52. Year End Yak 2019 & The First Annual Goguma Awards

We survived 2019! And it may have been an awful year in the real world, but at least we got a lot of good dramas. Check out our Year End Yak, in which the three of us discuss our three favorite dramas of the year (although it’s only two lists really, because Paroma and I had the same list. Oops).

We’ve also inaugurated our annual Goguma Awards—yes, named for our yak, Goguma (Sweet Potato). Winners are listed below the episode for easy reference, and more details about who voted for what and how we came to our decisions. 

Happy New Year! May it be blessed, and full of much joy and drama-watching!

The First Annual Goguma Awards

For those categories where we were able to vote on a winner, that’s listed first, followed by the rest of the nominees. Some categories had only one obvious answer though, and in others, they were all winners. (Some of these choices were cruel and unusual, okay?)

Best Concept in Speculative Fiction/Fantasy

Winner: Memories of the Alhambra

Nominees:
Hotel Del Luna
Extraordinary You
Arthdal Chronicles

Best Music

Winner: SKY Castle

Nominees:
Watcher
My Fellow Citizens

Best Comedy 

Winner: My Strange Hero

Nominees:
My Fellow Citizens
SKY Castle

Best Romance 

Winner: Hotel Del Luna/Her Private Life

Nominees:
Melo is My Nature
Romance is a Bonus Book
Her Private Life
My Fellow Citizens 

Best Character

Winners:
Hye-ryung (Shin Se-kyung) in Rookie Historian
Seung-hye (Yoon Se-ah) in SKY Castle
Bok-soo (Yoo Seung-ho) in My Strange Hero
Han Tae-joo (Kim Hyun-joo) in Watcher
Cha Hyun (Lee Da-hee) in Search: WWW
Veronica Park (Kim Jae-kyung) in The Secret Life of My Secretary 

Puppy of the Year 

Winner: Lee Jae-wook ♥

Sparkiest Chemistry 

Winners:
Lee Dahee & Lee Jae-wook
Park Min-young & Kim Jae-wook
Jo Boa & Yoo Seung-ho
Kim Young-kwang & Jin Ki-joo

Biggest Waste of Talent 

Winner: Melting Me Softly

Nominees:
Angel’s Last Mission: Love
Catch the Ghost

Most Disappointing Second Half 

Winner: Memories of the Alhambra

Nominee:
Extraordinary You
Her Private Life 

Rubbish All the Way Through 

Abyss

Villain We Loved to Hate 

Park Hoo-ja (Kim Min-jung) in My Fellow Citizens

Most Terrifying Villain 

Winner:  Ye Soo-jung in Search: WWW

Nominees:
Bae Jong-ok in Graceful Family
Kang Tae-oh in Tale of Nokdu
Jang Mi-hee in Secret Boutique

Squishiest & Most Heartwarming 

Winner: My Strange Hero

Nominees:
Secret Life of My Secretary
Rookie Historian

Fish Ex Machina 

Winner:
The fish from The Secret Life of My Secretary

Nominee:
“Picasso” from Graceful Family

Badass Female Ensemble 

Winners:
Search: WWW
Melo is My Nature

Crackjjang [a portmanteau of crack + makjang + jjang]

Winner: Graceful Family 

Nominees:
The Last Empress
Secret Boutique

Wardrobe We Want to Steal 

Winner: IU in Hotel Del Luna

Nominees:
Park Min-young in Her Private Life
Shin Hye-sun in Angel’s Last Mission
Yoo Inna in Touch Your Heart

Best (and Worst) Yeo Jin-goo 

Best: Gu Chan-sung in Hotel Del Luna
Worst: Robot Boyfriend in My Absolute Boyfriend

Nominees:
The King in The Crowned Clown
Ha-sun the clown in The Crowned Clown

Most Convincing Fake-Politician-Who-Becomes-a-Real-Politician 

Winner: Yang Jang-gook (Choi Siwon) in My Fellow Citizens

Nominees:
Kim Seo-hee (Lee Yoo-young) in The Lies Within
Park Moo-jin (Ji Jin-hee) in Designated Survivor: 60 Days
Wie Dae-han (Song Seung-heon) in The Great Show

Best Non-Korean Drama Paroma finished!

Unrequited Love
(That’s it. Everyone can go home now.)

Best of international TV 

Patriot Act 

The Dragon Prince

YouTube 

Jay Kim/Daud Kim