MaryMeKpop

It’s nearing the end of the year which means it’s time for a year end review of my favorite and not-so-favorite dramas! My first part covered my least favorite/most disappointing watches of the year so this second part will cover my favorite shows that I watched (and some Honorable Mentions). So with that being said, please read below to see which dramas I enjoyed this year.

I also want to wish everyone a great, safe, and happy holidays! I hope you all enjoy this time with your loved ones and I’ll (hopefully) see you guys more next year!!

Honorable Mentions

Doctor Slump

‘Doctor Slump’ was a rather cliche drama with tropes seen plenty of times before in K-dramaland but it also somehow managed to keep me engaged and interested throughout. The drama was charming and entertaining and I found myself returning to it every weekend. I think the two lead actors, Park Hyung-sik and Park Shin-hye, played a big contribution in my positive viewing experience and it’s just another testament again to how good Park Hyung-sik is in rom-coms and how his comedic timing is one of the absolute best.

Lovely Runner

Oh ‘Lovely Runner’, the drama that you are. ‘Lovely Runner’ was super popular when it first came out and will definitely be included on many people’s list of favorites dramas for the year. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching dramas for a very long time or I’m outgrowing dramas that are webtoon adaptations but ‘Lovely Runner’ was a good but not great watch, hence why it made it to my Honorable Mentions list. The biggest selling point was the chemistry between Byeon Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon who generally have really good chemistry with their co-stars so it wasn’t a surprise that these two had amazing, electric, and sizzling chemistry with each other as a couple in this drama. ‘Lovely Runner’ was a drama that I paid great attention to in the beginning but as it went on, I started to slowly lose my interest because I felt like things got a bit too repetitive for my liking. I think ‘Lovely Runner’ was one of those dramas that would have benefited from being 12 episodes instead of 16. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it but it wasn’t a complete watch for me which is why it made it to my Honorable Mentions category.

Frankly Speaking

Okay, I know I know. This drama might be a pretty controversial pick but I just had to add this onto my list. ‘Frankly Speaking’ wasn’t the bestttt drama ever but there was this hint of relatability to certain moments and phases in our characters’ lives that really resonated with me which is why I enjoyed it. The second half of the drama wasn’t the strongest and was rather random with its stories and sub-plots. And perhaps it was this unpredictability and uncertainty that deterred some viewers away. The first half was essentially a rehashing of the popular dating show “Single’s Inferno” and then the second half was a mix of many random things so it seemed like the drama didn’t really have a direction of what it wanted to do or where it wanted to go. But still, even in the chaos and uncertainty of all this, I felt like ‘Frankly Speaking’ was pretty fun to watch because of the humor and comedy (Go Kyung-pyo and Kang Hanna seriously have the best comedic timing and they were both so funny in this drama). I know I’ll probably be in the minority by ranking this drama in my Honorable Mentions but I don’t know – I kind of liked how wild and carefree and free-spirited the drama was.

My Favorites!!

Flex X Cop

Yes, yes, yes to this drama and more! ‘Flex X Cop’ was definitely one of my favorite dramas of the year and it didn’t help much that it aired in the beginning of the year because all the other dramas that came after it just couldn’t compare. Starring Ahn Bo-hyun and Park Ji-hyun, ‘Flex X Cop’ follows our team of detectives who work together to solve various crimes and cases. In their journey, we watch as they grow as well as struggle in the different predicaments thrown at them while also enduring circumstances happening in their personal lives.

I love teamwork-oriented dramas and ‘Flex X Cop’ is a great representation of this concept. It executes this concept so well in the way that Ahn Bo-hyun’s character, Jin Yi-soo, is integrated into Park Ji-hyun’s character, Lee Gang-hyun, and her team. The Jin Yi-soo who’s a bit too haughty, a little too confident, a little silly, a little too impulsive and rash and wild at times joins a team of detectives who does things by the book and follows the rules to a tee. And that’s why they made a great team who balanced one another out and knew how to work together. Things weren’t always smooth and the team experienced plenty of up’s and down’s throughout their journey together but they stuck together through it all and really had each other’s back.

Along with the teamwork, the drama focused on the personal lives of Jin Yi-soo and Lee Gang-hyun and this was probably one of my favorite aspects about the show. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed watching our team work together to chase after the bad guys and solve the crimes that plagued the lives of those who lost their loved ones. But I also liked that there was much more to the drama than just the criminal cases.

We watched as Jin Yi-soo internalized and processed the loss of his mother throughout the drama. Then we watched as Gang-hyun navigated a confusing and complex relationship with her father who had lost his job at the same police station she worked at. And in fact, it’s Gang-hyun’s relationship with her parents (especially her father) that I enjoyed the most about the drama. Her mission to honor her dad’s name and to help him clear his name and gain his leadership position back was so rewarding to watch. We watched as she involved her dad in a case and received his assistance to capture the villains. Initially, her dad was hesitant to help her out but he eventually gave in and participated and I loved that he was willing to do what it took to help his daughter out. And of course, Gang-hyun worked tirelessly to clear her dad’s name as seen in the case where she and the team all worked together to capture the scammer of the religious cult which eventually enabled her dad to get his job back. Gang-hyun isn’t the most emotional and expressive person and she doesn’t always say what’s on her mind or in her heart so that made everything so much more rewarding when all was said and done. Her actions did all the talking for her.

Along with Gang-hyun’s relationship with her dad, my favorite other aspect about the show was Jin Yi-soo and Gang-hyun’s relationship with each other. The drama never highlighted their relationship as something romantic but they did hint at a few things that made you feel like there was something between them or that there could be something between them. I loved how mutual their relationship was and how they were always together (to even the point where Park Jun-yeong had to point out why they were always together when solving the cases, haha). And it’s through always being together and working together that they grew close and really got to know each other better. ‘Flex X Cop’ already had a lot going on and a full-on romance between the leads wouldn’t have hurt, but I kind of liked how slow-burn and subtle their relationship was. We didn’t see them holding hands or kissing or doing anything directly romantic. It was in the way that they checked in on each other, the way they fought the bad guys together, the way that they sneaked glances at each other (like we saw at the end of episode 12 EEEEEEK), or the way that they chatted with each other on the street during moments of difficulties and hardships. ‘Flex X Cop’ teased the possibility of a romantic relationship throughout the whole show and I liked that it was more of a preview for what was to come and what their relationship could amount to in the next season. In the second season, I’m expecting the romance to be elevated a bit more and for the two leads to maybe (and finally?) act on their feelings for each other (I predict that Jin Yi-soo will confess first!!)

With that being said, ‘Flex X Cop’ wasn’t perfect by any means and there were a few things that I noticed. Sometimes, some of the missions did seem a bit over-exaggerated as we saw with the helicopter scene in episode 3 or when our two main characters got dropped and trapped into the underground water basement in episodes 11 and 12. Sometimes, the drama made it seem like our detective team was fully incompetent and incapable of solving crimes without Jin Yi-soo’s help so I wished there was a way to highlight Jin Yi-soo’s contributions and importance to the team without putting down the detective team. It made me question at times if our cop team was really that lost and bad without Jin Yi-soo. I think there was a way to show just how important he was to the team with his reckless and unconventional ways of problem-solving/contributions/efforts and at the same time, highlight how smart our cop team was. They just needed one more piece to their team and Jin Yi-soo was that piece for them.

So yes, the drama did have a few wacky scenes with some of the missions and action scenes. But it did also have serious and sincere moments such as the end of episode 3 when Jin Yi-soo and Gang-hyun had an honest and genuine conversation about one of the victims in the case that they were investigating. This scene in particular has to be one of my favorite scenes because it was one of the first glimpses that demonstrated the contrast that ‘Flex X Cop’ could so delicately balance and handle: it can be a fun adventurous drama and can also involve more serious and sincere conversations. This was also one of the first times in the drama where Jin Yi-soo and Gang-hyun had a more serious conversation that didn’t involve any bickering or fighting and it showed us a different side to their characters as well as relationship.

Then there were other heartwarming moments and scenes such as the scene where Jin Yi-soo joined Gang-hyun and her family for dinner – something that he hadn’t done in such a long time since his mother’s passing. And after he finished dinner, he bid farewell with Gang-hyun outside and joked that even though Gang-hyun’s mom’s cooking was salty, he thought of it all so fondly because it was so warm and inviting and it had been such a long time since he had experienced something like that. The Jin Yi-soo, who grew up lonely and had missed out on moments that any normal family would experience, finally got that opportunity thanks to Gang-hyun and her parents. There were moments in the drama that screamed fun and risky and wild but in between these missions were also moments of sincerity and seriousness and warmth. There was a little bit of everything.

Even as I’m writing this review at the end of the year, there are scenes and moments in ‘Flex X Cop’ that I still remember and think about fondly. This drama was truly my favorite of the year for so many reasons and it was such a good watch. Though the drama primarily focused on Jin Yi-soo (and I might add, this character fit Ahn Bo-hyun SO perfectly. I’ve always liked him but he was so good in this drama. This character matched him so well and he looked SO FINE all the damn time!!), I also really have to give kudos to Park Ji-hyun as well. She portrayed Gang-hyun so so well and I think she interpreted the character in a way that I don’t think many other actresses would have been able to do. On paper, Gang-hyun was a stern and strict team leader who came off as rude or standoff-ish. But really, she was someone who cared about her loved ones and her team members and those around her even if she may not have always expressed it directly. Gang-hyun could have been misunderstood to be a jerk or could have been seen as someone irritating and frustrating. And maybe an actress who didn’t have the acting chops or range would have portrayed Gang-hyun that way. But I never hated or disliked or grew annoyed of Gang-hyun in the drama and I think that speaks volumes about how careful, subtle, and intentional Park Ji-hyun was about portraying Gang-hyun and carefully carrying out her story. Both Ahn Bo-hyun and Park Ji-hyun nailed down both of their characters so well and the drama got the casting perfectly and this definitely played a big reason as to why it was so good.

All in all, ‘Flex X Cop’ was my favorite drama of the year and I’m excited at the news of a second season. So well-deserved and I can’t wait to see what things our team has in store for us.

Family By Choice

It’ll take me a while to forget all the feels I had when I finished watching the first few episodes of ‘Family by Choice.’ It was nearing the end of the year and I had yet to find a drama that compared to ‘Flex X Cop’ so I lost all hope. But then ‘Family by Choice’ popped up and I started to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel again.

‘Family by Choice’ is the remake of the 2020 Chinese drama ‘Go Ahead.’ It follows the lives of our five family members as they navigate confusing and unconventional dynamics that are perceived as taboo or are looked down upon in society. And through all of the challenges and struggles, they learn more about not only one another but also about themselves and how it’s up to you to choose who your family is and not what others tell you.

‘Family By Choice’ took you as a viewer through the question of what family is and how one defines or shows that. The show followed how the family navigated the awkward and difficult conversations, the social stigma, and the drama that they encountered throughout their lives. We watched as our two male lead characters, Kim San-ha and Kang Hae-joon, were abandoned by their biological mothers, and were taken in by Yoon Jung-jae to live with him and his daughter, Yoon Joo-won. Then as the drama progressed, various questions were raised. What would happen when their biological moms returned? What would happen when they wanted to pursue their own dreams and goals or had separate familial obligations that they wanted to tend to? What would happen when the characters grew up and sought to live out their own lives? ‘Family by Choice’ explored this concept of family and how society has ingrained you to believe that your family members are the ones who you were born into or share blood with. But as seen with Kim San-ha and Kang Hae-joon, family also meant so much more.

I enjoyed watching the family dynamic with our five family members and how consistent the characters were throughout the show. For example, Yoon Joo-won (played by Jung Chae-yeon) is focused on keeping her family together. She lost her mother when she was young so it was only her and her father so she yearned to have an older brother or siblings who she could play with and live with. Then came Kim San-ha and Kang Hae-joon and her life changed for the better. The drama consistently made it clear what her stance was in regards to their family and what her role in the family was. In a way, one could say that she was literally the glue to the family. As I usually do with all the dramas I watch, I like to watch interviews of the cast members and there was one interview specifically where the cast members were given the task of sending a message to their characters. When it was Jung Chae-yeon’s turn, she said something along the lines of “it’s okay not to try to hold on too tightly, and it’s okay not to try so hard.. It’s okay to just go with the flow” and I think this message was an accurate summary and representation of what Joo-won was like. Joo-won was so afraid of change and so afraid of her family separating and so afraid of losing her family that she did all that she could to try to keep them together. And when things ultimately shifted and altered and she realized that her brothers were also their own people with their own lives, wants, and needs in life, she had to pivot. She had to learn how to adapt and adjust to a new style of living. While the drama did generally focus on San-ha and Hae-joon’s story a little bit more, I liked how consistent Joo-won’s character was (and I also want to commend Jung Chae-yeon on her portrayal and interpretation of Joo-won. Chae-yeon acted well in the drama in general but I also think that her character could be interpreted as someone who’s immature, childish, frustrating, and annoying with just how much she tried to keep the family together. But Joo-won was never frustrating or irritating to me and I think a big reason for that is because Jung Chae-yeon played her perfectly).

So you watched the characters from when they were kids to high school to eventually adults and how they navigated every chapter in their lives respectfully. It wasn’t until I watched episode 10 that I finally had a better understanding of what the drama was about. Up until that point, I wasn’t so sure if the drama wanted to focus on the lives of San-ha and Hae-joon or if it wanted to focus on the family dynamic. But once I finished episode 10, I realized that the drama was supposed to be about the family and their unconventional dynamic. San-ha and Hae-joon returned to their hometown after they got to live out the “what-if’s” in their lives and they knew that they would always have a family with Joo-won and Jung-jae (and San-ha’s father, Dae-wook). It was fun and heartwarming to watch the family love and care for one another in their own ways through the good and the bad and the ugly. That’s what family is all about, isn’t it?

I do have to admit though that I felt like ‘Family by Choice’ fell a bit in the second half once our sibling trio transitioned into adulthood. I found the high school era to be a lot more interesting and wished they had spent more time during that phase. Once the drama focused on the three characters in their adulthood era, I felt like things dragged on, slowed down, and generally got less interesting. I also left feeling a bit suspicious and iffy on how the mothers and women were portrayed in this drama. San-ha’s mother was incredibly cruel and mean pretty much the entire drama and Hae-joon’s mother was also perceived negatively with the way she abandoned Hae-joon then didn’t want to see him at one point when she came back to their hometown. I was puzzled at just how evil the mothers were portrayed in this drama and I get that it’s for the “plot” or whatever, but still, it felt a bit odd and awful that the mothers were the “bad guys” in the drama.

With that being said, ‘Family by Choice’ remained at the top of my list because of the refreshing and sincere and heartwarming approach it took in addressing the concept of family and what it means to be family. You may not always have control of life circumstances that are thrown at you but you do have the choice to make something out of it, bounce back from it, and respond to it. Our family of five were all thrown off by this thing called life but they didn’t care what others had to say. They became a family and continued to be a family. They were a family by choice.

Light Shop

Oh man oh man, I’m writing the review for ‘Light Shop’ fresh off of just having finished the drama! I wish I could say so many more things about it but I unfortunately could not stomach watching everything from the first four episodes because of how scary it was (I’m a scaredy cat LOL). The drama executed the horror so well that I was too scared to pay attention to every detail so I’m pretty sure there were many things I missed along the way. But then the following episodes revealed the stories of each of our characters and we finally got a better understanding of their worlds. Who they were, how they ended up where they did, and what their situation was. ‘Light Shop’ was one of those dramas where you shouldn’t judge it by its cover. It initially presented itself as a horror show (which it did really well!), but there was also so much more to it. There were layers and layers that the drama revealed in the second half to explain everything and I was definitely not expecting to cry. I was not expecting it to be a tearjerker. I was not expecting the heartbreaking and heartwarming moments and yet ‘Light Shop’ had all of that and more.

‘Light Shop’ was so refreshing, creative, and innovative with its storytelling and how it presented a world where the dying were accompanied by their deceased loved ones to find the will to live and how our two main characters played a crucial role in the process of doing that. And I liked how plot wise, the drama wasn’t focused on a separate person or case each episode and that instead, our central group of characters were all affected by one devastating and heartbreaking incident. The entire show revolved around the same group of characters who were all in comas due to a tragic bus incident and we watched as they each had to navigate the complex boundaries between life and death. Would they find the will to live and find their light at the end of the tunnel? Or would they choose to forego the light and die? And I think the drama’s narrative choice of choosing to focus on the same group of characters throughout the show played to its strength. We became attached to the characters, their backgrounds, and their stories and things definitely wouldn’t have been the same if the drama was episodic and case-by-case. The consistency with the characters and their relation to the same incident was the catalyst to this story and pushed the drama to be as strong and whole as it was.

Each of the characters were crucial to the overall story and I think the drama did a good job of highlighting their stories, respectively. I liked that we even got some background and context on how the light shop guardian/keeper, Jung Won-yeong (played by Joo Ji-hoon), ended up as the light shop keeper. If I had to choose, I think the mother and daughter relationship between Yoo-hee and Hyun-joo was probably the story that got to me the most. All the other characters made me emotional but the farewell scene between these two was what finally broke me and made me cry. Anything that has to do with parental relationships always gets to me and Yoo-hee and Hyun-joo’s mother and daughter relationship definitely did as well. It was so so well done and well acted by Lee Jung-eun and Shin Eun-soo.

The writer for ‘Light Shop’ is the same as the writer for ‘Moving’ which comes as a surprise but also doesn’t really come as a surprise given how good both dramas are. Even though tonally and story wise, they’re on opposite ends of the spectrum, it just goes to show how talented Kang Full is and his range with his creative storytelling. He has a whole universe set up and it was exciting to see the crossovers as we saw with the ending for ‘Light Shop.’ While ‘Moving’ was more superhero focused and ‘Light Shop’ was more horror-oriented with a human element, both dramas were great in their respective ways. I’m excited at the idea and concept of a universe and can’t wait to see not only more Kang Full drama adaptations but also how all of the various stories and characters from the different worlds will be interwoven and intertwined.