2013 Drama Recap
2013 was a pretty disappointing year for both cdramas and twdramas, as you'll be able to tell when you see what made my choice for "Favorite 2013 Drama." There were some that could be considered entertaining fare, but nothing released this year really grabbed me and made me want to rewatch scenes over and over. My most anticipated release, The Patriot Yue Fei, was also a bit of a disappointment, but more on that later.
Total Number of Dramas: 13 (10 cdramas, 3 twdramas)
Breakdown: 7 finished, 3 still watching, 3 given up
FAVORITE 2013 DRAMAS
Just You
I'm almost embarrassed to have this top my list, but let's face the facts: it was addicting. Maybe not a great drama objectively, but you can't deny it was entertaining. Aaron Yan and Puff Kuo had amazing chemistry, and the drama actually did a decent job of fleshing out the supporting cast (minus the main antagonist, but who cares about her). And the most surprising development -- the ending was dragged out only one or two episodes! As long as SETTV keeps offering romcoms like this, I'll know who to turn to when I'm in need of comfort-food dramas.
ENJOYABLE DRAMAS
In a Good Way
I'm only a couple episodes in, but I've been following Ms. Koala's recaps, and it seems like the drama's been continuing on the same enjoyable track so far. I originally wasn't planning on watching this at all because I wasn't familiar with any of the cast members, which for me is the main draw with SETTV dramas, but after seeing so much praise for it, I decided to give it a shot. I'm not in love with it, but it's definitely on the higher end when it comes to SETTV quality, and Kirsten Ren and Lego Lee are absolutely adorable together. Will continue to follow for sure.
Hello Gorgeous
I've watched about one-fourth of the episodes and am on-the-fence about whether or not to continue. On the plus side, Godfrey Gao and Jed Lee, and pretty entertaining story. On the minus side, the fashion modeling industry, ugh. I guess it depicts the distasteful side of the industry pretty well, since I loathe watching the models interact, but it's a real drag on the drama overall. I will probably push through for Godfrey and Jed (even though Godfrey apparently turns evil), but I'm anticipating this will go the route of my last Godfrey drama, The Queen of S.O.P. -- pretty to look at, but not leaving much of a mark.
Runaway Sweetheart
Like with Just You, I liked Runaway Sweetheart simply because it was fun and didn't try too hard to be something it wasn't. It also doesn't hurt to have Chen Xiang, Jiang Chao, Xu Jiawei, and Wu Yi in a drama together. The female lead's horrible acting made me want to cry, but the male eyecandy totally made up for it. Pure fluff, but it could be worse.
THROWBACK DRAMAS
Bu Bu Jing Xin
I still have trouble vocalizing just how much heartache Bu Bu Jing Xin put me through. Sometimes I wish I'd watched this along with everyone else when it aired in 2011, but I don't think I could have handled the daily heartbreak. Still, the emotional response this drama sparked is proof of just how well written it is and how perfect the cast was. I keep telling myself to be wary of the sequel, Bu Bu Jing Qing, and that there's no way it will measure up, but I just really really really want Nicky and Shishi to have a happy ending, gosh darnit! (Wait, did I just out myself as a Longshi shipper...)
Xiao Shiyi Lang
Instead of working on those long-neglected recaps of Xiao Shiyi Lang, I elected to rewatch the entire series again. This one's a family favorite, so occasionally my sisters and I will marathon through all 40 episodes in a week or so. I don't think I'll ever tire of this drama, and it's well deserving of its top spot on my all-time favorites list. Wuxia at its finest.
The Girl in Blue
Since Roy Chiu's Wine Beauty has yet to announce a release date, I had to find something to fill up the lack of Roy in my life, so I picked The Girl in Blue. The story was okay, just kind of slow, but I found myself slowly hating all of the supporting cast. At least there was plenty of Roy, though... plus a scene of Roy in the shower.
Starry Starry Night
This was one of Roy's earliest dramas, and it shows. Roy himself was okay, but everything else about this, from the acting to the plot to the writing, just sucked. There was one particularly headdesk-worthy scene where Tammy Chen and Peter Ho's characters just rehash a conversation that we just witnessed about twenty minutes prior. *headdesk* I made it through episode one and then gave up. Sorry, Roy, you looked pretty, but I'd rather just watch Office Girls again.
THE "MEH" DRAMAS
The Patriot Yue Fei
I'm two episodes in, I even have all 72 episodes downloaded in HD, and... I don't know if I want to continue. Is it worth it for Huang Xiaoming? I guess I'm just really bored with historical/war dramas, even though I'm trying to convince myself that I'll pick up some Song Dynasty history as a result. We'll see if I come back to this one.
Drama Go Go Go
I enjoyed Drama Go Go Go when I was speed-watching it, but when I think back on it, the only thing I remember is that it had Lin Gengxin. I really liked the initial premise, since the story of a writer or a screenwriter is usually guaranteed to attract my attention, and the drama started off pretty snappily. But I just couldn't bring myself to care about Ruby Lin or Jiro Wang (I'm not really fans of either), so I spent most of my watching time paying attention to Lin Gengxin lol.
Xing Ming Shi Ye
Such a promising premise and yet incredibly disappointing. How do you make Nicky Wu + Wallace Huo (+ Wang Wenjie) so boring? I managed to watch about four episodes but didn't find myself intrigued by any of the characters or the subplots. Such a missed opportunity.
Swordman
I still don't understand how I finished the whole thing. I guess Wallace Huo and Chen Xiao definitely helped, but looking back, it just seems like a blur of wtf-ness that got steadily worse and worse. But decent fighting scenes are always a plus, and Han Dong was surprisingly good comedy relief. And I do owe it to Swordman for introducing me to Chen Xiao.
Love Destiny
Maybe if Love Destiny had had Roy, Tang Yan, and Izz Tsui, I would have stuck it out, but with only Qi Wei from the My Daughter/Waking Love Up quartet, and with eighty-six freaking episodes, I just couldn't keep up after episode 24. I liked the majority of what I watched, and I think Melvin Sia and Zhang Danfeng were great, but it was just way too long for me.
STILL TO WATCH
The Pursuit of Happiness
After hearing it compared to In Time With You, I knew I had to check this one out. I've never seen Tony Yang in anything, and I've seen Sonia Sui only in Black & White, but they seem to be fairly solid actors. Will probably wait for this one to finish its run, though, since I've found I much prefer marathoning on my own time.
Total Number of Dramas: 13 (10 cdramas, 3 twdramas)
Breakdown: 7 finished, 3 still watching, 3 given up
FAVORITE 2013 DRAMAS
Just You
I'm almost embarrassed to have this top my list, but let's face the facts: it was addicting. Maybe not a great drama objectively, but you can't deny it was entertaining. Aaron Yan and Puff Kuo had amazing chemistry, and the drama actually did a decent job of fleshing out the supporting cast (minus the main antagonist, but who cares about her). And the most surprising development -- the ending was dragged out only one or two episodes! As long as SETTV keeps offering romcoms like this, I'll know who to turn to when I'm in need of comfort-food dramas.
ENJOYABLE DRAMAS
In a Good Way
I'm only a couple episodes in, but I've been following Ms. Koala's recaps, and it seems like the drama's been continuing on the same enjoyable track so far. I originally wasn't planning on watching this at all because I wasn't familiar with any of the cast members, which for me is the main draw with SETTV dramas, but after seeing so much praise for it, I decided to give it a shot. I'm not in love with it, but it's definitely on the higher end when it comes to SETTV quality, and Kirsten Ren and Lego Lee are absolutely adorable together. Will continue to follow for sure.
Hello Gorgeous
I've watched about one-fourth of the episodes and am on-the-fence about whether or not to continue. On the plus side, Godfrey Gao and Jed Lee, and pretty entertaining story. On the minus side, the fashion modeling industry, ugh. I guess it depicts the distasteful side of the industry pretty well, since I loathe watching the models interact, but it's a real drag on the drama overall. I will probably push through for Godfrey and Jed (even though Godfrey apparently turns evil), but I'm anticipating this will go the route of my last Godfrey drama, The Queen of S.O.P. -- pretty to look at, but not leaving much of a mark.
Runaway Sweetheart
Like with Just You, I liked Runaway Sweetheart simply because it was fun and didn't try too hard to be something it wasn't. It also doesn't hurt to have Chen Xiang, Jiang Chao, Xu Jiawei, and Wu Yi in a drama together. The female lead's horrible acting made me want to cry, but the male eyecandy totally made up for it. Pure fluff, but it could be worse.
THROWBACK DRAMAS
Bu Bu Jing Xin
I still have trouble vocalizing just how much heartache Bu Bu Jing Xin put me through. Sometimes I wish I'd watched this along with everyone else when it aired in 2011, but I don't think I could have handled the daily heartbreak. Still, the emotional response this drama sparked is proof of just how well written it is and how perfect the cast was. I keep telling myself to be wary of the sequel, Bu Bu Jing Qing, and that there's no way it will measure up, but I just really really really want Nicky and Shishi to have a happy ending, gosh darnit! (Wait, did I just out myself as a Longshi shipper...)
Xiao Shiyi Lang
Instead of working on those long-neglected recaps of Xiao Shiyi Lang, I elected to rewatch the entire series again. This one's a family favorite, so occasionally my sisters and I will marathon through all 40 episodes in a week or so. I don't think I'll ever tire of this drama, and it's well deserving of its top spot on my all-time favorites list. Wuxia at its finest.
The Girl in Blue
Since Roy Chiu's Wine Beauty has yet to announce a release date, I had to find something to fill up the lack of Roy in my life, so I picked The Girl in Blue. The story was okay, just kind of slow, but I found myself slowly hating all of the supporting cast. At least there was plenty of Roy, though... plus a scene of Roy in the shower.
Starry Starry Night
This was one of Roy's earliest dramas, and it shows. Roy himself was okay, but everything else about this, from the acting to the plot to the writing, just sucked. There was one particularly headdesk-worthy scene where Tammy Chen and Peter Ho's characters just rehash a conversation that we just witnessed about twenty minutes prior. *headdesk* I made it through episode one and then gave up. Sorry, Roy, you looked pretty, but I'd rather just watch Office Girls again.
THE "MEH" DRAMAS
The Patriot Yue Fei
I'm two episodes in, I even have all 72 episodes downloaded in HD, and... I don't know if I want to continue. Is it worth it for Huang Xiaoming? I guess I'm just really bored with historical/war dramas, even though I'm trying to convince myself that I'll pick up some Song Dynasty history as a result. We'll see if I come back to this one.
Drama Go Go Go
I enjoyed Drama Go Go Go when I was speed-watching it, but when I think back on it, the only thing I remember is that it had Lin Gengxin. I really liked the initial premise, since the story of a writer or a screenwriter is usually guaranteed to attract my attention, and the drama started off pretty snappily. But I just couldn't bring myself to care about Ruby Lin or Jiro Wang (I'm not really fans of either), so I spent most of my watching time paying attention to Lin Gengxin lol.
Xing Ming Shi Ye
Such a promising premise and yet incredibly disappointing. How do you make Nicky Wu + Wallace Huo (+ Wang Wenjie) so boring? I managed to watch about four episodes but didn't find myself intrigued by any of the characters or the subplots. Such a missed opportunity.
Swordman
I still don't understand how I finished the whole thing. I guess Wallace Huo and Chen Xiao definitely helped, but looking back, it just seems like a blur of wtf-ness that got steadily worse and worse. But decent fighting scenes are always a plus, and Han Dong was surprisingly good comedy relief. And I do owe it to Swordman for introducing me to Chen Xiao.
Love Destiny
Maybe if Love Destiny had had Roy, Tang Yan, and Izz Tsui, I would have stuck it out, but with only Qi Wei from the My Daughter/Waking Love Up quartet, and with eighty-six freaking episodes, I just couldn't keep up after episode 24. I liked the majority of what I watched, and I think Melvin Sia and Zhang Danfeng were great, but it was just way too long for me.
STILL TO WATCH
The Pursuit of Happiness
After hearing it compared to In Time With You, I knew I had to check this one out. I've never seen Tony Yang in anything, and I've seen Sonia Sui only in Black & White, but they seem to be fairly solid actors. Will probably wait for this one to finish its run, though, since I've found I much prefer marathoning on my own time.