Korean and Turkish Dramas I've Watched

Childhood spy revenge plot. Very weird sexual chemistry and strange dynamics to the acting. But well put together. We love an ice queen.

One of my favourites.

Didn’t finish. Nice change in strong female lead but I didn’t like the male lead’s acting.

That it didn’t get a season 2 is a crime.

I loved it until the ending. Incredibly beautifully acted.

The aesthetics are just amazing. Great show. Love it to bits.

S1: 10/10. The best. One of my favorite shows of all time. Has absolutely everything you could want. Adventure, comedy, romance, action, world building, great characters, great acting, cinematography etc.
S2: It never happened. That’s a different show.

I had no idea the last episode was actually the end. It seemed so sudden. Very meh.

DNF. Great premise, pace, and acting, but got gratuitously dark and soap-opery in places.

Loved the beginning but went downhill. Sweet show. Some weird acting moments.

Hilarious, quirky. Underrated show.

I liked the more unique plot but the acting seemed off and non-genuine in key scenes. Really brings down the rank of the show, even if it was enjoyable to watch.
The second male lead really sparkled in this.

Funny weirdos.

It was pretty cute until 2/3. Then got kind of boring. Plus the MF did that whole I’ll believe in you rather than facts thing which was romanticized but in actuality was super messed up given she was hanging out with someone she knew was a murderer. I’m sorry if you think that’s romance, you have some self-sabotaging tendency towards toxic relationships. Got really soap operay at the end in the explanation for everything. She also gives up on her special ability and career in the end in a way that, again was framed as character development, but actually gave real ick vibes. Not my favorite.

Shining for you. Chinese. 1/2 watched.

So well acted, very dramatic and epic.

Funny, romantic Turkish show.

You will not see a better fake engagement to lovers trope.
This show is inconic. But it also has 54 2 hour episodes. So does it maintain its quality? Hell no. But the first 7-14 are ✨. And the last 10 or so were also pretty good.
The acting is A+.
But it once again becomes avoidant attachment as plot, and honestly Eda deserved 2,000x better than this man.

Come on, where is season 2?

Jung so Min always delivers. Hilarious and sweet. Needed more of a resolution in the ending. Easily one of my fav rom coms.

Honestly just kind of boring. But it’s a sweet show, helps me fall asleep.

Just bad. The acting is very stone-like and the leads have no chemistry. I swear they hate each other. The storyline is sweet and wholesome except for the moments of muderous devil spawn.

The ‘recharging’ gimmick was cute. But it’s basically insta-love and pretty boring. DNF.

Sets itself up as a smart, political slow burn mystery in the first few episodes but then dissolves into the worst written mess of cliche after cliche. The villain is one note and over the top.
K Drama Redditors tore this apart and it seemed to generally have a disappointed audience reaction.
Lee Jae Wook gives an absolutely amazing performance as always however. The way that man wears a suit is honestly reason enough to watch this trainwreck.

A+ comedy in the first couple episodes. Then it makes you cry and cry and cry. Definitely one of the higher tier K dramas. Very well acted. Romantic, sad, funny. Shows actual character and relationship growth. Not just insta-love and done. The family drama stuff can feel like space filler but over all well done.
Definitely one of the top romance shows I've ever seen.
You can just tell this show held itself to a high standard. It didn't want to be any other show, and it feels like one that will stand out for a decade +. It's beautiful. A lot of crying melodrama but beautiful.
Ep 15 was a bit weak writing-wise. They had a great set up and I it wasn't well utilized. Also her saying she ONLY lived for him felt more weirdly codependent than romantic. Like a betrayal of her character.
The end of the show did drag and lose quality.

This show is like a who's who of Korea's best actors. It has a lovely, life-affirming message. It's got romance to make you literally sob. But it's also got a lot of gratuitous violence which is not my cup of tea. A lot of it. You know the kind that doesn't have to go that far but the writers like taking it further? That kind. The main villain is also an over the top psycho rather than understandable.
Part 2 gets into a pyshco serial killer storyline which is definitely not my cup of tea so DNF.

Kind of hurt to see Kim Ji Soo play a villain in this as he was one of my fav rom leads. Also Lee Jae Wook gives a stellar performance. Any surprise?

It has comfort show energy. Nothing particularly wow about it. It drags a bit too much, makes drama where there really doesn't need to be in that annoying way, and has iffy handling of an LGBT storyline. But it's sweet and cute.
The last couple episodes were really just boringgggg.

C Drama. Very soap opera-y. But the FL is great. Love an ice queen.

So many problematic, misogynistic aspects of the show though. Literally all the women just function to either love or revenge the men in their lives. The women do horrible things for the men which the men then abuse them for, somehow justifying the men being horrible people??? It's like it was made to be a gender studies essay.

Nevertheless is an interesting case. The leading guy is such an unlikeable, downright psychopathic character, and yet the show holds a special magic to it. I'm on my second rewatch and I know I would watch it again.
The plots of the side characters are so sweet and well acted, especially the gay couple (I love them to bits). The soundtracks repeating tracks create this nostalgic feeling. The art lanscape. The acting. When ML is watching MF box up his stuff, the heart ache in his eyes made my chest ache. It was just such an incredibly well put together scene. The chemistry between the actors. The emotional glances. Their friendship.
The cast just brought such humanity to the show, almost similar to Friday Night Lights in the way that let's you forgive how utterly ridiculous the script is.
Where in regular life you would have communication, the show just has silence and angst, and laying against the fridge looking like you've been hit by a truck.
I mean all the leading dude had to say was I'm not dating anyone else, I only want you, but he literally seemed to enjoy the power dynamics of having someone want him and not having to give back. Avoidant attachment as plot TM.

Unfortunately it's always going to be haunted by the irony of one of the side actors being found out as a compulsive cheater, while in the show he plays someone broken by a person who won't commit to him. Some people can't learn a lesson even if you throw a brick at them.

+The last episode was a really poor resolution. I mean nothing is actually resolved or communicated well. They just kiss and say well nevertheless, despite all the toxicity, let's do this anyway. It's like hmm let's use the title of the show as a mechanism to justify how shallow the writing is.
The messaging of the show is honestly also really sad and kind of encouraging toxic relationships. Na Bi was a neglected child who has only ever been in horrible relationships, and she chooses to continue to date someone who she believes will hurt her. And it's justified bc infatuation*∼ means you should just go along with it apparently.
Honestly if this show didn't have the cast it did, it would be an utterly forgettable mess. The casting director deserves all the money.

I feel like they were almost setting us up for S2 with the ending. I would've liked to see more resolution and more of this group together.

+Apparently this show is based on a webtoon and in the webtoon they do not end up together. Time for some more reading.

Very well written drama. And I mean drama as in dramaaaa. The show really gives you that “Ooh, no they didn’t!! It’s hitting the fan,” emotional rush every episode. The stakes have been well set-up to make you feel the emotional impact of events. It packs a punch. And it makes good entertainment.
Haven’t watched something like that in a while.

Of course you can also roll your eyes at another ‘they’re rich but they’re sad and neglected’ representation of rich kids but at least it’s done well.

The first few episodes were the best and then it goes more and more down hill. There are plot holes as if the writers wrote episodically, not planning where things are going. Eg. If the murder couple cares so much about not being found out then why was there a scene saying it doesn’t really matter if people know? And it kind of undid the theme of the show of being against bullying to then make it about a lover’s coverup.
The skip forward editing was also confusing at times and a bit unsatisfying.
Quite a few morally grey characters that honestly are terrible people but their good qualities are so often emphasized it’s like asking the audience to not care.
The two main male leads were fantastic. The main actress was pretty good too but her role was all about being dead eyed which only gives so much.
It also doesn’t really make sense that she’s supposedly a kind person but with one of the biggest bullies at the school.
The show got messy and flew off in too many directions basically. It went from interesting mystery character study drama to soap opera. The writing just did not hold up.

The acting was also inconsistent, especially from the supporting actors. Rian’s weeping also felt a bit off but the writing was also bad. He’s not given anything to do but cry and say he’s sorry he’s not an 18 year old father.

Rian’s character is also such a mess. He only apologized bc his GF told him to care. And while sure, you can show one person influencing the other, we don’t really get to see the process of his change of heart, so it feels cheap. Is he an entitled, low-key violent bully or a softie? The show can’t decide.

The last episode feels so amateur. The acting and writing are off. Sudden emotional reactions that don’t feel earned. Sudden changes in behavior. It’s not emotionally resonant.

Everything gets wrapped up neatly but you’re not given the satisfaction of the struggle of process. He takes the evidence to the police and they care? They prosecute for bullying?

The teacher’s whole storyline is a mess too.
And how is Rian responsible for the death really? He bullied him onto the street? True. But it’s totally not his fault what happened outside. Blaming him seems ridiculous when we know the bullies had nothing to do with his death.
+We’re told ML3 is capricious with his feelings but then all of a sudden he’s in love with Hera because she looked pretty in a dress. Literally. And then he dumps his girlfriend over it. The writing is a joke.

Basically the first 3 episodes were great and then it really feels like a different show. It managed to be a Korean Gossip Girl for 2 seconds.
The best part of the show was the Romeo and Juliet aspect IMO but it’s basically only touched on and then the show is over.

C romantic drama. Not particularly well done. But a good comfort show. Just interesting enough that I want to watch it but boring enough I can easily fall asleep at night. It's pretty cute. The main actress does very well. The later episodes take the turn into the territory of B-writing inexplicable psycho villain out of the blue.
So many storylines are introduced that more could have been done with.

C drama. Tbh I haven't found a C drama yet that's the same quality as K dramas. They tend to have a lot more soap opera writing. But this one was honestly a pretty strong soap opera.
The plot revolves around the psycho cold seductress archetype. She body switches with one of the women she's hurt and they're forced to live each other's lives.
The main actresses did a fabulous job switching between dark and kind. In a body switching drama it's nice to have actors who can really make you see the character no matter who's playing them.