2023 Han Hyo Joo Marathon

Watched on Jun. 30. Mind you I had no idea Hyo Joo was in this, and what a joyful surprise it was. The connection between Kim Yoo Jung and Hyo Joo is one of the most adorable things I've seen on TV/Cinema, but I desperately need them to play sisters or mother/daughter in a project, I need them to be in the same scene together for once!

Completed on Sep. 20. Watched with @elle7389. An almost perfect drama, my only issue with it is that I feel like the ending was a bit rushed, I wish it had more episodes so it could develop the story and characters even more, but besides that, I loved it, and it made me fall in love with Hyo Joo so that's a huge plus.

Watched on Sep. 23. I did not think I'd enjoy this as much as I did, it was a huge surprise. A fun action film with a cute side romantic plot, Hyo Joo was made for both action and romance, she's the full package (and her hair was gorgeous!).

Watched on Sep. 24. Predictably, whenever Hyo Joo was not on my screen I started to lose interest, the plot was a bit convoluted, but that might be because I don't have any previous knowledge of the source material.

Watched on Sep. 30. The first half was amazing, a lovely romantic story, but one thing about Korea they love an unnecessary melodrama, so the second half fell flat to me. But overall, a good film.

Watched on Sep. 30. My only issue with the film is the male lead, I'm not a fan of manhandling in romantic stories (or any story for that matter), if it wasn't for that I'd have been 100% on board.

Completed on Oct. 3. Friends to lovers excellency! The side characters stressed me the f* out, so I didn't enjoy this as much (even though I know that was their job), and I felt like the ending was too rushed, it left a lot of questions unanswered. But overall, great drama.

Completed on Oct. 15. Watched with @elle7389. Despite the fact that this drama has 20 episodes, by the end of it I felt like the story was rushed. I think overall the problem is that I never got into the rhythm of the editing, the changes between comedy and melodrama were too abrupt, and most of the time it made me feel like the comedy was irrelevant and annoying because I wanted to go back to the important plot. I also wish Hyo Joo's character and her desire for social change was better developed, because for a main character she was barely in the story.

Watched on Oct. 22. Another surprise, I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did because I'm not a fan of Lee Byung Hun, but the comedy scenes were done really well, and the overall plot was entertaining. Again, the problem for me would be the end, the real king sudden interest in the people's well being felt rushed, I hope the drama remake did a better job at developing him since they had more time in their hands.

Watched on Oct. 24. Honestly, after watching a couple action/thriller films you start getting bored with the regular ones that don't bring anything new to the table, so I wasn't excited about this.

Watched on Oct. 27. The flaw of the story is that it wasn't focused on Hyo Joo's character, her story arc and motivations were far more interesting to me than the others.

Watched on Oct. 27

So Yool: I have done nothing wrong ever in my life.
Me: I know this and I love you. 

Watched on Oct. 27. Another action/thriller that has nothing new to offer, I was quite bored. And if that's not enough, Hyo Joo is barely in this.

Watched on Oct. 27. The idea is interesting, but the film didn't grab my attention, I think because the story relies heavily on the romance between the leads and Jae Joong was not a good actor (I say was because I'm not sure about him now, this is the first time I've seen him act).

Completed on Oct. 30. The melodrama of it all! A very typical drama, with all the cliches you can think of: the convoluted plot, the childhood first love, the kind poor female lead, the ice cold rich male lead, the second male lead who is the much better option, the totally psycho second female lead, and the awful in-laws who treat their son like he is the last cookie in the jar. If you're seen one, you've seen them all!

Watched on Nov. 5. A pretty harmless, but also pretty boring indie film. If you enjoy slice of life then this might be your thing, sadly I'm not the biggest fan of the genre.

Watched on Nov. 8. A decent story, but I needed something more from it, I needed the female lead and her motives to be explored more deeply.

Watched on Nov. 17. I'm not a fan of crime stories, so I knew I wasn't going to be a fan of this, but Hyo Joo ATE her first villain role, she needs to go more into this route. She has the range, darling!

Completed on Nov. 24. Baby, this was a telenovela! the plots on top of plots, the twists on top of twists, sadly none of them entertaining. I'll give the drama a compliment though: Lee Seung Gi's character was developed really well, and for that this drama gets a 2, instead of a 1.

Completed on Dec. 4. An epic tale of love and political schemes. Easily one of Hyo Joo's best dramas and best roles, Dong Yi's intelligence, kindness and resilience will always be in my heart, as well as the king's unchanging love for her. If I have one criticism it'd be that I didn't like the birth secret/sword fraternity plot, which made the first couple of episodes pretty boring, but everything else was done brilliantly. And shout out to Lee So Yeon, words can't explain how much I hated her character, which means she did an amazing work here, it was lovely to see how much her and Hyo Joo grew as actresses since Spring Waltz.

Completed on Dec. 8. I didn't hate this to justify a 1 rating, but I also can't think of anything I liked about it. I was particularly annoyed at Han Hyo Joo and Park Hae Jin's relationship, how pathetically in love she was with him, how many concessions she made, how she humiliated herself so many times for him, about 130 episodes of begging him to be with her and to marry her, it was embarrassing to watch, especially because of how little emotion Park portrayed, maybe because he was still a young actor, but he was a door, just utterly empty. So there were no couples to ship, nor any characters to like, some storylines were interesting enough to keep my attention, but if I can't connect to the characters, I can't connect to the stories.

Watched on Dec. 16. Yet another forgettable action/thriller. I have nothing really to say about the story itself, because the important thing here is Byun Yo Han and Han Hyo Joo. Hello, romcom when?!

Watched on Dec. 20. Extremely boring and generic, if hallmark did japanese christmas movies, they'd do something like this.

Watched on Dec. 20. HyoJoo had a "blink and you miss" type of scene, but at least I got to see the incredible Jeon Do Yeon. If I'm being honest this wasn't my cup of tea, and I stopped paying attention about halfway through.

Watched on Dec. 20. Yet another example of a male lead story that'd have been 100% more interesting if it focused on the one female side character.