I started writing this blog almost five years ago (Five years!!! Quick, someone give me awesome ideas on how to celebrate when our blogiversary hits!), and I have to say that 2017 was an off year in K-dramas.
Maybe it was just me being busy with real life and getting jaded with dramas, but based on the responses to my two K-drama slump posts, I tend to think this was an off K-drama year for quite a few people.
Like 2016, which I dubbed The Year of the Dropped K-drama, I dropped a whole bunch of shows without making it remotely close to the end. Even worse, I didn't even start a whole bunch of shows for several K-drama cycles.
Best K Dramas Of 2017 You Really, Really Need To Get Into
Unlike 2016, though, I also found myself at the opposite end of the spectrum this year, pleasantly surprised by a few gems I didn't expect to like nearly as much as I did.
To cover the year of mixed bags, I'm reviewing the best and worst things about every drama I watched (or attempted to watch) in 2017 as I rank them from best to worst (according to my own very subjective enjoyment, of course).
Highlights:Everything. Every. Single. Thing. This is one of those rare dramas where every time you brace yourself for disappointment, you end up pleasantly surprised by thoughtful writing and delightful characterization. This ranks as one of the top dramas of 2017 for sure. It wins for best writing, best feminism, best friendships, best cat, best everything.
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Disappointments:Okay, so maybe noteverything. Those last two episodes let me down with a separation and time jump for no apparent reason. And then she has the nerve tolaugh? No.
Highlights:I'm getting a little depressed seeing other year-end posts and realizing that apparently no one else loved this drama nearly as much as I did. LISTEN UP, HUMANS OF THE INTERNET:RADIANT OFFICEIS A MAGNIFICENT GEM, AND I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE.
Highlights:The girls are back in top form! Everything I loved aboutseason 1—camaraderie, romance, slice-of-life scenarios—all returned in season 2. I could watch a zillion episodes of my Belle Epoque lovelies.
Fight For My Way
Disappointments:Much of Eun Jae's arc irritated me this season. Couldn't have cared less about Heimdal. Couldn't have caredmoreabout squeezing in a few extra scenes with Ji Won and Sung Min. Don't get me started on that epilogue.
Disappointments:Some of the episodes feel repetitive from a plot perspective, which is why it's taken me a bit to finish. But unless everyone dies in the last episode and the husbands win, I feel pretty confident in this ranking.
Highlights:As someone whose mom died at a young age, I ugly cried overJin Joo finding herself and reuniting with her mom every single week. This was the 2017 drama that hit me in the feels and got me emotionally invested way more than the drama probably deserved.
Astro (south Korean Band)
Disappointments:If you have only 12 episodes to tell this story, how about you don't spend more than half of them with the male lead being a total dirtbag? Also, literally no one cares about the cheerleading couple. NO ONE.
Highlights: Female friendship abounding. The best cameo of the year in the form of Kim So Yeon. Also, Kim Ji Suk as the sweetest, most supportive male lead in a long time. It's very rare that I say this with all the emotionally broken, extremelywealthy man-children running amok in K-dramas, but he is someone I would encourage my friends to date if he existed in real life.
Disappointments:Is there a cut of this show that's just the 1930s parts minus all the whiny modern-day parts? I want that, please.
Ok Taec Yeon (옥택연)
Highlights:Harabeoji and Mal Sook making me ugly cry. The OST, includingthis Yoon Mi Rae songthat got stuck in my head for like a month.
Disappointments:AfterChicago Typewriter, I thought for sure Go Kyung Pyo's first role as leading man would be amazing. Instead, I found his character self-righteous and boring.
Disappointments:Meh, I couldn't get into it. I think I finally have to give up on pretending I like Kim Nam Gil's slapstick acting.
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Highlights and disappointments:I have to collapse these categories because I genuinely can't remember a single scene from the series, aside from maybe Shin Min Ah wearing some horrifying socks with heels. It ranks so high in the list only because there weren't things I actively hated about it.
Disappointments:A wonderful romancewhere they never actually get together andinstead you have to watch a murderer wandering around for no discernible reason for a zillion episodes.What the hell, show?
Disappointments:Every once in a while, you watch a show and think you're on crazy pills because your feelings do not line up AT ALL with how everyone else in the universe seems to feel about it. That's this show for me.¯_(ツ)_/¯
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With weird licensing, waiting for subtitles, and having to scrounge up illegal streams in some cases, here are the dramas I still have on my watchlist from the year:
So I'm sorry if I left them off the list! I have been shamed for my lazy drama-watching ways and may someday catch up!
How did you rank your favorite dramas this year? Where did I get it right? Where did I get it horribly wrong? What dramas did I totally miss out on? Let me know!
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