At a distance: So Jun still mostly creepy to me. It seems that he is trying to change that at least with So Bin. The way he manipulated her was gross, but I guess he apologized. However, his continued clinginess with SH is unhealthy and terribly annoying. However, SH with his baby brother was so precious. I love my baby brother too even though he is exasperating, so I understand. I think I like SH the most here. He just wants to get through school and his part time work, make sure his family is taken care of and then hopefully take a full time job so he can live a proper life.

Racket Boys: Continues to be adorable and heartwarming. My faves continue to be Se Young and Hae Kang. Their secret relationship is so wonderful. Most kdrama romances don’t have this much intimacy. That is the word intimacy. They have it in droves. Sometimes you need a hug and someone to tell you it is okay to lose.

Doom: We are nearing the end, thankfully. I hope SIG and PBY get a better written drama next time so that we can see their chemistry enhanced to its fullest extent. As for the love triangle, hopefully Ji Na says she wants nothing to do with either of them and lives her best life.

My Roommate is a Gumiho: The Oroshin still pulls me out, but this stunt with the red string of destiny actively pisses me off. They are actively creating a love triangle for this drama and I don’t know why. WTF, she said NO. Now they are literally trying to control her emotions by pulling strings to make her like a guy she doesn’t like. WHY??? It makes me want to drop this drama.

Hospital Playlist 2: I don’t have anything to say, I just enjoy this drama so much. That poor woman losing her baby made me cry so much. She had my sympathy.

Nevertheless: Talk about the living breathing definition of F*&(boi. Sir, stop it. He is really putting all of his moves on her. She will fall for him and after this situationship ends, she will stop believing in love. Poor Na Bi. Also her name means butterfly. I just want to put the gif from Ghost where Whoopie says “you in danger girl.”

Mad for Each Other: I didn’t know how they would resolve everything in one episode, but while the finale had flaws, I was left satisfied. I loved Hwi-oh’s confession and laughed at Hwi-oh and Min-kyung making out while he held the perp. While the drama started without much fanfare, it ended up being smart and funny with great chemistry between the leads.

Nevertheless: I have mixed feelings about Episode 1. The cinematography is good. I love that it is a more realistic and mature look at relationships and campus life. Han So-hee is good and while I want to yell at Na-bi to run, I’ve known girls like her. Song Kang’s performance didn’t work for me, however.

Bossam: Steal the Fate: I loved Soo-kyung greeting VP Lee. She’s such an awesome heroine. I was really into the romance around Episode 10 but separating Soo-kyung and Ba-woo for so many episodes kind lessened my interest.

Hospital Playlist 2: Episode 2 was light on the romance subplots, which I appreciated. The patient subplots weren’t that memorable except for the lady that lost the baby, but still, it was a good episode that had the surgeons facing difficulties. I only wish my surgeons had been so patient and understanding, not to mention good-looking lol.

Racket Boys: I’m glad the kids got Wi-fi but more glad that they still went to the neighbor's to hang out. In-sol would make a good coach.

At a Distance, Spring is Green: I feel for Joon and understand why he’s so manipulative, but I’m glad both So-bin and Soo-hyun called him out. I am really interested in the relationship between Joon and Soo-hyun.

Monthly Magazine Home: I only had time to watch Episode 3 and am still debating whether to continue. I think there is some good stuff here related to the theme of home, but I don’t think Jung So-min and Kim Ji-suk have chemistry and too much bad stuff happens to her character. Did she really have to find out her leech of an ex was also a cheater, be knocked down stairs and locked up?

On the Verge of Insanity: Rather dry, depressing workplace drama. I might give it a second week but it has to make me care about a character(s).

Mine: The scene where Seo-hyun came out to her husband was really good. The nonlinear storytelling this week made the “Who killed Ji-yong” mystery both boring and confusing.

Love (Ft. Marriage & Divorce): I’m not watching the whole show, but I’m watching the parts with the writer wife and her two kids. The highlight of Season 1 was the daughter reading her father for filth, and I’m ready for her to do the same with the mistress.

I'm grumpy and slumpy.

I wanted to write about how I loved Mad For Each Other and how Trash Oppa and Oh Yeonseo were excellent, individually and together... and how I also came to love the Gossip Trio... but now... I only think about how I didn't love the last third as I wished to. Grump.

I also finished Anti-fan... and there was too little of Joon and Geunyoung together in the last two episodes. Grump. (And too much of Jaejoon and Inhyung... and even together. 🙄 Grump. Grump.)

And why is the sister back in Ugly Beauty... and tearing our couple apart? Grump.

Bomi's Flower has finished. Grump.

(Luckily Roommate Gumi and Dream Family kept me from drowning in my grumpiness and gave me some smiles and satisfaction.)

Rest - slump. Waiting for better mood.

(I did check Nevertheless last weekend though... and that beginning scene at the exhibition... wow... the directing is really good here... and memories of my college days (and some painful relationships then) resurfaced.)

Beanies! Long time no see on this thread! I am watching K-dramas again after six months, so I can finally delurk here!😊

Prison Playbook⚾👮 (1/16): Exactly a year ago I started watching Reply 1997 with my K-drama friend, and from then onwards my 2020 weekends were devoted to watching all 3 Reply series until my K-drama hiatus in December started. Now Prison Playbook is next on the list, followed by Hospital Playlist 1 and 2 if all goes well. I heard somewhere that it takes a few episodes of Prison Playbook to get invested, but I actually liked the first episode with Tiramisu Cake and all the other familiar faces already, so I am excited for everything that is yet to come!

Racket Boys🏸👦👦👦👦👦👧👧(5/16):SONYEONDAAAN!🎵 Badminton and Prison Playbook writer should have been enough to lure me in, and then I fell in love while reading the recaps, and then I eventually pressed play and found myself worrying about our sonyeondan and their badminton blues.❤️

CRICKET - yeah - only Cricket

New Zealand - are the 1st world test champions. What a beautiful match it was.
Day 1 - excited everyone and then rain comes to the party. Frustrating. highly frustrating but rainy weather creates the such play atmosphere that ups the level of cricket even more.
Day 2 - more rain - frustration - 2 days more than 35k comments on rain alone and more talk about match is being played in england.
Day 3 - bad light - bad weather - light rain delay - still got to see good cricket play
Day 4 - rain come again -
Day 5 - good play
Day 5-1 - aka the reserve day. Needed one team to bowled out easily and so India did and even then such small target wasn't easy.

At last Kiwis won their 1st ever ICC world event.

Before there was talk how the whole system actually benefited Kiwis enter the final which to a degree is true vut this was 1st ever Test championship and it wasn't fairly planned but that was the same for World CUP ODI 2019 final boundary count rule too.

Hope to see ICC use more brain to create an event that doesn't given unfair advantage to any team. Hope. Money matters and matters alone so we can't accept much here.

There was no glam or hype of Test Championship. But eh whole format is such that it won't attract the crazy sns hype but still viewership was decent and by no means this Championship is any lessor than World cup ODI or T20.

This week life, a certain’s boyband comeback and a broken washing machine got in my way of drama watching, so I’m a little behind most dramas.

Doom at your service. Group hate watching is nice. This drama has so good moments followed by strange and meaningless moments, I just can’t understand. SIG and PBY are just fantastic actors that can save a whole episode with just one scene. I consider JiNa and DongKyung the real OTP of this drama. Second couple should be HyunKyu and SunKyung. Also, where has uncle Kevin gone? #justiceforKevin #bringKevinback

Racket boys. I would love this drama much more without all the makjang regarding the villagers, the boys are enough to have a beautiful drama.

My roommate is a Gumiho. On hold.

Hospital Playlist. Words are not enough to say how much I love this drama.

Monthly Magazine House. It’s still ok. I’ve only watched ep. 3 though

I also continue my rewatch of Another Miss Oh. Love it.

BOSSAM (Ep.16): Gunpowder physics aside, this drama is by far the most historically accurate sageuk this year. Yuri is my new girl crush. 💜

RACKET BOYS (Ep.6): I’m behind. I still don’t like Coach Yoon and greeting his old friend with a middle finger made me like him even less. Totally unnecessary. What if I were watching this drama with kids? Keep it PG show.

IMITATION (Ep. 7): I may have binged and cringed my way through all available episodes. Kwon Ryeok being forced to spend a week at the BOSSAM mountain hut made me laugh: “Why is there so much nature?” The female lead looks like she’s twelve years old.

COMPLETED
Mad for Each Other - Hallelujah for the happy ending and one of the funniest kisses I've seen in dramas in a while. Too much happened in the final episode but this was still a sweet and thoughtful little drama.

ONGOING
Doom at Your Service - Damn the leads for being good actors and managing to squeeze tears out of me even over this train wreck. He's going to come back next week right? Right.

Racket Boys - I love these kids so much. Hae-kang sleeping on the floor was just so sweet. Loved In-sol's face in that moment.

My Roommate is a Gumiho - The weird Twilight vibes and the fake red string of destiny annoyed me but the secondary couple are so cute I can't give this up. Do Jae-jin is adorable.

Monthly Magazine Home - The tone is still a little weird - really sad stories with slapstick humour. But KJS and JSM are selling this to me.

Hospital Playlist S2 - I like that even in the face of death this show doesn't seem dark. There's always an Ik-jun talking into an invisible earpiece and miming outside the door to cheer you up.

Bossam - Still haven't caught up 😔

C-DRAMAS
Completed Flourish in Time and Please Feel at Ease Mr. Ling.

Started The Day of Becoming You, which is light and funny if a little OTT.

On the Verge of Insanity’s depiction of the goings-on in an electronics company is spot on - which may work against it, cos many of us watch K-drama precisely to escape from that sort of thing. In fact, a lot of what happens in eps1-2 is pretty painful: mass redundancies, toxic bosses, backstabbing, etc. But with great acting and direction, wry humour and exceptionally believable dialogue, OTVOI seems poised to become a very tasty slice of life.

There are lots of fantastic little moments that seem almost throwaway yet ring resoundingly true. The four ahjusshi basking in the sun like elderly dogs, surrounded and completely ignored by frisky young employees. Moon So-ri having to deal with stacks of birthday cakes on her first day as HR team leader. Jung Jae-young bitching about the tech specs of his mum’s kimchi fridge, and reminding his daughter to read her smartwatch's instruction manual. And then there are the big dramatic moments, mostly to do with a robot vacuum cleaner. Yes, a robot vacuum cleaner. A very promising start.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have watched OTVOI in the middle of a Taxi Driver marathon. TD’s first few eps were entertaining enough, though a bit incoherent and not very plausible. But after OTVOI’s realism, TD felt even more silly. When I found myself fast-forwarding the violent to-ing and fro-ing of ep14, I decided to drop the show.

At a Distance, Spring Is Green I don't like the ML, I understand his pain but the way he imposes himself to the other characters is really creepy. I mean he's getting friends by exhausting them...

Racket Boys This show is perfect! The kids are so adorable!

Doom at Your Service I liked the boldness of the DK in the first episodes. But now, it's always Doom that initiate skinship or kiss. I like when things are balanced between a couple.

Monthly Magazine Home This team makes me miss so much KLAR team's professionalism and friendship.

My Roommate Is a Gumiho Why he never talks to her! It's frustrating how he acts like he must protect her... Kang Ha-Na is the best character!

Hospital Playlist 2 The timeline was hard to follow.

Nevertheless Mayday! Mayday! Bad boy in sight! But I really like the campus life.

Imitation I wonder if Chani knew that he will always film alone when he accepted this role...

BossamI kinda lost interest with the politics.

Kikazaru Koi niha Riyuu ga Atte It's a short Jdrama with a lot of food that looks so delicious, a cute dog and nice characters. I liked the inteactions between the leads.

I need to try On the Verge of Insanity and Voice 4.

BOSSAM (Ep 15-16): I found most of episode 15 obnoxious with Cha Dol’s mother barging into the house and causing so much trouble. Why does MIL accept her story without any proof or harsh suspicion?
I hope VP Lee kidnaps Cha Dol’s mother just to get her out of our outlaw family’s life. In the mean time, Ba-woo is setting a record at getting captured and jailed.

Episode 16 ends with the princess taking center stage and in command of the series. It is about time to end the bossam hide-and-seek story line.

NEVERTHELESS (Ep. 1) The previews indicated that this was a “different kind” of drama. 
The industry buzz is that Han So-hee is the next “It Girl,” an actress that is currently being flooded with casting offers because of her talent, popularity and appeal.

The drama opens her being publicly embarrassed by her toxic, artist boyfriend An intimate moment between the two has become the subject of his latest sculpture which is in the middle of his exhibit for everyone to gawk at her illicit image. Art is supposed to take people beyond normal boundaries, but at a personal level it was a betrayal.

After breaking up, she is sitting alone at a bar when a “player” walks in, and greets her by touching her shoulder. (He has no boundaries). Coming off a bad relationship, she should know better to read the moment. But there is a confused attraction, that slowly turns into infatuation over the course of the night as they talk, drink, flirt, throw darts, and the like. It seems she has fallen into the same manipulative boyfriend trap.

The first episode story was not very different than other k-drama formulas. I did not find Han So-hee’s acting extraordinary or compelling. I found everything flat lined “average.” I don’t think I am interested in a naive, manipulative campus couple nightmare.

Variety:

RUNNING MAN (Ep. 660) The first Lee Kwang Soo show since he left; he did call Jae Suk but he cut off the call quickly like he used to in person. The show is tending to be less action now towards more puzzle games.

YouTube:

I am finding myself watching more YouTube than regular television shows.

Lim Jinhan is a Korean golf professional who won the KPGA Championship in 1983 and 1984. He has a YT channel featuring his lessons with celebrity golfers. This week he had a surprising guest, one of his students, Son Ye Jin. She said she has been playing golf for more than three years but is still a “novice.” As a golfer myself, she is humble because her swing and fundamentals are way above average.

Golf is riding a new wave of popularity. Many celebrities are taking up the sport (especially since they were lock downed by the pandemic). SBS Network has its own 24 hour golf channel. One of their programs that is on YT is called the “The Real Course,” where three professional female golfers play a friendly round. There is no script. No host. You really don’t need subtitles. You get the point of view of a caddy. It is like the...

Bossam: Steal the Fate: 7.5 Bio-mom added interesting variety to the political intrigues.

So I Married an Anti-Fan: 5.5 (day 4) I thought I had dropped this, but it turns out I didn't hate it as much as I hate several new shows, so now I have time...

Doom at Your Service: 5.0 Stop crying and give us our hard-earned Bean.

Racket Boys: 7.5

On the Verge of Insanity: 6.5 Reasonably well done, and the ML has done good stuff in the past (Going By the Book) but it's a kind of show I usually don't like and the 2ML is the kind of jerk I try to avoid watching even if it means dropping an otherwise-passable show.

Voice 1: 👍 (days 1/5) I was so pissed at day 1 of season 4 that I went back to re-watch some standalone cases from early in season ONE. You know, from before they started ruining things. The result was a reminder that S1 also started with not-so-great Big Bad stuff and standard kdrama obstruction from unreasonable people and the good stuff with emergency calls didn't start until 40 minutes in. But when it got good it got really good.

Voice 4 5.5 When they finally get to an emergency call they didn't do it as well as season 1, but at least it's not as bad as the Big Bad arc has been so far.

The strength of the Voice series has been the emergency calls and especially the speed and precision with which the female lead communicates in them. It's like she's too good a communicator to be in a kdrama :) The rest ranges from so-so/tropey to "why am I watching this garbage?" For season 5 could they maybe try playing to their strength? Instead of spending a couple years trying to invent a more over-the-top outrageous baddie, could the writer possibly consider trying to come up with a few more dramatic emergency calls and rescues? Please!? Even if it's just rescuing a cat up a tree. If they insist on a dramatic twist consider that the biggest possible twist in this kind of kdrama would be not having a Big Bad at all. The second biggest twist would be not having unreasonable higher-ups obstruct everything.

Gumiho Ep 1-8 - This show became very weird. Lee Dam is perhaps the most masochistic heroine ever. The gumiho lied to her, made her live with him, accept all his crazy rules, then said he was just using her and tried to erase her memories. And then began stalking her. She's not angry, she's not scared, she's just upset he left her. At least the Antifan guy just had the heroine fired, homeless, hated, wait, no, gumiho is still far ahead.

Antifan Ep 1-9- The only good thing about this show is that it makes fun of their variety shows.

DAYS 1-10 - Back in the menu because the other MLs were creepier than MM but ep 10 was also even more confusing than the rest, it's like the writer was drunk or on a very bad trip.

Mad for Each Other Lovely show, adorable characters. By far one of my favorite couples of kdramaland, they had chemistry and a real connection since the first moment. The last two episodes were a little rushed but nothing that would make it less charming.

Racket Boys (Episode 7-8) - Mood: B+
Let me quibble over 2 things this week: 1) The reveals were too predictable (Woo Chan’s dad, Park Chan and baseball), 2) No karma for the unprofessional line judge. Nonetheless, there were a twist that I liked: I thought Hae Kang faked his injury and was nodding along when he destroyed the curly hair guy but it turns out he just persevered through the pain! I also think it was quite realistic that the country folk couldn’t nail the city hikers for their crimes: at least they managed to scare them off? With this national youth camp arc next week, it does feel like we sadly won’t see the squad together.

Hospital Playlist 2 (Episode 2) - Mood: B+
I guess I should have had more faith in the writer after she made me eat my own words regarding Seok Hyung’s ex (and I trust that we don’t have someone who can’t accept a no unlike the Gumiho show), but I see that cliffhanger with Song Hwa’s coffee and now I’m having war flashbacks over the shoes she received last season (also in the second episode!) which snowballed into a mess. Please let it Sun Bin who bought it for her or even Seok Min: those two are a couple so it won’t be related to any sort of love line nonsense! But yeah, I don’t expect Shin-Lee to disregard the power of shipping.

At a Distance Spring Is Green (Episode 3-4) - Mood: C
It’s certainly very wrong for Yeo Joon to set So Bin up for failing when it came to her confession but it’ll be interesting to see how the incident will change her relationship with Chan Ki: it does seem like he’s been treating her for granted even though he’s not obliged to reciprocate her feelings. I wonder if Min Joo might also change the long-term friendship that Soo Hyun and Young Ran have or possibly even the family dynamics between Soo Hyun and his younger brother: that’s a development I can get behind, more than the romance or the faux-transactional relationship between the male leads.

My Roommate Is a Gumiho (Episode 9-10) - Mood: C-

When I said I wanted more fantasy world-building, I was certainly not referring to lame elements such as that red string of fate: what a way to say that your second male lead is nothing but a plot device used to prop up the main romance! It was already horrible enough that Sun Woo’s characterisation is literally bad boy getting tamed by the power of love but the writer didn’t even try to salvage it and just dragged this useless love triangle? As for Woo Yeo, he really needs to go and research how to turn that marble blue instead of moping around and telling Dam he loves her more than she does?

Doom at Your Service (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D-, Do I pretend Doom won’t magically reappear in the finale?

Nevertheless (Episode 1) - Mood: C, Female lead has got potential but the rest is pretty meh.

I know I said this before, but it's worth mentioning again: "Monthly Magazine Home" and its core group of veteran actors are sorely deserving of more recognition.

If you're looking for a light, breezy, and fun watch then this drama is the whole package. (It's by no means perfect & a tad too simplistic and doesn't really pick up speed until episode 2, but it's worth hanging in there! "Parasite" parodies and flying kimchi awaits you!)

Jung Somin is at her usual stellar greatness (she's the go-to for rom-coms or just comedies, in general) and I'll take Kim Won-hae ajusshi anyday over 'buzzworthy' (underwhelming/average/I-don’t-get-the-hype-but-good-eye-candy) actors *cough*SongKang*cough*KangJiyong*cough*..……….
Please incorporate a kimchi slap in future episodes, Show!

Undercover - Finished this one and I have to say I really liked this drama. Credit to the writer for throwing in that little twist in episode 14 (I think I'm recalling the correct episode!). It was unexpected, especially that late in the story. Ji Jin-hee was great as the conflicted man with a secret.

Mine - It may be just me but the relationship between the grandson and the maid has added nothing to this show. On the other hand, I could watch the female leads all day! Seo-hyun in particular is outstanding as she navigates business affairs and family troubles on a daily basis, all while trying to find the courage to live her true self in a prejudiced society.

Penthouse 3 - I'm a little behind on this one. It's as wild as always! There better be a good explanation as to why Ha Eun-byul's tutor/guardian is now working with Joo Dan-tae.

Reply 1988 - Finally started watching this, and the family and friendship dynamics are indeed lovely. Also as a fellow child of the 80's it's been fun to compare American and Korean 80's pop culture and to note the similarities and divergences. What I'm not so thrilled about is the emerging love triangle (square? pentagram?) and the marriage tease, especially the way that it implies that the only thing that really matters if you're a young women is who you get hitched to. Some retro things are fun, but retro patriarchy, not so much. Hopefully the show will address this in a more critical way down the line, but I would like to see Deoksun's interests expand beyond fashion, romance novels and boys.

Penthouse (4): Wow !!! What an episode man. I don’t even remember the sequence of events happened in this single episode. I had to watch it again to fully register what I have seen. I thought ep3 was the best episode so far but this week’s episodes just surpassed that. I was anxious and with my bp accelerating at record speed….seriously I love how the show is picking pace episode by episode…
As much as I dislike OYH, I really appreciate her in this episode. She really did win hearts with her effort to save EB. OYH is of course not Vin Diesel and I knew that car chase will end bad, but trying to push the car against a heavy metal SUV is …. I don’t know what to comment on that. I hope for her to come back alive. But penthouse being an extreme makjang, I wouldn’t be surprised if they pull an amnesia track on her…I mean only that trope is missing here right…
So there are so many hints in this episode that SK being the missing twin of SSR. I guess this revelation might start her redemption arc and she will go crazy when she finally learns the truth. I expected JDT to kill SK to cover the truth but I guess hes has other plans for her. And whats with the show’s favouritism on psycho maids !!!! And wonder what happened to Ms Jin. Was she the body on the wall? I mean that looked a bit fresh to be Kim Mi Sook’s body? I knew CSJ will repent turning down her daughter and the actress just nailed that scene when she actually found the truth.
Can’t wait to watch next week’s episode.

At A Distance, Spring Is Green (3-4): So I am not much invested in the drama but the change in dynamics worked somehow and I will stay in it. Soo hyun remains thecharacter I like most and I have slightly warmed up to our FL. There is something about Yeo Joon that makes me wary of him. Will contibue watching it to see where the storyline goes.

Hospital Playlist (ep 2): My happy pill.

Nevertheless (ep 1) : Not much invested in the first episode. I am getting all kinds of bad vibes from the ML. The whole set up of butterflies present a dark looming set up. And the FL, she seems like an idiot. I will give it a week or two more to decide if I should continue or not.

Doom : I have no idea what’s really happening in the show. It’s PBY and SIG combined power that I am still watching this show otherwise I would have dropped this show at 0.67 episode.
Monthly Magazine Home : I am tired of tsundere, caustic and grumpy male leads. We would not tolerate such a person for more than five minutes in real life.
The show does tries to make point about home and living but it is full of unlikeable characters including ML.
My roommate is gumiho : It’s Bella- Edward-Jacob again, Isn’t it? Especially with lamb and fox analogy and red string thing.
At Distance Spring is green: I am bit behind but I do not have strength to see miserable and horrible people two more times in week. I may resume it once DAYS finishes.
Hospital Playlist: The show I am enjoying most right now. After watching so many shows with terrible characters in the week, this show feels like sunshine, rainbow and unicorns.

Skate into Love
This one had been on my radar for a while. It was launched back when I had completed 'Le Coup de Foudre' and I was too busy shipping Janice Wu and Zhang Yujian to watch this. Finally started now and its all nice and cute. At no point I felt bored. The intro song has some really motivational lyrics. I declare Janice Wu to be my favourite Chinese actress - too cute.

Caught in a Heartbeat
I have not completed it yet and I confess I watched it on a dubious source. But the story is good so far - 10 episodes. It is not upto the 'Dare to Love me' and 'When the Snail falls in Love' level but still does meets up my craving of that genre.

Mad for each other: One of my fave 2021 dramas. What a gem! It's amazing how the entire journey was only 11 half-hour episodes. I liked how the drama didn't try to make love the cure for our protagonists' illnesses. Their illness and hurt will stay with them forever, but they can still be just as happy like everyone else.

Doom at Your Service: Getting boring now. The drama has only been watchable because it has good individual scenes, but there are fewer of those good scenes this week and the contract cancellation led to some moments that felt repetitive so I spent some time zoning out. Thank goodness this is almost over.

My Roommate is a Gumiho: I'm glad some Dam+Woo-yeo humor returned in ep 12 after episodes of angst, but we now have this second round of problems. I like how Dam has a sense of self-preservation. Hye-sun is the total MVP in hurrying to become human ASAP before things go bad. Jaejin is adorable. Seon-woo should just give up.

Truth or Dare (up to ep 9): Just silly, low-budget cdrama eye-candy, but everyone's just adorable. I'm digging the 2 couples (maybe 3 if the maid and assistant ship takes off).

Romance is a Bonus Book: binged. What a warm and sweet drama! The equivalent of a hearty meal with cut fresh fruit for dessert. Never have I been so physically attracted to Lee Jong Seok! I felt like Dani - finally seeing him in this new light. Loved the entire cast. The Seo-joon and Hae-rin couple was adorable too. Only thing I would change would be Dani being a mom. Her kid like rarely showed up.

More dramas should just have at least 2 rootable couples. When one couple gets a little tiresome, I can enjoy the romance of the other couple.

So... years back I posted a bunch of drama ideas on here before... and some of them got made... but this one got skipped, so I am doubling down and worked with a bunch of Korean Adoptees who are also Korean Drama fans to try to see if this one could be made.

On the off chance there are Korean drama writers still on here, though I also posted this to soompi a year or two ago...

Core idea is a Korean version of Ooku (the Japanese drama which switches the gender roles) and adds a bit more on top.

Note that there is a trend of these types of dramas in China currently, though I had the idea for an Ooku-like Korean drama around the time Ooku aired... so might be easier to pitch?

After the Imjin War, Prince Gwanghae declared an "Honorable Women's list", which made the Queen Dowager upset with him and the crown prince (In real history he used the excuse of less arable land because of Japanese invasion to give land from widows to men, so they could get royal titles. In Nepal, in the mountains, less land has also meant that for some peoples there, the women marry a group of brothers who rotate time with the wife, guaranteeing land to her and them). So, she deposed him and installed the daughter of the Royal Consort Ui to the throne of Joseon. Joseon has been a Matriarchy ever since then with women ruling the throne and a harem to match. All of the key positions have been ruled by women. Men have to get permission to divorce, they cannot own land, and they are put on cycles per month rotation to favor their wife, who have all the power.
Since then, the merit-based system has somewhat fallen apart with men severely devalued. Men are considered weaker than women in every aspect-- not as smart, frivolous, fixated on material possessions (like hair, clothes, make up, etc and landing a good woman with money), unable to learn anything other than etiquette on how to properly serve women, unable to do military affairs, unable to do magic (Based on harnessing spirits and Mugyo) [I suppose one could have a male-based magic system too that more subtle maybe based on Buddhism? since men imported Buddhism to Korea], can't do ancestor rituals but must provide the food, widows are expected to die (because who will take care of the men and provide for them if their breadwinner is gone?), and much physically weaker. They are devalued if they can't marry by the time they are 30 because they are viewed as much less virile. They are there to lead women astray from their husbands in the minds of society, and they are the ones punished for faults. If they rape or are accused of rape, they are met with death. They are considered peacocks for decoration and fill the brothels and red districts. They are allowed dance and to do street dramas, but this is considered a lesser art form compared to the lavish palace versions.

Queen of Joseon, considered the most beautiful such that all the women want to imitate her... with her curly hair and freckles, is on the...

So I Married the Anti-Fan: honestly, I'm going to miss this one. it was fun to watch and, while it embraced a number of tropes, one thing it got refreshingly right was a mature couple who genuinely cared and tried to understand each other and who communicated. It's a shame that eps 15 & 16 kept them apart quite a bit as the show was best when they were together, but all in all it wrapped well. Please let me say one last time (since I reckon it may be a while before she graces our screens again), Sooyoung is my favorite.

Mad For Each Other: And to think I wasn't going to continue past ep 2! MFEO is in the running for a top drama of 2021 for me, and definitely a top OTP. It did a lot of things right, it made me laugh, feel some Feelings, and examine how maybe I can be less quick to make assumptions myself and instead be more kind.

Doom At Your Service: Ep 13 - did I basically just watch a recap of eps 1-12?

Racket Boys Kids: Has managed to achieve the impossible and make me look forward to Monday. The ensemble force is strong with this one, but the best part for me is the loyalty, caring, generosity and understanding these kids show each other as they make their way towards adulthood.

Hospital Playlist 2: it's nice to have them back. I wasn't a hardcore fan of the first series, but it feels like finding old friends again this time around, and I think I needed that.

My Roommate is a Gumiho: the main story is okay and all (though I find this upcoming red string of destiny plot twist tiresome), but I'm more interested in the Hye-sun and Jae-jin storyline. I hope Kang Han-na gets a lead role stat.

Monthly Magazine Home: I'm disappointed by how underwhelming I find this one, because the cast is great and the acting is, too. I found this week a bit better, so I'll hang in for a while longer. But there are parts that feel like trope throwbacks to a decade ago, and I hope those go away soon.

After months of not finishing (or even liking) most things, Sell Your Haunted House and Mad for Each Other have set a high bar for rich characterizations and tight storytelling.

The petty staff in Monthly Magazine Home continues to crack me up but I really like it for its frankness about money and reflections on what makes a house a “home.”

I love the economic story telling of On the Verge of Insanity’spremiere week. You can learn a lot from a family photograph or changed marital status in an HR form.

Ep. 15 of So I Married an Anti-Fan felt like the best of the whole series but I ended up skip-watching the final episode. Why are the second leads living together? (I’m seriously asking because I FF’ed through it.)

Racket Boys: This drama makes Mondays bearable. I have run out of words to praise this drama.
My Roommate Is A Gumiho: I did not like the way this week's episodes ended but I love Dam and our secondary couple.
The Day Of Becoming You: This drama is honestly my happy pill. It is fluffy but has an amazing chemistry between the leads and I just love our couple so much.
Imitation: Just might skip over the angst. I want to know what happened to Eun Jo and Annie.

BLOODY ROMANCE: The chemistry between the FL and the two male leads is amazing. Of course I root for the OTP, but Gong Zi is equally intimidating, seductive and sympathetic. My poor heart.😩

DOOM AT YOUR SERVICE: I've watched up to episode 12, and up until ep 11, I watched solely for the glory of coats and Lee Soo-hyuk. Also, the comments on viki are momentarily hilarious. But ep 12 saw rebirth of morally questionable Doom, and now I'm fully onboard again.
I LOVE YOU, SEO IN GUK!
The drama as a whole is of course still totally ridiculous and I don't feel the OTP as a couple. They give off this BFF vibe sometimes, but I can't seem to root for them as a couple. The second leads though, whoa, that's some sizzling chemistry. I feel so sad for poor Kang Tae-oh, stuck with such a cowardly and bland character. 😢 Hyun-kyu is really just filler, I'd probably wouldn't even notice if he suddenly disappeared.

I'VE MARRIED THE ANTI-FAN: DB has been running hot with discussions over this drama, so I just had to see what the fuss was about. I can't remember when I last fast-forwarded a drama with such fervor. The male lead is a total jerk in the beginning. And not just a awesome guy with jerk-ish tendencies, but a full blown jerk. And the second lead...couple? frenemies? nemesis'? bring nothing to the story but toxicity, drag and eye-rolling. I mash the ff-button if I so much as see JJ or In-hyung. There is a plus side, of course, and that lies in the manager (bless his soul and give him his own show) and the OTP. What other shows can learn from this is the portrayal of how adults date. Super refreshing and enough to earn me a bean.
I wonder what is loooove?
The manager.

Once again, I’m watching too many things at once:

At a Distance, Spring is Green: I need to catch up on episode 4, but Yeo Joon did So-bin dirty with that set-up confession failure. I hope she realizes and calls him out for it. Soo-hyun is still my favourite.

Bossam: I don’t care for Cha-dol’s mother. Both mother and son can go, tbh. I’m here for the Princess, she’s the best character.

Doom At Your Service: For the good of the universe, Seo In-guk and Park Bo-young must be cast together in another drama that’s good. It would be a shame to waste that perfect, perfect chemistry. Maybe let Lee Soo-hyuk be in a good drama too while we’re at it. I can’t believe how unlucky that man is at picking projects.

Gumiho: Only watching for Hye-sun and Jae-jin. Kang Han-na is a national treasure. The Red String of Fate stunt is DUMB, please stop.

Hospital Playlist: That woman losing her baby broke my heart. Show continues to be excellent two episodes in.

Mine: Not terrible when watching with someone else. Kim Seo-hyung truly can do no wrong (or is it just me being very gay??).

Nevertheless: So. Many. Red. Flags. I feel so bad for Na-bi. She just got out of one toxic relationship, only to fall right into another one. Campus dramas are…interesting right now.

Racket Boys: I don’t even know where to start when gushing about this show. I just love the entire team so much. And the two budding relationships are so wholesome. I just love it.

Hospital Playlist
I love this show so much. I am beyond excited for the next episode.
I didn't really have a favourite character in episode 1 but Ikjun will soon claim that title if he keeps it up.

My Roommate is a Gumiho
I am a week late (watching on Viki). I had a lot of fun watching the first 8 episodes. However, I have read some spoilers for the next two episode and now I am a bit wary about where the story is going.

I just have to say that I love Jang Kiyong's sense of humour. I accidentally clicked on a iQiYi special on Youtube and kept watching because him and Hyeri were too funny.

Nevertheless
Song Kang is creeping me out here with his butterfly obsession. I've heard spoilers about the webtoon's ending and I hope they won't change it.

Doom
Everything about this drama is too underdeveloped. I already did not care about the love triangle and then the last few episodes were filled with awful metaphors comparing Jina to objects... URGH!
I was looking forward to an epic and tragic fantasy romance drama...but this one left me cold.

I'm watching so many at once, but the two I've recently been watching most are;

- Please Feel at Ease Mr. Ling (C-Drama) - 10.5 episodes in and I am very much enjoying it. I've heard it kind of goes down after this point, but I am willing to keep watching to see how it goes.

- Mad For Each Other (KDrama) - I am behind on watching it, but I love it so much. This has to be my favorite 2021 drama after Vincenzo without a doubt.

This week was dominated by work (you know it will be work when it involves diving onto one of the Hague Conventions) and non-K-drama programming: My son left for his new job on Thursday and Netflix will no longer have THE TWILIGHT ZONE after June 30, so my son and my wife were bingeing it right up through Wednesday evening. We also devoted time to finishing courses borrowed from the local library: One on the history of the Vikings and the other (fun) course being one of the Great Tours: FRANCE THROUGH THE AGES. If you are wondering if my previously having watched a K-drama named THE PACKAGE had anything to do with choosing that course one I can assure you that it had everything to do with it.

However my wife did still manage to complete the C-Drama RISE OF PHOENIXES. Good- but long

Weekdays I was still watching the daily drama BE MY DREAM FAMILY at lunchtime: My daily dose of smiles.

This is another way of saying that we are now way behind on watching everything else.

Bossam: I am glad thay BaWoo is back to clean up their home of an unwanted guest. Princess has been great in dealing with family issue that has been forewarned. I admire her for her forebearance, intelligence, grace and love for BaWoo and his family. BaWoo was also great as he dealt with another attempt at his life and his intelligence in dealing with the problems without ending up owing anything to DY.

Doom: ff button is my favorite companion when watching this show. We reached a nice resolution for our triangle leaving the past behind and dealing with the present feelings. I sure hope we get to see more Joo Ik and Jina scenes next week. I think the main storyline will end in tears regardless of what DK will do.

Hospital Playlist 2: This show is the highlight of my week. It just makes me feel good despite the hospital setting. The five leads and their daily life is just so fun to watch particularly when they were eating strawberries while waiting for Jung Won's announcement. I am particularly touched with Seok Hyeong and his patient this week.

Imitation: Jealous Ryok is always amusing to watch. Feel bad for Do Jin when Ryok rushed to him to vent out his anger om his "poor acting" as a jealous friend. DoJin you should have paid attention to Ryok as he watched the kiss scene repeatedly done. That's how you should've looked. 🤣🤣 And ofcourse the much anticpated drama caused by the petty CEO. LaRima had a nice conversation with Maha.

My Roommate Is A Gumiho: I enjoyed HyeSun and Jaejin's relationship progress. They have been amusing to watch while the leads deal with the new phase of their relationship. Kang Hanna has been stealing the scenes this week imo.

Beyond Evil: currently on hold. I don't have the right mindset to watch this at this time. But I will get to it soon.

Voice 4 (Ep1-4) - There are so many things happening in these first few episodes that I'm not sure what to make of it. The facial similarity (or what not) and the same gift set (super hearing) between the heroine & the villain here seems a bit over the top don't you think? Or is this all in Kwon-joo's head due to extreme stress?

All while I was watching At A Distance, I was screaming this is toxic at the family dinner and after dinner scenes, but that doesnt entirely wrong out his manipulation. He was only trying to justify his notions of his family through So Bin. The story in entirety, I'm not buying but its enough to keep me watching.
Diving into Love ft Marriage and Divorce is just cool. Pan Mun Ho accepting Song Won was 😇😇, despite the age ish they had with BHR, they seemed to forget that with SW. I really hope Mrs Kim's devotion to Shin YuSin was just based on her explanation last episode, I just want to hope that. And I'm patiently waiting for the crazy reveals to come...and the birth secrets.
Monthly Magazine Home - I am surely enjoying everything its bringing to my screen, and I'm okay that the rich boy reveal is done and dusted, not like it pissed me before.
Hospital playlist 2: Just one sentence - Bring it on.
Pemthouse 3- It gets more engaging. And its more refreshing that our antiheroes are able to counter JDT with their own might individually, how much more combined.
Undercover: Just one sentence- Beautiful story, beautiful closing.

Fun week for dramas!

At a Distance, Spring is Green: Started, and caught up to episode 4. I’m really liking this one. The leads are all flawed, but you understand why they are the way they are. At least when it comes to our 2 male leads. Our female lead is likeable but she’s definitely less fleshed out than the others. Yeo Joon is definitely manipulative, but after seeing his “family” interaction it makes sense. His horrible manipulation of So-bin is his way of trying to break her out of a pattern he sees himself following with his own loved ones. Being self aware enough to recognize the pattern, but being unable to change his own feelings is very human.

Racket Boys: Oof, the city folks are pressing everyones buttons (including mine). What a pair of douches. Some big matches and was nice to see our team fight through the struggle and finally get their team win. Wifi achieved!

Hospital Playlist 2: Finally watched the first 2 episodes of this season and it’s still as solid as ever. I’m not a fan of medical dramas to be honest, but our group of friends and the characters at the hospital are all really likeable. Patients are hit or miss, but when I view them more as a lens from which to glean more information about our favourite doctors...I can put up with it.

Doom at Your Service: Argh, we’re nearing the end, and while I’ve seen worse shows I’m still a little saddened this one didn’t turn out as good as I was hoping. Our leads are charismatic, but when they’re not given much of a plot to follow, they can only do so much. I’ve previously said I was enjoying this one despite a lot of the criticism it was receiving, but we’re well past the point where they can pull themselves out of this hole they’ve dug. Two episodes left and they mostly just meandered around without an overarching plot. I don’t regret watching but my love for our leads can only carry me for so long...in this case it’ll be enough for a bean, but not enough for a recommendation to watch the show when it’s done.

My Roommate Is A Gumiho:
only watching this, but I stopped at ep. 9, because i want to binge the rest later.
So, about ep. 9, what can i tell you? I loved Dam so much! She is so honest and clear... I wish many heroines out there were like her.
In regard to our male hero... i know he is starting to become more and more of a noble idiot, saying "you're too good for me", and stuffs like that, and even... if he would be human, saying things like this, I would think he is no good. Toxic. Low self esteem, later possesive. I would not feel respect for a guy like him, but here come on... he is not human, he is a fox.... LOL.
we will see what happens....