Praises and Critiques of My Top K-dramas
Before I start, I did make an attempt to not give any major spoilers. Just 1 or 2. yay!
I am excited to say I caved and watch Strong Woman Do Bong Soon as my first official Kdrama. It's been a TikTok-saved screenshot on my phone since 2019 or 2020. Someone reposted a scene from the show and I was like “that’s a good line, who are they?”.
3 years later… let me tell you, I was not disappointed. I’ll speak more about this later.
In the time span of these past 2 weeks, I have watched 4 1-hour long K-Dramas (Ranging from 16-20 episodes each). Here are my thoughts and critiques in the order of the best shows, in my humble opinion:
Attorney Woo Young Woo hands down. If you want a rom-com that still preserves the classic cultural elements of a true Korean drama while experiencing a happy-go-lucky yet grounded plot that doesn’t make you feel heavier after each episode, then this is the one for you. The script is SO solid that I found me rooting for characters that I didn’t even like. The male lead played by Kang Tae-oh wasn’t a pushover or some model, but a regular good-looking guy with a heartwarming smile. The single father trope is refreshing, and the storyline of following someone who thinks differently than the rest of the world and succeeds “seemingly” effortlessly was not only inspiring but necessary. With all the content in this world that exists for shock value, I often find myself fast-forwarding past certain scenes hence missing crucial elements of the story because honestly it has become mentally taxing. This show felt like a happy, realistic, believable break that had me cheering for every episode. GREAT casting, GREAT Love Story, GREAT Characters, Phenomenal script! I honestly, cannot praise this show enough. Bear in mind, this show is the traditional 16-episode, 1-hour-long series like most K-dramas.
Critique: the show does start off a little slow in pacing but I powered through to episode 2 and was not disappointed in the plot at all.
The King’s Affection. THIS SHOW!!!! THIS SHOW RIGHT HERE!? AMAZINGGGG! I actually didn’t sleep watching this show. I literally stayed up. This powerful, historical period piece that chronicles the life of a Joseon prince (who is actually a woman) blew my mind. This show had a beautiful love triangle with such strong casting and such a powerful script that almost every episode had me on the edge of my seat. The supporting characters deserve accolades! (I was rooting for Hyun the whole time, he’s so sweet!) The only reason this show is not number one is that they leaned on the romance a little bit too much in one too many scenes (starting from Episode 15/16 onwards) after the prince finally accepts Ji-woon’s love. I kind of found myself having to pull myself through episodes 17-19 to get to the main point/resolution in Episode 20 and I didn’t like that. I think the writers created issues to help fill the later episodes and personally, I’d rather the series feel a little rushed and be done in 17 episodes than be stretched out an additional 3 hours with romantic or dramatic or fighting scenes that don’t greatly impact the overall story arc. Also, I had a problem with the protagonist’s love interest, Ji-Woon, being so bendable, it made a complex character seem more like he was one-dimensional. When nearing the climax of his personal story arc we see little to no inner conflict about his previously nonexistent desires for liking another man in Ancient Korea (which we know is hard-core). When he discovers that he likes the king romantically, given the context of that period in time, and the context of his character having no previous interests or allusions to being attracted to someone of the same sex… he showed very short-term and surface-level conflict about it all. His character is pegged as virtuous, thoughtful, deeply intellectual, and hopelessly romantic, but even the most virtuous person must deal with something as core as who you love… with some deeper level of conflict that is believable so that when he comes to the resolution I can believe and understand how he got there. I think in this sense, they gave us a “gratuitous” and less believable character. (though Park Bin and Rowoon together as actors were phenomenal)
Critiques: 1. Dragging the show towards the end of the series by adding a lot (I mean an hour’s worth) of unnecessary fillers that pulled me out of the world the writers’ worked so hard to create. 2. Making the male lead an unrealistically idealistic character. It felt off compared to the very real world they built where everyone had layers to them that were not only better expressed but way more believable, and thus more satisfying.
Strong Woman-Do Bong Soon, again I reiterate… “THIS SHOW!? THIS SHOW RIGHT HERE!?” It sparked a fire in me to watch K-dramas that previous shows tbh killed. However, my heartfelt desire to see less traumatic and overly sexualized Rom-coms with overtly sexualized female and male characters led me to this place. To this sweet, sweet, beautiful gem of a show called Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. Now I don’t have to say too much, but this show’s story is amazing, and a very good gentle introduction to K-dramas for those who aren’t familiar. If you can get past some occasional cheesy moments and some parts of the cinematography… you can see this powerhouse of a show for what it truly is; a classic rom-com.
The characters for the most part were sturdy (except that one screaming character in nearly every episode, the one that lost his teeth fighting a woman). The love story was not only believable yet certain. You have a classic love triangle of 3 very imperfect people. One guy has no idea his childhood friend Do Bong Soon is in love with him. Meanwhile, the newcomer who’s a tech CEO is more assertive. He knows from the very beginning that he wanted Do Bong Soon to be more than a friend and played the long game.
When the protagonist finally recognizes her feelings for her boss Mr. CEO, I rooted for them because she deserved someone who not only saw her as beautiful but ACTIVELY pursued her in a non-creepy, humorous and quite believable way. The screenwriting in this show was actually phenomenal when it came to the primary and most of the secondary characters. I cared about every character’s story arc… again with the exception of the constantly screaming gang member. I can understand he was there for comedic relief as this was also a mystery drama, but it just wasn’t my kind of humor. All in all, a great script doesn’t only make me care about the main character. Every character’s growth is of interest and matters because, in a good script, nothing (no scene or character, or line) should EVER be gratuitous.
This K-drama though filled with innuendos, left out unnecessary love scenes and just focused on telling the story so that the love between the characters speaks for itself (and in this, is where I believe good casting is crucial).
Critiques: Most of my critiques are about the execution of humor in the show. 1. The occasional innuendos that were added for humor's sake but were not quite funny. 2. Direction for certain key characters was a bit grating as the actor’s execution was not ideal (i.e. the shouting gang member). 3. Lingering moments in cinematography here and there, not enough to be displeasing, but enough to make mention of.
Have you watched any of these? Let me know what you think below.
