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.