Hey everyone!

We’re having guest posts from the lovely folks on Patreon, to help us take stock of our drama years, kinda-sorta like what we had last year, woot! 🥳

We’ll be seeing about 2 guest posts per week, and this will unfold into January 2023, and that’s perfectly ok. AND, my annual year-in-review, which usually comes out in December, will also come out in January (or thereabouts 😅), after all the guest posts have been published.

If you missed our earlier posts, you can check them out as follows: phl1rxd, j3ffc.

Today, I’m pleased to announce that Uyen is sharing her drama year!

I love that Uyen is a Junho-loving fangirl, and always encourages me by telling me that she very much welcomes any and all Junho content I share on Patreon, heh. She’s such an enabler encourager to me! 😁

Uyen also writes about dramas on her own blog, which you can visit here.

I hope you guys enjoy!

KFG ❤️

Uyen’s Year in Dramas

Hello!! I can’t believe another year is over, but here we are.

My drama journey started with Hana Yori Dango where I was absolutely smitten with that complicated and (now looking back) facepalming high school romance.

Had a hiatus and then two years ago turned on Second 20s and Goblin and have not looked back. Some of my favorites are My Mister, Just Between Lovers, Move To Heaven, Thirty But Seventeen, Because This Is My First Life, Be Melodramatic.

I lean heavily towards romance and the heartwarming with some tears.

I like stories that make me think and feel a lot.

If you responded, “duh,” don’t worry, I had the same exact thought after typing that out. LOL.

But I do like dramas that have introspective moments and characters that have me considering motivations and perspectives. There’s nothing like watching a well written drama where I may not agree with characters’ decisions, but I can understand why they did what they did.

I’m okay with “slower” dramas, as long as I like the characters.

So, here are my highlights from this year.

I really like background music, so sometimes I added in my favorite OSTs and if available, MVs that are spoilery but have nice scenes to rewatch.

Fav Actor:

I’ve never seen Park Ji Hoon in a drama before, but I was really impressed by him in Weak Hero Class 1.

Park Ji Hoon does a stellar job portraying a character who is so lifeless, but who emotes so much. He’s so weary and so quietly angry, that it’s unsettling to look at him because you can sense that he’s bottling up emotions.

There’s a bit of waiting with bated breath for when those emotions come out. And when they come out? We weren’t ready for it.

Fav Actress/Fav Character:

Zhao Lusi brought Cheng Shaoshang in Love Like the Galaxy to life for me. I’ve seen a lot of praise for Wu Lei (rightfully deserved, HEART EYES ONLY HERE), but comparatively less so for Zhao Lusi.

While Shaoshang had less dramatic scenes typically depicted on the big screens at awards shows, I really felt like Zhao Lusi pulled out Shaoshang’s nuances well.

Shaoshang is a complex and at times messy character who is both naive and savvy, impulsive and cautious, vengeful and loving.

I can see her being unlikeable in some ways, but Lusi had me rooting for her from the get go. How could I not, when all she wanted was to live fully for herself?

It was a treat to see her gradual growth over the course of the show.

Fav supporting actor:

I’ve had a major soft spot for Choi Hyun Wook since Racket Boys, and that only deepened this year with Twenty Five, Twenty One and Weak Hero Class 1.

He’s played very charming characters that make me laugh and cry. I wish he had a bigger arc in Twenty Five, Twenty One, but he never failed to make me smile. I’m excited to see the roles he takes on next.

Fav OTP:

Not from 2022, but counting it here since I watched it this year – 2021’s Bossam: Steal the Fate with Ba Wu/Soo Kyung (Jung Il Woo/Kwon Yuri).

They don’t have so much crackly chemistry, but goodness, what a tender love. Even when they barely touched in the whole drama, the way that they looked at each other was everything.

The show faltered in the last half for me with the politics and repetitive arcs, but I dearly loved seeing our gruff kidnapper-ruffian and our serene, kind princess grow to respect and understand each other.

[SPOILERS]

What scenes to mention? The entirety of ep 4, when Ba Wu saves Soo Kyung and they clash while settling into the reality of being stuck with each other for the foreseeable future.

When Soo Kyung cries out Ba Wu’s name for the first time and he throws back a look at her as he’s being dragged away.

Their soft gazes at each other. “If I may be so bold, I wish to live with you forever.” *keeling over*

[END SPOILERS]

“Collar” by SUNNY

Fav non-romantic OTP (but oh what we could have had):

Na Hee Do and Ko Yu Rim from Twenty Five, Twenty One.

Well, we knew they were going to be soulmates from the start. I would’ve liked their nemesis arc to be cut down just a little bit, but when they became besties, it was the most wonderful thing.

I remember Yu Rim got a lot of hate, but I really liked her. Yes, she didn’t have to be that gruff and cold, but I understood her guilt seeing her parents’ sacrifices, her envy at things seeming easy for Hee Do, and the insecurity of losing to a rival.

Their reunion made me shed more tears than some romantic OTPs, and I always loved the way they wholeheartedly supported each other.

Razzie Award:

This one always hurts to give, but mine this year goes to Love All Play.

The first few eps gave me cavities with the sickeningly sweet leads promising me a drama of young love. Of moving past devastated dreams while carving their own paths. I did happily rewatch the first two eps right after watching them.

But by kdrama law, I should’ve known if it’s cute from the start, I should get suspicious.

Sadly I felt like the drama got bogged down in an angsty arc with a character that I never fully felt for.

I was also expecting a sports drama in the line of Racket Boys, where there would be more focus on the team and sport, but again, the personal conflicts trumped these themes.

On the bright side, I enjoyed some of the OSTs and have a soft spot for Park Ju Hyun and Chae Jong Hyeop now. So, not all was lost.

“Flyin’” by Kevin:

Fav Use of Setting:

A tie between Twenty Five, Twenty One and First Love: Hatsukoi

Not all shows have this, but I wanted to do a special shoutout to these two, where the characters’ lives were so deeply intertwined with this idea of time and place, of nostalgia and memory.

For Twenty Five, Twenty One, it was all about the times.

We didn’t do a deep dive into analyzing the historical events, but we indeed have a huge dive into the effects on our characters’ lives from the very start. We had coming-of-age antics and chaotic friendships, but that was always set against the backdrop of these times.

Similarly, for First Love: Hatsukoi, I thought the writers did a really nice job tying societal events in with what the characters experience.

They weren’t just things that just happened to match up historically to the timeline, but were meaningful to the characters’ journeys and growth.

I do wish I had a better understanding of the cultural impact of some of the events mentioned, to have an even richer viewing experience.

Fav Overall Soundtrack:

I thought about Alchemy of Souls too, but Our Beloved Summer ends up being my pick for the best background music to do work to. And it brings back memories of my favorite bickering couple.

Fav character growth and on the flipside, fav character regression:

Both existed in The Princess’s Man (which KFG’s group watch of just ended)!! I will not say who these were but if you know, you know!

“Today I Love You” by Baek Ji Young:

Fav lines:

I wanted to shout out A Poem A Day.

It didn’t make my top list since I didn’t care much for the secondary characters’ stories and fastforwarded through some chunks. I also wish some characters had been more fleshed out.

But I really loved the way the poems were integrated into the story – in terms of how the lines fit into the themes of the episode, the way the words themselves were presented on screen with images, and the instrumentals in the background. Really lovely.

My favorite instrumental was “When Spring Comes”:

Fav chaotic crew:

It’s a tie for me between the young Twenty Five,Twenty One group, and Crown Prince’s time-traveling motley crew in Rooftop Prince.  Loved them both.

[Spoiler for Twenty Five, Twenty One]

Lots of fun scenes, like the car parking fiasco or high school concert. But if I had to choose my favorite memory of them, it would be the beach trip, from the way it went from bad cooking to sharing secrets close to their heart.

[Spoiler for Rooftop Prince]

How could I forget the way the boys made my stomach hurt from laughing when they freaked out over modern life, destroying a TV, bowing to a paper bill, and trying to figure out how to tackle a revolving door?

The one thing they always got right though was rallying around Park Ha ❤️

Top Dramas:

It was hard to narrow down, (I’m sorry, my sweet Our Beloved Summer!), but if I had to choose a few to highlight more fully, here are my favorite ones of the year:

7. Weak Hero Class 1

This was not an easy watch for me, and I had to take a break before picking it back up again.

Violence is always hard to watch, and when it’s youth hurting youth, somehow it feels particularly awful.

We have the “bad guys,” the bullies, but we can also easily see the cycle that leads to them becoming perpetrators of violence in the first place.

Violence is equated with being tough, with power, and violence becomes a marker of someone’s identity.

It’s a shorter watch with 8 eps, but the characters, the characters!

They stole my heart and showed the messiness and confusion of being young. There was warmth, wholesome friendships and pain – I loved it all.

Some scenes were a little violent, but I peeked through my fingers and it was okay. Worth it.

Excellent opening sequence with “Hero” by MEEGO:

6. My Liberation Notes

As an introvert, I related so much to parts of this drama.

The charm of this show for me was how well Park Hae Young can write characters who seem real, with warts and all.

It is definitely slice of life/slower paced, but credit to the writing and acting that I personally really enjoyed watching the conversations and felt like a fly on the wall.

I love that each of the Yeom siblings had very distinct personalities and trajectories of what they were grappling with: money/success, love, self esteem.

There’s also an interesting contrast between country and city life and the idea of dreams and failure.

It’s one of the dramas I look forward to rewatching because I feel there’s more things I’d pick up on during the rewatches.

It also has my Fav OST of 2022 that makes me feel so at peace: “My Spring” by LEE SUHYUN

5. Silent

As of writing this post, I still have the final episode to watch.

But unless things go terribly wrong (knock on wood), based on the emotions it’s wrung out from me, I’m pretty sure this drama is in my top ones for the year.

It’s another second chance romance, but more than that, I haven’t seen too many dramas centering disabled people.

I felt like in this debut work, Miku Ubukata was very empathetic towards the characters and showed the different perspectives of a hard of hearing/deaf man and the people around him.

There’s just a lot of love in it, from friends and family. The characters themselves want to learn more about each others’ experiences, and it’s kinda lovely to think about that happening in real life too.

“Subtitle” by Official Hige Dandism: ​​

4. Arang and the Magistrate

There are just some shows that grab your heart from the start for no rhyme or reason except that gut feeling that “I love this,” and Arang and the Magistrate felt this way for me.

Like most 20 episoders, I do feel it could have been cut down. Some of our plots/characters seemed draggy and dampened at the end, but honestly the worldbuilding here and our leads got my heart.

I like that with one exception, our antagonists were interesting; the notion of free will/desire and the fates of humans and gods were explored in a way that made me think.

I dearly love Eun Ho and Arang together (Lee Joon Gi and Shin Min Ah were a pairing I did not know I needed until I got it).

I have a soft spot for spunky ghosts trying to find out who they are and just wanting to live.

Instrumental “Destiny”:

3. First Love: Hatsukoi

I love second chance stories and have seen a number of variations by now on this. But I was happy to find that this drama still hooked me in.

It is largely due to the writing (kudos to Yuri Kanchiku) and strong performances that got me fully invested in our characters.

Technically it is slower paced just taking us through different scenes of their lives, but I was so curious to know what happened that I kept wanting to watch more.

The music fit perfectly and is woven through seamlessly with some beautiful shots.

I’m excited to rewatch because I know the piecing together of past/present timelines are very intentional.

This was as much about first dreams as it was about first love to me, about living fully with loss. I felt very sad when it was over and wanted to see more of our characters.

“First Love” by Itada Hikaru:

Instrumental “Thought of You” by Taisei Iwasaki:

2. My Unfamiliar Family

Family — you love them, and they drive you mad.

This drama captured what it’s like to be cruelest to the people you love the most, and also show up for them when they need it the most.

I found myself drawn to the characters right away and became very invested in our Kim family.

On one hand, the tangle of family secrets seemed dramatic, but on the other, they were grounded in very relatable emotions.

I had some minor gripes, but it made up for it in the moments that really gutted me or warmed my heart.

Non-communication is the death of relationships, and this was a reminder that even among family (perhaps especially among family), there is so much we don’t know and have to put effort into learning about.

I loved that our family members felt fully fleshed out, and I thought the cast was excellent.

Instrumental “You & Me” by Shin Min Yong:

Drama of the Year:

If you somehow missed KFG’s review or phl1rxd giving it a shoutout, yes, here it is, in your face, once again.

Love Like the Galaxy has to be the one for me.

I just did not see it coming. Bless the Patreon community for piquing my interest in this one.

I came in with little expectations and perhaps that helped? I rewatched it right after watching it and am on a third watch with my drama buddy.

I thought about the characters outside of watching the show. I fear I was and still am annoyingly obsessed with it.

It has all the elements in a good watch for me: some humor, some angst, some swooning.

I’m always here for a good yearning, a nice slow burn. I could watch it without thinking too deeply and still feel entertained.

But, as I like to do, there is lots to think about in terms of character relationships and personalities that makes it very fun for rewatches.

There are some one dimensional characters, but with that, there are also some strong and interesting female characters who made the show for me.

Yes, there are many episodes, but the character building was very important for me for the emotional payoffs. My brain recognized logic gaps at times, but my heart just skipped right forward over them.

I really want to pick the brains of the director and actors on how they adapted the drama from the source material because I’ve seen snippets of the novel, and I prefer how characters/scenes were changed in the drama.

Cinematography and editing were gorgeous to look at in certain scenes, and the choice to center instrumental music was an excellent one.

At the end of the day, it had me stupidly smiling, crying and screaming into a pillow at times and ain’t that a great show to make you feel that way?

I hope you all have that show that does that for you too! 

Instrumental “Wind Of Sorrows From Thousands Miles”:

In conclusion

Whew! That ended up up a bit longer than I expected. Thanks for sticking through it.

There were other great stories and characters who captured my heart, that I just did not get a chance to do justice to here. I’m excited to hear about which ones captured yours this year.

Wishing you all a restful and happy holidays!!

~Uyen