I feel so abused by the writer of DoDo Sol that I'm ready for a break from dramaland. The neighborhood at Eun-po deserved better and so did we.

Start Up. I’m bored and surviving this by FF. The show has definitely joined the category of the drama that could have been but wasn’t. A waste of talented actors and a good story.

Kairos. This is such a rollercoaster! We’ve prevented DaBin’s abduction, and we are back in square one, or aren’t we?

Tale of the Nine Tailed. I love evil JiA, and even evil Terry, now that he has found his way into evilness. Even so, episode 14 left me with a sad feeling. I think my favourite distracting psycho cute fox will not make it to the end of the show. My favourite distracting noble sassy fox is also bothering me. He might not be as smart as he thinks.

I also continue watching Six Flying Dragons, and even if it can be really hard to go through all the intrigues and politics and people staring to each other suspiciously, I’m loving it; and Strongest Deliveryman which has become my happy pill, such a nice show to watch, every character is adorbs, it is the kind of drama you don’t roll you eyes when you see a trope after another.

CRICKET - Yes yes yes

Cricket - live spectators - is so good to see

New Zealand vs. West Indies T-20

It was a pretty good match to start the season and bring back the cricket to the audience. Both teams were in the match for most part. Really +ve watch this match was.

Australia vs. India - It was an ok ok match. More fund was in live match discussion and making jokes, fun and memes at reddit that match itself.

Overall, I'm so happy to see Cricket back and it comes from a human who hasn't played played or participated in any form of cricket for most part of his life.

Birthcare Center: An underrated gem. I found all of the moms and the issues they were facing interesting. Eun Jung had good scenes with Happy Man and her husband in the final episodes. My own mom was always saying "I'm fine" and "It's fine." Makes me want to ask her if she was really fine or just pretending to be and we were just as clueless as Eun Jung's husband.

Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol: What the bleep kind of ending was that. Free Ra-ra. She deserves better. Jun's Eunpo friends all deserve better. We deserve better. It's disturbing that the writer considered this an acceptable ending much less a romantic one. But really, the problem started when she thought it was a good idea to make Jun a minor. I liked Shopping King Louis and Terius but something went really wrong here.

Kairos: Til now I had called this drama predictable but well-executed. It’s still well-executed but this week blew my mind with all of the twists. It's only Episode 8 and so much has happened and unhappened.

Start-Up: Yeah ... I don't even want to talk about or read about this one.

My Dangerous Wife: I didn't expect the ending to be so happy. The main couple's should have been a bit more twisted though I liked the insurance payoff twist. There was no need to give the mistress a happy ending. I'd rather have seen her find a new couple to fixate on. I still don't understand N31.

LalaLand - What?????
(I liked many of the characters though ...and wish the show did them justice)

Shanai Marriage Honey - Japanese shojo manga in its fullest... though I'm not sure if in its best. I may drop it. Soon.

Chinese live action of Hikaru no Go - we started this with my son as Cross Fire was a bit too serious for him. First episode was funny and we both enjoyed the interactions between our Hero Boy and Ancient Go Master 🙂

The Package is a lovely little drama, light yet really heartwarming. I really like how the characters story slowly unfolded as the episodes went by, I feel as if I've just been on a tour of France with them. And the locations in France were gorgeous.
Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol is a case study on how an ending can really make or break a drama.

Intrigued about Kairos, thanks to the buzz here and on the Beaniewall. @katakwasabi, SSR-Best-Promoter's Best Promoter is doing a terrific job at luring Beanies one after the one into Kairo's world, and the good comments are pilling up 😉

1. Start up: Ep 12. I am actually loving it. I read up a lot of analysis on this which made me appreciate it a lot. I dread the time jump though. I am very saddened and disturbed by the demonization of Do San. Many have said they recognise nuerodivergent traits in him, know people with said traits, can relate to him, but those traits being called manipulative and toxic? I cannot. Even the comment from Joo Hyuk saying DS is not 'normal' is taken as 'see we told you he's manipulative, bad' Like...??? That's not what was meant. Also it really seems like nobody actually cares about DM's choice.

2. My dangerous wife: Completely crazy, silly, and thrilling. The last episode I just laughed and laughed. After all that the leads end up together? Choi Won Young has been playing a completely different character all three dramas I saw him in and damn he's good.

3. Kairos: 6-8. Wow the recent episodes impressed me. Now that the timeline is erased what? Did I mention I love the title cards and the transitions? Cause yeah.

Thank you gods for making it so I dropped Do do sol sol...in ep 4

MY DANGEROUS WIFE: (Finale) Well, it ended. For all the chaos in the first 15 episodes, it ends with a whimper. The final N31 twist was glossed over instead of making a climatic finish. If the show was a commentary on marriage, its take is strange. Apparently, for a couple to stay together the wife has to be psychotic; dangerous enough that fear is the bond between two people. The icing on the cake is criminal co-conspiracy. The acting was well done, but for spousal revenge dramas this one fell short.

BIRTHCARE CENTER: (Episode 2) I can handle dark comedies on serious subjects, but I find it hard to get this one. This short show seems to want to veer off a cliff and I really don’t want to go down that path. The hard first speed bump I cannot get over is that the new mothers are hardly around their newborns (which is the most precious bonding time between parent and child).

Movies: Personal Holiday film fest:
THE WIND RISES: The 2013 Japanese anime-drama written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki was reviewed as one of his best works (it was supposed to be his last one). It embraces his passion for aviation, his deep feelings growing up in Japan during World War II, and deep storytelling (this work is based on historical figures). He weaves his dreamlike animation style with a solid dramatic story. Highly recommend the movie.

WEATHERING WITH YOU: The 2019 Japanese romantic fantasy film written and directed by the new anime master, Makoto Shinkai. His detail drawings of rain and water cannot be beat. This film is one of his better story plots even though the ending falls back to his standard resolution of his previous fantasy works. This film was released in the USA in early January, which makes it eligible for an Academy Award (even for Best Picture), which is possible considering so few studio films were released this year. Also, highly recommend this movie.

Kairos This drama is so unpredictable.

Live On The FL was more a brat in the 2nd episode... Not sure if the I will continue it.

Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol I never was invested in the main couple so the disapointing end didn't bother me so much. I was happy with HY and SG who started a business together, dated, married and had an adorable baby before joigning the best club of Eunpo.

Tale of the Nine Tailed I'm behind... the break disconnected me from the story.

The Spies Who Loved Me The story is pretty interesting and the different relationships pretty mature.

The Uncanny Counter I'm curious about it.

Start-Up I think a time jump was a good idea, Samsan Tech's members needed to grow up. I'm happy for Kim Sun Ho who won an award for this role :)

9 Tailed: I'm amazed at how much I'm enjoying this drama, because I wasn't feeling the teasers at all and the cast left me neutral. But then, until now, it's been such a consistently enjoyable ride... bring on all the camp, all the creepy, and all the cute Foxies!

Besides that, been watching Matrimonial Chaos, which is beautifully written and acted, but I'm reaching the drama's last 4 hours, and am becoming sceptical drama still has enough fuel to reach the end in a high note.
Also started watching Nokdu Flower. So much pretty! And what a cast! After watching Han Yeri in My Unfamiliar Family, what a delight seeing her in this... and she's so pretty! It's been so long since I last watched a non-fusion sageuk, that I'd forgotten how much I love them 💚💚💚

Feeling frustrated over Start-Up?

Birthcare Center (Episode 7-8) - Mood: A
If I had to nitpick really hard: 1) I can understand the director not wanting to confront Sprout’s mom but isn’t a live feed of Glue Stick a line crossed too far when it isn’t her baby? 2) Roo Da’s dad was an arc that was rushed into the story in the finale for drama (Woo Seok’s dad issues was also very random). 3) Eun Jung’s reconciliation with her husband was questionable since I’m sure one conversation doesn’t undo the lack of trust she had for ages?

But enough with the bad stuff, cause there was a lot to enjoy in the finale: 1) Do Yoon going from mentored to mentor as a father, 2) Happy Man and Eun Jung’s Liszt twist: I was bamboozled because I had believed up to that point he really saw her as a friend he’s grateful towards! 3) Hyun Jin’s imagination was peak comedy: Yoon Park’s idol makeup really made me laugh!

It is to the show’s credit that they had a fresh story to tell and did not blunder on that innovation by developing the plot and characters really well. Despite not being a mother myself, I didn’t find it difficult understanding the attitudes of the moms in the story and enjoyed their growth in the center. The drama is easily for me a contender for best 2020 drama!

Live On (Episode 2) - Mood: D
By drama logic, does this week’s cliffhanger tell us that So Hyun isn’t the mysterious figure exposing Ho Rang? Though to be honest, I don’t really care for any of the main characters so far. Yes, our leads have dysfunctional families, hence cold personalities. Yes, the couple’s squabbles are really lame and the dodgeball scene was cringe. Yes, Yoo Shin is an enigma with his excessively outgoing personality which might be a setup for a possible twist where he’s the mysterious figure but does the actor have the acting range required despite zero prior experience? Seems like that’s too big a risk.

Start-Up (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D+
It’s the third-quarter phase of the drama and frustratingly we were served with the Noble Idiocy + Forced Separation + Time Skip triple trope tragedy as the culmination of several plot devices including the letters, the revenge and Alex. I’m also disappointed to see Sa Ha become a couple with Chul San: are we supposed to assume him holding her hand had such an effect? In Jae finally got some character growth in her finding some existential reason and being honest about the swing only to be overshadowed by Do San’s reconciliation with his dad and Sandbox CEO’s comfort talk for Dal Mi.

Also watching:
The Spies Who Loved Me (Episode 9-10) - Mood: C-, It was strangely fun seeing the team up but I don’t know.
Tale of the Nine Tailed (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D, The finale will be predictable but I’ll prepare for the worst.
Private Lives (Episode 15-16) - Mood: D-, Awkward villain takedown, time skip and...

Watching:
Startup
2D1N Season 4
Plan on watching: Two Cops ( I dropped it before because of the FL but will retry because of JJS and KSH).
( Guess why 😁)

Other To Watch:
The Call ( Read many good reviews)
The Uncanny Counter

Not really feeling other ongoing KDramas.. But will check out recommendations here...

So, looking to add one more bean for 2020: what to watch? Haven't seen "It's OK...", "In the Ring", "Do You Like Brahms" and others. Suggestions for one more show? Just finishing "Unfamiliar Family" so a change of pace might be nice. Thanks, all.

There was so much to do this week, so I could only recently catch up on

Nine Tailed Fox - Thank the Almighty HAF Fox God that the wait is over. Please don't break my heart next week, but please keep up being an unpredictable rollercoaster of a creepy, extra, over the top, most beautiful fox fest. How disgusting was that egg-vomiting? Loved it. And Haraboji leaving his evil wife to stop the Truck if Doom, perfect timing!

Kairos - I will catch up tonight. I am very excited for it.

Do Do - Very glad to have missed the opportunity to watch this crash and burn. I am sorry for all of you who stayed till the end. I hope you can forget the ending as soon as possible. Don't skip any meals.

DoDoSol...nope. I get annoyed when I hear Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

I'm about to start Start-Up and Strongest Deliveryman since I've seen mostly good stuff.

Watching C-Dramas The Wolf and Jiu Liu Overlord on Viki.

Started Chicago Typewriter and I am liking it so far but only 2 episodes in.

Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol: The drama was going a little off the rails the last few episodes but was held together by a strong foundation of characters and hard-to-describe warm of the drama. The drama did feel like a warm hug and it was going to get me through the bad things, like Joon getting leukemia. THEN the drama killed Joon off and THEN resurrected him on the premise that he let everyone think he had died for 5 years. That whole reveal took about 3 minutes, so he only had time to be like "Hey I'm live. Not dead. LOL" and Ra-ra is like "What?! You're not a ghost? Why'd you let me think you were dead? *light beating*" Then smooch and the end. There really was soooo much to love about this drama and the drama was strong enough to go in a variety of much better directions. Reminded me of how I felt after that infamous How I Met Your Mother finale.

Tale of the Nine-Tailed: Only up to episode 13. While they can't predict everything that the slippery Imoogi is going to do, I totally appreciate that these characters at least try to be clever and strategic because of course the Imoogi is not going to be easy to beat. It's been around forever and has won before. Can I say that I sort of love Imoogi Ji-ah? She's pretty charismatic. I'm glad to see Jo Bo-a get to flex her acting muscles since the male actors typically get to shine more, especially at this point in the storytelling.

Sound of The Heart: Reboot: I loved the original with Lee Kwang Soo. Season 1 of the reboot was not really funny, but I can't tell if it's because I was really into the original with Lee Kwang Soo and couldn't adapt to the reboot. But I'm finding Season 2 of the reboot to be actually LOL funny. Is it because I've gotten used to the reboot's characters or is it actually funnier? Any dramas similar to Sound of Your Heart out there?

Tale of the Nine-Tailed: the OTP is never going to be a gold-standard couple for me, but I realized this week that I'm actually impressed with Jo Bo-ah as she's progressed in the show. Her start felt wobbly, but she's really come into her own. Her evil Ji-ah is distinctly its own character, and the interaction with LDW feels more fluid now. I love that Rang and Yeon are bros again but they they still poke at and get irked by each other. I just do not understand the point of Taluipa; she's constantly going on about how, "it's your destiny!" and then she's all literally playing with Ji-ah's life on her whim. *head shake* Mostly I like how I'm never entirely sure how the next episode will go. The ride has gotten better as the show has progressed, IMO.

The Time When We Were Not in Love: so, for some reason I'm really fascinated by Ha Ji-won. And I don't know why, because the last two things I've watched her in have just had me scratching my head as to why she would choose these projects. I was intrigued by the story description, watched the first 5 episodes, skipped 6, and then picked up again at episode 12 basically having missed nothing and employed the FF button considerably through the end. I'm not sure why I didn't drop it. I think maybe because I really liked looking at her outfits. (I can't believe I said that, but I think it's true.)

The Spies Who Loved Me: I'm three episodes in, but I was hooked halfway through the first. The interplay between Yoo In-na and Eric is fantastic. The more I see of Yoo In-na, the more I like her. I hear great things about this one, so I'm hopeful I'll continue to enjoy it. I'm just sorry that I have to stream it on iQIYI; I notice that the streaming quality isn't as good as other platforms, and the casting quality is terrible whether on app or laptop.

After finishing My Dangerous Wife (the whole thing was bonkers), I'm now looking forward to Queen Cheorin/Mr. Queen beginning Dec. 12. All the trailers and posters make me feel giddy and I anticipate much humor and pathos.

This weekend, I hope to make time for Jang Hyuk's film The Swordsman. It's pretty much Taken set in Josean times. And believe me, Jang Hyuk has a certain set of skills.

This week I binged the first 12 of 43 episodes of the c-drama Twisted Fate of Love, airing Mon, Tue, Wed through Dec. 21. (Eps. run about 30 min, give or take.) This is good trash, y'all. Dong Yue (Sun Yi) is a lady general who, on the verge of death, is sent magically back 8 or 9 years in the past to prevent a civil war that has ravaged the country. Her intent is to assassinate Lu Yuantong, the treacherous minister who started the war. Her weapons include her (limited, one-sided) knowledge of recent history, killer martial arts, and a jade flute that helps her regenerate from injuries—even death. Her mission is complicated by entanglements with the saintly Third Prince and the morally ambiguous Feng Xi, a nobleman recorded by history to be complicit in the conspiracy leading to war.

I will straight up acknowledge Feng Xi is a "problematic man." After the first five episodes, I was sure that "Twisted" referred to the ML. Feng Xi is a manipulative shyster who appears to do anything to his achieve his political goals. But he's more than he appears and later episodes show more complexity. He's well-played by Jin Han, a 27-year-old actor known for darker roles. In the first 12 episodes, he brings a surprising mixture of wiliness, cruelty, humor, sensuality and even cuteness to the role. It's the type of character Alan Rickman could do in his sleep.

I have to comment on this thread because of the pic of Han teamjangnim making its way to the cover photo of this thread! 🥰

Start-up: I was more engaged with this one, but now my attention wanes because of the prolonged love triangle 😱. We all know Dal-mi won’t end up being with Ji-pyeong so why does the writer have to tease us this much? It’s beginning to be too exhausting. Just give Han teamjangnim some peace.

DoDo: Nownbecause I was caught up with Start-Up I’m three eps behind. Looking at the outrage on the Beanies’ fan walls, I’m not sure if I should continue watching (I successfully avoided all spoilers though). At the end of ep13, secretary Moon was revealed to be an actor... but if I don’t finish this one I am losing a bean at the year’s count.

Zombie Detective🧟🕵️‍♂️ (12/12): Fifth Bean for 2020!🥳 The show brought back some comedy after the tragic past reveal, but it did not live up to the earlier episodes when our favorite Mr. Zombie tried to blend in with humans. What stood out to me this last few episodes is how deliciously fed up he is with everything.🤣 Watching himself on camera like in a horror movie, Seon-Ji knocking him out with a frying pan, getting an ugly hairdo after being electrocuted, Seon-Ji taking her sweet time to untie him in the veterinarian lab, zero privacy inside the morgue,…no wonder he is such a grump!😆 Forget about reading the phone book, Choi Jin-Hyuk should narrate my whole life as if it were yet another bad zombie movie plot.😎

Shopping King Louie 🛒🤴 (8/16): Halfway into the show and fully invested! It took me a bit to warm up to Louie because I know people with the same bad habits that the show played for laughs. Fortunately I gave Ziggy the benefit of the doubt and now our shopping king is stepping up his game to mature and woo the lady! Just continue to be supportive and give her some extra needy hugs, Louie!🤗 Not that he would need to, because he and Bok-Shil are already beautiful besties and a family unit on their own without the romance.🏡 Cha Joong-Won is another supportive suitor, but a mystery. He could have a great mentor-mentee relationship with Bok-Shil, but they need to interact more. Actually, Joong-Won should interact more with people in general, he seems lonely.

Startup: 6.5 (for the week) For all the noise about Noongil costing too much to operate and not having any profit potential, I don't recall any discussion of charging for the app, and/or a monthly fee to cover those server costs. It seems to me that people with vision issues would find it well worth paying for. For a future enhancement I suggest training it to look at the first day of a kdrama and tell us whether it will be worth watching :)

Fly Dragon / Delayed Justice: 6.4

Birthcare Center: 7.5

Kairos: 8.0

Tale of the 9-Tailed: 8.0

Spies Who Loved Me: 7.0 Day 9: What!?? An "intelligence"/law-enforcement agency lets a flippin' NORTH KOREAN hacker run around in a sensitive facility unattended???

Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol: __ No, I'm not watching, but the fan-wall meltdowns make me feel good about dropping it on day 1.

Everybody accusing Joon of being a jerk, but please.... remember it was the writer behind that! Poor Joon 😣 I can feel him like those characters with Ego in Extraordinary You thinking "stupid writer".