The Crazy Ahjummas End of Year Countdown - Best Dramas of 2014

There are just so many dramas out there that I want to talk about.  So many great moments and characters that I learned to love.  How can one just whittle the list down to a small handful of options.  It's impossible.  So instead of doing the usual top 5  I decided to go all rebel and have 7 categories with my favorites listed within.  What?  Dramas are like my children, you can't just pick one over the other.

Kmuse's Musings - A New Batch Of Dramas: The Good, The Bad, & The "Meh"

Hi my fellow Kaddicts.  Kmuse here, popping back in with a quick post about my initial thoughts on all the new dramas that have started recently.   Is it just me, or does everything seem to be starting at the same time?  This makes it difficult to watch everything, so hopefully this post can help you sort through your options so you can make the most of your precious kdrama watching time. 

Bad Guys Episode 1 - Initial Thoughts

Can't believe I am here blogging about this when I really should be getting my booty in gear blogging about episode 7 of Blade Man (I promise, it will be coming ASAP!)  As soon as  I am done raving about my new favorite testosterone driven drama "Bad Guys".  That is right, this drama is AWESOME!!!!  Those of you that have been following my blogging for a while, you might recall a little show called "Gap Dong" that we all suffered through together.  Anticipation was high, Lee Joon was sexy and scary, and then the writing tanked hard.  What could have been a clever murder mystery became a psychological chatfest which bored even the most avid MBLAQ fan.  So when I first heard about the plot for Bad Guys ( Ahjussi Cop uses three scary felons to catch a serial killer), you can understand why I was a bit hesitant.  However, I would like to declare that this drama is everything I was hoping for in Gap Dong.  Dark, edgy, and extremely clever, every minute was entertaining and kept me wanting more.

I am not promising recaps of this drama.  The difficulty finding subs (there are English subs on Darksmurfsubs) and my already busy blogging schedule would make that difficult.  However I was thinking of doing a series of posts on my initial thoughts about new dramas, even if I can't commit to a full recap.  So with that said, here are my favorite moments (without going into much spoiler detail) from episode 1 of Bad Guys.

The Plot

 A serial killer is roaming the streets, slicing up woman and making the police look bad.  Which usually would not result in anything other then your usual task force.  Except for the fact that a very diligent policeman is murdered while confronting the killer.  A policeman who's father is the head of the department, which puts this serial killer priority on a whole different level of importance.  He brings in disgraced ex-cop Oh Goo-Tak back onto the force and gives him carte blanche to capture the killer any way possible.  Goo Tak goes outside of the box and decides to create a team made up of the smartest, strongest, and scariest criminals in the prisons.  What could go wrong?

The Cast

This is an absolutely stellar cast for a crime drama.  They are not huge names (although Park Hae Jin is on his way up), instead they were obviously cast for their acting ability.  This dramafan is thankful. Nothing against idol actors, but sometimes I just really enjoy an actor that can slip fully into character.  

The Handler - Oh Goo Tak
Kim Sang Joon (City Hunter, A New Leaf), also known as my favorite ahjussi actor with the sexy voice, plays the leader of our little social experiment Oh Goo Tak.  He once was a stellar cop until his daughter was murdered after which he hit the soju bottle and became a cranky drunkard.  From the little bits of foreshadowing throughout the episode, I suspect that his choices of criminals for the task force, are not random.

Park Woong Cheol (Ma Dong Seok - Kundo: Age of the Rampant) 
An incarcerated Mafia Boss, he has a strong sense of justice as we watch him protecting younger inmates from being beaten by the guards. Bursting through opponents like a tank going through a brick wall, Woong Cheol is a bit simple in thought, but very destructive and surprisingly funny.  

Sexy assassin - Jung Tae Soo (Jo Dong Hyeok - Inspiring Generation)
I was not expecting Park Hae Jin's character to have any competition as my bias for this drama, but consider me wrong.  Tae Soo is so wonderfully charismatic, you can't help but catch your breath when he comes on screen.  A hired assassin who turned himself into the police out of the blue, he was known to be the best in the business and is now serving a 28 year sentence.  Watching him fight is seriously one of the true joys in my drama life.  I loved him in "Inspiring Generation" and he is actually looking even better now.

Genius Serial Killer - Lee Jung Moon (Park Hae Jin - My Love From Another Star)
Beating out Tae Soo (but only by a smidge) is Lee Jung Moon.  Youngest Mensa member, with a genius IQ, he is also the youngest serial killer.  Jung Moon killed 15 people, leaving no clues or any evidence in which to convict him.  He was caught due to the testimony of his girlfriend and was thought to be about to kill her upon his arrest.  He spends the episode proving his superior intellect (and the stupidity of the guards) by escaping, going on the run to find his ex-girlfriend, and demanding answers to why she accused him.  It seems that the hottie killer doesn't actually have any memories of murdering anyone.  Is he actually innocent (there are some serious indicators that he is) or does he black out and turn into a psycho?  Only time with tell.

Token Girl - Yoo Mi Young (Gang Ye Won - The Huntresses)
Mi Young is pretty forgettable when compared to all the hard hitting men surrounding her.  She supposedly is the straight arrow cop who is there to keep this group under control and report back to the head boss.  Somehow I think that she will be of little consequence in upcoming episodes.

I like that they are making the catching of criminals into a competition.  Instead of for altruistic reasons, the inmates get years off of their sentence if they catch their prey.  Only the one who actually "catches" the perp gets the reduced sentence so it keeps them on their toes and keeps them from teaming up.  It also provides a lot of humor for the drama.  Tae Soo and Woong Cheol fighting over who is going to win, is just hilarious.  But I notice that our resident serial killer seems to have a deeper reason for his involvement.  Will be interesting to see what develops between him and Sang Joon since they have some serious secret vibes going off whenever they are together.

So far the writers have not been afraid to let the characters get violent and dark.  The action sequences are wonderfully complex, well filmed, and makes the characters feel real rather then just a concept.  Again, it is the use of talented actors that is setting this drama above its predecessors and the writers are not backing off from making the characters deeply damaged.  There are times where Sang Joon is actually scarier then the criminals and I doubt that he is involved for the good of the town.  I look forward to watching episode 2 and hope that it continues down its dark rabbit hole.

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Kmuse's Top 10 Actor Challenge - #8 Kim Nam Gil

I gave a hint last time that my #8 actor rocks the mane of glory as well as facial hair.  If you guessed that my next khottie was the ever talented Kim Nam Gil then you would be right!  At first glance, he kind of looks like a throwback to the 1970's with his pervestache as well as an older style of dressing.  But it only takes a few minutes of watching his expressive eyes for one to look past the facial hair and to the sexy actor underneath.

 I first discovered Kim Nam Gil when I watched my first long Sageuk (korean historical drama) Queen Seon Deok. A very entertaining drama and my interest rose to another level when, in episode 19, the character Bidam was introduced. 
Bidam!  One of my top ten favorite kdrama characters ever!  How amazing is it that the writers can literally get me to root for a emotionless psychopath/killer the way they did?  Not only root for him, but also get obsessed with his getting the girl in the end?

The writers actually rewrote the script to increase Kim Nam Gil's character since it was so popular with netizens.  Now that is a sign of a great actor.

Riding high on his sudden popularity, Kim Nam Gil immediately started filming the revenge drama "Bad Guy".  The show started off with so much promise.  Kim Nam Gil was killing it (as usual) and fans were in a fever pitch to see what happened.....and then the government got involved.  Forced to enlist for his military service (SERIOUSLY?  You couldn't have waited a few more weeks South Korea?) mid drama, the writers were forced to cut & finish the script without a real conclusion.  It was truly one of the great script tragedies in kdrama history.

We fans suffered for almost three years as Kim Nam Gil finished his military service and took his sweet time picking a new script, but finally he returned to the small screen in the dark revenge drama "Shark".  While this drama was not my favorite, it did give me plenty of angst driven Kim Nam Gil as he attempted to get revenge, all while unwillingly seducing/being seduced by his recently married ex girlfriend.  Plenty moral lines were blurred in this drama, but in the end it just did not have the impact I was hoping for.

Recently you can see Kim Nam Gil on your local movie screen.  Starring in the summer blockbuster movie "The Pirate" he is yet again rocking longer locks and devil may care facial hair. Kim Nam Gil plays a thief who goes to sea and becomes a pirate chasing a white whale. I know the premise is a bit odd, but I hear it is absolutely hilarious!  I am still a bit bitter that it never came to Portland, but I look forward to watching it online (as soon as it is subbed somewhere).

Let's just hope that some of the rumors floating around about his picking a new drama stick.  Because I can never get enough Kim Nam Gil and look forward to his future works.

Links to other actor challenge posts
#9 - Ji Sung
http://thecrazyahjummas.blogspot.com/2014/09/kmuses-top-10-actor-challenge-9-ji-sung.html 
#10 - Moon Chae Won
http://thecrazyahjummas.blogspot.com/2014/09/kmuses-top-10-actor-challenge-10-moon.html 

Follow The Crazy Ahjummas on Facebook or Twitter for info on all our newest recaps, posts and to join in our kdrama discussions. https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-crazy-ahjummas/336988683021748?fref=ts