I have zero knowledge nor interest in baseball but I decided to binge the first five episodes of Stove League on New Year's Eve and it was the best last-minute decision I've ever made in 2019. As soon as I finished the first five episodes, I wanted more. Stove League gives off a 90's sports anime vibe and I love it. Episode 6 highlighted the Baek Brothers, Young-soo's past, and how he decided to overcome his disability. The latest episode may not be as intense as the previous ones but the heart it has made this my favorite episode so far. Can't wait to watch episode 7!

It was fun to see Dong-shik's growth in this week's episodes of Psychopath Diary because he is really good at "acting as a psychopath." Who would've thought that In-woo would fall victim to the person he was trying to shape and frame as a monster? Also, Chil-sung is the best sidekick.

Although last week's episodes of No Second Chances was slow and there was no Baby Yeol-mu on sight, I still loved the episodes due to Hae-joon's significant growth. I totally did not expect the confession scene, but seeing that we're halfway already, I think the writers know that we need to have the Bak-Hae couple cuteness ASAP. I screamed so loud when Hae-joon was finally going against his mother but when Hae-joon was looking at his family photo with Yeol-mu and Bak-ha while smiling, I screamed even harder.

Black Dog may be a slow-burn show, but I love how it not only shows us Ha-neul's journey into becoming a teacher but it also dives deep into the teaching system in SK, the teachers in it, and how faulty it is. I love it whenever Ha-neul was interacting with the College Advisory Group, with Ji-sun (who I really miss), with Teacher Yoon, and with her student Yoo-ra. While Hae-won and Ha-neul mirror each other's situations, Ha-neul is the only one growing and doing the right things not just for other people, but also for herself. We must protect Ha-neul at all costs.

2020 starts with Cricket

JAPAN

Follow Saretara Owari - 7.5 out of 10. 15min entertaining episodes. This i call social friends. Though they act like they are such good friends.

Eat and sleep at Camp - 8 out of 10. title and high rating tells everything.

KOREA

Diary of a Prosecutor - 7.5 for 2 weeks. eagerly waiting for upcoming ones.

Hot Stove League - 7 for 3rd week. Many issues with this show(from story to plot to characters) but still better than average. kdrama

Trash Land - 4/10. headache in its own right.

MOVIES -

Until i meet September's Love - 7/10 Only a naive person would be affected by these kind of movies. rightly aimed at teenage audience craving corny romance.

Hot Gimmick - 3/10 shoujo manga to live-action - Shoujo trash to live-action. It makes me furious how resources are wasted on such a trash media. This kind of media causes heartburn. It amuses me how come shoujo aime at teenage female audience keeps on producing this kind of trash for years.

Farewell Song - 6/10 - half watched - Nana Komatsu. meh. less interested. gonna skip watch.

Black Dog (Episode 5-6)
I have a theory about Teacher Ji: given that he used to be under Sung Soon’s group, he may have realised how relaxed they were and thought that they weren’t able to help him aggressively push for the permanent teacher spot, hence, he decided to try his luck out with Teacher Song but then met another obstacle in Teacher Moon, which led to his passive aggressive moves currently with Ha Neul. But maybe given how he held a grudge against her by association (also now the advanced class thingy) he probably doesn’t deserve much sympathy for the hostile school environment he’s under.

Crash Landing on You (Episode 1-6)
I wasn’t really interested in this drama at first until I saw some comedic clips online. My thought was: oh maybe it’s not that grim with the North Korea setting and it’s a parody of the stereotypes that we’ve seen online. I even wondered if it was all a coma-like dream after the tornado disaster and the experience being stuck in North Korea would be cathartic for Se Ri. Of course, that was too good to be true, as the introduction presented family and army politics at one go and is now going into the same-old love triangle and denial phases. I will still watch it, albeit with the fast-forward buttons.

Chocolate (Episode 9-10)
And the drama trope strikes again with some terminal illness that befalls our female lead! On top of that, the hospice is now threatened by the rich family (even if wicked Grandma dies, there’s still the others), but I have hope in that Jun will step up to help Kang in defending it. His bickering dynamic with the nurse was a breath of fresh air from him having to resolve family fights and you can see how he can smile genuinely at the hospice despite the tension with Kang (no love triangle please). Cha Young’s brother was a surprise this week with the genuine concern: will he now be chaotic good?

Psychopath Diary (Episode 13-14)
Even though I’m glad that the trash has taken itself out once more this week (last week being Daddy Killer summoning a Truck of Doom for Corrupt Cop and this week being In Woo shooting Daddy Killer), it’s so frustrating to see the writer randomly bring back In Woo’s stepbrother just to advance the plot. In fact, it feels like the writer suddenly remembered the supporting characters and scrambled to give them some screen-time to fulfil the contract they had signed. I find it also rather laughable that the leads suddenly became so smart but yeah penultimate week magic yadda yadda yadda.

Happy New Year, everybody, whenever and wherever you celebrate it! May 2020 bring you good dramas and better real life moments! Been away for New Year's Eve, so drama watching was pretty much limited to sneaking some late night episodes on Viki using my phone... Which I used to watch 11 episodes of ENCOUNTER/ BOYFRIEND!
Random thoughts:
-What a beautiful idealised Cuba! Want to go there!
-Park Bo Gum is the sweetest lovey-dovey puppy, already knew it, but it's always nice to watch him, bonus point for drunk Bogummy
-Secretary Jang and Daechan are delightful
- This drama isn't exactly reinventing the wheel, but it's such a soothing watch, it feels like self-care.
Since I came back, I watched PEOPLE WITH FLAWS, episodes 11-12. Episode 11 was super sweet, I don't care much about the OTP, but the cast ensemble is great, the older brothers rule and Mikyung is my new girlcrush

With no Hyun bin in Crash Landing on You to distract me, I have started many new dramas this week. ;) I had to say I never really liked him in Secret Garden, tolerated him in Rampant and MoA. But he has simply stolen my heart as Captain Ri, I mean yes I do eye rolls on the troupes and some scenes (Paragliding I am looking at you) but Captain Ri has silently crept up my heart. Maybe it's the stoic face which can turn to a pouting boy in an instant. Damn the capitalistic heart.

With the slow week, I binged Chocolate, I didn't know that this show will break my heart this much. each and every story in the hospice is poignant. The slow-burn romance, even though not prioritised in initial episodes, I am currently looking forward to finding it progressing.

Hot Stove League and Black Dog are the other ones I binged this week. and I have to say I am hooked. Hopefully, all TV dramas will finish satisfactorily.

Family + traveling = not much time for dramas. Luckily some didn't air this week 😆
Still enjoying Crash Landing, Never Twice and People with Flaws.
And on Monday... Kim Sabu 2 is coming!! 😍 (Hopefully @michykdrama will join with her fantastic medicaps!!! 💕)

I literally started the new year rewatching The Mummy, a classic among my friends. Apparently I did not remember my first watch because I blocked out the scarabs. I hope I can spend the rest of the year trauma free, because I have had more than my share of it in the first two hours of 2020. I probably might have liked it more if I was not such a scaredy cat. Kudos to Beni Gabor and Jonathan, now I understand why we love weasels and scoundrels! 😆

I am stuck on episode 17 of No Second Chances. I had hoped for a mini Christmas holiday binge, but it has been a lot busier around here than I first anticipated. However, I am giving myself a well-deserved break tonight and maybe tomorrow as well, so I might catch up a bit...or not, I cannot predict my future self. 😀

Stove League has my interest. I read Ep 6 got 14% rating. It must be good. I can't wait to watch it later, together with ep 7 😆.

Still on kdrama slump.

I'm watching Netflix's Messiah this week. I liked the terrorism/CIA aspect of the first few episodes, along with the holy miraculous things . But now they are currently in Texas, and it turned into normal family drama. I am still struggling with the message that Messiah is trying to impart on the audience, but I will continue watching.

I finished Disney's The Mandalorian last week. I love the season 1 ending. It ties loose ends the way I wanted it to. Had an excellent visual effects and slick action sequences. And Baby Yoda lives!! Yehey!

First WWW of the year! 🥳🥳

HOT STOVE LEAGUE: I really like it now, especially the latest episodes that addressed military service.

CRASH LANDING ON YOU: Waiting for the next episodes. I need more ducklings scenes.

PSYCHOPATH DIARY: I was bored so I randomly started this. And behold, this scaredy cat has already watched 4 episodes. I don’t think I’d watch it if Yoon Shi Yoon wasn’t the lead though.

STOVE LEAGUE - totally surprised me with such heart-tugging scenes between the main lead and his disabled brother. Its so uplifting to watch the characters rise above their disabilities if only they are given the chance. I love this show.
PHYCHOPATH'S DIARY - I feel the show is being rushed now that it is on its 14th epi. In Woo has now openly become the evil person that he is. My favorite character remains to be the side kick of The fake killer.
CRASH LANDING ON YOU - I remain mesmerized by Captain Pouty and his ducklings.
BE MELODRAMATIC - Started this because of the raves. I love the music, the script and light banter between the characters. I am watching just because some of the shows I am currently watching have not been subbed yet.
I am not sure if I will be putting some in the back burner. Too early to say, and too late for some.

Half my shows are cancelled this week, but here we go anyway~

Diary of a Prosecutor: It's fairly average at the moment, but I can only see the ways in which it will improve. If the last four episodes set the story and the conflicts up, then from now on I expect a satisfying follow through!

Black Dog: There's just so much heart in this one. The cast is so great that they make the more mundane moments of life in a school engaging. It's a slow burn, but a rewarding one.

Crash Landing of Love: This week I really felt that the story had come together, and predictably that was all thanks to Kim Jung-hyun. When all the main characters can play off each other, this drama sings. Even if the plot is complete nonsense.

Crash landing on you: There's depth to the story, enough to keep me. But I gotta say I'm not enjoying this as much.

Black Dog: This show is a gem. I love Haneul.

Diary of a prosecutor: I enjoy our clashing leads and the humour is right up my alley! There were no episodes this week tho!

Stove league: We need more episodes!!

Never twice: I fell in love with park se wan and kwak dong yeon here. With every episode Bak Ha and Hae Joon's screen time has been increasing so I find myself forwarding fewer scenes or is it that other cast members have grown on me!?

Just Dance: Another gem. Binged watched in 2 days!. There's so much heart here and jang dong yeon and park se wan's chemistry was great! My takeaway: happiness isn't necessarily found in your dreams! It's found in relationships and it really is on you, if you want to find happiness you'll find it anywhere!
I have one question thou, what about Hye Jin!?

In my mind I keep referring to it at stovetop league. Clearly I know zilch about baseball. Yet I’m loving this show. Is nam goong min determined not to take romantic lead roles though??? This one doesn’t seem to have a romance angle

With no CLOY & finishing VIP ; I’ve started Stove League (It’s good so far), Designated survivor (Excellent. It’s a bit complicated for me so I have to take some time to figure out what is going on. But I really really Ike it. I haven’t seen the original but this is great. Also Son Seok Goo ♥️ I can’t wait to see what he does next 😍 ) & Go back couple (I picked it up to balance DS thinking it was gonna be light & fluffy but JNR keeps making me cry, so far so good.

@quirkycase Your comments regarding both shows are spot on. Regarding Robert-hopefully it will be answered in the next episode. I haven't watched it yet so I don't know (I was busy watching the last few epsiodes of dance sports girl🙈)

9.9 BILLION WON WOMAN: Everybody knows about the toxic money but not about its true owner. I see a real twist coming up as FL is reverting to her street-wise past.
HOT STOVE LEAGUE: The writer is beginning to peel back the barrier layers for Min's character which is interesting since the owner is about to strangle his ability to make the club successful.
CHOCOLATE: Throwing in a random birth secret into family politics does not help the real true, slow moving plot line of CY and Kang deep connection which is like watching cheese melt on toast. The show has really hit a chord on how food holds personal memories.
CRASH LANDING ON YOU: Of course there had to be a dramatic (and anticipated hero moment) to keep Seri from leaving NK and the good Captain.

On New Year's I traditionally watch an anime. This year I watched "The Garden of Words", a 2013 Japanese anime drama film written, directed and edited by Makoto Shinkai. It is a short film which has a very simple plot but show's Shinkai's remarkable skills as a realistic animator.

I also started to binge watch "Fun Restaurant" variety series. Celebrity food porn competition show.

Psychopath Diary - ep 13 and 14. The two episodes flew by this week. The drama has been full of twists and turns, thrills, laughs, and heart and often all in the same scene. Dong Shik calling in that threat was simultaneously spit-take hilarious and heartmelting. Dong Shik won't beat In-woo just because he's freakishly lucky sometimes. It would be because his goodness has won the love and affection of all the people around him, and they will go to bat for him.

Chocolate - ep 10 and 11. I think this drama benefits from timing. It's the perfect Friday/Saturday evening in the wintertime drama. End of the week is also the perfect time to cry over that South Korean+Vietnamese couple last week, Cha Young's description of what chocolate means to her, and Kang's flashback to Fisherman Uncle. Sometimes the drama has moments that don't make that much more sense than stumbling into Hyun Bin's doppelganger in North Korea, but it's got all these other little moments that feel so real and tangible.

Story of Yanxi Palace - up to ep 8. Started this to watch with my mom. It's 70 episodes, so may watch a batch every so often. It's stressful sometimes watching so many of these ladies scheme, but the heroine knows how to scheme right back. She knows when to quietly set things in motion so that the villains tie the nooses around themselves (so delicious to watch!) and when to make an outright threat.

Instead of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk - up to ep 22. Continues to be cute with a sprinkle of thrill. Also surprisingly well-paced. Like it seems like it makes sense that it is a 25 episode (each 40 minutes) drama.

Black Dog This drama is really good! I love the College Advisory Team. They really care about each other and about their students. They're not afraid to confront their colleagues to say the truth.

No Second Chances I liked how Hae-joon confronted his mum. He's brave because it must be difficult to see that your own mum is not a good person.

Stove League I really liked how Baek Seung-Soo says simple things but they always are true. Lee Se-Young is learning from him very fast :D

Chocolate I need happiness... just a little bit...please...

Crash Landing on You This drama is really fun to watch. The humor, the characters, the plot, all is very well balanced.

Crash Landing on You: 8.4

Stove League: 8.2 Day 5 was their best yet -- it seemed like a bit of a convoluted trick to get a Korean guy for the team instead of a genuine foreigner, but I guess wee should welcome any trick that means less screen time for the lame foreign actors that we see in other kdramas. Day 6 was more typical-kdrama-ish, and I don't mean that in a good way.

Kpopalypse’s 30 favourite k-pop songs of 2019: 6.0 If I actually cared much about music this might rate a 10.0 if I agreed with him, or 0.0 otherwise. As a temp replacement for shows that took the week off it's better than watching paint dry.

Veronica Mars: 9.5 Finished season 2 rewatch. There's a good Trump line in the final episode.

Crash Landing: I miss it this week. A couple times in the previous eps when they're on the train or in the hotel reminded me a little of 30/40s movies. The only thing is the show is really setting us up for heartbreak isn't it? It is spending so much time on the N. Korean ducklings and Ajummas that it is going to hurt to separate again.

Chocolate: Kang is going back!! It's because of a sad reason (of course) but he is going back! And cooking?

Stove League: this is reminding me of how sad I was that Pitch was canceled. I dont follow sports but the stories surrounding a sport team can be so heart tugging and/or thrilling, especially if the action is filmed well. I haven't got there yet but I can see dodging the military being a HUGE deal. I think there are even Korean/American idols who have chosen to serve even though they didn't have to?

Never Twice: oh, I like seeing the guests at the inn slowly turn into a family. I wonder by the end how many people our heroine will have headbutted? And is it bad I want to cheer when the Chaebols get beaten up?

My Fellow Citizens: I had forgotten all about this show until the Dramas Over Flowers Year End Yak. I said it last night but this show is delightful. Fast paced, like the editing, great use of music, and interesting characters. I know Siwon's character will have the main arc, but I love our badass FL (so good) and our Michael Corleone inspired baddie.....I had to look at her age like 5 times because sometimes she looks like a schoolgirl which works for this character. Oh, and his family and neighbors?? The fake war stories? So fun.

My Strange Hero: I think show finally hooked me when Bok soo went back to school. I'm a bit more interested in his relationship with his nephew than the romance at this point, but I dont dislike the heroine which I was worried about. I do think I connect with the actress more in her younger storyline than in her present one, but hope that changes.
It makes me laugh that Kim Mi-Kyung is Bok soo's mom, because everytime they do a close up of his eyes it reminds me of her character in Oh Hae Young. When as the mom she gets mad at Eric's character and tells him basically to always look down because his cow eyes are a lie.

Special Labor Inspector, Mr Jo: I'm still in the beginning eps, but I'm falling for our hero. His former student and daughter expect so much from him it makes me wonder who he used to be. I didnt know if he was going to make it up those stairs but when he saved the kid from doing something irrevocable I think i cheered out loud, though that CEO would of deserved it.

1 Reply 1988
--- Been hearing great reviews as the best of the Reply Series.
--- Did not binge-watch because I do not want to start the year crying .. but already cried at Ep 2 😭
--- It did remind me a lot about the 80s (yes, I was already alive in the 80s 😂)

2 Chocolate
--- A bit slow but still watching for the male leads'' storyline

3 Crash Landing on You
--- Dreading the upcoming serious plots

I finally finished "A Little Thing Called First Love. Overall, a cute, light drama that I enjoyed. As a frequent watcher of family dramas, I wasn't upset with the drama clocking in at 36 episodes but wouldn't have had a problem with them deleting some of the secondary romances (especially the one between the 2 teachers that didn't really go anywhere) and creating a shorter drama. I also didn't mind the green acting by the male lead (Edward Lai) as his adorable smiles more than made up for his acting shortcomings. I also never suffered from Second Male Lead syndrome as I found the second lead (Lin KaiTuo) to be way too broody and high maintenance (poor He Xin). I'm finding that I much prefer Chinese youth dramas over Korean as they generally lack the focus on nasty (borderline psychotic) characters that the Korean youth dramas seem to have.

Since I am busy with real life of kids last two days of vacation and my grandmother is in hospital. She is better but we do not know when she go home. I am trying to catch up with Chinese dramas and Crash Landing to you. Have a great weekend.

No change in the current watch list. Absolutely loving the below three:
Crash landing on You
Stove League
Chocolate

I am so sad over the news that no new episodes of Crash landing on You during this week. This is the drawback of watching the dramas currently airing. I should have waited until the drama ended, but i cannot wait for Binnie.

I am totally falling for Chocolate again, again and again.

Finished ep.12 and let me say that ML's acting is just 100 out of 10.
Actually, I love everyone's acting in this drama.

I'm reading so many good things about Stove League, I think I will begin it today. I know nothing about baseball (main reason why I wasn't interested), but all your comments are about how great the show is, so I will tell you next week...

Looking forward for new episodes of Diary of a Prosecutor. I really missed it this week.

Loving the slow and intimate path Black Dog is following. Like everyone who's watching the drama, I love Haenul and the way she's growing and blooming. My heart aches a bit about Hae-Won. A part of me understands why he acts that way. I suppose the show wants to show him as an opposite to Haenul, but I have this theorie: HaeWon had the enthusiasm and energy Haenul has right now, but has lost it the way during his six years as a short term. He sees Haenul and wishes to go back there, but it's not always easy or possible.

People with flaws. I don't really care about the main couple, and even so this week's episodes made me feel sympathy for KangWoo, as I see him growing in maturity, but mainly I find him quite annoying, selfish and whimsical. And SeoYeon... well, I can understand why she's trying to hide the truth from him, but... hasn't she learned from her own experience? Hiding the truth is not the way!
What I love about the show is all the rest ot the characters. Specially the siblings, I love the way all of them interact with the others and how caring and loving are to their family, specially WonJae and WonSeok.

No second chances. I'm so proud of HaeJoon, so so so so proud. Not only because he admitted his feelings for BaekHa but also because he's starting to realize how his mum is, and he's telling her he will not tolerate her behavior. I feel poor HaeJoon is about to discover his mum and his grandad are not the people he thinks they are (every conversation between those two alone about the "business" makes me understand they are awful people), and that they're related to BaekHa's husband death.

I won't be saying much about the shows cause a lot of people are already saying stuff that I am thinking too. It also seems like my list of favorite female characters is increasing. Maybe I am just learning to appreciate them more.
1. Black Dog: I adore the FL and how she cares about the students. I am glad that this drama replaced Catch the Ghost cause Monday and Tuesday are still my favorite days to look forward to.
2. Crash Landing on You: I like how complex the FL is turning out to be.
3. Stove League: I am liking how we are finding out more about Baek Seung Soo. And I am already really liking his brother. Episode 6 is my most favorite yet. Can't wait for next episode either.
4. Psychopath Diary: Episode 14 was expecially fun to watch.
5. Chocolate: Is the Grandmother finally going to die? Things are finally seem to be progressing on the romance front, but it seems like there might be a triangle with Joon. I hope not.

With no CLOY this week, I continued binge watching The Untamed. Finished it. And in order to move on is rewatch, that's the only solution I can think of. Here's to hoping I get back on the Kdramas I've put on hold Diary of a Prosecutor and Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life. I do want to watch Stove League and Black Dog since I love the casts.

hello beanies...hope all's well...i'm currently watching 3 kdramas -
Stove League - watched till ep5 which i enjoyed so far
Crash Landing on You - still engaging
Chocolate - i love the OST, the song 'Special' i've heard multiple times already but in general i'm loving this show...but at this point i get bad feeling about the fate of the characters...i really hope for a happy ending for the main two leads Kang and Cha Yeong but i'm not really if that will happen...regarding Joon, he is angry all the time but he is stuck in this limbo because of his parents ambitions, overall that family sucks anyways but i really hope he gets a happy ending maybe not romantically necessarily in this show but atleast something positive happens for him by the end of the show...
Because This Is My First Life: watched few episodes and its fine...the girl is sort of homeless (almost) which i kind of related to...
Ashes of Love - Cdrama, i dropped this one after ep16, but i get why this is one of the popular shows.
Eternal Love (Cdrama, peach blossoms fame) - i actually binge-watched this during my end of year break, i fastforwarded some stuff but overall i totally enjoyed watching this show, and i'm trying to find similar dramas to watch...the show had some women characters who were very twisted but i guess they required them in order to carry the story forward; i personally found the character Bai Fengjiu very odd too but i read there is sequel for hers and Dong Hua storyline which will be aired soon, i saw the trailer.

People with flaws

I finally started to watch this show because is light and easy...
I don't feel I love it, but of course I don't hate it. I think so far is watchable, but of course not remarkable. The show has also many flaws, of course! 😂😂😂😂😂😂
I don't like the scatological references, and I don't believe these type of traumas could affect a person for so long, but let's make them believe, we believe it, for the sake of the time we spend watching.
I am more interested in the siblings than in any other character. Mostly because I wish I could have brothers who would worry for me although in the daily life they would also ignore to cover their part of the expenses and ignore my text messages because I talk too much😂 My own brothers are like that, so I am used to😂😂😂😂
But I like these brothers, different than my only older brother, really protect their only sister, even though two of them are not really biologically related. I love man-made families who really care.

Mr. Sunshine

Ok. Finally, finally,, finally I am watching the three last episodes of this marvelous masterpiece and I am doing it very slow, with breaks and stuffs, so that I don't cry too much or get a heart attack.
The music is so beautiful!
The story so sad! 😭

On hold:

Stove league.
I lost the pace. I am also not so good of baseball and understand very little😑

Actually, QuirckyCase, serving in a foreign military service is not that uncommon. The son of a Somali Warlord who gave US forces a hard time in the early 1990s was so impressed with the people his father fought that he became a US Marine. When I was in the Navy we had a lot of Filipino sailors.

My wife and I continue to watch PEOPLE WITH FLAWS- which is getting even better.

We love STOVE LEAGUE- and are frustrated that the subtitles are taking a while. STOVE LEAGUE only had one episode last week and I am waiting for episode six to be subtitled. (Pre-emptions- I hate them). We were left hanging in the middle of a story arc and that it no fun.

We are most of the way through DEAR FAIR LADY KONG SHIM (aka BEAUTIFUL GONG SHIM). It really is a classic.

Finished Airing

LIVE UP TO YOUR NAME: I’ve heard a lot of good things about this drama, but the first was episode was just so-so for me. (ep. 1)

OMG! I'm still trying to get through "When the Camellia Blooms." I've been working on this drama for the past two months, and I'm finally on the last episode. I can guarantee you that it's one I'll never watch again. "Thank You," was so much better, with a similar story line. I'm glad this week is almost over.

I watched the 6 episode followup drama to "The Story of Yan Xi Palace", "Yan Xi Palace: Princess Adventures". All I can say is that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". Zhaohua is definitely her mother's daughter.

Sigh. I know its the Dead of Winter, at least in the. Northern Hemisphere, but even dramaland is full of doom and gloom these days.

First, Love with Flaws - for a show that started out rather funny (although IBS in real life is no joking matter), I can barely make it through an episode in the last few weeks because the lead couple's story is so agonizing.

Second, I'm not watching Chocolate but a "healing romance" where the couple barely knows each other and barely shares screen time? Not much of a romance, is it.

Then the's Woman of 9.9 Million where there are literally no likable characters except maybe the ex-cop.

Over the weekend, since Crash Landing on You is prempted, I eagerly await the new episodes of Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life to discover this is the week that the main couple breaks up so lots of angst this weekend (and how ironic that a show where the plot has included suicide, infidelity, abusive MILs, characters in comas, etc. is one of the "lighter" shows out there right now).

Crash landing on you - my heart just goes awww..❤️Jeong Hyeok pouting and being jealous, Se Ri and the ducklings saying goodbye, again.. haha.
Although there’s a bit of Dal-Geonism action during the last few minutes of ep6, I just rolled my eyes and go along with it. After all he will survive anyway..

Chocolate - where the Quiznos marketing team managed to out-contract the tenacious Subway marketing team 😅As of now, I’m barely watching this show..just turning it on on the background while doing housework. Doesn’t feel like I miss anything.

Oh, I forgot watching CLOY episode 6 this week gave me my favorite line of all time from a Kdrama--"Mr. Ri." I'll never hear the word "mystery" again without think of the elevator scene.

My winter break was a delight, giving me time to catch up on dramas while deep cleaning neglected corners of the house.

Crash Landing on You is the only k-drama I’m watching. It cracks me up and gives me warm fuzzies. Perfect drama to start the year. I dropped Queen: Love and War after four execrable episodes. Even the quality veteran actors can’t turn this pig’s ear into a purse.

On Netflix, I devoured the 8-part Turkish series Atiye/The Gift in one sitting on New Year’s Eve. Holy cow, what a brilliant show! As someone tweeted the other day, this show is top-level sh*t. It’s gorgeous, superbly acted, thrilling, mystical and shexy! (I recommend for mature audiences only; not to be watched with young children.) Don’t spoil yourself by reading anything. Just watch!

In c-dramaland, I indulged in a mix of historical dramas, which lead me to a 2017 c-drama I binged in a week. I don’t usually watch stories told during the Qing Dynasty because those haircuts—oof. But Dreaming Back to the Qing Dynasty is a passable retelling of Scarlet Heart. Not sure if this is going the tragic route like Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo but it’s tolerable fluff. As YouTube’s AvenueX might say, this is a show to have in the background while assembling IKEA furniture.

Watching the 62-ep Ming Dynasty/b> is slow-going because only the first 8 episodes have proper English subs. The Idol & Romance channel provides (hilarious) Google translations in the interim. While based on the true historical figures, the story takes liberties with how certain characters are related. Tang Wei plays a woman who, as a child, barely survived the slaughter of her family during the violent takeover of the current emperor. She plans revenge but ends up as the concubine of the emperor’s grandson, played by hella charming Zhu Ya Wen. The vibe is quirky mix of slapstick, palace intrigues, and heart-piercing love.

Holy f*ck, Zhu Ya Wen is my new c-drama boyfriend. This guy’s face is so telegraphic and emotive. Strangely, Tang Wei looks a little detached. Is she bored because she can barely match her scene partner? (I fell in love with him during their interrogation/first “date” in Ep. 2).

Hungry for more Zhu Ya Wen, I gobbled up Across the Ocean to See You, a 44-ep drama from 2017. I FF’d through most of the nitwits to savor Zhu Ya Wen portraying one of the most adorable, lovable, competent (but not infallible) ML I’ve enjoyed in c-drama in a long time.

Finishing up my 2019-2020 dramas:

PSYCHOPATH DIARY
CHOCOLATE
CRASH LANDING ON YOU
STOVE LEAGUE
PEOPLE WITH FLAWS

@ally-le, @michykdrama,
Eeek! It snuck up on me. ROMANTIC DOCTOR, TEACHER KIM 2 premieres on Monday, Jan. 6th. Now with added Shin Dong-wook. Be there or be square, chingus. ;-)

FYI to @marcusnyc20 bong-soo and other NYC-area Beanies for future reference:
The Museum of Moving Images in Astoria, Queens, screens Korean movies. Their "Fists and Swords" international martial arts film series presented THE DIVINE FURY yesterday.
http://www.movingimage.us/programs/2020/01/03/detail/fist-and-sword-2020/