2017 Jaybird Awards
Another year has come and gone (and so quickly too- it’s already February, yikes!), and we find ourselves staring down the barrel of a new year that will offer us a whole new crop of K-Dramas. But let’s have a look back at the year that’s passed. 2017 was a bit of a lacklustre year in K-Dramaland, with nothing straying too far from the norm. It was honestly and truly not a very diverse year for K-Drama- if you weren’t into time travel or legal dramas it was a bit of a dry spell. K-Dramaland is usually populated with rom-coms, but 2017 had noticeably fewer- particularly less great ones. There were quite a few mystery/thrillers scattered throughout the year (thank you OCN), but I will admit that after a while everything sort of felt a bit the same. It’s not to say there weren’t good dramas, because there were, they were just completely surrounded by mediocre dramas and an excess of legal dramas. I think I’ve had enough legal K-Dramas for a lifetime, and it wasn’t exactly my favourite genre to begin with. Rambling aside, let’s have a look at the best and worst that K-Drama had to offer in 2017.
Best Drama:
‘7 Day Queen’ was a drama that really stood out from the rest. It’s one of those rare shows where everything just works together in beautiful harmony to deliver an epic, emotional story. The writing was of course brilliant, being able to tell a story so well known and make it so engaging while also sticking to historical facts. We all knew how this story was going to play out, but goodness knows we were glued to our screens for every second drinking in the hows and the whys. The acting was brilliant all round, with the leads being wonderfully dynamic (no Candy heroine here). The directing was pure brilliance and was able to get the absolute best out of the story and the actors, and made a great show an excellent one. The icing on the figurative drama cake was the stunningly emotional soundtrack and the extraordinary sets and costuming.
Best Actor:
Yeo Jin Goo sure has come a long way in a very short space of time. He’s handled the transition from child to adult roles wonderfully, and his acting has done nothing but improve (which is a feat in itself because he was already so darn good). ‘Circle’ was an excellent drama in and of itself, but so much of the draw came from Yeo Jin Goo’s character, and his raw and real portrayal. There was a hugely diverse range of emotions that Yeo Jin Goo had to express throughout the drama, and he was so natural at all of them. It was hard to fathom that his shock or fear wasn’t actually real, it was all so perfectly believable. Words can never express how brilliantly dynamic Yeo Jin Goo was in this drama, and how he sucked you into his character and his story.
Best Actress:
We can all thank ‘Descendants of the Sun’ for opening up casting directors’ eyes to the delight that is Kim Ji Won. While she’s been in a couple of notable dramas previously, she’d always played prickly, stuck-up characters. 'Descendants’ let Kim Ji Won tap into her loveable side, and ‘Fight My Way’ let her really roll with it. Rom-Com heroines have a way of being remarkably unremarkable (with a few exceptions of course), but Kim Ji Won made Ae Ra sweet, fun and memorable. Despite this being her first lead role, despite being cast next to hot-shot Park Seo Joon, and despite not liking aegyo all that much, Kim Ji Won delivered a charming, comfortable, cute and relaxed performance.
Best Short Series:
I didn’t get around to watching as many short series this year as I usually do, but I thought 2017 offered up a better than usual selection. ‘Individualist Ji Young’ was a sweet and thoughtful love story about two characters in the modern world who were damaged by their messy family situations. The show had an interesting premise, and the leading actors really brought the characters to life. Perhaps most importantly, the show was directed and filmed really well. The show felt professional and suitable for adults, not like it was filmed as part of a high school media project, as so many short K-Dramas tend to feel.
Best Character:
The hero in ‘Because This Life is My First’ is part of what made the series so addictive. He was quirky and unique and not the kind of hero you come across every other day in K-Dramaland. Se Hee was thoughtful and sweet, even if he was a chronic over-thinker. His introverted nature led to an abundance of comedy which Lee Min Ki played with a perfect straight face. Se Hee offered the heroine the love and support we all hope to receive, and his assuredness in his wants made him an effective communicator (which we don’t come across often). Se Hee was a fun, and often funny, hero who was always entertaining to watch, and so easy to love.
Best Second Lead:
‘Goblin’ was of course a hit sensation- there was no way it wasn’t going to be what with it’s stellar cast, the PD of ‘Descendants of the Sun’, and writer of ‘Descendants of the Sun’, ‘Heirs’ and ‘Secret Garden’. While the show had many great things going for it, the aspect I found myself most drawn to was Reaper, his story, and his bitter-sweet relationship with Sunny. While Goblin and his Bride had their fair share of romance and angst, for me it was Reaper that was the emotional centre of the show. The air of mystery surrounding his identity and his memories made his character arc completely engaging. Not only was Reaper beautifully angst-filled and emotional, but he also had his lighter, funnier moments with Goblin. Reaper’s arc was the most interesting and the most satisfying, and Lee Dong Wook gave us a wonderfully loveable character.
Best Couple:
Despite how much I didn’t actually like this drama (the ridiculousness! The over-the-top acting!), the leads were smoking hot. Park Bo Young and Park Hyung Shik had dazzling chemistry and they were just so cute together no matter what they were doing. Not only were they completely adorable to watch on screen together, but they were a beautifully unique pairing. Our heroine is a tiny yet super-strong woman, and our hero is an eccentric rich-boy who loves that she can beat up bad guys, save him and (literally) carry him off into the sunset. I could watch hours and hours of this couple together- you can just see the hearts pouring out of their eyes. They’re the sort of couple that make you feel giddy and happy and completely content. I didn’t really care at all about the story, but boy oh boy did I care about this romance.
Best Kiss:
This is a new section this year, because I’ve come to realise that the best couples and the best romances don’t always have the best kisses. And in K-Dramaland, where so many kisses are awkward lip brushes, I feel we really ought to congratulate the dramas that give us a good, healthy snog. Such as Yeon Woo Jin in ‘Introverted Boss’. Who cares that his character is supposed to be the most socially awkward man on the planet? Who cares that he’s probably supposed to not have kissing experience? It was an excellent, steamy kiss, in which both characters actively participate (yay). It was almost worth watching the whole drama just for this scene. Alternatively, you could skip the drama and just watch this scene again, and again, and again. But to be fair, this drama had quite a lot of great snogging.
Best Villain:
As soon as I’d finished watching ‘7 Day Queen’ I knew that this was the villain of the year. While it’s always excellent to have a villain that you can just straight-up hate, that is full of evil intentions, and is a great obstacle for your protagonists, it adds an extra dimension when you love that villain as much as your leads. King Lee Yoong was the perfect depiction of a tragic character. We could see all his best qualities- particularly when he was around Chae Kyung, and he was actually given many scenes that are often played out by the main lead- looking after the heroine while she’s sick, holding hands while running, and of course just being generally delightful when in front of the woman he loves. However, we also couldn’t ignore his horrible qualities- what with the killing and all. What made King Lee Yoong so appealing as a villain is that we could clearly see how he veered off course, and how maybe if things had played out differently he would have been a better man. His final redemption was absolutely perfect, as was the character’s portrayal by Lee Dong Gun. Lee Dong Gun gave the King such vulnerability and such vehemence that you couldn’t help getting sucked into the character and his self-destruction.
Best Ensemble:
Early on in the year, ‘Defendant’ gave us a pretty exciting lineup of actors. Ji Sung was our main man, which is always something to look forward to. Uhm Ki Joon played our main villain, and Shin Rin Ah (one of my favourite child actors) played Ji Sung’s kidnapped daughter. Kim Min Suk gave a sensational performance as the morally ambiguous Sung Gyu, and filling out the cast were Oh Chang Suk, Uhm Hyun Kyung, and Jo Jae Yun. While having a great cast doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, the actors were all bursting with chemistry. Ji Sung and Uhm Ki Joon had a brilliant tense dynamic, while Shin Rin Ah was heartbreakingly sweet with both Ji Sung and Kim Min Suk. While the story was riveting itself, it was the diverse cast and the way each actor brought their character to life that made the drama really special.
Best Bromance:
I’m not sure if I was just watching other dramas, but K-Dramaland seemed a bit light on bromance this year. That being said, the bromance in ‘Goblin’ was hilarious, sweet, and just plain delightful. Goblin and Reaper start of as antagonising forces, and have absolutely no desire to be close. Once the two end up living together it’s just magic. Their pettiness is extremely fun to watch, as are their discussions on the difficulties of having a mortal girlfriend. They go from childishly fighting with levitating cutlery to magically cooling each others’ beer and boiling their eggs. While most of their relationship is there for the humour, the two also had a delicate undercurrent of understanding. As immortal beings, they were the only ones that could really relate to each other, offer advice, and just be there to sympathise with the other’s struggles.
Best Gal Pals:
Without a doubt ‘Buam Dong Revenge Club’ was the drama that offered us the best of female friendship in K-Drama this year. Initially starting off as strangers, the three ladies bond over revenge (originally hilariously petty revenge), and along the way they form an incredibly strong, life-long friendship. Despite coming from three completely different walks of life, the ajummas understand one another and their problems. They work together to help each other out, and and have an abundance of cute bonding moments along the way. When their families were going through difficult times, it was this new, yet deep friendship that kept the characters going, and encouraged each of the ladies lean on heir friends for support while struggling to escape from the men that looked down on them, and took advantage of them. This drama is all about the girl-power.
Best Idol Gone Actor:
I love the way Park Hyung Shik has gone about acting. If you take a look at his credits, he’s got a whole bunch of smaller roles going back to around 2012. He clearly spent a lot of time learning and gaining experience, and it really shows. By taking on more smaller roles, Park Hyung Shik now looks a lot more natural in front of the camera than many other idols who jump straight into leading roles. He was in two pretty big productions this year, as the second male lead in ‘Hwarang’ and of course he was our delightful hero in ‘Strong Woman Do Bong Soon’. He was excellent in both, but he truly dazzled in ‘Strong Woman’. While ‘Hwarang’ showcased his more serious, emotional side, ‘Strong Woman’ showed his flair for comedy. While his character was always fun, the character himself never became too funny- he was always wonderfully real. By following up one excellent acting performance with another this year, Park Hyung Shik has definitely become an actor to watch out for. I’m so looking forward to seeing him in the Korean remake of ‘Suits’ in the first half of the new year!
Worst Idol Gone Actor:
Don’t get me wrong- this isn’t just senseless bashing of an idol that gets a lot of hate for his acting. I kind of liked him as the younger version of the hero in ‘Master’s Sun’, and I thought he was pretty okay as the stoic, snappy guitarist in ‘Shut Up Flower Boy Band’. But his acting in ‘Ruler’ was just not good. He had no idea how to express the needed emotions for many of the scenes, and not only was his face awkward, but I often found myself thinking that he really had no idea what to do with the rest of his body either. Granted, the show was a complete mess, so that probably didn’t help, but his performance here kind of made me a bit embarrassed that I’d defended his acting in the past…
Least Convincing Couple:
A basic starting point for creating a loveable couple is to actually have them interact on screen. ‘Ruler’ did not exactly get to this basic starting point. There were very few scenes that had both our hero and our heroine in them, and the scenes that did often had the two talking about how they really shouldn’t be seen together. There was no cute, and there was really no romance at all. Suddenly the characters were just saying they liked each other? Why? Who knows. The drama made no effort to explain why the leads fell for each other. None at all. I mean, half the fun of romance is watching the characters actually start to fall in love, so when you skip that entirely you don’t really have a lot to go on.
Show Carrier:
I came for Park Hae Jin and I stayed for Park Hae Jin. This drama had its moments, but for the most part it was bland and boring. The romance sucked and had very little chemistry, and the main spy story was confusing at the best of times. Park Hae Jin did a great job as the secret spy, and almost got me to care about what was actually going on in the story. Almost. His deadpan humour fit so well with the show’s initial comedy, and although the romance fell woefully short, Park Hae Jin did his absolute best to be swoony, slick, stylish and completely engaging throughout the drama. Park Sung Woong was also wonderful in this drama and his comedic chemistry with Park Hae Jin was fabulous- it’s a shame the writers wanted to give us romance instead of sticking to the bromance they were doing so well.
Biggest Disappointment:
When it comes to the drama that was the biggest let down of the year, I think we can all agree it was ‘Ruler’. The more my excitement increased in the months before the show was released, the more apprehensive I was that it would end up a complete dud. More often than not the hype-train crashes and burns, and so it was the case here. The set up was a sweeping romance between a young girl and the Prince who killed her father, with a dire conflict involving a stand-in king wanting to keep the throne for himself. It sounds dangerous and epic. Then you throw in Kim So Hyun who is so darn wonderful- and so excellent at bringing in raw emotion, and you pair her with Yoo Seung Ho who is also no lightweight. Not even L’s casting could rain on the parade that was this drama. Admittedly, the writers were pretty new, and that really started to show once the drama began. The story had no momentum, the leads no chemistry, and the plot no excitement. Rather than the epic saga we were promised, we received a painfully pointless plot and an incomprehensible love-line.
Jaybird’s Choice:
When it comes to my personal pick of the year, it’s not necessarily the drama with the best writing or the best acting or the best plot, but there was just something magical in it that really caught my heart. Tae Swoon was probably a large part of why I loved this drama so much, but what can I say? Heroes who are so open with their affections and so darn unembarrassed of it just get me. Kim Se Jung was absolutely delightful as our heroine and had such innocently flirtatious chemistry with Kim Jung Hyun. The X plot and revealing the corruption in he school was interesting its own right and lead to a lot of development for a lot of our characters, but it was definitely the leads and their sugar sweet relationship that had me marathoning this drama into the wee hours of the morning.
2017 Dramas Watched:
The Best Hit
