So...let's see..Dramaworld. In three words: It is special. Let me start by saying that I don't have a lot of k-drama experience (and by that I mean that I have not watched many of them), yet, even like that, I was quite mostly un-pleased and unsatisfied with the popular picks on MDL that I saw till now, safe for few exceptions. By that I don't mean that they did not fit my tastes, on the contrary, they did, but they were ruined from a formal point of view. K-dramas to me are a medium that's too "glamored" up, pretends like giving a story, but then progresses by riding on plot conveniences, obvious plot devices, random mood switches, limited OST, wrong use of tools (flashbacks, transitions), sometimes lazy camera-work and lots of the same tropes that, particularly in romantic comedies, lean towards cliché. They (k-dramas in general) tend to overly-complicate themselves when they don't need to and by doing that, they cover it up with "plot twists" which most of them made me sigh and roll my eyes for appearing more leaning towards wanting to shock the viewer, rather than being justified from a writing perspective, yet the characters involved are considered deep and complex by some of the k-drama fans regardless, which to me makes absolutely no sense. Blame my overly-rational personality that doesn't seek only entertainment, but also good writing. I don't know, but what can I expect when some of "the best" just failed to impress me? Maybe if I were able to get into stuff before starting to overthink and be more mainstream, this wouldn't be a problem to begin with. But anyway, the difference here is that I read/watch lots of different mediums, so I’m not stuck on one particular type of fiction and/or try to apply its rules to every other. I actually seek to learn from all mediums: different ways of story-telling, different styles of creativity, different perceptions etc., K-dramas simply have not impressed me, besides the care that they put in the costumes and the skill of some actors which is indeed a shame to not fully recognize. But Dramaworld however, despite not being completely a k-drama and just a short collaboration... well, it impressed me. Story: It's funny. This is a parody. And I have seen that some of you actually don't have your ideas clear on that and you confused it with a normal comedy, which is quite different from a parody. A parody is a work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of satiric or ironic imitation. So in other words, even while most parodies are mostly made with a comedic purpose, they're driven by a lot of irony and sometimes exaggeration for the purpose of irony, rather than just making jokes and/or unfortunate funny situations. The story is quite simple and sometimes utterly ridiculous, but remains totally justifiable seeing the genre. It's filled with k-drama tropes, stereotpyes and clichès which Claire has to learn to adapt to, but failing miserably for taking stuff way too seriously than she actually has to for most of the time. It's actually very interesting to note more styles intertwining into one: a k-drama one, a parody one and a westernized perception. The simple fact that it doesn't follow a certain formula that most of k-drama fans might be used to, leads to it being completely underrated in terms of the brilliance that this show represents, which I expect to be the case in the long run. Overall, I’m quite sad that this drama wasn’t longer; this being a concept that’s done quite uniquely and if pushed further, it could have been even better than how it already is. Characters They were all as one-dimensional as their stereotypes are and ultimately they don't really develop as people a lot, but is that an issue? For some of you, I'm sure it was/would be one of the aspects that you'd find lacking and pointless, but let's remember that this is a parody. They aren't supposed to mean more than you already see. There are just 3 characters that are "more": Claire (for obvious reasons), Seth (for also mainly obvious reasons) and Joon Park. Claire is the hardcore k-drama fan that lives and breaths k-drama, till she is put into the situation to live one herself. Her character focuses more on her perception of how stuff are supposed to go, simply because it's a k-drama and that's the "rule", even though she's proved wrong by same world because of her impatient, almost forceful ways. My only regret with her character is that, ultimately, she became more involved into her own reality, but at the same time, I don’t think she learnt very much else. Was she supposed to? Not really, it wasn’t remotely the point, though it would have been nice. Seth is…the plot convenience incarnated lol Actually, he is both a plot device and the simulation of a typical k-drama plot twist. I personally really liked him and what he was supposed to represent, though he should have known better in the end. But it’s safe to say that I never enjoyed the “plot twist” character in a k-drama the same way that I did in this one. It was just brilliant! Joon Park is probably the unpopular pick here and most of you might be asking me: Why? He’s as “wooden” as a piece of board. He is…but he’s not. You see, he represents the arrogant, perfect main lead and he is such in every context of the k-drama he is part of, but when put next to Claire, well, stuff change. He still keeps his main lead behavior, but drops a good bunch of arrogance and actually tends to listen to her when he’s supposed to listen to nobody. Now, THIS right here is already a k-drama rule that was broken, which makes Joon Park standing on the line between k-drama and reality just by simply interacting with somebody that’s not part of his world. And that’s very interesting from a writing perspective. Here too I must point out my regret how the characters could have been pushed further if only we got a longer and more proper version, but I should keep what I have. Acting and OST I don’t understand those that say the acting was mediocre or cringy. I think that Claire, Seth and Joon Park in particular were actually quite good and what was cringy for these people might have been the whole contrasts: reality vs k-drama, Korean vs English, the whole parody/exaggerated aspects. After all, those mentioned and those that I didn’t mention just had to do with playing “stereotypes” and “tropes” with no much personality than what they are, so I’m lead to believe that the acting was in this particular manner on purpose and not because the actors were bad. The OST was limited, but it’s way more than what I expected out of such a short drama. And there are some songs that I really really liked and waited for them to finish before moving on to do other stuff. So that gets a high vote from me too. Conclusion Dramaworld deals with the parody-aspect actually quite beautifully.I really must praise the writers for managing to identify most of the tropes and issues of a k-drama (mostly romantic comedies) and bring out both the bad and good parts of it in a way that's quite enjoyable for how true it is. Does it do it perfectly? Of course not, unfortunately, but nothing ultimately does. There were some points where I started questioning, thinking that some characters should know better (like in Seth's case), but it wasn't something groundbreakingly major to ruin my experience. Dramaworld has been the only drama in general that I've followed with dedication and even hyped it, impatiently waiting for the next episode and being actually sad now that's all over. That must mean something so I chose to put some more subjectivity into this than what I usually would. (regardless it would have gotten 9.5 at worst anyway) One last thing that I want to mention here is that, from what I wrote till now, it almost seems like I'm saying that Dramaworld is a drama that "criticizes" k-drama and this is why I like it and maybe that's why some of you didn't like it and considered it completely far-fetched and exaggerated or maybe you just started taking it this way because of my displeasure with k-drama in general in this review. But I want to clarify this aspect. Dramaworld is a short drama that was made in collaboration with Viki which, even while “making fun” and overly-simplifying k-drama aspects, it was made by people that actually LOVE the genre. It wasn’t made with the purpose to insult. And I’m not taking it with the purpose of shoving it in everybody’s faces either to make them look at the reality of it. EVERY genre has its tropes, its clichés, its issues,all in different ways and a parody is to be taken light-heartedly. I actually recommend this to everybody that is able to not take things too seriously and I can promise that it will be a satisfying experience for the most part and if not, it might just be able to make you show a few smiles.