Police University: I really liked the last few episodes. I laughed a lot, more than I thought I would. I actually think the show is getting better. Something is new is always happening, something is also always being solved as well. I do really wish we can move pass drunken kisses though, also getting blackout drunk is never cute. However, I did laugh when he kept yelling Kang Hee.

You are my Spring: They are probably one of the healthiest kdrama couples ever. Their romance was really special minus the stupid noble idiocy. I also really loved the side characters, Nam Gyu Ri really shined in this drama.

Hospital Playlist 2: Parents and lovers. This episode was really really sweet. Jae Hak and his wife, I cried for them. I didn’t even know you could get chemo while pregnant. I only wish good things for him and his wife. Song Hwa and Ik Joon still having their little moments. As for Jun Wan and Ik Soon, SIGH. Finally Gyeo Wol and Jeong Won had the talk, of course his answer was great. I am surprised GW didn’t think he would understand, he was going to be a priest, they are meant to listen.

DP: WOAH. I was not expecting this drama. I really thought it was going to be a comedy. I was wrong. This was such a great look at hazing and bullying culture in the army. How everyone knows the system is Fucked, and not just in Korea, but nobody does anything about it and is surprised when a soldier cracks. The evil that they committed against Suk Bong would break anyone. Everyone knew some evil was happening and sidestepped it. Everyone has breaking points, this drama showed most of them.

The Great Shaman Doo Shim: The friendship between Doo Shim and Woo Soo is so cute. His little crush on her is adorable too. His fight for Il Nam is also very sweet.

Hometown Cha Cha Cha: I am so hopeful for something light and joyful, lol. I have dimples, so hopefully mine will appear often and a lot along with my dimpled friends in this drama.

Verge has finished.
And I'm so glad I watched it.
A rare case of being good till the end... and surprising me till the end, like with that redemption arc for Han Sekwon - who would expect that he does the right thing after all... and finds his self-confidence... and profession that suits him.

I'm also satisfied with the (Misaengish) ending and it is so nice to see everyone happy and thriving in their new positions.
(And so satisfying to see them get back at the company director!)

I will miss you, Show.
I will miss the characters (and actors)... and the humour... and the music (that instrumental brass band intro/closing theme!)... and that inner pleasure / satisfaction I had while watching this gem.

(And I wish I had such a Sunbae (and team) at my workplace. Maybe one day it happens 🙂)

On the Verge of Insanity: With a well written script and excellent performances by Jung Jae-young and Moon So-ri, this is one of the best and most underappreciated dramas of the year. I wanted more Banstone Company Season 1. I loved the relationships between Ban-seok and Ja-young and Ban-seok and Mr. Shin. Han Se-gwon got off too easily, but guys like him tend to land on their feet. The flashback of Mr. Shin strangling his former coworker with meat made my week. It was even better than a kimchi slap. I would have liked to see Ahn Nae-sang’s character working at Banstone Company, but I suppose he was busy with one of his dozens of other dramas.

D.P.: I continue to be impressed with Netflix’s original programming this year. Gu Kyo-hwan was a scene stealer. I enjoyed the buddy cop dynamic, which offered some much needed levity amid the dark and disturbing depictions of bullying and abuse. I thought the drama did a good job of showing how bullying is systemic.

The Devil Judge: This drama kept me engaged even though it had its flaws. The final trial was the perfect example of how riveting it could be despite the sometimes crazy writing. A big reason for that was the performances of Ji Sung and Kim Min-jung. Kill Me Heal Me will always be my favorite Ji Sung role(s), but I think The Devil Judge might be his best acting.

Hospital Playlist 2: Maybe they are trolling us with the cliffhanger but if it’s one of the friends, I think it about has to be Ik-joon and that’s how they will get Song-hwa/Ik-joon together. Whatever, my favorite relationships in this drama are Jun-wan/Jae-hak and Rosa/Jong-su. I liked Jang Gyeo-wool opening up about the domestic abuse.

Nevertheless: I hated the ending though I at least got what they were going for until that weird banter at the end. I still think they should have followed the webtoon, but for me, the leads would still have been a problem. Han So-hee was good in the role but Na-bi was so blah. Song Kang convinced me Jae-eon could be a serial killer with his blank eyes and monotone voice, not an irresistible playboy.

Police University: Good on Sun-ho for choosing the case over the race and romance. I enjoy the buddy cop aspect even though it’s kind of sad all Dong-man has is a 20 year old student. Hopefully, Professor Kwon joins the case, and they end up as reluctant friends.

Haven't updated in a while. Was in a bit of drama slump with a lot of shows ending in the last couple of weeks. And I didn't feel like picking anything new up. So I used my time to finish quite a few Chinese web novels from which drama adaptations were made including the novels for Beautiful Bones, You Are My Glory, Go Go Squid, Boss and Me, Skate into Love, and Love O2O.

In terms of drama updates over the last few weeks -

COMPLETED
Both Racket Boys and You Are My Spring - Other people have already said all I'd want to say about these lovely shows. Racket Boys was a gem throughout and YAMS nearly so if I ignore the noble idiocy.

ONGOING
Hospital Playlist S2 - I've been finding this season a little lacklustre but then the internet spoiled some interesting happenings in this week's episode…and I decided to watch it in September when the show's back on air since I do NOT like cliff-hangers.

The Great Shaman Ga Doo-shim - Still going well. Like everyone else I always end up wishing the episodes were longer.

WEEKEND PLAN
Waiting for Hometown Cha-cha-cha today and will hopefully binge DP as well.

C-DRAMAS
Completed Unforgettable Love (okay), My Queen (meh), First Love Again (good), Broker (BAD) and You Are My Glory (good).

Still watching Song of Youth.

Started One and Only - bracing myself for the tragedy and hoping the modern sequel starts soon after 🤞

Hospital Playlist 2 (Episode 10) - Mood: B
Seok Hyung’s possible departure overseas reminds me about Jeong Won’s planned pilgrimage in the first season: even if he goes, it’s likely that for Season 3 that they’ll write it out as much as possible just like Song Hwa’s break. Or maybe he won’t even go: Jun Wan was treated well by Min Ha’s parents and owes Seok Hyung a favour so he might just return it in his usual grumpy style? I don’t know if I like Jun Wan so easily forgiving Ik Sun: she would have kept up the lie if not for Ik Jun! Also, that cliffhanger reeks of cliche drama: why not show something like Seok Hyung’s plane ticket instead?

The Devil Judge (Series review) - Mood progression: C / C- / D+ / D+ / C- / D+ / D / D-
The issue as with most stories with an antihero protagonist is that 1) there’re villains filled with evil so much so that the antihero ends up looking like a hero and the narrative becomes the predictable good vs. bad, 2) the heroes are just not competent and their dumbness poses cliche obstacles to the antihero which makes for frustrating developments. What is critical for an antihero story to be successful is actually more antiheroes: an ideological conflict with both sides right and wrong at the same time sounds more juicy. Also avoiding nonsense such as family trauma/doppelgänger/romance!

You Are My Spring (Series review) - Mood progression: B- / B- / B- / B- / C+ / C+ / C / C
What kept me going at the start of the show was the somewhat weird dissonance between the murder mystery and the healing romance genres: with both sides of the OTP having backstories linked to blood (his donor, her father), I had the expectation that the story could get very twisty in a good way later on. Sadly, it turned out to be a dud: homeless guy’s arc had everything to do with Ian and nothing with the rest of the story while her father turned out to be a red herring in the mystery part of the show and more about a classic family trauma trope belying the romance. I’m just disappointed?

Nevertheless (Some random musings)
I can’t actually rate this drama because I didn’t really watch it in full: the story was very disjointed and I saw Sol/Ji Wan as the writer scoring easy brownie points for diversity while the apartment couple was just filler to pad screen time. But what I did see from the other 2 couples was a mess: Bit Na won over Kyu Hyun through whining, Seol Ah’s a plot device that was used for like five scenes, Do Hyuk’s a walking nice guy trope and the OTP’s conflicts were so repetitive. I don’t enjoy how the writer forced in a classic HEA: to be honest, it sent a very dangerous message about toxic relationships?

Also watching but not really:
- Check Out the Event: It seems unprofessional to make a move on your client but I guess this is a drama?
- The Great Shaman Ga Doo Shim: I want more Hyun Soo in the 2nd half!
- Blue Birthday: Filler week but at least the truth is...

On The Verge of Insanity: This drama is probably my fav of the year so far. These shows without romance seem to get almost no buzz which is unfortunate. I realized how well the pacing was toward the end when I realized I hadn't slogged through 4 episodes of filler.

I Love Spring or whatever is called: That's kinda of the review. I can't remember the title and the show is pretty forgettable. I like healing dramas but you can't get 16 episodes out of one and the whole murder/mystery story was an ill fit. (Ok, it's You Are My Spring)

Plan on checking out Hometown Cha Cha Cha.

CRICKET -

England Vs. India - what an awesome 1st test. Above average 2nd test match - there was some heat between both teams and especially between bowlers and as expected as usual, as justice speak - Test cricket brought you the best of truthful spectacle of human character.

Everything in balance. Made humble both the teams. 2 days 2 different outcomes and those 2 different days of 2 different test matches made both team at par.

That's why i love test cricket. I;m admirer of Test cricket. I'm not a fan.

I forgot I also finished You Are My Glory. Sweet till the end... though I would prefer more focus on the couple (and less patriotism 😉).

Looking forward to Cha cha cha 🙂

D.P: Decided to check this drama out because my baby boys Jung Hae in and Son Seok Goo were returning to the small screen in a while and the premise sounded interesting but it was an amazing binge watch. The drama sits up there with this years Netflix drama Move to Heaven in both the emotional and comedic department. Goo Kyu Hwan is also a discovery. I've never watched this actor in anything before but he was hella charming. It honestly makes me so sad and horrified at the military hierarchy of respecting seniority especially when bullying is thrown in the mix and there is no way of defending yourself. I cried so much for Suk Bong's character and his character trajectory was just so hard to watch. Amazing Netflix show 10/10.

Just finished DP - started and finished without a distracted moment and loved every minute of it. Topical and tragic but not more so than real life events. I won't go into details... I love anything Jung Hae-In is in and I find he always chooses dramas with thought provoking themes.

Has anyone see The Unforgiven, an early film directed by Yoon Jong-bin, with Ha Jung-woo? I'm wondering how similar it is to DP.

Finished the usual suspects: Devil Judge, 😈, Nevertheless (mercifully), You Are My Spring 💕, and suddenly ran out of dramas, except for The Road: Tragedy of One which is getting v makjang. Not complaining though. Looks like I'll have to go to the 😎 place to see On the Verge of Insanity.

I want to thank all the beanies who buzzed about and enticed me into watching On the Verge of Insanity. It was such a fabulous drama, perfectly capturing the highs and lows of the workplace and its relationships. Tho I'm my own boss now, I fondly remember those days of working within a group.

On the Verge of Insanity ends well for almost every character that we care about, and perhaps too well for our checked-shirt hero Choi Ban-seok. But although his pitch at the start-up contest is unlikely to win any prizes in the real world, it performs its narrative function perfectly. It reminds us of the Herculean and downright Sisyphean tasks that Ban-seok and Ja-young had performed at Hanmyeong. And it shows Ban-seok’s literal as well as metaphorical journey from a Malfunction Detection System to an Anomaly Forecasting System. At Hanmyeong, Ban-seok wasn’t allowed to do much beyond spotting and rectifying others’ mistakes. But because he is who he is, he has made friends, influenced people and managed to create a space of his own where he can put his principles and projections into practice.

it also makes perfect sense that Ban-seok and Ja-young are not the only talented Hanmyeong refugees at Banstone. It was sheer ecstasy to see Paeng Soo-gon and Gong Jung-pil at the Banstone office in comfy clothes, and if Ahn Nae-sang hadn’t been stranded on The Road I just know Noh Byung-guk would have been there too. And it was absolutely right that Han Se-gwon was NOT there, and that even the usually stoic Mr Gong yelped “I don’t approve of this marriage!” when Seo Na-ri gave him a wedding invitation. After they made use of each other to defeat Han Seung-ki, a lesser show would have had Se-gwon at Banstone making trouble for Ban-seok again. Instead, Se-gwon’s fate is incredibly apt for someone of his character and limited technical abilities - he becomes a “handsome content creator” with a million subscribers.

Last but not least: romance. By now everyone knows that the OTP of OTVOI is Ban-seok and the Pork Belly Strangler, Shin Han-soo. I am not even kidding when I say that, for all his backchat and insensitive behaviour, Han-soo adores Ban-seok, and knows Ban-seok will never fail him. But what of the woman who crossed the line with Ban-seok? IMO we could have had a bit more of Ja-young in the finale, but like Ban-seok she did finally get to flex her muscles doing what she really wanted to do - building something up instead of knocking things down. And it seems that my man Ban-seok is surprisingly familiar with the way to a woman’s heart. To hell with diamonds; the modern career girl’s best friend is a CEO position in an up-and-coming new company. It’d be great to have a Season 2 with Ban-seok, Ja-young and co. making like a screwball comedy at Banstone but getting all Wild Bunch when they encounter the chaebol. I don’t think it’ll happen, but these 16 episodes of OTVOI are already a blessing, even a miracle, on their own.

I recently saw a clip from Monthly Magazine Home with a bumbling character named Sang-Soon in it. His eyes looked familiar. It turns out that he used to be a bald and menacing inmate nicknamed Dolmani in a past life!😱

Prison Playbook⚾👮 (11/16): Speaking of Dolmani, on a narrative point of view I love his return, but he is creepy.😨At least we have ferocious Looney and the other cell mates from the Je-Hyuk protection squad!💪😆 Seung-Yoon can be a honorary member, the guy redeemed himself as soon as he visited papa bear.❤️ It is a shame that Dr. Ko had to go, and I can only barely accept it because lieutenant Paeng uncuffed him. Amazing how this grump can be a teddy bear at times, he usually startles me with his unexpected appearances, even though he drily warns us and apologizes every time!🤣

Looney really should keep his mouth shut around Kaist and Captain Yoo, if he does not want to get a beating, or worse, get compared to one of them!😂 I know he will break my heart soon, and the first crack was felt when I heard Snail by Panic play during his romantic moment with his lover. It was the same song he sang to get his cellmates to fall asleep in an earlier episode.😥 Lifer was the one who started the waterworks though. His backstory is horribly tragic and I am still not sure which is worse: the heartbroken wailing or the stillness on the hospital bed as his soul had left him again.💔

-Nevertheless: Just/barely finished. So bitterly disappointed with the turn it took. Left me wanting SO much more. Trawling MDL recommendations for something similar.

-Le Vrai Ou: Watched this 10m short movie again, after recommending a friend. Ugh, Wang Yibo is growing up to be such a fine, young man! Shares more chemistry here with noona Zhou Xun in 10mins than entire legend of Fei.

-Coffee and Vanilla: Filling a huge Wang Yibo shaped-void in my heart, with some (lookalike) Sakurada Dori. Super hot, but I wish he stops picking up cringey scripts. But also thankful for shirtless Dori? What a catch-22!

-Alice: Palate cleanser for the coffee & vanilla smut. More Sakurada Dori, but a bonus of YamaKen <3

-Sweet home: Palate cleanser for Song Kang in nevertheless. Dohyun X minsi CP has my heart after Youth of may! Glad I can objectively compare the two, without getting swayed by the hype!
I also don't do good with this genre, so please wish me luck!

-Weekend movie plans: None this week, lots of backlogs to clear in MDL, and in my life!

-Looking forward to: finishing One & Only, starting Cha Cha Cha & Uncle for live-watches, and picking up the Bond and You are My Glory by next week!

D.P. Bing watched in a day. The show uncomfortable but quite good watch. The performances are terrific. It does not shy away from showing systematic bullying, coverups and violence. It leaves you unsettled but that was the intention, right?

Police University It became way better than the beginning. But I'm still surprised that the fact he didn't think turn on the camera of his computer. He's a useless hacker, for once it could have been used in a good cause and not by pervers.

You Are My Spring For once, I'm happy with the way they adressed mental health issues. The ML was a professional psy and gave good advices. The actors were perfect in their role.

On the Verge of Insanity Who could have thought that the construction of a dishwasher or vacuum cleaner could make a good subject for a drama :p At the end, I thought we got the perfect characters to make a real drama about Start-up and not idealistic genius or dream girl without any idea what she's doing...

Hospital Playlist 2 The friendship parts were the best parts of this episode. The rest didn't impress me so much...

D.P. This drama was great! Too short! Jung Hae-In was perfect in this role and Koo Gyo-Hwan brought a welcomed breath of fresh air in this dark story. They formed a funny duo. The actors playing the deserters were great too, they really helped the different stories. It was frustrating and painful to watch and it felt so real to watch. I loved the OST too.

Check Out the Even So the reason of the break-up is noble idiocy? I don't know which one is the most stupid..

Great Shaman Longer episode would have been so nice.

Black Cinderella It was cute J-drama. The both male leads were nice and respected each other which is rare in a love triangle, but I still had a second lead syndrom. The second male lead was more interesting and way more fun! The FL was super cute and I liked to see her becoming stronger.

You Are My Spring: 7.5 Making fun of kdrama endings by going abroad for a 5-day time-skip? Also Seo Hyun-jin is the queen of cute facial expressions, but that's not (quite) enough to carry a show.

The Road: Tragedy of One: 1.9 Show needs more murders and fewer affairs. I just don't care about who has affairs with who. I haven't been able to make myself go more than 19 minutes into day 7.

Devil Judge: 6.0

Police Academy: 7.0 Attempt at comedy at end of day 5 didn't really work. The rest was ok.

The Great Shaman Ga Doo Shim: 7.5

D.P.: 8.5 The un-kdrama. Never thought I'd say this, but Netflix did it right this time 😲😱😨 -- And considering how they depicted the S.K. military, I'm not sure anyone could have are done it except a huge company with international standing. 99.93% sure we don't need to worry about sequels :)

Nevertheless: __ After reading the Open Thread for the finale, feeling pretty good about not having watched this one at all.

You Are My Spring: overall a drama I was invested in and thoroughly enjoyed. My adoration of SHJ at least doubled. A bit let down by the twee of the finale week (and where was my Ga-young time in ep 16, um hellLLOOOO?), but all in all I suspect that it will be one of the top for me in 2021.

Great Shaman Ga Doo Shim: I am so mad at this show for its paltry one 20-min episode offering a week. Because it's that good.

Hospital Playlist: still waiting for something amazing to happen but at the same time very much appreciate it for its portrayal of quotidian life. Also, worse fake-out previews of any series, ever.

Magic Moment: I've just started this but it's yet another reminder of how much I adore slice-of-life dramas.

I hear D.P. is amazing but think I'll be opting out of it based on how dark and violent I hear it is. Hoping for some laughter and sunshine with Hometown Cha Cha Cha.

K-Dramas: Nothing

Variety: Sixth Sense 2 is still fun. The women hosts are still out of control sorority girls.

You Are My Spring: I just loved Seo Hyun-jin and Kim Dong-wook in this. I've loved her for a long time, but if you'd told me that the annoying little guy from Coffee Prince would be come one of my "actors to watch" in 20-21, I would have laughed. Between this and Find Me In Your Memory, I'm going to give whatever he's in next a chance because I think he's found his groove. I actually loved the couples in this one but I also like that we didn't end up with everyone in a matched set. It could have easily gone that way but didn't. I'm not sure what I think about the whole twins and evil Chaebol woman story lines just petering out like that, but those weren't why I tuned in each week.
Hospital Playlist 2: I love it when the show makes me yell at the screen because they've set things up for episodes so that I *KNOW* just whose guesthouse is being book even though the Fab 5 did not. That is part of their charm. I also like that Seok-hyung has changed so much that her parents don't recognize him as the bear. Taking her mom antacids was a sweet touch. I don't love the stupid cliffhanger when I have to wait for 2 weeks for the next episode. I am not worried that anyone important is going to die, and I'm sure it will be used to make someone realize feelings or some such thing.
Do You Like Brahms?: I think it was even better as a rewatch. All the sweet falling in love episodes were just as sweet and lovely, but the angsty parts didn't have to drag on for weeks. It was over in just a couple of hours, so they didn't frustrate me as much and seemed more like part of a necessary process. I can't wait to see the OTP on my screen again in other roles. They were so fantastic in this!

Kdrama:
Nevertheless: really stopped watching this about three weeks till the end, except fast forwarding to a few scenes. In the end, I felt like this drama sugar-coated the points it should have been making about unhealthy relationships. And not just with the lead couple.
You are My Spring: A lot to say about this one. It ended up being NOT the show I was hoping it would be after the second episode cliffhanger. The mystery/suspense angle got pushed into the background in favor of the healing romance. I still liked the show, but the Koreans can do romantic suspense really well and there are relatively few of those shows out there, so I had been really hopeful. I do respect the writer's vision for the show and it wasn't that I disliked it, it just wasn't what I hoped it would be.
Devil Judge - in the end, it was totally predictable. I still love Ji Sung and hope his next show will be a winner.
Blue Birthday: You don't hear much about this show, but despite it being low budget and with younger, less experienced actors, I am enjoying it. Not really anything spectacular, just filling the fantasy niche till something better comes along.
Red Shoes and The Second Husband these dailies premiered near the same date, so both are now a few weeks in. We are now getting to the point of repetition and of course both shows have the filler side characters that are cringeworthy. Red Shoes has an especially bitter heroine, which makes for kind of a difficult watch.
Other:
Various CDramas: They all seem to run together. I find that very few of the contemporary romances manage to keep my attention well enough to avoid fast-forwarding about halfway through.
Titans: Enjoying season 3 which premiered a few weeks ago. We are up to episode 5 now. As is typical for this show, occasionally they do a step back and focus on one character for a whole episode, which is what they did in episode 5. They do have a huge cast, always have. To the point that some of the main actors in the show haven't appeared yet in the season. The only actor that I think has been woefully miscast is the guy playing Bruce Wayne. This is definitely my favorite recent superhero show. It does tend to be very dark like most of the Batman films.

Penthouse 3 (12): What the hell did I just watch??? A lot to take on ... I dont even know where to start.. this going to be a long rant..
Good things first
BRN finally called HYC dad and loved how SK tried to apologize to BRN.
DAN Tae is finally dead and in the very first place he was so obsessed with...and in the very place where MSA died in season 1. That's a full circle. I know I should just suspend my brain cells and logic while watching penthouse 3 still I couldn't help but my roll my eyes when JDT pressed the bomb remote while shot on head and smile after falling off 100 floors seeing Hera palace blown away??? Does that make sense?
So the chandelier fell on CSJ and she magically survived without even a scratch whereas HYC who had a fall from stairs is in coma? Why is the writer so weird with the accidents in this show?
And secretary Jo is the most brainless. I mean after all these beating he could have played smarter by providing fake bombs instead of trying to inform police without a backup plan.
Just like I said last week I don't feel the same excitement for SSR and Logan this season. First because of the weird romance they are having ( it makes no sense when his family used her daughter and deported her back after the use and he just watched) and then they were suppose to be smart but compared to the first season they just didnot do much here apart from gloating. What was SSR thinking while shooting JDT? She should have shoot the hand instead of head so that JDT cant press the remote. I want to believe that she survived the fire. I mean CSJ survived the chandelier fall so why can't SSR survive a bomb blast?
Now with 2 more episodes hopefully we will get a closure to the CSJ arc.

Two more episodes and we will be done with this...will we get a happy ending to compensate all the anxiety and pain we endured? I am curious and will possibly spent the days till the next episode overthinking all the possible plotlines they can pull off....

Police university (5-6): I am surprised how much I am enjoying the show. Our investigative team is finally on the right path and with this week's episode ending I am sure they will come with an alternative and hopefully more careful plan. I dont have much to say about the love triangle since the min hyuk gets hardly any screen time while our main couple connection goes deeper. It might take a few couple of episodes more to resolve the misunderstandings but I am sure they will get there eventually. I am curious about Kang hee's reaction when she will finally know Sun oh's secrets . Being righteous as she is , will she support him ? The show makes me doubt on every professor in the PU and final addition to the professor's team will definitely make the future episodes more interesting.

PS: The whole roll call section was overdone. I am not sure if it's the acting or the direction but I ended up FF ing those sequences.

You are my spring (15-16): Not my favourite but pretty...

Another week in which work cut into my drama watching time.

Tonight we get to finally watch SEASIDE VILLAGE CHA CHA CHA, except that Netflix has decided to call it HOMETOWN CHA CHA CHA. Plus we finally get to go back to watching THE GREAT SHAMAN GA DOO SHIM now that Viki got subtitles to 100%. I am looking forward to both.

My wife decided to watch JOSEON MARRIAGE AGENCY- and she liked it. This was after she finished watching the fantasy/Sageuk MIRROR OF THE WITCH which she loved. She took time out from subtitles to watch the British series INDIAN SUMMERS and re-watch the classic THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN, plus the drama UNFORGOTTEN. All are good.

We have also been enjoying the C-drama BEGIN AGAIN, while I decided to try a Chinese family drama- THE BOND. It is simply not as good as its K-drama counterparts.

BE MY DREAM FAMILY continues to be good.

Anyone not watching POLICE UNIVERSITY is seriously missing out. It is amazingly balanced.

HOSPITAL PLAYLIST is still good and the most recent episodes have actually been better than those in the first season.

1. Hosplay 2.Well I had a blast re-watching the latest episode. Some highlights:
- Seokhyung's "Mountains are meant to be admired, not climbed"
- Found it cute that Gyeoul/Winter's brother is named Gaeul/Autumn (I'm very glad I did not share my thEoRiEs about the Jang family situation or I'd look like a total idiot now, lol.)
- Jun-wan's exhaustion after the Bon Jovi song
- Yay, cute WG x food moments
- Uj—oh no wait not enough Uju :(

As usual Bidulgi's lazy angst is the biggest stain on this show.

2. I finished On The Verge of Insanity this evening and, like stroopwafel, I want to give this show big hug. Choi Ban-seok has earned a spot in my kdrama character hall of fame — as a character he was so candid, sarcastic and funny, and as a superior he's just the perfect mentor. Nobody can question Shin Han-soo's heart eyes.

I didn't fully appreciate just how well-paced the story was until the end, when we had a finale fully dedicated to their struggle as a start-up. Everything just felt so organic. (Except that pitch LOL. I'm surprised he didn't go past the time limit.) I love their team. I love that Dang Ja-young is finally in the position to drive a company forward, instead of laying off people and being despised for it. And Han Se-gwon. I could never bring myself to hate him completely. He's incredibly lucky that Nari still sees the good in him and is willing to take a chance again. Overall - a low-key, well-made (and so funny! what the hell) and satisfying show!

3. Watched Hometown Cha Cha Cha with beanies. The style so far is not my cup of tea to be honest, but the charm of those dimples is HUWOW ✨indisputable.✨

YAMS - finished. I really enjoyed this show even if the last 4 episodes I felt weren't as strong as the initial 12 and they abandoned a ship I liked after sinking it. It would be nice to have a spin-off because a lot of the side characters were amazing.

DP - half way through. Its interesting and I liked it more than I thought I would. The creative ways to be cruel do set a different tone than what I seem to have been watching lately.

Doctors - I wasn't expecting the show to start off with FL being hit first by her teacher and then by her father. I was expecting the age-gap romance, which I don't mind when the characters are older. Icky factor when she was still a student tho. Having a hard time with how ML is constantly is in a place of power over FL because it stands out as a red flag to me instead of being anything romantic.

Scent of a Woman - This came together quite nicely. I enjoyed the ending but part of me wanted to see how they would have moved on from her death after the cancer. It was also interesting to see something 10 years old after watching YAMS, especially in terms of video quality.

C-dramas
Be Yourself - only seen the first episode. The attitude of the rich girl was a real turn off from watching anything more.

One and Only - DNF, it felt like it was going to start being a lot more court shenanigans and I wasn't in the mood

Sweet Teeth - decent. I cringed too much about ML interrupting her blind date... there really wasn't a need. To DNF or not DNF, that is the question.

Americana:
What If - I watched a lot of anime growing up so I always have a hard time with North American animated series because it always sounds like there is unnatural pause between characters speaking. Despite that, Ep 1 and 2 were pretty good. Ep 3 felt like a miss, if Thor is out of the way is there a reason for Loki to take over Earth? The reason for going after Thor in the first place was pretty weak too.

Mostly I’ve been skipping around watching bits of dramas I’ve seen before, unable to settle on anything, but I did just pick up POLICE UNIVERSITY which I’m enjoying more than I expected to (am only up to ep 4). Always makes me nervous when there is a beloved and lovely parent in a kdrama, so I hope Dad can make it safely to the end to be proud of his boys.

I’m watching ZOMBIE DETECTIVE with my sister and it cracks me up. I’m sure there are a lot of references that I’m not getting, but it’s funny even without understanding everything,

Also have been watching INTO THE RING and made it a couple of episodes further than I did the first time but despite enjoying it, it’s not managing to hold my attention at the moment.

Looking forward to trying out HOMETOWN CHA CHA CHA.

Just finished watching DP which was brilliant. Disturbing, sad, funny, tragic and the cast was superb. My husband was a professional soldier, in a European army, and says there was certainly bullying although not on the scale or with the consequences depicted here. The British army also has its’ share of controversy with a number of “suicides” and “accidental deaths” which have never been fully explained. This drama should win awards, unless the washing of military dirty linen is deemed too controversial…………?

D.P. I binged all episodes yesterday and thought it was fantastic. Much grittier than any promo would lead me to believe but all the better for it. Everyone was great. I have always loved Jung Jae-In and this was no exception. One of his best performances to my mind. I had never seen Gu Kyo-hwan in anything and was amazed. Without spoiling too much, the scene in/outside the tunnel in the last episode is heartbreaking and so well-done.

Hospital Playlist 2 I am keeping up with it, just rooting for Ik-jun and Song-hwa mostly. And also for Jun-wan and Ik-sun, even though she's a fool. The other romances don't do a thing for me and I will be mighty disappointed if Seok-hyeong and Min-ha get together. I don't get that idea one bit. My favorite song performance so far is the "You've fallen for me" song on Song-hwa's birthday. And I am 100% here for all the patient stories. Most memorable for me was the mother who came to Jun-wan about heart surgery for her newborn and he said he didn't think it was wise. That scene slayed me. I will stick with it and keep fast forwarding through the boring bits.

You are My Spring Overall, a pretty good one for me. I adored the main couple. I don't recall seeing Kim Dong-wook in anything else and he gave me all the feels. That smile of his, holy smokes. And the movie star/idol romance was wonderful, more of them, please. And the twins were great, too. Her anger with her father and her brother finally saying, "he's never going to change. Can't you move on?" So many moments like that throughout the drama - quiet, filled with wisdom and care. It did that so well. Less favorite things for me - 1)the innocence of the MC romance. I wasn't expecting anything way hot or something but they acted like high-schooler 2) the slightly confusing murder story.

And because of all the comments, I will try Verge of Insanity.

Completed On the Verge of Insanity and continued The Great Shaman Ga Doo Shim. I squee'ed about Verge on knewbie's mini-cap upthread.

It's a miracle that Verge aired on MBC—the same network that greenlit the travesty Oh My Master AND provided xenophobic and just plain ignorant commentary during this Summer Olympic's opening ceremony. This ain't MBC's first rodeo so I wonder at their leadership.

I also watched Ep. 100-101 of Master in the House (2017), which featured Verge's FL, Moon So-ri and her director husband, Jan Jun-hwan. It was superb. (Their 9-year-old daughter was away but the boys did get to meet the other "children," a pair of white dogs including one with three legs.) The boys got to try out Moon So-ri's dance workout before staying at her home where she and her husband hosted a mini film festival with good conversation and laughs all around. MSR and JJH really #couplegoals. Plus, Moon So-ri is a superb cook and inspired me to add japchae to my recipe box!

Posting here after really long!

Just watched Hometown Cha Cha Cha Episode 1 and feeling so refreshed because of the beautiful village, characters and soundtrack! Its got everything going for it really! I'm here for Shin Min-ah, shes great! But wow I see what everyone else sees in Kim Seon-ho, he really suits the role! Nice to have such a drama to watch on the weekend.

I've been watching So Not Worth It, which totally lives upto its name. Its ridiculous, characters are so insensitive and lame, and nothing is funny. I don't think I'll be continuing, I was expecting it to be really good. But they've found some great foreign actors who may do really well.

After watching it at snail's pace I completed Hospital Playlist Season 1. The band scenes are the best! Its a really good drama but not something I'll rewatch. Jo Jung-seok and the actress who plays Gyeo-ul with her consistent in love expression are the standouts for me. I'll watch Season 2 sometime later.

I haven't been able to concentrate on any dramas, hoping Cha Cha Cha changes that!

Finally, we have more content to watch. So excited for the upcoming drama season.

Check Out the Event: More noble idiocy, yayyyy. Honestly would’ve dropped this if it weren’t just a four episode drama. Everyone is unlikeable in their own way.

D.P.: Incredible. It gets very dark and violent at times, but it’s necessary for the story it’s telling. Military culture is fucked up to the core. I’m glad it showed how this issue is systemic and enabled by the people at the top, not just perpetrated by a few bad apples. Netflix has done it again. Their kdrama originals really are worth looking out for. Jung Hae-in is amazing as usual and Koo Kyo-hwan is a revelation. One of the highlights of 2021.

Great Shaman Ga Doo-shim: Once again, the episode-length is the main problem!! Everything else is right up my alley.

Hospital Playlist: This episode was actually really good. I felt so happy for Jae-hak and his wife. I only want good things for them. Glad to see Jeong-won and Gyeo-ul finally communicating. I doubt Seok-hyung will really be gone though, it’s just the priest Jeong-won storyline again.
…..
For the completed dramas, The Devil Judge wasn’t too bad but I kinda wish the drama had the guts to kill off Yo-han. As for Nevertheless…the less said about it, the better. Good riddance. On the cdrama side, You Are My Glory was a super sweet comfort-watch (once you ignore the glaring nationalism). The main couple was wonderful together.

Incredibly excited to start Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Lovers of the Red Sky, and Human Disqualification. I hope they all live up to my skyrocketing high expectations.

I'm in a bit of a drama slump. The recent shows haven't held my interest as much...even Hospital Playlist 2.

Instead, I've been re-watching Stranger (Forest of Secrets) again and I find myself noticing little details I missed the first time around. Really hope for future seasons! I think I'll re-watching Beyond Evil after that. That was another solid show.

Currently "sort of" watching Second Husband - not because it is good, just because I am semi-stuck at home with all the COVID crap. What strikes me about nearly all of those daytime melodramas is just how many stupid people they can fit into a single drama.

I guess after recently completing the excellent cdrama THE IMPERIAL CORONER I was still in the mood and I discovered CHONG MING WEI (2018) on Viki which was just recently licensed. 24 episodes which run about 25 minutes each.
Here is the story on CHONG MING WEI:
https://mydramalist.com/32123-chong-ming-wei

I would describe it as a historical crime/mystery/ fantasy drama that is certainly not as deep if you will as CORONER and intentionally works in humor.
Also after every episode there is a short epilogue that definitely plays at humor.