ilovethemac

[ilovethemac]

So, ya know how some dramas get way more hype than they deserve? Yeah, Hidden Love is not one of those. The hype is absolutely justified.

[ilovethemac]

Can you recommend like a fun, silly, summery drama? I'm looking for similar vibes as Cheer Up or Age of Youth (female friendships are a plus). It's hard to find something without melodrama.

First off, I LOVE your user icon! (- ‿◦ )

And I definitely want to help you find something silly and easy to watch, especially as we enter the depths of winter! Some of these are a little less slice of life but still fun. Also I know you already watched/mentioned a couple of these but I'm adding them to the list for everyone else who might be game!

Light Hearted Fun K-dramas (little or no melo)

Soundtrack #1 (slice of life/romance) Best friends for almost 20 years, the two leads start having feelings for one another while working on a project. This drama only has a few episodes which is a shame because it's really cute! As a Park Hyung Sik Stan (sorry but Happiness broke me), he's great in this one and he hasn't lost all of his military weight yet which I LOVE :D

Fanletter Please! (slice of life/ romance) A sick child writes fan letters to her favorite star, an actress who for kdrama reasons is afraid of fan letters. This was a super sweet, short drama - I really liked it so much!

Into The Ring (workplace/romcom): The perfect slice-of-life rom com! Goo Se Ra has trouble holding down a job due to her passionate personality so after she loses her latest job working for the ML, she decides to run for a small government office position because it pays a salary. Literally she does it for the money which is just *chef’s kiss.* The show is about her dealing with local politics and it’s SO FUNNY and smart and the OTP is the best! 

King The Land (rom/com): A cold chaebol hotel owner meets his match (literally and figuratively) who is a top notch employee. There's a lot of push pull and the ML (MY BIAS!) Lee Junho's character falls hard and fast. It does have slow moments but if you literally want to watch a happy couple be happy (plus the skinship is chef's kiss and there is so much of it) you'll enjoy this one.

Melo Is My Nature (slice of life): This drama is by far my favorite slice-of-life drama of 2019. Found family, strong and complex characters, I laughed, I cried. Plus a gay character that’s an actual character, with the gay as a casual side note (classy k-drama!!) It was just a perfect show for me. There’s romance, but all of the stories are super interesting.

Top Management (slice of life) I know this show is mainly on Youtube Premium BUT I just got an email from Youtube basically saying “hey we know you never want to pay to watch our shows so we’re just going to let you ok?” so that’s something… Adorable mini drama about a girl who can see the future and becomes the rookie manager for a kpop band. Fun and easy.

Business Proposal (rom/com) Seriously this drama is almost the exact same plot as The Secret Life of My Secretary. It's really fun and cute (just like the latter) and if you like one, you'll like the other ;-)

True To Love / Bo Rah Deborah (rom/com) Bo Rah is a relationship expert publishing her book. She works with a man who is her total opposite making it a cute enemies to lovers. Yoo in Ah is literally so adorable I love watching her! (If I'm honest I can't remember a TON about this drama but I do remember it being an easy watch).

Her Private Life (romcom): Park Min Young really knows how to pick dramas. I loved this one about a museum curator who is secretly a fangirl obsessed with an idol. It’s fun and fluffy but does have a very mild childhood trauma thing with his mother but I mean, 99% of dramas like this do? If you like this one, Touch Your Heart and Why Secretary Kim are by the same person and have similar vibes.

Touch Your Heart (rom/com) A sweet, silly and very mild rom com about a serious boss and his hallyu star secretary. This show was an obvious response to the chemistry that Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na had in Goblin so it was nice to see them together again. Yoo In Na is such a fun person to watch!

Fight for My Way (slice of life/romcom): I love this drama! Always a fave for me, this drama is funny and heartwarming! The leading lady is a strong female which I LOVE, and Park Seo Joon plays her really cute down to earth best friend. It’s a childhood friends to lovers trope with a group of regular people (no rich heirs in this show!) and has a happy ending and a lot of cute flirting, cuddling and kissing. Argh I love these two!

Age of Youth 1 (slice of life): Age of Youth/ Hello My Twenties is one of the best k-dramas that centers around strong female friendships. A group of wildly different girls find themselves rooming together in an apartment. Lots of romance too, but the girl’s lives and friendships are the primary focus.

Shopping King Louie (romcom): Ridiculously fun and lighthearted romp following a spoiled and useless chaebol with amnesia who is being taken care of by a country bumpkin in the city. Very low stakes, super adorable couple, and as many tropes as you can fit in your bag, this one is one of my favorites to recommend.

Eulachacha Waikiki / Laughter In Waikiki (slice of life comedy, romance) I hope you’re ready for a crazy amount of unlikely situations and nutty hijinks because this show is probably one the most silly ones I’ve ever watched. It follows a group of friends who own a hostel so it’s a slice of life drama. At certain points I was like “this is TOO silly” but I’m glad I stuck with it cause it was so hilarious. Plus, the baby is a star!

Wok of Love (rom/com) Despite the fact that the show was shortened by two episodes because of sports, this drama is a funny and quirky show worth watching. Many people dropped it because it was SO crazy for the first couple of episodes (it has a talking horse people!), but it does settle into a really sweet and fun story about a chef, a gangster and a rich girl and her family. If you love food, this show is for YOU!

And finally, if you don't mind a bit of melo, I highly recommend Run On!

Enjoy <3

[ilovethemac]

I don't know what possessed me to rewatch A Korean Odyssey but I'm having the time of my life. This drama is so unhinged. There's an actual episode in which the romantic conflict centers on how the ML has a collection of sauces he made to eat the FL with. Actually eat her. Not a euphemism. And then he's like "why is she mad?"

[ilovethemac]

Why have I never seen anyone talk about Hello, Me! before? Was there a hype around it when it came out and I missed it? Or are you guys sleeping on this drama? I'm on episode 10 and it's so good. It's heartwarming and hilarious and the FL is adorable.

[ilovethemac]

Take a shot every time someone in a kdrama hallucinates someone they miss

[ilovethemac]

I'm baaaaack

Okay, so it's no secret that my kdrama love comes in bursts. I watch like 20 in one month and then none for half a year. So I know it's been a while. But now that I'm on winter break from school (one more semester til graduation!), I thought I'd use my spare time to watch some old favorites and give new dramas a shot. I watched several dramas in December, but I didn't feel like doing a full review for any of them. So here's a rapid-fire breakdown of my recent viewings.

Cheer Up (2022): This is the drama that brought me back into the kdrama fold and it was such a good one to start my streak with. I think it got mixed reviews and the MDL score is only a 7.5 but I absolutely adored this one. The vibes were just immaculate. All the cinematography was gorgeous. And as an American, this type of cheer squad is entirely new to me, but I loved every second of it. The ridiculous costumes, the repetitive dance moves, the hardcore training-- it was so campy and fun. I love that it cuts from intense boot camp to everyone dressed up like ABBA singing and waving their arms around. I also really liked the romance in this one, even though it got delayed for way too long. All the characters were great and I loved that everyone got a little bit of focus, not just the main couple. I will say the tone was all over the place. One second we're having a fun romp through college and the next we're being hunted by a madman intent on killing our female lead because... reasons? But I actually kind of liked how jarring it was. It was hilarious. I don't know if that was the goal, but it made me laugh every time. This one got a very rare 10/10.

Love to Hate You (2023): This is a short 10-episode drama on Netflix and it kind of feels like a filler show. You can watch it over two days when you have nothing else you're focused on. That's not to say it's bad. It's got some great moments and it turns some tropes on their head. For example, when you meet a female lead's ex-boyfriend in episode one, he usually becomes a villain (and sometimes he loses his mind and tries to kill someone. Something In The Rain, I'm looking at you). But here he became one of my favorite characters, serving as both a surprise hero and comic relief. And all her male co-workers seem like they look down on women at first, but they end up being super loyal and sweet. But the male lead was confusing for me. He starts out as an incredibly misogynistic jerk, but then they get together and his justification is basically "most women are evil, but I really like you." I didn't feel like he actually learned. And the pacing was super weird. It's hard to tell when they actually start liking each other vs. when they're trying to seduce each other competitively (that may only make sense if you've seen it). Then the last two episodes feel like they ran out of conflict and pulled something out of thin air because the main couple was already together and that's not compelling anymore. Idk, I didn't hate it but it wasn't amazing either. 7/10 because the ex-boyfriend was so fun and the co-workers were stars. Jeon Shin Hwan and Joo Jong Hyuk carried this show on their backs.

Hotel del Luna (2019): This may come as a shock, but I had never seen this one before. It's one of the most popular dramas online and I'd been meaning to get around to it, but it took longer than I expected. I won't spend too long on it because you probably all watched it like 4 years ago. Basically, I had fun and IU absolutely kills it, but by the end, the whole thing felt like it was trying to hard too make me cry. I also wasn't as into the main couple as I think I was supposed to be. They were fine, I just preferred her as mean and vindictive as opposed to sweet and lovey. Plus I have absolutely no idea when they started liking each other or when they started dating. It was very vague. But the side characters were absolutely amazing. 7/10.

Summer Strike (2022): This was a strange one. I think I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations weren't so off. I thought it was going to be a fun, slice-of-life, hijinks of the week type show. Like she moves to a little island and meets the quirky locals and finds inner peace. Boy was I wrong. It's actually like half that, half murder mystery? Why? I thought I was going to get "no plot, just vibes" and instead I got "oh you like that character? well they're dead now." Very strange. But maybe if I'd known what it was going in, I would have enjoyed the mystery more. It's like I expected apple juice and got root beer. Not necessarily the root beer's fault, but it wasn't what I wanted and kinda soured the experience. But I do have to brag that I predicted the reveal in the first few episodes. I guessed who the killer was. I just got a weird vibe and I was like "oh it's them." Lo and behold, I was RIGHT. Very proud of that. 7/10.

Castaway Diva (2023): I just finished this one and once again, it was not the vibe I thought it was going to be. But this one actually felt very inconsistent. With a premise like "she was stranded on an island for 15 years," I think you either have to make it silly and funny or very dark and realistic. This drama tried to have both. It seemed like it was only interested in unpacking the male leads' traumas, but not our female lead. It was picking and choosing what to take seriously. Like yeah, we're gonna explore the lifelong ramifications of escaping an abuser, but this girl that lived in total solitude for over a decade? She's totally fine. Besides, she was also abused, but it is almost never brought up again after the pilot. She doesn't have lasting trauma or even any significant feelings about it. At least none that are shared with the audience. Also, was Ki-ho's identity supposed to be a mystery? Was I supposed to be unsure of who it was? Because I knew immediately. 6/10.

I'm currently deciding what to watch next, so if you have a suggestion, please send it my way! So glad to be back.

[ilovethemac]

Back in my kdrama groove and watching My Roommate is a Gumiho. And I really love a lot of things about it, but I especially want to shout out the amount of male-female friendships in this show. It's rare in kdramas to see a girl and a guy being best friends with zero romantic undercurrent. Dam and Jae Jin are so sweet and lovely together, I absolutely adore their friendship. They absolutely love each other, but the thought of them dating makes them both laugh and/or recoil. Platonic soulmates.

Then there's Woo Yeo and Hye Sun, who have a very unique, mostly antagonistic friendship. Totally different, but equally platonic.

It's so nice to see a drama that portrays straight men and women being close friends with no weird sexual tension or unrequited love.

[ilovethemac]

So I'm going to pretend that it hasn't been over a year since I last posted. I've been rewatching a bunch of my old favorite dramas, and I decided to revamp my bingo card. Most of it is the same, but I switched out some things now that I've seen more dramas and have a better idea of the tropes and conventions. And this time I made 2 designs just for fun. So if you want to play along with me, here they are :)

[ilovethemac]

So, I'm rewatching Cinderella and the Four Knights, and can we please talk about Kang Ji Woon?? I know it's not exactly new to point out problematic content in dramas, but this dude is making me so mad. How *dare* you corner Eun Ha Won in the bathroom, push her against a wall, and purposely intimidate her?! He consistently invades her personal space, touches her without consent, and tries to make her feel afraid using his size and gender. The fact that they end up together is mind boggling.

And the show acknowledges the gross behavior from Hyun Min, so why doesn't it apply to Ji Woon?

Again, I know that people have pointed out problems in countless dramas, some more appalling than this, but it's never a waste to call out unacceptable behavior. The way Ji Woon treats Ha Won in the beginning of the series is disgusting and I needed to say something.

[ilovethemac]

So my brother, who does not watch kdramas, has just had a genius idea.

He said "I want to make a kdrama, with like a normal love triangle, except then I'll make another one that's almost identical, except she ends up with the other guy. And then for pride month I'll do an hour long special where the two guys decide to stop chasing the girl and just date each other."

What a beautiful idea

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Okay, I'm on episode 18 of Wok of Love and if someone doesn't tell me what happened to Sae Woo's husband soon, I'm going to FLIP A TABLE.

I need closure

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I'm rewatching Heartstrings and Jung Yong Hwa as Lee Shin with the diamond stud earring is ~iconic~

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I'm so glad I decided to go back and pick up Age of Youth. I watched the first episode forever ago and I didn't like it, but now that I've watched a few more episodes, I love it. I love seeing these girls just bond and be there for each other. I love the focus on their friendship and their individual growth. I'm on episode 7 now and my favorite girl is Yoon Jin Myung

[ilovethemac]

Kdrama female leads eating a ton is not quirky or progressive?

Ah yes, the mysterious, bottomless, pit that is the Kdrama female lead’s gullet. Even from Kdramas dating back to the 2000s, female leads have had the superpower to eat inordinate amounts of food, usually shoveling it into their mouths before the male lead who shakes his head in wonder and teases her about it. And yet, despite this teasing, this scene is always used as a way to impress upon the viewer that this ability to eat tons of food distinguishes the female lead. She is Not Like Other Girls, who are dainty and stupid and care about how much they eat. No, our female lead is qUirKy. Somehow, eating a ton (usually chicken, beef, and other animal foods, which are tied to masculinity), is treated as a real personality trait that makes her more “real,” more boyishly cool, and unbothered. 

But what purpose does this truly serve?

Overvaluing Masculine Qualities over Feminine Qualities

One issue with this trope is that it falls into the category of women being simply cooler for doing traditionally male/masculine things. This is not real empowerment of women to make their own choices, or for an appreciation of all types of women (women who like pizza and beer AND women who like salads and cute cakes). Instead it puts down other women for being “too feminine,” and places women on a hierarchy, with the most man-like women being at the top.

“She’s like one of the boys, [and therefore worthy]” leaves many women behind, as well as resulting in an under-appreciation of typically feminine qualities. Although this is a simple case of eating choices, this type of pseudo-feminism is the same force that makes society look down on girls who wear “too much makeup,” do plastic surgery, wear girly clothes, like pink, and have traditional feminine interests.

Gillian Flynn in the famous Gone Girl monologue states it better than I ever could:

“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want.”

Movies and tv shows only pretend to subvert societal expectations by having a girl that loves pizza, when in fact they are giving into the societal expectation/male fantasy of the cool girl that is worthy because she is like a guy.

Beauty Standards

This trope is more infuriating in the context of the harsh beauty standards towards women, especially in Asia. Perhaps if the female lead was constantly gulping down calorie dense foods, and then actually gained weight, I would find that relatable. That would make her more “real.” But because she does not eat to be more real, but to maintain a male (and societal) fantasy, she maintains her wasp waist and thigh gap while eating away without any care in the world. That is the opposite of relatable. It is downright harmful, because it perpetuates this expectation on women to both be beautiful, but to not care about being beautiful. To be gorgeous, but to be effortlessly gorgeous. If you care about being pretty you are shallow, but if you don’t put effort into being pretty you are worthless. There is no winning for the 99% of us that weren’t born with perfect genes.

I am continually shocked by how tiny these female leads are, and for a long time, I thought they were naturally that way. I assumed that they, just like their characters onscreen, were effortlessly beautiful. However, Youtube channels like my favorite one here, which documents various Korean celebrities’ journeys with eating disorders, shows that that is not the case. For example, IU, one of my favorite idols and actresses, was iconic in her Hotel Del Luna role; her enviable proportions and doll-like features and figure were a centerpiece of the drama’s aesthetics, and her costumes contributed to much of the drama’s buzz. But IU, while being naturally small, not only continuously talks of having to lose weight, but has been one of the few idols to honestly talk about her history with eating disorders. Most other actresses aren’t so honest, but I suspect many are not, in fact, effortlessly beautiful, and put immense work into, and undergo immense emotional duress and eating disorders, to maintain the figures that their characters then pretend to have so effortlessly.

So these actresses are forced, through extreme dieting, to present a perfect vessel of a beauty, that is then passed off in dramas as the result of no effort, and thus the cycle continues in society of women both being expected to be perfect, and also effortless. Kdramas are simply de-stigmatizing eating, when they should be de-stigmatizing having different body types. So women eating a ton is not quirky, it is not progressive, and it does nothing except reinforce impossible expectations upon women. I would prefer a female lead that is constantly worried about dieting and eats little–maybe then we could explore societal beauty standards on women. But as long as we pretend that the issue is not allowing women to eat, when the issue is actually not allowing women to be comfortable and confident in body types that are not stick thin with curves in all the perfect places, we will make no progress.

[ilovethemac]

Go Kyung Po in Chicago Typewriter gave me such hard sls that I'm now watching Strongest Deliveryman so I can see him as the lead

[ilovethemac]

It's been so long since I watched a drama but I decided to go back and rewatch Chicago Typewriter. It wasn't like a favorite or anything, I just heard a song from the ost and thought "I actually don't remember how that one ended. I should watch it again." And I forgot how much I hate Han Se Ju.

I also forgot how much Subway is involved in this show. It's so hilariously forced and I love it

[ilovethemac]

Does anyone else become obsessed with kdramas in spurts? Like I'll watch them nonstop for a period of time and then not watch one for months.

And then I get sad bc I miss this community

And then the cycle continues