r/KDRAMA Challenge 2024

1. Shares a filming location with The Heirs

2.a Tropes - Passing by an old person collecting cartons/newspapers
>> Ep.3  When the main characters go an visit the housing project they meet an elder with a cardboard cart

2.b Tropes - A character has a hair cut or cuts his or her hair during the drama
>> Ep.1 The FL cuts her hair in order to try and change the outcome of her dream

2.c Tropes - A drama where a character holds over/ shares an umbrella with another person
>> Ep.5 The ML holds an umbrella over her when the sprinklers go off

2.d Tropes - A drama featuring first snow
>> Features as a concept (recognizing at first snow/love at first sight) and actually falls at the end of Ep.5 when the ML is at the playground

2.e Tropes - A character crying while eating
>> Ep.12 A flashback shows the FL arriving at the beach and crying while she eats noodles at the bar

2.f Tropes - A character getting a driver after drinking
>> Ep.1 After the FL has soju at the beach she orders a driver 

3.a Common Scenes - A drama with an underwater scene
>> Ep.6 The ML jumps into the river and is seen floating while the webtoon is suspended. Also the FL meets the ML under water in a surreal experience in restaurant bathroom. Last, the ML is seen being saved from the water when the webtoon progresses again.

3.b Common Scenes - A character riding the subway or at the subway station
>> Ep.1 The ML goes to pick up a 'package' on a subway playform, but competitors are also there so he rides the subway in order together with the subject who brought the package.

3.c Common Scenes - A character riding the bus or at the bus station
>> The high school characters are frequently shown riding the bus to and from the city/school up until the time skip in Ep.9

3.d Common Scenes - A scene with lighthouse(s)
>> Ep.9 FL suprises ML while he is reading a book near a lighthouse when she decides to  give in and end their no-contact period and visits him

3.e Common Scenes - A scene showing an office being raided by prosecutors with blue boxes
>> Ep.1 The gallery owner is suspected of embezzlement and the FL finds the office being raided by the prosceutor upon her return to Korea.

3.f Common Scenes - A character singing at the noraebang
>> Ep.14 The SML and SFL have a cute moment in the noraebang where first she sings and then lets him know she wants to try dating

4.a PPL - Makeup/Skincare
>> Ep.8 shows one obvious and very out of place scene where the FL receives a package containing a balm stick, applies it and praises its effects. (Credits t.b.d.)

4.b PPL - Restaurant
>> One of the first times that I outright noticed the PPL. In the drama they go to Goobne a lot. (Credits show Goobne and Subway)

4.c PPL - Jewelry
>> ML gifts FL a necklace (Ep.9). The necklace also plays a part in the subplot with a crazy rich woman gifting jewelry to celebrities. (Credits show Chanel and The Jewelry.inc)

4.d PPL - Location/Tourism
>> Credits show Daejeong Metropolitan City and Honor Stone

4.e PPL - Coffee Shop/Coffee Machine/Instant Coffee/Kopiko
>> (Credits t.b.d.)

4.f PPL - Health Supplement (Tonics, Vitamins, Ginseng)
>> For one, in Ep.1 it is hilariously shown that PPL needing to be worked into a drama is no easy task for the FL. This features red ginseng which later on in the drama also makes an appearance in the ML/FL household (Ep.11). (Credits t.b.d.)

5.a Korean Culture Highlight - Scene showing Jeju's haenyeo
>> Haenyo are featured prominently in this drama; the mothers of both the ML and the FL were/are haenyo and this plays a big role in their lives and the story as it unfolds

5.b Korean Culture Highlight - Scene showing a jesa table
>> Ep.4 and Ep.10

5.c Korean Culture Highlight - Scene where characters agree to drop honorifics
>> At the end of Ep.3 the FL is shown as she starts her parkinglot job and agrees to use banmal with her co-worker

5.d Korean Culture Highlight - Scene where character hands in a resignation letter
>> Ep.2 The FL does not only hand in her resignation letter but literally slaps her boss around with it

5.e Korean Culture Highlight - Scene where a character wears hanbok
>> In Ep.7 Song Sam Dong's mom dresses up in hanbok when attending the (fake) showcase

5.f Korean Culture Highlight - Scene featuring a shaman either fortune-telling or performing a shamanistic ritual
>> In Ep.6 An exorcism ritual  is performed by Im Mok Won

6.a Number of People in Drama Poster - 0
>> poster 1 , poster 2

6.b Number of People in Drama Poster - 1
>> poster

6.c Number of People in Drama Poster - 2
>> poster

6.d Number of People in Drama Poster - 3
>> poster

6.e Number of People in Drama Poster - 4
>> poster

6.f Number of People in Drama Poster - 5 or more
>> poster

7. A drama that started airing in your birth month >> September
>> This drama started airing on 27 September 2023

8. A drama with a title that includes a character's name
>> Dali is the name of the FL in this drama

9. A drama with a character who is an artist
>> The ML is a goldsmith/works with precious metals

10. A drama in which a game is played
>> In Ep.5 the ML and FL play go stop

11. A drama where a character wears a sports team uniform or jersey and/or watches a sports game
>> The ML plays ice hockey and is shown multiple times throughout the drama wearing his team colours and playing the game

12. A drama that revolves around a group of friends and features their friendship as a key part of the drama
>> The story revolves around Tae Kyung who wants to make friends. During the course of the drama he becomes part of the student council friend group

13. A drama with an OST by a K-pop group member
>> OST Part. 7: Stray Kids - 끝나지 않을 이야기 (The Story That Will Never End)

14. A drama featuring an actor or actress who debuted before 2000
>> The FL is played by Jun Ji Hyun who debuted in a drama in 1998 (and film in 1999)

15. A drama with childhood flashback scenes
>> Throughout the drama there are flashbacks with the ML as a kid revealing events from the past

16. A drama with a character that is a part of the LGBTQ+ community
>> Both the MLs as this is a BL drama

17. A drama title that is not a direct translation of the Korean title
>> The literal translation of 반의 반 is: 'half of half' 

18. A drama in which characters celebrate a special day
>> Ep.10 FL celebrates (a very special) birthday with the ML

19. A drama in which characters take a trip
>> Both the MLs take a trip twice: first with the surfclub (Ep.1 and Ep.2) and later on just the two of them (Ep.6)

20. A drama chosen at random from your plan to watch list

21. A drama set in a rural/non-urban location
>> The drama is set in Miryeong forest

22. A drama with a character who is a chaebol
>> ML is a heir within the 'King Group'

23. A drama with a character who works for the government
>> Yoo Jin Gook is a police detective

24. A drama with a meal scene featuring 3 or more banchan (side dishes) on the table
>> Ep.3 For Mr. Pyeon’s last supper in his old house the table is completely filled with all kinds of (side)dishes

25. A drama where a character wears a long wool coat
>> Lots of nice coats (including long wool ones) in this drama :)

27. A drama with a main character that is over 40
>> FL has been managing the hotel for the past 1000 years and as such has been 'living' all that time. Therefore she can be considered to be over 40 (albeit in a supernatural way)

26. A drama found by searching existing recommendations
>> This drama is frequently recommended on r/kdramareccomends and fits a lot of different types of requests at that. I didn't think I would like it when it was first proposed to me by Netflix and even after trying Ep.1 but based on the reccomendations I went back and watched it and ended up enjoying it a lot! :)

28. A drama with a multigenerational main cast
>> ML is in his seventies, his ballet teacher is more or less the same age as his granddaughter. His own childeren feature in the drama as well, oposing his learning ballet so late in life.

29. A drama from the sageuk genre
>> The drama is set at the start of the Goryeo Dynasty during King Taejo's rule

30. A drama with an episode which received more than 10% overall viewership ratings from Nielsen
>> This drama had high ratings with all but the first two epiodes receiving more than 10% viewership ratings

31. A drama that has been reviewed in one of our past Spotlight On posts
>> This drama featured multiple times in Spotlight On posts. In 2024: Post 1 , Post 2 , Post 3

32. A single episode drama

33. A mid-long form drama
>> This drama consists of 50 episodes

34. A drama with less than 500 watchers on MDL
>> Drama aired in April-May 2023. Watched in October 2024; 335 watchers completed the drama mid October 2024. (Screencapture here)

35. A drama that is at least 10 years old
>> This drama aired in 2007, making it 16 years old

36. A drama featuring a Truck of Doom™
>> Ep.3 At the end of the episode a (white) Truck of Doom™ appears and drives into the restaurant