Dissecting HIStory: Part 2
There are a lot of dramas out there, and while some are a blast to watch, others are nearly impossible to force yourself through. Here are three dramas that I almost dropped, but managed to hang on until the end.
1) To The Beautiful You
So, TTBY was my first KDrama, and I only knew about its existence because of GIFs on Tumblr from some of my favorite SHINee blogs. As a big Choi Minho fan, I thought to myself, “What could be better than a show starring Minho?”
After completing the series, I realized the answer was, “A show not starring Minho.” Admittedly, I was in love with the show while I was watching it until I noticed how SM-saturated the whole thing was. It was then I saw just how terrible it really was. Sub-par acting (except for Lee Hyun Woo, bless his heart), crappy writing, and the fact that the whole thing existed solely to promote SM artists ruined it for me. I mean, they used EXO and 2 SMRookies as students in the background for the show’s main poster, had an OST made up entirely of SM artists, and two SM leads. Yes, Minho is much improved nowadays, and I’m sure Sulli is too, but in TTBY, they were bad, which made watching the show immensely difficult.
2) The Heirs
This show. To this very day, I’m still amazed I made it through the whole thing in one piece. Never before had I been so frustrated. It was riveting. I couldn’t stop watching. Still, it was painful watching our lead characters trying desperately to make me feel bad for them when 95% of their problems were their own fault. It’s hard to fall head-over-heels for a man as rude, immature, and straight up abusive and manipulative as Kim Tan.
Cha Eun Sang wasn’t much better, as she was one of the worst female leads I’ve seen (which was no fault of Park Shin Hye, of course). Eun Sang was impressively weak and as useless as they get. Of course, there was our shining light in the darkness, Choi Young Do, but honestly, I’m not entirely sure he was really that much better than Tan. Plus, I had to deal with the OST, in which I got to have, “LOVE IS THE MOMENT,” shouted into my ear every few minutes. Toss in the bratty children Yoo Rahel and Lee Bo Na, and you’ve got yourself a real party. Get me a show surrounding Hyo Shin, and maybe I will forgive The Heirs for, well, existing.
3) Boys Over Flowers
It’s a classic. It’s the show that rocketed Lee Minho into fame. Many dramas still follow its “rich boy + poor girl” example (which I doubt started with BoF, but it’s certainly the most famous example of the trope). All of this is true, and yet there is not a single KDrama that I’ve seen that was more infuriating than this one. It’s got everything The Heirs does (jerk male lead, only slightly better second male lead, useless female lead), but it’s amplified by 100. Poodle Hair Joonpyo doesn’t change or grow as a person. He bullies and whines his way to Jandi, with little care for her feelings or the fact that his best friend is completely in love with her. Of course, that’s not saying Jihu was a cupcake, considering that he did a fair amount of bullying and guilt-tripping, but he was certainly the better option. Also, Jandi’s family is garbage. Even with all of the terrible things happening to their daughter, all they care about is if she’s marrying her primary abuser. I hated most of the characters (including Jandi; she was really annoying), and the one guy, who comes along and is alright, ends up kidnapping Jandi. This show is fueled entirely by miscommunication and bratty rich boys that can’t control their tempers. After trudging through the engagement arc, the sports competition, a breakup or two, and entirely too much “I’m rich so I don’t understand how to act like a decent human being” BS, I was glad to have it over with.
These three are shows that most everyone knows about, especially a classic like BoF. I gave all of the shows a fair chance and watched each all the way through, but I came very close to dropping all three of them. Are any of these worth watching? Yes. Each of them has something to offer. All of them show off a certain trope within KDrama Land, whether it be the gender-bender or a classic chaebol romance. Still, it will be a rough ride. Want to suffer through intense second-male-lead-syndrome? All three will do the job. Craving some Minho? All three have one. Want to see how not to treat your significant other? Each of these will fill that need, with a little extra anger and frustration sprinkled on top for good measure. They’re all painful, but even after having watched them myself, I do say that it’s important to see at least Boys Over Flowers, since it’s so important to what modern KDramas are like, and The Heirs and TTBY both have Kang Ha Neul and Kim Ji Won, so you might want to give them a try, if only to see them.
What dramas have you watched that drove you up a wall, but you made it all the way through? Or were there some you just couldn't push through until the end? Leave a comment detailing your roughest drama experiences!
