Beanie level: Noble idiot

#2020roundup
Day 19 – Most memorable scene
Like for many other beanies my most memorable scene was in When the Weather Is Fine. When Ji Eun-shil asked Lee Jang-woo why he was working in this small town when he graduated from SNU, and he told her that he just wants to live an ordinary live – I was very touched by his answer. He knew exactly what he wanted and lived his life to achieve his dream of an ordinary life. When I watched this scene, I felt lost in real life. I was almost 30 and my first year as a full-time employee was over. However, when someone asked me, if this is what I want to do I would say no. But I couldn’t say what I wanted to do instead. That’s why Jang-woo’s answer struck me so deeply. This year I learned a lot about myself and what I want to do career-wise, and I don’t feel this lost anymore. Yet, the scene is still memorable to me.

Day 20 – Cameo that blew up your mind
I like cameos that are intelligently woven into the story. Like Choi Ji-woo meeting her North-Korean fanboy, or Yeo Jin-goo who gave Han Ji-pyeong the possibility to pay back what he owed in a different way. The one that blew up my mind was Kwak Dong-yeon in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. His role was so perfectly written into the two episodes, I didn’t think it was only a cameo at first. Kwak Dong-yeon also played the role so phenomenally that he has to be mentioned for that alone.

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    I’d forgotten about that scene! I remember thinking that he makes a good point in that there is nothing wrong with enjoying an ordinary life and that it truly can be a good life.

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      It was a really good reminder that a dream about living an ordinary life is just as important as wanting to achieve something extraordinary and unique.

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#2020roundup
Day 18 – One you want to rant about
The last drama I wanted to rant about was Hwayugi. I loved this drama so much that I watched every episode without subtitles and once again when it was subbed. It lost its steam at the end, but I wasn’t ready for the let-down in the last episode. Gosh, was I upset! I even ranted about it to my poor colleagues who knew almost nothing about Korean dramas and even less about Hwayugi. Since then, I never felt so upset again. Either the drama is bad from the beginning or the middle part and I couldn’t care less anymore by the end, or I avoided the disappointing end by dropping a drama soon in time (Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol!!).

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    I am up to the last episode of Hwayugi and I am steeling myself 😄 keep finding reasons to put it off because I know I’m not going to be happy

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      I hope I didn’t spoil anything! But sometimes it helps to expect the worst so you won’t be disappointed as much 😄 It was this way in Flower of Evil for me.

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        You didn’t, I knew the reputation before I even started watching – better to be prepared 😅

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          That’s good. At the moment I’m trying to persuade my best friend to watch it with me. Time heals wounds, I guess 😀 Enjoy the last episodes! (Just to make sure: It’s not meant to be sarcastic.)

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    I dropped Hwayugi at the penultimate episode. I’d never done that before.

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#2020roundup
Day 17 – One that made you emotional
As I have PMS, there are days I react emotionally to scenes, even if they are not actually emotional. But even without this, 18 Again had me in tears often. The reconciliation scene between father and son after the basketball game was very touching. Such was the moment at the school festival when Hong Dae-young, as Go Woo-young, heard the same song as 20 years earlier after he had confessed to Jung Da-jung. His longing for her was so palpable.

Ja-sung’s growth also made me really emotional. I was so proud of him when he apologized to Shi-woo for the bullying. (As someone who was bullied by a lot of different peoples and groups in my hometown, I know how it feels like. But there were also two girls who apologized, and we became very good friends after some time.) And I swooned so hard when Ja-sung “saved” Shi-a and Ji-ho from the kids who chased them and warned them not to touch Shi-a AND his “rival” Ji-ho. There were so many other scenes that made me all emotional in a good way. I laughed and cried so often; I can’t name another drama like this in this year.

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#2020roundup
Day 15 – Secondary character you will never forget
The first character that came into my mind was Han Ji-pyeong, but I mentioned him in my list of male leads already. So, I’m writing about Lee Jang-woo (Lee Jae-wook) in I’ll Go to You When the Weather Is Fine instead. He was a social butterfly, had the cutest crush on Ji Eun-shil, tried to be a good friend, even though Im Eun-seob was really reserved, and knew exactly what he wanted. I want more characters like him – simply grounded people with a normal life with whom one can identify.

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    I love him too. I didn’t know who he was when he was in that drama, but I did really catch my eyes. The way he portrayed the character was refreshingly unique; he made his character stand out and charming in its own way -the way Kim Seon-ho did to the character Han Ji-pyeong. These second leads normally get male lead roles in the end if they can do what these actors did.

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      Well, I just hope Kim Seon-ho’s next drama as a lead won’t end as disappointing as Lee Jae-wook’s first drama as a lead.

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        He did pretty well in the first 13 episodes though. *feel eternally thankful for the Beanies’ suggestion to stop watching at the end of ep13.

        I, too, hope that KSH will be fine in his first male lead role after Start-Up. I want him just to be himself; he already radiates so much by being like that. 😊

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          I stopped at ep 12 because ep 13 was aired two weeks later, I guess. I wanted to watch the rest when the drama was finished. But then Start-Up happened and I was preoccupied 😉 I should be thankful for the distraction from Kim Seon-ho 🙂

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            I know firsthand how distracting that must have been. KSH just stole the show and I almost forgot the lovely DoDo couple. Being occupied with Start-Up I was a couple of episodes late and the going downhill thing happened…

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#2020roundup
Day 14 – The drama that could have been …
While 2020 had bad dramas (like every year has) I want to write about a drama I liked a lot: It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. I started this drama mainly for Seo Ye-ji and she was wonderful and gorgeous in it. The dark fantasy themes were so compelling, almost all characters were interesting, it was beautifully shot, and the leads had amazing chemistry from the beginning. Gu Moon-young’s and Moon Gang-tae’s traumata felt so real and it was great to see them overcame their past bit by bit – they went from screaming and crying to smiling happily for a family picture.
And it would have been perfect in my eyes, if the mother had remained faceless. The story-arc around her made this wonderful and extraordinary drama fall flat and ordinary. It is still a mostly good drama overall, but it could have been simply perfect.












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    I totally agree with you. The mum plot almost ruined the drama for me, it was not necessary, it added nothing to the story. The only good thing was that it was solved quickly and it wasn’t an agony and in such a way that I decided to look aside all the huge plot holes regarding the dead-not-dead-mum-that-didn’t-age-a-day-since-she-died-not that I still loved the drama. Even so, this drama can never make it to my top list just because of this.

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      It was such a shame, I was so ready to include it on my top list.

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    This!

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#2020roundup
Day 13 – Most fashionable character
When I think about fashion the first characters who came into my mind are Yoon Se-ri and Go Moon-young. But while fast-forwarding through Crash Landing on You to take some screenshots of Yoon Se-ri, I decided to go with a male character: Gu Seung-jun. He looked so charming in his colourful suits, but also comfortable in his knitted sweaters. Normally, I don’t pay much attention to the males’ outfit, simply because females’ outfits are most of the time more interesting. However, even next to Yoon Se-ri and Seo Dan, Gu Seung-jun managed to stand out.















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#2020roundup
Day 12 – “Oldie” (not 2020) you loved
I’ve watched good old dramas for the first time last year, but I really want to name two dramas I rewatched. First: Chief Kim – Whenever I need something light to distract me from real life problems, this is my go-to drama. It has so many satisfying arcs and the character development of Chief Kim, Director Seol and Park Myung-suk belong to my favourite character developments in dramaland. At first, I didn’t like the over-the-top humour then I eventually got used to it and after a while I thought it was the funniest drama ever (still think so).
The second one is more personal: Be Melodramatic. I live alone for more than ten years now (except for a few months during my exchange semester in Wales or when I was looking for a new apartment) and I actually enjoy living alone. I have a big family and whenever I visit my family I’m surrounded by a lot of people, which I find tiring, even though I love my family a lot. So, during lockdown I was glad that I didn’t have to be locked up with my family. But I missed my best friend a lot. We don’t live in the same city and we couldn’t see each other this often, but the time we spent together were even more precious to me. Whenever I’m watching Be Melodramatic I’m reminded of her and our friendship. I loved this drama before but I came to love it even more this year.









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    The friendship in Be Melodramatic was wonderful! The show doesn’t make a big fuss of it, but I remember at the end thinking that those women went through some heavy stuff, and they were always there for each other (and the brother, too, who’s name I’ve just forgotten).

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      That’s what I loved the most: the friendship seemed so natural and real. They supported each other without making a big deal about it, the brother included.
      I would love to watch this drama with my best friend, but she lost her husband six years ago after an accident so it would hit too close to home. Maybe someday there will be an opportunity to watch it together. Their friendship is just too wonderfull to enjoy it alone.

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    I understand toy so much about living alone and having a big family and being relieved not having spent the lockdown with them…
    And also about your love for both Dramas… and uri Junho!

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      I’m so glad I joined this 2020roundup. It’s so fun to discover similarities with other beanies! And as I said before, I often had the impression that we like the same dramas. And I like that we even share the love for uri Junho💛

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#2020roundup
Day 11 – Your 2020 crush
While my ultimate “crush” Junho is still in the military, 2020 definitely held a few new discoveries for me. The first one was Kim Jung-hyun (this feels like last year). He was so oozing in Crash Landing on You that I had do check out is former dramas. I hope Mr. Queen is good enough for him and Shin Hye-sun!!
However, a long time has passed since February. In the meantime I’ve watched Start-up and have fallen deeply for Kim Seon-ho. And I’ve fallen even deeper while watching 2 Days and 1 Night. With Christmas break around the corner and more than two weeks for myself, I will happily immerse myself in his older works.

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    I have Catch The Ghost in line! I actually watched the 1st episode when it first aired but i guess i wasn’t smitten by his dimples yet back then.

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      I’m currently watching Strongest Deliveryman, but Catch the Ghost will be next 😄

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        I just skipped watch this last week or two, but i think it was a nice drama. Would have watched in full if i had time/patience but i just really wanted to see KSH 😂

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#2020roundup
Day 10 – Drama Beanies convinced you to watch and you can’t be grateful enough
I often scroll through the beanie wall and read comments about dramas I don’t watch. So it happens a lot of time that I start a drama I would’t have started otherwise. However, the one I can’t be grateful enough is 18 Again. When I read the Premiere Watch I didn’t care at all about this drama, but soon some comments praised it so much that my interest was piqued. It is such a lovely story about family, relationships between parents and children, and husband and wife. And it rose attention to how small decisions can change a whole life – not only for the father who got a change to be 18 again, but also for the other people in the story. It is a romantic comedy, youth drama and family drama and all of this is woven into a beautiful told story. Really, if you haven’t watched it, I can’t recommend it enough. Lee Do Hyun as an 18-year-old ahjussi is a big plus – he was a gem in this drama!

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#2020roundup
Day 8 – The OTP you didn’t think you’ll adore
I didn’t have to think about this theme: Goo Se-ra and Seo Gong-myung (Memorials/Into the Ring) are clearly the OTP I loved most this year. I only started this drama because the pictures and comments on the beanie wall made me curious, and it was really a rewarding drama. Both are lovable and great individually and together they are even more awesome. They showed a few of the most realistic kiss scenes in kdramaland, I loved it the most when they were smiling while kissing each other, or Se-ra’s giggling at those moments. Watching them together made me just really happy!

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#2020roundup
Day 7 – That OST you’re obsessed with

This one is a surprise for me, because there is none. I’m totally a music person: I listen to music when I commute, when I’m at work, when I go for a walk, or when I go to sleep. Literally the only time I don’t listen to music is when I’m watching dramas or when I’m visiting someone (by now my friends are used to Korean background music, when they stay at my place). Normally, every year there is at least one drama in which I find the music so great that it made me fall in love with the drama (for example Hwayugi or Memories of the Alhambra). And in my Top100 of the year playlist by Spotify would be more than one OST. But this year there is none. For me this is a little bit disappointing since a lot of the singers whose voices I really like released OSTs for dramas I like (Kyuhyun, Chen, Taeyeon …).
Well, I guess I listened too much to Junho and 2PM this year.

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    Not a bad choice, I would also listen to 2PM and Junho in a loop!
    Two of my favourites songs this year are OST by Kyuhyun, from Weather and HP.

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      This two were also my favourite OSTs, but I didn’t like them as much as I thought I would. I love Dreaming by Kyuhyun, though.
      Junho’s songs really brought me through this year 😊

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    Maybe you’ll find some new discoveries from Beanies’ posts – I’ve found myself noting a few I haven’t heard.

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      I will certainly look through all the posts! Maybe I’ll even start a drama because I like a song so much 😄

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#2020roundup
Day 6 – Drama you know you will rewatch
I like to rewatch dramas when I’m in the mood for a specific atmosphere. Most of the time I would start in the middle and watch a few episodes on an evening. This way I will probably rewatch Memorials, It’s Okay To Not Be Okay and Crash Landing On You. But there are also dramas I love so much I probably will rewatch them from start to finish: I’ll Go to You When the Weather Is Nice (I’m only waiting until winter is really here), Hospital Playlist (I’m in love with the friends and so excited for season 2) and 18 Again (this drama was such a nice surprise, it’s one of my most loved dramas this year).

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#2020roundup
Day 5 – Drama you finished for the bean
Flower of Evil
This drama started so good! I loved the idea of a serial killer as a main lead and how this would effect his family. It was new and inventive. Soon enough it was obvious that all of it was a misunderstanding. But the story was still interesting with a male lead as a father and husband who wouldn’t feel any emotion but play the emotions instead. Then suddenly this was also a misunderstanding and the male lead became an emotional mess. I saw the route the drama was taking on the beanie wall and had to stop for a while. A few weeks later I binged the last episodes and it wasn’t as bad as I thought (well, I was prepared for the worst), but it was clearly not as good and intriguing as the beginning.

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    This drama could have been so good, it just went downhill when they decided to make ML a mess with emotions. Nothing made sense. I could finish because at some point I decided I would take everything as a joke and mainly because I was playing Candy Crush while watching.

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      It didn’t make sense at all!
      I was also playing on my phone while watching 🙂 That’s always a bad sign — If the story was good enough, I wouldn’t play.

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2020roundup
Day 4 – Drama you couldn’t finish
There are a few dramas I have dropped this year simply because I lost interest (Itaewon Class), or the characters weren’t likeable (Sweet Munchies), or I just couldn’t connect with the characters and story (Record of Youth). But I’ve dropped one drama I actually liked a lot: The World of the Married. Kim Hee-ae was amazing, and the story was good and very gripping. However, this was the problem. It was too gripping and emotionally exhausting to watch her fighting against her husband. I think, I will never be in the mood to end this drama, which is a shame since I think it’s really good. But in my opinion drama watching should be fun and not this draining.

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    This is a very strong reason to drop dramas . Dramas that are excellent but still draining get tiring at times. You want to finish it because it’s well made but you eventually choose your own peace over that.

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      Especially when real life is so tiring this year. I had to watch a lot of high school dramas to compensate for this 😉

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    This was my primary reason I avoided The World of the Married like the plague. 2020 is already too stressful, don’t wanna add to that. (But I still wasn’t spared from the horror sh*t finale of that show-that-must-not-be-named. Argh.)

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    I have the same reason towards The World of the Married. Will probably get back to it when real life doesn’t suck and we get to enjoy the thrill of it.

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#2020roundup
Day 2 – Female lead I will never forget

The theme today is difficult, I loved so many of the female leads we got this year. For example detective Cha Young-jin in Nobody Knows, neurosurgeon Chae Song-hwa in Hospital Playlist or lawyer Jung Geum-ja in Hyena – these three have very different personalities, but they have a few things in common: they are independent (from start to finish!), focus on their work and are also really got at their job. I think all three are pretty awesome and I want to be like them in ten years.

But there are more women I won’t forget.
Yoon Se-ri in Crash Landing on You
She is resilient, quick-thinking, and even though she “descends” into an impossible situation, she isn’t a damsel in distress, but adapts to the situation. I liked her bonding time with Captain Ri, the ducklings and the ahjummas, which resulted in her opening up and value the people around her more. At the end she is still a capable and successful businesswoman but has warmer relationships with the people around her.

Ko Moon-young in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay
She is really one of a kind: Brutally honest on one hand and incredible vulnerable on other hand. I love her for saying honestly what she wants and feels, and my heart hurt so much whenever she was shown in her vulnerable state. Her whimpering when she had those nightmares made me cry so much, I will never forget these scenes.

Goo Se-ra in Memorials
She is also one of a kind in a completely different way. I simply adore her quirky personality and her cute giggling! And her ability to stand up again, even when something didn\’t work out the way she wanted is admirable.

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#2020roundup
Day 1 ¬– Male lead you will never forget
Ri Jeong Hyeok in Crash Landing on You
He is not only kind and caring to the woman he falls in love with, but he also cares for his subordinates who truly respect and like him. That is one of the main reasons why I like him this much. Even though he doesn’t talk much about his feelings, he shows his concern for other through action. And he is still a badass captain in the Army.

Im Eun-Seob in When the Weather Is Fine
He is also someone who doesn’t talk about his feelings, but nevertheless shows them to the people around him. I loved how he eventually opened up more to the people who cared so much about him, but always stayed true to himself. At the end, he was still an introvert, however he was able to accept the good things that happened to him.

Han Ji-Pyeong in Start-Up
Well, technically he is not the first lead, but he stole the show for me. I like that he is smart, hardworking and doesn’t let himself be dragged down by his difficult past. And I love his no-nonsense personality (If I think about it, this is something that reminds me of my boyfriend. So, I guess it’s no wonder I root especially for Han Ji-Pyeong’s happiness.)

Honourable mention
The doctors in Hospital Playlist and Seo Gong-Myung in Memorials

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Wow, I knew I watched a lot of dramas this year, but making this list was almost embarrassing. Well, I guess this happens if you work less hours for a few months, don’t visit your family and can’t spend time with your boyfriend, who lives across the world. I normally don’t mind our long-distance relationship, but this year it really sucks. So, I spent like all my free time watching dramas and here is my list.

2020 finished dramas
18 Again
A Piece of Your Mind
Backstreet Rookie
Black Dog
Chocolate
Crash Landing on You
Do You Like Brahms?
Find Me in Your Memory
Flower of Evil
Hospital Playlist
Hyena
I’ll Go to You When the Weather Is Nice
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay
Memorials
My Unfamiliar Family
Mystic Pop-up Bar
Nobody Knows
Oh My Baby
Old School Intern
Stove League
The Good Detective
The King: Eternal Monarch

Currently watching
Start-Up

Planning to start with
Strongest Deliveryman
Awaken

On hold (let me finish Kim Seon-Ho’s contents first …)
More than Friends
Tale of the Nine Tailed

Older dramas finished
Tree With Deep Roots
Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People
School 2017
Welcome to Waikiki 1 and 2
Soulmate
The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry
Heartless City
Sassy, Go Go
My ID is Gangnam Beauty
One More Happy Ending

Dropped
Diary of a Prosecutor (somehow I never watched the last episode, but I don’t know why)
Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol
Itaewon Class
Record of Youth
The World of the Married

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