You can only pick one: Enemies-to-lovers drama » Dramabeans MGG

You can only pick one: Enemies-to-lovers drama

by DB Staff

You can only pick one, and boy the pressure is on. The DB team will answer a new prompt in each post, and you’re invited to do the same in the comments. Ready to play?
 

You can only pick one enemies-to-lovers drama

 
missvictrix: Without a doubt I’m picking Hyena — and not just because Joo Ji-hoon is my #1 oppa. Despite being a legal drama with some of those requisite cliché elements, Hyena was largely cheeky, interesting, well-paced, and knew what it did best: play with the sparring between our leading lawyers, Joo Ji-hoon and Kim Hye-soo. While Kim Hye-soo plays this tacky do-anything-to-win attorney, Joo Ji-hoon is the suave high-end attorney that fell in love with a women she was pretending to be. Their evolving interactions/relationship throughout the drama is pure gold, and between the bruised heart of our hero, and the kkangpae-mode of our heroine, this drama was a blast.

mistyisles: I deliberated between several K-dramas/couples for this one, but in the end I decided to go with one where the romance wasn’t necessarily the main focus of the show itself, and yet it still gave me one of my favorite K-drama couples of all time: God’s Quiz. Dr. Han Jin-woo and Detective Kang Kyung-hee may not have been outright enemies, per se, but they definitely weren’t excited about having to work together at first. Instead, they started out as two very guarded individuals who didn’t want to open up to anyone — least of all each other — and slowly learned to lower their defenses just enough to let each other in and forge a super strong bond of teamwork that ultimately turned into love. And then, once they became an actual couple, their relationship managed to survive every bit of crazy that God’s Quiz decided to throw at it. Like an evil alternate personality. And an entire season with Kyung-hee absent. Despite all of its flaws (and there are many), I loved all five seasons of God’s Quiz — and I’d happily watch ten more seasons of these two working as a team to solve weird cases together.

DaebakGrits: Even though this is one of my favorite tropes, I actually had to stop and think about this prompt for a moment because most of the obvious choices have not aged well. But You From Another Star remains a classic, and the only unhealthy thing about this romance is the fact that kissing knocks our alien hero on his butt — but even that gets resolved with… practice. (*eyebrow wiggles*) Overall, this is a happy rom-com with a makjang murder side plot that helps prevent this 21-episode drama from getting too slow and boring in between all the enemies-to-lovers hijinks. And boy are there hijinks! Our OTP is definitely from two worlds — both literally and figuratively — and their miscommunication and polar opposite personalities make for comedic gold as they go from bickering neighbors to smooching allies.

solstices: Imagine a grumpy kitten glaring up at an oversized goofball, and you have Semantic Error. After the rigid and rule-abiding Sang-woo inadvertently causes his graduation to be delayed, carefree upperclassman Jae-young decides to make the most of his extra semester by wedging himself into Sang-woo’s life. Armed with cheeky smiles and obnoxious red outfits, Jae-young is determined to get on Sang-woo’s last nerve. The best part is that Jae-young eventually goes from intentionally pushing Sang-woo’s buttons and being as contrary as he can, to respecting Sang-woo’s boundaries and giving him a wide berth to back away if he feels uncomfortable. (Except Sang-woo takes the initiative instead — squee!) Their progression from petty bickering, to grudging respect, to flustered attraction, and finally to playful lovebirds is so simple and natural — and so heart-fluttering! The show’s bite-sized length made it a breezy watch, and I loved its attention to detail (the neon signs were on point). It’s a feel-good little gem of a show, brought to life by a thoughtful director and an endearing cast.

Unit: There’s nothing that says enemies-to-lovers better than the “I don’t feel anything for you… you’re not a woman to me,” to the “I will love only you until the day I die,” dialogue delivered by the prince of a fictional South Korean monarchy to his North Korean love interest (a fierce and badass soldier!) in King 2 Hearts. A love story between the high profile duo of a divided nation? It’s simply the best enemies-to-lovers tale there ever was!

Dramaddictally: I’m going with Our Beloved Summer. This is one of my overall favorites, but in the enemies-to-lovers category, I can’t think of a better one. I love Choi Woo-shik and Kim Da-mi, and the characters they play in this drama just grabbed hold of my heart. They start out in high school, disliking each other for being opposites in personality and in class rank (she thinks he’s an idiot, he thinks she has a bad temper) — and then end up totally in love. But then, they break up and harbor ill will toward each other for five years, only to get back together again! Our lovely male lead, Woong, goes from spraying water at Yeon-su’s face to kissing her under raindrops. Now that’s a story. Enemies to lovers twice!

alathe: Hwayugi (a.k.a. A Korean Odyssey): To get my attention in a crowded square, you don’t have to call my name. All you have to do is yell, “Can anyone recommend some decent enemies-to-lovers media?” and I’ll be immediately identifiable via the high-pitched squealing noises emanating from my general direction. This, for me, is the trope to end all tropes. Still, my pick ended up being a little less straightforward — Hwayugi is hard to categorize, because it gives a couple of twists to that classic rivals-turned-lovers formula. To wit: what if the man who once swore to protect you turns out to be a mythological monster bent on devouring you whole? And what if, in an attempt to save your life, you accidentally cursed him into falling in love with you instead? No one does allies-turned-enemies-turned-lovers-fated-to-be-each-other’s-undoing quite like the Hong sisters. What I love most is that this drama is gorgeously slow-burn and fast-burn all at once. True, our deliciously amoral hero is cursed to love our heroine several episodes in — but he resents it with every fiber of his being! Meanwhile, it’s a long, long road until real feelings develop, hitting all the right enemies-to-lovers notes for me: if there’s one thing I adore, it’s being able to wallow in the journey. What could be more satisfying than watching two people gradually fall into each other, fighting it all the while? This drama will rip out your heart, dunk it in Sohn Oh-gon’s grisly Sam-jang seasoning, then lovingly patch it back in place — and oh, how it aches at the end of it all!

 
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