COMPLETED
Alchemy of Souls S2 - Glad it was a happy ending for all but while I enjoyed the second season, it did feel…unnecessary.

Unlock My Boss - I liked that the story remained true to it's in-show universe even if some of the villainy was cartoonish. Would have been nice to see the President wake up - after all everything that happens in the show is without his knowledge.

ONGOING
The Forbidden Marriage - Well the lies are finally going to come back and bite our FL. I was wondering when that'd happen with only 3 episodes to go.

STARTED
Payback - Pretty good beginning. It's the perfect replacement for Reborn Rich I think.

Poong S2 - 8 more episodes to go and I can count it completed 😭.

Planning to watch - Crash Course in Romance (doing a little dance in anticipation 💃💃)

C-DRAMAS
With not many ongoing k-dramas on my plate, I finally completed Who Rules the World and Love Like the Galaxy, both of which had been on pause for months. The latter was so good I can't for the life of me understand why I paused it.

Also binged A Dream of Splendour, which was good but had too much angst for my taste. The lead OTP's chemistry, however, was truly off the charts 👏.

Started The Blood of Youth, which is pretty enjoyable. Excellent martial arts scenes.

Still loving Meet Yourself.

Alchemy - I was surprised that the finale was better and more logical than I feared. That said, I wish Part 2 had a better build-up of the story... and less of the tell and more of the show. Nearly everything was way too simple and also way too simply solved. (I was sort of disappointed that Uncle Seo wasn't meek and obedient only seemingly while secretly gathering all necessary information to turn out as a new plotting villain later.) I also wanted Soi to play a bigger role, like luring Jinmu somewhere and then die with him in flames. Though true, Jang Uk burning the greedy Assembly was not bad at all. 😁 I also liked the if the future has to happen, let us make it happen when we can control it. And I absolutely loved that the show finally gave us the BROMANCE!! 💃🥳 (and doting Grandpa Jin 😁). So... in conclusion:
Thank you Hong Sisters for creating this rich world (and Jang Uk in black robe ☺️)... and thank you @alathe for great recaps. ❤️ Despite all its Shadows Alchemy brightened my days with its Lights. 🙂

It Might Be A Little Spicy Today - I have no words. Such a beautiful drama! 💕

Alchemy of Souls: What an amazing drama. Easily in my top five dramas I’ve ever watched. Of course there were things that I could have liked more, and some parts of the finale week felt a little rushed, but overall I’m so elated with how everything turned out. Now I just need to find time to watch the whole thing over again.

Unlock My Boss: Like most watchers I have unanswered questions at the end, but maybe unlike other watchers they didn’t detract from my enjoyment. In-seong was an absolute gift of a ML and the whole drama was so fun.

Prison Playbook: I get it. This is great. It takes forever to watch but my time commitment is being richly rewarded. I’m surprised how much I’m invested in our dolt of a ML, and not at all surprised how invested I am in Joon-ho and Je-hee’s relationship. Now if Je-hyeok could just get over this noble idiocy…

Unlock the Boss (Series review) - Mood progression: C- / C- / D+ / C- / C- / C
Fine, I’ll give the writer credit for finally giving me the AI twist I had so desperately wanted from the start, bonus points for a benign AI and not a hostile one, but everything else was just nuts, from the suicide to the time skip to the reinstalled AI. The show really under-utilised Park Sung Woong who was more than capable of playing multiple roles. Absolute agony.

Missing: The Other Side 2 (Episode 7-8) - Mood: C+
Now that’s a great cliffhanger! I always very much prefer it when the drama and conflict comes about because of the living and dead divide as opposed to some sort big bad evil stalking Wook’s family (I’ll hate it when the payoff arrives on that). In fact, I wouldn’t mind a procedural based just on the dead people! But I guess we need some material for the outside world?

The Interest of Love (Episode 7-8) - Mood: D-
That’s a stupid cliffhanger to write: it’s a lose-lose no matter whether it’s fake-out or not, so what’s the main motivation for that in the plot? I get that the writer’s playing on the meta knowledge of the audience that first-billed actors will become an OTP by the end to generate some tension but this belongs in daily dramas. Girl from study group is a stupid Chekhov's gun.

The Forbidden Marriage (Episode 7-8) - Mood: D-
It’s such a classic move to have the OTP accept their feelings for each other before chaos erupts, never mind that she’s not told him about the whole deception scheme yet but is somehow concerned about his sincerity? Another classic is a random village in the mountains interlude featuring some mini cameo. And of course, the supporting role dies but the lead survives?

ALCHEMY OF SOULS (Ep. 9-10) The grand finale was a finale as many comments and threads have attested to, for good or ill. No reason to beat a dead fire bird.

Variety:

KOREA NO. 1: It is supposed to be a show about exploring Korean cultural crafts and skills, but Yoo Jae Suk and Lee Kang-soo bickering humor bit is kinda stale at this point. Would have liked more history than forced hysterics.

Brain Works The plot is zany but the duo is good.

Missing: The Other Side 2 The main characters are not personaly involved this time but they're still very passionate to help.

Unlock the Boss I won't forgive the show for killing Ma-Pi!

The Interest of Love I love so much this kind of slow show that evolves around the feelings of each character.

The Forbidden Marriage Poor Shi-Won, he lost everything. The love story is so awkward now. KYD and PJH are trying very hard but it doesn't work for me.

Island I guess I'm simple minded because the last 2 episodes didn't change my opinion on our priest but more renforced it. 😅

Alchemy of Soul 2 The second part didn't bring anything interesting. They should have ended the story in the first one.

New dramas coming this week. I am super excited for ‘Crash Course on Romance’ and ‘ Can we be strangers’. Fingers crossed. Hope they are good!!

Flight to You: Completed.
Phew. It was a solid 8.5 and thanks to the last 10 episodes it’s down to 7.5. The drama dragged towards the end with unnecessary legal stuff and mother arc. Hated both.
Other than that it was still a good watch. The leads were good. Wang Kai and Seven totally elevated this show.
The journey of Cheng Xiao from a freight pilot to a Passenger flight captain was hard earned and satisfying to watch.
Hi Venus:
Continues to be an easy watch. But I don’t enjoy it as much as the other dramas. I am 16 episodes in and not sure what else is left now that the leads got together :). With other dramas starting this week I am not sure I will see the finish line for this.
Meet Yourself:
Loving this show to bits. I look forward to this at end of my day to watch an episode. It’s just calming. Li Xian is just adorable here. He grins, I melt! And Crystal Liu is charming and elegant as always. Her grief is handled so realistically. I appreciate how the show is portraying it. Also nice to learn about other characters slowly. Is it just me or does Nana and Damai seem like a couple :) I know it’s a cdrama but one can hope.

Unlock My Boss : it's definitely not a 10/10 drama, but it is very ... fulfilling? it feels like having a meal which has decent taste and portion. A meal that I can enjoy enough though I know this is doesn't have michelin star. It's a tasty humble dish. The writing though not particularly exceptional but I can still see talent and great potential behind there. I had low expectation actually for this drama, because it's fantasy borderline scifi. I decided to watch only because Chae Jong Hyeop. But, once I got there, there were a lot of comedy and warmness that I didn't expect. I thought it would be full of cold futuristic setting with candy wrapped narcissistic and obnoxius rich guy as main lead, but instead we got bright In Seong, trustworthy Se Yeon, sweet Mina also caring Magpi and loving parent of In Seong. The directing also praiseworthy becuase the plot story itself isn't strong enough to carry the show it could go down right away without proper directing, but I think the director and the writer working together very well. The drama came out really well packaged and fun to watch without any of them go on top of each other. 8/ 10 for this one. I'm eager to see everyone project after this one.

Interest of Love : How to enjoy this drama? don't looking for perfect male or female lead (appearance excluded). This is not a kind of drama where the universe and stars aligned to make the ML and FL as a couple, quite the contrary, they must resolved the problem within themselves first if they want to have each other in their lives. They are frustating, yes, but I do think that is intentional writing and I love how imperfect and human the leads are. They are not gifted in anything particular (appearance excluded), just couple of people trying to work their best to have a better life. And yes, me too love every detour this drama create to distance our leads until we arrived to the final cliche conclusion. The pace is slow, but the matter with a good story telling is you can make viewers feel it is an "enjoyable" (or bearable) journey.

Payback : not invested for the story, but Lee Sun Kyun acting is such a delight to watch and his voice is pleasure for ears. I can hear to him all day long.

Island : you know who is another evil in this show? The production team who decided to split this drama into two parts.

Alchemy of Souls s2: 8.5 Good, but I preferred part 1 with Jung So-min's Naksu portrayal. I'm not completely convinced that CPE (Crown Price Eyebrows) changed sides just because Jin Mu mistreated the turtle. How about... CPE was never comfy with evil & murder etc but was embarrassed and didn't want to sound sappy so he decided to run with a reputation for being petty.
At the end, don't hurt that poor kitty! Yes, I'm a cat person. Why do you ask?

Forbidden Marriage: 5.5

Unlock the Boss: 7.5 So who is running Silver Lining at the end? Baro 17.4? Aji-3? Song Joong-Ki?? Jin Mu???
Show might or might not have gotten bonus points because the FL looks especially nice even by kdrama standards, which is saying a lot.

Payback: 6.5 Umbrella-fighting! (Not as good as the fight in 2521, but better than nothing). Started this one late, and almost didn't start it at all, because the premise didn't sound interesting. Then I figured the writer of Queen's Classroom deserves a chance. But the plot and baddies seem awfully generic and the ML's sports car in day 3 was silly and pretentious. Would have actually gotten a higher score if I had dropped it after day 1.

Island: 4.0 Life would be so much smoother if shows would suck in the first week instead of starting well and sucking later.

Now that my Alchemy rewatch is done I have time to catch up on some recent Night of Doom shows...

Connect: 7.0 (For ep 3/end) Kim Hye-Jun was almost as fun to watch here as in Inspector Koo, and in much the same way, but the rest was so-so and the ending reminded me of Netflix - and I don't mean that as a complement.

Money Heist Korea part 2: 6.5 (ep 2/end) Kept my attention minute-by-minute, but overall unsatisfying. If you watch it, might as well stick around for the Easter Egg in the final episode closing credits. At least I hope it's the final episode, but you never know...

TROLLEY and THE INTEREST OF LOVE are both very cleverly playing cat and mouse with the viewer and I need to see how things develop.

Somehow I think that there will be a lot more heartbreak in The Interest of Love. The two couples have manoeuvred themselves into relationships which cannot last. Among them I do blame Sang-soo more, because he is such a push over who allows himself to be bossed around by the very manipulative Mi-kyung. She really created the surprise birthday party from hell for Soo-young (including the birthday present of a lamp).
The other couple is much more tragic. As much as I was moved by Soo-young holding out a helping hand to Jong-hyun and liked her for it, Jong-hyun's pride and sense of humiliation is too much of a stumbling block in their relationship. He is used to being the one who cares and helps and taking responsibility, but now he is the one who has to accept help. He will never be comfortable with this and the shopping trip showed how little Soo-young understands his predicament. Could she not have chosen an activity for their date that did not involve money?

Started PAYBACK and loved the Mongolian scenes. There were too many flashbacks, making it difficult to follow the very intense set up episodes, but it looks very promising.

Episode 4 of THE ISLAND was the best for me so far. Mi-ho makes a poor teacher and I would like to see more from Van other than his fighting skills. Priest Johan seems to change from cassock to hoodie a little bit too often.

Finished ALCHEMY and UNLOCK THE BOSS and was happy with both.

FORBIDDEN MARRIAGE remains light entertainment and I like it for this, even though I miss the humour from the earlier episodes.

<Recipe for Farewell - In the end, Da Jung left him a recipe for farewell and it was hard to stay collected when Chang-wook made the recipe.
At the beginning I was eager to see Jae-ho regret his decision to move out. Someway somehow it changed into a desire that Jae-ho and Chang-wook remain together after Da Jung's demise. Truly, her illness became a blessing - one that brought a family together one last time and proceeded to make it for all time.

Trolley - I'm with Joong-do on the trolley problem that came up. Facing it head-on most times ends us providing a way to save the face of the assailants parents. Frankly, after the way they dismissed the Grandmother's loss of her grandchild and trivializing what their son did, I want them to experience the effects of their selfishness.
Can someone rein Seunghee in. She needs to check both her mom and herself for mental health check. Her mother's effects has done a thing on her and it's not healthy at all.
Can someone tell Hye-joo to not apologize.

Unlcok My Boss Ep 8 - Ma-pi having Min-ah's contact and forging a bond with her all the way!

Red Balloon - I'm highly disappointed in Nam-chul. Eun-kang is crazy. Bada's mom is highly toxic. Give Cha-won some peace in his life.

Island Ep 2 - Mi-ho knows how to get herself in trouble each time. He told you not to leave Tamra Island for crying out loud.

Alchemy of Souls 2 - At last it's over. I completed my watch by going back to the first 30 mins of Ep 1 part 1. I have to relish the very reason I was expecting Go Yoon-jung's arc as Naksu.

The Island. (Ep. 6). The drama is already in the category it’s so bad it’s bad and turning into 2023 Sisymess. I guess this is the main reason I can’t stop watching. The timing of the drama is so random, you can’t say if it’s been an hour, a day, a week or a month. The scenes feel like copy and paste without any connection, feels like no one ever cared about the script. LDH bangs are clothes are annoying, poor CEW tries his best and fails, and not even KNG’s hair can fix this mess. But at last we heard more than two sentences from our fourth lead and we only had to wait for 6 whole episodes.

The interest of love (Ep. 7). Wow. I’m loving this. I don’t get why people keep saying this drama is boring as I find it so interesting. I really like SooYeong as a character, she’s relatable. Also the rest of the characters, for sure. I’ve met some SangSoo that would always moves in the safe zone because he prefers that to risking making a mistake, and that is why he’ll never be happy; or a MyGyeong who hides her selfishness with acts of generosity, but only wants what she wants when she wants it not reading the room and seeing how much she is forcing things.

Happinness (Ep. 9). I don’t like zombies, they are scare. I know PHS is the sweetest guy and I love our OTP, but I hate zombies and it’s a hard watch, specially now that I know Yihyun is infected… I don’t know when I will find the courage to watch the last episodes, I need to get ready. But want to know what I love about this drama (besides the super cute leads, of course)? It’s that this drama is filled with characters you love to hate. Yes!!

New life begins. (Ep. 13). I’m not as invested in this drama now, but it’s a cute easy watch. I like how it talks about the feminine world and how when you are the weaker part you need to forge alliances and find support in other women.

And as we are in January my anual rewatch of my comfort drama has begun. I was missing Im Eun Seob so, so much!!!

Trolley: So her son died from suicide. I don't think so. I think he was killed and the meth planted. I think JD is the other guy in the photo and is obsessed with her. I don't know why she thinks the ahjumma living in the house is a hypocrite. I am not sure what the ahjumma was going to tell the aide. So many questions.

Unlock the Boss: A really lovely show with interesting main characters, cartoonish villains, and unanswered questions.

The interest of love: That ending is not what we think it is. Also I don't know if it is MGY's acting or the lack of chemistry between our leads, but there is nothing that makes me think Su Yeon likes Sang Su. Sang Su clearly doesn't like Mi Gyeong and is weirdly obsessed with Su Yeon, but the opposite doesn't seem to be true. Su Yeon may not like Jong Hyeon romantically, but she obviously has some affection for him. It is a very strange dynamic. I stand by my belief that none of them should end up together.

Agency: Rage. That is what I felt RAGE. That a competent and valuable team member is ignored because misogyny is so bad in a company that you won't allow her to continue making good money for the company. That you would replace her with a lazy, spoiled, incompetent woman because of nepotism. I have no words. I will continue to enjoy watching Go A In kick ass.

The Forbidden Marriage: It is boring again. It lost the funny. I don't care about the romance because I don't really believe it. The 2ML has been utterly destroyed and it seems to be about to get worse. A mess. She needs to be carefree and being fabulous, not locked up in a gilded cage. Also I forgot they didn't know she was a scammer, lol.

Payback: I am glad our team has been made. The flashbacks are a little awkward. I kind of want them to stop.

Crash course in Romance: Please be good. please be good.

Hi Venus is the best 2022 rom com

Delicious Romance has a fun feminine touch without falling into the usual misandry of Western shows. Episode 6 ending is hilarious

Young Lady and a Gentleman. I have only 2 episodes left and I hope to see only a lot of sweetness and honey. It was a sometimes nerve-wracking journey.

Midsummer is full of love. A little silly, but delicious and with a truly splendid FL. I enclose the link of the silly song often recited by FL. Listen to it twice and it will become addictive! (little red elephant if the link doesn't work) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn0kwbWAqPI&ab_channel=AnyTimeMusicDajili

The Romance of Tiger and Rose🍌🍊(24/24): I would like to apologize to all the Beanies hyping this one for doubting you during the questionable episodes. Of course, you would not have vouched for the show if it had ended badly!😊This show completely redeemed itself and made me quite curious about the second season. Will it be about Han Shuo getting used to modern life? Are they getting trapped, together this time, in another script she wrote? I am hoping for the latter in true Extraordinary You style, but first the second season rumors need to become reality first!🙏🏻

Finished Unlock My Boss
So Ma Pi really died, and was buried so unceremoniously… There were several other things I did not like in the last two episodes, like the sudden turnaround of the butler, and where was the romance? But the ending itself was good. I liked the use of all three OST songs in the last 15 minutes, and all in all it was an unexpectedly good watch.
Forbidden Marriage
Our couple are so adorable, and their supporting crew too! That is, until the inevitable drama sets in… Only one more week to go, this is really too short for how much I enjoy it!
Island
If Van was overpowered, then what is Sungtan? He easily fights off Van with his little finger… I like this show best when these two are in a frame together 😉 Watching this feels like a guilty pleasure, we all know it’s not really a good show but it is so much fun! So S1 is already over, and Season 2 is now set to air on Feb. 23. Why??
Trolley
Picked this up late with the intention of just checking in to see if I like it, and then probably not watch it. But this was intriguing from the first episode. I don’t think I have watched a drama like this before: a healthy, loving marriage (minus the secrets from the past), a politician that actually works for people, realistic relationships between parents and children, a normal house and clothing style - My thoughts at the first three episodes. But all this will not stay the same. Every action has a repercussion, and the past is repeating itself multiple times, the drama really lives up to its title. Open questions: is the JD tattoo Joong Do? What is the secretary scheming? Did Ji Hoon abuse Soo Bin? My guesses are yes, they had an affair and the secretary is covering for Joong Do, and Ji Hoon made a deal with Soo Bin that went wrong. The only thing drama didn’t make understandable to me is whyever Ki Young would have stayed with that toxic mother-in-law alone for three years, and why her daughter is even staying there. It does imply some mental issue, but still, all that abuse is terrible! Also, the topic of sexual crime, virtual or otherwise, is important, but prevention of suicide which is prevalent in SK should be addressed even more.
Brain Works
Here, the 4 Ep. Rule worked perfectly for me: I didn’t particularly like the first episode, but it grew on me 😊 The end of Ep. 3 was hilarious, and I called the brain change in our dear team leader before it happened, but the style she turned up in was still a surprise!
And is it now Jung Dong Hwan season? He was also the villain in Unlock My Boss. Last year,it was Lee Kyung Young as the ubiquitous villain.
Bonus: Genius but questionable brain pulling off wearing dark blue on black, black on dark blue, dark blue and all black with the occasional white shirt thrown in. I hope he doesn’t change his clothing style when he changes in the course of the drama.
In between, I finished The Guest and am watching Run On.

TROLLEY (Ep 1-7)
Yep so I marathoned this all week and I’m just going along for the ride. The husband/ Assemblyman confuses me, I don’t know where his moral compass lies and that intrigues me. Is he gonna stand by his wife even when his career is at stake? He didn’t really do that for his son. Not saying his son didn’t do wrong but addiction is a disease and as parent I feel like he didn’t do enough to help with his son’s alcohol or other drug addictions. He didn’t even pick him from prison, I know he was annoyed with his son’s actions but c’mon

Jang Woo-jae the assistant is definitely an ass but at least someone I can pin down, he’ll do whatever it takes to win the election, morality be damned.

Kim Hye-joo did nothing wrong but I can see how the media can twist it, I’ll definitely be sad if her husband abandons her tho

THE FORBIDDEN MARRIAGE (Ep 7-8)
Yay for a No Min-woo cameo! Apparently he also did a cameo in Behind Ever Star according to his asianwiki profile. Off to watch that episode now…

THE GLORY (Ep 1-8)
I marathoned this a couple weeks ago and I want part 2 asap. Definitely not a fan of splitting series like this, but alas I’m just ranting to the void *sigh*

Anyway I feel like Song Hye-kyo is quite good in this. Maybe it’s the Botox (and I’m definitely not judging, Korean beauty standards are no joke), but it works for her character. Her smiles are uncanny whether sincere or not. It’s like Moon Dong-eun doesn’t know how to smile since her whole life’s motivation is revenge, her childhood has been ruined by abuse, bullying and sexual assault.
She seems empty, devoid of any soul, only a hollow shell of her former self. The fact she meets people who she genuinely likes but places a barrier so she doesn’t get too close to fulfil her revenge is sad

ALCHEMY OF SOULS (Ep 9-10)
Why am I complaining over a happy ending for everyone?
I think I’m masochist, I was a little peeved that I was tricked but more than that everyone getting a happy ending felt out of place, there were no stakes, no danger and thus I felt a little misled. Yes I wanted our main OTP to end up together but I also wanted pain that was real and not fake. I wanted a bittersweet ending. But I shouldn’t complain, there were way worse endings so I guess I would be satisfied

I have an AoS shaped hole in my heart this week, especially today, because for the last several weeks I've waited anxiously for Saturday night so I could watch a new episode. At the same time, I was so satisfied with the ending. I realized it has been a while since I felt this immersed in any drama, and spent so much time after watching the drama replaying scenes in my head. I'm also bizarrely proud of the Hong sisters and the cast and crew, although I know none of them need my validation, lol. But they all clearly gave everything they had to this production, and it was a joy to watch.

INTENTION OF LOVE: I truly am at a loss to explain what this show is saying exactly about love and relationships other than the fact that class plays an outsize role in determining their existence, purpose, and likelihood of success. That's so dark, and the show offers literally no counter-narratives to balance things out. I also am not sure I saw exactly when Ms. Ahn developed feelings for Sang-un. His for her have been crystal clear all along, but I felt she was much more sincerely drawn to the security guard. So the final scene of ep. 8 was hard for me to square with what had come before. Also hard is the fact that I have no idea what would make these people happy, or me happy as a viewer.

UNLOCK THE BOSS: I expected a tidier ending, and I'm still shocked about Ma Pi, but this was overall such a pleasant surprise. The story is ridiculous, but balanced out the potential farce with some genuinely touching moments of human connection and loss. And the ML (both character and actor) was wonderful.

FORBIDDEN MARRIAGE: I've basically dropped this. It was better than I expected for a while, but in the end, I don't care if the King is in love and I preferred the SML too much to keep watching. This isn't a bad drama, but for me it's a perfect example of a love story that has all the right story elements and beats, but I don't understand why the FL loves this man when the other man in her life (to whom she would already been married had the King not instituted a ban) was so much more interesting and played by a better actor.

TROLLEY: This is a high quality production, and I know the show isn't suggesting that Hye-joo did anything wrong in reporting the fact that she was violently raped, (outside, and in the snow, by her friend's brother--truly a horrendous crime). And yet, I also feel that the writing is trying so hard to make all its characters sympathetic and multi-dimensional, that there's still the lingering suggestion that if Hye-joo had just let the whole thing go, then her rapist wouldn't have killed himself, and that would have been the better outcome for more people. Again, I'm not saying the writers are making that argument, but they're portraying it as a potentially moral possibility in some scenes, and that makes me deeply, deeply angry on Hye-joo's behalf. And frankly, I don't know why Hye-joo doesn't (frequently, and at great...

Finished Unlock My Boss and it was fine, I guess.
Sadly it was never as good as I'd wished it to be, and I'm still not sure what exactly was lacking.
I was never that invested in the story or the characters, and it shows by the fact that I found the finale to be ok, despite agreeing that they left a few things unresolved. Quite a forgettable watch for me in the end.
Well, it's now my first bean of the year, so there's that at least! xD

No other kdrama (though I'm planning to start Poong S2 soon) on my plate now, as I'm still in a cdrama spiral, trying to go through someone's entire filmography, while also re-watching stuff, plus adding some random variety show! It's a messy schedule ahaha!

THE LADY IN DIGNITY (2017) (12 of 20) This recently showed up on Netflix. I’m guessing it’s meant as a take-off on one of those stylish BBC manor house mysteries of a couple decades ago, but with a side of porkbelly. It gets more Korean as it goes along. At the BBC, rich matrons seldom fling glasses of booze or hot soup in the faces of their rivals . I am loving the sardonic wit, the “upstairs, downstairs”scenes, and Kim Suh-Na who is awesome as the conniving caregiver. Fingers crossed they can keep up the tension through all 20 eps.

I just started Avengers Social Club because of LYW, but it's proving to be a bit of a dud. Since I prefer to binge rather than waiting until the latest episodes to air (for narrative continuity sake), I've been waiting for some of the new ones I want to watch to finish and have been looking for a new drama to watch in the interim. While there are many good ones, I've just not been in the mood to watch some of the recommendations that I've been compiling based on others' reviews/comments.

I may go back to movies after ASC if I can't find another drama.

My wife really likes BRAIN WORKS. She has also really enjoyed the Chinese drama THE SILENCE OF THE MONSTER: both are mystery shows so it is easy to see why as she is a big mystery watcher.

My wife loved the Chinese Costume drama SHINING JUST FOR YOU- in fact she stayed up late to binge it. She was enjoying another Chinese costume drama THE LONG RIVER and was many episodes into it when she lost her taste for it with the comment “They’re back to being stupid again”. She has little patience with stupidity, even if it is historically accurate stupidity.

Amnesia is almost never a great idea but in THREE BOLD SUBLINGS we can see why it is used: As a way of making sure that the transmission of important pieces of information get delayed. But one of the most important was received by Gunwoo anyway, almost immediately and despite the FL’s amnesia, as the ER doctor informs him that the reason that a CT scan cannot be done on his beloved is that she is pregnant. At this point the only plot ideas being served by this trope are to cause a separation between our leads and delay the moment when the FL remembers that she was attacked by the Evil Birth Secret Woman. Meanwhile Soorim’s despicable Ex has just informed her family that she is dating Mooyoung- he still fixated on the paranoid idea that she is only doing this so that she can get revenge on him by becoming his mother-in-law. The very fact that this is the only possible reason he can see for her to be with Mooyoung reveals just how twisted he is (note: I hate him). Dramatically this means that we are now finally engaging the central issue of their relationship- the age gap and the expectations and prejudices of Soorim’s family. On a more positive note, we got to see Mooyoung princess carry Soorim out of the elevator where they had been trapped and more importantly hear from Mooyoung’s daughter that she would happily welcome Soorim into her family. Thankfully Soorim’s determination to break-up with Mooyang is crumbling- which it needs to as it is actually this side couple who has the real chemistry in this drama- enough to win Best Couple at the KBS Drama Awards.

Good news: It appears that Viki will be carrying CAN WE BE STRANGERS? under the title STRANGERS AGAIN. Not the best re-titling ever but who cares? Meanwhile Netflix starts carrying CRASH COURSE IN ROMANCE beginning today.

C-dramas: I continue to enjoy HI VENUS (I am almost caught up) and also SINCE I MET U.

We waited until the show as complete to watch the rest of ALCHEMY OF SOULS and I am glad that we did and glad that the Hong Sisters saw fit to give us a happy ending.

Alchemy of Souls Part 2: This show had me in its grip up until the end of ep. 9; I'm oddly glad the final episode was a bit of a jumble because it allowed me to step back and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I won't feel withdrawal symptoms. Congratulations to the Hong Sisters for creating possibly the first-ever love square containing only two people.

The Forbidden Marriage: Speaking of jumbles, this certainly is one. I enjoy the nonsense but not the quasi-serious parts. And much as I hate wrist grabs, this show just delivered the rare senior-citizen grab and I have to give them credit for that.

Unlock The Boss: It went dark for a while but in a way that was completely consistent with the concept. The main cast totally sold it. Tight, engaging, and well done - until that weird ending, which didn’t ruin it but left me with a few too many questions.

Island 1-4: My Alchemy backfill. I don't even know what I'm seeing or why, but it's still barely within the bounds of nonsensical fun. Lee Da-hee's awful clothes are back, though.

I also reveled in the happy ending of AOS, though I do agree with the statement that much of Season 2 skated by on the strength of my love for Season 1. I also finished up "Another Ms. Oh" which I found a bit uneven, I liked the beginning (strange to say, but they did a great job showing what the pain of heartbreak really looks and feels like) and I was happy with the end, but it dragged a bit in-between. I'm also watching Island and it's a bit of a crazy romp, but Cha Eun Woo in a Cassock, vans and earrings is keeping me coming back. He's a delight in this after several "perfect man" performances. But what I'm loving the most right now is a little web drama I found on Viki "Hit the Spot" which has been just the sweet, charming show I was looking for as an antidote to all the revenge/melodrama/horror shows that seem to be coming out right now. HTS is pretty graphic, so definitely don't watch at work or around kids, but despite all that, it's surprisingly very sweet.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, which is why Netflix is not showing the rest of The Glory until March, so why am I watching another revenge drama with Payback? I guess I got sucked in by Lee Seon-kyun riding horses around Mongolia. I don’t even find revenge that compelling a motive—isn’t living well the best revenge? For that reason, I’m sticking around hoping we’ll see a return to Mongolia along with a wife who doesn’t mind living in a yurt!

Speaking of marriage, I’ve had no luck convincing other DB commentators that regardless of what happens, the marriage in Trolley was not that good, because of the failure of the husband to properly communicate with and trust in his wife. To me, this means either that A) I’m an exemplary husband in a perfect marriage or, more likely B) I’m a lousy husband who trusts his wife because she’s a superior person, and who constantly communicates because I have logorrhea. Note that this choice is not a thought experiment involving a comment careening out of control.

Finally, I watched 2/3rds of the Japanese show on Netflix The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House and boy, do I have a traditionally prepared beef to pick with the director! It is extremely well done, beautifully filmed, portraying a loving friendship of two very charismatic girls. It is also a totally reverent look at the Geisha tradition in the modern day, that points out the art and beauty involved and compares it to the discipline and creativity of cooking.

Yet it never once questions whether this tradition, STILL directed solely toward the aesthetic pleasure of men, should be something continued in a more equal society, or whether two 16 year olds should be training in this tradition when what they are really good at—dancing and cooking—is highly valued elsewhere in society. I want to watch to the end to see if there is ever even a hinted critique of continuing full fledged geisha culture, and if not, I’ll be contemplating the cold dish of revenge, in terms of a scathing review--proclaimed to my wife, of course, since communication of strong opinions is the essence of a good marriage, as we are not seeing in Trolley

Alchemy of Souls: Not quite satisfied with the end, but *sigh of relief* the drama wrapped up much better than expected. Happy ending!! It still sticks to my craw that JIn Mu was just plotting unabated for 3 years before anyone decided that enough was enough and that a lot of the female characters were underwritten in part 2. Still, the Hong sisters really know how to bring on the entertainment with a type of story not seen much in kdramaland.

Forbidden Marriage (up to ep 8): I think I may tap out. The romance feels forced and the disappearing humor isn't enough to carry me through to watching a supporting character get killed off and the 2ML be tortured like this. Yay for the No Min-woo cameo, though!

Reborn Rich (up to ep 13): Haraboji!!! *cries* He was not a good man, but what a force of nature and a visionary. Hyun-woo really looked at haraboji as his grandfather, not just the founder and leader of a family and company that treat people like dirt and led to his death. And am I the only one who thinks Kim Nam-hee's (oldest grandson) voice is so hot?

Poong, Joseon Psychiatrist Season 2: Like the first season, there is a pacing problem. Something that should be one episode long is dragged out into two, which I wouldn't have minded much if they had got rid of any palace-royalty-related scenes. I really like it when it's just about our clinic family. Our ML and FL absolutely sparkle. Any scenes involving palace figures - yawn. End of ep 2 is frustrating.

Hi Venus (up to ep 14): Not much to say except that the cute continues! I love how his male assistant is a fan of the FL's roommate's web romance novels and is using what he learned from those novels to help the ML with his love life.

Trolley. I'm enjoying this so far. As well as The Good Detective.

The Glory. Looking forward to March for the next instalment. Many are praising
Song Hye-ko's performance, but I am very impressed with Lim Ji-yeon. What's jarring is the impending romance(?) between the FL and the younger actor (this was off putting in Curtain Call) perhaps targeted towards a particular audience. I don't think it's needed. The story can hold on its own without the doctor. But we shall see come March.

Old Fashion Cupcake: As the title suggests, this was very sweet, but the extreme chasteness of many Japanese LGBTQ+ dramas feels driven more by fears of offending audiences than by believable character motivations. Is a legit same-sex kiss really that terrifying?

Rise of Phoenixes: Only about 17 episodes in, but really enjoying the intrigue and scheming in this one so far.

SOMEDAY OR ONE DAY – OMG! This drama is amazing. It is a Taiwanese series my friend recommended, I regret not watching it earlier. Apparently, it was released in 2019, how come I missed it? I laugh, I cry, I squee… last night binge watched up to episode 8 and didn’t realise it was 7AM already! I just heard my husband’s alarm blaring off from the bedroom, time for him to get ready for work and he found me in the living room giggling like an idiot in front of the telly, still wide awake. Anyway, I’m super loving it so far. Solid plot and super acting. I am not even irritated by the repeated Last Dance song, it is integral to the story and at least it is not as grating as This is A Moment (The Heirs) and You Are My Everything (DOTS), ha-ha

FORBIDDEN MARRIAGE – can we get the funny back again? Just like AoS, I am watching this just for the sake of watching

PAYBACK – I am watching it for Moon Chae-won, it is interesting so far

ISLAND – I am getting tired of the FL’s screams and being damsel in distress.

TROUBLED BLOOD – BBC drama. It seems like I am in a K-drama slump, it is time to watch my local telly again. Troubled Blood is the adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s 5th book in the Strike series (under pseudonym Robert Galbraith in case some are not aware the series is by J.K. Rowling). Season 5 just released recently. This series is wonderful, I'm an avid fan since 2013 (novels) and 2017 (TV).

HAPPY VALLEY (Series 3) – another BBC drama. Police procedural but it is well-written and superb acting performances. Since k-drama nowadays are mostly dark and broken into parts/seasons, I’ll just go and watch the local offerings of detective and crime dramas. I got hooked on k-dramas for being different from the western shows, but they are getting more and more westernised. I think they (studios and platforms) have forgotten why the fans got hooked on k-drama in the first place.

I finished SHOOTING STARS.

This was the first time ever I have seen so many nice and competent characters in one show.
There were no fewer than 12 people, male and female, who were kind and perfectly capable at their jobs and had a lot of screentime. I enjoyed watching their scenes a lot more than the main storyline.

Unfortunately, every single thing related to the two main leads, and the weird subplots, was badly timed and executed. Every information, every emotion, every line, seemed out of order and confusing. It resulted in me forming no connection, investment, or interest in them at all. Nothing about these two had the emotional punch that it should have, completely missing the point every time. I only enjoyed watching them when they were with other people. Their first kiss scene, and the cute last episode were the only things that redeemed them to me.

ON THE OTHER HAND, everything about the other characters was so on point and hit the spot perfectly every time! How is that possible! It was like there were two separate writers, one for the 2 main leads storyline, and one for the rest of the cast.

About the weirdly out of place and badly done subplots, (the mother, the antifans, the enemies, the housekeeper, the dead friend, the retired manager, etc), the writer had pulled a very obvious inspiration from Wild Romance in the beginning. There were too many similarities which at first kind of bugged me, and then made me wish they had learned more from their inspiration! They blew every one of them ridiculously, each just fizzling out in a whimper.

But one of the things that they did excellently was creating 3 male characters that made me fall for, wish for as a friend, and dread as an adversary. Lawyer Do, manager Kang, and director Choi were all men you would dream to have on your side, but would be terrifying as an enemy.
Han Byul's business side was well done too. I really loved watching her be awesome at her job.

Tae Sung and Lawyer Do's bromance, Lawyer Do's romance, Director Choi and Manager Kang's bromance, were all highlights of the show for me.
And I have to nominate the scene between Lawyer Do, his brother, and Reporter Choi as the funniest and loveliest scene this year!

Now I'm watching VINCENZO. I have put off watching it for so long. Had watched the first episode twice actually, but both times I stopped because I was in the mood for something either more serious or more breezy! Now it feels like the perfect timing. And I was immediately shocked. How did I not know that both my babes Taec and Kwak Dong Yun are in this??? Have I excelled the art of avoiding spoilers or what!

Big Bet
watching for the ensemble cast and swooning every time Son Seok Gu speaks english.
Agency
watching for Lee Bo Young's wardrobe = fantastic suits and shoes
Island
i have no idea why i'm watching or what i'm watching, just killing time until the weekend dramas load i guess
Interest of Love
getting super impatient and irritated with the series of perfectly timed BAD decisions both make simultaneously, but i'm still watching with fingers crossed that the writers will make some sense of it all for us
Trolley
this one sucked me in, i cannot tell where it will lead
Crash Course in Romance
trying to wait until tomorrow to watch the beginning eps at once

I enjoyed Part 2 of Alchemy of Souls even more than Part 1.
First Love (Japanese drama) - so bingeable and rewatchable!
Because This Is My First Life - rewatch

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__+ The Interest of Love__ (8/16) ★★★★☆

I am so looking forward to what happens next week. I do wonder if the ending of ep 8 is a fake out, but nevertheless, I’m curious how it will play out. I really find it fascinating how this drama depicts social status and there are understood ways of interacting between the classes in society. I have really enjoyed how unique this drama feels.

__+ Crash Course in Romance__ (1/16) ★★★☆☆

Started this drama primarily for Jung Kyung Ho. I’m excited for his return to Dramaland. We’ve missed you!! TVN has lined up quite the cast from Crash Course in Romance. I’m particularly excited to see Jeon Do Yeon, Shin Jae Ha, Roh Yoon Seo, Jang Young Nam and Kim Sun Young.

The 1st ep was mostly set up, but it was nice to get a bit of a lay of the land before introducing our two leads. The pilot was light and entertaining. I’m wondering if the foreshadowing they have laid in ep 1 will go the way I think it may.

I'm trying to finish The Smile Has Left Your Eyes but it's a real downer.

Alchemy of souls S2 has ended on a happy note and good feeling. It was a very good watch.
Blood is on hold because we started Train. I like a lot the atmosphere, but it's borderline too much police work for my friend.
We also started Prison playbook. She will be in need of romance.
Unchained love is at the heartbreaking moment, and it has taken me in his funny story full of hijinks. A bit unlike The silence of the monster who is pretty but slow.

I finished CRUSH. It was terrible. The male lead developed controlling stalker issues to the point where he was a walking red flag and this was never amended.

ROMANCE WITH THE BLIND MASTER: Short, sweet, forgettable.

I started watching SONG OF THE MOON but couldn't make it past the first episode on account of massive cringe. The male lead was so familiar though, that I had to take a walk down memory lane towards LOVE O2O where he plays the aptly named K.O. That scene with the suits. Sigh, that's instant kill. Slightly shocked at how young Yang-Yang looked, I quickly recovered my senses and swooned at my favourite character, Yu Banshan. He is effortlessly charming. This reminded me of 2021 Cdrama GO INTO YOUR HEART, where he stars as male lead and thus earned the show a slot on the future playlist some while back. This has turned out to be a nice show with good leads. I've gotten tired of the second leads by now, but this is so cute, dropping is not on the horizon. Also, I like GO since Hikaru no Go is my favourite anime so the game parts are actually interesting.

I'm really looking forward to this year's webdramas. The plots are more or less wacko and dramatic and this makes some glorious watching over the course of a couple of hours. Imagine I've watched several seasons on Sunset Beach, now it's compressed into four hours. Yay! Efficacy! If any of you missed it, one of my favourite shows of last year was the webdrama THE KILLER IS ALSO ROMANTIC, which I highly recommend.

FIERY PRIEST: With three episodes to go, this show is slightly too long. However, I'm really looking forward to Kim Hae-il and Hwang Cheol-bum kicking ass side by side.

I've decided to stick with NEW LIFE BEGINS, even if the outlook of romance is slim. Bai Jing Ting deserves this.

There are two things my increased Cdrama watching has made me infuriated about. Bossy CEOs barely over the age of 20. The second is the biting. What the frick is with all the biting??

FFing through the evil villains Who Rules the World and Forbidden Marriage. Are they really necessary?
Neon has finally released the film Broker to US distribution. Search your local theaters and go see it, seriously. Even if you have to travel to see it, you will not be disappointed. Every Korean actor is familiar except maybe the infant and young orphan boy (both were extraordinary). It's like seeing old friends on the big screen.
I see that Kore-ade also directed a 9 episode j-drama for Netflix about young girls training as geisha in modern times. That's next on my list.