My K-Drama Summer Report Card: Highs, Lows, and What I Skipped.

For my July/August K-drama watch list, I delved into a couple of fresh 2025 releases and caught up on a highly acclaimed 2024 drama. Two dramas set in a high school environments (mostly) and an isekai historical rom-com.

Head Over Heels

Completed ep. 12/12

Based on the manhwa, Gyeon-woo and the Priestess, it was the Prime banner with Choi Yi Hyun wearing her fairy shaman outfit that piqued my interest; a shaman fantasy story combined with a high school romance, sign me up! I loved the drama's casting, particularly Cho Yi Hyun portrayal of Park Seong A aka Fairy Cheon Ji was a standout, perfectly emboding a charismatic, cheerful and optimistic high schooler who secretly moonlights as a shaman priestess. The story centres on her quest to save her first love, Bae Gyeon U from a pre-destined death. Choo Young Woo's performance as Gyeon U is particularly moving, capturing the profound sadness of a soft-hearted boy scarred by childhood trauma. His journey, marked by a series of heartbreaking events early on, certainly brought tears to my eyes. His vulnerability and kindness, in my opinion, was best portrayed with Kil Hae Yeo who plays a guest role as his grandmother. Their incredibly touching relationship, where she fiercely protects him and he leans on her unwavering support, is pivotal for understanding future events in the story. She is his sole supporter after he is abandoned by the rest of their family at a young age for being "cursed and unlucky" and the driving force behind Seong A's desire to save him from his tragic destiny beyond her own initial superficial crush. Beyond the lighthearted rom-com, the story also deals with some further mature topics, the duality of good and evil through the shamanistic fantasy lens and themes of loss, depression and self-acceptance are explored in a thoughtful way.

The theme of friendship is undeniably central to the story and skillfully woven throughout. Seong A's persistence in befriending Gyeon U, yes it was romance driven but I see it mostly because she's portrayed as a naturally altruistic person. For me, friendship is largely embodied by Seong A's childhood best friend, Pyo Ji Ho, whose portrayal by Cha Kang Yoon as the epitome of a supportive and kind "green flag" character was perfect. Even within the familiar love triangle dynamic, his unwavering friendship with Seong A consistently rose above any jealousy or his initial wariness of Gyeon U, showcasing a compelling instance of second lead syndrome. His burgeoning friendship, initially reluctant but ultimately a heartwarming "bromance," with Gyeon U was also a source of both humor and tenderness. Furthermore, the authentic portrayal of friendship and daily school life among the diverse supporting cast of classmates provided delightful entertainment. This quirky ensemble offered a well-balanced blend of comedy and relatable slice-of-life drama, enriching the narrative beyond its shaman-centric core arc.

In the last episodes 11 and 12, the story takes much broader strokes and attempts to conclude many plot points, most definitely a case of having too much to fit in. The pace felt incredibly rushed and out of place, though it does eventually find footing towards the last half of the finale. I think it's a great shame that the story seemed to completely sideline Choo Ja Hyun's role of Yeom Hwa at the end, she played a fabulous antagonist! Her portrayal of a complex character in emotional turmoil, whose destructive actions were fueled by a deep-seated grief was incredibly moving. She really deserved to have more screen time in my opinion to come to terms with her mother's death and rediscovering her deity, which I believe is hinted at, as the butterfly lands on her shoulder in her last scene with Gyeon U.

Overall, this high school romance proved to be incredibly charming and largely well-executed with it's story and characters, I had a lot of fun watching this show. Its compelling supernatural shaman twist perfectly blended rom-com elements with engaging plot points, delivering a fun, heartwarming tale of young love, friendship, and family bonds.

My rating:🧋🧋 Great, I loved this.

Lovely Runner

Completed ep. 16/16

This drama was massively popular last year, it won so many awards including the Prism Popularity Award at the 61st Baeksang Arts Awards and People's Choice Award at the Asia Content Awards 2024. It's clear there is a huge fan base for this show and many viewers consider this rom-com among the very best of it's kind. Given this immense hype, I couldn't help but approach it with high hopes, and thankfully, the opening absolutely did not disappoint. I was immediately absorbed by Im Sol's story and felt fully invested in her undertaking to change Ryu Seon Jae's fate and that of her own destiny. I enjoyed how the time travel aspect was handled narratively as well, seeing the same event played out from the different characters' points of view gave a fuller picture of Seon Jae and Im Sol inner feelings through their own narrative perspective. The two leads, Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon played their teen romance so naturally with buckets of charm and chemistry; moreover, the excellent supporting cast added tremendous comedic value and heart to their story, especially Im Sol's grandmother and her best friend, Lee Hyeon Ju, who had some of the best laugh-out-loud moments in the drama.

However, from episode 8, the show's consistency completely changed and the pacing suffered. Plot holes, inconsistent actions, and Im Sol's repetitive reactions became clichéd. The villain was a huge disappointment, as the main plot obstacle, he felt incredibly "one note" with no psychological or background character complexity except an unchanging desire to kill and be "evil" with his silent menacing stares. There were also a lot of comedic "filler" scenes towards the end which didn't feel integral to the story, as much as I love the support cast and enjoy the comic relief, it felt like the frequency of these scenes negatively impacted the flow of the main story. I think a much better story could have been told in a condensed 10-12 episodes, the story suffered from a 16 episode structure with little plot revelations to keep the momentum going from the first half. Both main actors had undeniable chemistry, but even their great acting started to become a little one dimensional towards the end; the last few episodes were a little slow to get through, what started as a solid rom-com lost its shine for me in the latter half with a little too much fluff.

My rating: 🍠 Overall fine, but...

My First Night with the Duke

Dropped 8/12

Based on a popular 2020 webtoon, this K-drama trailer promised a fun, historical rom-com with a pair of main leads that seemed like a charismatic pairing. The story seemed like a fun premise, a college student criticizes a romance novel online and finds herself transported into its pages as a minor character; after a drunken mistake that leads her to sleep with the male lead, the original plot of the story is completely derailed.

I also liked the new leads, featuring Seohyun as the naive heroine, Cha Seon Chaek (whose work I've only watched and enjoyed in "Love and Leashes"), and Ok Taec-yeon as the seemingly cold, ruthless, and slightly obsessive Prince Gyeong Seong (I've only seen him in "Secret Royal Inspector & Joy"). While I was in the mood for a light-hearted story, this adaptation proved to be a bumpy ride which I unfortunately ended up abandoning after eight episodes. What happened?!

My initial impressions were a mix of disappointment and unmet expectations, the humor often fell flat and the pacing in the early episodes felt oddly rushed to me, almost badly edited. Despite my desire to see Seohyun shine in this role, I found her portrayal of Cha Seon Chaek overly exaggerated. Many of the comedic scenes intended to make her endearing to viewers didn't land for me; instead, I found them unfunny and her acting a little forced. Ok Taec-yeon's role was a pleasant surprise, his portrayal of the prince seemed more natural but there were a lot cliched romantic moments that were really beautifully shot but unfortunately I didn't find any chemistry between these two actors.

Curiosity led me to the original webtoon, and I was surprised that I enjoyed the story in the webtoon more. The world is set in a fictional European-inspired kingdom in contrast to the drama's Joseon dynasty adaptation, and yes, the female lead is often clumsy and naive in the webtoon as well, but I found the webtoon had a funnier narrative with a more streamlined cast of characters, notably I missed the strong presence of Sylvia, the sharp-tongued maid whose witty comebacks and comments against the female lead's terrible plans were missing in the live-action version.

I adjusted my expectations after the first few episodes, and kept on watching, the story got a little more interesting in some parts with Prince Gyeong Seong's storyline involving the king and uncovering corruption amongst the nobles proved far more entertaining than the central romance but I still found the story so far fairly paper thin. This show was such a significant letdown, after enjoying the teasers and the announcement of the leads; as I mentioned before the story was paper thin and I couldn't connect with Cha Seon Chaek's story or character, which ultimately made it impossible for me to stay engaged with the story.

My rating: 🍠🍠🍠 Not for me. Didn't finish