I Relate To Dong Kyung So Much! If I Went Through That Much Stuff, I'd Write A Fanfic Too!!!

I relate to Dong Kyung so much! If I went through that much stuff, I'd write a fanfic too!!!

Get you a man who's steel

But also so soft

SNARKY

ADORABLE SCARED CUTIEPIE

WHO'S STRONG ASF??

AND SO DAMN PRETTY? (This white sweater I swear)

WAKES UP LOOKING LIKE THIS!

A complete DORK

Who is so handsome T_T (damn forehead exposure)

AND UHHHH HERE I DON'T HAVE WORDS

Yup, one man. Seo Jung Hoo, Park Bong Soo. HEALER. Man, Ji Chang Wook couldn't have been better for this role.

Gifs are not mine.

I wish they could date but he looks just like his brother 😳

just homies

2020 Year in Review: My Korean drama recommendations

2020 is the year I discovered my love for Korean dramas. It wasn’t the first time I’d watched them; I’d seen “Strong Girl Do Bong Soon” and “Hymn of Tragedy” but none of those had me marathoning series after series after series – or creating social media accounts. No, my gateway drug, I mean K-drama, was “Crash Landing on You.” 

After I finished watching the romance between Yoon Se Ri and Capt. Ri Jeong Hyeok, I wanted more. I needed MORE. Fortunately, I have friends and family who know all the good stuff and quickly hooked me up with first-rate shows such as “Goblin” and “Healer.” I’ll do a list of my all-time K-drama faves some other time. Here are the ones that came out in 2020 that I truly enjoyed (all available on Netflix US):

CRASH LANDING ON YOU

The premise sounds ridiculous – South Korean heiress crash lands on the wrong side of the DMZ and hooks up with a dashing North Korean captain – but Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin make it feel possible. Their chemistry anchors a fairly simple story of a woman who finds a home in the most unusual of places. Add a dash of humor, a heap of angst, the best squad ever (the soldier ducklings), the most entertaining group of ajummas and a stirring soundtrack and you’ve got an instant classic.

THE KING ETERNAL MONARCH 

Writer Kim Eun Sook swings for the fences with this ambitious series about a king looking for his destiny and the skeptical detective whose photo has kept him company for 25 years. I think she hit a home run. I’ll admit TKEM is not an easy watch. You’ve got a magical flute, parallel worlds, time travel, time loops and doppelgangers, so you actually have to pay close attention to the details and the dialogue. But it is worth it. Kim Go Eun and Lee Min Ho are absolutely fantastic together, easily switching from banter reminiscent of classic rom-coms to swoony angst and total badassery. And Woo Do Hwan is quite the scene stealer. Watch this show, then watch it again. The second time is even better.

MYSTIC POP UP BAR

This show snuck up on me. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, but I have a weakness for found families. The titular bar is run by a cynical shaman tasked with settling the grudges of 100,000 souls. She is aided in this mission by an afterlife detective and a young man who possesses the ability to make people tell the truth once he touches them. There are “cases” to solve almost every episode but there’s also an overarching mystery and it gets settled quite satisfactorily. It’s a quick watch, only 12 episodes.

IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY (PSYCHO BUT IT’S OKAY)

So much to love about this show. Ostensibly, it’s the story of the romance between an aide at a psychiatric ward and a successful children’s book author. But it’s more than that, it’s about family. Again, found family. I enjoyed the main romance between Moon Gang Tae (Kim Soo Hyun) and Ko Moon Young (Seo Yea Ji) but I found myself more invested in the relationship between Gang Tae and his brother, Sang Tae (Oh Jung Se). And the relationship between Sang Tae and Moon Young. There’s a scene between them much later in the series that had me crying buckets. The series also features some interesting animated sequences lifted from Moon Young’s books and some of the most creative transitions I’ve seen in awhile. Oh, and Seo Yea Ji’s outfits on this show? Fabulous, darling.

HOSPITAL PLAYLIST

This series focuses on five doctors – one girl, 4 dudes – who have been friends since they started medical school. Let me tell you, the actors absolutely sell the friendship and camaraderie. This is more of a slice-of-life show. There are season-long arcs but the focus really is on the doctors, their cases and their relationships with each other. Yes, there are romances but my God, talk about slow burn, LOL! There is a second season and I can’t wait to catch up with the Fab Five of Yulje Medical Center. 

Kang Yo-han and Jung Sun-ah are either gonna hook up or kill each other, there is no in between.

(…) It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women. At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers. Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table. This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun. (…) - Joy Harjo