*guessing

For what it’s worth, @reply1988, that’s an image from HeartBeat. I AM staying even farther away from Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol because of the comparisons to the ending of HB, though…

After a quick glance I thought the image was from the hugely disappointing SUMMER STRIKE (2022). As far as I am concerned everyone in that seaside town with the exception of Dae-beom (Siwan) should have been forcibly quarantined aboard HOSPITAL SHIP (2017) and deposited on an uninhabited island and forced to learn to act like a decent person. You get the picture.
So I am proud (or maybe not) to be a survivor of: HEARTBEAT, SUMMER STRIKE (2022), DO DO (2020) and for that matter HOSPITAL SHIP (2017) which was one of my early plods before ‘drop’ entered my vocabulary. I will grant it that the scenery was lovely.

I was literally about the write Do do sol sol la la sol! Oh my god, that ending😮‍💨😑😩

I had another show in mind but I forgot what it was and this one just took over the entire theme in my head.

That's funny, I just watched ep1 of Do do sol sol la la sol this week because 1) Lee Jae Wook 2) my co-watching-drama friend started it 3) I mixed up the story with Do you like Brahms and did not check before pressing "start" 4) @seeker said good things about it last week Open Thread.

I have no idea of the plot because FL annoyed me so much. Then I remembered that I disliked her in another drama, so I decided to drop.

Bean-chute! Excellent description. 😄

Re JTBC’s NEVERTHELESS (2021) (Netflix). Truthfully I forgot about the controversies (19+ rating for some episodes and off screen behavior of a cast member). I just remember thinking it was not a good fit for Song Kang after his wonderful performance in tvN’s NAVILLERA (2021) (Netflix). I may have been proven right on that. Who knows. The ratings were fairly awful. In the past I have been wrong about actors’ drama picks. They usually know what they are doing.

Nevertheless
I recall watching some episodes, but don’t recall finishing, so I probably didn’t. 😂

@attiton Honest confession, I started Nevertheless because I heard it has ahem! adult content and wanted to see how much adulting a K-drama can actually do. Turns out, it's almost Catholic when compared to some of the Western, Japanese and Indian content found on the web. However, they know how to do it right. And that was the usp for Nevertheless. And when the audience starts realsing how bad Song Kang's character has it, it's Chef's kiss. One of the very few non PHS dramas I have watched it more than once.

See, the problem with HeartBeat is that it goes fine for almost the whole time…it’s only with literally minutes to go that it veers off course. You might not know to drop until it is too late and you’re totally invested, as @missvictrix gestures towards in the write-up above.

But as I noted in my main comment here, I hear that if you know this is going to happen, the conclusion isn’t as heart-breaking as it was when we were all surprised to tears.

On the same boat with HEARTBEAT: once it becomes available in my region, I will watch it despite the frustration about the ending, that I picked up on the sidelines here. It still looks like something I will enjoy watching immensely. (I did NOT spoiler myself though! I was happy it was easy to stay away from anything giving too much information here on DB, thank you! 👏)

Do you like vampires 🧛?

The C drama Lost You Forever has a demon that is vampire like in that he drinks the FL’s blood. 😳🩸❤️

A tip: Don't watch the last episode and make up your own ending.
Feels like a century back, but I have this anecdote. Watched Gladiator in a pirated version which did not have the end scene. It ended when Maximus kills Commodus.
For years and years it stayed our favourite movie, until we decided to rewatch it with kids.
I cannot even begin to explain the disappointment the movie became. I realized sometimes making our own ending is so much beter tee-hee! Heartbeat squarely falls into that category. I will rewatch it and make up my own ending lol!

You might not regret it. A love story can be a good love story even if it doesn't have a fairy tale ending. Some of the best, most poignant and meaningful romances end sadly. In fact, one of my biggest criticism of KDrama romcoms is the way too many of them contrive "happy endings" regardless of logic or common sense.

I remember all of the complaints about Mr. Queen but it is one of my favorite dramas, not least because it ended on its own terms without bowing to those who absolutely must have the leads end up together in order for it to be deemed a good drama.

I have not even HEARD of most of these dramas!!! I guess I must not be a Real Beanie™. I’m never gonna watch any of them now though because you’ve warned me against them directly, @claire2009 🤣

I've considered watching Entourage cause I'm curious why it didn't work but I don't care enough to remember or search for it.

I did not know for Abyss... I stayed for Park Bo Young, but I regret it now.
I liked Where stars land. It is not the worse offending separation that I've seen. Since I saw the warnings, I was expecting much worse.

Abyss was so bad I couldn't finish it and I somehow finished Bride of Habaeck and The Real Has Come (my god why?!)

oh my goodness, "abyss" was one of the first kdramas i saw and that is one i should have dropped instantly. LOL that was truly abysmal. wtf was that? i don't know why i saw it ALL THE WAY.

I live-watched LOVE STRUCK so there were no warnings available. But knowing it’s one that has Ji Chang Wook, I would have watched it at some point anyway if I hadn’t watched it live.

I love the last two shows on your list. TWY wasn’t universally disliked though, many people didn’t like it but a lot did.

Like you, I'll probably watch season 2 of D.P. I was really looking forward to the second season of The Uncanny Counter, but from what I've been reading on DB, I think I'd better skip it. So disappointed!

I've just watched Lovestruck in the City again, and I pretty much like it too. Not all of it but a lot of it. I think the performances are good and it gets a lot of things about relationships right, whether or not these are "healthy" behaviours. There's one scene that just knocks it out of the park for me, it's so lovely to watch: JCW is in the depths of his miserable depression and has finished another vigil at the stepping stones and is proceeding to drink himself stupid, again. Unbeknownst to him, Kim Ji-won has been watching him, and when he passes out, she comes and sits at the table with him. He comes to, and thinks his alcoholic misery is making him see things, but they proceed to have the most touching, honest and vulnerable conversation, that makes me want to weep. I'm glad that scene is there, and I can go back and watch it any time I like.

I experience drama so many hate i love it as well. like it's just thrre is something it's just click woth ypu despite the drama being bad. For example is cheese in the trap.

I have watched all the episodes of "Record Of Youth" but I hate this drama. I hated the characters. I liked "Tomorrow With You" and it had an interesting plot concept. I quit "Lovestruck In The City" after a few episodes, I didn't care about the fate of the characters.

I’m sitting here chuckling about the fact that you have a list of your “top 30 dramas.” That’s a fun number. It both suggests how long the list of your total number of dramas is (far, far above 30), and also the relatively large number of favorites you can comfortably keep in your head. I’m right there with you on both counts, fellow traveler. 😘

Forest will never be mistaken for a masterpiece, but overall I enjoyed it. And that heartbeat kiss!!

‘ Therefore, I think that it is not important whether the ending is good or bad, but whether the viewer feels that the plot of the drama has prepared the viewer for the finale. If a story gives false hopes in order to crush the viewer with "realism" at the end, it is not a good drama’ 👈🏾 I think this is a good distinction as often sad endings are not what people expect in some types of dramas but they make sense in the story.

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes is among my favorites. (I don't keep lists, but I'd say it's definitely in my top-20.) I only wish they hadn't blunted the impact of the ending by diverging from the original version, the JDrama Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi. It was the ending that I was expecting. Because of the change, the detective's determination to keep his sister away from the ML didn't seem very rational. If you're going to go tragic, you might as well go all the way.

I really dislike it when a drama is given a happy ending—probably as fan service—when the couple clearly don't belong together, or when the plot up until then was leading toward an unresolved or unhappy ending. I just finished watching Human Disqualification, hoping the main couple would go their separate ways after changing each other's lives for the better. I was a bit disappointed in the show for playing it safe with an ambiguous ending.

“Therefore, I think that it is not important whether the ending is good or bad, but whether the viewer feels that the plot of the drama has prepared the viewer for the finale. If a story gives false hopes in order to crush the viewer with "realism" at the end, it is not a good drama.”

I’m looking at you, BTLIOF, with all the vagaries for the sake of some sort of surprise or...whatever the writer intended. I think beanies did a better job of giving sensible motivations for the ending than the drama attempts to.

Oh, these are good ones. I haven’t watched either but I think I would watch both. DAYS because I know people who actually did like it and it sort of seems like I would too, and KEM because it looks like such cracky fun (and people talk about it so often) that I just get curious.

Unfortunately, I watched King before I discovered Dramabeans. My only consolation was discovering Woo Do-Hwan. But I probably would have watched it anyway, just for his hilarious double-role performance!

I'm part of those who liked Doom at your service but I agree that their reunion lacked chemistry. Several times they were physically distant (but not all the time), not what I consider a couple in love, so it was not totally out of characters.

I liked Thirty Nine *high five*. Had no expectations going in and accepted it for what it was, and it gave me many thoughts and feels about female friendships in my life.

Add me to the list of people who liked Thirty Nine. I binge watched it after reading the reviews that it is terrible, found it ok.

I just read the write up on the storyline and it sounds like of its time (2003) so I wonder if we could watch it past the first episode twenty years later.

Hwarang is the only drama that I have been sufficiently warned against that still tempts me. The pull of Park Hyung-sik and Park Seo-jun in the same drama is strong and I don’t know if I am stronger.

@gikata I am too young in the K-drama world to be able to watch a drama I have been warned against - I have hard time trying to fit in the dramas that have been highly recommended, but I am guilty of rewatching rewatching!!! Hwarang, against my own warning. Of course, when you FF some of Seo Joon scenes, most of Go-Ara scenes and all of Seo-Joon & Go-Ara combo scenes, the series becomes eminently watchable. Go figure.
The only one I tried watching agaisnt warning was The Island, and man, got burned. Never again! Cha Eun Woo will remain on my 'no flying list' until eternity perhaps.

I see that with Sleepeeer hit where the general story was better portrayed in the J drama and in the K drama they added some nice touches but also a lot of unnecessary that killed it off.