Not every Kdrama gets to be popular, but the one that did manage, do they truly deserve it?
This is a question that we will see everyday whenever browsing through topics about Kdramas.
So, today, we have brought to you a compilation of madly successful
series that people think are way too overrated, along with their thoughts about. Let’s start!
The Heirs When ‘The Heirs’ was released in 2013,
this series had taken Korea and other nations by storm. As we have discussed in another video,
‘The Heirs’ was so popular that it basically boosted the career of all its actors, with
viewership far surpassing the 20% mark! Anyhow, with great popularity came great …criticism,
for this classic Kdrama always finds itself in lists of The Absolute Most Overrated.
The major reason for this is “The Heirs”’s very basic plot. To Korean netizens,
it was just another story of a poor girl getting loved by chaebol gu ys because of her pretty
face - and the protagonists Eun Sang and Kim Tan were just complete stereotypes of these characters
They called the female lead an “attention wh*re”, the male lead “a d*ck”,
and the entire story “extremely unrealistic” with “cringe-worthy” lines.
“And yet another plot about a poor girl becoming Cinderella”,
“I like the cast but the plot is stupid”, “The plot makes my hands curl”,
people said. They even went as far as to call The Heirs a bootleg version of Boys Over
Flowers - albeit without Lee Min Ho’s perm. And that’s not mentioning the acting,
for many audiences directed really crude words to the series’s actors and actresses.
Krystal, in particular, was at the end of much ire, with comments calling her acting
“awkward” and saying that she acted as if “she was the only one filming a sitcom”.
“They all suck except Park Shin Hye”, one concluded, and a lot agreed with them.
Overall though, I think ‘The Heirs’ isn’t that bad of a series.
It catered to the public’s taste, and was pretty simple and enjoyable from time to time. I did have
a problem with how they wrote our female lead, and yes, it might be a bit overrated. But does the
series deserve all this hate? Probably not. 2. Descendants of the Sun
Next, we are heading to controversial land, because ‘Descendants of the Sun’
was gigantic during its time. A hectic love story between a soldier and a doctor,
with many, many iconic scenes, the series topped the chart hard, earning popularity in
foreign countries as well as in Korea, with an average rating of 26.3%, and many adaptations.
Yet, this insanely famous Kdrama appeared many times in a topic on the Korean forum pann,
which asked for “the worst dramas” people have watched. And the comments weren’t gentle.
To some, the cast was an issue - with actress Song Hye Kyo and actor Onew being
criticized worst of the bunch. Others just dubbed the series “really boring”,
even calling it a “waste of time” and “a huge mistake” to watch.
On Nate, you can also find a popular topic where ‘Descendants of the Sun’ is called “extremely
childish”. People here admitted that while the Song-Song couple made for great chemistry,
both the script and the scenarios are “too cheesy” that it makes them “barf”. Others didn’t even
enjoy the acting, and downright said they got “goosebumps” and wanted to hurl when Song Joong
Ki and Song Hye Kyo flirted and acted drunk. “It was a garbage drama”, a netizen said,
and another admitted that while the series’ lines sound very poetic in novels or poems, they just
don’t work on the screen, making Descendent of the Sun extremely “immature”. “Aunties love these,
that’s why the ratings are high”, one commented, basically demeaning the drama.
Well, I can’t change their minds, but to me, ‘Descendants of the Sun’ was pretty fun.
Yes, I have outgrown it, and yes, I didn’t like the series’ theme of
Korea being another nation’s “savior”, but if you love the drama, I totally get you.
3. True Beauty
Ah, True Beauty, while the series hadn’t hit big in Korea, it did decent enough to bring the
cast to fame, especially Hwang In Yeop, who became exponentially more popular after the series ended.
The drama’s international fame though, was a whole different story, and topics and discussions and
fanmade videos regarding the series can be seen literally everywhere across the net.
However, ‘True Beauty’ was also very hated. And if you just google up the keywords “True
Beauty” and “overrated”, there will be ample results. For starters, the series’ synopsis,
which follows an “ugly” highschool girl who wears makeup and attracts all guys is deemed
as extremely cliché and outdated, seeing that or in the Korean’s word, “a little bit 2008-esque”.
“It’s amazing that we are still producing dramas like this in the year 2020…. Speechless”,
one commenter said, among others that called the series “corny”, “disappointing”, and “cringy”.
Alongside its plot, True Beauty is also heavily criticized for poor character development,
as it has, quote, “0.1% character growth. The rest of it is Joo Kyung
being crazed after by all the men”, unquote. There are even opinions that went as far as
to accuse the series of “indoctrinating young girls to buy makeup and receive plastic surgery”
and blaming it for being a way for the beauty industry to “make a society where they bias
against women for their features and visuals and leeching off of that”. Pretty heavy, huh?
Ok, all negative notions aside, ‘True Beauty’ cracked me up a whole lot. I honestly didn’t
like most of the serious plot, but as long as it’s enjoyable, I think that should be enough..
4. Uncontrollably Fond Ok, after all the rom-coms, we are arriving at
quite the tragic series, which starred the dashing Woo Bin and the drop-dead gorgeous Bae Suzy.
Revolving around the romance between the poor producer Noh Eul and the superstar Joon Young,
the series is an example of one that got both domestic and international recognition,
with ratings faring around the 8% mark, and lots of discussion in international forums.
However, despite being popular, Uncontrollably Fond did receive many scathing reviews.
For starters, the plot of a rich man and a poor girl combined with a terminal illness
is regarded as “overrated” and “common”, to the point that people even questioned how the series
even got #1 in ratings in the first place. “The ratings are going to drop and never
rise again”, one said, with others calling the story “boring”, “awkward”, and “cringe”.
People also said that both the male and female leads “aren’t that charming of characters” and
harshly criticized the series’s acting. Suzy, in particular, found herself under fire.
“The drama was entirely ruined by her,” a comment said, followed by many that demeaned Suzy, quote,
“bad acting”, and claimed that Suzy should just “stay quiet and
do nothing” because she can only be pretty. The bad reaction grew even worse as the drama
went on, and eventually ‘Uncontrollably Fond’ was surpassed by ‘W: Two Worlds’ in terms of ratings.
To netizens, ‘Uncontrollably Fond’ is irrefutably worse off, and thus, it was way “overrated”.
5. Squid Game
Well, I obviously don’t need to talk about the huge popularity of ‘Squid Game’,
do I? The series reaped successes throughout the world, topping the Netflix charts for months,
and even snagged home some major international awards - so there’s no denying its mass success.
However, as more and more people watched the drama, we also witnessed a rise in
harsh comments, mostly those that called the series ‘overhyped’ and ‘overrated’.
Embracing the survival game trope - Squid Game isn’t exactly new, so a lot of people
have compared it with previous survival shows, like Alice in Borderland, As The God Will,
and to some extent, ‘The Hunger Games’. To these netizens, ‘Squid Game’ had completely
disregarded the charm of the survival genre - with “way too many unnecessary plotlines”,
little tack, and no strategies. Some questioned why characters like the police and the doctor
were even there in the first place, since the story will be the exact same without them.
Most of all though, people seemed annoyed with the main character.
They absolutely hated him for being a complete hypocrite that treated his family poorly,
but is good to people he has only met once. “He lives off his mother like a leech”,
“he doesn’t even remember his own daughter’s birthday”, “he only wins thanks to luck”,
they said, claiming that a character like that just completely ruined the drama.
As a fan of the survival genre, I wouldn’t say Squid Game did it well. But since it did bring
a nice humanity side, I’d say it ain’t all that bad. Instead, let’s be happy that Asian dramas are
finally getting the attention they deserve. .
And that concludes today’s video. Were these dramas overrated to you?
Are there other series that you think don’t deserve its popularity?
Share with us your thoughts in the comment section. And if you want more videos like this,
like, share and subscribe to Bbali Drama. We'll com back soon. See yaa!