Saimdang, lights diary
The March drama for the Watch and Discuss Korean Drama club. So far I am enjoying the mix of modern and historical drama.

Divorce attorney Shin
Waiting for this to drop so I can see if it is one I can watch

Three bold siblings
This will be my last watch to the bitter end that is a left over from 2022. So much potential wasted.

The full time wife escapist - J drama
Loving the Ally McBeal style alternative reality imaginings of the female lead who chooses to hav a common law contract marriage so she can have employment and housing. I know we need some way of stirring the couple to move from platonic to sexual relationship but the co worker who goes looking for evidence of the validity of their marriage gets on my nerves. I also think it is a stretch to believe the two male colleagues are so interested in the male leads love life that they would spend their free time standing in for the other nosy colleague who keeps having to cancel his visits with his family due to his children’s I’ll health.

Completed
In house Marriage honey - Japanese romance
Seven 24 mins episodes about a contract marriage. Heartbroken woman answers an ad to get married on the day she meets the man from the ads. Turns out he is good looking and kind and then they find out they work for the same company.

Find yourself - Chinese drama
10 year age difference office romance.
They stretched out the second male lead storyline too much. Rational life has the better balanced story.

Books
American Seoul by Helena Rho Korean American memoir trigger warning references domestic abuse and childhood sexual abuse. Completed

Violets by Shin Kyungsook fiction; feminist tale of friendship in the modern world

Our Blooming Youth: This show can do no wrong for me right now. I loved the pause to take stock of our characters’ emotions and motivations, I loved the detecting and deducing, I loved the spooky shaman curse scene, and the polo match was so much fun. Legit looking forward to Monday so that I can continue interacting with this gem.

Crash Course in Romance: The real downside of Hae-i in a coma is that she is the best and most compelling character, and we don’t get to see her shine with her other fantastic classmates/friends as much. Still, it will make her waking up that much sweeter, right? They just better not put it off until the very end. I really love where they are going with Seon-jae’s mom and I wish we had more time to see (what I’m hoping will be) her turnaround and transformation. But I guess we have a serial killer to catch first.

Delivery Man: This is fun so far, but I find myself warmed up to the ML more than the FL at this point. I think it’s probably because we have no backstory for her yet, but she’s not as relatable and I find myself siding with him whenever they have a disagreement. I’m sure I’ll come around as more is revealed, and I like the structure of the show so far.

Island: I have to blot out all the sunlight in my space to watch this show because 90% of it happens at night hahaha! I love that our people are working more together now, and very interested to see what will happen now that Yeom-ji is not down with Goongtan’s horrifying choices. Every time I think, “No, they probably won’t kill that person” he/she/they dies, so I’m trying not to make even micropredictions anymore.

Reply 1988: This is my newest classic watch. I find myself not overly into slice-of-life dramas, so it’s a testament to how well this is done that I really love it. I also enjoy already knowing who the husband is, so I don’t have my heart broken unnecessarily. I can absolutely see how that happened to people, just by virtue of the order of the events in the drama. Are we eventually going to see Dong-ryeong’s family too? I feel like I have a good idea of all the teens’ home lives except his, and his mom didn’t even make it into the cover photo even though he mentioned her at one point. I’m only 6 episodes into what is a 20 movie-length episode show though, so we have time.

K-Action Movie of the Week: The Villainess This was hyper-violent so do be warned, but pretty entertaining nonetheless. It was fun after watching Kim Ok-vin use her moves mostly for comedy in Love to Hate You, use them with such different motives in this. She really is a great action actress. Lots of ambiguous characters here, (pretty much all of them, tbh) which was fun, and it strangely made me want to watch Sung Joon as a romantic lead in something. Most of the time you couldn’t tell if he was being genuine but he played the romance hero well!

ONGOING
Our Blooming Youth - Nothing happened in Ep. 7 while almost too much happened in Ep. 8. Polo match and shaman interrogation were good. Very relieved the sack did not contain a baby 😰.

The Heavenly Idol - There are so many story threads. I don't think we needed a second group of evil people when the current one already has so much going on.

Crash Course in Romance - Will watch last 4 episodes tomorrow.

STARTED
Delivery Man - Okay beginning. Reminds me of Let's Fight, Ghost except the ghost here is definitely dead.

Planning to watch Divorce Attorney Shin.

C-DRAMAS
Still waiting for new episodes for Justice in the Dark 🙏.

Crash Course in Romance (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D+
It’s so frustratingly predictable that Chi Yeol finds out about Mr Ji during the cliffhanger of the penultimate week, but give it up for this writer to go one level of dumbness higher by bringing Hae Yi’s birth mom back. And Chi Yeol hasn’t even realised that Mr Ji has killed for him out of obsessive affection! Meanwhile, Geon Hu continues being a magical plot device with that uncanny ability to support both Hae Yi and Sun Jae out of their mental struggles, which maybe shouldn’t be surprising with his unseen mother being the only sane one in the whole show. Will the finale somehow magically rescue this plot? I doubt it.

Delivery Man (Episode 1-2) - Mood: C-
Since Ji Hyun’s spirit is tied to the taxi, I can’t blame the show even if it does the belated reveal later on that she died in the taxi itself, but it can’t be as obvious as the doctor killing her, right? The show also needs to explain why only Ji Hyun cannot remember anything? I wonder where Young Min’s mom is: I don’t think she died fairly so she wouldn’t have moved on, right?

Taxi Driver 2 (Episode 3-4) - Mood: D+
While the show continues its brand of vigilante justice without any pretence of realism, I desperately try to find any signs of hope where Shin Jae Ha is a nice guy here. So far we know he isn’t the photographer (Ha Do Kwon, is that you?) but he definitely has some hidden motive: maybe he’s taking over Esom’s role? Though that isn’t great at all.

Call It Love (Episode 3-4) - Mood: C-
There’s definitely a mood that you need to be in while watching this show and I’m kinda digging the melodrama but the plot doesn’t leave much to be inspired by unless they surprise us with the ex? One possible way is that she is similar to Woo Joo and had successfully completed her revenge against Dong Jin but now regrets it. I’ll take anything but the actually lame ex.

The Heavenly Idol (Episode 5-6) - Mood: D+
So it’s not just some religious cult as we know in our world but one that is actually led by another deity? And the inspector’s uselessness for comic relief is so annoying when there’s so many factions gunning for Rembrary? Then there’s the romance which this show doesn’t need one bit. Random ex connection. Filler characters in Wild Animal. Slave arc in preview. Just no.

Kokdu: Season of Deity (Episode 9-10) - Mood: D
Of course, there’s someone who manages to survive even divine punishment: I suppose that Kokdu didn’t use enough effort to properly murder him since he wasn’t the main target. But there was the tiny semblance of narrative thoughtfulness when the detective was conflicted between love and duty, even if it’s tarnished by the narrative crap that was Jung Won’s daddy.

Crash Course - 2x by @LordCobol 's grading. Chiyeol sneaking into the room (and bed) of Haengsun - that's what I'm going to remember from the last two episodes.

Call It Love - sometimes it reminds me of My Ajusshi, sometimes of My Liberation Diary (not that it is that good, more a scene/dialogue here, a character there). Kim Young Kwang is good... and Dongjin is so sad and lonely. I hope we will start the healing part next week.

Still watching Heavenly Idol and still loving Rembrary, just wish they spent less time on the Evil (and are subtler).

And whenever I feel down, c-Gaus (Never Give Up) makes me smile again 🙂

MY HEAVENLY IDOL (Ep 3-5) Adding elements of an afterlife inspector and the Evil One messing with human lives (to create an evil army?) and turning idols into monsters is really not helping the premise or movement of the main story (which objective is still very muddled). Rembrary needs to get back to his realm but he seems overmatched by humanity’s own native evil forces (greed, power, fame). One would expect more performance and stage scenes (it is an idol show for gosh sakes) but no, it is more sitting around brooding about minor things. Rembrary makes huge assumptions that his lord is worshipped on Earth even though there is no proof of it. The Evil One is a very flat character and has no scripted traits to accept him as a worthy villain. Except for Dal, there is no defining personal failing to acknowledge and overcome in order for the character to grow and be accepted for who they are. By changing Go’s disheveled look for a good appearance and competence makes her eye glare of disappointment much better. But Kim is stuck with a Golden Retriever facial expression which is bit mind numbing after five episodes. On the verge of dropping it.

IN NEED OF ROMANCE (2011) (Ep 7-12) The end of Ep 7 which In Young goes off the rails because her ex is not having as much break-up problems states in her own words “I need Romance,” a new principle for a 33 year-old woman on a rebound after spending her youth on a man who cheated on her twice. It was a oddly cathartic moment while her two friends continue to spin their own wheels in their romance dogmas. The journey begins to show love and hate are different sides of the same coin; expectations can differ greatly between like, jealousy and confusion. I did not like the psychological warfare of possession/ownership of another person by Sung-soo leaving his car outside In Young’s house. Crawling back to her after going missing and telling her to get even is so illogical and immature to be worthy of restarting the relationship. Even though the show is campy in parts, it does try to discuss important topics. And once In Young finds out her convenience date Sung-hyun is her new boss . . . feeding into jealousy is not a good way to mend a broken relationship. All of the characters seem to have fallen into their childish phase of the series as it reaches the halfway point. By end of Ep 10, it seems moving on is the lesson: In Young finally makes a decision to move on from Sung-soo. It flows through all the k-drama relationship grief: anger, rage, resentment, cursing, regret, depression, bitterness, jealousy, confusion then acceptance. Then there is a little question of trusting your next partner.

Call it love: I love this drama. It is very everyday angsty. I love that are leads are leading relatively normal lives and that Woo Joo's revenge isn't sleek or sophisticated. You understand wanting her to lash out and her anger. Plus KYK and LSK are killing it in their respective roles.

Big Bet: Moosik is back after a year. Of course there is resentment and anger. Jealousy is a terrible thing.

Crash Course: Sigh, the mother coming back was fully expected. The murderer was telegraphed, Sigh.

Kokdu: You still make me laugh. This drama doesn't require thinking, just laughing. I love that for me.

Crash Course In Romance (Ep 13&14)
A complete mess, only watching the last two episodes for the bean and the teenagers

Love To Hate You (Ep 1-7)
A mindless watch, perfect after a long hard day and I want to turn my brain off. If I think to hard too tho, the fairytale crumbles. I don’t like the ML, don’t really think the leads have much chemistry and while the FL has good points about wanting to defend herself and not be a damsel, the perp bashing is overkill and undermines some really valid feminist critique

Agency - I loved this one to bits. Not even the obstacle of late and very incomplete subtitles could separate me from this wonderful piece. It was a nice story from start to finish, a nice bow out, with all the corporate shenanigans lessons learnt by me.

Crash Course in Romance - Can we have more romantic moments please. The little bits here and there just can't be enough.
Gladly Hae-e faced the lesser of two evils and even though it hurts, Donghui is now in the open, except he doesn't know that he is. I really wished they had used his trauma as a better secondary theme.
And please, do not drive Sun-jae into reclusion. And I am kinda pleased Su-a is getting needed help. It doesn't excuse all her actions prior to this though. And give Dan-ji a medal. That girl is a real good friend.

Island - I kinda binged episodes 5-8 in one sitting and I'm glad I didn't watch 5 and 6 when it aired. But that ending for 8...
Does Yeom-ji know what she's doing? She looks like this innocent accomplice who knows she's wrecking great havoc but doesn't know the extent. Now I find it interesting that she introduced her friend to Benjuille in the earlier episodes. What if it wasn't her Grandma who initially told her about Benjuille? What if it was actually Gung-tan?
The first thing I screamed at my screen with excitement was 'Ma-piiii' when I saw Kim Sung-oh as the Cream Colored Cult Leader.

OBY isn't doing it for me, I'm struggling to get into Heavenly Idol thanks to original Yeon-woo. I think they're setting him up as a villain aside from the Evil One and I'm not ready for such drama for now so they're both on hold. Kokdu is best followed with the recaps but I'll probably binge this when I'm the most less busy.
But to make up for the space, I'll be slowly bingeing Love to Hate You(I don't know why I didn't watch this when it dropped but...😁) and picking up Call It Love. Not to mention Sacred Divorce (I think I'll be using this title) is finally airing today🤭🤭🤭🤭.

Crash Course in Romance 👨‍🏫🍲(14/16): Shin Jae-Ha, you owe us. Big time. Your next work, after Taxi Driver 2, better be good. As in, a puppy lead in a fluffy romcom good. Or you know, the actual royal consort or work wife that we were promised? One that really acts bromantically on screen with his bromantic husband?🙏🏻

Fruits Basket (2019) Season 2🍙🐈(8/25): Akito Soma, what kind of antagonist are you? I am always creeped out and scared for our zodiac members and Tohru whenever you show up, and two seconds later I am already rolling my eyes at your poor character.🙄

Full House (2004)🏠🐻🐻🐻(16/16): Long live the FF button! I would not have lasted all 16 episodes at anything less than 3x speed. However, watching the Thai version in the future will certainly be an improvement!🤗

what, there is a new cooking show? I need to see! my club members are always hungry LOL. I have this emergency plan of just rating cup noodles some time.

the thing with bros on foot I can sense them getting addicted to travelling and I bet they had strong wanderlust blues afterwords. it is hard to end a trip and then stay put. wonder if they get a chance to travel more.

I will never get tired of watching Lee Je-Hoon in his various disguises in TAXI DRIVER 2. Great second season so far!

After all the recent relationship melos, I wasn't sure that I needed another one, but CALL IT LOVE is worth it. Love the cast with Kim Young-kwan, Sung Joon (yay!) and Kim Ye-won and it is so good to see how much Lee Sung-kyung has grown as an actress. Nam Gi-ae who plays Dong-jin's mother plays a gold digger again and I dislike her character here as much as in Another Miss Oh. Not sure that the pink colour tone is adding much. Loved how Woojoo described Dongjin's back!

The Polo match was by far the best part of BLOOMING YOUTH. I really want to like the drama, but find it quite bland, even the villain played by Jung Wong-in, who is normally anything but bland, is unconvincing. PHS looks also a little uncomfortable as crown prince, it is not his best performance. The writing is not bad, but the production, especially the music, could be so much better.

Very convincing is Kim Min-Kyu as Rembrary. Just love his reactions when asked to do sexy dance moves or anything he considers inappropriate and shocking (which is almost everything a k-pop idol is or has to do, apart from singing). The ridiculous Evil one is no match!

I will finish CRASH OURSE IN ROMANCE, but only for the teenagers' story line. I probably will give DIVORCE ATTORNEY a chance, but I am not sure I want to watch another divorce lawyer drama.

Our Blooming Youth At least, Hwan is not the only one cursed anymore! His family joined the club!

Delivery Man I wasn't convinced by the first 2 episodes. After 5 minutes, the ML was already chasing after a bad guy and not doing simple taxi stuff...

The Heavenly Idol The villain has no issue to live in this world but the ML had to adjust? It's never fair.

Taxi Driver 2 N.Flying is singing an OST !

Crash Course in Romance Now, the happy scenes can come back?

Island I wish they explained their powers...

Idol Band I watched the final in direct. Even if my favourite participants were in different groups, I'm really happy with the winner!

Bros on Foot I'm not as excited as other Beanies. I don't think the casting has so much chemistry. The age gap and seniority are too important. I like the 4 of them but it's awkward.

The Heavenly idol (ep. 6). I'm still watching while finding it pretty silly. I still find the whole devil thing not necessary and leading nowhere (so many chances to kill Lembrary and none taken, are minions trained like stormtroopers??), wished Ye Ji Won was casted not to always play the same role again and again, and if only they focused on how Lembrary is learning to be Yeon Woo would be much, much better.

Crash course on romance (ep. 14). Police officers shown in dramaland not paying attention to details never cease to amaze me. Anyway, the whole murder plot almost ruins a drama that could have been an absolute delight just with our leads realising they are in love with each other + kids subplot.

Call it love (ep. 4). Loving everything about this drama, even the palette. Not a single thing I don't love.

New life begins (ep. 31). Slowly advancing with this drama. I loved it more at the beginning than now, but I have to acknowledge how it deals with women issues in a way I've never seen before (in k-dramas, c-dramas or any drama ever). The fact that a whole subplot was dedicated to postpartum depression makes it worth watching. And the absolutely supercute main couple.

Peak Time (ep. 4). Seems like everyone is talking about this reality so I decided to give a try as it's available on Viki. I liked it so far and I have already a favourite group that I hope makes it to the final.

Will watch later my favourite train wreck aka Island and still don't know whether to watch week by week The Mandalorian and live in agony every week, or wait until it's all released and live in agony until then. I will need to decide which agony to endure better.

I have just finished Angel Last Mission: Love. It has taken more time than I thought when I started it. I found some episodes were boring and I couldn't stand some secondary characters. They were very plain villains. The series starts well but then it goes down and only recovers in the last two episodes. At least I liked the ending. Both main leads do a great job.

I'm also watching C-drama Meet Yourself too (21 out of 40), Solomon's Perjury (1 out of 12) and Meow: the secret boy (1 out of 24).

On hold: Six Flying Dragons and It's Beautiful Now.

Taxi Driver s2: 7.5

Kokdu: Season of Deity: 6.5 Kokdu, Idol, Island: 3 mediocre current shows with supernatural male leads. Combine the best features of those shows and we could have one mediocre show and two more hours per week for other things.

Crash Course In Romance Toxic Parenting: 7.0 At least it keeps me awake now, but...
- Streets have these things called "corners". When you approach a corner while fleeing for your life, please use it to make a sharp turn instead of dashing straight out into the street. You know, because the whole "for your life" thing.
- There's a string of steel ball serial killings but the police don't check to see if anyone has been buying lots of steel balls? We know the baddie has them delivered in bulk.
- Fake text-only suicide notes are such a thing in kdramaland but the police just accept it without checking the time to see that it was sent just after the accident (they'd know that time from the emergency call). And they checked the car's dashcam footage but I suspect that if they had really looked at it they'd have seen the baddie send the text and drop the phone. Sigh.

Our Blooming Youth: 8.0 Misleading Title of the Year?

Delivery Man: 7.5 Master's Sun meets Taxi Driver meets Ghost Detective/Doctor/whatever? So he's a Delivery Man? But is he Strongest? The ML was in All of Us Are Dead, so this show could be All of My Customers Are Dead? Not a bad show, but doesn't have much I haven't seen before in a zillion other ghosty kdramas.

Call It Love: 5.0 Still watching at 1.5x and trying to speed-read subs. This is the first time I've done that -- 98.692% of shows that aren't good enough to watch 1x are too 👎 to watch at any speed, and the rest aren't slow-paced enough to make 1.5x an option. Possible drop.

The Heavenly Idol: 5.5 Possible drop.

Island (part 2): 3.0 The Bean Demons compel me to keep watching.

Income Taxes: 2.2 They really need new writers for this series. As in past seasons, moderate amounts of suspense and horror with overly complicated plot twists, but no humor, character development or romance (except in the sense that the government ❤ my money). All in all, rather frustrating.

Psychopath Diary - I never thought I'd write this sentence, but this is an absolutely delightful serial killer show. That's partly because instead of being a gritty look at real crime it's a big sloppy love letter to films and novels about crime. It's also because the entire production team fully commits to both the ridiculous and the serious moments, often gleefully combining the two. I knew Yoon Shi Yoon was a good actor after seeing him in Nokdu Flower, but while that role was really hard to watch at times, this one was a joy from start to finish. I also appreciated that, unlike other recent shows with a similar feel (cough, Vincenzo, cough), this one argues that you can adopt some of the thought processes and tactics of a serial killer in order to stop one without actually becoming a serial killer yourself. Thanks to all the Beanies recommending this one recently!

Crash Course In Romance
What I hope for in the final episodes: a good ending for the youth romance and revenge on all those mothers that only think of their children’s’ academic success! And to think that we used to like them in the first episodes…
Finished Brain Works
In the pre-final episode, our brain doctor got to show more than aloofness and arrogance, when he remembered his parents’ “accident” and their final moments, I liked that. But the last episode was a mess. So much silliness, and not in a funny way: finding a house in 1km by “It has an arch”? Running back and fro all the time? Our team leader who used to be a smart and tough cookie earning the #toostupidtolive prize by going into a suspect’s house alone and without alerting anyone? People drowning in a shoulder high pool? And worst of all proving your empathy by brainwaves ☹
Heavenly Idol
I really like the setup, the campy fantasy part and the idols… But in the last episodes, we got to see too many conspiracies and way too little of the Wild Animals. Have we even seen them on stage except in the first episode? And I got confused by the storyline and the very brief cuts between scenes. Is it a problem of the writing or the editing, or am I too stupid for this drama?
Our Blooming Youth
Ah, my relief drama. Each week looking forward to it and for once I’m glad that it has 20 episodes so I can enjoy it longer! This week, I especially loved the dialogue at the bridge and the polo match.
Rain Or Shine
Almost finished this great drama; it pays to watch older dramas with good ratings. It is slow and sad, but so well done and relatable to anyone who has lost somebody or been through a trauma.
Delivery Man
Started this for the ghost story but can’t really get into it. Maybe because both MLs look way to young to be an experienced taxi driver and an accomplished doctor.
Also watching Peak Time, a survival show for washed-up idols – reminds us of something?? Actually, this show is entertaining, fun and insightful. We don’t get to see a lot of background about the bands (who are there anonymously but it’s easy to find out who is who) but some of them share stories about having to work part-time or not having any work after debuting, much in contrast to their expectations. The judges are sometimes harsh, but always helpful, and they seem to have fun with the show, too. And the stages they put on are really good! (It’s on Viki…)
KDrama friend project:
Watching Season of Kkokdu together and love it. We appreciate the comedy, the romance, the beautiful landscapes and sets, the relaxed but stylish wardrobe – please don’t mention story holes or deleted conversations…

CALL IT LOVE: I love everything about this show right now. It's so immersive and has the feeling of slice-of-life with a kind of dreamy, otherworldly tone and just enough surprises (I did not expect the evil stepmom to not recognize Woo-joo at all in the office) that I savor every moment. I'm puzzled at this point as to what Woo-joo is actually trying to accomplish other than hurting Dong-ji's feelings--her revenge plan is less than half-baked; it's completely raw--but that somehow only makes the show better. It's not a predictable revenge drama and the FL is a mess but these things only serve to highlight how well the leads could be together. I also love all the side characters; the sister's romantic fantasies are hilarious, and Jun is such a good friend and interesting guy. I'm so glad he has more to do than just serve as the FL's sounding board. I didn't even mind the return of the ex. That had to happen for the ML to get out of the emotional rut he's in. I wish I had the willpower to wait and binge this one but I don't.

OUR BLOOMING YOUTH: Although not quite as addictive as Call it Love, this one still keeps me engaged, thanks to a mystery plot not centered on scheming ministers or propelled by endless court machinations (that we see anyway), and a wonderful heroine. The romantic aspects are hit and miss, but they're also not prominent yet, and the leads do have great chemistry, so I'll reserve judgement. The polo match was such eye candy--from the costumes to the athletic displays to the constant looks between Jae-yi and the CP. Speaking of the CP, I think PHS is doing well, but his character is so stoic that it can be harder to feel like the writers are developing Hwan as anything other than Jae-yi's foil. But there's still a lot of story left to tell.

CRASH COURSE: I missed the teen triangle the most last week; with Hae-i in a coma (not my favorite writing choice) things stalled on that front, and the show's watchability suffered. Overall, it was an extremely painful set of episodes to watch. So much parental and systemic abuse and neglect; so many adults acting in repulsive ways that their children then repeat. I guess it's to the show's credit, though, that I *did* keep watching. The pacing and direction, at least, are well done.

DELIVERY MAN: I'm trying to get through the first episode and decide if I want to continue. It's not bad or anything, but it's not grabbing me yet, either.

Continuing my watch of older shows
- Reply 1997. I watched it because the song All For You showed up on Youtube and I thought it was familiar (I have no idea why) and the story in the video seemed interesting. Was this my first slice of life drama? Is it considered slice of life? I think it's yes to both haha
I really liked the friendships and oh my god, did I enjoy the stunt casting (if it's called that) of Eun Jiwon haha. For him to be a character and then Jiwon to actually exist in universe as the leader of Sechskies made me chuckle (including mocking his own bad acting in some movie). I enjoy those kind of meta things.
- Secret Royal Inspector & Joy. I don't really like sageuks but I put this on for Taecyeon. I really don't like the palace centered sageuks. Seriously, how does anything get done when there's always corruption and scheming advisors? There's many aspects I didn't like in the drama that I skipped over or slept through but there were also some cute and funny moments.
-Peak Time. I can't remember the performances as much as I did last week but the evaluation at the end of the episode was a standout to me. They were so bad that I genuinely wondered if they were bad on purpose. I get that they all have different styles, they learn in different ways, and they were working on a limited time frame (I think they had only had a day before the evaluation) but man oh man, that was rough.
- The Heavenly Idol. I still look forward to this show each week and it makes me smile or chuckle. It's funny that no matter how accustomed Rembrary seems to get the idol world and its demands, he still manages to retain his fish out of water vibe. Like he went from "what is this?" to "you seriously expect me to do this?!"
- Taxi Driver S2. I think S2 is lighter than S1 (which is probably weird to say since they are still technically vigilantes). The different personas they use are still so entertaining to me. I really love the moments when Do Ki switches between his goofy, unassuming role to his threatening, one man army self and back again. It totally throws the mark off and I just admire when actors do those physical changes.

I rewatched Devil Judge this week. I still found it a very entertaining over-the-top thriller, I still loved Ji Sung and Jinyoung in their roles, I still hated Kim Min Jung while loving her wardrobe, and I still disliked the 3 final episodes. At least I'm consistent 😆

I will probably start Agency next, if I don't get sucked into rewatching Train.

Crash Course in Romance: well well well. What else can I say?

Our Blooming Youth: I'm scared because it's passed the point of no return 🎶 and I don't like the male lead. LOL If I start to like him next week, I'm doom. No backward glances.

Delivery Man: tabong before starting the show: isn't it sad that you have to pay a taxi fare even after you die? Can someone add teleportation to dead people's rights?
tabong after watching the show: so it wasn't about that, I get it. 🤦‍♀️😂

Heavenly Idol: no more mnet, I mean, sing survival PD, thanks cat. That guy was giving me Produce flashbacks so hard.
Anyway, I really like this show. It's nice that they show the good, the bad and the ugly of the industry.

The Love in Your Eyes: I never want, hope or expect writers to kill off a character, but Hae Mi... I don't even care if it doesn't make sense, just do it please.

All the Liquors: I feel like the ml is going to spend the whole show on the floor. This dude falls every 5min. LOL

I'll start Call It Love and Island 2 soon.

Anime

Given: started because my bro in law recommended it. Loving it so far. It's adorable.

Survival programs

Physical 100: I watched a little with my bestie. Yep, this isn't for me. At all.

Peak Time: when you make something with good intentions it shows. 🥺

Our Blooming Youth: It's okay but nothing spectacular. I get what it is trying to do but utilized the fast forward a bit this past week. I am invested enough to continue.

Love to Hate You: Has a lot of tropes but is an easy enough watch. One of those that I could binge watch but just check out an episode here and there as if episodes are dropping every week.

Bros on Foot: I have been watching tidbits on YouTube and am enjoying the vibe. I laughed at the "It's even made me Min-Ho tolerant!" Yeah, he is a stereotype of an "idol actor" but I have found him warm/charming in reality and variety shows. I think he should go against type and play an a-hole in a drama.

The Last of Us: (HBO-Max) Dropped. I gave it a try (4 or 5 episodes) for my daughter who enjoys it, but I have seen this stuff way too much over the years and many of the arcs remind me of The Walking Dead which did it better (at least in the earlier days). I'm out.

Books: Ralph Macchio (sp?) wrote a book about the production of The Karate Kid and how Cobra Kai came to be. I love how the sausage is made type stuff and actually remember seeing the original movie in a packed movie theater back in my teen years. I can still remember the excitement at the end of the movie. I'm about half through the book and it has me considering watching Cobra Kai.

Has anyone seen the J-drama "Silent"? It seems to get rave reviews but I'm a little hesitant because it seems like someone starts losing his hearing and pulls a noble idiocy so just can't make up my mind on this one.

Current/recent:
Crash Course in Romance: Everyone not letting Jae-woo speak was super frustrating as well as infantilizing. Having Hae-yi be so badly injured is beyond any reasonable development in a so-called rom-com. Birth mom coming back made me want to throw the remote. It looks like this week’s theme will be “characters acting out of character.” Grrr. I’ll finish it only for the bean, with my finger on the FF button.

Our Blooming Youth: I’m regarding this one as complete fantasy - like The Forbidden Marriage, it might as well be set on another planet that is only coincidentally named Joseon - so the tone shifts don’t bother me. The polo match was an unexpected highlight. Scholar Park’s flowery hanboks and his scowl turning into a grudging smile make me smile.

The Heavenly Idol: I have nothing against this show but I kept putting episode 5 on pause and then forgetting to press ‘play,’ so I might have accidentally dropped it.

Older stuff (Kdrama continuing education program):
Circle: Finally got around to watching this (I blame @leetennant), and whoa! This is some cracky, crazy sh**. I’m also struggling with the notion that Yeo Jin-goo was all of 19 when this was filmed. The boy can ACT. I’ve managed to remain unspoiled and am struggling to not just stay up all night to binge it.

TAXI DRIVER 2 - Hands down the best show right now.

ISLAND 2 - S2 is definitely better than S1. But how on earth can they can create such a mess with such otherwise cool and capable actors? At least the white robes did not show up again.

BRAIN WORKS - Worth watching for the bickering bromance alone.

THREE BOLD SIBLINGS - So bad, I can't stop watching (on ff).

OUR BLOOMING YOUTH - Although I love the reversed gender roles, I increasingly fail to put up with the messy storytelling (ep 7 was plain boring). Hope this gets better, if not I'll drop.

The STARRY LOVE - I am usually not such a big fan of C-dramas (too many episodes for my taste), but it is so nice to see female characters supporting each other for a change.

I have fallen down the variety rabbit hole recently because I am not resourced enough at the moment to watch anything more taxing than “light”. Thank goodness for variety shows!!

Bros on Foot is simply the best. I love the different personalities, ages and that they don’t all know each other very well. The fact that Ha Jung Woo and Ju Ji Hoon are variety newbies is probably one of the secret ingredients because they are inadvertently hilarious in what feels like very relatable ways. Who knew that watching four grown men grocery shopping, cooking and eating would be so riveting? Their food joy is truly contagious. (I confess I replayed Ju Ji Hoon casually taking out and putting back kimchi seasoning from _his_pocket_ a couple of times because…he keeps it in his pocket?!?) I would honestly watch hours of that. Yeo Jin Goo is a puppy in human form, bless him! As the maknae, he is so eager to please and you just want to praise him for his tireless and constant effort (and maybe assure him that he doesn’t need to try so hard). Minho is probably the most inscrutable to me, but he seems affable and game, and perhaps the one most into adventure and thrill seeking. I don’t want this show to end.😢

Which brings me to Jinny’s Kitchen, the newest iteration of the shows where they transplant k-stars to foreign lands to run a restaurant. I loved both seasons of Youn’s Kitchen, and loved Youn’s Stay as well, but it’s not hitting the same this time. Is it because they’re all closer in age now? Or the fact that there’s only one woman left? It just feels like a bit of warmth has gone, but I will probably watch all of it. Maybe I just really miss Youn Yuh Jung.😢

OUR BLOOMING YOUTH (8/20) My favorite of my current watches, and this week was the best so far. I feel like it finally found its groove in mixing the light and dark elements and the pacing worked well both in the slower, more reflective feel of episode 7, and the faster, more plot-heavy episode 8. The characters continue to be ultra lovable and I'm as invested in the various relationships between them as I am in the mystery they're embroiled in.

CALL IT LOVE (4/16) Not typically big on melodramas, but I'm loving it so far. The characters are interesting and relatable, there's some nice lighter moments that balance out the angst, and the atmosphere is really lovely. While all the performances are solid, I'm especially impressed by Kim Young Kwang. He could easily have come across as bland, but his mannerisms and micro-expressions just make me want to give him a hug. I totally get why he's bringing out our heroine's protective instincts in spite of herself.

ISLAND (10/12) While this has always been a fun watch in a don't-think-too-deep-about-it kind of way I found myself scratching my head a bit too much this week. Still, I love that we're finally seeing Van and Johan working together. Though I don't love that Mi Ho got sidelined as the distressed damsel just as she finally got her powers back. I would've minded it less if there were more episodes left to give her a chance to shine, but with just two to go it seems we have way too much story to wrap up.

IMMORTAL SMASARA (China 48/61) For the most part I've enjoyed the unhurried pace of this drama with it's anime-esque adventure plot, but the last few episodes felt draggy. I almost like our pairing better as friends because watching them circle each other has gotten frustrating. It doesn't help that for all our FL's resentment and self-sacrifice, I don't sympathize with her as much as I think the show wants me to, since ML seems the more devoted of the two - not sure if it's a writing issue or an acting one? I do hope we get more background on the ML's parents though - I bet there's a cool story there.

Completed:

NIRVANA IN FIRE (China) Words like 'masterpiece,' 'epic,' and 'classic' get thrown around a lot, but in the case of this drama it's praise well earned. I do have a minor critique in regards to last episode, which felt sort of rushed with too much happening off-screen, and the epilogue left out a lot of the characters I've grown attached to, but otherwise? Perfection. The acting, writing, production, everything. Highly recommended to anyone into historical dramas!

We are really enjoying THE HEAVENLY IDOL. Yes, it is campy, but it is camp well done.

THREE BOLD SIBLINGS is ending in proper soap opera fashion: The second Birth Secret has come out and Mooyoung’s scheming Ex-wife really shouldn’t have been spotted and photographed “playing tennis like a pro” if she wanted to keep her fake brain tumor story going- so of course it has now exploded. But it turns out that our ML’s mother really did do something awful to her nephew long ago- out of spite and envy- in a twist that no one saw coming. But I agree with Reply1866’s assessment- there has been so much potential wasted in this show.

My wife enjoyed the mystery drama MS. MA, NEMESIS and has continued to enjoy BRAIN WORKS. For something lighter she also binge watched the classic 2011 Kdrama HEARTSTRINGS- fun (with music).

She also really likes the new Sageuk OUR BLOOMING YOUTH which is not to be confused with the new Chinese Costume drama THE BLOOD OF YOUTH- which she is also enjoying. At the same time, she is loving the Chinese Costume drama WARM ON A COLD NIGHT, because it has a mystery, and the FL is a female constable who has gone undercover to solve it (of course romance has to be part of the story).

On Netflix she watched THE LAW ACCORDING TO LIDIA POET, which was very good but suffered in my opinion from being dubbed into English. It would have been far better in the original beautiful Italian with subtitles.

I have continued watching EMERGENCY COUPLE.

I will never stop recommending to everyone the most beautiful romcom of the last few months: Hi Venus!

I also started The Last Goodbye to Mama and The Forbidden Flower.

From Korea I am enjoying Taxi Driver 2 and I Picked up a Celbrity on the Street

From Japan, The Full Time Wife Escapist seems promising (ep. 1)

I have to confess that though I’ve learned a great deal about the hair coloring and hallucinogenic properities of peony incense thanks to Our Blooming Youth the main reason I’m sticking with this and some other shows right now is that I want to see a happy ending romance--except, somewhat ironically, Call it Love, which I’m watching for its cinematography, its melancholy atmosphere, and its pinkness. I would have really liked it if Heavenly Idol focused on a satiric look at boy bands, but the writers were more interested in the Evil One than in the sins of the music industry. So I’m just hoping that they also wrote in a renunciation of priestly celibacy from Rembrary. Given that he doesn’t want his midriff exposed, you might say my hope is ridiculous, but then you have to remember that after most nights in bed, kdrama couples wake up fully clothed, so there still is some chance of this May-September romance—May representing early 30s, September representing the late 150s.

As far as Delivery Man my desire for a pairing between the ghost and the taxi driver seems even more unlikely, since I can’t even imagine how a kiss would occur, given that her lips would pass through his. Maybe he’d experience a slight tingling, and call it love? But how would he distinguish that from the sensation of eating a panjeon with spicy dipping sauce?

Crash Course in Romance: Now that we're in thriller mode - it isn't that bad. It's just the blending/transitioning that was weird. But I really felt for Hae-yi. That girl has been through so much!

Our Blooming Youth I really can't click with the ML even though I've enjoyed worse ones before. I'm can't tell if I'm just fangirling so hard for Jae-yi and feel like she deserves so much better. I love seeing her, Garam, and Myung-jin together.

Heavenly Idol: It isn't a great drama, but it makes me warm and happy with each episode. I really enjoy the meta-commentary on the idol industry while being respectful of why people would feel comforted by idols.

C-drama binge!

The Starry Love (up to episode 16) I'm obsessed. Even though I get a new episode a day, I'm just going back to rewatch scenes. This drama's got a perfect blend of romance and comedy with a drop of angst against a gorgeous backdrop of magic and a gorgeous OST. The 2nd lead couple has the more humorous storyline and more tension, and I think they're the preferred couple, but I'm in love with the main couple for the whole lonely outsiders finding a connection with each other factor. I'm enjoying the the FL's current quest to woo and date all three shard versions of her man at once.

Never Give Up (up to ep 10): Getting better, more relatable, and with funny commentary on the minutiae of the corporate/office-worker life. And the The Gaus elements are starting to get introduced, including the pairings. Kang Mi/Jiang Mei didn't get introduced until ep 8.

Warm on a Cold Night: (up to ep 12) I really like period investigation dramas, and this one nicely mixes in a bit of fantasy with it taking place in a world with two races that don't get along. I like the way it's filmed and the action scenes, but I don't feel invested in the characters.

Stopped watching Season of Kokdu. I may bank all the episodes and FF through later to see how it resolves.

We are watching our way through Korean odyssey and Crash course in romance.
I love all the secondary personnages and their friendships. The way Monkey bought one of his good bottle for Mawang when he realised that he went to far... awww. Lei Ei rocks the purple lipstick.
Our math lessons have been delayed. We are just at the match between men and women.

And my weekend are for Taxi driver 2.
This show is great. It's fun, it's beautiful.
The pleasure I feel when meeting again the personnages of Taxi driver 2 is akin the pleasure when I watched Alchemy of souls part 2. This seems like a good argument for seasons 2, even though I'am not sure that all dramas would benefit.

I've been escaping into kdramas this week to avoid everything I hate right now. I finally bit the bullet and rejoined Kocowa for Style. I'm still amazed it's taken this long to see this, but I'm so glad I finally did. As someone who normally works in the fashion industry and breathes it, this was like watching an extension of work without the effort. While I enjoyed the professional elements, I could have done without the cheesy wedding ending. If they'd worked it into the script as intelligently as the rest of the drama, I would've been on board, but it felt like it was slopped together at the end so the Chief Editor gets it all. Great message, poor execution.

I started Band of Sisters again last night because I'm also a big fan of flowers, and the cosmetics and parfumerie that comes from it. I'd forgotten how makjang this narrative was, and I'm probably going to end up ff through some parts, but it's a decent longer show that doesn't go completely off the rails. I just wish it didn't use every single tired trope imaginable to tell its story, but I remember the ladies coming out ahead so I'll stick through another viewing.

What I watched this week:

Our Blooming Youth I watched eight episodes this week! There are things in my real life that require catching up, but I couldn’t face them, so I caught up with this cute sageuk. Yet another drama in which a young woman poses as a eunuch, which I apparently like?
Crash Course in Romance I thought I would drop this one, but I found that I cared too much about the high school kids. I’m very eager for the resolution!
All the Liquors The first two episodes of this BL web drama went up this week.This is an astonishing set up—the protagonists are a guy who markets soju for a living and loves to drink, and a chef who will not allow alcoholic beverages to be sold or even consumed in his restaurant. What makes it so odd to me is that it seems from the previews and teasers like the guy who doesn’t drink is going to be influenced to drink? Can this be right? Is it egalitarian to promote alcohol abuse to all audiences regardless of sexual orientation? Is this meant to be progress? Yes I do plan to watch to the end, the guy playing the chef is too handsome for me not to watch it. Also it's really about food and I love to watch shows about food and cooking.

I also watched some more Japanese dramas. Well, first I had to watch the special episode from The Full-Time Wife Escapist (set during the start of COVID!) I watched most of the series last week and didn’t realize there was one more.

I also watched the end of My Beautiful Man 2. Good acting.
The new one I watched was called Dearest and it was a strange mystery story featuring distorted or missing memories.
I also watched the start of two new BL dramas, Jack o’ Frost and The End of the World With You. I like Jack o’ Frost, which makes use of the amnesia trope. It’s very visually pleasing.
I’m going to try to make it to the end of The End of the World With You, but considering that it’s an NC-17 drama, it’s pretty unsexy and unpersuasive. I also have the Korean NC-17 drama, Hit the Spot in my Rakuten “Continue Watching,” but I have not continued past the first two, cute episodes. I just got too bored.

I do not know what this week's TV watching says about me. I did also read some books, but nothing Korean this week.

That top screenshot sums up current week in dramaland pretty nicely)))

OUR BLOOMING YOUTH: Relatively good 2 episodes - lots of progress in many aspects (except OST which I'm going from disliking to hating more and more with every its appearance), main mystery picks up (and how!), angst was oh so delicious and PHS looks really badass while aggressively playing polo. Mentally preparing myself for info dump and probably more angst coming soon.

ISLAND: I know I joked about it in the latest recap, but did they really change PD between parts? Because the show improved by miles this week, finally starting to look like what we expected it to be all along - cool action horror about gorgeous trio fighting demons, evil spirits and some bad karma from ancient past. We've also got romance - well, sort of, but I dig the chemistry so it's good. And KNG had scenes to actually act instead of just standing there all pretty and broody and occasionally knifing someone! How great is that?

THE HEAVENLY IDOL: Now this was one was not so great all of a sudden... Plot gets too heavy/messy with every new episode, romance can't decide if it wants to be thoughtful and tactful slow-burn or storm of usual k-romcom swoony tropes out of nowhere and there was not enough witty kpop jokes (or ML's holy abs and equally holy singing) to compensate for all the mayhem. And cultists. Especially cultists. The only thing that's consistently good is the smartest food PPL I've ever seen in a kdrama. Now I want pizza with lobster too, damn!

KKOKDU: Our resident bad egg and also serious contender for worst script of the year despite it only being an early March... Gotta give credit to drama, it works HARD to maintain the quality of the story as low as possible - with rare sprinkles of touching lines and moments that only make me more angry with the overall product. KJH is doing all he can to keep show's head SLIGHTLY above the water, but what's one man against a natural disaster? Humor got better though, but I hate how drama thinks that teasing steamy times yet never delivering them is funny. To borrow Dr Bitch's words - are we in high school to behave this rudely?

Still on Trolley. I finished Good Detective Season 2 and am hoping there's a Season 3, wonderful acting and storyline. Taxi Driver Season 2 is on hold because my subscription to Viki expired. I can't wait for The Glory. Non Kdrama on Netflix: Murdaugh Murder docu series since the verdict just came out. The father is pure evil.

I finally finished Fates and Furies. The leads look great together but they're more fun in a rom-com (Cunning Single Lady, which I actually thought about mentioning in the lovers reunited thread). I did like the steady tone of the who which, despite the title, didn't resort to sudden dramatic music, which is happening a lot in another show I'm trying to wrap up, Flower of Evil.

Watching K dramas:
Heavenly Idol not sure why I’m watching this.
Blooming Youth Saeguk with modern dialogue, meh
Big Bet I like the story, probably should have waited to binge
Divorce Lawyer Shin Melo. Watching for Han Hye-jin❤️

Need something to watch. I did watch some Near Death Experience (NDE) videos on YT. Interesting, people who have “died” and come back to their bodies.

I watched two older films, lighthouses figured in both .

Portrait of Jennie A black and white fantasy film from 1948. Joseph Cotton is a starving artist who meets a mysterious girl, played by Jennifer Jones . The painter is mesmerized by this strange girl, who seems to be from a different time.

Next is J movie Akunin/Villian (2010). A guy kills a girl and another girl falls for him despite knowing he’s a killer. Can’t say I’d recommend it.

I came down with the flu this past week and thus found myself with plenty of time to spare for dramas. First off, I watched HI VENUS, which was cute but reminded me a bit too much of THE DAY OF BECOMING YOU in terms of directing which was slightly distracting. Loved, LOVED Kevin and the arcade dating scene. It will forever be one of one favorites.

THE STARRY LOVE: I don't like Quinfeng. He's a lying, manipulative rat and I hope Quinkui dumps him for Wudai. I love Chen Xing Xu to bits, he's an outstanding actor, but the mystery of his lower tone of voice kills me. It sounds tiring for the vocal cords.

DON'T SPOIL ME: The male lead is so meh. I'm not sure I'll stick around for season 2.

I fell deeply into the EXO pool when I discovered variety program EXO Arcade and their appearance on Knowing Bros with the shout in silence. It is the single funniest thing I've watched in years and I've finally understood how D.O. managed to catch my interest back when he played a serial killer in I REMEMBER YOU. They're a wildly entertaining bunch.