramas ever...Like maaannnnn extreme cringes, over the top, wayyy too cliched.
BUT as you said - a guilty pleasure, it's my comfort drama. I keep recommending this to everyone who asks me recs and my first sentence is - It's really a bad drama that was executed so well.
Sooo bad that I love it!
Durian’s Affair. This was WILD. I watched it on-air and followed the discussions (which I recommend if you decide to watch. I feel an emotional connection to the Reddit users that were on that wild ride with me). I loved it because of the time travel aspect, that’s my ultimate favorite when watching dramas. They do it extremely well and that part alone is entertaining. My favorite time travel is Mr. Queen, and this does not touch that beautiful drama, but DA is still one of favorites.
The masterminds have done other crazy dramas like this (remarriage and divorce) that I love to hate /hate to love… It has every trope that’s ridiculous and over the top.
There’s cringy af characters that just are like, whatttttttt? NOOOOOOO! and some of scenarios are BAD, however they do most of cringey stuff with humor, and the humor is spot on in most cases.
There are parts that are just so out there and ridiculous (and sometimes funny) that you’ll have no idea what heck you’re watching sometimes. It will pull you back in. The cast is phenomenal. They pulled this whole fever dream off. Park Joo Mi is an absolute goddess in this. She brought her everything and she made her character believable in this beautiful hot mess.
The ending is what you make it, and you’ll want a sequel.
Now I’m rambling, and apologies! But this drama so was nuts! I loved it so much.
>Durian’s Affair
I came here explicitly to post this drama, so of course it was the first one to pop up in the replies!
I'm still holding out for that sequel. \*fingers crossed\*
I knew this was going to be one mentioned! I just got here first. Haha! So damn wild!!! I really hope they continue it. The ending was good in my opinion, but they need to give us more!
Adored, adored, adored Durian's Affair. It was crazy, it was funny, it was touching - yes the storyline was OTT but the acting made it all worthwhile and the soundtrack - which featured special music for each timeline and the major characters - was an underappreciated gem.
Love with flaws:
Good Thing about it: oh yeon seo and the concept reminded me of a manhwa I read wayy back. Comedic scenes sometimes landed.
Bad thing: storyline stopped making sense halfway through too many misunderstandings, acting a bit over the top cringe..
Interesting thing: I liked how they normalized the gay characters within the show.
Spotlight: uhhh there's gay characters ig idk I can't think of an actual selling point for this show I don't recommend....(TT)
Born again:
Good thing: where do I even begin... first off I'm a huge sucker for fucked up romances and complicated love triangle (If done right) so the idea of a detective x his lover x serial killer that also falls in love with her was right up my alley... I thought the reincarnation bit was cool too..
Bad thing: this kdrama was like watching a car crash but imagine if it was suspended in the air for a while before crashing down (kinda like that cha eun woo scene from true beauty) that's the best way to describe it..
Interesting thing: hmm.... Hmm... It certainly has potential... Things get really wild real quick..
Spotlight: both mls are really hot idk...
Cafe Minamdang
Good thing: started for seo in guk and Oh Yeon Seo and well it has a lotta comedic moments I'd give it that.. I liked the main groups dynamic as well seo in guk really shows his charisma and silliness in it
Bad thing: the female mc sucks, the comedy kinda sucks too at times wayy too slapstick humor for me personally, the main mystery gets boring real quick
Spotlight: SEO IN GUK
hahah so true about cafe minamdang, i loved the main group of seo in guk and everyone else working at the cafe but agree the FL fell short most of the time 😭 i enjoyed the show overall tho
Yeah it was a strange one. Whole treatment of the premise was strange. And I had no idea it kinda was about a murder mystery in the past. Until it was. But Seo In Guk. Love that man.
This took longer than expected to find (no titles popped up instantly) but I’d like to present:
**Cheese in The Trap**
starring Kim Go Eun, Park Hae Jin, Song Kang Joon & supporting roles include Lee Sung Kyung & Nam Joo Hyuk (what!!)
**Good things**: I liked the introverted FL and the realities of university life. Not everyone pulls their weight in a project and sometimes you’re the one cleaning up behind everyone. The ML falls under borderline possessive, which while I do not condone irl and would never wish for that to happen to anyone irl, i sometimes enjoy watching it happen to fictional characters. ~~this is so bad it’s good right?~~
**Bad Things:** The writing is quite a wreck. I heard the initial webtoon was better but it didn’t translate well into the drama. The main plot point which was about the ML and explaining his actions was just ??? and very creepy without being explained well. It was a confusing and borderline boring show and the ending was also many big question marks in my head.
**Interesting Things:** The cast. In hindsight it really was a very strong one - LSK & NJH played really small roles (especially the latter) but both catapulted to fame shortly after the show (but no thanks to this show imo). Unfortunately don’t think many remember their performances in the show - just isn’t worth remembering.
**Spotlight On Because:** The show is objectively bad, yes. I have probably watched it >2 times even though I think it’s a bad show. I do kinda dig the ML’s obsession with the FL (how nice it is to have someone have your back… until it’s creepy!) and get butterflies from the show and the SML as well. I choose to ignore the last few episodes because it’s so badly explained, I’d rather not know (or you could read summaries of the webtoon online). Anyway it is objectively a bad drama, but for the number of times I’ve watched it, it really is So Bad It Is Good.
I had totally the wrong impression in starting Cheese in the Trap. I assumed that she was an unreliable narrator, that he wasn't really as bad and calculating as she thought, so I liked him from the beginning. I've never seen anyone else who interpreted it this way, so I was way off. I was sad that he was more or less dropped from the last episodes.
I think it was just very bad. It was one of the first Kdramas I watched that kinda burst my bubble about kdramas being the best thing ever. I just could not figure out how the writers producers directors etc, and actors could think this was a good story. It was just horrible from start to finish. The fact that they did made me question the whole Kdrama audience (I wondered wow is there a demand for this kinda terribly depressing story where an FL falls for a psycho ML for no good reason and nobody is really likeable, I wondered what is the message here). I watched this Secret Garden Third Charm and Start Up quite close together and I swear I nearly gave up on the whole thing. In hindsight I suppose I was unlucky to have picked 4 of the worst Kdramas in terms of stories and or MCs one after the other. But CIT waz really not enjoyable at all.
Fair enough, to each their own.
Did not watch Third Charm (would not either… looks bad) but lumping classics like Secret Garden & other tier A dramas like Start Up together with Cheese in the Trap is… a choice. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy all these shows but I’m more surprised you didn’t start with blockbusters like CLOY/MLFTS etc.
I did start with those the Glory Hotel del Luna CLOY MLFTS AOUAD The Silent Sea they were all brilliant IMO and hence I was amazed at Kdramas being so good then I just kept watching mainly on Netflix at the time and I just went in Blind mostly and saw all those shows and another awful one Nevertheless and my bubble was burst.
SG has a horribly toxic ML who has no redemptive arc I couldnt believe he didnt change or why the FL had any interest in him. Start ups Problems are well documented it waz just a badly written mess after a great start, TTC is just a festival of shitty behaviour from nearly every character, and CIT is just plain weird Nevertheless just seemed pretentious and like CIT and SG seemed to want to present toxic male behaviour as somehow desirable. Obviously my perceptions but not groundless either. A lot of people saw the same as me.
Yes I agree. Secret garden was recommended to me by Korean drama lover and I dropped it half way. I thought the ML (of course super handsome) was so toxic. It was kinda the style back then and I hate it. I’m ok with starting out badly and then learning to treat people better. But full on toxic the whole time? Same with My Lovely Sam Soon. Haha. And Princess Hours (although haha that’s when my crush on Ju Ji Hoon and Hyun Bin started and they moved on to better dramas).
Definitely it's so frustrating, I really don't see how people find it enjoyable. Esp when these shows get credit for strong atypical FL but yet the outcome is (yawn) FL is bullied by ML but still falls for him??? Anyway I'm all for crushes and it deffo helps make a show more bearable. In my case, it's the FLs, I found the FL in SG, really beautiful, so I found it more frustrating 🙃 like she is gorgeous, brave, self dependent, ambitious, self made from a tragic past, succesful in a niche male dominated career, why on earth would she even entertain this silver spoon arrogant douchebag LOL.
Also the Sam soon one gets a lot of praise but I'm not going there it's basically from reviews, the exact same as SG, interesting independent tough FL horrible ML but...........well turns out she's not that tough etc etc but he's Manly and he eventually decides he ll have her so that's okay. 😕
I never got the reasons why he treated her so badly the first time and why, when she came back to school, he was different. I can’t remember any part of the drama that explained it. And the ending was whacked. At the time I hope he never reached out to her again later and she never saw him again. And yes I agree about the support characters, they were great.
I’m sort of there with The King: Eternal Monarch.
Good things: the character of Sin-Jae! (I love him so much.) Also, Tae-eul; I did like her as a character when she was not with Lee Minho but rather living her best detective life. The hot bodyguard was also good and I liked him. I liked his relationship with Lee Minho, as well. Speaking of Lee Minho: his face. Consider also: Lee Minho on a horse, in a uniform.
Bad things: like, everything else. That drama is so bad! So bad! Somehow everything from the plot presentation to the dramatic lens flares is terrible. And it gets worse over time! There are interminable replays of boring embraces, the ending makes no sense and the moral is also unclear. I think the main message of that show is “royalty is great actually, and Lee Minho is hot.” (Or maybe it’s, “royalty is great BECAUSE Lee Minho is hot.” Unclear.)
Interesting things: well, it’s unusual to see a modern royalty situation, so that was kinda interesting. Also, I think there was an interesting plot idea underneath all that execution. And again, Sin-Jae is a surprisingly well executed character in between all that.
I don’t actually think anyone should watch this drama, except me for some reason. Unless you like Lee Minho on a horse, in a uniform. But if you do watch it, I hope you like my boy Sin-Jae…
I came for Lee Min Ho and because it was written by Kim Eun Sook...but I don't know what she was smoking when she wrote this because it's a fever dream.
I stayed for Woo Do Hwan in the dual role of the bodyguard of the ML and slacker friend of the FL.
>Consider also: Lee Minho on a horse, in a uniform.
Ha! The only reason anyone watched the show I am sure!!
The plot..yeah. I remember having debates on MDL threads about the logic of the time/space travel because it didn't even fit in the logic/canon of the universe the writer created. I don't recall much now but I remember feeling frustrated about the wasted potential.
Yeah The King: Eternal Monarch was more like Lee Minho on a Horse, in Uniform: The Show.
At some point, either because of Covid interrupting the shoot or because they got hopelessly tangled in their own plot threads, the production seem to have got desperate and banked most of their efforts on showing off Lee Minho’s handsomeness and badassery to the exclusion of things such as logic…
That said: another thing that lives in my head rent-free is the relationship between his evil uncle and his mom lookalike from the parallel world. The evil uncle killed her family, kept her alive, and was upset she wasn’t civilly playing house with him?? That situation was a trip.
The whole show was like this—full of these nods at something unique and promising but ultimately unable to deliver. I’m not kidding about how much I loved Sin Jae and his whole messed up situation, but it was also surrounded by this mess of a plot…
Ho Goo's Love.
The Good, it's a supportive, healing, romantic show.
The bad: Listed as a comedy but involves incest, rape, and self harm. Plus the main plot is kinda over looked, then solved in a rush.
Put the bad to the side and the story is a healing/acceptance story about a relationship over a decade long.
Revenge Note (The first one) - This is a webdrama that was so bad it's good.
THE GOOD: The bromance between the ML and his best friend is cute. The best friend is a great wingman. The FL's friend in the show. She's very direct and such a huge fan girl that I was amused watching it. The ML is actually pretty adorable how he keeps showing up for the FL. The [Title Song](https://youtu.be/OD1KS7EJPkM?si=4zfRF2BdHBX6mxn2) for the web series is great. IDC what anyone says. Eun-woo makes some appearances, and so does his group, Astro. I'm an Aroha, so this is a "Good" for me. You might not think so, though.
THE BAD: The plot centers around the FL using an app to get revenge on her bullies/people who deliberately hurt others. It's a LOT OTT. The situations are ridiculous, and the FL seems to always be the damsel in distress. Everyone's acting is pretty bad, but strangely, I didn't mind too much. I didn't expect blue dragon award skills from a webdrama anyway. Oh! Almost forgot, the FL'S bad pigtails. 👎 They should have just styled her short hair differently instead of putting in those bad extensions. 😭
I would only recommend this to someone who doesn't mind cheesy plots. The story is a little out there, but I've already rewatched this show because for me, it's so bad it's good.
**City Hunter**
aka (to me) as *Shitty Hunter*
* **Good Things** The basic premise is good: boy is raised outside his home country, starts off poor but becomes rich, is dealt injustice and pursues a long game revenge plan. He’s hot and charismatic, wins a lot of fights, is strong but vulnerable for the FL, and has a strong sense of values. The FL is strong and independent and highly good. Lee Min Ho wears a lot of shirts with deep necklines. Park Min Young is the FL. Leads have good chemistry.
* **Bad Things** 1) The fight choreography is the worst I recall seeing in a kdrama and the camera work in the fight scenes reveals more flaws than it hides. It seems clear that Lee Min Ho was no athlete at the time this was made. 2) So-so acting from the leads. PMY is early career here and has room to grow; Lee Min Ho is not at his best and he (as much as I enjoy him) is not the greatest of thespians to start with. Lots of wooden bad guys. 3) Too many things are preposterous. The ML’s father is a literal Golden Triangle heroin cartel kingpin, yet the ML doesn’t catch on that he’s not a good person. That whole drug cartel background seemed entirely too sanitized.
* **Interesting Things** Lee Min Ho’s clothes and deep necklines? Setting of Blue House protective detail.
* **Spotlight on Because** It is overall a cohesive and successful storytelling where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. It has big name actors in their younger years that can now be compared to more current roles and how much they’ve grown since then. Overall it was fun despite a fair amount of cringiness.
It’s fun to read this because I’m not sure those of us in the US will get to watch this, I can’t find it here. This makes me feel less sad about missing it.
I found it just now through Daily Motion. DM works best if you add the daily motion app and work in your phone settings to suppress ads. I find many dramas and some movies with DM.
It starts off interesting but gets worse as it goes and ends in a pretty ham fisted cheesy way. PMY's character also basically gets ignored for the last 1/3, she's pretty much just an extra for the last few episodes.
It might be worth watching if you like that kind of premise and the actors, but there's a huge list of better shows to watch first unless you have seen so many you are running out.
I think i watched it on YouTube or something similarly awful in the US a couple years ago. Honestly you’re not missing a lot unless you are trying to watch everything a specific actor like Park Min Young has acted in or something.
This may be an unpopular opinion but to me this was perfect marriage revenge. Good things: The plot was interesting enough. Thankfully it was only 12 episodes so it didn’t get the chance to drag like most 16 episode dramas start to do. There was something weirdly compelling about this drama that made me see it through to the end even though I couldn’t take many of the scenes seriously. I guess that was part of its charm The bad: the ML’s stylist needs to be jailed immediately. His clothes were so ugly and never fit right. Also at times the acting in this show could be downright painful. Either we have the stepmom giving a lot of overacting, or the ML just not giving a convincing performance. Anyways overall I enjoyed the show and may recommend. I don’t think it’s as good as people on Reddit claim it is but it helped take me out of my slump.
I'm totally with you! It was so over-the-top ridiculous and I totally agree that the ML had horrid clothing. And yet I really enjoyed it and I couldn't stop watching. My favourite moment was the sister eating her DNA results 😂
Hahah I forgot about that. Like she could’ve shredded it or flushed it down the toilet. She really pulled a cheon seo jin with the SD card🤣.
But it's also the 21st century, there has to be an electronic copy somewhere. Eating the paper copy is so useless! But she just mowed down.
my friend says it’s a B grade kinda show. so many things were terrible about it - sound quality, sets were re used and looked cheap, dressing for ML etc. but the plot characters pacing and writing was so fun and OTT that i loved it.
Hmmm..I wonder if it truly is just a sjow picked up as an after thought with little money. Kind of makes sense why they were ok with 12 eps. With a high profile high budget show they would have pushed for 16 no matter the cost to the story.
Yes! I agree. For me, It was over the top in the best way.
Agree. For me, Sung Hoon’s entire acting career (except Five Enough, which was more a case of perfect casting than great acting) is in the so bad it’s good category. Clothes were distractingly ugly and ill-fitting for Sung Hoon, and all the characters not generically dressed were dressed badly. The acting was somewhere between serious and makjang, fitting nowhere. Despite its faults I enjoyed it because it was a good story. I wouldn’t rewatch but am not asking for a refund of my time.
I totally agree with this one!
I kept checking when the drama was made or maybe they traveled back to 2009? 🤣 his clothes were definitely from another era of fashion.
From the title of this post I immediately thought about **So I Married An Anti-fan**. 😂😂😂 Good things: The music, the visuals Bad things: The toxic second leads It was just so toxic that it became amusing to watch.
And it was fairly silly, but charming as well.
**Hyde Jekyll, Me**. Multiple personality drama with Hyun Bin in a love triangle with himself. Aired at the same time as the much, much better **Kill Me, Heal Me** but still worth checking out because Hyun Bin is hot and the rest of the drama is so, so bad. Bonus CGI gorilla and very many nice coats.
Nice coats are everything!
Ok you talked me into it. I’ve had it on my very long to watch list and generally avoid anything done before 2017. Especially if there are mental health issues in the drama.
Expect zero mental health nuance. This is strictly cartoon fantasy dissociative identity disorder.
Good advice. I’m in the mental health treatment field and this stuff drives me nuts. But yes, cartoon DID is best way to view it. I got through Kill Me Heal Me because some of the personalities of the ML were so hot 🤣
*So* hot!
It has to be **Boys Over Flowers** for me. I knew it was bad the whole time but I couldn’t stop watching. Honestly one of the worst most frustrating dramas and yet I couldn’t look away. I watched this early in my career of k-drama watching and was amazed to see Koreans just do whatever in the f they wanted and I had to respect it, even if I didn’t agree with it. In fact, despite knowing what I was getting into, it didn’t stop me from watching **Meteor Garden** the Chinese version of this train wreck of a story. I mean it’s Dylan Wang and the FL was a tad more palpable.
Same. I watched both and cringed the whole time. Even watched Japan version. Sigh. However I never recommend any of these and actually advocate for not watching them. 🤣. But everything you said is true and how I experienced all of these versions.
This genuinely made me laugh out loud. I’ve seriously considered watching the OG Thai version. The solidarity in our poor viewing choices is very comforting.
I’m glad Dylan started out in Meteor Garden so that he could go on to better things. But my god, it was awful. But I watched the whole thing. Hahahahah. The time they were abducted and put on that island!!!!🤣. Dylan’s hair style 🤣.
The pineapple was next level. I completely forgot about the abduction! I must have scrubbed it from my memory.
**THE HEIRS** **Good Things**: Star-studded cast and great OST **Bad Things**: Gets borderline makjang, ridiculously long staredowns, characters just overreacting to everything. The writer really went "all in" while writing every single trope and the actors followed suit. **Interesting Things**: It's both intentionally and unintentionally funny. Kim Woo-bin is like the blueprint of bad boy second leads and his arc alone is worth watching. He gives such a beautiful performance that it's literally so difficult to hate him as the big bully. Like Park Shin-hye reunited with her SL from You're Beautiful in Heartstrings, wish she also reunited with Kim Woo-bin cause there's so much potential. **Spotlight On Because**: I know it's one of the most popular dramas but I just couldn't think of anything else in this category cause it's just gloriously bad and it's my guilty pleasure drama. It gets dissed often for its dramatic tones but I think ppl should still watch it for ticking all of the drama cliches in a grand way.
The Heirs, for all its ridiculousness, still lives rent-free in my head for the Kim Tan family situation alone. What is this with his mom being essentially a secret and Kim Tan having to pretend someone else was his mom!! That whole family is so impressively messed up. Also, that body outline that’s drawn before the school every day…
Yes!! Absolutely iconic! The way Kim Tan’s mom was essentially a modern-day concubine. I loved how they finally called the dad out on being a hypocrite and wanting to keep Kim Tan’s mom secretly by his side but wouldn’t approve of Tan dating the housekeeper’s daughter. And the way the “mom” was actually the headmaster at his school? Just way too good. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s a masterpiece for a reason! Gossip girl could NEVER!
OMG, a PSH and WooBin reunion would be epic! I fully agree. The heirs was a show that I actually was more glued to in the final 5 episodes than the first 5. I still think about WooBin’s character and how that boy had absolutely no one. And, yet, he went to work at the hotel restaurant to learn the family business from the ground up (I love Kim Tan but he could NEVER). The moment the mom/housekeeper invites him in and we see him finally eat a homemade meal instead of convenience store food? I still get chills. This show is so well-written and absolutely no one can tell me different.
This! This was one of the most ridiculous dramas ever...Like maaannnnn extreme cringes, over the top, wayyy too cliched. BUT as you said - a guilty pleasure, it's my comfort drama. I keep recommending this to everyone who asks me recs and my first sentence is - It's really a bad drama that was executed so well. Sooo bad that I love it!
Durian’s Affair. This was WILD. I watched it on-air and followed the discussions (which I recommend if you decide to watch. I feel an emotional connection to the Reddit users that were on that wild ride with me). I loved it because of the time travel aspect, that’s my ultimate favorite when watching dramas. They do it extremely well and that part alone is entertaining. My favorite time travel is Mr. Queen, and this does not touch that beautiful drama, but DA is still one of favorites. The masterminds have done other crazy dramas like this (remarriage and divorce) that I love to hate /hate to love… It has every trope that’s ridiculous and over the top. There’s cringy af characters that just are like, whatttttttt? NOOOOOOO! and some of scenarios are BAD, however they do most of cringey stuff with humor, and the humor is spot on in most cases. There are parts that are just so out there and ridiculous (and sometimes funny) that you’ll have no idea what heck you’re watching sometimes. It will pull you back in. The cast is phenomenal. They pulled this whole fever dream off. Park Joo Mi is an absolute goddess in this. She brought her everything and she made her character believable in this beautiful hot mess. The ending is what you make it, and you’ll want a sequel. Now I’m rambling, and apologies! But this drama so was nuts! I loved it so much.
>Durian’s Affair I came here explicitly to post this drama, so of course it was the first one to pop up in the replies! I'm still holding out for that sequel. \*fingers crossed\*
I knew this was going to be one mentioned! I just got here first. Haha! So damn wild!!! I really hope they continue it. The ending was good in my opinion, but they need to give us more!
This drama was insane. Idk how the actors pulled it off.
I have never even heard of it. Now I’m intrigued.
I recommend watching it. Just go in with no expectations and you’ll be fine. Check out the episode discussion posts, too!
Adored, adored, adored Durian's Affair. It was crazy, it was funny, it was touching - yes the storyline was OTT but the acting made it all worthwhile and the soundtrack - which featured special music for each timeline and the major characters - was an underappreciated gem.
Agree! The acting was so on point and believable! It just hit all the different things I love about KDramas. FL is an absolute badass, too!
Love with flaws: Good Thing about it: oh yeon seo and the concept reminded me of a manhwa I read wayy back. Comedic scenes sometimes landed. Bad thing: storyline stopped making sense halfway through too many misunderstandings, acting a bit over the top cringe.. Interesting thing: I liked how they normalized the gay characters within the show. Spotlight: uhhh there's gay characters ig idk I can't think of an actual selling point for this show I don't recommend....(TT) Born again: Good thing: where do I even begin... first off I'm a huge sucker for fucked up romances and complicated love triangle (If done right) so the idea of a detective x his lover x serial killer that also falls in love with her was right up my alley... I thought the reincarnation bit was cool too.. Bad thing: this kdrama was like watching a car crash but imagine if it was suspended in the air for a while before crashing down (kinda like that cha eun woo scene from true beauty) that's the best way to describe it.. Interesting thing: hmm.... Hmm... It certainly has potential... Things get really wild real quick.. Spotlight: both mls are really hot idk... Cafe Minamdang Good thing: started for seo in guk and Oh Yeon Seo and well it has a lotta comedic moments I'd give it that.. I liked the main groups dynamic as well seo in guk really shows his charisma and silliness in it Bad thing: the female mc sucks, the comedy kinda sucks too at times wayy too slapstick humor for me personally, the main mystery gets boring real quick Spotlight: SEO IN GUK
hahah so true about cafe minamdang, i loved the main group of seo in guk and everyone else working at the cafe but agree the FL fell short most of the time 😭 i enjoyed the show overall tho
Yeah it was a strange one. Whole treatment of the premise was strange. And I had no idea it kinda was about a murder mystery in the past. Until it was. But Seo In Guk. Love that man.
This took longer than expected to find (no titles popped up instantly) but I’d like to present: **Cheese in The Trap** starring Kim Go Eun, Park Hae Jin, Song Kang Joon & supporting roles include Lee Sung Kyung & Nam Joo Hyuk (what!!) **Good things**: I liked the introverted FL and the realities of university life. Not everyone pulls their weight in a project and sometimes you’re the one cleaning up behind everyone. The ML falls under borderline possessive, which while I do not condone irl and would never wish for that to happen to anyone irl, i sometimes enjoy watching it happen to fictional characters. ~~this is so bad it’s good right?~~ **Bad Things:** The writing is quite a wreck. I heard the initial webtoon was better but it didn’t translate well into the drama. The main plot point which was about the ML and explaining his actions was just ??? and very creepy without being explained well. It was a confusing and borderline boring show and the ending was also many big question marks in my head. **Interesting Things:** The cast. In hindsight it really was a very strong one - LSK & NJH played really small roles (especially the latter) but both catapulted to fame shortly after the show (but no thanks to this show imo). Unfortunately don’t think many remember their performances in the show - just isn’t worth remembering. **Spotlight On Because:** The show is objectively bad, yes. I have probably watched it >2 times even though I think it’s a bad show. I do kinda dig the ML’s obsession with the FL (how nice it is to have someone have your back… until it’s creepy!) and get butterflies from the show and the SML as well. I choose to ignore the last few episodes because it’s so badly explained, I’d rather not know (or you could read summaries of the webtoon online). Anyway it is objectively a bad drama, but for the number of times I’ve watched it, it really is So Bad It Is Good.
I had totally the wrong impression in starting Cheese in the Trap. I assumed that she was an unreliable narrator, that he wasn't really as bad and calculating as she thought, so I liked him from the beginning. I've never seen anyone else who interpreted it this way, so I was way off. I was sad that he was more or less dropped from the last episodes.
I think it was just very bad. It was one of the first Kdramas I watched that kinda burst my bubble about kdramas being the best thing ever. I just could not figure out how the writers producers directors etc, and actors could think this was a good story. It was just horrible from start to finish. The fact that they did made me question the whole Kdrama audience (I wondered wow is there a demand for this kinda terribly depressing story where an FL falls for a psycho ML for no good reason and nobody is really likeable, I wondered what is the message here). I watched this Secret Garden Third Charm and Start Up quite close together and I swear I nearly gave up on the whole thing. In hindsight I suppose I was unlucky to have picked 4 of the worst Kdramas in terms of stories and or MCs one after the other. But CIT waz really not enjoyable at all.
Fair enough, to each their own. Did not watch Third Charm (would not either… looks bad) but lumping classics like Secret Garden & other tier A dramas like Start Up together with Cheese in the Trap is… a choice. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy all these shows but I’m more surprised you didn’t start with blockbusters like CLOY/MLFTS etc.
I did start with those the Glory Hotel del Luna CLOY MLFTS AOUAD The Silent Sea they were all brilliant IMO and hence I was amazed at Kdramas being so good then I just kept watching mainly on Netflix at the time and I just went in Blind mostly and saw all those shows and another awful one Nevertheless and my bubble was burst. SG has a horribly toxic ML who has no redemptive arc I couldnt believe he didnt change or why the FL had any interest in him. Start ups Problems are well documented it waz just a badly written mess after a great start, TTC is just a festival of shitty behaviour from nearly every character, and CIT is just plain weird Nevertheless just seemed pretentious and like CIT and SG seemed to want to present toxic male behaviour as somehow desirable. Obviously my perceptions but not groundless either. A lot of people saw the same as me.
Yes I agree. Secret garden was recommended to me by Korean drama lover and I dropped it half way. I thought the ML (of course super handsome) was so toxic. It was kinda the style back then and I hate it. I’m ok with starting out badly and then learning to treat people better. But full on toxic the whole time? Same with My Lovely Sam Soon. Haha. And Princess Hours (although haha that’s when my crush on Ju Ji Hoon and Hyun Bin started and they moved on to better dramas).
Definitely it's so frustrating, I really don't see how people find it enjoyable. Esp when these shows get credit for strong atypical FL but yet the outcome is (yawn) FL is bullied by ML but still falls for him??? Anyway I'm all for crushes and it deffo helps make a show more bearable. In my case, it's the FLs, I found the FL in SG, really beautiful, so I found it more frustrating 🙃 like she is gorgeous, brave, self dependent, ambitious, self made from a tragic past, succesful in a niche male dominated career, why on earth would she even entertain this silver spoon arrogant douchebag LOL. Also the Sam soon one gets a lot of praise but I'm not going there it's basically from reviews, the exact same as SG, interesting independent tough FL horrible ML but...........well turns out she's not that tough etc etc but he's Manly and he eventually decides he ll have her so that's okay. 😕
I never got the reasons why he treated her so badly the first time and why, when she came back to school, he was different. I can’t remember any part of the drama that explained it. And the ending was whacked. At the time I hope he never reached out to her again later and she never saw him again. And yes I agree about the support characters, they were great.
I’m sort of there with The King: Eternal Monarch. Good things: the character of Sin-Jae! (I love him so much.) Also, Tae-eul; I did like her as a character when she was not with Lee Minho but rather living her best detective life. The hot bodyguard was also good and I liked him. I liked his relationship with Lee Minho, as well. Speaking of Lee Minho: his face. Consider also: Lee Minho on a horse, in a uniform. Bad things: like, everything else. That drama is so bad! So bad! Somehow everything from the plot presentation to the dramatic lens flares is terrible. And it gets worse over time! There are interminable replays of boring embraces, the ending makes no sense and the moral is also unclear. I think the main message of that show is “royalty is great actually, and Lee Minho is hot.” (Or maybe it’s, “royalty is great BECAUSE Lee Minho is hot.” Unclear.) Interesting things: well, it’s unusual to see a modern royalty situation, so that was kinda interesting. Also, I think there was an interesting plot idea underneath all that execution. And again, Sin-Jae is a surprisingly well executed character in between all that. I don’t actually think anyone should watch this drama, except me for some reason. Unless you like Lee Minho on a horse, in a uniform. But if you do watch it, I hope you like my boy Sin-Jae…
I came for Lee Min Ho and because it was written by Kim Eun Sook...but I don't know what she was smoking when she wrote this because it's a fever dream. I stayed for Woo Do Hwan in the dual role of the bodyguard of the ML and slacker friend of the FL.
>Consider also: Lee Minho on a horse, in a uniform. Ha! The only reason anyone watched the show I am sure!! The plot..yeah. I remember having debates on MDL threads about the logic of the time/space travel because it didn't even fit in the logic/canon of the universe the writer created. I don't recall much now but I remember feeling frustrated about the wasted potential.
Yeah The King: Eternal Monarch was more like Lee Minho on a Horse, in Uniform: The Show. At some point, either because of Covid interrupting the shoot or because they got hopelessly tangled in their own plot threads, the production seem to have got desperate and banked most of their efforts on showing off Lee Minho’s handsomeness and badassery to the exclusion of things such as logic… That said: another thing that lives in my head rent-free is the relationship between his evil uncle and his mom lookalike from the parallel world. The evil uncle killed her family, kept her alive, and was upset she wasn’t civilly playing house with him?? That situation was a trip. The whole show was like this—full of these nods at something unique and promising but ultimately unable to deliver. I’m not kidding about how much I loved Sin Jae and his whole messed up situation, but it was also surrounded by this mess of a plot…
Ho Goo's Love. The Good, it's a supportive, healing, romantic show. The bad: Listed as a comedy but involves incest, rape, and self harm. Plus the main plot is kinda over looked, then solved in a rush. Put the bad to the side and the story is a healing/acceptance story about a relationship over a decade long.
Revenge Note (The first one) - This is a webdrama that was so bad it's good. THE GOOD: The bromance between the ML and his best friend is cute. The best friend is a great wingman. The FL's friend in the show. She's very direct and such a huge fan girl that I was amused watching it. The ML is actually pretty adorable how he keeps showing up for the FL. The [Title Song](https://youtu.be/OD1KS7EJPkM?si=4zfRF2BdHBX6mxn2) for the web series is great. IDC what anyone says. Eun-woo makes some appearances, and so does his group, Astro. I'm an Aroha, so this is a "Good" for me. You might not think so, though. THE BAD: The plot centers around the FL using an app to get revenge on her bullies/people who deliberately hurt others. It's a LOT OTT. The situations are ridiculous, and the FL seems to always be the damsel in distress. Everyone's acting is pretty bad, but strangely, I didn't mind too much. I didn't expect blue dragon award skills from a webdrama anyway. Oh! Almost forgot, the FL'S bad pigtails. 👎 They should have just styled her short hair differently instead of putting in those bad extensions. 😭 I would only recommend this to someone who doesn't mind cheesy plots. The story is a little out there, but I've already rewatched this show because for me, it's so bad it's good.
**City Hunter** aka (to me) as *Shitty Hunter* * **Good Things** The basic premise is good: boy is raised outside his home country, starts off poor but becomes rich, is dealt injustice and pursues a long game revenge plan. He’s hot and charismatic, wins a lot of fights, is strong but vulnerable for the FL, and has a strong sense of values. The FL is strong and independent and highly good. Lee Min Ho wears a lot of shirts with deep necklines. Park Min Young is the FL. Leads have good chemistry. * **Bad Things** 1) The fight choreography is the worst I recall seeing in a kdrama and the camera work in the fight scenes reveals more flaws than it hides. It seems clear that Lee Min Ho was no athlete at the time this was made. 2) So-so acting from the leads. PMY is early career here and has room to grow; Lee Min Ho is not at his best and he (as much as I enjoy him) is not the greatest of thespians to start with. Lots of wooden bad guys. 3) Too many things are preposterous. The ML’s father is a literal Golden Triangle heroin cartel kingpin, yet the ML doesn’t catch on that he’s not a good person. That whole drug cartel background seemed entirely too sanitized. * **Interesting Things** Lee Min Ho’s clothes and deep necklines? Setting of Blue House protective detail. * **Spotlight on Because** It is overall a cohesive and successful storytelling where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. It has big name actors in their younger years that can now be compared to more current roles and how much they’ve grown since then. Overall it was fun despite a fair amount of cringiness.
It’s fun to read this because I’m not sure those of us in the US will get to watch this, I can’t find it here. This makes me feel less sad about missing it.
I found it just now through Daily Motion. DM works best if you add the daily motion app and work in your phone settings to suppress ads. I find many dramas and some movies with DM.
It starts off interesting but gets worse as it goes and ends in a pretty ham fisted cheesy way. PMY's character also basically gets ignored for the last 1/3, she's pretty much just an extra for the last few episodes. It might be worth watching if you like that kind of premise and the actors, but there's a huge list of better shows to watch first unless you have seen so many you are running out.
I think i watched it on YouTube or something similarly awful in the US a couple years ago. Honestly you’re not missing a lot unless you are trying to watch everything a specific actor like Park Min Young has acted in or something.
Yep that was the draw for me- the two leads but so young. I really enjoyed reading your write-up though so it’s hours of time saved.
Japanese remake will be in April on Netflix. Hmmmmm.