r/kdrama challenge 2022

1. A drama featuring a member of The Heirs cast.
I'm a woman of simple needs and sometimes I just need to watch a good slow show about a bunch of depressed people with a nonetheless optimistic message.

2. A drama as it airs

This was a WILD ride, but a fun and ambitious one!

3. A drama that won an award in the r/KDRAMA awards (Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy, 2018) 

Satisfying and surprisingly upbeat zombie drama.

4. A drama from the rom-com genre

Someone said this was like a Hallmark movie and they were totally right, but in the best possible way! A nicely balanced little shot of fluff + not-too-intense emotions.

5. A drama with a main character under 25

Pretty good + many engaging zombie action sequences, but some missed opportunities to do more with plot and character relationships imho.

7. A drama that is a remake or adaptation. 

A good ol' gender-bender.

6. A drama featured in a meme/screencap post on r/KDRAMA

The unique leisurely and intimate Ahn Pan Seok vibe! This one was kind of long for not a ton of plot, but by the end I really enjoyed spending time with the characters and watching them develop and come to realizations about how they wanted to live their lives.

The post.

8. A drama set in the season you were born (Spring)

Very fun and cute! A worthy addition to the "fictional characters gain sentience/interact with real people" genre.

9. A drama featured on the r/KDRAMA or r/kdramarecommends banner

This was my first BL kdrama, it was pretty cute.

10. A short-form drama

I really liked this one!!! A satisfying story even though it's just a one-shot drama. Must-watch for fans of The Handmaiden. ✨

11. A drama that came out the year you joined the r/KDRAMA community Reddit

Follows the perspectives of several different people who have connections to a murder.

12. A drama from the sageuk genre

A little bit slow (in particular, it takes like 3 episodes for the actual inciting incident of the plot to occur), but solid overall. Lee Joon Gi is the sageuk king.

13. A drama set in the not-so-distant past

My most #unpopularopinion: the ending was fine.

14. A drama featuring a found family 

This drama was deeply weird to me, but I appreciated the writer and director for wanting to do something unusual and really committing to it.

15. A drama with a character who is part of the LGBTQ+ community

This show looks amazing and has so many interesting elements but I could not understand a single damn thing any of the characters did lol. Pretty substantial lesbian character, though.

16. A drama starring a Kpop girl/boy group member that debuted before 2010

A sageuk that'll get you out of your sageuk slump.

17. A drama with a supernatural main character

No other drama will give you a scene where the FL very seriously discusses wine made from Elvis Presley's blood, and for that alone I must give this a high score.

18. A drama inspired by a review written in r/KDRAMA

Very engrossing and watchable as long as dark and gritty is your thing! I read this review.

19. A drama that shows your profession or lifestyle 

(Mental health/children's services.....?) The MOST bingeable drama!!

20.  A drama set in multiple timelines

This is a drama about three women getting revenge on someone who sexually assaulted them when they were teenagers. So totally not for everyone, however I love messy revenge narratives and I ate this up.

21. A drama that was nominated in a technical category of the Baeksang Awards

(Was nominated for visual effects.) A++ sageuk! A++ zombies!! A++ opening credits!!!

22. A drama with a main character that is over 40

Some hits and misses w/ the stories, but when it was good it was REALLY good and also I cried lol.

23. A drama featuring sandwich product placement

This was meh, but it did have delightfully blatant Subway product placement.

24. A drama where one of the lead actors contributed an OST to the drama

Another drama that was a bit inconsistent, but very good at its best moments.

25. A drama with a podcast episode about it

Satisfyingly silly!

26. A drama you dropped but decided to give another chance

Extremely embarrassing reason why I dropped this a year or 2 ago: Got my Dong-wooks mixed up, spent like 3 episodes being like "huh, I wonder when the guy from Goblin is gonna show up?" until I realized lmao. Second time around with correct expectations, it was not really my thing but still pretty engaging.

27. Wheel of tropes

Childhood connection x 2!

28. A drama based on a myth, fable, fairy tale, or other folklore

Rewatch! KES somehow hacked into my brain chemistry when she made this show, I think.

29. A drama that takes place in a fictional city, country, or world

(Fictional village?) Good stuff! I'm a sucker for "normal guy makes one unfortunate choice and his life spirals out of control"-type stories, and this is a pretty well-done example of that.

30. A drama directed by a female or written by a male

Quirky and confidently done dark teen action thriller. Plot is a little simple/under-explained in some places, but perfectly fine for a ~4 hour watch imho.

31. A drama featuring an umbrella on one of the promotional posters

The platonic ideal of supernatural romance kdramas.

32. A drama with less than 500 watchers on MDL

(177 watchers when I watched in March 2022.) Regular guy gets wrapped up in criminal shenanigans on the same night when he's planning to sleep with his GF for the first time and take the civil service exam the next day, chase scenes and black comedy ensue.

33. A drama released before 2010

Very classic rich man/poor woman + fake relationship (fake cousin relationship...?) vibes! Notable for some choice fashion and also Lee Dong-wook AND Lee Joon Gi as the 2 main guys.

34. A drama from the makjang genre

It took me like 4 episodes or so to really get into this, but in the end I really enjoyed it!! I love mom drama and also Kim Seo Hyung.

35. A long-form drama

First (possibly last?) time watching such a long drama, but it was very pleasant and watchable.

36. A Korean Movie