Top 5
Completion Complex Dramas (2017)
I don’t watch K-Dramas live. I hate waiting, and K-Dramas are notorious for their cliffhanger episode endings. I like to be able to take the show at my own pace, whether that be 16 episodes in one weekend or over a couple of months. This usually means that when I watch a drama I’m only watching one drama. Watching live gives you the option of having a few dramas on the go, but having to wait for episodes to be released is just something I don’t want to have to put up with. I much prefer the marathon method. However, this method also leads to a certain desire to not drop K-Dramas that deserve to be dropped. If I was watching two or three dramas at a time, letting a crappy drama go might not be such a hard thing to do, but when I feel like I’ve invested so much time in a singular drama I don’t want to just stop watching. It feels like a waste of my own time and effort, even though in my head I know it makes much more sense to just stop watching a drama I’m not enjoying. But when I’m already 10 hours in what's another 6, right? I’ve watched a lot of K-Dramas and a lot of those K-Dramas I should have probably just let fall by the wayside, so I’m going to limit myself to just the dramas I’ve seen from 2017. Here’s my top 5 pick of dramas that I really probably should have just stopped watching this year.
5: Missing 9
‘Missing 9’ certainly wasn’t the worst drama to grace 2017, but it was a far cry from good. The premise is what snagged my attention, just because it was so different. K-Dramaland is so full of chaebols and Candies, and so many dramas end up feeling the same. In ‘Missing 9’ the characters were stranded on an island with a sort of mystery/thriller genre. How cool! And yes, the parts where the characters were struggling on the island were cool. It was interesting and different and a great way to force the characters to interact with each other, and also a fabulous way to introduce new rules and new stakes. However, where the drama really started falling apart is when the characters made their way back to civilisation. Once we were back in the regular world with regular rules the drama stopped being so interesting. The plot kind of collapsed on itself and we all knew there was no way it was going to end well. It didn’t. The first half of the drama was new and intriguing, but the second half was just…not good.
Yes, there’s a lot of people who liked this drama. There’s a lot of people who LOVED this drama. I did too in parts, but those parts had a whole bunch of silliness separating them. The main couple was pure adorableness and I kinda wish the whole show had been a cute fluff show about only those two. Because all the other characters kind of ruined it. The serial killer was okay, but he was underdeveloped and really didn’t fit with the show’s lighthearted tone. The gangsters were just stupid and I really couldn’t understand why they were given so much screen time. Did anyone find them funny? Anyone at all? The thing that made it so hard to even consider dropping this drama (because we all know I don’t really drop dramas) was that the gorgeous relationship between the leads was spread equally throughout every episode. Bong Soo and Min Min were just too adorable together, and almost made the 40 minutes of total boredom (ie- any time they weren’t on screen together) bearable. Almost.
3: Man to Man
‘Man to Man’ was a drama that was best when it didn’t take itself too seriously. Park Hae Jin has great deadpan humour and in the first few episodes that was used really effectively. The drama was fun while Park Hae Jin was leading this double life, trying to trick people and just generally being completely unreceptive of their emotions. But once things started getting serious the drama turned dead boring. I don’t think anyone liked the girl (whatever her name was), and I don’t think anyone bought the romance.There was zero chemistry and zero interest. Park Hae Jin being a super spy stuck in mundane situations having to romance a girl he doesn’t like? Hilarious and fun. Park Hae Jin falling for the most boring heroine on the planet and getting all moody and angsty? No thanks. This drama was such a flop I don’t think anyone will be tuning in for the next instalment (‘Four Men’), but who knows? Maybe without the sucky heroine it’ll be way better.
This drama was one I really needed to drop. In the previous three dramas there were at least times that I was having fun watching, but I really struggled to find any enjoyment in ‘Liar’. It wasn’t an awful drama, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. It also didn’t help that my life outside K-Drama was getting hectic as hell, and in any free time I could find I was forcing myself to watch something I didn’t even like (seriously me, why?). The story was just juvenile in every way. The characters were childish, the main love line was childish and their problems were childish. I mean really, what’s the big deal about not being able to sing your boyfriend’s song when you’re a total rookie? Get over it. This whole drama stagnated my K-Drama watching for a while there and took me a couple of months to finish because I just didn’t want to watch it. But I did watch it. Because I don’t know how quit.
‘Ruler’ basically shows you that I don’t learn. It was pretty much ‘Liar’ all over again. There were very few points in this drama that I actually enjoyed, and far more often than not I found myself getting bored or just blatantly criticising everything the characters did as they did it. There were very few redeeming qualities in this show. The only thing I did learn from 'Liar' is that dragging it out made absolutely no difference, so I smashed this drama in about a week and a half. An agonising week and a half. The drama was no fun. I had no fun. I should have watched three or four episodes, realised it was a dud and got myself out. But by the time I’ve watched three or four episodes I’ve invested those hours into the show, so hey, what’s another 16 hours, right?
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| What dramas did you drop in 2017? |
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