What I'm watching: nothing T.T
Relying on the DB recaps (albeit late) so thank you DB.

Beanies, I have a dilemma about whether to watch Memories of Alhambra . Well, after watching several teasers I still have no idea what’s going on but there seems to be a VR game involved? On one hand it’s a collaboration between Forest of Secrets PD with the writer of my two favourite shows (Queen In Hyun’s Man, Unstoppable Hick Kick). Also Hyun Bin. Uhm. Have you seen the man?

On the other hand - Park Shin Hye. I swear if I see one more deer-in-the-headlights kiss from her I’m going to throw something. I don’t think she’s a bad actress, I just hate her kissing scenes that always looks so cringeworthy and awkward. I wouldn’t mind if the PD and writer focused more on the action than romance.

Caught up to happy if you died which I absolutely love for my dose of crack and watched the finale for 100 million which has left me drowning in feels 😭💔

I watched... the first episode of the Empress... and got soooo disappointed! It was totally different from what I expected. Plus I didn't like the directing style... what was with this focus on violence?... and strange scenes (a couple sleeping in water???)... and then I checked the PD and it suddenly made sense, I didn't like his style in Return either (and I left the show together with the lead actress). Perhaps with a different PD we could get Money Flower (that show was great!) in a palace setting... Though maybe I'm too blaming the PD for the writing I actually don't like??

I might still give it a chance to see what happens after the setup phase... and to see Choi Jin Hyuk's face 😉😁

I’m pretty much behind on all the currently airing shows. For some reason, nothing seems to be really itching my attention. I am planning on starting Hundred Million Stars From the Sky now that it’s finished airing. As for premieres, I will definitely be watching Red Moon, Blue Sun. I’ve heard mixed things about An Empress’s Dignity but may try to watch the first episode to see if I’ll like it.

Currently Airing

Feel Good to Die: Quite funny, but I’m ready for the more serious aspects to pop up. For instance, why is Jin Sang the way he is? (ep. 7-8)

Where Stars Land: It had such potential in the beginning… (ep. 27)

Finished Airing

Chicago Typewriter: I like how we’re getting to see what’s behind Se Ju’s drive to be an original writer that no one can copy. It looks like our three main characters will be meeting soon, and I am quite excited. But I’m also hoping that they won’t dance around them being friends in the past. (ep. 5)

Moonlight Drawn by Clouds: It fails to completely draw me in, but the main couple is cute. Almost sickeningly so. (ep. 13)

I'm not watching a lot of dramas atm, I love Happy To Die without being too invested in it, and LOVED the deliciously ridiculous The Last Empress. It's so ridiculous I laughed through two episodes. It's mostly trying to be a makjang, but occassionaly, when the King walks into Oh Sunny's world, it becomes a rom com. Plot logic is zero.

But my true obessession right now is idol survival. Under 19 and YG Treasure Box. I'm obsessed. Have been waiting for the weekend and watching and re-watching clips all week!

I tried The Last Empress & Children of Nobody. I'm not interested at all to continue the former after first two episodes, while the latter seems promising.

Quiz from God 5: Reboot: It seems different with different writer for this season. Like one case per week.

Sad that New Journey to the West will be ending soon, with only two episodes left (including director's cut).

I'm going to binge watch God's Quiz: Reboot once it's completed. More dramas I'm interested in are airing soon.

- Completed -

Hide and Seek: CEO Min Chae Rin ! This feels so good after everything she went through. Psycho GrandMa should have stayed and died alone. This deus ex machina with Secretary Kim finding and saving Eun Hyuk was too much but let's just go over it.

The Beauty Inside: Besides the angst - why is it necessary when it takes all the fun in a romcom - I had a great time. I won't rewatch scenes but the main couple had great chemistry.

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes: Tragic. That's how I want to describe main characters of this story. It was hard to picture a happy ending for this drama so it was no surprise. I still can't say if I like this drama. It was interesting, I was engaged in the story but the main characters left me confused. I can't give a clear opinion about them because it seems like there were more sides to them than what was shown to us. This drama will stay in my gray zone.

The Third Charm: I'm quite puzzled. The drama ended but Young Jae and Joon Young's story didn't. They didn't really get back together, Young Jae still needs to recover from the loss of her child, Joon Young... err will be her support (?). But I can't picture them living happily together.

- Currently watching -

Bad Papa: There were lots of dead people this weeek. The police officer dying was inevitable, then the thug was sad. May they rest in peace. If Ji Cheol could take the redemption path instead of dying, leaving his wife and his daughter (I refuse the thought of her dying too) behind, that could lead to a "happy end".

Children of Nobody: Children in thrillers and horror movies always give me chils. I'm 100% on board with the mystery girl that Kim Sun Ah sees and tries to save. I'm curious to know more about the hard times she and her husband went trhough in the past. Lee Yi Kyung does a great job portraying a detective and his interactions with his ex-girlfriend are great.

Dae Jang Geum is Watching: I wish the younger brother didn't fall for the intern. She and the eldest brother could have so much more cheesy and hilarious scenes. The youngest sister is my favorite. Her convenience store "dishes" and her storyline interest me more.

Fluttering Warning: ep 7. I don't think a fake break-up announcement can affect Milk Couple.

Go,back Diary: At one point I thought the couple broke up in highschool because of the childhood friend. Glad to see it's not the case. That "friend" should have confessed her feelings sooner instead of pretending to be a friend.

Happy to Die: My gosh, Baek Jin Sang was hilarious this week ! The continuous use of timeloops for his "revenge" had me dying (no pun intended). He's finally willing to change and it feels good ! Well, he has to adjust himself to prevent situations like at...

Saying goodbye to 100 Million Stars with lots of tears, while feeling that the process to its conclusion is absolutely stupid (I swear there must be many other ways to make it both painful and meaningful). I'm also preparing myself for Where Stars Land's finale eps and hoping with all my heart that they'll focus on all the precious relationships instead of those useless gangster.

Feel Good to Die continues to deliver in the most surprising way possible. Who would thought that Jin-sang will tug at my heartstring like this? His inability to recognize that he needs help and ask for that help is achingly familiar. As is his first instinct to rail at the world for misundertanding him and declare that he doesn't need other people instead of admitting that people's words and action actually hurt him. I can hardly wait for his growth after that sincere plea to Roo-da. You can do it, Baek Jin-sang!!

And last, Red Moon Blue Sun started off interesting, dark, and tragic. I'll check next week eps to decide whether I'll continue watching it or not.

In order of preference:
Fox Bride Star - Show insists on making In Woo a good guy, in a twisted way. The real good guy is rather warped in his thinking and getting his priorities wrong. The senior adults know enough but will not stop the imminent destruction, letting the younger people 'decide' or act instead. (What was Jang doing giving Yeo Reum that device to stop Soo Yeon? She has to take all that responsibility by herself? What kind of senior is that! At least go along with her to persuade Soo Yeon!!) 😒

Children of Nobody/Red Moon Blue Sun - Only just starting this right now. Already feeling the troubled, moody vibes which are helped a lot by the music. I'm not sure this is a suitable show to help with recovery from The Smile, but whatever ... for now.

12 Nights - I might prefer to binge watch this when it's over. It's just emotion and more unspoken emotion, regrets and hope.

Cheers To Me - Just completed it. It's got no actual plot or story, but quite a lot of reflection on life and being happy as one is. A pleasant and relaxing watch.

Hundred Million Stars From the Sky - I was wrong. It did not end up hurting so good. The conclusion was just a bad, impact-less travesty of a tragic ending. Until the last 5 minutes, it had been a show to rave about. 😠

Fluttering Alert - I hope the leads are enjoying themselves because I'm only enjoying how badly executed this show is. 😜

Mama Fairy - I'm barely watching this … there's still too little happening. Ok Nam is not given anything of significance to do. I'm wondering if I care who the husband is. Why don't I care? 😣 😖 😐

100 Million Stars....now I'm scared to finish it. I think I might watch ep 14 and leave them there.

Happy to Die...need to pick it back up. I felt like both I and the heroine were starting to lose any emotional investment in the situation. I'm curious if this will lean towards romance? I'm not sure I will be able to see him in that light.

Meteor Garden.....started watching again. It is just ridiculous and fun. I actually like that some of the angst in this version isn't drawn out for too long.

Nodame Cantabile...3 eps. Will probably finish. Though warned the style of acting can sometimes yank me out of the drama.

Closest Love to Heaven.....was a sweet little YA movie.

Crazy Rich Asians....finally watched it. It was fun. I love a good RomCom. I miss that they are not that common anymore.

Veronica Mars....who doesn't love Veronica?

Dangerous Beyond the Blanket....the first ep of Season 2. Loco was definitely a highlight.

Thinking of watching/trying:

To.Jenny
Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me
Bungaku Shojo
Finding and finishing Queen In- Hyun's Man.

Since my laptop doesn't seem to do as I want I have to do another post for the next part of my watch-list:

Happy to Die: My gosh, Baek Jin Sang was hilarious this week ! The continuous use of timeloops for his "revenge" had me dying (no pun intended). He's finally willing to change and it feels good ! Well, he has to adjust himself to prevent situations like at the ending part with the rude customer. Jus like Lee Ru Da, I wanted to see the rude Baek Jin Sang get back at that man. They're going to work together and that will be a fun ride !

Matrimonial Chaos: I feel conflicted with both ex-couples. I wonder if Seok Moo and Hwi Roo will ever be able to move on. Seok Moo and Yoo Young could have been back together but something felt off (apart from the fact she's pregnant). I see them as really good friends who care for each other. Hwi Roo rejected not one but two pretendants and still maintains a close relationship with Seok Moo. Jang Hyun... I sometimes feel pity because he's lonely (but who isn't ?) and sometimes I get reminded of his cheating acts.

Manpuku: Waiting for subs to come out.

Miss Ma, Nemesis: This drama has enough dead people so I'm crossing my fingers Detective and the child are alive.

Room No.9: Swapping Yoo Jin and Chan Sung's bodies

SKY Castle: ep 1. This drama's ambiance reminds me of Woman of Dignity (same chaebol world). I was glad to see a bigger mystery than how to get their kids into this prestiguous medical university at the ending part. I quite like it.

The Last Empress: Will Shin Sung Rok not play a villain one day (not counting Trot Lovers, he was plain weird in it) ? I liked the premiere more than expected. Well, the real thing didn't start yet but it's great to develop the basic elements that way.

Top Management: I want SOUL to have a big success and show everyone they're talented !

Mama Fairy and Woodcutter : Honestly it's not as funny as I expected so I considered to drop it, but Kim Geum keeps me back to this drama. Is there any chance for Geum's ship to sail? Ah, love that back hug.

Feel Good to Die : Till last week I had SLS, but now I don't care who Roo-da will end up with. Kang Joon-ho lost many points when he keeps dragging her as he please. Baek Jin-sang is still annoying sometimes.

Beauty Inside : The last 2 episodes feel a bit flat. The scene when Se-gye in many forms approaching Do-jae feel fake because the shown forms aren't the ones that we saw in past episodes. They are just different people in my eyes, not Se-gye. I don't like Do-jae's cured, it's just make him too perfect. Se-gye's changing time interval becomes longer and almost feels like cured whithout any explanation, i don't like that too. Those above ruin this drama, that's what I feel. Positive point, I like Eun-ho and Sa-ra's relationship progression.

Beauty Inside (Movie) : after a bit disappointed by the drama version I decide to re-watch the movie. Han Hyo-joo is really amazing at maintaining her chemistry with all actors/actresses who act as Woo-jin. It's not perfect but I like it much more than the drama, changing every day much more interesting and bigger problem than changing monthly. Ah, there is big hole that bother me, how Woojin can get his passport and pass the immigration post.

Misty : starting to watch this because it has many good review here but after watching it I can't give good review. I watched it with a lot of skip because there are many things i don't like, the most is affair part. I can't empathize with the characters. I just kept watching to know who the killer is and after knowing i just feel annoyed by almost everyone in this drama especially to the incompetent stubborn detective and Kang Tae-wook. The only character I like is Ki-Seok.

While You Were Sleeping : re-watching this for the nth time. It still makes me grinning, laughing, and crying like a fool. The characters are so lovable except the bad ones. Jae-chan is funniest Lee Jong-suk's character and my second favorite hero after Soo-ha.

I finished A Hundred Million Stars, and loved the ending. I wouldn't have had it end any other way. It stayed poetic and beautiful and moving to the end, with so many twists and turns in the final 10 minutes it left me gasping for breath...well, I was crying my eyes out, too.

I watched The Last Empress, and I don't know what to say about it. The bodyguard's abs haven't appeared yet, so what I saw was abuse and violence - man squeezing woman's neck, woman slaping woman's face, over and over.

I’m really enjoying Fluttering/Love Alert. The OTP is just fab. It’s rom-com bread and butter, but I like the adult way the OTP works together and for each other. Episode seven was so, so good.

I’m also watching Our Glamorous Time (Chinese). Business machinations at its most annoying, but the good guys are brilliant and don’t sit around waiting to be outwitted by the villains. The slow burn romance between our leads also helps nicely.

I also picked up a quirky Japanese drama called Your Home is My Business! (Ie Uru Onna) all about Estate Agents. It’s both hilarious and thought-provoking.

100MSFTS

Where do I start? That was mind-blowing, captivating, depressing yet still so beautiful. What a way to finish things, both Moo-young and Jin-kang die painfully but they die together and they love each other. I liked the honest conversation they had although I thought the reason he broke up with her was because he thought they were siblings, rather than JinGook killing his dad? 😕

I think most of us expected a sad ending, that's been the overall tone and feel of the drama. We were all guessing whether or not they would be siblings but we forgot to ask for a less sad ending lol. I felt that there was a high chance one or both of Jin-kang and Moo-young would die and Se-ran dying isn't all that surprising. As soon as Moo-young killed her I knew there was no way they could have a happy ending for a murderer.

In the end things are quite open-ended and we're left asking what's next. Will JinGook live the rest of his life in sadness and guilt? Will he finally date Tak? Will evil secretary get caught? And what ever happenes to Moo-young's court case lol?

Overall I loved this show and the main couple's chemistry was sizzling, both in their intimate and non-intimate moments. It will be hard to move on from this show 😭

Like

My kdramas current status :

Current (airing) watching:
1. Twelve Nights
2. Happy to Die
3. God's Quiz 5 Reboot
4. The Last Empress/The Empress Dignity (wait til CJH's first appearance 😜 then ill drop it)
5. Children of Nobody

Rewatching:
1. Go Back Couple (as a reminder that Jang Nara was perfectly ok in this drama)

Red Moon/Blue Sun, positively intrigued, I like layered plot and the ambience of cinematography and music.

The Last Empress, it was not what I expected, writing seems all over the place in episode 1 and it look like it was filmed on 10+ yrs old equipment same as Hwayugi.

Happy to Die, I thought we goona have one day over and over again, but I like the plot a lot and actors too, except Gong Myung cutesy acting, he usually much better than that.

God Quiz, this week I wanted to throw a shoes at TV, I hate when writers dumb down characters for plot sake, and in this drama they went for new low, like doctor for rare diseases do not order test for rabies despite everything pointed to it, because Korea haven't rabies case in 13 yrs arghhhh, and I don't even want to go into vaccine messy approach. I'll give it one more week chance (I like procedurals) but I'm so ready to drop it.

Not inspired by the batch of k-drama airing, i turned to films and jdrama.

The Spy Gone North was a very entertaining ride!
I imagined something tense relying on action, and was happily surprised by the comedy tone. A welcome relief to the dramatic events showed once our hero Black Venus started his work in North Korea, scouting sites under the fake promise to search for landscapes which would fits a tourism ad/clip while looking actually for nuclear facilities.
The scenes of villages/town completely decimated by hunger, people looking like the shadow of human beings wandering in the streets abandoned to themselves, were really hard to stomach. It reminded me the scenes in the nazi camps in the film Life is beautiful by Roberto Benigni.
The ensemble cast is uniformly impeccable and seemed to have as much fun playing together than the audience had to watch them on screen. Excellent chemistry too between all the leads.
I regret only the lack of any interesting female characters. A real shame to be honest that i have a hard time to forgive and that's why i don't recommend it as i do normally when i enjoy a lot a story.

J-drama: Border (2014) and the 2 SP aired in 2017 Border: Shokuzai and Shoudou.
I don't remember what i was doing with my life at that the time this drama aired, but i was doing wrong: i missed a fully, truly masterpiece!
On the other hand, i probably wouldn’t have survived the hellish cliffhanger at the end of the ep9. To finish any story on such twist is the most horrible, fictional crime against the audience ever commited.
It was a real trauma for me, from which i healed only because i get to see the SP quickly. Those specials episodes were indeed as good, if not better than the drama itself.

Why is it a must see?
- It has Oguri Shun who filled every second of the screen with his talent and charisma. I can't say he stole the drama, only because he IS the drama. A very fine actor at the top of his game.
- Very likeable supporting characters, played by a solid ensemble cast with strong chemistry. Every actor got fully his character and they made them endearing despite their quirks.
But my favourite is the female lead coroner played by the charismatic Haru. The flawless acting helped a lot to make Mika a very relatable female lead despite her youth.
I loved her policy of no bullshit, and her determination to work on her skills /intelligence and facts. She was the science factor to counterbalance a lead male character that was relying fully on occultism and the dead, which gave a perfect balance to their definitively platonic friendship. They had a Harry/Hermione vibe that I loved. Ron was definitely Yuma, the third detective without special ability but who tries his best and who is very loyal to his coworkers.

The dark side team was also a perfect addition to the plot.

It's a philosophical story under its crime/thriller appearance: this drama asks very deep questions...

I'm watching too many shows, so obviously I checked out some of the news ones too.

The Last Empress Well this show is completely different from what I expected! Even if the violence and Jang Nara cuteness sat uncomfortably next to each other in the first thirty min episode, I liked it much more in the next ones and I was very intrigued to see that our musical actress is being conned into marrying the emperor, who is wooing her for his own reasons. And yes, when it turned out the mother wasn't dead yet when Ms Secretary left her by the side of the road, I gasped. It's always good to see that there's an even more evil character than the one Shin Sung-Rok plays and for me, Lee Elijah is running away with this in the first 4 episodes.
Twelve Nights : Continue to love it. It's great. Do I need to say more?
Fox Bride Star : I'm really glad it's going to end because it's getting to the point where even my love for the cute puppy and grumpy kitten and their couple socks isn't enough to cure my annoyance with the rest of it.
Fluttering Alert : A large part of my enjoyment comes out of seeing every single trope turn up on the screen and have the OTP deal with the situation like normal people. It's as if this is some social experiment where two people with a brain and normal emotions are dropped into the middle of makjang-central, and are coping with it by largely just getting on with their lives.
Happy to Die : I'm a couple of episodes behind as I picked this one up late, but the BTS footage showed that the cast were having just as much fun filming it, as I have watching it.

I also watched one episode of Top Management . Is a drama allowed to make fun of their star? When the script showed Mother Is Weird, and discussed terrible acting but with a winning smile, I grinned and then when Ahn Hyo-Seop's character wore headphones that weren't plugged in, I burst out laughing. Chaaaaaannnn!!!!