r/KDRAMA 2023 Drama Challenge

Completed 2023.01.17

Possible Challenges: 1 (Drowning Sorrows)

A short web drama. This likely aimed to be a (serious) melodrama but ended up as an over the top makjang that’s a pretty fun train wreck to watch. The entire story is propelled by jealousy fueled by (ridiculous) misunderstandings initiated by an even more ludicrous act of noble idiocy. While I mourn its lack of amnesia, birth secrets, and murder — I commend it for the music, the misunderstandings, and its abuse of doctor-patient confidentiality. Most of all though, I commend the ML for his lack of communication skills.

Completed 2023.06.21

Possible Challenges: 2 (subverts tropes) | 4 (bingsu, kimchi, goguma) | 13 | 22

Much, much better than the first season. First season missed the mark to be an epic fantasy romance but felt strong on the bromance lines. 1938 decides to focus on the bromance lines and friendship lines rather than the romance, to great results. It did such a great job incorporating the time travel and fantasy aspects into the historical era of Japanese occupation, fully capturing the best of emotions and zeitgeist without overstepping the bounds of historical accuracy. It fantasizes history while respecting the ideologies and important aspects of the realities of those historical times. I feel like I can't rave enough about this particular aspect of the drama and I wish someone had told me this earlier because I'd have been more likely to watch if I knew it did this part so well.

Rewatch Completed: 2023.12.10

Challenge 3 (Referenced in Sh**ting Stars, 7 Escape and other dramas)

(Rewatch) While some of my views about the drama have changed in a positive manner, overall I still hate this drama for romanticizing some rather abusive situations and actions.

Completed 2023.01.14 (Rewatch)

Possible Challenges: 1 (Childhood Friends; Drowning My Sorrows) | 4 (Tteokbokki, also Fried Chicken, Jajangmyeon, Kimchi, Hoe, Jeon) | 9 (Kim Mi Kyung & Kim Chang Wan) | 30 | 31

(Rewatch) This is my second rewatch and I think this drama is aging super well for me because I find the stories it tells even more insightful and heartwarming as I grow older. To date, this drama still has my favorite representation of a friendship squad and a blended family. I find this friendship squad notable because it is both mixed gender and survives two major challenges to friendships (long absence of one member and romantic attraction between members). Additionally, it also has my ‘greatest of all time’ representation of a fangirl and fangirling in general. The way FL loves Anthony (her idol) is infinitely relatable and spot on for me. And the way this drama incorporates Subway PPL into the fangirl-arc is easily one of my favorite PPL examples (and IMHO, one of the most clever).

Completed 07.02.2023

Possible Challenges: 5 (Truck of Doom)

Despite my initial misgivings based on the trailers, I succumbed to FOMO from reading initial reaction comments to the drama. This was overall a complete let down that felt like the production team picked a current 'hot issue' and tried to make a drama about it without truly understanding the phenomenon in a meaningful way. The fashion was beautiful, little else was worth watching.

Completed 2023.06.09 (Rewatch)

Possible Challenges: 2 (subverts amnesia) | 4 (Tteokbokki, jajangmyeon, hoe) | 6 (Jewelry: De Beers) |35

 (References Secret Garden, Athena, City Hunter, You’re Beautiful, Tree With Deep Roots)

(Rewatch) Enjoyed revisiting this great meta-drama that so beautifully captured the early 2010s kdrama industry with (loving) snark. The orange juice scene on the beach is still one of the best meta-PPL scenes EVER! If you’re new to kdramas, I strongly recommend just watching the beginning of episode 1 for (ML) Anthony’s brief lecture on the power of Hallyu for some basic knowledge about the rise of the Korean Wave.

Completed 2023.02.16 (Rewatch)

Possible Challenges: 1 (Run away holding hands, wrist grab) | 4 (Fried Chicken) | 5 (Childhood Connection) | 6 (car) | 7 (Hotel) | 8 & 11 (Lee Se Young)

(Rewatch) Watched with the Weekly Binge and despite starting off with trepidation that it won’t be as good the second time around, I soon found myself completely engrossed. Knowing what will happen, I actually found my rewatch more meaningful because I saw the emotional and thematic connections even more clearly and really appreciated some details that I glossed over in my first watch. For my personal ratings system for dramas, I only give up to 9.5/10 points on my first watch as I save the final .5 points for rewatch value — on this rewatch KAIROS has earned that final .5 points so I’ve upgraded it to a 10/10 drama for me, becoming my 15th kdrama to earn a 10/10.

Completed 2023.04.06

Possible Challenges: 8 (Yoon Chan Young) | 26 (Show Window’s Director/Writer)

Sweet and earnest drama that gave me a bit of happiness each week despite nothing about it being groundbreaking or exceptional. I really enjoyed the little story arcs of the ghosts and though the Big BadTM was a bit predictable and underwhelming, the acting and emotional buildup of the moments still got me. I actually really enjoyed the noona romance for this one because it felt earnest and lovely though very chaste.

Completed 2023.07.25

Possible Challenges: 9 (Hong Seok Cheon) | 12

Rise of OTT platforms has given voice to rather taboo subjects and this web drama is a great example of this effect. Enjoyable even if it leans too heavy into PSA territory at times. The acting and chemistry between the couples make the story more convincing than it is written.

Completed 2023.08.03

Possible Challenges: 10 (Gong Yoo, Coffee Prince)

I want a refund of my time for this one no matter how gorgeous Lee Yeon Hee is or how cute Gong Yoo and Namgoong Min are. I feel like there was a story that could have been great but the writing (or source material) decided to choose the most overwrought path possible and that just snuffed out any potential the drama had.

Completed 2023.03.10

Possible Challenges: 6 (car) | 11 (Kim Nam Gil) | 25

Was looking forward to this for the cast but ultimately walked away disappointed because the story was boring/predictable and pacing was off. I enjoyed the CGI bits for the most part so it’s not even that the special effects were super disappointing, just the story felt too thin and plain. A case where the idea looks compelling but the drama was far from compelling. Still, this drama had some of the best posters and character posters I’ve seen.

Completed 2023.04.30

Possible Challenges: 12 (Yuri of SNSD)

Decent enough watch though I do not love the Noble Idiocy set up of the premise too much. I really stayed for the acting.

Completed 2023.02.13

Possible Challenges: 4 (Jjajangmyeon) | 9 | 13 (Heo Sung Tae & Yoo Sung Joo) | 19 | 26

This one overall was slightly disappointing. There were parts I really enjoyed, namely Heo Sung Tae and Jang Geun Suk’s acting. But outside of the things I enjoy, there are a number of things that have steadily lowered my rating of this drama -- chief among them being the repetitive editing. I personally prefer my dark thrillers with minimal handholding from the director/writer in helping me piece together the clues and this drama seems far too worried that the audience wouldn't get some of the connections and clues, going overboard in replaying and emphasizing them. I'm also not a fan of some of the cinematography, specifically some of the shots where they have focus pinned only on a portion of a character's face (often their eyes) while the rest of their face is out of focus. I’ll be back for the second part because hello Heo Sung Tae but I don’t think this series will be anything more than a middling thriller for me.

Completed 2023.03.04 (Rewatch)

Possible Challenges: 2 (guy gets short haircut after heartbreak) | 4 (Jjajangmyeon) | 12 (2PM) | 13 (IU & Kim Soo Hyun) | 14 (IU) | 35

(Rewatch) Loved the rewatch! Drama has held up well and while the acting from the kids is green all around, their energy is infectious. I think the drama handled the balance between youthful and adult idealism with harsh reality really well. The friendships felt genuine and heartwarming. If you like any of the cast members, I’d say this is a good watch to see them in their beginning days of acting. They may not be as skilled as they are now but their youthful enthusiasm is still great to watch.

Completed 2023.06.25

Possible Challenges: 1 (possessive wrist grab) | 8 (Kim Hyang Gi) | 15

Hate-watched my way through this, mostly as background noise. Unlike ToTNT 1938 which took the best parts from S1 of the show and expanded on it, Poong S2 took the worst parts of S1 and expanded on it. Instead of focusing on the ragtag found family’s daily tribulations at running a clinic and treating patients, the drama spent way too much time on boring palace politics, adding two (absolutely) insufferable supporting characters whose only purpose in existing is being obstacles to the ML and FL. Putting aside the lack of mature romantic chemistry between ML and FL (I blame casting director), the addition of the SML is probably one of the worst I’ve ever watched. It also so does not help that all the ‘romance’ in this drama feels like puppy crushes instead of deep, profound love — leaving me just shaking my head and feeling like the entire drama is much ado about nothing. The only saving grace of this drama? Very gorgeous hanboks and cinematography. Sadly, S2 has doused much of my affection for the series and will become something I won’t recommend.

Completed 2023.04.09 (Rewatch)

Possible Challenges:  4 (Tteokbokki, ice cream) | 5 (it’s so pretty Ep. 4) | 15 | 16 (Yeon Jung Hoon 1978 Year of Horse) | 22

(Rewatch) I had a pretty bad drama hangover the first time I watched this when it aired. I think my hangover on this rewatch has lasted longer because this round I knew the plot developments so the sense of urgency to find out what happens next was gone, instead I indulged in letting my emotions essentially spiral out of control. Easily one of my favorite melodramas and definitely one of the dramas where (the good) characters show the most maturity.

Completed 2023.03.25

Possible Challenges: 2 (FL piggybacks ML, ML does not touch sleeping FL’s face) | 4 (kimchi, ice cream, fried chicken, Bungeo-ppang) | 5 (childhood connection, hide the BF/GF) | 17 | 26 (writers) | 31

I absolutely loved this drama for the amount of philosophical musings it packed into this fun rom-com with a side of crime/thriller drama. Aside from the brilliant dialogue that is filled with references and word play, what I liked best about the drama is how it subverted certain tropes in ways that became crucial to its overall message. Unfortunately, I do think that appreciation of this drama relies heavily on contextual cultural knowledge, especially familiarity with a large selection of drama tropes and past dramas. Add to the thoughtful writing gorgeous camerawork and beautiful OST along with memorable acting, this drama has definitely won my heart. For me, easily a contender for one of the best dramas this year.

Rewatch Completed 2023.12.03

Possible Challenges: 4 (Fried Chicken | Tteokbokki | Sundae) | 6 (Makeup/Skincare | Restaurant | Health Supplement) | 9 | 13 | 17 | 18 

Hands down one of the best romcoms I have watched where I laughed as much as I swooned. This drama really impresses by the sheer amount of meta it crams in with references to the kdrama/entertainment industry but really shines by its large cast of characters who all have a fun story arc. Excellent writing, hilariously cheeky PPL, and just gorgeous people being awesome -- an absolute hit for me.

Completed 2023.04.28

Possible Challenges: 19

Enjoyed it lots, including the ending, which I thought was actually fitting for the overall theme and tone of the drama. There are dramas where HEA type of endings are expected because of genre and narrative conventions and then there are dramas that establish pretty early on the 'tone' of its intended ending. Picked this up for Shin Hyun Soo and he definitely did great in it but ultimately, it was the high school students that really got to me. A few of them were a bit on the green side but overall, excellent performances.

Completed 2023.11.10

Possible Challenges: 20 | 32

Premise is cute but execution feels lacking with a story that seems to have marched in place for too long in its runtime.

Completed 2023.07.17 (Rewatch)

Possible Challenges: 2 (wrist grab gender switch) | 4 (Jeon, fried chicken, patbingsu, Tteokbokki, kimchi) | 5 (Childhood Connection) | 6 (Coffee Shop: Coffee Bay, Phone, Flavored Drink) | 21 | 22

(Rewatch) An absolute favorite after all these years, the way this drama addresses freedom of press still makes my heart pound. This drama gets recommended a lot for its action and romance elements but for me, it will always remain legendary for its topic of freedom of press and modern history.

Completed 2023.06.15

Possible Challenges: 4 (hoe) | 6 (Makeup: Kahi; Phone; Restaurant) | 21 | 22 | 30

Fantastic melodrama about four friends taking revenge on those that have hurt them. Content warning for sexual assault as it features prominently in the story and some of the dialogue can be very triggering. I loved how the story was built up and the interplay of different relationships based on needs and wants. Entire story felt cohesive and the characters more complex than is often seen in melodramas/makjangs. One of the top 2023 dramas for me.

Completed 2023.06.25

Possible Challenges: 8 | 23

Short slice-of-life drama about a webtoon artist and his cat. The cat was adorable, the drama slightly less so. I think the drama’s biggest failing is its tone — the story is fairly low stakes and therefore the tone should correspond to that. However, the tone of the drama felt weirdly (over) melodramatic too often, including some fairly over the top acting that took me out of the story. Not something I’d recommend strongly.

Completed 2023.11.12

Possible Challenges: 12 | 20 | 24

Being unfamiliar with the source material, I went into this one essentially blind and left it rather bored. While a few of the fight scenes were somewhat fun to watch, the overall story felt thin and boring.

Completed 2023.11.18

Possible Challenges: 5 (Truck of Doom) | 6 (Car) | 9 | 13 | 21 | 22 | 25

I feel that this makjang drama has hit a new level of makjang-ness where the writer has foregone the need for a clear protagonist to anchor the audience and instead shifts through different characters as the 'main lead' as the different story arcs unfold, resulting in an intriguing constantly shifting character focus and thereby shifting moral and ethical standards. It is the idea that the world is not black and grey taken to the extreme of grey becoming the only color on the spectrum. And I absolutely love it for how provocative the constantly shifting focus is. A true makjang fully living up to its genre.

Completed 2023.11.07

Possible Challenges: 4 (ice cream, jajangmyeon) | 23 (dogs) | 26 (Director)

A piece of art in terms of production values. Everyone should at least watch episode one to see how well-made a drama can be. I wish the sound-mixing team for this drama can work on every single drama, they definitely elevated the watching experience. As a thriller, I can't say that I was too surprised by the twist but honestly that didn't matter much because the production values and acting made it a captivating watch.

Completed 2023.12.08

Challenge: 27 based on this recommendation

Absolutely enjoyed this drama because the story was captivating and full of twists that actually had me on the edge of my seat to find out what happened. Despite, or because of, its high school setting, the story was ardent and mature in a way that far superseded my expectations based on the premise of the drama. I especially loved how it portrayed the role of social media and influencers for today's youth while imparting important 'lessons'  without being preachy. Definitely a drama I recommend strongly. (The slightly lower score because acting prowess was a bit uneven with FL being a standout but others being a bit green.)

Completed 2023.05.07

Challenge 28 This Comment especially but other comments raving about it too.

Read lots of comments raving about this BL and decided to go for it. It was indeed a very good show with a good range of friendships displayed. Also the OST, definitely one of the better ones for these short web dramas. Definite recommend!

Completed 2023.12.05

Possible Challenges: 23 (Cat) | 29

Cute workplace romcom. Serviceable watch but doesn't leave a strong impression.

Completed 2023.10.01

Possible Challenges: 15 |  30 | 35

What could have been a great emotional story about intergenerational healing and understanding between a father and son turned into a ludicrous makjang melodrama that was overwrought and unbelievable. An absolute waste of the cast.

Completed 2023.11.02

Possible Challenges: 9 | 31 | 32

A one episode thriller that honestly wants for nothing as it succinctly tells a story of a man that finds himself on a path he chose with no way to go back. Excellent acting, taut storytelling, solid production values with an ending that leaves just enough ambiguity to really capture the heart of the story. Absolute love.

Completed 2023.11.08

Possible Challenges: 4 (Tteokbokki) | 15 | 32

An absolutely heartwarming story about a young girl discovering how lies are part of the adult world. Perfect bite-sized multigenerational story that wrung tears from me.

Completed 2023.03.24

Possible Challenges:  1 (Abusive Parents) | 3 | 5 (rich/poor couple) | 8 (Jang Seo Hee) | 15 | 21 | 22 | 24 | 26 (Kim Soon Ok) | 33 | 35

I can totally see why this drama is a seminal work in the genre of makjang dramas because the twists and characters are absolutely jaw-dropping at times. But what honestly surprised me is how much social commentary is packed into this drama. This drama really demonstrates how context is everything because so many of the characters say things that are often considered ‘good’ or ‘wise’ but become ludicrous in the context of what is happening in the drama and who is saying it.

Completed 2023.02.18

Possible Challenges: 2 (woman put handkerchief down for man to sit in Ep 3) | 5 (amnesia) | 34 (I'm 35th completed watcher) | 35

Went old school (1994 drama) and enjoyed it though the very preachy message about abortion and ridiculous science fiction to back up the message was a bit hard to stomach at times. At 10 eps (~45 min episodes), the story developed nicely and was fairly compelling once I got over the preachy message about abortion. I'd recommend it to see how it treated certain issues in the context of those times but beware of awkward English, some makjang moments, and old school CGI and special effects makeup.

Completed 2023.11.25

Possible Challenges: 4 (fried chicken) | 34 | 35

In theory, I should like the underdog setup and be rooting for the group to succeed. In reality, I found the characters rather bland and the songs even more so. Not the worst drama but it felt stretched too thin.

Completed 2023.08.13

Challenge 36: Makjang Drama Challenge 34 from 2022 KDC

I loved the fish-out-of-water hijinks in this drama so, so much. The MIL-DIL pairing was so sweet and I found myself rooting for them at every single turn. Very enjoyable makjang even if the last episode was trying to cram twenty episodes worth of plot into the last 60 minutes.