Beanie level: Errand boy

Day 23 – Best bromance/womance

Best Bromance

Choi Ban-Seok and Shin Han-Soo in On the Verge of Insanity

It was funny and rewarding watching Shin Han-soo come to respect Choi Ban-seok to the point where he would follow him anywhere.

Best Womance
Ahn So-hee, Han Ji-yeon and Kang Ji-goo from Work Later, Drink Now

Probably the weirdest group of friends this year, but their friendship was really lovely. They drink, fight and come running when one of them is in need.

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#2021Roundup
Day 18 – Best Cameo

Lee Young-ae in Inspector Koo

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#2021 Drama Round-up
Day 17. Best idol-turned-actor

Lee Jun-ho
Im Si-wan

Also, Kwon Yuri really impressed me this year in Bossam: Steal the Fate.

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    Yay, Kwon Yuri! She was so wonderfully dignified in Bossam and in the BTS she was super fun 💚

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#2021 Drama Round-up
Day 16. Best non-human character

Definitely Inzaghi from Vincenzo and Naughty Cell from Yumi’s Cells.

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    NOOOOOOOOOO cells are human

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      They are. The full category description said “Day 16: Best non human character (animal, mythological / magical creature, braincell, etc.)” so I put it here.

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    cute little babies in a world where rose petals fall and there is always food.. and… sunsets

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    I love love Naughty Cell! Still cracks me up whenever I see memes in Twitter.

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      Did you watch behind the scenes video of the voice actor.. she is so fun.. director had to calm her down

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    Inzaghi!!! Our hero pigeon!!

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#2021RoundUp
Day 14- Most memorable scene

I have a lot of these:

Run On – The chaotic surprise party disaster.

Vincenzo – It’s hard to pick with this one but I will go with the recreation of the “Liberty Leading the People” painting and the scene where Jang Han-seok is doused with pig’s blood.

Navillera – The scene where Song Kang’s character dances in the snow for a disoriented Shim Deok-chul.

Inspector Koo – The game sequence in Episode 9.

Happiness: Elevator confession scene.

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    Hi5 on Run On and Vincenzo – those are scenes I won’t forget in a while either!

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#2021Roundup

Day 13 – Drama beanies loved but I didn’t / Drama I loved but beanies didn’t

The drama Beanies loved but I didn’t is Dali and Gamjatang. I dropped it after eight episodes. I really liked Park Gyu-young as Dali, but the romance didn’t work for me and the secondary characters were some of the most annoyingly one-dimensional I’ve seen in a long time.

The drama I loved but Beanies didn’t is Squid Game. Maybe it is overrated and predictable and there are superior versions of the survival game concept out there, but I was thoroughly entertained and really cared about the characters.

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    Same here. Dropped Dali on ep 12, could not care less about the plot or even the romance.
    I liked squid Game too. The only reason I did not put it in this category was because some beanies did like it.

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    I liked SG too. More than the story – most twists didn’t surprise me, and the cop’s story just had too many holes – I liked the production design, and how slick everything was. It’s good, but still found it overrated. But maybe I’m just bit catty because I’ve been recommending better dramas to friends and family for years and they only bothered to watch SG because of the hype 😂

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#2021 Drama Round-up
Day 12 – Best quote/one-liner

My memory is not good enough to remember all of the great one-liners, but I do remember this quote from Run On because it really resonated with me. I’ve felt this way about myself throughout my life:

“Of all things I’ve loved, why have I never loved myself.”

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#2021Roundup

Day 11- Secondary character that stole your heart and the show (SL, villains, kid…).

There were so many memorable secondary characters this year. Here’s a list of a few of my favorites:

On the Verge of Insanity – The meat strangler himself, Shin Han-soo.

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha – BFF Pyo Mi-seon and BFF’s Yi-joon and Bo-ra.

Vincenzo – The residents of Geumga Plaza, with a special mention to the ultimate Vincenzo fanboy, Agent Ahn.

Sweet Home – Sword-wielding Christian, Jung Jae-heon.

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    Kim Nam-hee really stole the show in both Sweet Home and OTVOI.

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      He did and with such different characters in both. He’s really versatile.

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#2021Roundup
Day 10 – Best Confession

Run On
Seon-gyeom’s confession to Mi-joo was simple and straightforward: “I wonder if you also want to hold my hand, hug me and kiss me.” For the first time, they were speaking the same language, and it was lovely.

Work Later, Drink Now
Kang Buk-gu’s confession to Ahn So-hee should probably be classified as the worst confession of the year, but in a good way. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t watched, but it involved an acrostic poem aired on a variety show, slow motion running, and then the capper: “Do you officially want to be sex partners with me?” Only someone as crazy as PD Kang could confess in such a ridiculous way, making me laugh harder than I have in a long time.

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#2021Roundup
Day 9 – The oldie I loved the most.

It only took me four years, but I finally got past episode 1 of Prison Playbook. I had some issues with the drama that kept me from loving it, but it was a nice watch.

I also rewatched Just Between Lovers and loved it as much as the first time.

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#2021RoundUp
Day 8 – The drama beanies convinced you to watch and you can’t be grateful enough.

That would be Work Later, Drink Now. I dropped it after two episodes because of the excessive drinking, but after seeing the rave reviews from Koreans and a couple of beanies, I picked it back up and fell in love with the three leads and their friendship. Slice-of-life is my favorite genre and this one was by turns funny, weird, heartwarming and heartbreaking. Lee Sun-bin and Jung Eun-ji were wonderful and Han Sun-hwa was a revelation.

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#2021 Drama Round-up
Day 7 – The OTP you didn’t think you would adore

Ki Seon-Gyeom and Oh Mi-joo from Run On were my favorite OTP of the year, but since I adored them from the very beginning, I’m going to choose an OTP that didn’t make a great first impression but slowly wormed their way into my heart.

Lee Min-kyung and Noh Hwi-oh from Mad for Each Other

I didn’t like either character at the beginning and they didn’t like each other but slowly they grew on each other and on me as well. I appreciated that love didn’t heal them, they still needed time and therapy, but love did make them want to be better.

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#2021 Round Up
Day 6- The OST you are obsessed with.

I’m loving Inspector Koo’s OST right now.

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#2021Roundup
Day 5 – The drama that will always live in your memory.

Move to Heaven
A deeply moving and wonderfully acted drama. It came at a time when I was grieving the death of a loved one, and I appreciated the drama’s emphasis on how the dead can communicate with the living with the things they’ve left behind.

On the Verge of Insanity
The drama was brilliantly written, funny and realistic. I will remember it every time I see a dishwasher.

Special mentions to Vincenzo and Run On, both of which had characters and scenes that I will never forget.

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#2021RoundUp

Day 4 – That mess you watched and you still wonder why

Sisyphus: The Myth

I watched more than a few trainwrecks this year (I sat through two full seasons of Love Ft. Marriage & Divorce, for goodness sake) but they had some entertainment value or made me feel something. Sisyphus was boring from beginning to end, and I felt nothing watching it. If it had come out later in the year, I would have dropped it.

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#2021 Drama Round-up
Day 3. The drama with the best costumes/ wardrobe

I’m going to give this one to Vincenzo because I’m a sucker for suits.

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#2021Roundup

Male lead you will never forget

Choi Ban-seok from On the Verge of Insanity

How could I not fall in love with the quiet competence and straightforwardness of this hero in checked shirts. He had a wry sense of humor I loved and a strong sense of integrity that I admired.

Ki Seon-gyeom from Run On

If I was asked for one word to describe Seon-gyeom, I would choose pure. He was like a baby learning to walk for the first time, and I loved watching his journey to discover what he loved and how to love himself.

Runner Up:
Han Geu-ru from Move to Heaven
Noh Hwi-oh from Mad for Each Other
Vincenzo

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    My choice would be Ki seon gyeom. Such a unique character

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      He was so unique and warm. As yesterday I chose MiJoo as my FL, I rewatched lots of scenes and went back to the recaps… I just need a rewatch!! They are absolutely adorable.

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    Han Geu-ru from Move to Heaven was outstanding and then Tang Joon-sang followed up in Racket Boys brilliantly

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#2021roundup Challenge

Female lead you will never forget

Dang Ja-young (Moon So-ri) from On the Verge of Insanity

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    I haven’t finished the drama yet, but Moon SoRi is always fantastic and she I love how dedicated is JaYoung. She just really wants the job to be done.

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    Yes! She was great! And awful a lot of the time, but that’s part of what made the character so interesting.

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      Yes! I loved that she was a greyish character, motivated by her self interest a lot of the time. It made her feel more human.

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    Dang Ja-young was my second choice (after Run On’s Mijoo)! Wonderfully written and acted, with a great wardrobe to boot. <3

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Wow! Squid Game is #1 in the U.S. today. I never thought I’d see a k-drama in that position.

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    It’s #2 in Canada too. Very surprising.

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      I’m surprised it is that high but not surprised it’s doing so well, even with non-kdrama fans since the game of survival genre is popular. It gives me some Money Heist vibes too, the original non-English worldwide hit for Netflix.

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        Haven’t seen it yet but I did get Money Heist vibes from it too. Must move it up my list now!

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    It’s #2 in the UK. Wow

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    Just finished it – the hype is deserved. I would welcome a S2 because it will be contextualised as opposed our going into S1 blank.

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#2020Roundup

Day 20 – The cameo that blew your mind.

Kwon Yul in My Unfamiliar Family. I still want my Min-woo and Eun-joo spin-off.

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