Red Heart: I think another Beanie explained this drama well. It is a drama about restoring Lady Jung to her rightful place as Queen, everyone else is just a side character. KHN did a good job picking this drama as her leading lady beginning. Her character is whip smart and super competent. Thank God we got over the noble idiocy by her earlier than usually. LJ and JH are both doing great in their respective side character roles. Also, this is one of the most beautifully shot dramas, the production on this drama is A++++.

Woori the Virgin: Huzzah to Team Raphael. They have better chemistry and are more interesting together. SH though is really not a very good actor, bless his pretty face, because that crying scene was rough to watch lol. That being said I am enjoying the drama for what it is, nice, light, and fun. I don’t care at all about the police investigation or the ex-wife and her mother shenanigans.

Kiss Sixth Sense: The one thing I noted was that Lee Jae Wook was finally in an age-appropriate relationship with a female lead. When the movie first started, I was like what is happening, it went on for so long, lol. Min Hu has liked Ye Sool for a long time, so don’t kiss a drunk person like that unless you really really want to. So Ye Sool was right on that count. As for Pil Yo, I don’t really like him. He is pushy and annoying. Does he deserve some closure, yes, but the way he is going about doing it is annoying. As for her cousin Ho Woo and In Ho, they are hilarious. They are really cute together and I hope they make it pass their week.

Love At Play: Tae Joon deserves all the love and affection. All of it. He is too good for almost everyone there. All the women in his life really need to treat him better. I am glad Tae Yang doesn’t have to feel guilty anymore, the girl has suffered enough. I love that Jung Hwan has gone from the worst to everyone’s friend. Bromances and besties galore for him, plus an annoyingly cute girlfriend. That date was so bad, but her crush on him is unhealthy, love yourself girl.

Eve: This was fine. It is interesting because the seduction is really accelerated. I guess based on the kill board she knew he was miserable, so some eye contact here, a small touch there, and boom he is on board. I feel bad for her husband and daughter, they seem very oblivious to what is happening. The best part of the drama is the wardrobe, once again SYJ is serving looks, they were better in It’s Okay not to be Okay, but the ones here are good too.

Doctor Lawyer: I am not going to lie, I almost dropped this. The doctor cutting the trachea has been done to DEATH. It is no longer interesting. The rest of the first episode was predictable and cliché. I was really disappointed and then I remembered Shin Sung Rok will be in it, so I shall wait and pray my eyes don’t roll out of my head.

Sh**ting Stars: This has become a bit of a tedious watch. The bad things just keep coming. What happen to the fun and shenanigans? The bar...

Our Blues: Young-ok and Young-hui’s story was one of my favorites. I thought they did a good job making Young-hui her own person and showing Young-ok’s complicated feelings for her twin. Chun-hui and Eun-gi’s story is going to be a tearjerker.

My Liberation Notes: For a drama that had long monologues from characters, I don’t ultimately know what it was trying to say. I’m glad Son Seuk-gu is finally getting recognition, but I wish it was for a much less romanticized character than Gu. I’m disappointed in Gi-jung’s ending the most. She never really showed much growth and wouldn't leave a toxic situation.

Bloody Heart: I don’t typically like sageuks, especially political ones, but this one is so good. Park Gye-won and the Queen Dowager could be typical sageuk villains but instead, they are fully realized characters. Both are twisted, but I can understand their actions.

Eve: Boring. Typical revenge melodrama that is trying to be edgy with all the sex scenes. I usually like Park Byung Eun but he is either badly miscast or took some acting lessons from Joey Tribbiani. He looked like he smelled something bad, not that he was overcome with attraction, during every single scene.

Why Her?: So dramatic. I’m not really a fan of legal dramas but somehow always end up watching them. I didn’t enjoy all the yelling from all the corrupt men. It’s nice to see Seo Hyun-jin in a different kind of role. I’ll reserve judgement on the romance but the slapping turned me off more than the potential student/professor relationship.

Shooting Stars: Why can’t dramas just stay light and fun instead of piling on the drama? Tae-sung and Han Byeol trying and failing to hide their relationship and the resulting “scandal” would have been plenty of drama.

Showtime Begins!: I was not a fan of the detour into the past. Park Hae-jin should not do sageuks, especially with such a bad wig. I miss when the drama had ghosts helping with magic.

CRICKET - English summer -

1st test - England vs. New Zealand - woah - bad batting - good bowling. Entertaining 1st day of cricket.
woah - average batting to good batting.

This is the power of test cricket - 1st part England at top
2nd part - England way ahead
3rd part of day 1 and Kiwi's are back - game totally in balance.

2nd day 1st session - England ahead - way ahead -
2nd and 3rd part - New Zealand in total control
3rd day - England make a back -

Game is in balance - cricket level gone up and both teams can win.
Test cricket is what life is.

Sky Sports doing on shane warne - good to view.

My Liberation Notes (Series review) - Mood progression: B+ / B+ / A- / B+ / B / B / B- / B-
It would be a lie for me to say that this was a horrible drama but nonetheless I definitely felt that the 1st half of the plot was significantly stronger than its 2nd. Besides the Mr Gu backstory blunder, Gi Jeong’s arc with Tae Hoon kinda really went nowhere after they paired up: it should’ve stayed platonic, as his family was a package deal she never accounted for. Chang Hee’s arc was the best one at the end though I feel more of appreciation rather than exhilaration towards it.

Shooting Stars (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D+
Not the terminal illness trope! Also, just because Eun Si Woo’s sick doesn’t mean that Tae Sung has to forgive her? The lack of security around Tae Sung is startling given that he’s a top star and his privacy was just breached but I guess I’ll have to suspend my disbelief because there’ll be at least one more week of dead guy drama (groan). I think I need one good twist like Da Hye being Jung Yeol’s girlfriend because we all know that he’s the best character in this entire show.

Kiss Sixth Sense (Episode 3-4) - Mood: D+
As I feared, the 2ML’s a narrative deadweight. And none of the office characters are doing it for me whether it’s politics or comic relief. But on a meta level I’m happy Tae In Ho has got the side couple arc! It still sucks much but yes!

Showtime Begins! (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D
What’s up with MBC shows and spamming backstories in one week? But the more irritating thing is that the story line is getting dragged along by this cringe villain obsession for main girl crap? It gets worse when you realise that Hee Soo is narratively relevant only because he got possessed and my reaction isn’t one of “oh no, will Seul Hae have to shoot her childhood friend to kill the evil spirit”. Personally, I also see the evil soul splitting escape as a reverse deus ex machina?

Woori the Virgin (Episode 7-8) - Mood: D+
It kills me knowing that this drama actually has a decent makjang (the oxymoron) side arc in the mother/grandma both dating a son/father pairing but instead that’s drowned by the deluge of Ma Ri nonsense. As for the OTP, it’s no surprise that Raphael has fallen for Woo Ri (I mean who wouldn’t when you’ve got Ma Ri) but I’m definitely finding it a little hard to understand how Woo Ri’s dreaming of him and even went for the classic episode 8 kiss. I doubt that was a fake-out?

Love All Play (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D-
The show effectively killed any sort of affection I had towards it by having an incredibly stupid last-minute conflict with Tae Joon’s knee issue. Seung Woo’s retirement was decent, but you can tell it’s a filler and a wrap up for his character.

COMPLETED
Again My Life - Wasted potential. Could have been a fun twisty thriller but was just people talking AT each other. Still can't believe he spent 10 years planning to take down Tae-sub and would have still failed if the secretary didn't suddenly come forward 🙄.

My Liberation Notes - Chang-hee was my favourite character throughout so I'm glad he's happy and comfortable with his place in the world. The two sisters' lives seemed to have a less assuredly happy future but I guess that's the takeaway? Gu's alcoholism was badly dealt with I thought.

ONGOING
Our Blues - I think Cho-hui should have been told about her son. She should have the chance to say goodbye (if that's where we're headed).

From Now On, Showtime - I quite liked the sageuk storyline and Seul-hae's discomfort with the two lifetimes being equated was well-done.

Didn't get time to watch any of the other ongoing shows this week.

STARTED
Tried watching Eve and couldn't finish Ep. 1 - if I wanted to watch gross amounts of chaebol violence, I'd just re-watch Veteran. It's all been done before and done better.

Will try out all the new weekend shows - Doctor Lawyer, Why Her, Cleaning Up.

I'm behind, a lot. At least I managed to finish Liberation Diary and... I actually don't know what to say. On one hand I definitely don't regret watching. On the other hand, I can't say I was deeply impressed with the finale and I was actually rather disappointed that the siblings were not liberated enough, especially Kijung who was still in that terrible relationship, not only with Weak Taehoon, but with his whole family (I really missed Kijung's Boss last weeks). The pace was strange, sometimes meandering, sometimes very fast with a lot of condensed information... and I was totally not interested in those shady clubs under Mr. Gu. (btw, I don't think it was Mr. Gu who finally brought some change, it was, sadly, the passing of Mom.)

The actors were great... but... even they could not stop my gradual loss of interest in the main trio of the siblings... and at the end, I think I will remember this drama fondly mainly for the side characters (like the Clubs Organising Lady who later joined the Liberation Club) and side scenes (like the 50 year old ladies talking about the time flying). And of course for the Liberation Club self. I loved their rules and the idea... and I was very happy they started meeting again.

Shooting Star - I'm enjoying all those cameos 🙂 (Lee Sang Yeob😄, Jin Kijoo❤️). I also enjoyed the Agency President in hanbok 😁 (I love him).
On a more serious note, I think the show on purpose goes for absurdity to highlight the real issues in k-ent - like the Salty Meals (saesang problems) or the African Son (the power of gossip and public opinion). And I still think the show is better than its ratings.

Current on Kiss Sixth Sense and actually liking the changes they made from the webtoon. Especially more mature Cha Minhu (though *cough* that could also be my Yoon Kyesang bias *cough*).

OUR BLUES (Ep 15-16): These were the also two good but hard episodes to watch. Young-Ok’s sister is a highlight of the show so far. Their story arc ended not in a way I would have liked it to. But again, the show underlines the meanness of the sea town culture. No one has time for a whiner when there is work to be done. It is amplified when Man-su’s daughter comes to visit her grandmother, who is rough and mean to a crying city child. It was nice to see the market regulars immediately care for her, but rough gossip of a child abandonment is a sour note especially since we the truth is far worse, The child actor, Hong Jung-Min, delivering clear sentences while tantrum crying was very good as anyone who has ever cared for a 6-year old would know.

WEDDING HELL (Ep. 4-6) It seems each episode is like an a la carte menu of story ideas. Four was bridal shower. Since FL cannot get enough backbone to corral the spendthrift groom, it signals marital doom. Five was the wedding hall. ML has his backbone smashed by unintended consequences of his concession. Sixth, was the mother’s battle over wedding gifts. Pettiness over happiness.

The whole show seems to be an advertisement for elopement.

Variety:

HOW DO YOU PLAY: There were a few shocking reveals of the finalists for the singing group.

It’s been a while, but here I am to tell you about what I am watching.

-Bloody heart. I’m one week behind but enjoying every episode. I thought it would be hard to watch a sageuk after last year overdose, but when a drama is good, it just doesn’t matter. Kang Hanna and Kang Hyuk eating the drama, I could watch their struggle for hours. The King? Who cares about the King? They are the real OTP!

Tomorrow. I liked that ending because it was true to the Universe we were shown. As much as Ryeon and JeongGil loved each other in the past, their connection has been broken. I specially loved that JeongGil realized it had been his pride and not his love that drew Ryeon to death and that he apologized.

Dramaworld is divided between those who loved My liberation notes and those who hated it. I am among the first ones. I didn’t really care about Mr. Gu and MiJeong (please don’t try to sell me a toxic relationship between an addict an a woman who clearly needs therapy as romantic), I was here for ChangHee and the way he related to world. I overall loved the drama because of the issues it addressed and those dialogues. I real life you talk with your friends and relatives about stupid and little things, nothing transcendental. Most characters were really hateable, tbh. I would never want to meet them in real life. Same as in My Ahjussi.

Our blues. I want someone in love with me the way JeongJu is in love with YeongOk, and if possible with the looks of WooBin. Regarding last episode, I never get the noble idiocy of not telling a mother about his son being in a hospital fighting for his life. Give some credit to that woman, please, she may be illiterate, but she’s wise.

Sh**ting stars is quite an insightful drama despite its premise. As part of a fandom, I have lived most situations and “scandals” described in the drama. It makes me appreciate better the hard work of agencies, although I wished those “scandals” didn’t even exist. That Korean way of understanding celebrities as a “property” is something I just can’t totally get. Apart from that I find each an very character adorable and I just squee every time Han Byeol and Tae Sung are on screen. They are so cute. And one thing about episode 13: I’m so happy Tae Sung didn’t go with the filial piety and forgive Eun SiWoo for a lifetime of abandonment. Also, cameos in this drama are top notch.

From now on Showtime. We now know the truth about the past and also that getting rid of the evil spirit was not that easy. This drama is as predictable as enjoyable, and ChaWong and SeulHee are a serious competition to HanByeol and TaeSung in terms of cuteness.

I also finished Rainless love in a goddess land. The love for the drama slowly disappeared was I approached the ending. Second part didn’t make much sense to me, but I loved the use of the indigenous language and folklore. As for the rest, drama lost its purpose and meaning half way...

Completed:
On my quest of completing classic, old j-doramas...
1. The smile has left your eyes: Cannot believe this came from the same writer as Long Vacation. Haha, what happened? xD I wanted in on the big-mystery from the very beginning, and I must say, the jaw-dropping reveal completely broke my mind. The fact that I'm still struggling to place Ryo on a moral-spectrum, & failing epic-ly, shows how brilliant of an actor Kimura Takuya is. Seo In-Guk's casting works in my head, but 1ep of his lackluster interpretation had me clocking out. The OG is the way to go.

2. Aoi Tori: Natsukawa Yui used to be sooooo beautiful, as pretty as the beautiful J-countryside featured in this!!!! Part-II befuddled my brain-cells again, cuz I had no idea we were going in that direction. <3 Also, Toyokawa Estushi looks like Lee Byung Hun, & I cannot unsee it. Heh.

Currently Watching:
3. Mr. Sunshine: Started this to fill a Pachinko-shaped hole in my heart. Reached midway, and I'm mentally gearing up to watch ALL 5 of the Main Leads dying. This can't possibly have a happy ending, right? Surprised with myself for really enjoying a Kim Eun-sook drama, though the occasional comedy feels a tad misplaced. Need to know LBH's secret of eternal youth, cuz no-way the man looks like 46.

5. Our Blues: What started as my least favorite story-line, became my most liked, & also made me ugly cry alongside Han Jimin. 'Young-Hui & the paintings' was a beautifully written scene! Though I can't see a big conclusion for Our Blues by the end of 20th ep (like Lib Notes), I'm not prepared to say goodbye.

6. Sixth Sense: The lead pairing works, the character setup works. I wish they would tone down the Taiwanese-drama style office cringe. Perfect midweek drama!

Red Heart I'm behind... None character makes me care for this drama.

Woori the Virgin So many useless scenes and not enough couple ones.

Love All Play Tae-Yang has become my less favourite FL. She changes her mind every 5 minutes.

Doctor Lawyer I want to try this one.

Showtime Begins! I just watch it for Jin Ki-Joo at this point.

Why Her? I'm curious about the story. The first episode didn't give so much. The first episode was lacking Bae In-Hyuk's presence :p

Our Blues I didn't like Yeong-Ok's arc. I found her awful with her sister. I understand the difficulty of her responsability. But she ran away from it. I'm rooting for Ki-Jun!

Shooting Stars I would like less drama and more funny stories about stars. It's sad the cameos didn't come as themselves but as characters. It took the fun it could have been.

Kiss Sixth Sense I'm sorry for the SML, he never got the truth but her boss did.

My Liberation Notes I liked it. But the story should have told in 20 episodes. After the time jump, they didn't get enough time to give sense to each character. I'm not disapointed but something is missing.

This week the baddie from Again My Life bites the dust (?) under suspicious circumstances but instantly reincarnates as baddies in both Why Her and Doctor Lawyer.

Kiss Sixth Sense: 7.0 (days 1/4) The FL foresees things when her lips touch another person; I foresee things when my hands touch the remote. When kdrama leads lock lips, you don't need too many special abilities to guess they may end up in bed, although perhaps not until episode 17. The literal scar instead of the emotional kind is the only evidence of foresight.

Red Heart: 7.5 Sigh. Right after Kiss Sixth Sense ep 2 I start day 9 here, see the leads kiss, and start wondering what the FL sees in the ML's future. Oh wait, I'll bet she sees them in bed. Imagine that!

Again My Life: 6.0

Shooting Stars: 6.0 Side characters like Ho-young & Ki-bbeum continue to be more fun than the leads.

From Now, Showtime!: 7.0 The time in the past dragged.

Love All Play: 5.5

Eve: 1.0

Why Her?: 7.5 Where's the suicide prevention squad from Tomorrow when we need them?

Doctor Lawyer: 4.0 Like every med-drama ever, has to frame (of course) the brilliant-but-good-hearted (of course) lead for the death (of course) of a patient. Sigh. I hate that part. The way they seem to have gotten the heart was very excessive and very kdrama. Seems like show may be both over-the-top and "environmentally friendly" but it might improve once it's past the downfall stage?

Today, I have frustrations. SPOILER ALERT FOR SH**TING STARS EP 13, DOCTOR LAWYER EP 1 AND WHY HER? EP 1

Doctor Lawyer

I started this because of So Ji Sub, but even my all time favorite actor couldn’t make me sit through the first episode. Having watched so many medical shows, the way they handled certain medical situations made me question the ethics. During the first few minutes in the courts, the defendant (?) collapsed in the middle of the courtroom. I’m not a lawyer, nor a doctor so I can’t say for sure if they’re correct or not but I feel as if they are wrong here. The defendant was in prison uniform, hence he should be closely watched. He just stood up and walked to the middle of the courtroom to collapse, and when the judge told his staff to get his conscious back, they just went to the unconscious person and tried to wake him up. They also took their merry time to grab a defibrillator (and no one questioned the fact that they weren’t doctors or nurses) and it wasn’t even working. Maybe that’s because the staff (or other lawyers?) don’t usually use defibrillators in the courtroom? I don’t know.

And then our hero makes his heroic entrance, walking casually over to a man who might already be dead (his heartbeat stopped a long time ago, before the staff even played doctor with their playset) and no one stopped him or asked who he was. I didn’t continue the episode but maybe his medical license was revoked or something happened after I stopped watching, but the heroine was wondering what he was doing here, in an aggressive tone. And all this time, while they were having their conversations, a man wasn’t breathing. Then he just jabbed something in the patient’s throat and he started breathing. And mind you, all this time, no one was stopping him or questioning his acts. They all were just staring like I was. Then he proceeds to perform a surgery (thank God they remembers to clean the injury with alcohol – I don’t know medical terms, so excuse me if I said something wrong), without a mask, with everyone crowding them, in the courtroom. And then the judge asks if they called the ambulance. So during the whole issue, no one had the brains to call the ambulance and would let someone who doesn’t even identify himself to do a surgery in the middle of the courtroom? Even when the heroine basically tells him that he’s not a doctor anymore? Absurd.

Cut to their past. The main couple has zero chemistry, and even a kiss scene in the first episode did nothing to me. I wanted to see their past to connect to them. Our hero is basically a hero in the hospital and would save patient after patient, and run around to keep an eye on the heroine’s brother – a heart patient who is doing an exam in pressure, mind you. The boy has a hard time breathing and the examiner just comes over and asks if he’s okay. That made me laugh. He’s a heart patient. He’s literally in the hospital, plugged to machines and suddenly he has a hard time breathing...

Although every week is psychology week in kdramas, with a constant back and forth of trauma and therapy, this week of watching was a particularly deep dive into the subject.

First, the ending of Liberation Notes resulted in a little cognitive dissonance. Fortunately Iiberation from that psychological state was not slow and hard, but just required a 15 minute perusal of Dramabeans commentary. MiJeong could have saved herself a lot of liberating effort if she had just made Dramabeans a regular part of her workday.

Then, in a brief break from dramas, my wife and I then watched the insubstantial but thoroughly charming movie, My Bossy Girl. Far from being bossy, the lead was played by the beautiful and totally charismatic Lee Elijah. Even though her character was wheelchair bound, it was, as usual, the male lead who was actually disabled, with an unknown psychological illness (panic disorder? Agoraphobia?). Even though I wouldn’t rank this film that high, I would definitely have watched a 16 episode kdrama version, just to see Lee Elijah’s character fully developed (and to see more of Lee Elijah.) One big flaw of this romance—there was not one kiss between the lead characters! It triggered my own rom-com viewing disorder, Missakissiphobia.

In our final sampling of normal human psychology we are in the process of watching He is Psychometric. I know a lot of DB contributors have seen this one—quite fun. This time the charismatic charmer is Jinyoung, with his psychometric abilities, although Kim Kwon is also handsome with his alexithymia. I had previously associated psychometry with boring and easily manipulated personality tests, but apparently psychologists now define it as the ability to see the past lives of people and objects just by touching them.

I was not surprised by this redefinition—my wife has exactly this ability, although her's involves psychometric transference. Her glare when she touches a pile of dirty clothes I left briefly on the floor, or some dirty dishes that I briefly neglected to rinse, causes my life to flash before my eyes, a well known psychological phenomenon when experiencing life-threatening circumstances, that in my case requires immediate emotive behavior therapy to prevent marital distress syndrome!

Legally Romance
I've found my catnip in cdramas. Serious dtamas once in a while are good but I really like modern rom coms with a reasonable story and tonnes of comedy. Legally Romance did just that and I remember Day of Becoming you doing the same. Hence, both are going in my favorites. Even though the last few episodes were not needed. The uni life was superior to the office life. Still looking for more stuff like this and DOBY but cdramaland has far and few in between.

Red Heart
Love the grey characters and the shift in the villain we saw this week. This drama isn't afraid to go places where many other dramas don't even try to.

My Liberation Notes
Struggling to see last episode.

Shining Inheritance💍(8/28): Hwan continues his self-pity party but grandma is not having any of it. Neither does Eun-Sung at times, but she is generally too nice to everyone she meets. I certainly would not object if she were to be less nice in the future, especially to Hwan. It would build his character and possibly awaken his feelings!😀

Fruits Basket (2001)😾(4/26): I only knew this anime by name, but I would have pressed play sooner if I had actually bothered to look up the plot. Zodiacs are a guilty pleasure of mine and it looks like it will be an interesting ensemble of characters. I am already shipping our female lead with the cat!😀

Even though SHOOTING STARS had less funny scenes in the last episodes, I'm still eagerly awaiting the latest episodes.

KISS SIXTH SENSE is strangely addicting.

LOVE ALL PLAY is slowly coming to an end and as much as I like the main couple, I won't be mad when the season is over.

Since season 2 starts soon I started watching the first season of YUMI'S CELLS yesterday.

Because I dropped out of WOORI THE VIRGIN and WELCOME TO WEDDING HELL, I had time for WEIGHTLIFTING FAIRY KIM BOK-JOO.

LIBERATION NOTES: Having had a few days to think about the last episode, I'm not even sure I'd call the ending open; there was more resolution than I anticipated. In fact, everyone's story came to a kind of close, and they all found varying degrees of peace, even though we know the characters will continue to live and struggle in certain ways. Chang-Hee's and Mi-jeong's arcs felt the most complete because they've clearly reached a level of self-acceptance and happiness that was entirely missing from their lives at the start of the drama. But Gu and Gi-jung also achieved a sense of closure. Gu has the most to overcome to get out of the self-destruction gutter, but he's determined to allow himself to enjoy his life, even if it's just seconds a day. That's major progress. And Gi-jung got exactly what she wanted, as well as all the baggage of dating a man with a problematic family that she anticipated. But she, too, ultimately is loving and loved in her relationship. Final small thought that was especially true of the last two episodes but also throughout: the way Gu looks at Mi-jeong is more adoring (worshipful) and romantic than a thousand kdrama kisses.

RED HEART: What's fascinating about this drama continues to be the way it inverts common storytelling tropes simply by ascribing them to female characters. Basically, we're watching a story we've seen a thousand times before, in which a King has to weigh political and emotional reasons for his actions and, in particular, regarding who he'll marry. But this time, it's the Queen-in-waiting who has to strategize and consider all angles when choosing the terms of her marriage. The romance here is necessary as without it, the story would fall apart, but I wish the show would let the romantic scenes rely on the actors' chemistry as the swelling score at those points takes away from the power of the emotion.

KISS SIX SENSE: This was the week's biggest surprise for me. I had zero interest in this one as the story sounded--and totally is--cliched and unoriginal, but why do I love it so much in execution?! I don't find the FL particular compelling, neither the dialogue nor the central plot are especially clever or unique, and the humor is sometimes overdone and obvious. And yet . . . I was totally riveted! I've decided that it must be that the chemistry between the leads is just that good. We'll see if my infatuation lasts.

LOVE ALL PLAY: Still love the feel and tone of this show, and Tae-jung is truly one of the all-time best kdrama boyfriends ever (loving, athletics, sexy, smart, loyal, considerate, fun) but I wish the central dynamic between the leads was a little more balanced. Taeyang is a sympathetic character whose reasons for her actions are well developed, but at this point, I'm so tired of her not giving Taejung the understanding and support he needs. In contrast, absolutely loved Junghwan this week. I don't know if I buy that the coach's daughter is the love of...

Availability report for US viewers. Apparently the mouse hasn’t sucked up every upcoming drama.
Two upcoming dramas have appeared on Viki US “Coming Soon” list:
1. JTBC’s INSIDER. 16 eps. Episode one airs June 8.
2. KBS’s JINXED AT FIRST. 16 eps. Episode one airs June 15.

Today is the first that JINXED has caught me attention. I really don’t know the leads other than that Na In-woo jumped in and helped out RIVER WHERE THE MOON RISES. I think I will give JINX a shot.I am in the mood for a comedy. At the moment I don’t think I am ready to see Kang Ha-neul go dark.

Also on Netflix coming soon in June should be the Hong Sisters’ ALCHEMY OF SOULS (Eps. one airs June 18) and SIG’s CAFE MINAMDANG (Eps. one airs June 27).

Sh**ting Stars - bit smug about my suspicions abut Mr. Suspicious but I wish it would be less like Anti-Fan of the week. Praise for all the side ships XD

Love All Play - somewhat feel like that meme where she was trying Kombucha especially with where the story is going. Honestly if you had told me the one character who defaulted to stop his teammate from hurting himself at the start of the series was now pushing to play with a knee injury by the end of it, I would have asked if you were joking.

Kiss Sixth Sense - (somehow missed Ep4) bit on the fence with this series. Perhaps because I'm just curious if a plastic coverup for her lips would somewhat solve her foresight problem? If she makes out with someone does she constantly get new visions?
But it also feels frustrating when the ML is shown as being really good at his job but if his team needs to work overtime/all-nighters 10 days straight or whatever its hard to actually think so. Like berating the FL because someone else wasn't doing his job just seemed wrong, especially when he knows it was the other guy and all he said to him was the same thing: stick to the manual. All the time I just couldn't help but wonder if putting a tarp over the bed was too hard a task.

We continued to love SHOOTING STARS- and I actually thought that the family issue (now scandal) between our ML and his mom was a good fit for the show- adding something that was even needed. I also like that we may finally be getting the real reason he went to Africa.

We also continue to love WOORI THE VIRGIN. The story has moved along with just enough craziness to make it delightful.

I am still watching the daily drama BRILLIANT HERITAGE.

OUR BLUES has been an exceptional show. The most recent episodes continued to give us great drama even if the accident at the beginning of episode 16 stretches credulity.

My wife loves costume dramas in general and this week on Netflix that meant watching REIGN. Not many people remember that, for a brief time Mary the Queen of Scots was also the Queen of France. It has been suggested that many of her later missteps as Scottish monarch could be attributed to the long time when she effectively was growing up in France- leaving her without a fundamental understanding of her own country.

Of course there is no way to keep my wife from watching her beloved Chinese Costume dramas so, in a break from watching REIGN (which has a total of 78 episodes) she started, on our son’s recommendation, the fantasy THE BLUE WHISPER, starring the incomparable Dilmurat Dilraba. Although a fantasy it departs in many ways from the more usual Xianxia world to set up something quite different. My son says that it is also less like Tolkien and much more like Harry Potter- so perhaps it is more fittingly described as a Xuanhuan story- these often contain non-Chinese ideas and elements. He has been enjoying it as a ‘free’ show on Viki. From what I have seen the production values are very high. Once she started it my wife was totally hooked- binging all 42 episodes almost non-stop. She says it was fabulous.

She also finished AGAIN MY LIFE- a well rated show for a good reason.

The weekender/triple rom-com IT'S BEAUTIFUL NOW has lacked many of the more dramatic elements needed to get people excited- the apparent ‘spillin of the beans’ by youngest future sister-in-law did not actually happen- but the secret will be out soon. However all of our romances advanced last week with the final scene being our lady lawyer and her dolt finally kissing for real. However, the previews for this weeks episodes strongly suggest that things are truly about to change. In any case I continue to love our future sisters-in-law.

I watched the first episode of EVE and was not drawn to the FL. Which means I am not yet drawn into the story. Revenge melo is not really my thing so I may not continue with what Miss h has described as a tedious show- and she is right. I also agree with her about the detour int the past life in FROM NOW ON, SHOWTIME- the insertion of a sageuk into this story is distracting and unneeded. I was disappointed.

My Liberation Notes - I have my reservations with the ending, no closure of any sort at all. However, seeing these characters live thier lives on screen is something I don't regret devoting 16 hours to. I'll give MLN 16 hours as many times as I pick up the rewatch remote.

Kiss Sixth Sense - Quick reveal of plot devices, now that's a shaker. Cha Minhu's face can be ridiculous at times, trying so hard to fit so much it's comedic itself.
Whatever happened to Minhu's hair. This new look isn't it at all😏. It gives him a serious comedic look more than the previous nerdy look I lurved.
Minhu-Yesool-Pilyo triangle is an interesting one. Pilyo wasn’t the bad guy after all. There is this kind of peace and uneasiness that comes with this truth. Do not ruin Pil-yo, show.

Bloody Heart – This only get the ✅ effect episode in episode out. No pushover character amongst the main players.

I picked up VIP (at Ep 8 currently) and it proves true to what was in the recaps. Solid writing, solid acting from Jang Nara, Lee Sang Yeon and Lee Chung-ah. The side chick was pretty open from the beginning, it wasn’t hard singling her out. My one cross however, is the incompetence of Sangwoo. I don’t know if it’s comedic effect but it’s grating my blood. Arrgh!

From Now On, Showtime! (up to ep 12): I sort of miss the case-of-the-week format, but I get we're heading into final weeks. Our leads continue to be adorable in both lives and I just love the family vibe of our leads and the ghostly crew. While I don't want the ghosts to leave and the ghosts do enjoy being ghosts, I hope we can help them move on.

Sh**ting Stars (up to ep 13): I want a hug from Yoo-sung too! I just love how light this drama is and all the various romantic and non-romantic pairings. The characters communicate more often than I would expect for a drama like this. I'm glad the Eun si-woo stuff was resolved by the first half of ep 13 instead of shoving it off to the final week.

Kiss Sixth Sense (up to ep 4) I'm a fan of the webtoon so it took awhile to get used to how they really just changed pretty much everything. I'm not feeling the supporting characters at all (even though we have some great actors in those roles), but Yoon Kye-sang and Seo Ji-Hye have wonderful chemistry. I feel like they're hard-carrying the show.

Under the Skin (up to ep 17): C-drama. Been binge-watching this crime drama featuring a forensic sketch artist. It's fascinating. I didn't realize all that goes into coming up with the portraits used to help solve crimes and what a valuable tool it is to crime-solving.

My Liberation Notes: Had its moments and a great cast but didn't really work for me as a total experience. It felt muddled and never seemed quite sure of what it wanted to say or how to say it.

Doctor Lawyer: Not sure I will keep this one as have plenty of other weekly shows coming in that look more interesting. Jinxed at first, Link: Eat, Love, Kill and Yumi’s cells will be the replacements. I will watch Clean Up and Doctor Lawyer after they finish airing.

Why her: I am loving the pacing and how she is always one step ahead of the people trying to take her down. I am the only one who couldn’t understand why he looked so different as a teenager. I finally found the pictures which showed it was another actor playing him as a teen!

Shooting Stars: This is my go to programme because it is light and up until recently was guaranteed to lift the mood. I think it’s turning a corner on the random storm and we should be back to blue skies and sunshine.

Love all, play: I am really enjoying this and hopefully the unnecessary detour into angst and people letting themselves down is over and we can get behind the team as they battle it out in the tournament.

Let’s Eat 3: I just started watching based on a suggestion from the Beanie community. I started with season one but could not connect with the characters and for some reason people being sick and a man scratching odd places on his body and then sniffing his hands was seen as entertaining. Season 3 has much higher production values and characters I can relate to. It seems to be like the drama about the woman who gets into interior design (sorry I can’t find the name of it) where there is an education element re the ways to get the best out of the food as well as the entertainment factor.

Coffee do me a favour: This has turned out much harder to finish as they have dragged it out to 12 episodes when it would have been great in the 4 episode format.

A time to remember: it was like a web drama format of very short episodes but they should have just made 30 minutes episodes which would have kept the suspense and flowed better.

Kill me, heal me: I am slowly working my way through this as there is some tension evoking drama in every episode which is not a good fit for me. I am only watching because I want to see the female personality in context after seeing the same ‘OPPA” clip so many times.

Bravo, my life: An ongoing daily that is a quarter of the way through the 120 episodes! I didn’t think I would be back watching a daily but I have been struggling to find something for the lean days days as my older dramas have not been as engaging as I would have liked.

I just finished Man to Man this week (because it's leaving Netflix in the US in a hot minute and I didn't want to lose my chance), and I gotta say: I was thoroughly entertained. I tend to have a pretty (read: extremely) positive (lenient? optimistic?) perspective on dramas in general, so this is not super surprising. It's not that I don't see the faults, it's that I don't always mind them if the drama delivers on what it promised me, and I'm not bored along the way. This drama promised me laughs, action, and Park Hae Jin's face frequently, and I got all of those.

I gotta say though, after seeing Kim Min Jeong absolutely kill it in Mr. Sunshine a while back, I found myself wishing she was just playing the same character in this drama. I just found her vaguely annoying most of the time, which is maybe why I didn't mind the weird way they left their relationship at the end. On the one hand, that doesn't seem like much of a relationship, on the other, if they're happy I'm happy, you know? Could the drama have been better? Definitely. Did I have a ton of fun watching it? Absolutely.

Did not finish the last three episodes of My Liberation Notes . It had me when Kim Ji Won said, “ Worship me “ , but lost me toward the end.

Have started watching C drama Water Margin (1998). I am enjoying it.

I watch a bunch of stuff on YouTube. Recently have been watching André Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra. Through these videos I have discovered the wonderful Carla Maffioletti. A beautiful voice. In addition, her sense of humor comes through as well.

I watched Doctor Lawyer ep 1-2, for a reason most beans probably know. But he didn't appear in week 1. *cries in a corner*

Bloody Heart: The acting and cinematography in this drama is A+. Some of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Every single character feels fully realized and human in a way most sageuks these days rarely achieve.

It’s Beautiful Now: Haven’t watched the most recent episodes yet. I’m guessing Yoon Shi-yoon’s hair is still a mess.

Kiss Sixth Sense: I don’t care about the supporting cast, but the leads more than make up for it. Seo Ji-hye and Yoon Kye-sang are mesmerizing together. Top-tier chemistry. I’m so happy this is more mature than the source material lol.

Love All Play: *Sigh* Was the injury plot this late into the drama necessary? The last thing I want is a career-ending problem for Tae-joon. Joon-young suddenly becoming the nicest person ever is confusing, but hey I’ll take it. I am BEGGING the writer to keep up the cuteness till the very end.

Our Blues: Still not completely caught up, but even now I think the first story will end my favourite. The cast is doing an incredible job in every story though.

Shooting Stars: Tae-sung cannot catch a break and neither can the audience. The only “scandal” plot I care about is when the relationship inevitably becomes public, so I don’t get why we’re delaying it. I do like that the secondary ships are sailing now. They’re all cute! I miss the fun behind-the-scenes shenanigans.

Showtime Begins!: The drama would’ve been much stronger if it only had 12 episodes à la Mystic Pop-up Bar. It’s struggling to get to the finish line despite a lot still not being resolved.

Woori the Virgin: God bless Sung Hoon’s gorgeous face. One of God’s favourites on this miserable planet, I just know it.

TO WATCH

Cleaning Up: Get that coin, ladies!
Doctor Lawyer: Oh, the things I watch for His Royal Hotness Shin Sung-rok…
Why Her? (maybe): My love for the cast is matched only by my hatred for student-teacher relationships.

b>My Liberation Notes it was an enjoyable watch. I didn’t expect that there will be a magic solution to their personal issues. What I liked is they were left in a better place than when we started. Chang Hee finding a new career that gives him a purpose. Gi Jeong finding that “somebody” to love. Mi Jeong discovering that she is loveable and passionate. Mr Gu working on his issues and choosing the path of happiness. Plus The Liberation Club regrouping to continue their quest to be liberated.
Again My Life it was a good mindless watch. I FFD a lot of scenes just to find out what happened in the finale. The ending fell flat for me and I didnt like how the big bad was vanquished(?). He should've faced prisin time at least. Well I guess the writer didnt know how to end the story satisfactorily and just left it at that. I still liked Kim Jae Kyung's character more and hope she and LJK will star in another project together.
Showtime Begins last week's long run in the past was a bit tedious. I wished they kept it shorter. But it did set up the new conflict in the present between the four major players. I am glad that the Magic Factory got to play scooby doo gang again with the ghost of the week. It looks like we will resolve the grudges of our Magic Factory employees one at a time. Yey! Plus the new dynamics with the "new recruit" will be fun.
Shooting Stars i liked this week's episodes more. The show is at its best when it peeks at behind the scenes lives of the actors and their management. I understand the drama was needed but they could've written Tae Sung's backstory better. The resolution on his family drama felt forced. I would love to see Eun Si Woo and her relationship with JiHoon blossom to more than friendship. Their bickering was my fave like an old married couple.
Woori the Virgin  okay okay Team Raphael here so I like how their attraction to each other was showcased in the new episodes. I feel bad for Kang Jae but I can't help but root for Raphael and Woori.
Queen for Seven Days I started rewatching this to prepare myself for Bloody Heart but then I paused Bloody Heart but still continued watching this. Go figure. I thought i could not watch this again but here I am finding out again why I love this draman despite the heartache and tears I shed. I stopped at ep15 though. I know I need to take a breather before I continue on in the last 5 episodes.
Queendom2 I watched the Queendom2 Finale and I can't help but get distracted on how skinny these women were. Too skinny to be healthy for sure. Now that the show is over, wish they find time to take care of their health. Also i really like the last Queen Service prize. Winning a convertible was the best. All the best Brave Girls!Overall my fave performance were by Loona and Hyolyn. I would include the Brave Girl's performance as my fave too but I didnt like their outfits. Seem so random. Brave Entertainment should've prepared better...

Our Blues
I must confess, I didn’t like the episodes about the disabled sister so much. They did wrap up a bit too nicely… As soon as we saw the lovely young family and the adorable dad, we knew something bad was going to happen to them. For once, a Grandma and grandchild living together is not all happy, easy and fun, but challenging for both. But how could you not tell a mother that her son is critically injured?
Shooting Stars
I love this show! So much to enjoy, we have 4 couples already!! (Well, not all of them are together right now, but show will work that out I’m sure…). And the real villain turns up…
Love All Play
Finally, Jun Young is showing some signs of growing up. And our ML couple are almost back together?! But is Tae Joon really planning to risk his health for playing in the tournament with his injured knee? I guess this would be close to reality for athletes.
My Liberation Notes
No one is really free from constraints at the end, but everyone is in a better place than before and has a more positive outlook on life. This form of closure is enough for me. The last episode was a little rushed, the siblings’ stories, Mr. Gu, the liberation club itself all could have used more screen time. This is the first time I’ve seen alcoholism treated as an issue at all, and I found it done quite well. Especially when Mr. Gu talked about why he drank in the morning, and also how his underground boss talking to him candidly about his drinking may have been a catalyst for change. But the real change had to come from within Mr. Gu, and Mi Jung knew that and waited.
Loved all the heart eyes in the final two episodes!!
Bloody Heart
So much to chose from with ongoing and starting shows, but this was on my watch list and so I started it now, up to Ep.4. Gorgeous cinematography and music, characters that are not trivial, great actors. Here, I find the palace politics riveting and not just a distraction from the love story as in most sageuks I’ve seen.
Extraordinary You
Whenever my friend and I get around to watching a couple of episodes, we have a great time!

My Liberation Notes: I only finished it this week and thought it ended beautifully. It seemed to stop short of any clear resolution for our characters, but the fact that their stories didn’t “end” is probably why the finale made me feel whole and happy. We met them at one phase of their lives and we left them while they start/continue a new one, but they’ve come a long way since their episode 1 selves. It’s a good slice of life. It wasn’t perfect (I could do without the gangstaz) and yes sometimes the lines flew right over my smol head (I know some lines were meaningful but I’m not sure I correctly understood the meaningggg) but I *love* this show so much. Not in a loud, gonna-dissect-every-scene way, but in a sort of mellow way? MLN feels like that old friend I rarely meet these days, but when we do hang out, there’s no small talk, it’s just like old times.

And now, aside from some English stuff (Kenobi and my other new fave sitcom Lovesick) I have nothing on my kdrama plate.

Finished My Liberation Notes. I liked the contemplative tone of this show throughout. I felt like I know these characters and would have been friends with this family. Mr Gu was enigmatic to everyone except Mi-jeong and that’s what made her his savior and him worship her. And dang if SSG doesn’t have the most expressive face with the least amount of facial muscle movement. When his eyes mouth smile, it changes his entire bone structure, I feel. He goes from menacing and terrifying to soft and teddy bear-like in 1 millisecond. I resonated the most with Lee El’s character, and totally understand being infatuated or in love with someone that may not be able to put you first. You just love them. Or maybe the idea of being in love with them. I get that. I did that once. And also putting your foot in your mouth and saying things before you realize who else may be listening. I do that too.

Still watching Sh**ting Stars and really enjoying it. I was taken aback by the twist at the end of episode 13 and today will have to finish off 14 to see if it is resolved! I thought that they made a point of the bar owner being in the business prior so that our Star Force girls could have a sympathizer/ empathizer that wouldn’t judge their (outwardly) very superficial worries about celebrities. K-drama sensibilities strike again!

And Love All Play. The first half of this drama is much stronger than these latter episodes. I felt like Tae Sung can’t catch a break and I wish he would. I’m less empathize about his “twin” at this point, and maybe that’s the point the writer wants to make. I’ve always liked Junghwan, and new it would only take some time for him to be the most adorable thing with an adorable girlfriend.

And Mr. Unlucky Just Has to Kiss! Happy Pride Month! A Japanese Bl that is just funny and sweet. Most of this show is the inner monologue of our protagonist, Mr. Unlucky. The acting of Soko Ryusuke is so OTT, the main love interest is green as well, but for some reason, I’m entertained enough to continue every week for 30 minutes as episodes drop. I’m actually really looking forward to To My Star 2which starts today. (Korean BL)

Dropped officially: My Blues and started and will not continue Eve. Revenge is not my cup of tea.

Can’t wait for: Link, Alchemy of Souls, Jinxed!

My liberation notes: this started out to be one of the best drama of 2022 for me, but ended up being one of my biggest disappointment this year so far. I hate when I watch a drama and I feel like I can't take away anything, any lesson from it. This is how MLN left me. The first part of the drama was good, but I think right in the middle it started being unsure about what it wanted to say and at episode 16, I am confused at the sum of its parts. I am not sure what the writer wanted me to take away from this. I dnt think it was a complete waste of my time, I am just left... disappointed.

Our blues: I thought I liked this much less than MLN, but it is the one I ended up liking more. I think the stories are thoughtful and the way the stories are told is interesting. I am curious about what will happen to Young Ok and I want to know how Seon a is doing (she was my favorite story).

Tomorrow: still on hold after episode 6. I don't know why I still haven't picked it back up!

I just passed an exam, so I could watch this drama with a more happy heart ♥️

Watching:
1. Sh**ting Stars 🌟: I always say that choosing a right drama, you need to consider the state of mind/ your feelings that that moment. This show has been the right one for me during this very time of my life, so I can't see any flaw of it (literally). I love its light-heartedness, as well as the more dramatic tropes. I love that it's a show that is easy to watch, and we don't have so many baddies. I think, as its name suggests, one main purpose of this show is to show us viewers a life of a celebrity, and I think it deals with that very well. We can really see how agency takes care of their stars, and the problems and everything that come with it. I love that we see that an actor/ a star is indeed a very ordinary human being that has all the emotions that we have. There are many dialogues/ monologues in the show that moved me or gave me something to think about. These are some of them:

(Not exact wording)
1. "Even if it's true, can't I not tell them about it?" // Gong Tae-sung, when he expressed his intention not to disclose his relationship with his mother to the public

2. "Is this how they treat their heart-throb?" // Han-byol, when she commented on ugly comments fans made online after hearing that Tae-sung might be the third-wheel in his mother and her ex's relationship

While I think the show does extremely well in the fluff and light-heartedness department, I appreciate it to show us certain things that (could) have happened to many actors and actresses. There are ugly, as well as merry things to face being in the public eye all the time. In real life, things might be more or less dramatic than this, but I'm thankful that these minor arcs are resolved rather quickly and in a heart-warming way. In all, I really like and appreciate what this drama has given to me.

Not to mention that there are many eye candies in the drama... 😳

Late to the party again, but spent a lovely "home alone" day catching up on dramas. Enjoying Shooting Stars and Showtime but really diving deep on Liberation Notes writernim's earlier dramas.
Started Another Oh Hae young/Again and noticed a similar dichotomy in fan reactions (dramabeans archives are wonderful for this). The haters hate and the lovers love. This is a special talent for a writer to be able to enthrall and piss off simultaneously. But nobody DROPS - just sayin'.
So as I watch I see a cast of characters written along the same lines. There's a man-child who is noisy and spontaneous. There's a deeply depressed guy. There's a lost schlub who can't seem to leave home. Three females, two with the same name and different personalities and a third who is older and chic but thwarted in love (anything sound familiar?). Every character is written in shades of gray - not Disneyfied totally good or totally bad. Much like real life, eh?
I am enjoying live watching with a whole different group of Beanies, some of whom I wish still posted. The ML was an idol so there's the oppa crew weighing in. Feels like an archeological dig into Kdramas past.
So great to see Lee Tennant post yesterday with helpful hints about publishing on the Open Thread.
Shooting Stars made me cry over everyone's internalizing their lacking behavior in the suicide theme. I think that's supposed to be included in next week's What Watch but it was one of those classic K-drama moments in a "light rom-com" that breaks one's heart a bit.

I finished Business Proposal and thought it was okay, I suppose. The writing in the latter episodes felt completely different from the beginning of the drama. I am, as before, hugely disappointed in how they chose to adapt it from the manhwa. Basically, they kept the premise and neglected everything else, which I find a terrible waste.
The thing the drama did really good was the relationship of Ha-ri and Yeong-soo and second the co-workers of Hari, I did like team one quite a bit. This was from the start a character driven show and they should have kept it that way to the end.

Those who rule the world: Zhao Lusi is always terrific but the star of this show for me is First prince Chang.

Full-time wife escapist: This is my new crack. So cute and awkward.

We are in the middle of Man to Man (before it leaves netflix) and appreciating the fun, action and Park Hae Jin.
Shooting star was weaker this weekend, with not enough fun. The gloomy episode on the lost star was well done, but I was detached from it as we had not seen their friend. Also Yoo Sung stop patting her on the head and star kissing her !
Kiss sixth sense is fun, despite the forced comedy of the secondary personnages.
I just started Taxi driver and it satisfies my actions needs.
And I cannot resign to finish Killer and healer. I do not want to leave them, I do not want to cry at the ending.