CRICKET - T20 world cup. Matches are not as much interesting but yesterday 2 matches were good watch.

Group A was decided to be the toughest one and it still is but Group B turned out to be the more entertaining one.
Only if Afghansitan had won yesterday's match it would have turned all future matches into extra crucial and semi-knockout matches.

Next year is T20 world cup too. Then we have ODI world cup in 2023 - then we test championship too. So many big events in such a short time. World cups are money making smart scheme. There was no way ICC would allow some health emergency ruin the scheme of things and now we have to see 4 big events in 3 years. good.

Let cricket make a few more inroads in USA and then try to create more space in Japan and Korea then China will step in. Bang, you have perfect mixture of sport - entertainment and geopolitics.

Female cricket is good to create new avenues in unknown regions and they are doing better job at that. Its easy if you want money then become competitive - You have to do something to become a challenger of Football. AN official good quality Cricket would go far attracting lot of viewers.

The King’s Affection: Our poor Prince. I say it every time I comment, but I feel so bad for her. I wish she knew she had an ally in her cousin. I wish she knew she could be herself. I also want to note I laughed so hard when the Dowager Queen threw that thing at her (nephew?).

Lovers of the Red Sky: It ended nicely for our lovers. I don’t understand what happened, but at least they ended nicely. Nice and pat. As for the Prince and his brother, that was dramatic. It either ended well for Yul or this was the beginning of a sequel.

High Class: They certainly pulled one over on An Joon. The fact that he would kidnap Yi chan is insanely obvious. I haven’t the faintest why she didn’t see that coming.

Da Li and the Cocky Prince: I want their kisses to not be accompanied by slaps. Also, I appreciate they recognize they are both adults and should act accordingly. As for Tae Jin, they really went the EXTRA mile for his villainy. My God what a bloody f*&*&*! ass@#$%. He is terrible. I mean Damn. Before I knew what he said to her about being reborn, I might have sympathized a little with him, but after that, Nope. Almost every adult’s response to her being adopted was DISGUSTING. ICKKD. Our cocky prince’s reaction was so cute though. AWWW. I now understand why he calls his stepmom that woman though, yikes. Woo Tak continues to be my favorite though. Just a delightful character. Dali also is going through it, poor woman, she just wants some loving from her man and to run her gallery in peace. Let her live. I also said, finally, when Moo Hak apologized to her.

Reflection of You: This show is a soap operatic mess. Birth secrets, babies, adultery, revenge. A lot is happening.

Hometown: I haven’t had time to finish this.

One the Woman: Just waiting for Mi Na to show up.

Inspector Koo: I hope it is interesting. I will dismiss that it is loosely based off of killing eve and enjoy it for what it is.

Chimera: I want to try this. I hope it is good.

Jirisan: I was bored by the beginning of episode 2, so dropped.

Lost: I really loved this drama. I thought it was a fantastic look at broken people. I don’t think this was a healing drama, so much as a drama about possibilities. Also, a drama about how love can grow even in the depths of despair. When CS told BJ about how her pulling his ear as a child helped bring him out of his despair is an example of this. In their case the love lasted, but it doesn’t necessarily have to, tt can be short and sweet like BJ and KT too. I think that is why the drama ended in that way with them gazing at the universe.

I was planning to catch up with Yumi and King's Affection... and to check the long awaited Jirisan... but then I fell into a slump and watched cdrama Once We Get Married instead. No, this is no top drama and it has quite the cliché rich-guy-makes-a-contract-marriage-with-a-random-heroine-and-they-fall-in-love plot (with every cliché scene between the couple you can think of)... but... Wang Ziqi is playing the cold smirky CEO to a C 😁 and I'm having fun (especially with the Hero's talks with his Male Secretary).

I also tried to finish Crush, but the late episodes are terrible, or more precisely terribly stupid 🙄 and I'm not sure I will manage, ever. A pity, as the first third was quite good and Evan Lin was quite convincing as a visually impaired hero (at least to my amateurish eye). I'm ploughing through mainly because of him, though I may rather wait for his new drama Fall in Love (finally a date set to 9th November!)

Watching also Bite Sisters, YouTube vampire kdrama with Kang Hana. 😁
-- For a woman, the guy she is with NOW is her first love. Unlike a man who gets hung up on his first love. -- 😀

And watching Dali. I never skip Dali.
(Taejin is a scumbag of the highest order and I just hope Dali and Muhak will continue communicating and cooperating. No Noble Idiocy please!)

Jirisan: I know it got criticism for the CGI, which was perplexingly bad, but that I can deal with. The shaky cam for most of Episode 1 on the other hand …. The rescue scenes were ridiculously overdramatic and the cases of the week not particularly interesting. I don’t dislike the drama, but I find 95% of it boring, which is somehow worse. The 5% that is somewhat interesting doesn’t come until the very end of the episodes. They have an amazing cast, but I feel nothing for the characters. How can Oh Jung-se be forgettable? Hopefully it gets better, but watching people run around a mountain might not be my thing.

Yumi’s Cells: Not the break up card! My Sensitivity Cell is crushed but my Reason Cell understands that they were a sweet couple but the issues piled up. Woong is too proud and both have trouble communicating. I have really loved Ahn Bo-hyun in this role. Why is longer hair doing it for me this year?

The King’s Affection: I’m not a sageuk lover which may be why this drama is not doing much for me. I’m glad they showed us how Hyun learned the truth. I know Ji-woon is a royal tutor and means well with his lessons on how to be a better person, but he should try being Crown Prince and then talk.

Reflection of You: All of these people are just playing pretend. Hae-won is frustrating and sad. She’s destroyed herself over a guy who was never into her. Hee-joo wasn’t wrong in what she said to her, but she makes me ragey. She doesn’t seem all that remorseful even though she had an affair and possibly child from that affair, ran off to Ireland to play house with her lover, then drugged him and stole his passport so she could run back to her rich husband.

Would You Like a Cup of Coffee?: I love slice of life but the wonders of coffee are lost on me.

Drink Now, Work Later: Terrible. These women are obnoxious alcoholics. It’s not funny or charming to sleep in a doghouse or force your blind date to drink. WTF.

Reflection of You (Episode 5-6) - Mood: C
The obvious twist is that Woo Jae is faking his amnesia: why does it feel so hopeless for me to dream that they’ll go for the anti-twist instead where he’s truly trying to remember his memories? Another anti-twist I hope they pull off is Ho Su really being Hyun Seong’s son instead of the heavily implied Woo Jae’s: an emotional affair drives the plot away from a makjang angle. To be honest, I hope the show does have more meat in the story than just “fallout from an affair”: there are limits as to how long you can drag it out and we’re only reaching the midpoint of the show. I’m not really optimistic?

The King's Affection (Episode 5-6) - Mood: D+
It’s good that the show recognises that it’s pointless trying to drag out the reveal that Lee Hyun knows The Truth but I’ll say that it would’ve been better if the flashback had given us more insight into his motivations since all I got out of that is him being a cat lover. So far, the minor leads haven’t been developed beyond being superficial romance obstacles: it better not be their entire characterisation for 20 episodes! The story continues to be driven by the same-old politics: I’ll never get engaged with that! And the preview already screams evil foreigner cliche and diplomatic incident trope, sigh.

Yumi's Cells (Series review) - Mood progression: C+ / C+ / C / C- / C- / C / C-
While I do think the animation has had an overall positive effect on the story by giving it a fresh perspective, the plot so desperately needed a writer who could parse through the web-toon and only use the strong parts for the adaptation to enhance the drama’s quality while maintaining the intention of the original. Unfortunately, the inclusion of Sae Yi shows a clear lack of understanding of characterisation cliches. Why couldn’t we have gone with Yumi’s food preferences and Woong’s marriage preference as conflict sources? But even the latter might’ve been disguised noble idiocy, which sigh.

Also watched:
- Lovers of the Red Sky (Series review) - Mood progression: C / C- / C- / D+ / D / D / D- / D-, Gong Myung went from Be Melodramatic to this mess, enough said.
- High Class (Series review) - Mood progression: C / C / C / C- / C- / D+ / D / D-, It’s so bad that I don’t even need to watch the finale to comment on the whole show. How was she on the boat? How did she survive? How did he survive? How is he in Korea?
- One The Woman (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D+, It’s classic villain stupidity not checking the DNA results in advance.
- Dal-li and Gamjatang (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D, I nearly fast-forwarded the kiss and there’s implied noble idiocy in the preview.

COMPLETED
Lovers of the Red Sky - I was only sticking on for the OTP and when they got their happy ending I felt nothing. This show had more style than substance.

ONGOING
The King's Affection - Loved the way Dami rescued Ji-un's friends - the way she took on his dad was pretty badass. I am liking the OTP and the gendered inversion of some classic rom-com tropes - reminds me of Search:WWW.

Dali and Gamjatang - Using the simple metric of how much fast-forwarding was required these were not a good set of episodes. I simply hate the idiotic intrigue and the fact that all the evils of the world keep befalling our poor leading lady. I did love the confrontation Moo-hak had with his dad but not much else. This show would have been so much better as a comedy of manners about 2 different worlds colliding in the art museum space.

STARTED
Jirisan - I liked it a fair bit in spite of some clearly hasting editing and CGI. I am invested in the mystery so I hope the show sticks the landing when we finally get the reveal. Also Ju Ji-hoon is 🥰

C-DRAMAS
Started Dear Diary and Out of the Dream and liking both so far.

Dali and Gamjatang ended up being the dark horse 🥰🥰 I do hope it stays good till the end 🤞

The King's Affection I love Park Eun-Bin in this role! She said in an interview than more acting as man, she tried to act as a genderless character. I think it's interesting because her character had to grow up like this, it's not a sudden change anymore. I'm really excited to watch Dalm-Yi becoming a strong Crown Prince with the help of Ji-Woon.

Lovers of the Red Sky It's sad that the writer seemed to forget that this drama should have been about HCG painting and not about a demon. What was the point to be a divine painter if you need a goblin and the ghost of your father to make the painting. The final cliffhanger was pretty weird too.

Dal-li and Gamjatang I'm loosing my interest for this one. The adoption plot is so frustrating to watch. In 2021, can we adress this subject another way? I don't care about the politics around the museum/galery (they really need to choose what is it for once...). The ML still bothers me half of the time.

Yumi's Cells It's really a good drama. The characters looks so real with their fears, doubts.

Jirisan Not sure to continue this one... I will see after the 3 and 4 episodes.

Moebius : The Veil It's weird to watch the same characters like this. But the story is interesting. It's the same message than the main one, how the agency gives up its agents.

Work Later, Drink Now Watching girls destroying their liver like this, it's not fun. Dropped.

GROWING SEASON (Playlist/YouTube): A youth romance webtoon drama that was very well done. I binge watched the entire short series and its pace was excellent. The characters were not over the top; there were no crazy tropes or plot twists but a realistic depiction of young college women learning about relationships, love and friendship. The writer, Kim Hee Won, weaved in a college project on sex and relationships which the three FL used to discuss their experiences, opinions and judgments on their own relationships. The leads, Han Soo A, Park Ji Won and Kim Chae Eun, were all believable in their performances. I would recommend this series, especially as a four hour binge watch.

THE VEIL (Ep. 11 & 12): I thought last week there would a Western show down between JHJ and BMS and it did arrive at the bank rooftop but through several unnecessary plot manipulations which made the ending feel anti-climatic. Namkoong Min clearly carried the show but his character’s psychological choices were convoluted in a story with too many conflicting layers that his character’s performance was muted by lack of character development. Part of the issue was the show tried to fit too many genres into one show: kung fu/bloody crime action; a spy thriller; and an odd couple, buddy cop relationship. It could have been a lot better if the plot was more focused and the reliability of HJH memory and actions were less annoying especially when the end game went in a totally different direction.

HIGH CLASS (Ep. 14): The series has painted the men as monsters, jerks and immoral creeps, but the most powerful women now are not that far behind. As suspected, Ji Yong’s plan has always been about just The Money and covering his tracks which includes murder. It was revealed that the foundation and hotel group have been embezzling and laundering money but apparently that was not enough profit for Ji Yong so he wanted to steal it all. Of course, unrealistically, Yeo Wool puts a stop to it by just a phone call but that leads us to the dangerous confrontation with her “dead” and not sympathetic husband.

I finished Kairos earlier this week. Overall a good thriller. It was fairly well written especially being a story playing with time. However, I had a hard time connecting with some of the main characters...

I watched Save Me and I only have one thing to say: DONG CHEOL! I know I know. I am 4 years late to the hype train but Woo Do Hwan was phenomenal in this role. He caught my attention the moment he showed up on screen even if he was half hidden behind Taekyeon.
I enjoyed this drama much more than expected even though some parts were frustrating to watch. It had high stakes, great cliffhangers, and a group of characters you couldn't help but root for. Seo Yeji was wonderful as Sangmi and I am glad she was not the classic damsel in distress. She was strong and had an active role in her own rescue. Loved it!

Yumi's Cells
One more episode to go but I already know how it will end. It's still cute and an easy watch. I don't have much more to say except I was a bit confused by Saeyi sudden reappearance. The last time she was mentioned, Woong was refusing to talk to her....?

Now that it is done airing, I am going to watch Human Disqualification! I'm excited to have both Ryu Joonyeol and Jeon Doyeon back on my small screen.

Reflection Of You: Well I'm still fascinated enough to go with the melo. Haewon continues to be in denial that sunbae does not/has never been in love with her. Heejoo is shameless, was a terrible friend, and will do anything to keep her comfortable affluent lifestyle. I'd initially thought that Mystic Ahjussi was also in denial/pretending the affair did not happen, but I'm starting to think he might not have known after all? Instead it's Lisa who is piecing the puzzle together. I don't know where this is all going.

Three Meals a Day: Doctors I was not prepared to see Hyun Been cry so hard, I teared up along with her ㅠ.ㅠ

The King's Affection: It keeps my attention but am still worried about the 20 episode count. I am gonna be disappointed if maid, eunoch and Crown Prince haven't thought of an exit plan. I mean eventually marriage and kiddos are expected. I do think the bro in the know is gonna help her escape.

Dali and Gamjatang: I love this couple the same way I loved the couple in Her Private Life. However, I see that this delightful rom/com is gonna go the same way and that is throwing a lot of angst and drama in the final weeks. Why can't writers trust their genre? It will still be a fav of mine just like HPL but I have found myself re-writing the drama. Land speculation politics is boring just like palace shenanigans is boring 89.523% of the time. They could have had art theft, people who buy art for investment and hide it away, or delved more into selling art instead of it just popping up and dealt with quickly. I've read two articles about US art museums having to sell more art than normal because of decreased revenues during Covid shutdowns. But no, we get stereotypical 2nd male lead, blah blah blah.

Having said all this, I've loved this show and hope it doesn't go the full melo in the final weeks. They are my top couple of the year. I just get frustrated. My favorite scene this week is the end of 11 when the ML is talking about family and pointing out the facade that exists all over. The rich girl being slapped by her dad etc.

I am pondering Yumi's Cell and Jirisan. A little worried about a second season being discussed on YC. Jirisan is getting such mixed reviews so I'll see if it settles.

Lovers of the Red Sky: Dropped at episode 10. Not gonna jump back in. Had a solid 6 episodes but life's too short.

I am working on a project and need a background show so I am revisiting Castle or at least the first 7 seasons and will skip the final. I have to say the leads did a good job hiding the fact that at some point, they really started to despise each other.

I have been unavailable to K-dramas for a bit and therefore skipped this thread last week.

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha🌊🦷(16/16): The final weekend was filled with lots of interesting thoughts about Doo-Sik and his past, but it all feels tainted to me right now. Only time will tell if I can change my mind about this, but I will always fondly remember the Beanie love I was surrounded with while watching!😘

Lovers of the Red Sky🖌️🦋👁️(10/16): I still have not watched beyond episode 10. Maybe I should delude myself there is a blue screen to look forward to and earn my bean anyway?🤔

Dal-ri and Gamjatang 🖼️🐖(10/16): Moo-Hak is a delight, Dali is a gem and I adore both of them individually and as a couple. It is a shame that most of the other characters seem to disagree and lose their appeal in the process. Except for our Won-Takie, he is perfect!😇

Bring It On Ghost💪👻(2/16): Because it is Halloween and someone keeps mentioning Dumbo Ears. Gotta prepare for the Inspector in a few weeks!😉 I came for the GhostNet idiots and the male lead, but the female lead is not working for me yet. Kwon Yul also needs a bumbling idiot role asap, this is his second villain role already!😲

Jirisan: 7.5 It was a dark and stormy night... on day 1. Day 2: The story felt quite unlike the terrain -- you know, flat.

The Veil: 7.5 The finale tried hard to be dramatic and emotion-y and meaningful -- a bit too hard in fact, nudging it a bit to the contrived and heavy handed side. And have I mentioned how important it is to have offline, geographically-dispersed backups? Part of the premise wouldn't work if such important records were backed up properly.

Yumi's Cells: 7.0 Kdramaland dating tips:
1: Girls who want attention and/or reassurance that the guy cares, should never wear a jacket.
2: Guys should always wear a jacket but also a sweater or something so they won't get cold without the jacket.
3: If the girl is the wrong size to wear the guy's jacket they are not the fated OTP.
Also, extra seasons? FIVE SEASONS?? The humans are boring, the cells' novelty is wearing off and the new cells-of-the-week are less funny now than the earlier ones. I don't want to know how stale it will get my season 5. I'll finish this season for the Bean and that's it.

Work Later, Drink Now: 7.5 EP 1 was demented, brilliant, and 😲. Ep 2 was boring.

One the Woman: 7.1 Day 12 - Repressed memories? Hypnosis? Really??? Day 13 - better.

King's Affection: 7.5

Lovers of the Red Sky: 6.0 Sigh. I didn't catch the famed Viki "exclusive" version of the finale. Guess it was a bit like that one episode of Big Issue that had Big Issues?

Dal-li and Gamjatang: 7.0 Into the everything-seems-hopeless phase, which I never like.

Hometown: 3.0 The motivations of baddies, cult members and even some not-so-baddies were either not explained well or not believable. I expected better from the cast.

Moebius: The Veil: 7.0 Veil prequel with Park Ha-sun - her consolation prize for getting killed off early in the main show?

Jirisan (1-2): I dont know what I was expecting, but definitely not this. The series started slow and I was so bored that I started and stopped it so many times. The last 10 min of ep 1 interested me a little bit only to get burned out by the end of ep 2. Not to mention the long episodes. I might give it a week more and most probably switch to reading the dramabean recaps afterwards.

Lovers of the red sky (15-16): It was a fun ride. It was a decent historical drama with some pretty shots. I felt somewhere the writers lose their control over the story and changed the rules as per their wish. The ending was a bit rushed and underwhelming, especially the sealing ceremony. On comparing it with sealing ceremony in first episode, it felt a little less effective. May be because of the absence of a figure for the demon. Like in ep1 they showed the demon as a black figure with red eyes and when it comes to ep 16 it just black smoke. That said I am happy that they atleast managed to wrap almost all the loose ends (although at the cost of changing so many rules). Shamshin did a great sacrifice and I was so sad to see her go. I almost let out a frustrated groan when the screen froze at the battle scene. If we take into consideration Scholar Ha 's interpretation of the Prince's stars, I guess we are to believe that Yul won the battle. And What a waste of talent for Kwak Si Yang !!! His character felt so underutilized.
Even with all my complaints, the show is still worth watching. For the beautiful leads and the even beautiful blossoms !!!!

Yumi's cells (7-12): I am yet to watch the final episodes but accidentally saw the spoiler regarding how its gonna end. I already sensed the cracks due to miscommunication in ep 11 & 12. Will reserve my final thoughts after watching the last episodes.

Would you like a cup of coffee (1): Its okay. I have not watched any Ong seong wu dramas other than "More than friends". His character pissed me off in it and I eventually dropped when I couldn't take it anymore. The premises around this drama is interesting. So far nothing special about ONW's acting and I am more interested in the story arc of the ajusshi.

Reflection of you (5-6): Am I the only one getting irritated with Hee Joo? I get why Hae Won wants to take revenge. Imagine cooking for your partner who you think is horrible in cooking and your partner contradicts it saying g he cooked while you were busy taking classes and then you realize the whole scenario never happened. How hurt you will be ? The two people she trusted more than anything else in the world cheated on her. So I kind of get where she comes from. I also feel bad for her. In the midst of taking revenge she is destroying herself and how much hurt she will be if Woo Jae regains memory and stand with Hee Joo? But Hee Joo's behavior is confusing me. She acts so righteous and mighty for someone who wronged that very person who adored and respected her. I mean even when she...

Dali and Gamjatang: I loved the way the most recent episodes explored the messiness of "family", and the complications of both biological and chosen connections. Also, every time I think the show is going to spiral into trope-world it pulls back, a trend that I hope will continue for the final four episodes. I do hope we dodge noble idiocy and that Dali takes charge of things to put the loathsome Tae Jin in his place instead of just getting literally and figuratively knocked around by everyone.

The Crowned Clown: I really enjoyed how this show used its "what if?" premise to explore how an outsider might up-end insider assumptions about power, norms and privilege. While the ending veered a bit too far into wish fulfillment for my taste, I appreciated its nuanced look at how one might balance ideals and efficacy, especially as embodied in the character of Royal Secretary Lee.

Watching:
1. Darli and Gamjatang: The show is just lovely and suits my mood right now. There is something irresistible about this show that makes me like it very much despite some OTT characters (sighs and side-eyeing the gallery staff, Ms. Na, Assemblyman An, and so many others). The last ep made me love our loud ML a lot more: the way he explained how he tried not to hate his own father was powerful I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I would have loved the FL to be much more independent and sassy, but looking at how often doom is waiting on her doorsteps every single episode the fact that she hasn't gone all crazy is satisfactory enough. And can someone put Tae-jin in a trash can please? Oh.. don't forget he's a non-recyclable waste. 😳

Finished: Brave, Moana, and Mary Poppins Returns. Seems like October is a Disney month for me.

Dalli and Gamjatang
It's romcom of the year for me. I think one of the reason is because I can relate to Dalli so much. It seems overly dramatic that everything looks bleak for her, nothing goes right, the world feels like moving against her, but believe me, it can happen in real life.
And Moohak...can I fall in love with him too?

Jirisan
As much as I love Joo Jihoon and its drama writer, I don't think I will watch this. I just feel that each element of the show doesn't connect with each other.
The theme, cinematography, OST, feel like a bunch of mismatch for me. So sad, because I really want to like it.

3 Meals A Day: Doctors
Kyungho - Mido noona still the highlight for me. He adores her so much.

2 days 1 night
The only Kim Seonho's drama that I watched is 10 episodes of HomeCha. But I like him a lot in 2D1N. I feel so bad for the show that something terrible always happens with its cast(s).
I'm not defending Seonho but everything about his so called scandal is just too shady for me.

Angel's Last Mission : I'm looking for a light watch, and I read Shin Hye Sun was great. I'm yet to watch Mr Queen because many reviews are saying while it's funny, the ending was sad. So I watch Angel's Last Mission instead.

I thought I'd drop it by episode 9-10 like most romcoms, but I'm surprised that I'm able to keep on watching this drama. From the first few episodes, Shin Hye Sun made me cried buckets.

I also love the bromance scenes between Kim Dan & Angel Hu, Angel Hu with Director Kang Woo.

I love that the antagonists in this story is not that tense. They were bad but the storyline makes it bearable for me who wants something light with just a bit of villain.

Dal Li : Love both episodes except the part where Dal Li's uncle nag at her (episode 11) and Chak Hee & Moo Hak met (episode 12)

I was heartbroken learning Moo Hak's father cheated on his mother while she was sick. I thought he was a good father & husband.. ㅠㅠ

I was jaw-dropped when we finally know what Tae Jin said to Dal Li in the rain, dumping her. That was so heartbreaking. Do you truly love her or do you just love her social status?

I can feel Dal Li's big relief when Moo Hak said that being adopted is no big deal. Moo Hak, you're so sweet!

Sell Your Haunted House : I think we're on episode 7 or 8, finally we are taking a peek at the bigger picture (I think) It's the faceless man. Anyhow I enjoy this show because everytime the duo do exorcism, I learnt something. It's like Hotel Del Luna, but only partially Hotel Del Luna.

Actually resorted to an index card to keep track of when to watch and on what legal site. Happy to see that Inspector Koo appeared on Netplix so I've crossed it off the VIKI side of the card. Also have to factor in the relative speed of subtitles and delay times. No complaints 'cause this beats the late summer drought for sure!

Dali & the Cocky Prince remains the show I look forward to the most, We are entering vale of despond episodes that we all anticipate. As long as our OTP keep communicating, it will nudge romcoms forward on the path to modernity.

King's Affection is beautiful and so is PEB . She is trying very hard to pass as a dude but that path is impossible. If a visiting dignitary's daughter falls for her I will seriously reconsider my commitment to all 20 eps.
Enjoying a rewatch of Hot Stove League with hubby. NGM is so very good that I feel bad about dropping his last two dramas.

Jirisan is off to a shaky-cam start. I don't dare FF because I might miss a glimpse of actual rocks. When the ML summited the mountain, my geology brain whispered, "Ooo, nice metamorphics." Wish the subs would no longer use "in the mountain" for "on the mountain". Unless humans are miners, we will always just be on the surface. Everyone needs re-usable water bottles, just sayin.

For years I've been wondering about the surfeit of serial killers in nearly every Kdrama genre. After 2 episodes of The Raincoat Killer on Netplix, I understand why. Just like the Golden State Killer, he got away with multiple murders because male-dominated police departments are adverse to communicating and sharing information. The big break in the Seoul murder spree came from an ex-cop who owned an illegal brothel. Think about that. Had to pause in my watching but at only 3 tightly constructed episodes, I'll finish this doc. Do I get a bean?

Finished LOST, what a beautiful drama this was, THE VEIL, I did not care about the plot, only the thriller aspect and Mr. Nam, I hope he looses a few muscles, soon so that he can walk normally again, and LOVERS OF THE RED SKY, again, did not care much about the plot, but liked Ahn Hyo Seop in Wang Ma make up.

Really liked DA-LI up to now, but I am dreading the next two episodes. Such a good scene, when Da-li feels ashamed about being adopted and the way Mo-hak is brushing aside her worries. He is a keeper!

Wong not so much, he and YUMI are not the best of communicators and the break up is there. It could have been avoided with a little bit more understanding and less selfishness on both sides, but this is what makes the drama such a slice of real life. Rarely do I think that a second season will be good, but I cannot wait for it here.

Still enjoying ONE THE WOMAN. Are they twins? When will Kang Mi-na reveal herself?

Disappointed with the KING'S AFFECTION. I can hardly believe it is from the same director of Another Miss Oh and Graceful Friends. The plot is good, the execution not, boring and full of tropes (badly acted). Hopefully it gets better, it has 20 episodes!

Jirisan - reserving judgment. I am looking forward to the thrills and finding out what the grand mystery is all about. The CGI mis-effects I can handle, as long as they’re not worse than what they showed on episode 1. Lol those rocks - I can’t forget them.

Love Scenery (Cdrama) - down to the last 2 episodes! I’m probably done with e-sports and school related Chinese dramas for a while now. I pretty much watched it for Lin Yi and this was still somehow better than the last super-frustrating Cdrama I watched.

Can’t decide if I should binge Yumi’s Cells (I’m not a Kim Go-eun fan, sorry) or go back to Beyond Evil or Mouse, which I haven’t seen yet. 🤔

HOMETOWN Cha-Cha-Cha.....Binged on this over the week. At first I loved the small town characters, the OST, the great cast and especially the romantic leads. Much of it was excellent. But then they filled out the plot with chatter that lead nowhere. Couldn't Netflix afford better? Then there was the competent, strong female professional who turns into a 5-year-old soon as she falls in love. Must be one of the biggest reversals in Kdrama history. As for the currently exiled Kim Seon Ho, he may or may not be a jerk in his personal life, but sure is a talented actor, and I personally hope he gets his career back on track soon.

Lost: going to miss this drama. Not everything was amazing but it left me with a feeling of optimism and hope.

Dali and the Cocky Prince: last week's slap-than-kiss left me scrunchie faced so it was a good time to pause to wait out and see if the ending will land.

My Sweet Dear: hitting all the tropes and just shy of being too cute. After watching some really awful BL this year, it makes me relieved.

Jirisan: no puppies were harmed in Episode 1 so we continue.

Live Your Life: I liked the first 18 episodes and perhaps its because the ML and FL are still at odds with each other. Enemies to lovers for the win. But alas, it seems I've hit the fastforwardable episodes.

Going to check out Inspector Koo and Crime Puzzle.

Hometown (Ep 11&12) - So we get some answers about who the ghostly figure is and who is Jae-young's actual father is. I roughly get that Guru is able to control / hypnotized those people who have great regrets in their lives I think but whether or not he have paranormal gifts is really a question mark. I get that he's out for revenge but his fancy cult is meaningless in the end. Uhm Tae-gu really aced in these type of creepy roles and Han Ye-ri is good too but I felt that her role really has no impact to the whole story.

Jirisan (Ep 1&2) - A very good start to this drama story wise. I liked the the double JJH interactions here. I know that this show will be laden with an abundance of CGI as I don't really expect them to film 100% at the actual site so I can close one eye :P on certain background scenes but there are those that is quite glaring like the camera shake effect....I'm like this is high mountain not the high sea so what's with the shake angle here....Also, Yi-gang hardly breaking a sweat on every climb is highly suspicious hahaha....

My wife and I loved LOVERS OF THE RED SKY to the very end. And I was right in my guess that the old man in the stone prison was not a god but a Taoist Master (and our ML’s grandfather at that). The Goblin Hwacha was not a source of madness as everyone had assumed but simply wanted great paintings whose essence he could absorb on his path to becoming The God of Painting- and, as it turns out was actually part of the solution rather than a problem.

DALI AND GAMJATANG is our favorite show right now. There have been some unusual twists to the storytelling, although not all have come as a surprise to me: I knew that Dal’s ex-fiancé was a bad seed from day one, and had suspected that he was the real mastermind behind The Evil Land Development Scheme- and I was right.

My wife is currently binge-watching THE FLAME’S DAUGHTER. Chinese costume dramas can be so very addictive.

She also loves THE KINGS AFFECTION- and Park Eun-bin continues o shine. We are both looking forward to THE RED SLEEVE CUFF.

I have now seen the first two episodes of WOULD YOU LIKE A CUP OF COFFEE? So far\ it is OK but it has not really grabbed me the way I thought that it would. We are still basically in the setup mode at this point.

The new weekend family drama YOUNG LADY AND GENTLEMAN has seen our lovely young lady past her first bump in the road. There were some fun moments last week. This weekender is a vast improvement over the one which ran before.

We continue to take in episodes of the lighter C-dramas ACCIDENTALLY IN LOVE as well as GO INTO LOVE. And this week we were even able to get back to watching HIKARU NO GO before we forgot where we were in that show. If you have not seen it I do recommend it.

I decided to check out a couple of J-dramas as well. I am now through the first six episodes of CAN’T RUN AWAY FROM LOVE and the first six episodes of YOU, ME AND BACH. I am enjoying both of them. But I would note here that J-dramas have a much different feel than K-dramas or C-dramas- a different taste as it were. I do not mean that as a warning but rather as an introduction-be prepared for something a little bit different if you try these shows out. But they can be very good- one of my son’s very favorite shows is the J-drama MIDNIGHT DINER (which can be found on Netflix) which is a truly outstanding show that has one of the most elegantly simple theme songs that I have ever heard- what Erik Sati might have written if he was doing folk music

Hometown... so sad this was totally ignored.
I loved it though... It reminded me of Twin Peaks somehow. I didn't care if I don't understand what's going on.
My weekends will be super busy.
Inspector Koo (I watched Ep.1, it looks promising), Jirisan (I might drop it soon), Chimera, Red Sleeves and Happiness... Oh my!

Lost (Human Disqualification) - I think this drama might end up being this year's favorite for me. Even with the sad, heavy tone, I loved everything about it. This is in no small part due to the acting of the main leads. They were fantastic. Ryu Joon-yeol, don't stay away from dramaland too long! Come back soon!

Reflection of You - I think our amnesia guy actually remembers a thing or two. ..... And how horrid is the lawyer, son-in-law to his doctor wife?!?! He's absolutely awful towards her!

One The Woman - No idea why I'm still watching. But I am.

Jirisan - For episode 1, I wished the camera would have stay focused on the panoramic views for more than 2 seconds rather than zipping through all of them at dizzying speed. I like the cast, but I don't know if it's going to be enough here. I don't know if it's the episode lengths or what, but those first two episodes were a bit of a chore to get through, which can't be a good sign. I'll watch another episode or two and then decide whether to continue with it or not.

Lovers of the Red Sky - The last two episodes wrapped up the story as best it could but I felt it could've been better. Despite all that I enjoyed watching this show and it ended well for our OTP. As it should be before *fate* mucked it all up. I just wish the pacing and execution was better. I wanted the mythology to make sense. But if I will rewatch this, maybe just the earlier episodes of the OTP.

The King's Affection - I am casually watching The King's Affection since I needed my sageuk fix once Red Sky ended. It did take a lot of suspension of disbelief to think that Eunbin can pass off as the flowerboy CP (maybe if they got a taller actress) I try to ignore that as much as possible to enjoy the story.  Despite all that, I have serious SLS on this one. I would love to see more of Hyungnim with CP.

Dali and The Cocky Prince - I am expecting the Show will twist the noble idiocy next week. Dali and MooHak must have a plan right?!? I'd hate to see them play into the hands of the douchebag TaeJin. I really feel bad for what TJ and co are doing to Dali. I do want him and his conspirators to fall from grace hard.

The Veil - It ended but I feel nothing for the drama. I lost interest in it. I wish NGM will choose a different genre next. I didnt enjoy this and Awaken like I did Doctor Prisoner.

One the Woman- this show is being carried by Honey Lee. I have no qualms but I am getting impatient with the takedown of Sung Hye and Hanju. I suspect that KMN is back but lurking in the background.

Varieties I am enjoying/enjoyed:
Street Woman Fighter, House on Wheels S3, 3MAD: Doctors, We Don't Bite

I'm totally hooked on D&G, the lead couple are absolutely adorable, the villain as nasty as they come, and all the side characters are terrific. I'm completely in love with the policeman buddy, and I love our hero even more, he was so bland in Brahms but has great depths in this one. His conversation with his father had me in tears even when it was in KOREAN !!!!! (HOW SAD IS THAT???? Watching each episode first in Korean because I can't wait for the English subs!) but the acting throughout is marvellous. The story is really well-written and I am so sad there are only 4 more episodes. And I think the art exhibits are absolutely hilarious, very gently poking fun at modern art with the garbage collection, but also there are some interesting pieces spread around. There is so much content in each of the episodes they are well worth watching twice.

My favourites up to now have been CLOY, Run On, Start Up, Its OK. I thought Red Sky was SO disappointing - court politics seem to be identical in every historical drama, and I despise anybody or anything which disappears a writhing cloud of black smoke, but I'm enjoying TKA because it does have a lot of humour in it.

More like this please!