Dramas watched in 2021

Zany, offbeat, incredibly clever, and surprisingly heartwarming. The attention to detail is insane; not a single character or detail doesn't come back to bite at some point or another, from a neighborhood kid and his deaf mother to a window that won't stay shut. And the goofy ragtag found family ensemble are disasters, but there's a reason why their collective eclectic talents and mindsets land them as protagonists. The show's sins lie in the low production values, and the fact that the plot really doesn't start throwing punches until a bit over halfway. The odd genre mixing/parodying (count the referenced musical motifs!) and overall tone may not be everyone's taste.

A solid makjang. And a makjang is gonna makjang so I'm not gonna quibble about cringe factor or selectively applied medicine/law. The villain's motivations are very wobbly after all's revealed but the acting is fantastic throughout. Lee Yoo-ri is one of those actors I'd watch almost anything for and the child actor in particular deserves an award.

A lot of fun but even more wasted potential. While the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers setup is great, it's never really used to its full potential. Wastes a lot of its 55 episodes on side characters and villains plotting too. The timeline is wonky in spots,  there's a lot of logistical plot holes, and some typical c-drama issues with scene transitions/editing. However, the FL is fantastic and her sismance with the second FL is cute and hilarious.  On the possession aspect, the second FL's actress played both roles incredibly well. 

LET'S GO TIME-TRAVELING LESBIANS LET'S GOOOOOOOOO!!! This is obviously a no-budget labor of love but with that in mind it's an hour well spent. Lots of action and fluff and a happy ending. With how gay it is I have no idea how it managed to get past censors but I'm grateful anyways.

Just Another School Drama but it's short and light in a way that makes for a fresh watch. Themes and images are well woven in and it's got mended sismances and M/F friendships. Something something it sure sucks to grow up in the age of instagram huh

Great acting, genuinely fun characters, a bit of found family, and the writers know how to draw out your tears. However, the forced drama and inconsistent logic often prevented me from fully engaging. CW for blatant fridging and a surprising amount of blood/gore for what is overall a comic book-esque romp.

Clocking in at a little over half an hour altogether, this is, to my knowledge, the longest and gayest tea advert to date (now, I do wanna have a little chat about what constitutes tea but okay Altdif) Obviously a bit of a speedrun but beautiful production values  and very cute and fluffy.

Weekend drama's gonna weekend drama so don't look too close. Clips along at a fun fast pace for about the first half but unfortunately gets pretty bogged down and boring in the second. 

Gets the initial lie out of the way very fast and dives quick into slice-of-life that balances melancholy, hilarity, and fluff very well. Medical stuff is  occasionally ramped up for drama but not egregiously so. Big OT3 vibes

Nothing new and it sticks to a simple and well worn path to move quickly through its 30 minute episodes. Wins a lot of goodwill with its loveable cast, even if the antagonists are ultimately very stale

It's called One the Woman because Lee Honey fucking carried this show. Dumb, but in a maximum chaos sort of way, there are a lot of tropes and plot points in this that are typically makjang but here are played for comedy; even when played for drama/angst they're lampshaded and poked at. While I didn't feel it dragged too much heading into the ending, the ending itself felt... pretty rote and bland. 

• Fake marriage of convenience but make it a zombie pandemic? Sign me UP! The main leads are the real draw here: each dynamic badasses in their own right and the insane amount of chemistry and truly compelling relationship between them makes me go a little mad
• In general, the plot doesn't always stand up to real world practices (some extra suspension of disbelief may be necessary if you have a science background  because the vaccine/cure logic in this will make you want to rip your face off) but it was internally consistent and never dragged. We don't get resolution for every minor character or detail but we're left on a good note
• While I disliked the amount of time spent on neighbors just being terrible people, there is an element of late stage capitalism commentary here (the apartment is well established as mostly upper class).  And I came to love the neighbors that either stuck to their morals or grew to be better. 
• The concept of zombies having periods of lucidity is truly great psychological horror fuel and while I would love to see that used to its full extent somewhere else, I love that here it's mostly used to underscore how the infected are victims and human beings in their own right. And that the leads fight for and refuse to forget that, an element of humanism that feels truly unique in the zombie genre. 

• A stylish addition to the hall of serial killer dramas, but brings its own dark comedy style. Women are really at the forefront here and every actress is bringing their A-game. The plot is overall very nicely woven in- it gets a little slow in the middle (also where the plot has its weakest points) but very quickly ramps back up before sticking the landing with a satisfying ending. 
• The fact that none of the parties involved in the plot are bound by the legal system (ie not a police/prosecutor/law procedural) makes space for characters to have much more interesting dilemmas and growth
  • the bit where Kyung-yi pulls herself out of her (literal) lowest point is probably one of my favorite scenes of the year
• The two leads have strong mirroring, which is delightful, but I love how the show follows up on their differences as foils to each other. I would have liked a slightly more hopeful ending for Yi-kyung though, as the series itself points out that she's often more of an anti-hero
• The canon gay characters get a hopeful ending. Also Santa has major trans vibes and Je-hee is explicitly Kyung-yi's reason for living like come ON

• A human/slice-of-life drama with themes on miscommunication and making love work despite being different people. The emphasis on the present and everyday focuses us on the current journey but left me with less of a grasp of some characters. 
• Pretty much every character is interesting and fun and I loved seeing them interact in different combinations as well.
  • the dialogue is like marbles clashing and spinning off. Both entertaining and chaotic
  • Yeong-hwa feels superfluous at first but gets a bit better.
  • I didn't always understand where friction was coming from in conflicts
• I love how the show acknowledges just the simple existence of queer people. We do get a canon gay character (w/ a sympathetic hopeful ending), a romantic asexual (happy ending), and just a lot of mentions in passing.
  • It's mentioned often by others that Dan-ah's gay and then later revealed that she lied to get out of marriage. Which is not great. However, she acknowledges she was wrong to do so when she's straight and why, which I did appreciate. This seemed like a missed opportunity to have a bisexual character though

From the same team that gave us Legend of Yunqian, another labor of love clocking in at a bit over a half hour. More plotty and a bit darker than Yunqian, but still very cute, if not quite as squee-worthy. We've been promised another season too

• I do love watching a priest get into fist fights. All three protagonists are crooked in a way contrary to their chosen profession, which is somewhere between funny and frustrating depending on your patience levels.  
  • Never forgets it's a comedy though
• While the show is incredibly slow, it does generally pay off. The character development is glacial but satisfying when we do get it. Similarly, the main characters are at their most entertaining when they interact with each other, but the full team up  isn't until over half way through the show
  • 14 (28) episodes to get Lee Honey with a sword. Worth it.
  • I never really came to care about the council of crooks outside of Chul-boem and his minions