So far we have only been sharing dramas and performers that wowed us with their talent and chemistry. But what about those shows that fell short of their potential? Come join The Fangirls as we share those dramas that we considered the worst of the year.
Kdrama Jen
I am not sure if there were 100% bad dramas, but there were a few I was very disappointed in because I had such high expectations. The Great Seducer, Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food, and Greasy Melo fall into this category. I had SUCH high hopes, but the reality fell short. Maybe they would have been better if I had not been expecting so much! One I finished that definitely made it to my “I want my 50 Hours Back” list is Bloody Romance. I finished it, but the torture scenes and lack of humanity still haunt me.
Karie the Maknae
Live was the biggest disappointment to me — it didn’t live up to the promos and got ridiculously preachy.
I also really didn’t enjoy Radio Romance— Kim So Hyun was far too young for that role, and it made it impossible for me to get caught up in the story the way I wanted to.
Your House Helper and Hwayugi (A Korean Odyssey)and Where Stars Land started off well and then fell flat at the end. I really hate it when that happens.
Clkytta
I dropped so many dramas this year. Something in the Rain/Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food had to be my biggest disappointment though. I watched that one all the way through and honestly I never should have watched the final few episodes. I literally finished the show rage watching. I’m still angry that such good chemistry was wasted on a fizzled story.
Telzeytalks
My choice for worst drama would be Where Stars Land because it was the most disappointing. My apologies to all the fangirls, but I have seen too many rich-jerk-guy-and-cheerful-poor-girl shows, and I can’t abide them anymore. That means I tried and dropped Rich Man Poor Woman, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, and also Devilish Joy which was somewhat different. Still, the girl was stupid, her boss was abusive, and when she ate that fish I said, “I’m out.” (Clkytta: Everyone has different tastes, but I’d like to argue for Secretary Kim. I’d love for you to give that one a second chance and I’ll even watch it again with you. Unlike most oppressive chaebol dramas, he is different and I think on further watching you would really enjoy it.)
Drama Geek
Something in the Rain: This drama was glorious for the first ten episodes. The couple made me squeal and might have ended up as one of my favorites of the year, but then I got behind and started hearing the sheer agony everyone went through for the next six episodes. The writer took an adorable couple and ground them into a pulp, then threw them back together at the end. Such a waste of amazing chemistry. But at least we can all go on YouTube and watch them together without her mom in the picture.
Miracle That We Met: The writer really messed up with this one. The loving couple at the beginning made me so happy. He adored his wife, and for the writer to make him fall in love with his host body’s wife was just not right. I ditched this one, but I do know how it ends, and I’m so glad I didn’t keep watching it even though I really loved the cast. I’m also a bit sad I didn’t get to see more of Kai’s performance, he seemed to be growing as an actor.
The Great Seducer: This drama had SO much potential. I was even onboard with Joy playing the female lead after the first episode. I loved the friends together and thoroughly enjoyed Min Jae‘s character. I made it pretty far before I bailed. Woo Do Hwan, where are you? Please take another role, stat!
*I did not finish any of these dramas because my time is precious, but I do know how each of them ended.
Kmuse
Like Drama Geek, I didn’t necessarily finish all these dramas but extensively followed recaps to see how it ended without having to suffer. When you are a kdrama blogger you have limited time and it is a shame to fill it with bad dramas. So my pick of worst dramas of the year are as follows.
Bloody Romance: How do you manage to make sexy female assassins boring, and even worse, gross? This writer obviously had a torture kink and it was torturous sitting through each episode. When I discovered what happens to the OTP in the end (I was maybe half way through the show myself) I called it good and kicked it to the curb.
Something in The Rain: Yet again I ask how they managed to screw up this delightful noona drama so much in 6 episodes? I was 100% on board with the story, despite the never ending bad background music, until the horrible mother discovered the OTP’s relationship. At that point the story went angsty and downhill in a giant flaming ball of crap. I suggest if you are going to watch, do so for the first ten episodes then create your own fanfic ending. You will have more satisfaction than what you actually get.
Be sure to share your least favorite dramas of 2018 in the comments and check out our other End of Year posts HERE!
Where the stars land – watched the first few episodes and then read recaps. Wasted potential – 10
Something in The Rain – watched the first few episodes and then didn’t even bother with recaps. The moment I saw the Mom, I knew I’m not gonna last. Wasted potential – 8
Bloody Romance – watched the first few episodes, FF a lot , found out the ending and ran away. The prince was deliciously evil and broken, the FL borderline stupid with no learning curve whatsoever. Wasted potential – 5
What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim – watched up to ep. 12 when it got unbearably plotless and my interested fizzled entirely. Wasted potential – 8
The Ghost Detective – watched up to ep. 9/10 when it kinda lost all logic, so I just followed the reactions on twitter. Daniel Choi was sizzling hot, the chemistry was amazing, the sidekicks and the villain were well drawn characters, but man the logic…..Wasted potential – 10
Hwayugi – even FF couldn’t save this drama from dull FL, lack of logic, too many characters and meandering plot. Wasted potential – 10
Mystery Queen 2 – where did the plot, the Scooby Doo gang and the good cases went?! Wasted potential – 10
Agreed — Mystery Queen 2 was very disappointing. The main leads made no progress at all and the overall mystery was weak, IMO.
I think there was a theme with the disappointing dramas this year – the endings! Miracle We Met infuriated me the most – how DARE they pretend that love has to do with what one looks like?! I dropped this like a hot potato the nano-second I realized that selfish, whining rich wife was going to get the guy!!! WTF???? I went back to watch Kai’s bits (his song & dance at the end LOL) and ignored the rest 🙁
Something in the Rain – sheesh. What a wasted last few episodes. I wanted to slap the mom and the daughter both. Stupid.
BTW – Where Stars Land is NOT a ‘rich guy/poor girl’ show at all. It was a quietly sweet little drama – nothing exciting. I found the way disabilities are looked at to be disquieting, I believe it does reflect how SK in general look at disabled people whichis very disturbing.
I agree about all the disappointing endings. I didn’t mean to say that the airport show was a rich guy/poor girl show. There were just too many plot holes and people having temper tantrums and destroying things, while I wondered where security was. It became not fun. It’s too bad because I have seen these actors before and liked them, and liked the scenes showing how the airport runs.
Black was another one that had a terrible ending. Perhaps the worst of any drama I’ve watched to the end. It undid the entire story while also breaking the rules of the world it had established. (insert pei pei pei sound here).