CRICKET - NewZealand cricket team really likes to test the limits of its supporters. We have already gone through enough heartache in past several months but nope they go ahead and now do this.
Two 20-20 super over matches were meme Crciket at display. Entertaining for most but both matches clearly lacked quality of art. More like tv dramas we come across these days.

Tennis - Nadal ohh. Now go with whoever plays better quality Tennis.

JAPAN -

Follow Saretara Owari - 7 out of 10. In manga the spectacle guy always is upto something. Yes. Outcome of all story was average at best. Heck, i did better job explaining different pointers in the story. If writer had gone with any of those pointers he/she would have achieved more. All about Mr. Hiragi's Classroom was corny display of preaching valuable life teaching. But here we could have had some of it in more SNS manner. Overall, It was worth watch. Just 15minutes per episode.

This Guy is Biggest Mistake in my Life - 4.5/10 As said last week, I'm not into boss-employee master-servant romance trash because the best asian dramas do is romanticize harassment, sexual-harassment and the audience complain about real life people acting like These atrocious characters. Tv media portrays all that nonsense as romantic acts so people get wrong impression from that start.
This show surely is funny. Music and SFX is good but dubbing(every show is dubbed) is bad. There is not much to story. Just your casual watch aka time pass. 23minutes per episode.

Drama of the Season - Can be . strong portential - Kotaki Brothers and ShikuHakku

Korea -

Diary of Prosecutor - 6.5/10 . I can drop this. wow. I never thought about it but now its such a good possibility now. The show is a disappointment. Average writing at best. 1st 3 weeks showed glimpses of shoddy writing but at least it was pretending to be good but the later episodes took off the false image it had created and revealed its real character.

Hot Stove League - 7/10 . This show has its own fair share of shortcomings but atleast it remained consistent with its medium and ofcourse it sometimes it treats its audience simpleton and at times it likes to spoil its characters but still they story and plot is consistent. No wishy-washy approach. That's why this now has better rating than Prosecutor.

Itaewon Crass - 4/10 - Same old story. Same old corny plot. Same old prsentation. Problem is korean webtoon market is also lacks originality, quality and competency. Half of the webtoons they produce are softporn and some are hardcore just hiding enough not to be put into adult category. A lot just copy stuff from Japanese manga market. Huge number of them are soap operas. This also is one of them and its annoying more visible in tv drama format. Webtoon you can read easily and fast because there is clear difference of medium and mindset but what works for a reader might not work for a viewer. Webtoon is above average if openly ignore the tropes...

Also watching: The Game: Towards Zero

Black Dog (Episode 13-14)
I knew that the show would revisit that Icarus club incident again! It’s quite telling that this is done towards the end, as Ha Neul realises that she had enjoyed her newcomer luck in her first year and now needs to use her newfound mindset of ignoring the politics and whatnot to continue being the ideal teacher. I feel that as a viewer myself I also got sucked into the underdog stories of Jae Hyun and Yoo Ra who were after all the perfect students if not for their backgrounds. I like how we’ve transcended beyond the drama to focus on reality. Hopefully this show will wrap up perfectly next week!

Diary of a Prosecutor (Episode 11-12)
This show plunged quite a few metres down with the introduction of that spiteful new boss: I literally skipped all scenes with him inside. Unfortunately, that took up quite some bit of this week’s episodes so I ended up not really watching at all and had to use the recap to ensure I didn’t miss any important plot points. I don’t know what the writer is doing with the ghost clacking story: after dumping it into obscurity once the introduction is over, it suddenly reappears this late in the show’s run. The love line is ok: it is a cute distraction from the politics but it should have started developing earlier.

Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim 2 I'm bored by Seo Woo-Jin Cha Eun-Jae's self pity. Even their love story is lacking... everything. At the opposite, Areum and Nurse Park are super cute! I really like the character of Teach Kim. He's smart. I liked how he said that the villains will always make them choose between 2 choices, to make them doubt.

Diary of a Prosecutor I gave up.

Black Dog It's the Circle of School. And it moves us all. Through despair and hope. Through faith and love. 'Til we find our place. On the path unwinding. In the circle, The Circle of Schoool.

Money Game I started it by curiosity and I don't understand all the economic details but I love hating Lee Sung-Min's character.

Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life This is so slooooow. Why did they give us the informations before if they want to use 20 episodes to reveal the truth...

No Second Chances For once, Bang Eun Ji was useful.

Stove League Their training place didn't look really warm...

Itaewon Class I was expecting the first episode to be sad and frustrating and it was. But I like it :) Did I hear Kim Feel's voice? I really like this singer.

Crash Landing on You I missed the duckling in Seoul!

Problem Child in House ep. 62 The guests were Kim Kang Hoon (Kang Pil Goo from When the Camellia Blooms) and SF9 Rowoon (Haru from Extraordinary You). And it was super funny! I never thought that Kang Hoon was so competitive. He wanted to enter in the Hall of Fame and his excitement was very communicative! Rowoon was pretty good and helped him a lot (but just watching him is already enough :D)

I didn't make it last week... because Real Life brought some very very sad news from my friend and I was pretty down. It's always a tragedy when children leave before the parents do...

I stopped watching dramas for a few days... and then I reached for something positive and emotionally stable (sorry Dr. Kim) and watched first two episodes of Konya wa Konoji De, a Japanese series about food and eating in a group (of strangers) around a roundish bar-table. Soothing.

I also watched a couple of episodes of Please Love Me here and there... which is shaping to be a much better cdrama than I expected. Yes, the Male Lead is childish... but everyone sees it and comments on it. His first love very clearly tells him she doesn't love him and never will. Second Male Lead is happy as long as the Female Lead is happy. And how cute is drunk Main Lead with drunk Second Lead (even professing his love for him 😆)!!!
Lovely easy watch.

Then I caught up with Never Twice and savoured all moments with our favourite couple and the baby.

And then... then I fell into the rabbit hole called Beautiful Days (I'm half way through). Very old kdrama from 2001. With plenty of now famous actors (Choi Jiwoo, Lee Byung Hun, Shin Mina... and is it Sung Dong Il there in a very minor role??). And with plenty of FEELINGS. The Female Lead looks first like a doormat, but actually is quite iron (she a bit reminds me of Hwang Jung Eum's character from Secret (2013)) and despite being quiet she can voice her views and opinions very clearly. The Male Lead (who was originally Second Lead!!) is played by smexy Lee Byung Hun... and there are also quite some kisses and charged moments. Though what I loved was that the first connection the main couple had was over their love for their difficult younger siblings...
So far full of understanding and quiet love (and I'm ignoring the somewhat annoying and screechy Second Leads).

Waiting for my happy pill Crash Landing.

(Read that Yang Se Jong will join the Romantic Doctor team.
Yes, come back In Bum!! 😍 )

Romantic Doctor Kim 2: OOOOOOOH, there was a kiss. Saying reset is an interesting way to set up a kiss, also talk about avoidance. I haven't decided if I am into it or not. All the characters are growing on me. My favorites by far are Nurse Tak and his crush on Doctor Yoon, she is so cute. As for Kim Sabu, perfection as always.

Diary of a Prosecutor: This new guy is not it it. I am curious to see if they will be able to overcome this or not. This show seems to teach lessons, so what will the lesson be for this. Also my poor Mi Ran and Jung Woo. It sucks to have a one sided crush and it also sucks to be the object of affection when you don't feel the same. What a sucky situation. 😞

Black Dog: We are coming to our final arc. I am so glad we get a chance to meet the regular students. I also liked Ha Neul's reaction when she found out he dropped out. She realized how dismissive she had been. I really do hope to see Bo Tang again, back in school, but I also understand it isn't that realistic.

Forest: I am making my way through the first episode. It doesn't look promising. The traumas are a little bit absurd for their chosen professions, sigh. However, I might change my mind by the end of episode two, so we shall see.

The Game: Towards Zero: It started off well enough, but it has now gotten to almost ridiculous territory. Where was the doctor while her mother was crying and holding her? Why was the police officer needed to help the little old lady? He choked her for a long time, what in the hell was the police officer doing? Why didn't Tae Pyeong tell her immediately Jo Do Pil wasn't the murderer? SIGH, I will give it two more episodes.

Itaewon Class: The entire first episode was almost entirely kdrama trope 101. So, hoping episode 2 is less tropey because they exhausyed their supply.

Stove League: Excited it is BACKKKK!!!!!

Crash Landing on You: Excited it is BACCCCKKKK!!!!!

Tell ME What You Saw: Excited to watch!!!!!

Forest: 7.0 (day 1 only) Are.You.Kidding.Me??!??? Another FL doctor has to self-medicate for her panic disorder and gets sent to a branch hospital out in the boonies!? Gee, where I have I seen that before?? Oh, wait...
...
...Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim 2: 5.0 Day 7 - plot holes massive enough to hold the bodies of all the pointlessly obnoxious baddies. Please. There would be plenty of extra room for that box cutter. Who let her keep that after she slashed the doctor? 😠😠😠 Day 8 was much better. But do they have room for another panicky doctor?

Diary of a Prosecutor: 8.5 Day 11 - time to face the music. Or the wall. Day 12 - can the drunk driver please run over the new boss? 🙏🙏🙏

Queen: Love And War: 7

Itaewon Class: 2.6 I only lasted 26 minutes. Typical revenge chaebol-sh*t. That was ok the first 800,000 times, but now....

Stove League: 7.8

Touch: 4.0 Likely drop.

The Game: Towards Zero: 7.5 They didn't try CPR the 2nd time? A building full of doctors and none of them bother check on her??

Happy weekend, Beanies! It's been a while since I watched a drama; I was getting used to having a full-time job, and turned my attention to reading books in my free time.

But after catching Parasite and seeing Park Seo-joon's brief appearance, I remembered how much I enjoyed watching his acting. So I caught the Itaewon Class premiere. I managed to read the first eight episodes of the webtoon in Korean, and I must say I love the way the drama has brought it to life.

Compared to the webtoon, there's a very quiet, cinematic quality to many of the scenes in the drama (especially those of Sae-roy and his dad). The way the plot was rearranged slightly heightened the emotional depth of the father-son relationship. I hope the drama keeps the subtle melo quality of the opening episodes when it moves to the narrative present.

Also, I love Park Seo-joon when he acts as awkward characters! He captures a different type of awkward here compared to when he was playing Young-joon in What's Wrong with Secretary Kim.

Ummm, I watched some things. I think. Oh, I caught up to Never Twice, and am glad that all (most?) of the secrets are out, and now everyone can move forward and hopefully grandpa will fall into manhole and never be found.

I also discovered GregO via the Discord chat's raving about his wonderful eyelinered character in LoveStorm. While 90% of the men in that drama are trash, he is a lovely man who deserves to be squished (or thrown on the mat).

I'm slowly, like glacially, making my way through Joy of Life. I'm enjoying it, but I need to pay attention to it, and paying attention to anything is difficult right now, so I'll just continue to watch at a snails pace.

Otherwise, hmmm. I finished The Good Place. Wonderfully solid series that knew when it was time to say goodbye. I'm gonna miss it, but maybe in a few Jeremy Bearimys another show just as good will come around.

Currently airing shows:
1. Black Dog: Ah Black Dog. I am sad it's ending and only 2 episodes left. The fact that there is no romance is a good thing and yet I just wanted one cause kdramas have messed with my head, lol. I keep on expecting to see romance in dramas lately, like it feels weird not seeing it, being so used to it. Like while watching Chocolate, I was expecting a love triangle which didn't happen. Anyway nice knowing what happened to Yoo Ra and Hae Won after they left, but anyone remember Song Ji Sun? I wish we find out what happened to her too.

2. Stove League: After a long wait finally. It was a good episode. It finally had the baseball action others wanted to see. Jae Hee's commentary cracked me up. And the way everyone was smiling cause Min Ho got rid of his yips, aww. And Seung Soo actually lost his temper enough to yell.

3. Money Game: Watched less than half of episode 3 and realized that I didn't want to continue. Some things don't make sense. It doesn't interest me all that much. Dropped. There are so many good dramas that need my attention. I would rather watch those. Watching this took too much effort. It bored me more than it interested me. I was trying out of some kind of stubbornness.

Want to watch Itaewon class and Forest.

Other:
Doctor John: So I binged all episodes from 6 to 16. I was enjoying it until the last episode happened. The theme of pain was interesting but what I want to talk about is the ending. So the guy just leaves, no contact with the girl for three years. Okay fine, first two years I can ignore But third? Watching her for a year? So basically stalking, huh.

What happens to my family: Finally started watching again. Watched till episode 11.
Two guys fighting over a girl, sigh. Not saying the drama is disappointing. I liked it. But that bothers me here more than it usually does. Don't tell me, this goes on for quite some time? Don't even get me started over the older brother.

It has been great finishing Tale of Nokdu, Young Blood, Arsenal Military Academy which I have put on hold when The Untamed took over my life and Xiao Zhan put me in a blissful fangirl comatose state. Of course, Xiao Zhan’s very Un-WWX like furrowed brows in Joy of Life took my breath away, again…but I will try not to wait with baited breath the 2nd season with the same cast….coughs….Ever Night 2.

This week Someday or One Day completely has grabbed my attention (and my ❤️!) Now I am on episode 5 and the suspense is in full swing, this time travelling fantasy reminds me the best of Nine with the sweet romance of Queen Inhyun’s Man. Don’t fail me show!! But the way it has latched on my heart I might not even care if the ending is unsensical as long as our OTP reunite happily.

I am surprised at my own regained ability to handle angst lately with Nokdu and SoOD…perhaps the impeachment hearing somehow gave me (mostly unjustified) hope? *slaps self back to reality

I can tell you 42 things how Under the OTP Power failed the viewers, but the OTP crack kept me wanting for me. The lead actors Ren Jialun and Tan Songyun are absolutely adorable as the investigator officials. I should thank the show for being such great representation of mediocrity overall, since it only takes me about 10 minutes to watch each 40-minute episode.

I also checked out the first episode of Find Yourself which delightfully surprised me as possibly a fun fluffy noona romance and not of a love triangle twisted melo the synopsis suggests. Victoria Song has improved greatly as an actor since Moonlight and Valentine, and Song Wei-long is a high level face genius as Cha Eun-woo. The SML is also refreshingly wacky. It is on the list for now.

Someday or One Day- finished Episode 7. Loving it so far.
Never Twice - catching up slowly. Hopefully the angst ends and the puppies start smiling again.
Finding Yourself - I wasn’t sure what to expect. But after the first few episodes I like what am seeing.
Love Storm - GregO came to my life! I feel alive.
CLOY - Looking forward to ducklings in South Korea. I can watch an entire episode of them navigating a convenience store!!

Stove League: I just finished Episode 11. I wouldn't have lasted 2 weeks anticipating the next episode. The last two episodes were divided into 3 parts. I hope we don't get one less episode in the end.

Itaewon Class: First episode was ok, looking forward to the next episodes.

Touch: Its such a weird show. I really dont like the senior bosses' tantrums and that whole weird arc of convincing that grandmother to do her makeup. But I dont mind if it continues in this light manner. Dont want annoying villains and second leads. I'm starting to like Lee Tae-hwan's character too.

Clean With Passion For Now: Bingewatching it! It's got a lot of problems but its really funny! I love the actor's facial expressions, especially Yoon Sang-hyun's amazing reactions to all the dirt around him. I really feel for his character everytime he encounters a huge crowd or a napkin falls on his face, and I wonder how he'll react.

Black Dog: I wasn't sure where the show would go after Episode 12, but I'm really glad they are addressing what happens to the non-Icarus kids.

Itaewon Class: The first episode was very tropey, but I liked it. PSJ is great, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of KDM's character.

Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim 2 - I'm waiting for Eun-jae to remember she has complete loyalty and a business card from the gangsters, and can ask them to solve Woo-jin's loan shark issues. I guess things have to drag on a little longer and get a little more dramatic (life or death?) before we can get a resolution, but that is so clearly where this story is going.

I stepped into the time machine this week and started watching the 2004 drama 'Full House'. Its like a repository for every over-used K-drama trope, not to mention the UGLY fashions and hair styles. I was startled to realize the strikingly beautiful female lead was Song Hye-kyo from last year's Encounter/Boyfriend! She must've only been 23 when she did that role

HOT STOVE LEAGUE: The move towards motivating the players in spring training is a welcome relief from the corporate politics story line.

CRASH LANDING ON YOU: I agree with missvictrix: the news SYJ went to the ER for “overwork” kind of kills the magic of this drama a tiny bit. This incident happened after the early January hiatus for health and safety issues.

FUN RESTAURANT: The celebrities' cooking skills have improved to the point that all of them seem to be creating enticing dishes. You also get to see stars in their homes or in the wild like normal people. Lee Yoo-Ri is the next celeb chef!

Romantic Doctor 2:
I think this season is quite predictable, but I still enjoy it nonetheless. I agree so strongly that Kim Sabu holds all the magic and clearly carries this show despite it having a good ensemble. As another Beanie has pointed out, the gansgters that Cha Eun-jae saved can just get rid of the loan sharks altogether, but I am not surprised that CEJ hasn't thought about it because even I forgot about it since there have been SO many things going on. The kiss in the last ep. was a wee bit forced; now I understand why I keep hearing about a kiss in ep.8 of all Kdramas.

Crash Landing:
Finished the most current ep today and it is still a cute little show. I enjoy taking photos of the lipstick FL wears, earrings of Dan's mother and some quotes that I like. I love the ducklings in a convenience store; perhaps because of the Convenience Store Lady book written by a Japanese author I read recently, I was very excited having a glimpse of an SK one. Actually, that book made me feel that going to a convenience store is interesting or even magical. Now I search for new stuff and try many new things.

And Netflix has Extraordinary You today! Based on the Beanies' reviews, I think I'm tempted to give it a try.

This week has been a hard one without my weekend dramas, but fortunately I’ll catch this weekend.

DRTK2. It’s getting better, thanks show! Kim Sabu is the best, and I’m loving how Dr. Seo and Dr. Cha are progressing. Their kiss was a bit of a surprise, but I think WooJin has had a crush on EunJae since medical school and her attitude towards him changed when she learned how hard his life had been. She was impressed that he had gone so far in life without the support of a family and that warmed up her heart, maybe she feels sorry about things she said and did in the past.
The other couple, Nurse Park and Areum are just the cutest. Love them every day more.
The baddies are still baddies. I was specially angry about the way Dr. Park and Dr. Yoon treated Dr. Cha just because she’s a woman. I’m so tired of their patronising!

Diary of a Prosecutor. I’m loving the show and how it tells the story. Also, I hope this new Chief is finally haunted by the ghost, and I’m so happy it’s back in the story!

Black Dog, I could only watch ep. 13. I was a bit worried about how the show would go on after the beautiful ending of ep. 12 but I like where it’s going.

I had left on a hiatus The Game, but I think I will probably drop as beanies comments are not the best.

And I’m planning to start Forest because I’m intrigued...

Diary of Prosecutor
Wait, so now you want me to drop it at ep12? We wanted an episode on bosses not a new horrible bosses which make the current ones look nice in comparison...
Itaewon class @selena My thoughts exactly, it was the same chaebol induced sob story we have seen tooo many god damn times, i am bored, move over.

Forest Dropped in first 15 min, i don't have time nor patience for this. It was better shelved.

Romantic Doctor Kim2: I have been enjoying this drama but when nothing was done about the man physically beating his wife in the hospital, I was puzzled. In the US, medical personnel are mandatory reporters...the police would be called after the 1st instance and he would be arrested. Does the ROK not have similar laws? The entire arc of the wife accidentally slashing Eun-Jae and then killing her husband wouldn't have occurred. And the hospital administrations role to blame the doctor after the guy had been violent numerous times with his wife...oh, come on! Hopefully the show drops those preposterous tropes...

I want to put a plug in for THE GAME: TOWARDS ZERO. I have watched the first 4/8 episodes and I have found the drama really gripping which is what a crime drama should be. Yes, there have been a few plot head scratchers but overall I think those involved are giving us a pretty good production, music included.

- THE GAME: TOWARDS ZERO: Beanies were right, eps 3-4 were way better than the first two. The scene in which the reporter saw his wife on the news in the street was powerful. But then... why on earth the detective said TP's name and power to the doctor after a 5-minutes acquaintance?

- MASTER IN THE HOUSE: I watched the very first episode because I was curious about the concept of the show and have a soft spot for LSY. It was funny and promising, I'll continue watching.

- NEE SENSEI, SHIRANAI NO? : 5,5/10 My sister that is more into jdramas asked me to watch this with her. Well, it had no much plot, and I didn't like the fact that the ML more than one time tries to convince the FL to sleep with him even if she is clearly uncomfortable.

MOVIES

- MASQUERADE: 8/10 a beautiful movie. I thought the end would be unhappy, but I liked it. I was moved by Sa-wal's arc and by the royal guard. I think they did a good job with The crowned clown.

- SWEET BEANS (AN) : 9/10 A touching jmovie. I can't say much because I would spoiler, but the old lady character can really teach us something important about life and happiness.

currently watching
kdramas: Stove League and Itaewon Class
cdramas: Forward Forever, The Brightest Star in the Sky, Handsome Siblings...also, few episodes from Dark Lord and Buried city to Shut All Lights, not sure if i will continue these two shows....also, tried watching few episodes from Ever Night 2 (i still haven't finishing Ever Night 1 yet) and Eternal Love of Dream...i don't think i will continue this two shows for now.

QUIZ: Guess which drama I'm watching - I'd rather see Kit Kats than Subway.

Romantic Dr Kim 2:
Baddies are plain baddies without any redeeming qualities and Doctor Kim is awesome as always. It feels like ancient Chinese wuxia drama with medicine. We have greedy evil sect and good, righteous sect fighting for control of a hospital.
I am feeling meh about SWJ and CEJ. I am not able to connect with CEJ. I just want her to get over her self-pity.
Dr Kim, cuties Eun-tak +Ah-ruem are the reason I am watching this drama.
Forest: I have no idea where this is going. The characters are bit over the top. I will give this show 2 more episodes.
How are you bread: I need to get back to it. It’s plain bad but sometimes I watch drama to make fun of it. It needs to remain bad. If its quality improves, I am going to drop this drama.
Find Yourself (c-drama): FML has best family ever. Her parents are supportive and she has over-protective twin brother. I like second male lead as well. At this point I think second ML and FML belong together. They have same views on romantic relationships (plus point no icky boss-subordinate relationship and 10-year-old age-gap). I am bit afraid that they are going to push for professor (playboy twin brother) +student (has crush on ML and niece of Second ML) relationship as well. If that happens, I am going to drop this drama.