Who would win? The archer in Joseon or the slingers in Arthdal?

Arthdal: D/C: At least the bad lighting helps hide the bad makeup. Big budget (except for lighting/electricity) "epic" built on a foundation of mud. Slave parts were an F on my how-I-liked-it scale, rest was a C.

Designated Survivor: C+/B-: On my personal enjoyment scale, day 1 was an A and day 2 a D. For the "how good it was", I'm being generous because day 2 was bad in the same ways as 800,000 other kdramas -- mostly contrived arguments with Designated Obnoxious Idiots -- so if you're a kdrama fan you probably have a high tolerance.

Investigative Couple / Partners for Justice: C/B: Ok except for doctor's mental issues. And Designated Obnoxious Idiots crooked prosecutors.

Joseon Survival: C/B-:

Secret Life of My Secretary day 13: B/B: / Chemistry & cuteness 👍 vs plot 👎. Whichever of those wins, my plan for binge/catch-up looses as I remain far behind.

Voice 3: C/B: If you like over-the-top baddies & strong female leads, and have a high tolerance for contrived obstacles, then you might like this show. If you loved Voice season 1 you might be able to stomach it. And of you can't stand contrived obstacles why are you watching kdramas?

Angel's Last Mission: Love: B/B-: Lead actress 👍; plot 🙄. Writer seems to be "winging it" in the rain. As SailorJumin said in a recap "Where is this drama’s rule book? Is it up on the same shelf as Abyss‘ rule book?". Not sure why this show doesn't get as much plot-hate as Abyss or Alhambra. Yet.

For the month of July, I also intend to pick up Class of Lies, A Moment at Eighteen and Melo Suits Me. As for My Absolute Boyfriend, I’ll probably push through the last 4 hours in one shot next week!

Designated Survivor: 60 Days
Real life politics are dirty, with countries all wanting to assert their rights and people (the military and the opposition in this drama) all gunning for more power. This show doesn’t stray far from that but what caught my interest was how the previous president was a good man who eventually crumbled under the power: how will Park Moo Jin now fare against the same circumstances? Despite his political inexperience, his rationality has won him allies and defused conflicts. So far so good, but the culprit is still out there. Conspiracy theory time! I have two theories about Na Kyung’s boyfriend: 1, he is part of an shadow organisation that seeks to ensure that the situation in the Korea Peninsula remain destabilised (whether it be for the military industrial complex or not), placing him as one of the nefarious ones, 2, he is a DPR Korea spy that obtained information about the missing dud (which they investigated because it was stolen) and rushed there to steal it so as to prevent themselves from being implicated (here he’s a potential ally). I believe he’s still alive now, as drama logic dictates that his romantic relationship with Na Kyung will complicate investigation matters down the road.

Search Query: WWW
I’m trying to understand what was the trigger that made Ka Kyung decide to rebel against KU Group since I don’t think Unicon being threatened by Barro would be sufficient motivation for her to snap. I love the juxtaposition of the two very different sets of parents (Ka Kyung’s real parents vs. Morgan’s adopted parents): it was a nice inversion of how society usually views them (and we finally get Ta Mi supporting Morgan for once!). The spotlight given to the Barro TF team at the bookend really made me smile (so many character arcs packed into it!): this is a nice start to the drama’s 2nd half.

Uf, this week I'm worried.
I'm mainly worried about Spring Night... that it may pull Pretty Noona on us. I didn't like the ending of the last episode... and even more the preview. I hope it's totally misleading. And that somebody finally stops Gi Seok. (Just WHY is Jung In constantly telling him he can do whatever he wants to her and bother her???).

I'm also worried about the Badass Ballerina... and her Black Dressed With Black Thoughts Angel. (Their wedding was beautiful though.)

Luckily I have Let's Eat 3 to ease my worries with all that food... and (nostalgic) college years. I think so far (I watched the first 8 episodes) it's my favourite series from the three. It's not only because it organically shows the origin of Dae Young as a foodie, but also because of the two time lines and smooth switching between them and the general pace. And because of the sisters.

And... confession... I'm already quite some time still on ep 15 of Fangirl (Her Private Life) and on ep 11 of Pinku Couple (Touch Your Heart) and can't seem to finish it. However I finished (and enjoyed till the end) Secretary's Secret Life. What does it mean????
🙂🙂

Angels Last Mission: I stopped watching this one a while back, and I don't know if I will jump back in. SHS is fantastic but I'll see what everyone thinks about the end because I don't know if this writer can pull it off.

Before We Get Married (t-drama): It is nothing new but the chemistry between the leads is great.

I am taking a break from starting new k-dramas. I'm in a bit of a slump because usually, WWW would be right up my alley. I want to try to use this time to finish up some dramas that, for whatever reason, I left in limbo. First up is Romance Is a Bonus Book with 4 episodes left.

HBO: Chernobyl: One of the best things I've watched on tv in a long time. Outstanding.

@missvictrix, you are in for a RIDE.

@missvictrix I have seen Bali and I won't spoil you... but I also won't join you for a re-watch... that said, I never regretted watching it... it's just very intense...
And back then I started because of So Ji Sub...and fell for Jo In Sung... badly...

Just as I picked up and promptly dropped Arthdal last week, I did the same with WWW but for different reasons. It is the year of dropping and I'm afraid that I still can't work out what WWW is trying to be. It's almost like they've filmed independent parts of different stories and then stitched them together. On paper that sounds like it'd be my favourite thing ever but in reality I couldn't find something in it to hold onto. No, not even Scarlett and her love of Makjang.
Speaking of the Year of Dropping, I also dropped Absolute Boyfriend although that wasn't a surprise. I still think this show had a surprisingly-excllent first half. But I wasn't shocked when it jumped the shark big time this week. I was more surprised by how much I had enjoyed it until then. But, yeah, that shark was jumped and that shark's named Zero Ten.

As for shows I am actually still watching, Angel's Last Mission continues to delight me with how utterly shallow it is and how weird it is that Shin Hye-sun is acting her guts out in the middle of this puddle.

I've picked up One Spring Night but am not very far in yet so am yet to have an opinion. The first few episodes were certain deft so we'll see how that goes.

I've been doing my promised fish cult watch of the Secret Life of my Secretary and finished it today. My fan wall has all my thoughts of the drama, which boil down to this: I loved everything about this show except the OTP. And unfortunately an OTP is rather an important part of a romcom. It's a shame because the show had a lot of good things to say about his face blindness and living with an illness. And Veronica Park ruled everything with her little finger.

One Spring Night. I can't believe it's gonna end soon, got too attached and now I can't say goodbye. I mean, when will I ever get to see such a warm and cozy drama again? Not to mention the beautiful ensemble.

It's one of those shows which I want to unsee so that I can go over it again and experience the joys of watching it for the first time.

Investigation Couple 2: The ending of Seo Hyun's busy busy week(lol) was nicely wrapped up. It moved the story forward and we found out more about why Dr. K is Dr.K. Multiple personality disorder, haven't seen that in a while. Now we really need to stop the schizophrenic's are dangerous story. It is incredibly uninformed and ignorant and frankly I am annoyed. It's stupid and I am not going to like this storyline, we were doing so well.

Designated Survivor: I love it. I love that they didn't follow the American show as closely because it needed to be Korean. One of my biggest pet peeves when they do a remake is when they don't make it better, so they are doing that here, so cheers.

Angel's Last Mission: Much like @laica, I am bored. I stopped watching episode 14 because I just don't care. Shin Hye Sun cannot save the silly religious aspect of this or the terrible storyline, so I am out.

One Spring Night: What an excellent couple of episodes. Jae In fighting for her sister. The wonderful moment between to the two mothers, silently crying and then understanding each other. Jung In and Ji Ho just fighting for each other. Eun No coming in clutch. Just excellent all around. Brava to the writing on this. Now, the previews are kind of annoying me, but Ji-Ho's grief at find that awful woman is married with a child is perfectly and rationally understandable. I would be feel like s(&t and then I would feel bad for my kid and feel like s&#t again. So we will see how this plays out.

Search Query WWW: I love alll of it. I will say though that Mo Gun and Ta Mi are the least interesting romance. I don't care at all about them. The real tea is with Ga Kyung and Jin Woo. OMG, their scene at his side house 🤷‍♀️, was excellent. Her screaming at him to not eat her nasty food and him eating anyway. The fact that he is clearly willing to divorce her, date her, and marry her again. I ship it so hard. It's weird because although there isn't a great deal of character development, I just like them together. Now my next favorite couple is Cha Hyeon and the Ji Hwan. My goodness are they adorable. Her joy not only of him but that silly drama he is in is my absolute favorite part. I really really hope this ship sails. As for Team Barro fighting, but honestly I kind of want Unicom to win, I really like Ga Kyung as a character and want great things for her. As the same time team Barro is doing such a great job, regardless I will be watching this fabulous drama.

Chief of Staff: We have come to the apex of the drama. The Chief of Staff may need to turn the tables. This is such a great political drama, let the backstabbing commence. 😊

Watcher: I haven't found a sub yet, please show up, please up.

Arthdal: I'm in it. Eunseom come on, you can escape and be great. Also now that Tanya knows he is alive, hopefully there will not be a love triangle. Theirs is the only story I care about, lol.

I am on the road and traveling/holidaying for the next 6 weeks so I won't have much time to watch TV (bummer in terms of timing as many new shows I'm interested in are starting in July. I guess I need to binge them on my return), nor will I have much internet access for downloading. With the hectic preparations of the last week and trying to tie loose ends I haven't been able to watch much last week either.

Mother of Mine:
As I expected the Chairman acted all shrewd and cynical but in the end turned out to be a typical weak old man who is easily deceived by a pretty young woman (which really is a hateful character).

Still the marriage was totally unexpected. Mi Ri should have told Tae Joo the truth before getting married but it wouldn’t be a makjang weekend drama if she did (which unfortunately is the route the drama seems to be going towards). That was a truly awful wedding ceremony in which nobody but Tae Joo looked happy (how in the world he was so oblivious to her state of mind reflected on her face is beyond me – they are even dumming down the characters to make this stupid storyline work). Even if they were into this couple which viewer can enjoy this wedding or marriage?

I found it amusing that after seeing the awful uncle the office guys changed their tune about getting Mi Ri promoted to get rid of her.

This week I watched
- Designated Survivor:60 Days
- Jealousy Incarnate
- The Fiery Priest

on the fanwall.

3 dramas in 1 week - how did I do it? I flicked the pages as I would the FF button.

ANGEL'S LAST MISSION. The reveal that every human's life is controlled by fate negates the entire long story line of Dan trying to find a way to become human. It is easy to see how the show will end.

ONE SPRING NIGHT. The long, sluggish relationship journey appears to be heading to a 180/skip Pretty Noona ending because there is not enough time to wrap up all the characters' issues.

GREAT ESCAPE 2. Finished the season. The later episodes are not as intense as Season 1, but the idea that the team needs to remember past episode clues to solve current issues was good. Production values still great, but it seems to run thin on future story lines.

MAFIA GAME IN PRISON. This show was fun but got repetitive until recently went the warden adds new rules to the game.

Investigation Couple 2 I like it. The daughter is safe! She can continue to marry off her mother with a schizophrenic doctor.

Designated Survivor: 60 Days I really liked the 2 episodes. But I had a doubt and I thought I had read wrong and Lee Joon Hyuk was not in this drama. I love Son Suk Goo as an actor :D

Angel's Last Mission: Love Great kissing scene. It's kind the only thing I remember in the plot that is very confusing.

One Spring Night I don't want it to end >_<

Search Query: WWW I just love Gakyung's couple. They are kinda cute. Her parents are worst than Jung In's One Spring Night ones. I'm happy she decided to quit this family.
Voice 3 So the season was disapointing because they continue with the same "we don't trust Kang Woo" plot. But the best parts were when he was with in his team, so a lot of the story was wasted. I'm still curious for Voice 4.

SuperBand It sucks because I can find the episodes but their performances on youtube are great!

Laica said:

The husband who is quietly, yearningly in love with his powerful, coldly charismatic wife. (God their relationship is my favorite romance plotline in the drama—I am rooting so hard for them to just run away together and leave their toxic families to torment each other.)

The end.

Search WWW - You guys I just love this show :( and as Laica said above I loved the endings of both episodes this week so much especially where we just got to spend time with the team and the OST like I just felt warm inside. Also I will defend Mo Gun with my life until he actually does something legit creepy because so far he’s just been a cute guy who’s a little cheesy, I really don’t get everyone’s beef with him. Cha Hyeon has basically acted just as obsessive and weird with Ji Hwan and people are finding it adorable, maybe that’s the commentary the show is going for I don’t know but it’s starting to get annoying seeing people complain and then praise what is essentially the same behaviour. If Cha Hyeon where a man would her obsession with Ji Hwan be as cute to people? I don’t think so. Either way, I love both couples and they’re all just adorable together. Ga Kyeong continues to both irritate the hell out of me (leave Ta Mi alone!) and fascinate me endlessly, her scenes this week being particularly amazing and even her relationship with her husband is one I’m finding myself rooting for. She’s just so sad and he loves her so much.

Also off topic kind of but I’ve definitely noticed and even seen it pointed out by a couple of translators that Jang Kiyong is starting to get odd hate comments seemingly out of the blue this week and I definitely think people are finding out he’s signed to yg as they search him more. Its the only explanation that makes sense tbh because his clips for this show trend in the top 5 of Naver tv top 100 after every episode and always with positive comments but this week the comments have been weirdly negative for no reason. I hope for his sake he doesn’t have long left on his contract and is at least considering leaving that hell hole.

@laica - thank you for your detailed comment on WWW because you literally said it all. This is why I love this show so much. Honestly if it keeps this up, it might even enter my small 10/10 list just because it's such a rare gem.

I'm watching Perfume and still only Perfume 💜

It's funny and touching. Jae Hee/Ye Rin is awesome, she's learning from her mistakes and taking steps to get away from her husband also she's great at handling the two bros. Jin Kyung being awesome and stopping her mum from quiting half way. Ji Na being awesome for supporting Ye Rin eventhough the guy she likes, likes Ye Rin and not her. Yi Do is awesome for being him. Minsuk is awesome for pushing Yi Do-Ye Rin/Jae Hee closer. Yi Do's secretary is awesome for being Jae Hee's person who knows her body change secret. Everyone is awesome except sleazy husband and Min Suk's sasaeng fans. Haha

I'm so excited for next week's episodes!!! 😆

@mary Your post about Great Escape for the last several weeks finally prompted me to marathon it this week, and I'm enjoying it so much. Yoo Byung-jae is still my favorite member (he is just so unexpectedly smart). I was half-laughing half-crying when Kang Ho-dong volunteered himself as the guinea pig for the green laser thing in Red Eyes eps, especially when he mumbled pitifully about how the program suddenly turned into Real Man.

hope everyone's doing well!
last few days i managed to watch:
Arthdal: the only on-air show that i'm up to date and i'm keen to know what's going to happen with the characters and the storyline. Though honestly i don't know my own expectations from this show, sometimes its just so all over place...LOL
Secret Life of My Secretary: i'm almost at the end now, so glad its over...personally i won't miss this one at all but i had to watch it for KYk:-) his smile is so wonderful.
Goblin: one cannot be a fan of kdramas without hearing about Goblin, so finally started watching this show for the first time & while i pretty much know what's going to happen, i'm still amazed how visually stunning this show it...there are newer shows out there now, but Goblin's production will look great for years to come i think
Are You Human?: started this week only, i think this is the first show i'm watching that has Seo Kang-joon in it.

One spring night is still making me all interested in what will happen to the sisters. All three have minds of their own and if before, Seo-in let her father have his way, now she is fighting for her own decision. Her mother's decision to leave and then suddenly come back is confusing for me. Why doesn't she have the same backbone as her daughters?

My Wife and I have just finished RICH MAN.

ANGELS LAST MISSION is my favorite show but has serious flaws. Shin Hye-sun is brilliant. Lee Dong-gun is wasted in this show- something I can clearly see now that I am also watching LAUREL TREE TAILORS.