Dangermousie's kdrama rankings post, part 4. With summaries, reasons, pics and vids
This is yet another in my series of "Dangermousie ranks all the kdramas she has ever seen" posts. (I have seen over 70 kdramas and, being addicted to ranking, have decided to rank them all). For previous posts go here. Below the cut are dramas ranked 42-30: these range from dramas I like a lot to dramas I love. All of them have flaws that keep them from higher rankings but all of them are dramas I would have no hesitation in recommending. Once again, I have either finished these dramas entirely or finished enough to make up my own mind.
(42) SISTER-IN-LAW IS 19
Maybe I am kinder to this drama than it deserves because I watched it on a train in Italy - a circumstance bound to put most people into a lovely mood. But then - probably not. It's a funny, sweet, romantic drama. It won't shake your world but it will make it a little brighter. And it features one of kdrama rarities (yet a dangermousie favorite) - the best friend gets the girl. The best friend in question, in this case, is Seung Jae (played by the truly awesome Yoon Kye Sang) - the younger son of a well-off family, Seung Jae is a bit of a rebellious brat but he is a ridiculously nice guy overall. On one of his escapades he ends up befriending the hard-working, dirt poor Yoo Min (Jung Da Bin), a girl whose mother died when Yoo Min was a child and who was abandoned by her caretaker who stole all of Yoo Min's money. And then there is Min Jae, Seung Jae's older brother, on whom Yu Min has an utter crush - Min Jae and Yoo Min pretend to be engaged to get Min Jae's Mom off his back - but what to do - Yoo Min is too busy crushing on the perfect, unattainable Min Jae to notice that her best friend is in love with her.
Worth it if for nothing else than the scene where he confesses to her.
(41) SMILE AGAIN
Playing somewhat against type, Lee Dong Gun is Ban Ha Jin, an orphan from a truly horrible background. He meets Dan Hui, a tough, tomboyish baseball player, when a rich kid gets Ha Jin to date Dan Hui as a prank because Ha Jin is desperate to get money for college. Only…he ends up falling in love for real. The relationship is interrupted when Ha Jin has to go on the run with Yoo Kang, a troubled abused girl he befriended, in order to protect her. Now, it’s quite a few years later, and Ha Jin, hardened by his life, and Dan Hui, out of college, still warm and spunky (and still mad at Ha Jin) meet again. And then there is Jae Myung, a former baseball star and Dan Hui’s hero, who has been crippled by an injury. Dan Hui sees him as someone to save and Ha Jin sees him as a meal ticket…
This is a more functional version of Talented Mr. Riply in some ways. I love that the main character can be quite dark and that the heroine is strong and whole. I love the understatedness and the chemistry, and the fact that I love all four main characters - no evil other girl or clingy other guy here. It's just basically a solid drama well-done.
(40) EAST OF EDEN
EoE is a sprawling (and I do mean sprawling - it takes place over decades) epic of families, politics, mob and revenge. It all starts when a maternity nurse seeking revenge on the rich amoral mineowner who betrayed her, switches his newborn son with the newborn son of a poor labor organizer. Our protagonist is the older son of the same labor organizer, who has to cope with his father's sudden death caused by the mineowner (to prevent a strike), to try to provide for his family, to give up any hope of his own future, to join the mob to protect his family etc. Meanwhile, the secret of the children - the mineowner's switched son - now a hard-working righteous young man and beloved younger brother of protagonist, and union organizer's switched son - now a mentally unstable sociopath, is simmering...OK, I give up. EoE is so freaking complicated, it's really hard to describe. Basically. Family. Sagas. Revenge. Mob. True Love. Business. Corruption. Opression. Casinos. Brotherly Love. More hurt/comfort than you can shake a stick at.
There are some things that are less than perfect about EoE - for one thing, as 56 episodes, it's the longest drama on my list. Some of the character development isn't how I think it should have went and the revenge/revelation denoument isn't to my liking. So why is it this high? Because what works (the relationship between brothers, the scenes of hard-scrabble life, the bitter mother who shaped her sons, the heartbreak of Han Ji Hye's loveless marriage, and above all the love between Song Seong Heon's mobster-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist and Gukja - a mob princess) works brilliantly. Throw in some gorgeous and magnetic actors and some amazing actor chemistry and we have a drama I have actually purchased an official DVD set for.
For more on one of my biggest OTPs go here.
(39) CAIN AND ABEL
Cho In (So Ji Sub) is a Korean surgeon who goes to China on a holiday. Sweet and well-adjusted (yeah, it's a SJS drama, he won't stay this way for long), he wants to spend some time attending a conference and treating some village kids. It's all very rewarding, especially since he manages to also save the life of his awesome tour-guide, a North Korean refugee (Han Ji Min) trying to earn enough to smuggle the rest of her family out, but he can't wait to get home to his loving fiancee and his idolized older brother. WELL. That might happen if it wasn't for the fact that his Stepmother makes Domyouji Mama seem like Mother Teresa - horrified by the prospect that this adopted kid might inherit everything in the family instead of her own biological son, she arranges to have Cho In kidnapped and disposed of -the thugs drag terrified Cho In into the desert and shoot him, leaving him to slowly die...
There is revenge, amnesia, and awesome (and highly dysfunctional) OTP and more hurt/comfort than you can imagine.
(38) Resurrection
Recent addition - details to be added.
(37) LOVERS
This was a smash hit about a mobster (Lee Seo Jin) who is trying to go straight and a plastic surgeon (Kim Jung Eun) who becomes his friend and eventually more but whose love might not survive the sheer disparity in outlook, not to mention many other obstacles from commonplace (he has a girlfriend) to less so (his mob rivals want to kill her as a message).
It's a rare gorgeous grown-up romantic story. The leads won't see 30 again and they act like adults in their interactions - the story is nuanced, understated and swoony at once, and the little moments between them burn almost as much as their insane chemistry.
(36) PRINCESS JA MYUNG GO
Criminally overlooked drama, IMO - the dark and complicated PJMG is a telling of deafeat, loss, and death and it reimagines a classic Korean legend into something deeply nuanced but with a wonderful love story at its core. It stars Jung Ryo Won, Park Min Young, and Jung Kyung Ho. The story starts near the end and unravels backwards: the proud kingdom of Nakrang has fallen, because its princess Ra Hee fell in love with enemy prince Hodong who used her and got her to betray her kingdom to him. But what really happened and how? And who is the mysterious Princess Ja Myung, Ra Hee's sister, the hope of the rebels...and Hodong's real love.
(35) RETURN OF ILJIMAE
Iljimae is based on a very famous manhwa about an illegitimate son, a result of his mother's rape by her master, who is taken away at birth and abandoned. He does grow up and undergoes all sorts of experience before becoming a sort of Robin Hood figure - a masked avenger of wrongs. There is also (1) the strong-willed, intellectual woman who loves him (and who looks like his dead first love); (2) his mother, a remarkable woman who managed to survive and even acquire some status and position, and who still looks for him. And (3) the police commander who is charged with catching the mysterious rebel, but who cannot help but sympathize with him (and who is also the man who loves Iljimae's mother, btw).
RoI is wonderfully acted, messily complex, and is also one of the most gorgeously-filmed dramas I have ever seen - some of the images are so beautiful it's unreal. Iljimae himself isn't always likeable but to me, always relatable, and the other characters are complicated and magnetic as well.
(34) Lawyers of Korea
Recent addition - details to be filled.
(33) ALL IN
All In, starring Lee Byung Hun and Song Hye Kyo, has all sorts of things about gambling, mob, and business. But I confess to ffing past those parts (which are the parts which resulted in this being at number 32 because the OTP scenes by themselves are in my top 10) because, let's face it, I am in it all for the shipping. LBH plays In Ha, a man who went to jail at 18 for arson which inadvertently killed someone. In Ha committed that act to avenge the death of SHK's father, as SHK was his childhood OTP. After 7 years in the slammer he is finally out and eventually his paths cross with those of SHK, who in the meantime became a nun and then left because she did not feel enough of a calling and became a casino dealer. No, I am not making this up.
There is something permanently broken in In Ha after his time in jail (though if you think this is angsty, just you wait till all sorts of other things happen. The guy has no luck at all). And SHK is very ladylike and traditional but not a pushover. And they have psychotic chemistry together. What's not to love?
There are awesome women and tough men wall-to-wall (including a secondary OTP I really dig) but it's SHK and LBH's burning chemistry that really sells this drama - some times I wanted to look away, it felt so real. The way he looks at her OMG!
My favorite scene.
(32) WHO ARE YOU
Young In (Go Ara) has warmth, spunk, and character, but she is completely broke. Seung Hyo (Yoon Kye Sang) has tons of money and could solve all of Young In's financial problems without blinking, but he has no warmth or connection in his life. Nothing in common -- at least until Young In's just killed father turns into a ghost and decides he can use Seung Hyo's body for a small part of the day.
Yes, this sounds wacky and yes, I was reluctant to watch this for a very long time. BUT - I was so wrong. This is funny and sad, weird and warm, romantic (swoonily so) and clever. Watch it!
(31) GREEN ROSE
I knew I was going to love it from the chaotic, awesome opening, one of the best drama openings I've seen. As the drama opens, we are thrown in the middle of action: a young, desperate man (who we later will learn is Lee Jung-Hyun played by Go Soo), chased by the police, dashes into a car decorated for a wedding and a crazy, high-speed, grim chase ensues, with the man getting more and more desperate, more and more cut off at every road. Finally, he is trapped on a bridge, police cars one way, snipers with guns another. As the policeman tries to negotiate, the man yells for no one to come closer, and climbs on the railing of the very tall bridge, as the policean continues to futily reason with him not to kill himself. With one last glance around him, the man jumps in, rather than be captured. And as he falls into the water, we hear his quiet voice over: "And so at 26 years and 8 months, I drowned in the cold Han River. Some will be sad and some won't, and I wonder who will be which" and it flashes to various people, prominent among them lovely, smiling Soo-Ah (Lee Da Hae).
And we go into a flashback and the start of a wonderful, angsty, tense modern take on Count of Monte Cristo. I really love this drama.
(30)ROBBERS
Oh Joon (Jang Hyuk) is a gigolo conman who seduces his marks and then tricks them out of their money. His latest target is eccentric, fragile Dal Rae (Lee Da Hae), a widow with a five-year-old daughter. He needs the money to repay loan sharks who are after him and Dal Rae just happens to have the sum that he needs saved up...
Normally what would happen next is a destitute woman, a court case, and a nice jail sentence for the guy in question. However seeing that Oh Joon is played by Jang Hyuk, who specializes in playing bastards with a (rather hidden) heart and Dal Rae is played by Lee Da Hae, surely one of the most adorable kdrama actresses, you can tell the story is going to go rather differently.
I love this gorgeously shot (one of themost beautiful I've seen - the colors shine) drama for the incredible emotional hothouse it creates - the love and desperation and redemption and the chemistry are off the charts. As I commented earlier "the scene in the beginning of ep 9 where they confront each other once she found out the truth about his former profession - I was so taken in by their faces and by the raw emotion that I literally forgot to glance down at the subtitles and had to rewind to watch it again to see what they were saying."
Just - my God.
Until next time :)
(42) SISTER-IN-LAW IS 19
Maybe I am kinder to this drama than it deserves because I watched it on a train in Italy - a circumstance bound to put most people into a lovely mood. But then - probably not. It's a funny, sweet, romantic drama. It won't shake your world but it will make it a little brighter. And it features one of kdrama rarities (yet a dangermousie favorite) - the best friend gets the girl. The best friend in question, in this case, is Seung Jae (played by the truly awesome Yoon Kye Sang) - the younger son of a well-off family, Seung Jae is a bit of a rebellious brat but he is a ridiculously nice guy overall. On one of his escapades he ends up befriending the hard-working, dirt poor Yoo Min (Jung Da Bin), a girl whose mother died when Yoo Min was a child and who was abandoned by her caretaker who stole all of Yoo Min's money. And then there is Min Jae, Seung Jae's older brother, on whom Yu Min has an utter crush - Min Jae and Yoo Min pretend to be engaged to get Min Jae's Mom off his back - but what to do - Yoo Min is too busy crushing on the perfect, unattainable Min Jae to notice that her best friend is in love with her.
Worth it if for nothing else than the scene where he confesses to her.
Click to view(41) SMILE AGAIN
Playing somewhat against type, Lee Dong Gun is Ban Ha Jin, an orphan from a truly horrible background. He meets Dan Hui, a tough, tomboyish baseball player, when a rich kid gets Ha Jin to date Dan Hui as a prank because Ha Jin is desperate to get money for college. Only…he ends up falling in love for real. The relationship is interrupted when Ha Jin has to go on the run with Yoo Kang, a troubled abused girl he befriended, in order to protect her. Now, it’s quite a few years later, and Ha Jin, hardened by his life, and Dan Hui, out of college, still warm and spunky (and still mad at Ha Jin) meet again. And then there is Jae Myung, a former baseball star and Dan Hui’s hero, who has been crippled by an injury. Dan Hui sees him as someone to save and Ha Jin sees him as a meal ticket…
This is a more functional version of Talented Mr. Riply in some ways. I love that the main character can be quite dark and that the heroine is strong and whole. I love the understatedness and the chemistry, and the fact that I love all four main characters - no evil other girl or clingy other guy here. It's just basically a solid drama well-done.
(40) EAST OF EDEN
EoE is a sprawling (and I do mean sprawling - it takes place over decades) epic of families, politics, mob and revenge. It all starts when a maternity nurse seeking revenge on the rich amoral mineowner who betrayed her, switches his newborn son with the newborn son of a poor labor organizer. Our protagonist is the older son of the same labor organizer, who has to cope with his father's sudden death caused by the mineowner (to prevent a strike), to try to provide for his family, to give up any hope of his own future, to join the mob to protect his family etc. Meanwhile, the secret of the children - the mineowner's switched son - now a hard-working righteous young man and beloved younger brother of protagonist, and union organizer's switched son - now a mentally unstable sociopath, is simmering...OK, I give up. EoE is so freaking complicated, it's really hard to describe. Basically. Family. Sagas. Revenge. Mob. True Love. Business. Corruption. Opression. Casinos. Brotherly Love. More hurt/comfort than you can shake a stick at.
There are some things that are less than perfect about EoE - for one thing, as 56 episodes, it's the longest drama on my list. Some of the character development isn't how I think it should have went and the revenge/revelation denoument isn't to my liking. So why is it this high? Because what works (the relationship between brothers, the scenes of hard-scrabble life, the bitter mother who shaped her sons, the heartbreak of Han Ji Hye's loveless marriage, and above all the love between Song Seong Heon's mobster-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist and Gukja - a mob princess) works brilliantly. Throw in some gorgeous and magnetic actors and some amazing actor chemistry and we have a drama I have actually purchased an official DVD set for.
For more on one of my biggest OTPs go here.
(39) CAIN AND ABEL
Cho In (So Ji Sub) is a Korean surgeon who goes to China on a holiday. Sweet and well-adjusted (yeah, it's a SJS drama, he won't stay this way for long), he wants to spend some time attending a conference and treating some village kids. It's all very rewarding, especially since he manages to also save the life of his awesome tour-guide, a North Korean refugee (Han Ji Min) trying to earn enough to smuggle the rest of her family out, but he can't wait to get home to his loving fiancee and his idolized older brother. WELL. That might happen if it wasn't for the fact that his Stepmother makes Domyouji Mama seem like Mother Teresa - horrified by the prospect that this adopted kid might inherit everything in the family instead of her own biological son, she arranges to have Cho In kidnapped and disposed of -the thugs drag terrified Cho In into the desert and shoot him, leaving him to slowly die...
There is revenge, amnesia, and awesome (and highly dysfunctional) OTP and more hurt/comfort than you can imagine.
(38) Resurrection
Recent addition - details to be added.
(37) LOVERS
This was a smash hit about a mobster (Lee Seo Jin) who is trying to go straight and a plastic surgeon (Kim Jung Eun) who becomes his friend and eventually more but whose love might not survive the sheer disparity in outlook, not to mention many other obstacles from commonplace (he has a girlfriend) to less so (his mob rivals want to kill her as a message).
It's a rare gorgeous grown-up romantic story. The leads won't see 30 again and they act like adults in their interactions - the story is nuanced, understated and swoony at once, and the little moments between them burn almost as much as their insane chemistry.
(36) PRINCESS JA MYUNG GO
Criminally overlooked drama, IMO - the dark and complicated PJMG is a telling of deafeat, loss, and death and it reimagines a classic Korean legend into something deeply nuanced but with a wonderful love story at its core. It stars Jung Ryo Won, Park Min Young, and Jung Kyung Ho. The story starts near the end and unravels backwards: the proud kingdom of Nakrang has fallen, because its princess Ra Hee fell in love with enemy prince Hodong who used her and got her to betray her kingdom to him. But what really happened and how? And who is the mysterious Princess Ja Myung, Ra Hee's sister, the hope of the rebels...and Hodong's real love.
(35) RETURN OF ILJIMAE
Iljimae is based on a very famous manhwa about an illegitimate son, a result of his mother's rape by her master, who is taken away at birth and abandoned. He does grow up and undergoes all sorts of experience before becoming a sort of Robin Hood figure - a masked avenger of wrongs. There is also (1) the strong-willed, intellectual woman who loves him (and who looks like his dead first love); (2) his mother, a remarkable woman who managed to survive and even acquire some status and position, and who still looks for him. And (3) the police commander who is charged with catching the mysterious rebel, but who cannot help but sympathize with him (and who is also the man who loves Iljimae's mother, btw).
RoI is wonderfully acted, messily complex, and is also one of the most gorgeously-filmed dramas I have ever seen - some of the images are so beautiful it's unreal. Iljimae himself isn't always likeable but to me, always relatable, and the other characters are complicated and magnetic as well.
(34) Lawyers of Korea
Recent addition - details to be filled.
(33) ALL IN
All In, starring Lee Byung Hun and Song Hye Kyo, has all sorts of things about gambling, mob, and business. But I confess to ffing past those parts (which are the parts which resulted in this being at number 32 because the OTP scenes by themselves are in my top 10) because, let's face it, I am in it all for the shipping. LBH plays In Ha, a man who went to jail at 18 for arson which inadvertently killed someone. In Ha committed that act to avenge the death of SHK's father, as SHK was his childhood OTP. After 7 years in the slammer he is finally out and eventually his paths cross with those of SHK, who in the meantime became a nun and then left because she did not feel enough of a calling and became a casino dealer. No, I am not making this up.
There is something permanently broken in In Ha after his time in jail (though if you think this is angsty, just you wait till all sorts of other things happen. The guy has no luck at all). And SHK is very ladylike and traditional but not a pushover. And they have psychotic chemistry together. What's not to love?
There are awesome women and tough men wall-to-wall (including a secondary OTP I really dig) but it's SHK and LBH's burning chemistry that really sells this drama - some times I wanted to look away, it felt so real. The way he looks at her OMG!
My favorite scene.
(32) WHO ARE YOU
Young In (Go Ara) has warmth, spunk, and character, but she is completely broke. Seung Hyo (Yoon Kye Sang) has tons of money and could solve all of Young In's financial problems without blinking, but he has no warmth or connection in his life. Nothing in common -- at least until Young In's just killed father turns into a ghost and decides he can use Seung Hyo's body for a small part of the day.
Yes, this sounds wacky and yes, I was reluctant to watch this for a very long time. BUT - I was so wrong. This is funny and sad, weird and warm, romantic (swoonily so) and clever. Watch it!
(31) GREEN ROSE
I knew I was going to love it from the chaotic, awesome opening, one of the best drama openings I've seen. As the drama opens, we are thrown in the middle of action: a young, desperate man (who we later will learn is Lee Jung-Hyun played by Go Soo), chased by the police, dashes into a car decorated for a wedding and a crazy, high-speed, grim chase ensues, with the man getting more and more desperate, more and more cut off at every road. Finally, he is trapped on a bridge, police cars one way, snipers with guns another. As the policeman tries to negotiate, the man yells for no one to come closer, and climbs on the railing of the very tall bridge, as the policean continues to futily reason with him not to kill himself. With one last glance around him, the man jumps in, rather than be captured. And as he falls into the water, we hear his quiet voice over: "And so at 26 years and 8 months, I drowned in the cold Han River. Some will be sad and some won't, and I wonder who will be which" and it flashes to various people, prominent among them lovely, smiling Soo-Ah (Lee Da Hae).
And we go into a flashback and the start of a wonderful, angsty, tense modern take on Count of Monte Cristo. I really love this drama.
(30)ROBBERS
Oh Joon (Jang Hyuk) is a gigolo conman who seduces his marks and then tricks them out of their money. His latest target is eccentric, fragile Dal Rae (Lee Da Hae), a widow with a five-year-old daughter. He needs the money to repay loan sharks who are after him and Dal Rae just happens to have the sum that he needs saved up...
Normally what would happen next is a destitute woman, a court case, and a nice jail sentence for the guy in question. However seeing that Oh Joon is played by Jang Hyuk, who specializes in playing bastards with a (rather hidden) heart and Dal Rae is played by Lee Da Hae, surely one of the most adorable kdrama actresses, you can tell the story is going to go rather differently.
I love this gorgeously shot (one of themost beautiful I've seen - the colors shine) drama for the incredible emotional hothouse it creates - the love and desperation and redemption and the chemistry are off the charts. As I commented earlier "the scene in the beginning of ep 9 where they confront each other once she found out the truth about his former profession - I was so taken in by their faces and by the raw emotion that I literally forgot to glance down at the subtitles and had to rewind to watch it again to see what they were saying."
Just - my God.
Until next time :)