Previously: 2016 –2017
Well, here we are – another year over, and a new one filled with promising dramas… that I will probably not end up watching. Heh.
Thanks to these regular “forecasts” (even the ones that were thrown together in a last-minute “wait it’s the end of the month already???” panic), I’ve discovered that a lot of the dramas I look most forward to, I inevitably end up dropping. But maybe 2018 will mean more success for me drama-wise. Although I did, apparently, complete seventeen dramas last year, which is a pretty decent run.
Completed:
- Black – I spent literally 100,000 words on this drama (although maybe only 85,000 were actually published) so I don’t want to spend too much more on it, but it was a fascinating journey and one I’m really glad I experienced. It was also one of the trickiest dramas I’ve ever recapped, thanks to the endless challenge of trying to sum up over an hour of plot crammed with important details while trying to not to exceed my word count (too much). I think I’ll remember this drama more for the experience than for the actual drama itself. I do recommend more people giving it a chance, though, because it gets more and more compelling (don’t just base your opinion of it on the first couple of episodes!). But I also want to warn everyone to stop watching before the last twenty minutes. Ugh. All that effort, and we get THAT ending.
Currently watching:
- Wise Prison Life/Prison Playbook – I’m still crawling through each episode at my turtle pace (DON’T SPOIL ME), but I don’t regret my slow speed, because it’s a drama that requires my full attention – unfortunately my full attention can only last so long. I’m still amazed that I can love a show with so few women in it, but I adore these characters. Ensemble pieces will forever be my weakness. I’m also happy to be reminded how delightful Jung Kyung Ho is, since he’s been busying himself with projects these past few years that haven’t interested me until now.
- Just Between Lovers – I love it so much. So much. I’m still a couple of episodes behind (DON’T SPOIL ME) but this is in the running to be my favorite of 2018, even if half of it aired in 2017.
Dropping/skipping:
- Two Cops – I tried, but it just wasn’t working for me. Which means my track record for dropping Jo Jung Suk’s dramas (ever since King2Hearts) is still perfect. Although fair warning that you’ll eventually see some gifsets reblogged whenever they reach my daily Hoya queue.
- Jugglers – the first ep didn’t do anything for me, even though I really wanted to like this show. I planned to give it a few more episodes but never got around to it.
- Hwayugi – I was delayed in starting this show due to a very busy couple of weeks, but now I think it’s the kind of show that might be best skipped and more entertaining to follow the drama about the drama itself. I’m still hoping it turns out okay, though, since it has so many of my faves in it (Lee El deserves a good role!).
Upcoming dramas of interest (this will probably be the longest one of the year, since I’m looking at the entirety of 2018 as “upcoming”):
- Radio Romance – I don’t know what more I can say about this than has already been said. I love the concept and I love Doojoon, but I’m not a fan of casting such a young actress as his love interest.
- Return – the teasers for this look terrible, but I love the cast (my queen Go Hyun Jung! And maybe Park Ki Woong in a post-enlistment role I won’t hate!), so I’m tentatively hopeful, even if it is a legal drama.
- Longing Heart – OCN has yet to prove to me it can do a decent rom-com. I don’t think this will prove it to me.
- Mother – I liked the original Japanese drama, so I’m curious how they’ll handle a remake. I feel like I should be able to trust a drama with Lee Bo Young, but I also wasted countless hours recapping Whisper, so… yeah… At least I feel like this director (My Beautiful Bride, On the Way to the Airport, Chicago Typewriter) is up for the remake challenge, and hopefully he’ll keep the atmosphere of the original.
- Cross – It’s no secret I love Go Kyung Pyo, but I’m kinda squinty-eyed at the thought of a medical drama, even one billed as a revenge drama. The production team is a relative unknown for me, so there’s a 50/50 shot I’ll give this one a chance.
- Goddess of the Court – I only watched maybe 2/3 of the first season of Drop Dead Diva, but I remember generally enjoying it and I can see how this could be a fun kdrama adaptation.
- Devilish Joy – a rom-com centered on a condition called “Cinderella amnesia.” Yeah, I dunno either. Choi Jin Hyuk is rumored to star, but not even Sexy Demon Daddy can convince me this won’t be anything but disaster (at least, for those of us who are uber picky about rom-coms).
- Grand Prince – despite the intriguing cast (Joo Sang Wook, Yoon Shi Yoon, Kim Mi Kyung), my sageuk track record is officially terrible, so this will be a pass just by default.
- Mystery Queen 2 – I never watched the first one so this will probably be the first and last time you see me mention it. Not that Korean sequels necessarily have anything to do with the original series, but yeah, it’s not on my radar and will probably stay that way.
- Misty – the fact that this on JTBC makes me more interested than if it were airing on a non-cable channel, because just based on the premise alone, I think I’d give it a pass, especially with a production team that I don’t know much about. But since it’s on cable, I have hopes that it will defy expectations and be something to sink my teeth into, if only to see Kim Nam Joo’s long-awaited return to dramaland.
- Should We Kiss First? – the plot is about four “ajusshi/ajumma” age adults who’ve lost their faith in love, and it stars two of my favorite goddesses: Kim Sun Ah and Park Si Yeon. Give it to me noooooooooow.
- Children of a Lesser God – no, this apparently has nothing to do with the old movie/play of the same name, but it is the next OCN thriller so of course I’m going to watch it.
- Eulachacha Waikiki – it sounds like a remake of Three Men and a Baby but I actually really hope that JTBC can do a decent sitcom. I’d love more goofy drama rom-coms that don’t make me want to tear out my hair.
- Sketch – who cares what this is about, it stars Rain so of course I’m going to at least watch the first episode, maybe even two episodes.
- Live – this is perhaps my most anticipated drama of the year since it’s from one of my favorite writers, Noh Hee Kyung, and it starts Lee Kwang Soo, who I’ve wanted to star in his own drama for ages. Apparently Noh Hee Kyung agrees, since he’s been a supporting character in two of her previous dramas. I also really like Jung Yu Mi, so even though the plot is utterly vague right now, I do know I will probably love it – provided it’s more Dear My Friends and less That Winter, The Wind Blows.
- Suits – I watched the first two seasons of the original show, and I liked it, but have pretty much forgotten anything about it beyond the basic premise. The way dramas have been adapting US shows, this could be a brilliant success (The Good Wife) or utter disaster (Entourage, Criminal Minds). I’m pretty neutral on it over all, and only the whims of fancy (and free time) will decide if I make time for it.
- Miracle That We Met – it’s being described as a body-swapping melodrama, which is a genre I never seem to watch (er the melodrama genre – I’ve definitely enjoyed a few body-swapping dramas before!), but it stars Choi Ji Woo, Kim Myung Min, and motherfreakin’ Ra Mi Ran. Like, hot damn, what a cast. I just hope it’s more drama than melo.
- Mr. Sunshine – siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. On the one hand, there is so much about this that sounds awesome: a period drama (turn of the 20th century), it stars Kim Tae Ri, Yoo Yeon Seok, and Byun Yo Han (squeal!). Buuuuuuuut it also stars Lee Byung Hyun, who I’m still side-eying after he walked away scot-free from all his scandals, and (most importantly of all) it’s written by Kim Eun Sook. SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.
- Yeonnamdong 539 – I’m always a sucker for an ensemble cast, although I’m not sure what to expect from this roommate sitcom yet.
- Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food – I literally know nothing about this drama except the title and that it’ll air on JTBC, but tbh that’s all I really need to know. What can I say? I’m weak for noona romances.
- Let’s Hold Hands and Watch the Sunset – okay, so that’s a mouthful and let’s hope they find a better English title soon. But even though the plot sounds like it could be overly melodramatic (death is a catalyst for a married couple to rethink their lives), this is also from the same director of Radiant Office, so I feel like there could be some cute moments. Plus, I just want to support women directors, of which there are too few in dramaland (or the rest of the world, tbh).
- Are You Human Too? – this drama sounds ridiculous enough to make me want to watch it (a woman makes an android that looks like her son to fool people into thinking he’s not in the coma that he really is), and I love Kim Sung Ryung and want to watch her play the mad scientist that came up with this idea. It also has Gong Seung Yeon, who I thought was fabulous in Circle, and of course, the always beloved Lee Joon Hyuk. BUT. It stars Seo Kang Joon. I don’t know what beef I have with him, but he falls into the Lee Jong Suk category of “pretty-boy actors that everyone else seems to love but who rub me the wrong way and I struggle to watch them play leading men in dramas, but find them tolerable when they play secondary or minor characters.”
- My Ajusshi – do I want to see a twentysomething woman help a man in his 40s get over his mid-life crisis? No, I do not.
- Fall From the Sky – don’t know much about this other than its based on the fantasy webcomic of the same name, the director also worked on Arang and the Magistrate, and Yoon Hyun Min is supposedly starring in it (but that’s really all I need to know, right?).
- RUMORED SEQUELS: Signal 2, Voice 2, Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul Ho 2, Let’s Eat 3. All of which I will probably check out, but I’m not holding my breath that they will actually get made, or, if they make it to air, be as good as the original.
I did my best to make note of as many 2018 dramas as possible, but dramas that I have no interest in (i.e. weekend family dramas) or dramas that are still so vague on details that it would be just me putting the name of the drama and nothing else weren’t worth the effort to add. That said, I still probably missed some upcoming dramas. But I tried! And ran out of tagging space to prove it!
The Obsessive Dilettante 