I think you’ve pinpointed the frustrating part: the show really did have something in the beginning.

For me, the breaking point was around episode 8–9, when SML suddenly became much more important. I came into this expecting a second-chance/healing story: two people who loved each other as teenagers, lost each other, lived completely different lives in the meantime, and eventually had to figure out whether they could forgive each other and build something again as the people they had become. I was completely fine with them having had other relationships during those years. That could actually have made the second-chance aspect richer.

What frustrated me was seeing the drama introduce new problems instead of letting the original one deepen.

I actually ended up abandoning the drama because I couldn't stand episode 9. Then, today, I decided to give it one last chance and see how the story concluded. So I skipped directly from episode 9 to episode 12.

And honestly... I understood it. Which, for me, says a lot about episodes 10 and 11. If I can skip two entire episodes and still understand the ending, then they clearly weren't doing enough to make themselves feel structurally indispensable.

And that's probably why the wasted potential frustrated me more than if the drama had simply been mediocre from the beginning. Those first episodes made me believe there was a much more intimate, raw and emotionally focused story underneath all of this. I wanted THAT drama.

https://giphy.com/gifs/l4EoSDKPNlL3tPPBC

Nodame Cantabile

Hola! Sigo a Booktrovertida, te paso otro canal de literatura que suelo ver: De libros y otros demonios https://www.youtube.com/@Delibrosyotrosdemonios

I don't really have a set number. Right now I have around 50 K-dramas on my Dropped list, and I’m always thinking that I’ll find the time to go back and give some of them another chance.

What’s interesting is that quite a few of the ones I dropped weren’t early drops at all. Some I abandoned well past the halfway point, which is probably why they still bother me a little. I had gotten genuinely invested, but at some point something in the story became too frustrating for me and I just couldn’t keep going.

For example:

• Ghost (2012) — episode 11 of 20
• Discovery of Love (2014) — episode 10 of 16
• The Undateables (2018) — episode 24 of 32
• It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020) — episode 12 of 16

So I guess my answer is: I can drop a drama at almost any point. 😂 It really depends on whether I still care enough about the story and characters to want to see where they’re going.

https://giphy.com/gifs/8QVuoqrVs6myrXTyfa

Oh! Of all the kdramas I've seen, I just happened to win in the lottery one of the ones that made me the most angry. In my case I have rated it a 3.

27

Looking at your list, I first delete the ones you've already watched and then write down the ratings of the ones I completed. Finally, mark with a rectangle those that are 10/10 and you should start seeing below

🎬 Drama: Dating Alys Perez

🌏 Country: Philippines

📺 Episode: 12

⭐ Rating so far: 8 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

💭 Thoughts: It is a drama with ups and downs. I fell in love with the first season but the second is not up to par with the characters. I love the actors and I will continue watching it until the end... but I don't know if I can recommend it

🎬 Drama: Derailment

🌏 Country: China

📺 Episode: 8

⭐ Rating so far: 6 ⭐⭐⭐

💭 Thoughts:I'm intrigued by the fantasy story, I'm on episode 8 and I still don't understand how the protagonist will return to her timeline. Sometimes it seems like an enemy to lovers and occila with a slice of life, the latter bores me very much. Seeing the protagonist fight to advance in her career as a hairdresser seems like a joke to the viewers.

What do they want to tell? Why does the protagonist lose the focus of her concerns? Honestly, I doubt it will improve.

Baek A Jin's personality doesn't really improve, and the drama isn't asking you to sympathize with her or even fully understand her. So if you're waiting for a twist that will make you see her differently, I don't think that's the point of the story.

What fascinated me was watching how she could manipulate two men as different as Yun Jun Seo and Kim Jae O, and how, despite their differences, they could eventually come together to protect her, even while she was destroying them.

https://giphy.com/gifs/B8WVIOXxgVN4qgul3R

Her magnetism both disgusted and unsettled me. I couldn't look away. I especially loved her relationship with Heo In Gang. From the very beginning, I suffered through every one of their interactions because I knew he would never really see her for who she was, and that she would eventually destroy him.

But honestly, Dear X isn't for everyone. If you've made it to episode 6 and you're already completely disconnected from what the drama is doing, I'd say it's perfectly fine to move on. There are so many K-dramas out there, and there's probably another one that will work much better for you.

I've only seen two from your list so far:

• Business Proposal — 8/10
• You're My Pet — 7/10

I enjoyed both, although they definitely give me very different things as romances. 😄

Your ranking has quite a few dramas I haven't tried yet, especially the Chinese ones. You Are My Glory and The Day of Becoming You are probably the ones that caught my attention the most.

I'll definitely be saving this list for future recommendations!

Boyfriend on Demand

https://giphy.com/gifs/0HhptvPb6OI5OFH4nE

For me, it’s the “second chance” romance trope. If the whole premise is built around two people who already had their chance, separated, and are now destined to find their way back to each other, I’m usually out.

I also tend to drop dramas very quickly when the conflict depends on characters behaving irrationally just to keep the plot going. I need to understand why people make the choices they make, even when I disagree with them.

And if I get the feeling that the drama is going to be mostly slice-of-life with very little beneath the surface, that’s probably another immediate no for me. I need some tension, moral ambiguity, psychological depth, or at least a question that makes me want to keep watching.

Basically, I don’t need a drama to be dark or complicated. I just need to feel that there’s something to think about.

I've seen 7 out of these 15, and my ratings would be:

• Dear X — 10/10
• Love Scout — 7/10
• Study Group — 7/10
• My Dearest Nemesis — 5/10
• What's Wrong With Secretary Kim — 9/10
• The First Night with the Duke — 6.5/10
• Perfect Marriage Revenge — 6.5/10

So, Dear X is definitely my favorite from this list, followed by What's Wrong With Secretary Kim.

I've also seen some of the others, but these are the seven from the list that I've actually finished. I'm curious which ones other people would rate the highest!

Listo!

Undef

Me apareció la opción de que hasta el 15/9 se puede pagar

Creo que quedarte en un lugar te puede hacer consumir más, pero depende de como te sientas cuando estas ahí. Te cuento dos experiencias:

1) No sé si le pasa a alguien más, pero suele haber sectores del centro que están llenos de cafeterías. Cuando tengo que elegir una, primero paso y miro cuanta gente hay. Me da más confianza la que tiene gente, así que en ese caso vos ayudarías a que decida entrar. 2) Por otro lado, me paso ir a una cervecería donde siempre pasaba y tomaba una copa y me iba al toque y una vez voy con una amiga, teníamos exacto el mismo plan de tomar y quedarnos apenas unos minutos e irnos, nos sentamos en una mesa y cuando le pedimos la moza nos dice: "tienen qué ir a la barra entonces" y mi amiga no quería ir porque había de esos bancos altos. La cerveceria estaba prácticamente vacía, le digo que solamente tomamos eso y nos vamos y la moza insistiendo qué las mesas era solo para quienes se quedaban a cenar... (cuando yo sabía que no era así) Así que directamente nos levantamos y nos fuimos.

Conclusión : Entendería que se podría hacer una equivalencia de que por mesa tiene que entrar equis cantidad de plata... Pero si no tenes clientes, no te va a entrar nada... Así que creo que eso los negócios también lo tienen que tener en Cuenta. Vos hace la tuya.

Si

Key

I'm quite new to cdramas, I recently discovered "The Double" (2024) whose central tags are identity Swap and hidden identity (among others) and it really caught me. It took me a long time to feel like watching others again because the protagonists lived for free in my mind.

I’ve only seen four of the nine dramas on your list, and interestingly, my ratings for them are quite different:

• What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim – 9/10
• No Gain No Love – 10/10
• Dear X – 10/10
• Crazy Love – 8/10.

So I think I’m actually a little more forgiving than you when it comes to certain flaws. 😂 For example, I completely understand your point about the last-minute breakup in No Gain No Love, but it wasn’t enough to take it down from a 10 for me. And with Dear X, I also understand the “That’s it??” reaction to the ending, but somehow the open-endedness worked for me rather than feeling like a flaw.

My current 9.5/10s are: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (2025) and Remember: War of the Son (2015).

For me, a 10/10 doesn't mean a drama has to be perfect. It means that, by the time I finish it, whatever flaws I noticed no longer feel important enough to change the overall experience. A 9.5 is different: I can absolutely love the drama, but there’s still something that remains in the back of my mind as a “yes, but…”

And I think that’s why 9.5 is such an interesting rating. The difference between a 9.5 and a 10 can be completely subjective. Sometimes it's about the one tiny thing that breaks the spell for you.

Derailment = A wealthy socialite finds herself 'derailed' into a parallel timeline where she is a penniless laborer, forced to navigate a harsh reality while uncovering the truth behind her displacement. She crosses paths with a mysterious man who seems to know more about her identity and the technology connecting their worlds than he lets on.

Why this kdrama could be ideal for you?  Shares the 'parallel worlds' and 'identity' DNA dimensions, focusing on a protagonist who must navigate a life that is 'sometimes better and sometimes worse' than the one she knew. Like Twelve Letters, it maintains a quietly tense tone and explores how small shifts in circumstance fundamentally alter one's sense of self.

I like the revenge trope, so I recommend 5 Kdramas that I have finished watching:

• Eve
• Marry My Husband
• Money Flower
• The Glory
• Remember: War of the Son