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Team Dramabeans: What we’re watching

So, what are we all watching this week?

What kept you reaching for more (or agonizing when there was no more), and what made you want to throw your remote through the screen? Time to weigh in…

 

stroopwafel

When the Camellia Blooms: Sometimes when you start a drama, you get exactly what you expect, but other times a show will surprise you, and Camellia was a sweet surprise for me. It had all the elements that I love in a fun rom-com, but there was also such heart and characters that felt so real I half-think I might run into them the next time I’m in Korea. I’m a total sucker for happy endings, and the warm fuzzies the show left me with has overpowered any complaints I had about last week’s episodes. Our characters grew and we saw that families aren’t always made by blood, they’re also forged by love. The cast as a whole was fantastic, but the standouts for me were Kim Kang-hoon (little Pil-gu; how can someone so young be so talented?!), Sohn Dam-bi, and Lee Jung-eun. I’d only known Sohn Dam-bi as a singer so her performance was especially surprising. I never expected to end up liking Hyang-mi as much as I did, and I think it’s a credit to both her and the writer that she ended up one of my favorite characters. With Lee Jung-eun, I’ve always considered her talented, but in the past year I’ve seen just how versatile she is too and I’m anticipating what she’ll take on for her next role. I will miss Ongsan and its sweet, odd residents.

Psychopath Diary: I have a love-hate relationship with Yoon Shi-yoon. I really enjoy him in some roles, yet in other roles he’s such a ham that I can’t help but roll my eyes at him. So it was with a good measure of curiosity and trepidation that I tuned into Psychopath Diary. A story that involves sudden amnesia and psychopaths? That could be either a recipe for hammy disaster or something really entertaining. Two episodes in, I’m not totally hooked (yet) but I’m definitely intrigued and looking forward to next week. The show’s more introspective and slightly darker than I’d been expecting, especially the moments where Yoon Shi-yoon attempts to figure out who he is–and who he wants to be. There have been several moments already where it’s not clear if his character’s “natural” cowardly instincts are kicking in or if he’s tamping down his psychopathic tendencies–I’m really not sure which side will win out. I’m not even sure which side I want to win out!

 

mary

Pegasus Market: Piellekku! How could you?! Of all the crazy things that happened last Saturday, Piellekku’s cheating bothered me the most. I think I just assumed the Bbaya people are strong and pure and principled. But that drinking horn trick! LOL I feel bad for In-bae, especially with the reveal that he’s a soft squishy gangster on the inside. (And the connection between Suk-goo’s veggie grandma.) Aww… I’m still rooting for Pegasus Market team to break away from Daema Group and just run this crazy neighborhood mart where everyone is treated well, even ghost employees.

One Spring Night: I was so scared by all the feedback about Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food that I didn’t even bother checking this out despite my fondness for Han Ji-min. Thank goodness my dongsaeng is in a watch-all-my-oppas phase and made me watch One Spring Night with her. We’re still in early episodes but this show is so… dark and pretty? And I like that it’s not setting a goalpost or anything for what’s right. No one is perfect. It’s just exploring the characters’ lives. I dislike that Jung-in is *almost* cheating, but the show so far has done a good job of showing us how complicated her feelings are. I think there’s love between her and Ki-seok. But dad’s meddlesome pressure to marry for influence is ironically making Jung-in question if she loves Ki-seok enough to deal with all of that. I hope this show ends up better than Pretty Noona, but if nothing else, I’m happy that our heroine looks to have awesome sisters and a lovely mom this time around.

 
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JAPAN

HAHAHA - https://youtu.be/YpiMuYVfEC4 Loved it. Quality Media and Takahashi Mitsuki is Rocking it.
https://gfycat.com/dismalimperfectborzoi

2019 Japanese Media is just on another level. More than 10 quality shows in a year is a big achievement. I consider 9-11% such a good margin for a year. Its 15-17 shows per year. 1 for a month. Around 8300-8375min per year
Around 1000-1100min for dropped shows. Error margin of 100-150min.

If Talking Paid - 8.5 out of 10. Mitsuru and his usage of words to gt around hypocrisy but he does make logic with his words sometimes but overall he's facts spinner.
1st time i heard about kept man term. I can think about househusband and am quite comfortable with it but kept man.
If there can be housewife there can be househusbands. Why looking down upon men just because women is the breadwinner of the household. Kept Man is a term made to lnsult both genders.

Follow Saretara Owari - 8 out of 10. SNS, surveillance, hacking and technology's misuse. The year Japanese media had concentration on SNS and hacking. We saw about half dozen movies and shows on it. Also add Cyber Bulling with above pointers too. 15minutes per episode. Okada Kenshi is looking quite handsome here and acting is above average. Story is interesting and so far i've enjoyed all 3 translated episodes. The only thing i can nitpick is the bonhomie between these friends. It looked a bit fake, superficial or artificial. Its aybe because the way director showed it but i also saw that this is what the purpose of writer is so here director is at fault for not coming forth effectively.
These freinds will go at each other in upcoming episodes as we also saw in 1st 3 episodes. Their relationship which looks deep is quite fickle and materialistic. The way fictional Japan gonna enjoy the drama that their friendship will produce the same entertainment will be seen and enjoyed by real life audience.

Class Crush - 7.5 out of 10. Thank you for scrapping the episodes from Song Gem. High School boys. Young hot blood. Opposite gender attraction. teenage romantic insecurities. trying to get over their shyness and making moves. Enjoyable watch. Good quality.

Eat and Sleep and Home Again 8 out of 10. Smooth soothing show. Best watch of cold season. Filling the heart.

You and I on G-String - far behind. almst dropped. busy with real world entertainment and work.

Shufu Katsu - 45+ female going towork again. starting job. See this is what you can female characters. A real female centered tv show where they get not only acknowledged but also approved and recognised. Yes media investing in a female actor+character as Center. This is far more common in Japanes tv media. 1 more show lke that is

Our Dearest Sakura - Wiaitng for its translation. I like the Actress and she is heroine in Wotaku. New Trailer is awesome.

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Japanese media ready to invest in a female actor+character(every year atleast 1 dozen shows). Women centered shows is different thing. You can see the depth.

Whereas in a K+CN(ignore wuxia fantasy) drama heroine most of the time is to promote the hero. Actress as a showoff piece aka prop. Heroine lacking any credibility whatsoever and mostly acts as a bridge for hero. Females get good screentime but quantity doesn't mean quality. You can have 1 dozen female characters but if their purpose is to serve the male character(who most of the time is the center) Maybe incompetent k+cn writers think since their majority of audience is female so facepainted male would generate more ratings.
Someone once said kdramas have good variety. Cherry Picked my words. had no inention to understand where was i striking and made crude remarks.Usual habits of trumpchumps.
This was one main aspect I had made a shot. Same characters with same attributes being cycled into media again and again with no creativity and lack of ingenuity from writers

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I see where you're coming from, although I find your words a bit harsh - there are female centric shows in kdrama, there are interesting female characters, only the imbalance is still very big, like in media industries from basically all over the world, I'd dare to say. This said, I also feel really frustrated when a show starts with a kick-ass FL and somewhere along the line it becomes all about the ML and his problems (yes, I'm looking at you, Her private Life!)

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Also I’m looking at you, Memories of Alhambra. I vote Park Shin Hye’s character in MoA to be the most useless, pointless and purposeless female lead of all time. The saddest thing about this is that the writer of MoA is a woman.

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Virtual Shin Hye's 1 stab had more impact than reel life shin hye.
@fly I have to search and check to find a potential useful female character in K+cn world whereas I can easily count 5 J female characters.
OFcourse there exist many nteresting female characters but we can't equate interest to importance.
The fe cha you say being kick-a i find them outright abusive(phy+Psy). There aggression is part of pomp and lacks any scene of real personality.

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i read that the original story of MoA did not have a romance line. PSH's character was added bcoz of sponsorship... not sure if this rumor was real. but PSH really stuck out like a sore toe and ouch it stinks too...

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I read a very interesting (non-fiction) book called Leftover Women, about the Chinese government's use of media to 'pressure' women into marrying early by creating & perpetuating the myth that women won't be able to marry if they leave it as late as 27 or (gulp) 25.

Knowing how much the Chinese government controls which dramas get made, it's probably why we keep seeing those dramas with very young (read immature) female leads. Any female lead with a couple of year's work experience after university will already be too old by government standards!

Unfortunately, it's not actually the writers who decide what gets made but governments and studio heads.

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What's the reasoning behind the push to marry by that age?

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Between the one child policy and declining fertility rates, China is facing a very steep decline in women between 23-30, and thus a falling birthrate. This will lead to imbalance between the older and younger populations, and also a shrinking workforce. Basically, the government has stated that having children isn't just a family matter, but also a national matter. So, it's about fertility.

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@Egads is right but it's only partially about fertility.

Also, if women delayed getting married until they are in their thirties, like they do in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, then there are a lot of unmarried men.

Of course there is already a surplus of men in China, created by the preference for boys during the one child policy era. So if - on top of this - women decided to delay marriage by another decade or so, basically China would end up with millions of (involuntary) single men. The government sees the family as the main way of keeping society stable and they don't want millions of incels on their hands!

Anyway, I can thoroughly recommend this book, I read it in a single sitting. It's by Leta Hong Fincher

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That's one thing I really like about Japanese dramas but I think Korean dramas have it too, just one step at a time. They had WWW and the wonderful Be Melodramatic which were entirely female centric with the male leads being second to them. But in normal rom coms, k and c dramas have a long way to go. Just as you mentioned, this formula works for ratings. But things are changing though very slowly as young adults prefer to see character growth in women.

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Watch Search WWW, the most recent female centric kdrama I would recommend, there are 3 strong women in the drama and 2 eye candies. Rookie Historian GHR is not bad.

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Korean

All those were in watchlist for such a long time officially dropped. Except Heal and Fated. Might drop Hunter at 14 ep too.
200+ kdrama with minimum of 9 Episodes watched = 108000min wow

Only 15 kdrama with 7+ score - Quality dramas.

This year was so horrible for kdrama that my view of "2nd half is usually better for kdrama" is proven wrong. I started watching kdramas in 2016 and from that period have tried/tested 315+ kdramas. Last week, i gave all trashy kdramas the ratings they deserved. put them below 4.5/10 or 2 and below/5.

This clearly helps to distinct those quality 15kdrams from trash 300+ trash dramas. Now its clear 4points difference

Wagebond - 3/10. Disgraceful act of director to use real life footage of a mass movement against a corrupt president for there own commercial usage. Some might say it was cleave usage but i find it immoral. So Heroine the prop will join as guy(who mostly have -ve roles). Double agent. fake arms dealer crony. Sigh.
This show provides ample opportunities to sue writer/director/production house/broadcaster.

Chang Wook and Song-Gi both need better managers. Fire the present ones. They both choose atrocious scripts and results can be seen in the views of audience.

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Just finished watching episode 19 of When the Camellia Blooms 😭😭 I'm not prepared to finish it. Lee Jung-eun is an amazing actress, she moved me to tears this episode I'm a sobbing mess

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Tale of Nokdu: plan to watch the last 3 episodes in one go next week!
Also watching: Psychopath Diary

Pegasus Market (Episode 9)
This week’s episode belonged to the side characters as the theme of family continues from last week: I enjoyed a lot of the reveals ranging from the not so indecent explanation behind the horns (though I’m sure they did allude to that), the cabbage-selling grandma being In Bae’s real grandparent, Min Joo finally receiving some closure on her father’s death and Mi Ran struggling with questions of self-worth (Seok Goo returning the support she gave him was great as well!). I will say though that I’m not sure how to feel about the new preview: conflicted Bok Dong is great, new villain not much.

Extraordinary You (Episode 29-32)
The ending felt really underwhelming in many ways as ultimately the fantasy drama did not explain the fantasy itself. In some sense, what started off as a really conceptually interesting story got dumbed down into the usual romance story: Baek Kyung being the evil character that does a 180 and receives forgiveness, Joo Da being the female lead that picks the alpha male over the beta male, Do Hwa as the perfect daddy long legs and of course our main couple who had the happy ending of sorts. My conclusion is this: fantasy romances will not work out if you only focus on the romance part.

Melting Me Softly (Episode 15-16)
LMAO, what a joke of an ending. After all the trouble they went through with the refreezing and whatnot, the writer had to one more obstacle for our main couple and a lame one at that. That’s not bad as long as the resolution was fine (I’m already having low standards here) but nope they went and did some weird ass Youtube Channel thing that was super rushed without giving sufficient time for us viewers to say goodbye to the show. And don’t get me started on the cliche killer arc designed so obviously to drag the conflict as well as the rather awfully convenient time skip used to end that.

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Totally agree with extraordinary you. I had realized this mid way that it is eventually becoming the show thay it poked fun on. I am not sure but I guess the source material isn't complete? I guess that will always be the problem because even if you put the original writer, they will still want to shift the story in a direction thay is different than the manhwa so that they don't lose audience there. It is mostly a good choice to go for completed source material.

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PEGASUS MARKET is so good that we even end up talking about the previews.

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EY is disappointing. This drama follows the usual big kdrama flaw - start strong and end very weak. I wanted to drop after Ep 12 (or 24), I only stay until the end because of LJW. I finished the last episode in 5 minutes with my FF button only for LJW short screentime. It’s not worth my time to listen to the constant calling of Haru Haru.... I need ear plugs

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Entra-Ordinary You had a good first half but the transition to the darker more serious side was not so well done. It killed everything good about the drama. I almost gave up. I didn't like how they wrapped it up.

Ji Chang Wook couldn't save Melting Me Sodtly. I feel bad for him.

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Extraordinary ended and I guess we were all prepared for the unsatisfactory ending... no? 😉 I sort of feel like when Alhambra ended (though not so upset). The show started with a bang... and then started meandering... and then didn't know where it was flowing to... Still, I definitely don't regret watching. I had fun... and there was Lee Jae Wook 🙂.
Biggest disappointment of the finale: Jooda's story. Biggest positive surprise: Namjoo's strawberry fashion 😁😁

(No time to watch anything else... 😕 )

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Would have been more interesting if JooDa went all evil, being upset that Haru/DanOh’s changes were affecting the manhwa where she was the main character. In fact I thought the initial MBC character descriptions on their website hinted at it, so why didn’t they follow through on it?
This show had so much potential but the second half just wound up being your usual romance kdrama. Oh the irony! 🙄

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Yes the character description had sth written as that Ju Da changes when she becomes aware and I also thought thay she'd become evil this way. But maybe the change was only that she will become brave enough to tackle bullies. Also theu changed Nam Joo's secret from the character description. That said he is colour blind and starts seeing colour due to Ju Da but I'm glad they came up with a more reasonable secret for him.

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Or they could go really dark / depressive. The scenes when Danoh's memory was wiped out and she behaved like a puppet brought back some feelings I had during reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (written almost 100yrs ago!!!).

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When the Camellia Blooms: I agree completely with all your thoughts Stroopwafel. They really trolled us there in the last few episodes, didn't they? Yong-shik is an amazing character too! I loved the story and resolution of Ja-yeong and Gyu-tae as well. And even loved the short talk between Deok-soon and Pil-gu.
I'm also alternating between The Lies Within and Chief Kim.
The Lies Within: So gory! It's really gripping! I think I should catch up with the episodes in time for the finale. I really like the Kim Seo-hui character.
Chief Kim: Aah I just keep giggling at the screen for the whole hour. I wasn't sure where it was going but in Director Choo's words Episode 5 was like the opening ceremony of the Olympics that this awesome show is! And Seo Yul really is so cute! Hes so bad but it's hard not to love him!

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Yay for watching CHIEF KIM! I loved that show. Few beanies watched it at the time but we’ve been promoting it like crazy ever since 😄

On Seo Yul: “He’s so bad but it’s hard not to love him!” Totally agree. 😍😍

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In many ways Camellia was true to itself - essentially that for all the joys and warmth of "family", it is a faustian bargain.

It was such a Greek tragedy (even with its Shakespearian references). The drama never flinched from asking a moral question of us (one that never really had a "right" answer). No matter how much we realise that for every protection, there is an equal and opposite selling someone else down the river...we still hope for the best for those we love.

None of us are stone or even Oracles and we are unable to foresee that moment where drawing the line and holding our loved ones to account is the greater care.

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Thanks for all your comments on the show SKDL. I enjoyed them even if, as with this particular one, I didn't agree with them.

Have you considered registering? It'd make it easier for everyone to read and respond to your posts. The unregistered grey text can get a bit hard on the eyes.

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Chief Kim is an awesome drama. I rewatched a lot because it is now on Netflix, and in viki I hate the commercials....LOL. But really, chief kim is great.

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I've yet waiting till Junho finishes his mandatory military service. That would be in 2021... sigh... I wish his first project will reunite him and Nam Gong Min in kind of 'Mission Impossible' with more backstabbing and higher level opponents. And he still be deliciously devour any food just because he loves them!

Good still, since he also knows how to cook, he cooks all the foods by himself.
See 'Wok of Love'. Now I am hangry...

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Ooh I'll check it out!

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Busu, in love with the eys of an ugly girl: i am exploring jdoramas and this i binge watched 6 eps of this, i still find it japanese conversation and reactions abrupt.but this is fun cant wait for the next eps

A little thing called first love: finally ended but i ended up watching the last eps raw (no patience) its very cute i was giddy together wt the main actress once the relationship started and boy did we wait long 😆😅

Love by the hypnotic: one of the dames was ranting bout ''skinship deprivation syndrome'',watch this asap, kisses aplenty

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Said several weeks ago - How come a chubby girl is ugly?
Dropped this shoujo for typical nonsense.

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I plan to start Psychopath Diary soon, now that Haru Found by Chance isn't consuming all my time, but for now:

Haru Found by Chance: There was enough in the finale that I didn't walk away angry, but between all the unironic handshakes and unanswered questions, I am always going to wonder what might have been. I mean, reuniting Dan-oh and Haru shouldn't have been the creator's only concern. Anyhow, this show belongs with Cheese in the Trap and Fated to Love You in my subcategory of favourites which I choose to love mostly for the quality of their first halfs. I think the joy I felt outweighs the frustration. Goodbye Dan-oh, heroine of my dreams. Goodbye Haru. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye...

(Also, 2020 spinoff for Do-hwa?)

Pegasus Mart: I slept on this for too long. When you choose Lee Dong-hwi to be your straight man, you know that what you've got going is going to be bombastic. I love this so far, I'm glad I picked it up.

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Oh! I forgot! The KBS Drama Specials are being subbed!

House of the Universe: This was a good place to start. The story was solid, and Lee Joo-young made for a great protagonist. Although perhaps a little forgettable, this special was warm and cozy and atmospheric. I liked it a lot.

A Child Saw: This one got off to a show start, but man, did it blow me away by the end. Who knew South Korea was capable of portraying the experience of a transgender woman with dignity? Bravo! 👏👏👏

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@ frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials
I think these drama specials you mentioned also go by other titles -
Home Sweet Home (the actor playing the actually rich fiance is now in Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life) and Rural Outcasts (gonna look forward to the child actress' works; she's good).

I second the spinoff for Do-hwa! 😁 Have you seen the actor (his name is not easy for me to remember off-hand) in The Tuna & The Dolphin? There's Yoon Park in it too.

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I know the English titles, but I personally prefer the Korean titles in these instances - they're more unique!

I didn't know he was in The Tuna and the Dolphin! I did watch that, and I thought it was okay. Yoon Park was pretty charming~

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Extraordinary You - so many unanswered questions! So much potential unexplored 😕

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Extraordinary You,

Finished the whole drama.

SPOILERS

The first six episodes were amazing, and after that the drama became a repeat and draggy rehash of the same old stuff, I almost stopped watching it, to be honest. But I stuck to it, and the last three episodes were very good, and terribly sad. I actually teared at the end, Haru and Danoh's reunion was just...heartbreaking.

The end was kind of bittersweet for me, and the new story with the same characters was pretty good, and sad...Danoh isn't spunky and exuberant anymore, she's become quiet and...sad. I loved the last scene when she walked away, and he called out to her, "Danoh." Baek kyung is nowhere to be seen, and neither is Dohwa, so am I to think that this time around, Haru and Danoh are the leads?

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There's an inherent tragedy to this universe - I expected a bittersweet ending, but for most of the main characters to be gone, perhaps never to be seen again, hurt.

I think the best moment in the episode was when Dan-oh graduated in Haru's place, I just bawled.

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I think this is why the last two eps had a sad feelings all the goodbyes. Not only did it echo the goodbyes when you finish school but also death. Then all the talk of recycled characters or do they just disappear into a great sleep. Does the writer have rules or is it chaos. Do the characters have any free will why the writer sits back uninterested or can they incite its wrath.
It was interesting to see high school students have this type of crises.

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It was such a thoughtful drama. It makes me think of the shadow world now.

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You're right about all the goodbyes on so many levels. There is also the goodbye when you're saying goodbye to the characters of a book or a drama.

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Yes, good point.

Hmm. I wonder if that is why the characters are reused in different stories. Do the readers ask the writer to bring them back?

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Ah, you put into words what I was feeling. Kind of a hollowness? Like it didn't feel good, even though it ended happily. Because they're all existing in an unreal world. Baek kyung and Dohwa's absence drove in the point so clearly. I think that's why I felt so strangely sad over it. Sigh.

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I assume this time dan oh and haru to be extra and sae mi and her nerd friend to be the leads. Dan oh lost “spunk” because she was an unaware extra. I strongly believe she’s an extra as they showed her to be nameless in this new manhwa. I want to believe that once she becomes aware in this new manhwa we’ll see more of her.

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I think you're right. Oh dear. I feel even sadder now. That's why she was walking around and not saying a word, or interacting with anyone.

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I think bittersweet describes how I feel about it too. The story ("Secret") HAD to end unless we do some travelling between dimensions and compel the writer to continue writing (well...there are some mangas that still go on and on and on...i.e. Skip Beat, which I gave up around the 8 year mark?). There was hope and anticipation that the characters will move onto the next story and reunite under less fraught circumstrances (like JIn Mi Chae and Soo Hyang- even if the reunion was brief, it was happy). I'm glad they showed the next manhwa.

I think Haru and Dan-oh are both nameless extras this time. There was a moment where a blank nametag was shown and she didn't interact with her old classmates. So they'll both be freer this time around. The new manhwa is possibly one with an ensemble cast featuring the supporting classmates/bullies. So this, and keeping Baek Kyung out of it is hope that the writer has decided to write something out of his/her usual romance manhwa with the love triangle and the angst.

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I felt sad and relieved for Baek kyung, he had been such a vibrant, yet tortured part of the mangas, he needed a rest, but I felt this emptiness because he wasn't there, and that something, some vital spark, was missing. For me, Baek kyung was the strongest, most powerful character in the drama, when he wept, I wept.

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My impression was that Haru and Dan-oh are barely extras, the new leads are Sae-Mi and her formerly geeky sidekick, who is now the new Big Man On Campus (sorry, I can't remember his name).

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Tale of Nokdu: I can't seem to find episode 15 anywhere. However we are well on our way to the end. Hopefully we get a nice ending for our cuties.

VIP: I am utterly loving this show. The side characters are the most interesting although Jang Nara is doing a great job showing the conflicting emotions of loving someone but no longer trusting them. My favorite story is still Mi Na. She is pregnant now. The great part of the show is she good be cheating on her husband or she just might not want to have another baby with her husband. Her expression says both. Her journey is great. I also really like Hyuna. I like that she hasn't lost her confidence and can still tell men to scram. GO ladies!!!!

Chief of Staff: I really have nothing to say about this drama other than that it is excellent.

Extraordinary You: What a sweet ending. Nam Ju and the strawberries lol. I guess we will never know who the writer is, even though I still think it is Joon Hyun. He knew too much to be so random and sparsely used.

Secret Boutique: AHHHHHHHHHH, I love it. Kim Sun Ah is always great. What a twist.

Vagabond: A whole lot of nothing happened in last night's episode. I guess there is going to be a season 2 unless as a fellow beanie said it is a movie within the drama. I'm excited.😆 😜

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Vagabond. Today is the final episode! I want to see how the writers wrap their story. As of ep 15, it is all as expected. I'm wary of the possible ending.

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Extraordinary You has finished and I am already missing all the characters and considering a rewatch. This is coming from someone who prefers exploring new content over repeating already known content, no matter how good. At the same time I am relieved it has ended. More than half of my week and my whole range of emotions was devoted to watching the episodes and spazzing on recaps and fan walls, and I need to catch my breath and prioritize real life now :P Thank you to all Extraordinary You Beanies who became friends this month, I hope we get to talk and spazz more in the future! :D

Sattu Sattu to all my Pegasus Beanies! This K-drama has moved up the priority list now that Extraordinary You has ended, but this show is served best in the evening after battling real life all day with a snack on the side, and I can never predict when that will happen. I am on episode 6 now, so I really hope I can catch up with you all before the end and earn my 2019 bean! :D

Real life has been hogging my friend, so we are still stuck on Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung episode 14. Fingers crossed that we can watch 2 episodes tomorrow, because I also would like that bean. :)

No Second Chances is a makjang right? It is my first family drama, so I was not sure I could call it a makjang since I never watch such dramas… Anyway I paused this K-drama last weekend because it still airs in 2020, so it does not count as an 2019 bean :P I am enjoying the cast and their relationships, so I will probably catch up after I finish the rest around Christmas break. It seems like a perfect watch for the holidays. :D

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Haha I think, extraordinary you finishing is giving us a chance to turn back to our real life. I don't think there is anything interesting in the newer crop of dramas...yet.

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Satu! Look forward to your fan posts on Pegasus Market. 😁

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Tale of Nokdu this week so good!!

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I feel like I have not been watching any kdrama. I have few episodes left in Camellia.
And am watching Arsenal Military academy (cdrama). I have nothing to look forward to either. I know the Hyun Bin drama is going to be a wreck but still will watch when it airs :)

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When the Camellia Blooms: I started out kind of meh about this drama but it ended up being one of my favorites of the year. I’ll miss Ongsan and all of its residents. The writer clearly knew where she was going and how she was going to get there. I loved all of the details and how little things from previous episodes had significance.

Tale of Nokdu: Slow week of episodes. I hope the finale is better.

Extraordinary You. I never got invested in Dan Oh and Haru as a couple so the final episodes were rather slow for me but the ending was nice enough. Do Hwa had some fun scenes, and I liked the ending for BK.

My Country: Plot armor certainly protects against blood loss and infection. It's like a running joke at this point: Which lead will get stabbed this week.

Pegasus Market: Episode 10 and the return of Mr. Jung's itty bitty ponytail.

Chief of Staff: I get lost sometimes with all of the backstabbing but it is pretty engrossing for a political drama.

Psychopath Diary: I barely made it through the first episode and gave up during the second.

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🤣🤣🤣"My Country: Plot armor certainly protects against blood loss and infection. It's like a running joke at this point: Which lead will get stabbed this week."

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The Mandalorian. --- baby yoda for the win.

No kdramas lately. Been busy with refreshing tweets of P-pop and K-pop.

I did manage to catch an episode of Melo is My Nature where they discussed farts and 💩. That was awesome.

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Fart song was my favourite in the whole show

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It smells. But it's not your fault.

😀😀😀

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Being conflicted is probably the theme of this week's watch. Apart from the two dramas that finished, my issues are as follows:

Psychopath Diary My conflict: what's worse - doormat or psychopath?

The Lies Within My conflict: the writing is terrible but the performances are awesome. I mean, seriously has this writer not done their homework on how forensics work? Or even watched a few episodes of CSI?

Never Twice My conflict: I love every single one of the actors in it (most of them I've loved since seeing them play smaller parts in other dramas). I love granddad being the babysitter. I love husband becoming the cook. I love the frenemies sister-in-laws. I love the two gold diggers. But - her husband has been dead how long? And this series is how long?

Unasked Family My conflict: They time-skipped a year after the husband's death, so that's one thing. But the acting is rather 'green' by a large part of the cast, there's a lot of screeching and doormatting going on. To much to hope that one of them is going to turn into a psychopath? Is that a bad thing to hope for?

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I was so tempted to watch Never Twice - Yeh Ji-won! Park Se-wan! Kwak Dong-yeon, for christ's sake! But I just generally don't trust MBC weekenders very much.

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Never Twice - it’s actually quite good. Try it & see. Otherwise Beautiful Love Wonderful Life on KBS is worth watching too.

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Kwak Dong-yeon is utterly hilarious. Park Se-wan is cute, Yeh Ji won great and I even like Oh Ji-Ho in this as the guy who's living mainly on his looks (with copious amounts of Botox) and plans to get married to a rich older woman.

Also (I know this will tempt you): written by the Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop writer.

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You're kidding! That show was complete crack!

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(cue evil laugh) I think my job here is done.

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Put your head on my shoulders
I remember doing a single rabbit watch but back then 2/3 rd of the drama had already passed. The rabbit watch was fun but i understood nothing. This week I started the show and absolutely loved it. For once the female lead wasn't annoying, the male lead was geeenius but not perfect. Infact i like the fl way more than the ml. It was such a good fun fix. Where will I get my fluff fix now 😭
Extraordinary you
Still last 10 minutes left but there is a huge issue with shows that start great but turn mediocre. I may be satisfied with the show overall but I'm not generally happy about it. I will miss the meta humor and probably Do Hwa, Nam Ju and Ju Da more than the 3 main characters. I loved the 3 main leads but their story never progressed from ep 6. It is such a disappointment when I good show goes mediocre because then you don't even stop watching it in hopes of it becoming better someday. I'd still say I liked and cherished the experience of being glued to my screen and anxiously waiting for subs each Wed, Thu. Extraordinary you, you were unique so that is why you will still be loved.

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But most of all I liked the show for the existential questions it posed. I thpught the manhwa world depicted life in general over how we are mostly unable to change what's in our fate but there are exceptions. And just like life, it left many questions hanging and unanswered. Maybe I would've liked them to dwell more on that but uhh "what could've been" is a list that will never end.

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Ranking the shows in order of interest I have for them at present is hard but I did my best. I also realize the amount of times I have used the word 'heartbreaking' for scenes and characters. This week was so full of that, that I couldn't help it.

My country: Ah this amazing but incredibly complicated show with it's even more complicated (complex?) characters has me hooked. One of the two shows I look the most forward to (sorry extraordinary you). I'm just on episode 13 so I don't have to say much except I have no idea what going on with Sun Ho. All I know is I can't help but cry so damn much. And how I wish this show explained some stuff and showed more of other stuff.

Catch the ghost: I eagerly wait for the next episodes especially this week. I feel extremely bad for both our leads. I cry a lot with this one. Expecially the latest episode in the scene with Ji Seok and his mother was so heartbreaking. And though I knew what Yoo Ryung did was going to have consequences my heart still goes out to her. Her breaking down as she saw the picture of her sister made me tear up.

Tale of Nokdu: I forgive this show for the twist cause it meant it gave me so many awesome female characters. I love these two episodes even as I hated those two. Almost every female character in this one is so awesome, I just love it. Did I mention I love this week's episodes cause I so do.

Extraordinary you: This show has so many questions but seems to have no answers but I haven't seen this week's episodes yet. I don't know about a satisfactory ending but I want a happy ones for the characters cause I'm just too invested in them.

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Pegasus market: I am halfway through episode 6. I didn't think this show's humor was my kind of humor but I'm pleasantly surprised. It's weird and absurd but oh so funny. But it has heart that it does.

Vagabond: Didn't see yesterday's episode yet. I'm curious about the end though. It was fun for a while but the breaks between the episodes made me loose most of my interest.

Psychopath Diary: While I am on episode 1 right now I am considering not continuing with it but I'm not sure. Is the guy going to let out his inner psychopath? Cause even though they are intriguing I don't like psychopaths and gore but it's also supposed to be a comedy, so I hope it won't go there ( too much gore I mean). Cause what I am is curious and want to try it out.

Melting me softly: I won't say I hate it cause I think it's a strong word also I did watch it. Is it the worst thing I've seen? No. But is it bad? Yes. Especially the last four episodes otherwise I thought it was okay before.

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All the females except that Dowager Queen. She can go back into whatever hole she was in.
Honestly, I just do not think she was needed to achieve the same result.

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Agreed

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Your ranking of drama according to interest is the same as mine until Extraordinary You! I'm not watching the rest. Also not watching My Country but Secret Boutique takes its place tho I haven't watched this week's episode. Plan to watch the final three together!

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@stroopwafel @bangwon

I was quite shocked by one person commenting on disqus. Here's what she wrote about Lee Jung-eun :

This episode feels like a filler. DB's mom is so annoying bcs of too much shouting. Also,for an actor her face is not pleasant to look at.
I saw her as the mother of one of the pupils in The Queen of Classroom,a korean remake of the 2005 Jap version. She doesn't have a pleasant face even when young. Therefore,I wasn't saying that people look ugly when they age. Not necessarily. I have met a lot of cute-looking old folks as I had done my fair share of charity work at homes for the aged.
One day,decades down the road I would also grow old if luck is on my side but hopefully I will look pleasant bcs looking pleasant opens lots of doors but some people think it's stupid to look pleasant LOL.
By the way,I agree she's a vg actor. Nowhere did I say she's not good. When we watch them carry their scenes and say their lines we know whether they are accomplished or otherwise. That's why it's a joy to watch veteran actors but I like pleasant-faced ones. Of course,there are also many unpleasant-looking veteran male actors around.

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This kind of comment would’ve gotten me mad when I first started watching kdramas but after several years of seeing horrible comments thrown at actors/actresses regarding their physical features (eg. Viki inline comments for Moon Embracing the Sun) it doesn’t faze me as much. It’s why I mainly stick with dramabeans to lurk through discussions on the dramas i’m watching.

Lee Jung-eun is a terrific actress who’s beauty shows through her acting and screen presence. Dong-baek’s mum was not even my favourite character in the drama but LJE did a fantastic job of portraying her that I didn’t realise until half way through this episode that most of the episode was about her. The writing and acting is so amazing for this drama that I would gladly watch any of our characters for hours. I’ve never once cried while watching this drama but this episode moved me to tears.

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Aging is going to be so very hard for this person.
But I'm sure the have a lot of pretty friends.

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Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life (KBS weekend drama): So I decided to try watching this and now I'm just so absorbed and invested in Chung Ah & Joon Hwi's storyline. There are some things that bother me though, and I'd be grateful if anyone could share the answer (I did skip their non-related parts so I might have missed it) or share their thoughts: 1. The day that Joon Gyum wrote and sent the letter was the same day that Joon Hwi was in the train with Chung Ah in Korea, so why was the letter sent to England? 2. Why was the book that Joon Hwi read in the train be in Joon Gyum's bag? 3. Nine years passed but Joon Hwi didn't complete his law studies, then what was he doing all the while?

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Good questions.
1. I think the older brother was halfway through his two year military service requirement. He had finished college and in a year he would go back to England for law school. His brother knew that so he sent it to his old dorm address (which a friend held for a year?)
2. If you are talking about Chung Ah's book, she dropped it during the scuffle to get off the train so the soldier picked it up and put it into his bag.
3. I assume he started his law school studies in England, but probably dropped out after a year. I do not recall when he returned home so he may have had several gap "years" traveling the world in search of "answers."

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@ welh

Thank you so much for responding. I really appreciate it 💕

I was referring to his own book, the one with a hand on the cover, which he was reading in the train. In one of the episodes, his mom gave him the book as he was looking for it (it was together with Joon Gyum's belongings). Joon Hwi lied to his mom he couldn't buy a new one as it was out of print but it was more because it was a gift from the dead bro and he kinda knew his mom still had it. Something like that.

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1. There are services that will post letters sometime in the future for you. I thought he used something like that.

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CAMELLIA BLOOMS: I never liked the serial killer plot line, and the double take ending did nothing to add to a very weak tangential story. I think this good show could have been excellent without the Joker elements. The cast gave their best performances in Episode 38. The trail to happy endings for all in the last two episodes seemed rushed and contrived. I would have liked more backstory on the market women: how did they become strong community leaders and their husbands weak and timid? That could have been a great contrast to DB's meek and timid character trying to fit into a new hometown.
PEGASUS MARKET (Ep 9): The ghost dad story was "magical" just like the rest of the show elements. The idea of corporate putting in a female suitor to love triangle introverted manager Moon could be crazy enough to work if he secretly dates both of them.
BEAUTIFUL LOVE, WONDERFUL LIFE: I wonder how long the writers can keep the house of cards of lies and secrets going when the series is past halfway to its end. Will filler episodes put viewers into their own comas?

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I have the same opinion about Camellia. I have a feeling that the double take on the joker was only necessary because mystery turned out to be not that mysterious. I mean, we were given very little clues and all of them pointed out to only one viable suspect. Made the police force look much more incompetent

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Slim pickings for this week:
*Empress Ki, eps 23-28: this show is devolving into raging madness, and, after a slump, I'm on board again!

*My Country, eps. 13-14: ep. 12 broke my heart in a thousand pieces, 13 and 14 feel a bit like they are setting the pawns in place for the last show-down (yeah, your time is out, Crazy Hair), but Hwi and Sun ho seem to be stuck in a rut... I would appreciate it if they snapped out of it, but I'm loosing hope.

*Tale of Nokdu, eps 13-15: not so much cuteness and more political stuff, I'm glad that the cat is out of the bag for Nokdu and Dong-juu.

*War of Arrows (movie): @kiara I watched it! Enjoyed the fighting scenes and the strong female character, but overall it seemed a bit light on plot to me... But I felt super knowledgeable because I recognized the shooting technique from Empress Ki 😉. I will now move on to watch The King and the clown.

I'm expecting to finish My Country this week and get time to pick up again Six Flying Dragons, to get this story straight (and to bask in Yoo Ah In's charisma). Also have two Woo Do Hwan dramas on my to-watch list, Mad Dog and Save Me. I'll check them out sometime soon, when WDH's privation syndrom kicks in...

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Oh, Empress Ki! You will go through multiple emotions until the finale episodes.

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*TALE OF NOKDU: Enjoyed it so far but I kinda misses JDY on a women's clothes, from cross dressing to taking the throne.. I hope the ending will be good
*ANGEL LAST MISSION: It's really late but here I am watching the last episode by far and I gotta admit that it made me chopped my onions real hard,,, need to find a tissue cause I cried,,
*PSYCHOPATH DIARY: I'm hooked cause it's good... I'll wait for next week..

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Is there any gore in Psychopath Diary? Because if there is, then I don't even wanna start because I was so traumatized by that other priest story with the psycho killer hacking up the woman and all the blood. But I really wanna see Park Sung Hoon, so if there is gore in the set up, then I might skip the first episode.

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not really, the killing scenes were kinda less bloody or lack the gore content as I expected, maybe because it has a pinch of comedy on it,,,

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Tale of Nokdu The couple is ❤, the plot is 💤

Catch the Ghost The writer could write the female leads better.

Extraordinary You I'm very happy with this show. The love story was beautiful and pure, the existential questions were interesting, the film sets were so beautiful (indoor and outdoor), the literary and artistic references added some depth to the story, the casting was composed of rookies but they all did well (Kim Hye Yoon \o/) and the special effects were good.

Secret Boutique I pity the team working on this drama. So many postponed episodes killed the flow of the show.

Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life I'm happy that the ML knows the truth about the FL! But it's hard to follow who knows the all truth or not...

No Second Chances It's slow.

My Country: The New Age Father, brother... Family is complicated in this drama.

The Lies Within The police team suffered a lot...

Not Kdrama related, but I love Christmas period and I watched the animated movie Klaus (on Netflix) and it was magical!

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I watched Klaus, too! I really liked how they used light to convey emotions. It made the show feel ominous and magical at times.

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@ Kurama

Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life:
Yes, sometimes I'm lost as to who knows what. I need a chart! Lol

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I agree on Secret Boutique. Without preemptions, the story would be more enjoyable to follow.

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'Psychopath Diary' reminds me of 'Feel Good To Die'. They set up a deliberately absurd premise then we get to enjoy playing by that world's rules over the course of the series. The reason, I think, why 'Melting Me Softly' was such a failure is they didn't clearly delineate the rules of the world for the characters to play by.

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Catch the Ghost. It funny, sad and action all rolled into one.

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Pegasus Market: 8.5

Vagabond: 7

When the Camellia Blooms: 7.5

Extraordinary You: 6.5

Leverage: 8

Tale of Nokdu: 7

Psychopath Diary: 2.3 I only lasted 23 minutes. See what I did there? May try again later if enough people praise it.

My Country: 6.5 Getting makjang-y. The approach to recruiting Jurchens is so hard to believe it drags down the show.

Catch the Ghost: 8.5 I have a sort-of love/hate relation to this show, or at least like/dislike. Mostly like the cases, the way they investigate and the way they use subway knowledge. Like talking about "subway" instead of "Subway". Dislike the FL's lies and the way people react to them (don't blame them for reacting that way, just don't enjoy watching it). Dislike the FL's personality, like the actress's performance. Dislike Ma-ri, her mother and the office politics. Etc.

Melting Me Softly: 4.5 I didn't hate most of it as much as many of you did... Besides plot messes, I suspect that reasons why this show got so much Beanie-hate include (1) the love triangle here included 2 women liking 1 man, while it Extra-U the triangles are 2 men for each girl, and (2) in this show the older woman lost because she was older and it didn't become a noona-romance show. But what if genders had been reversed and it had been older & younger men chasing a younger woman? How would Beanie-dom have reacted if the older man had won? What if the guy had suddenly become 20 years older instead of the woman?
The ending was not great, but also not as BS as I thought at the time, since they really are chilling dying people to buy time to treat them.

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Psychopath Diary - I just caught the first episode of Psychopath Diary. I'm not sure what to make of it yet. It's darker than I expected for a first episode with lighter parts, that I'm not sure gel well with together. It raises the question about what makes a person what he is.

It's kind of frustrating to see so much self-interest being portrayed among all the persons in the ML's life. The increased manipulation, gaslighting and the taking of the opportunity to use ML once it is known that he has lost his memory is terrible to see.

Of course the set up is there so that if we engage with ML's character, we rather want him to be less apologetic and self-effacing and more in control of his own life, ... it's even tempting to want him to be a bit psychopathic for a change and get back at the people around him.

Yoon Si Yoon is at least very watchable in this.

Pegasus Market - Episode 10: still good and heart-warming. The disco did not amuse me as much as other song & dance numbers of previous episodes though, and I feel it's a bit over repeated, how poor Moon Seok Goo is left out of being told the full info on what's going to go down in the supermarket. He ends up laughing hysterically or sobbing by turns, in shock, most weeks.

I half expected Jung Bok Dong to hire his ex-employee, the way he hired the elderly gentleman. That would have assuaged both JBD's guilt and that ex-employee's plight.

However some serious conflict seems about to emerge in our penultimate episode, so that will be a change. I had rather hoped that more relationship progress would be made between female manager and MSG, but I'm glad to see him acknowledge her as someone close to him.

Catch the Ghost - A show with many implausible occurrences. I'd first thought that it was great to have competent police, but that idea went south with the forgetting of the important station key and with Ha Ma Ri behaving like an unhappy ex-GF at work. Still Kim Sun Ho and Moon Geun Young together are great to watch.

At last the truth is more or less all out and the consequences of Yoo Ryung's lies have to be dealt with next episode. I pity Ko Ji Seok the most, although he was at fault for not remembering to figure out how that station key vanished.

When the Camellia Blooms - Lovely to watch til the end. There was enough of comedy, romance, serious stuff and suspense, well meshed together, and with some of the most well rounded, interesting and likable characters in a kdrama. For its great completeness in the finale's resolution alone, if for nothing else, this show deserves an A+. I can't recall a show with as many characters as this, which offered 'real' and likely futures for all the major protagonists; which dotted all the 'I's and crossed all the 'T's in giving us a thorough wrap up to warm the cockles of our hearts. Bravo Camellia!

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@halfmoon Yes it's a pity that MSG is still in fuddy-duddy mode. I was thinking that after all the nonsense JBD has pulled on him, he'd have loosened up a bit. Maybe in the last 2 episodes, he will.

Mi Ran is very suited to his temperament. She's not over the top, like the intern, which would scare him away, and she's responsible and serious when necessary so he can be comfortable with her. She also likes him, which is a lot of points in his favour already!

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I really like "Psychopath Diary". More people should give it a try.

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I want to try PSYCHO DIARIES even though I’m a scaredy cat (maybe as much as mushroom hair Yoon Shi Yoon).

I need to finish MY COUNTRY and am saving the last two episodes of ARSENAL MILITARY ACADEMY in case I need to recover from some bad finales.

-Completed-

EXTRAORDINARY YOU (16/16): In honour of A3, I’d like to commend Nam-joo for playing the typical kdrama lead to the end. He’s hilarious and strangely adorable in the way he fulfils all the cliches, down to shedding a single tear when he’s sad. He’s also helplessly clueless and therefore bossed around in Shadow world by Ju-da, who turned out to be more interesting than our heroine Dan-Oh.

I’d also like to declare that Do-Hwa and his violin shone the brightest when the story got bogged down with repetitive amnesia and angst. Baek Kyung was stuck in a love triangle that went nowhere for 6 episodes. I’m proud of him for finally breaking free of the pathetic villain role the Writer set up for him. (Except that was also allowed by the Writer so what’s the point).

Overall, I enjoyed the first half very much and still found a few things to enjoy afterwards (see above), but I can’t say I’d recommend the drama.

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You should start Psychopath Diary then. It's not really that scary since they tipped more to the comedy side.

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@wishfultoki

I would recommend you NOT watching PSYCHO DIARIES. It is not that it is scary....but the serial murders are chillingly cold blooded and manipulative.

If I recall correctly, this is not your thing.

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You’re right. It’s not my thing. I just wanted to see Yoon Shi Yoon 😭

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I'm conflicted over Psychopath Diary too. If it gets too much I might drop. But I have watched only the first episode yet so I can't decide just over that.

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There were more laughs on PEGASUS MARKET but also more moments that brought tears to the eyes. We had the sweetest ghost story of all time. And who knew that the Bbaya could sing operatically? Mr. Pielleku showed real cleverness in dealing with Mr. Oh’s challenge- but then he and we discovered that there was far more depth to our former gangster. And the love story between Manager Moon and Ms. Jo moved forward (but will there be trouble in Paradise? A beautiful intern has just appeared)- while he again moved to save the day- but was also was taught a lesson in humility (history will call it the defenestration of Mr. Moon). This was an episode that showed us that Pegasus Market has indeed become a family. And this show is simply the best.

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Finished Airing

REACH OF SINCERITY: There is going to be so much unnecessary angst ahead. (ep. 11)

Non-Korean Dramas

HISTORY3: MAKE OUR DAYS COUNT: Still fun. Not sure about the older/younger couple. I like both characters individually, but watching them together makes me a bit uncomfortable sometimes. The age gap is quite easy to see. Does anyone actually happen to know the age of these two actually? (ep. 9-12)

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN THE SERIES: The main couple has still barely met… :( But seriously, both of these guys (in the present timeline) are really good at sad/crying scenes. And this might be the one drama I don’t mind a little bit of angst as well. I’m watching the next episode so, so hopefully they’ll interact a little more. Curious to see if hey’ll realize who the other is. (ep. 2)

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hello all:-) this week i watched a few episodes from the following:
Tale of Nokdu
Flavor is yours
My Country
Put your head on my shoulders
Love 020
this week, i want to try watching VIP and after reading comments about When Camellia Blooms, maybe give it another try!
and lots of behind the scenes of Untamed on youtube (few repeats also)...this has been the my biggest deterrent from watching actual episodes of ongoing dramas LOL
i would also like to watch some good J dramas.

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Two J dramas I keep meaning to watch are Long Vacation and Tatta Hitotsu no Koi. Maybe I will finally start one over the Thanksgiving holiday.

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I liked Long Vacation a lot.
Still have to finish Tatta Hitotsu.. I got scared with a possibility of a sad ending...

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Hi @pcch2345 can you please tell me what's going on with My country? Ep 15 and 16 are still not subbed yet but I was dreading a sad ending for our leads, and truly they have to make both of the male leads die? For what? Please tell me if you have any clue. Much appreciated!

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apologies for the delayed response...this week, i just couldn't find time to watch any dramas until today (11/30)...hope by this now you got to know how this show ends. take care...

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Thanks for replying! I actually didn't want to watch our two leads die, so I'll just wait for the recap. I'm a due hard fan for happy ending. They could have made SH ending up with Yeon and keep our 2 couples alive and happy for a change. But I should have known better that this genre wouldn't promise something like that. If you happen to find out what happened before the recaps come out, please let me know! Thanks so much!

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Based on comments, I won’t be finishing Extra Ordinary You. Sad, it started out funny, went squishy. I have issues with K drama writers. 🤨 Too many shows start off great , then run out of gas midway, then settle for mediocre finish. 😔

Watching Chief of Staff S2: Good cast, lots of loyalty changes, one minute folks are enemies, the next, they’re forming coalitions.

Russian drama Love in Chains has a second season, ( that explains why central characters are dying, 😦🤔😵), S2 has already aired in Russia, hope it makes it’s way to Amazon soon.

Haven’t watched much else

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I agree with your thoughts on When the Camellia Blooms @stroopwafel!

I began watching this show because the color palette of the show drew me in, hehehe. The palette is sweet and somehow makes me feel nostalgic which I think is the intention of the show. There were many times I thought I didn't like some characters in the story, e.g., Jessica, the Ongsan ladies, but thankfully everyone helped Dongbaek in the end (cannot quite believe that thing like this will happen in reality.)

However, through ups and downs and many many sub-stories, the show came to the close. I love Yong shik and his quirkiness (if that's the word) and pure heart. I love how Dongbaek opened her heart to Hyang-mi until the very end. Most of all, I think the show portrays how mothers love their kids in their very own ways. The show really emphasized on the bond between mother and her kid(s). Look at how Yong shik's mother protected her boy, how Dongbaek's mother protected hers, how Dongbaek protect Pil-gu, how Jung Reol tried to protect Pil-gu and even how the father of the murderer tried to protect his son. The show is full of heart and is quite a delightful watch.

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PASS MY COMMENT if you haven't finished When the Camellia Blooms! Unintentionally typed some spoiler in it.

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Beautifully said!

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Extraordinary You: Sad to say goodbye to this show. I started off with mixed feelings about the ending, since it seemed so low-key and slice of life while the drama had been steeped in that eerie, mystery, fantasy feeling. I guess I expected some W-esque excitement. Later, I decided I liked it. In the end, the message is really about how precious free will is and how even if some things can't be changed, you should still seek your bliss and enjoy the moments of good fortune you do have. Sort of like how SooHyang decided to live out her extra role in Secret hanging out with Fried Squid Fairy instead of using it to exact revenge or change things. So the sweet, almost uneventful ending worked for me. The only thing that bugged me is that Kyung's younger brother had no point in the story.

Tale of Nokdu: Sageuk Cliff of Doom Death Fakeout strikes again! So many twists in this week's episode and so many bodies. The fighting got a bit tedious and Yool Moo and Hwang Tae were annoying, but so many interactions that really hit me in the gut - Nokdu reuniting with his mom, Dong-joo and Yoon-jo, and lastly the final confrontation between Nokdu and the king.

Catch the Ghost: Loved the first half of episode 9, but then it was heavy - both in mood and in how heavyhanded the writer is. The characters don't act like real, functional people, but this is balanced out a little bit by having the characters have feelings like real people. If we're going to have all these contrived situations, why not have Ji Seok move in with Yoo Ryung? It's been 2 weeks and we don't know here he lives! And Ma-Ri, I hope Subway Ghost gets her next.

Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung: This drama is like a warm cup of tea. Except for 2nd Councilor Min, all the characters have the opportunity to exhibit the goodness and humanity behind their foibles, flaws, and prejudices. Even Sa Hee's father, a terrible human, nurses her when she was sick and worries about her being under 2nd Counciler Min's thumb. I love how the female historians support each other.

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Regarding Catch The Ghost: I think it was made clear in last week episodes that JS doenst have a home! All of his stuff is in a storage locker and I guess he sleeps in his work area. Atleast he used to before he got suspended. Then he went to his mom's nursing home as he had nowhere else to go!!

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Good point! I just thought he stayed with this mom that night because he just got suspended and was feeling sad and wanted to be by his mom's side.

I thought he may have been staying at various saunas, but you're right about sleeping at work. He can sort of get away with the homeless existence if he has the night shift at least half the week. I hope Yoo Ryung finds out he's homeless and offers him a place to stay!

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I think the young brother of Baek Kyung is the opposite of Haru. He always thought that if they followed the story, his big brother will change, accept people around him and be happy. So he did nothing but his brother is still not happy. But Danoh is alive and happy thanks to Haru. So it's why at the end he said that he will be there for Baek Kyung, not let him to be alone.

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The cold weather here puts me in a nostalgic mood—especially now that it's Cheesy Christmas Movie Season. For me, the season isn’t complete without a mix of classic holiday films and good Hallmark trash.

In kdramaland, I look forward to savoring Ep. 9 and 10 of Pegasus Market this weekend.

I'm late to the game but finally caught up with The Good Place's fourth season. I didn’t think it was possible to love Chidi more but this week’s fall finale proved me wrong. Also enjoying reading other people swooning over Manny Jacinto’s bone structure. Our beloved ding dong Florida dirtbag has inspired actual journalists to write thirsty posts under the guise of "journalism." See Glamour’s If Manny Jacinto’s Cheekbones Can’t Get You to Care About Climate Change, I Don’t Know What Can. While yesterday's NYTimes piece about Jacinto skydiving isn't (too) thirsty, the photography is very, very pleasing.

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My problem with Extraordinary you is that I stopped caring about the characters after the initial episodes. The first six would always be my favorite in dramaland but they went downhill when the plot of her sickness and her triangle became the focus.
Gone are all her spunk and determination to get back at the writer. She also exudes too much aegyo that it made me cringe during her scenes with Haru when they started dating.
They trade the interesting premise with the usual cliche romance but they didn't even try to make it interesting.

Is it just me or When the Camellia Blooms has one of the most beautiful and wholesome ending? The show isn't without problems. I could have given a 9 just for the tackled theme and the casts, but watching Dong Baek is really tiring because she kept of breaking down. I didn't really mind it at first, but only after I re-watched It's Okay That's Love (for the X time) that I had a dislike for her crying on episode 33-34, 35-36, and I no longer can cry when she's being sad on the last two episodes.
Their reaction to Joker also felt out of place? He's a serial murderer but their reaction was a bit too comical for me. Also, when that Hyang Mi event happened (won't spoil it in case you have not watched), I felt that everyone's reaction were off, and when Dong Baek cried I couldn't really feel her sadness.
The arc where Pil Gu doesn't want her to marry also felt a bit messy. It's an important moment for both son and the mom, and I wish they had shown her trying to give Pil Gu understanding. I think it's implied a lot, but it's just too bad that the emotional moments wasn't shown, especially when he finally accept Yong Shik.
Overall I love my experience with this show. It's beautiful, and I'd say pretty unique for its genre. The characters' dynamic and interaction are the best part of the show for me.

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Tale of Nokdu: 💗💗 One more week of crazy King.... Sook and her gang are awesome! But that's no secret.
When the Camellia Blooms: 💗💗💗 I will miss Ongsan and Yong Sik. The show wrapped up a little too nicely, but that's okay. As Yong Sik said, "I believe you".
Extraordinary You: 💗 I finished.
Secret Boutique: 💗💗💗 That confrontation between Jenny and evil Chairwoman was riveting. My blood boiled at evil witch's audacity. I hope she burns in hell. SOON. RIGHT. NOW. 😡
Psychopath Diary: 💗 Still on the fence on this one. I like the first two episodes enough, but they are mostly set up. Will give this another week to decide.
Pegasus Market: 💗💗💗 I love that scene with Bok Dong and Kwon. They have such an interesting relationship. I am amazed week by week on how Pegasus Market is able to maintain its level of absurdity and humor and pads it with that much heart-tu. 😘
My Country: 💗💗 The last two episodes.... I was 🤬🤬 at the writer.

I finished 3 dramas this week and enter into Errand Boyhood also known as limboland here in DB, so I feel accomplished. 😁

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Also on the fence regarding Psychopath Diary, although for a very silly reason. I like the setup and the ML's personality shifts, and psychopath stories are really interesting to me (without much gore, that is), but I've been craving more romantic dramas lately. Who knows, maybe when my craving goes away I'll give it a chance.

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That's not a silly reason at all. Happens to me too.

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Thank you, Amy! My sweet, romantic tooth feels validated, haha. I'm thinking of watching "Please come back, Ahjusshi" while waiting for Catch the Ghost's updates. Do you have any go to dramas during those romance cravings?

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Ah well I don't actually rewatch dramas. But I loved Her Private Life, and Legend of the blue sea. My love from another star, and Shopping King Louis are good too.

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And this is unpopular but I liked the romance part of Strong Woman Bong Soon too. Also Suspicious Partner.

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I recently binged 1% of Something (2016) and that show has a lot of kisses, very minimal angst and non-threatening 2nd lead.

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@msrabbit After I finish with Introverted Boss that's the next on my list.

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Those are some great recs! This is probably an unpopular opinion but I actually really enjoyed Introverted Boss. I just went along for the ride and the cute moments between the leads are so worth it. I've never seen Legend of the Blue Sea nor Suspicious Partner but Her Private Life, My love from another star and Shopping King Louis are great picks. I never got too invested in the story but I love the main actors in SWDBS! They're so sweet. I'll add 1% of Something to my list; lots of kisses and minimal angst sounds right up my alley!

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@brascubas I just love Introverted boss. To me the male lead is relatable in so many ways. And I just adore the main characters of SWDBS. This is when PHS replaced JCW as my favorite actor. Also I just love Catch the ghost and can't wait for the next episode.

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Yes!! Exactly! I remember people used to dislike Introverted Boss when it came out bc of the FL but I don't think she's that bad, her personality softens a lot throughout the drama. And the ML is extremely relatable, like you said! One of my favorite leads of all time. I love Catch the Ghost as well, I just want to hug both main characters. Yoo Ryung broke my heart in the last eps, I hate to see her suffer like this!

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True I first said that the FL of Introverted Boss was up there with Ji Eun Tak when it came to FLs that I found irritating but then I ended up actually liking her. The only change I didn't like was the suicide plot and the way they handled it and the so called 'friend'. I didn't like how easily he was forgiven. Also wanted to give the ML a hug, heh.
Also I don't get the hate people have towards Yoo Ryung honestly and love both her and Ji Seok together. I really wanted to give them a hug too quite a few times. It's painful to watch them both suffer. I cried during the last episode honestly especially during the scene with Ji Seok and his mother. Now it's me who feels validated. Thank you 😊

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@amy1009 aww I'm glad! And I'm so happy to find someone with similar tastes! I've been a long time lurker and only recently decided to start leaving some comments, haha. To be honest sometimes I feel like FLs are held to a different standard than MLs. Even when all characters are poorly written the female lead is usually the one that receives more hate. Also, I don't get the Yoo Ryung hate either! Sure, the show might not be 100% believable at times and she is quite reckless, but she is an interesting and compelling character. Her struggles feels real. (This is the Yoo Ryung protection squad!!!)

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@brascubas Yay to the Yoo Ryung protection squad. And I agree it's not just FLs but female characters in general. If it was the ML he would have been hated a lot less. For example, if the ML is reckless then he is cool, if it's female she is stupid. If the ML acts like a jerk or has flaws that they consider makes a character complex many will sympathize with him, even hope for his redemption or wait for him to overcome his flaws. But YR's recklessness can also be seen as a flaw. So why doesn't she get a pass. I find her compelling and with flaws and her behavior is understandable considering what she is going through. And the way she was judged by Mari and others for a mistake she already feels guilty for no wonder she doesn't like telling anyone anything. Character development can take time. People say they want characters with flaws but there are different kinds of flaws and it's more about flaws they find acceptable for a FL to have among exclusion of others which I frankly find restrictive.

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@amy1009 definitely. You put it perfectly into words: some people will judge male and female characters differently based on the same characteristics. Yoo Ryung reminds me a lot of the ML in "You're all surrounded". They're both haunted by deaths in the family and choose to seek justice their own way, often clashing with authority. Dae Gu was much more reckless though, and I don't recall people giving him hate for that.

Also, I just finished watching today's episode of Catch the Ghost and it is SO good!!! I cried so much in the beginning. Ji Seok is truly the leader of the Yoo Ryung protection squad. They're such a cute duo!

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@brascubas. I actually broke my rule of not watching any drama episode raw (until I learn Korean that is, heh) by watching the first 30 minutes without subs. And it felt so good. My most favorite episode so far. When Ji Seok defended Yoo Ryung I cried and when he smiled as she rested her head on his back during the scooter ride I went 'Yes' and couldn't stop smiling through the rest even as my mother came in the room to ask me to come have dinner. Now not only is Ji Seok added to my list of favorite characters (Yoo Ryung already was ever since episode 6) but they are also now in the list of favorite couples. Definitely going to watch the whole episode a second time today (another rule I'm going to break).

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@amy1009 this episode is worth breaking those rules for!! I'm also going to watch it a second time, it was too good. "Are you guys dating?" "Not yet" I squealed!! They complement each other so well. And I gotta be honest, it's super cliche but I would have loved to see them become roommates now since Ji Seok cannot go back to work. I'm looking forward to more cute and emotional moments between them.

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@brascubas I'd love that too. Infact I have been wishing for that ever since he lost his home.

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Agree about tale of Nokdu and and feel the same about Psychopath Diaries. And I am halfway through episode 6 of Pegasus market. Uh and are the last two episodes of My country that bad?

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That's just me. You may have a different opinion. 🙂

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I'll have to wait and see for the sub then cause on one hand I am getting impatient and on other dreading the remaining episodes. I don't want to worry too much about it right now.

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When the camelia blooms: am one-week behind on this, but I felt kinda disappointed by the while Joker redolution. I still have no ides why Joker specifically targeted DB, and the explanations given so far have not convinced me. Am really hoping the ladt 2 episodes will make me feel better abt that. Overall tho, I feel I liked this drama, which to me is more slice-of-life than thriller.

Tale of Nokdu: behind on this as well, and wonder if I will eventually catch up 🤔. I find it slow and for some reason, I am becoming impatient with Dong Joo's character, idk if it's KSH acting or the way she is written. For now, am following through the recaps.

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I actually look forward to watching Catch the Ghost! I'm really just here for the cute between the leads hehe, and I have learned to "switch off" as some scenes had me questioning the characters' common sense (its dramaland after all). I gotta say MGYs performance, despite the writing, is superb. Looking forward to the progress in romance next week!

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Glad to hear that Moonie is doing well in this show. I'm watching PAINTER of the WIND again because I miss her in sageuks.

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