dangermousie | Most anticipated kdrama for 2011 and its runner-up

Aaaand - we have a winner! Goodbye Miss Ripley starring Lee Da Hae (a.k.a. Mousie's favorite kdrama actress) and Micky Yoochun (a.k.a. Mousie's true love from SKKS) which airs after The Duo is over. Apparently this is going to be based on a true-crime scandal about a woman who got hired by a prestigious college institution after showing these amazing credentials but then it turned out she barely finished high-school and faked her degrees with the help of her much older boyfriend (presumably not Micky as he's not almost 20-yrs her senior, good Lord). LDH plays the scammer. Not sure who Micky plays except I am sure he will be her OTP.

I WANT I WANT I WANT I WANT!!!!

No offense to The Duo, but please be over sooner, k?

The runner-up is Discovery of Affection, an upcoming Hong Sisters drama about a love affair between a successful actor and a washed-out actress. Starring Cha Seung Won and Gong Hyo Jin. I repeat - starring Cha Seung Won and Gong Hyo Jin. If there is a casting heaven which answers my prayers, this is it. The Hong Sisters and I have a somewhat fraught relationship - when I love their dramas, I love them hard (My Girl, Delightful Girl Chunhyang, and Hong Gil Dong, the latter of which is in my top 10 kdramas of all time. I enjoyed Fantasy Couple as well though not as much as the above three). However, every one of their dramas since HGD has been actively annoying to me - both You're Beautiful and Gumiho Girlfriend felt stale, emotionally shallow, and featured characters where to call them immature and weak would be kind. BUT. I have hope! Because the big problem with YAB and GG came from them skewing so young. With actors in their 30s (GHJ) and 40s (CSW) respectively, this is not an issue, especially since neither could play a weak idiot if they tried. More importantly, if Hong Sisters wanted their leads to portray weak idiots, they would not have picked those particular actors. So, despite my past falling out with the Hong Sisters, hooray!

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Yes, I understand your point completely. If I don't get hooked on the OTP in the first 5 episodes I won't watch the drama but in that case I would just say "well it's just not my taste" or "the story and characters don't appeal to me" but maybe I won't say "This drama is stale and the characters are so weak". Idk, maybe I'm just getting emotional because it's one of my favorite dramas of all time, but I just feel its unfair to label a drama in a way that it definitely is not. Usually if I drop a drama it's because I'm bored or it doesn't appeal to me, but I can't make a final judgement about why it is so bad because well I haven't seen it fully. Sometimes, I understand that you can make a judgement like "well this character is a loser in the first five episodes and I don't like it" but to say he is simply a loser and weak and that it was the problem with the drama? I think it's a bit offensive to the fans of the drama, and it also might give a bad impression to someone who potentionally wants to see it. Because that drama is not about a loser hero, it's actually about an amazing heroine with whom he falls in love to become one of the bravest and most caring heroes of all time. That's why I feel it's important to write reviews and make sweeping generalizations only after you have fully seen the drama.

Again, I do agree with your point that there wasn't much to love about Won Ah's character in the beginning. To be honest I hated him until episode 8 and then magically, just like in Brilliant Legacy, I started falling madly in love with him. His transformation was as incredible and slow and believeable as it was in Brilliant Legacy. Btw, you mentioned there were other things in Brilliant Legacy that kept you going even while you utterly despised the hero - it was exactly the same for me with MGIAG. I knew he would change and I loved Miho's character and that kept me going towards one of the most satisfactory transformations I've seen in a drama. So, I guess my point is technically MGIAG is not a worse drama than Brilliant Legacy, just maybe you perhaps didn't like the main character as much that's why it didn't appeal to you.

Which is totally not your fault, I understand it. But I think from a fan's point of view you would also understand why I want to defend my favorite character, right? :)

Usually if I drop a drama it's because I'm bored or it doesn't appeal to me, but I can't make a final judgement about why it is so bad because well I haven't seen it fully.

Really? I guess it's a different approach. I have no problem making snap judgments. As long as I don't hide the fact that I haven't seen all of it (which I never have) I say fair enough to put it out there.

So, I guess my point is technically MGIAG is not a worse drama than Brilliant Legacy, just maybe you perhaps didn't like the main character as much that's why it didn't appeal to you.

Well, to go all meta, since it's art, there is by no definition objectively good or bad just whatever works for each person and a collective opinion on quality is as close as it comes to determining 'objectivity' but it's still not objective in any way :) One man's best drama ever is another man's horrible nightmare :)

Re: BL v. MGIAG. I still think MGIAG has pacing problems, especially since you tell me LSG was the way he was for the first 8 eps - that's half the drama running time! BL was what - 28 eps? But mmv.

Most anticipated kdrama for 2011 and its runner-up

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