Our Blooming Youth: Heading into the last week and I’m choosing optimism. We have a lot to cover, a lot to wrap up, and a lot of questions still to answer, but I’ve loved this show for nine weeks and I’m prepared to love it in the finale also.

Divorce Attorney Shin: Can Gi-yeong just be adopted by his uncle? I feel like everyone except the wicked step-mother (and probably poor Ha-yul) would be happier in that situation.

Delivery Man: Ignoring the police and how no one seems to have a good investigative idea, this remained cute and fun throughout. We were all spared a loss of memory angst, and they left plenty of time for cute scenes at the end.

Reply 1988: I finally finished! This was maybe my longest watch of all time, partly because each episode is movie-length and partly because I was watching in between all the currently airing things. I have to say, it was very good and very well done, and I totally understand why it was/is so popular. The first few times we saw the main characters as adults, I was disappointed because they didn’t seem that likable, and I worried that they had lost what made them charming as teens. But I’m happy to say that my opinion changed with more screentime for them, and I think I grew to understand them better. I gotta say, as much as Seon-u and Bo-ra’s relationship was great, I would’ve liked to see more of Taek and Deok-sun at the end. Basically all we got in ep 20 was their conversation around their feelings not changing and waiting to tell their families, but we never got to see their relationship progress past that point. With as much lead-up as there had been the whole show, I was not expecting their best climactic moment to come in ep 19 (although it was great). I also wish we would have gotten more information about where our characters are in present-day. Jung-bong gets a mention, but Jung-hwan, Dong-ryeong, and Jin-ju aren’t mentioned at all, and I would have loved to know where the parents all ended up living, and what Dong-il ended up doing with his time after he was forced to retire. Maybe it’s exactly because I spent so much time with them that I want to know more, and maybe if they had told me all these things, I would have just picked other things I’d like to know. Regardless, I’ll remember this drama very fondly.

My Love from the Star: This is so fun! Love an exasperated ML who just can’t quite stay away from the FL. If there are going to be murderers in my romcom, I want them obvious from the beginning, none of this heartbreak ⅔ of the way through business. Is Second Chaebol Son wearing just a bit of eyeliner? I’m into it, it gives his sinister grin that little something extra.

COMPLETED
Delivery Man - Basically a pale imitation of Let's Fight, Ghost but with unbelievably dumb cops and a taxi.

ONGOING
Divorce Attorney Shin - Cute cameo by Kim Hae-sook. Divorce case wasn't great but So-yeon and Hyeong-geun are precious so it's still fun.

Our Blooming Youth - Planning to binge with finale 🧘‍♀️.

Secret Romantic Guesthouse - Liking the rapid plot progress and Kang Hoon in particular.

Joseon Attorney - Started and paused midway through Ep. 1 because I'm suffering from sageuk oversaturation. Will give it another try later.

C-DRAMAS
Binged Road Home. Sweet but too long. Though I did fall in love with the OST's use of Zheng Jun's 'Huiguniang'.

Still enjoying Nothing But You but I'm far far behind the airing schedule.

Started Till the End of the Moon. Not a fan of xianxia or angst but I like both the leads so fingers crossed 🤞.

J-DRAMAS
Binged Tengoku to Jigoku: Psychona Futari. Takahashi Issei was excellent in both avatars.

The Real Has Come - the unexpected reveal from last week had a very specific effect on our heroine, together with a lovely pojangmacha meeting with her future MIL. Unfortunately it is our Main Gynaecologist who takes a detour this time and offers marriage to the wrong person. Let's hope this will be short and the real contract relationship starts soon!

Divorce Attorney Shin - I probably say it every week, but it is still true that I'm watching not for the court cases, but for the main protagonists and their interactions (and all the comedy between the main trio, even the green salad leaf assistance at the BBQ makes me chuckle 😄 And OF COURSE the two would crash the date! 😆😆). And then the show gives me Kim Haesook as Ramyun Halmoni and I'm in heaven. 😍
Btw, is MIL starting her divorce case not to actually divorce, but to give our Attorney a strong negotiating card to help him get his nephew into his care???

Call It Love - oh, those two, despite not being able to be together, they are loving and protecting each other till the end. 💔 This is one of the rare occasions when I wouldn't mind a guest appearance of ToD (ultimately freeing Dongjin). 🙈

Till the End of the Moon - I watched one episode and a bit and so far Romance of the Twin Flower and Fairy and Devil had more engaging start, especially Dylan Wang as the titular Devil had all my attention. That's not happening here... yet?

THE CURSED LESSON (2020): The movie premise is the fear of women losing their appearance as they naturally age. Online fashion model Hyo Jeong (Lee Chae-young) faces the imminent threat of being unemployed because of the younger and more fashionable generation coming after her clients. While relying on surgical procedures and treatments, Hyo Jeong hears about a mysterious yoga class that helps make perfect body shape from her old high school classmate, Ga Yeong. Hyo Jeong eventually attends the yoga class with three classmates: Mi Yeon, a boxer who failed to keep her body fit, Ji Won, who has an unstable mental condition, and Ye Na, a movie star who is morbidly obsessed with her appearance. But not all is as it seems in this turns into a creepy boot camp, and in no time at all bizarre visions and other mysterious events starts to haunt the participants, with deadly results. The story concept of Kundalini (a spirituality process to allegedly harness one’s inner divine feminine energy) turns into a drug cult preying on people’s insecurities as the viewer is cloaked in mystery of what is real and what is not. This falls in a typical B-horror movie:.cursory explanations, lack of cohesive back stories, nudity and questionable direction choices make this Netflix film less interesting than the concepts it tries to bring to light.

YouTube:
KOREAN PIZZA CLUB (Ep 1): In recent weeks we have discussed the state of marriage and children in Korea. This panel discussion by Koreans in Korea is very informative on the current state of marriage, children, dating and culture. The program is in English. Highly recommend.

Call it love: When a drama gets it right and continues to get it right, I think I can safely call it love. Everything about this drama is 🥰 and chef's kiss.

Divorce Attorney Shin: Last two episodes. Can't wait.

Josean Attorney: Bona And WDH continue to be adorable, the rest of the drama is just fine.

Bait: Will finish it out, but I honestly can't remember if i finished the first 6, hmmm.

Delivery Man (Series review) - Mood progression: C- / D+ / D+ / D / D- / D-
I can’t even be mad at how the show imploded during the finale so spectacularly, since on hindsight it had already derailed in the 1st half by giving away the answer to its mystery so easily. You know, it could’ve easily been a procedural show: yes, I wouldn’t be impressed either unless they dealt with the fantasy elements properly (no coma nonsense, for one) but it would be just fine as long as the writers were smart with the stories. As for the actors, the biggest loser is Kim Min Seok: I think he’s struggling to find a foothold post military (1 show in the last 2 years yikes) and this show didn’t help one bit at all.

The Secret Romantic Guesthouse (Episode 5-6) - Mood: D+
Huh, you couldn’t even shoot an arrow yourself and needed the female lead to help you do that, so what’s with the reckless entrance with the sword? To the show’s credit, it’s not dragging a lot and is in fact doing quite well in developing the story. I think there needs to be a clear resolution of who Lee Seol and the watchman are before the mystery overstays its welcome: any longer, the show will begin to lose my interest. It is concerning that the entire narrative is based around a mad king and some hastily stitched together romance: I don’t know how long it’ll be able to coast by on solely the execution but we’ll see.

Call It Love (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D
As feared, the will nonsense drained out all the energy from this week’s episodes. And it’s not over yet: I’m expecting worse during the finale week, with some last minute bullshit about how Hee Ja stole the will before Dong Jin could return it to Woo Joo, but then the guy fraudster steals it from her and has some random change of heart and decides to gift it to Woo Joo. I hope I didn’t actually spoil it for anyone reading this? On another note, the show is still flirting with Sun Woo and Min Young (why??) as well as Jun supposedly loving both sisters at the same time (?????): I’m mentally preparing myself for the worst.

Taxi Driver 2 (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D-
I’m sure I’m not the only one who facepalmed when Do Gi showed up to the club without even bothering to use an alias: are we supposed to be dumb or dumber when watching? And then the police caught him but somehow his cover wasn’t blown? Doesn’t the police report to Ha Joon? Oh wait, I get it, it’s another case of k-drama villain incompetence where they are too arrogant and forgot to check for corpses. But I guess I should be thankful that we got that gratuitous display of abs, even if it seems like the writer’s aiming for the “used to be sweet kid” villain trope. He can’t be as sweet as that Kopiko candy PPL?

CRICKET - stadiums without seats and build around mountains please your eyes so much. This is why i love watching our KIwis, though not like to live watch among others as too much noise, crowd and booze.These stadiums are best for picnic and good family sport - yeah lack of seats aka lack of ticket sales but i really prefer this over as much fresh air, easy to move and feel relaxed.

If interested - google or youtube today's New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka

As he s - i'm excited but weather this summer not looking like good. Australians can handle heat, not sure about spectators who find 31 too hot - heat in atmosphere will lead to storms - will make matches exciting but will also frustrate everyone.

I Want a very nice Cricket summer - wish - mother earth

We have started Jealousy incarnate and I'm so done with the ML ! It is difficult to watch this cocky misogynist. ML are often quite unlikeable/abrasive at the beginning, but we are at ep9 now... I just need to find how to extract a piece of sound to have Go Kyung Pyo murmuring in my ears as lullaby.

After this pink overdose, I was in need of crime and started Tell me what you saw. OCN thrillers have a rythme that really keep me engaged: I am already at ep 10, far past the twisted reveal. The case before last has me convinced that helmet motorcycle driver alter ego is a thing in dramaland.

Reborn rich has less action, and my viewing follows the same rythme.

And of course, I'll stop everything for Taxi driver 2 tomorrow. A superhero, a close-knit team, a vicious antagonist and great music... what's not to love ?

I’m in the middle of watching a new Disney Original movie called ‘Prom Pact’, and it’s giving me so much nostalgia! I grew up watching Disney content 24/7 and the original movies - like the High School Musical trilogy, whose script I basically know by heart now - were and are still some of their best work. I haven’t been as enticed by any of their latest movie offerings, which made me a bit sad to think I’d maybe grown out of it for good. Randomly though, a friend messaged me last night being like ‘you HAVE to watch this movie, you’ll love it’, so I gave it a shot and she was right! It’s so cheesy and corny, but in all the good ways, and it’s reminding me of a much simpler time where my parents took care of everything and all I had to worry about was making sure I didn’t miss recording whatever Disney movie they’d be showing on TV that weekend. I’m very glad to be reassured that I’m not too grown up to enjoy Disney!

Other than the on air kdramas I’m watching - Secret Guesthouse, Joseon Attorney, Call it Love, Our Blooming Youth - I’m also watching:

From Me to You (6/12) - my first J-drama! I guess the Netflix algorithm is working 😂 I really like this so far though, it’s very quiet, unassuming and charming. Watching it feels like sitting outside on a nice sunny day and enjoying the breeze. I’ve heard a few people say the movie is even better so am seeing if I can track that down to watch somewhere.

Hold My Hand at Twilight (2/10) - another J-drama and I’m beginning to understand why people said K-dramas like ‘A Piece of Your Mind’ were giving off ‘J-drama vibes’. It’s very gently and beautifully shot and combined with the warm colour palette, it gives you warm and fuzzy feelings while watching.

Joseon Attorney: 7.5 Inconsistently fun. There's a Bona Bonus™ in the score -- after 25, 21 and Girls' Generation 1979 I am optimistic when she shows up again.

Taxi Driver s2: 6.5

Duty After School: 7.4 (ep 4/6)

Secret Romantic Guesthouse: 6.5

Our Blooming Youth: 7.5 If you want to turn someone's hair white, just make him smell those peony fumes, hypnotize him, and then wait overnite. Or 50 years. It will work eventually.

Call It Love: 5.5 Still 1.5x

Delivery Man: 7.0

What I am watching:

_ Secret Romantic Guesthouse. Episodes 5 and 6. This series is really entertaining and fast-paced. I'm loving it. Kang Hoon is stealing the show for now.

_ Eun Joo's Room. Episodes 1-2-3 (out of 12). Nice drama, even relaxing. I am not someone who loves DIY, painting, repairings, etc. But I like watching other people doing it, and that's what this drama is about (apart from the cute guys).

What I have finished:

_ Extraordinary Attorney Woo. I'm glad that the second half of the drama was much more enjoyable (imo) than the first one. Maybe the cases were more interesting to me, and I got to know the seven main characters better. 8/10.

_ Duty after school. I have liked this first part. Waiting for the last four episodes.

Western shows: I have just started The Mandalorian Season 1.

The Secret Romantic Guesthouse If I'm happy they are very clear about who Dan-O has feeling for, I would like they showed what San has more than the 3 others for her... They pushed the love story too fast.

Our Blooming Youth How long they will push the fish's mystery? Garam was telling to everybody the guy had a fish in a bottle!

Divorce Attorney Shin I would have prefered that the FL's divorce was a one time case and then she left the show like the other cases. I would prefer to see more of the trio of friends and as a group but as individual, why it was important in the plot, he was a pianist before, etc.

Joseon Attorney The plot is not very interesting for now.

Taxi Driver 2 He acts in a reckless way for someone who is dead and then arrested...

Decoy I don't remember how the first part ended...

Road Home This Cdrama is way too old school for me. Everybody is so noisy with the love life of others, first it was with the main couple, after it was the colleagues one... I'm not sure to like the FL, I mean she's not bad but she's kinda just here... she doesn't really a story. I'm just watching for Jing Boran looking hot.

Divorce attorney Shin
The show ends this weekend. I will be sad to see it go and feeling really hopeful that we will get a decent end as I feel it has been consistently solid in the writing. Whilst I have not always appreciated the way they have portrayed the teasing elements of the friendships, I do like that this has been a vehicle for veteran Ajumma and Ajusshi actors to showcase their skills. The younger actors have done a great job as the support cast with honourable mentions to both boy actors who have had to portray some strong emotions which takes a skillset beyond their own experiences of life.

Tomorrows Cantabile
This has not aged well, the male lead drags and shoves female lead frequently and YET she falls in love with him. I feel every has been advised to over emphasise their character traits to a point it is hard for me to take it seriously. I only started it because I wanted to see Park Bogum so if his role is insignificant I will fast forward to only follow his storyline and then walk away.

Chicago typewriter -
Still in the early stages but excited to see one of the legendary dramas mentioned fondly by many beanies.

Completed

Top management
This was the era of fantasy rom com idol dramas that you could watch with confidence knowing it would stay on track genre wise and leave us feeling great. The female lead was able to see into the future and they used The Producers style mockumentary, a variety show, and lots of behind the scenes of the industry to tell the story. They even had a version of the BBC interview that went viral in 2017 when children interrupted their dad’s live online interview. I loved the show and it makes me sad to think that they don’t make shows like this, Hit the top and the Producers any more they were all fun watches. It was the era when Ahn Hyoseop still looked like the cute kid from Still 17 (sad to say I had second lead syndrome in that drama) this time he was the main lead❤️

Please don’t meet the man
Another easy watch with two shorter episodes to make the hour. Rom com looking at the use of personal data without consent for the ‘good of others’ a group of friends, hidden identities and trust in relationships at different stages of development.

Three star bar in Nishi Ogikubo -Japanese
Enjoyable watch recommended by a beanie thank you. Short series based on an ongoing manga. Three friends from school reconnect as adults when they all hit hard times and they decide to run a bar after the original owner one of the men’s grandfather dies. Each episode is a brief glimpse into the life of a customer.

From me to you - Japanese
A school based first love, friendships and coming of age series thats easy to binge watch as each episode is approximately 33 minutes. Male lead was second lead in Silent so it was good to see him in this role. Another beanie recommendation

I have watched two old movies and regret both. I guess I will stop trying to find movies I'll like.

ETERNAL HEARTS was just weird nonsense.

THE CLASSIC was going great until it suddenly wasn't in the last few minutes.

Divorce Attorney Shin
I love the friends teasing each other and laughing a lot together, with the feeling that there is trust and understanding behind that and they can totally rely on each other. And the person I need a happy ending for the most is uri nephew…
Call It Love
Call it loving this drama with my whole heart… One of the few that I watch without doing anything on the side. My favorite scene in the last episodes: Our leads letting go of each other by slowly loosening their embrace.
Our Blooming Youth
The last two episodes were really good, but why did we waste the previous two episodes on relationship jokes? We could have used that time for progress on the mystery, the background of the history, smart sleuthing, more queen, more sergeant… There’s so much to cover in the final episodes,
Finished Delivery Man
This time I really blame the writer. What happened to them in the middle, did someone else take over? The final half hour gave us what was promised and how the drama started out: ghosts, delivery, humor and romance. That and the good acting sort of made the drama worthwhile to watch.
Taxi Driver S2 (Ep.13)
All in for the whole Black Sun thread! (As usual, our handful of heroes wouldn’t stand a chance against a whole criminal organization that also has the police in their pocket, but whatever… it’s a drama) Shin Jae Ha seems to really enjoy playing this villain, and I enjoy watching him!
Dr Romantic
This has been on my watchlist for a long time, and since S3 is coming up I picked it up and almost finished S1 in a couple of days. Such a good drama! I love medical dramas, and this has a reasonable depiction of medicine (looking at you, Delivery Man and many others) and a really good balance of clinic life, humor, romance and many interesting characters.
KDrama friend project:
Still one episode of Season of Kkokdu left… Otherwise, we were busy with real life K-content: NCT Dream concert in Berlin, what a blast!

I finally got back to my re-watch of the classic comedy CITY HALL. And started my re-watch of WILD ROMANCE.

I continued to enjoy DIVORCE ATTORNEY SHIN whose final episodes are this weekend. On the whole it is well done.

So the curveball thrown at the end of episode 2 of the new family weekend drama THE REAL HAS COME! Was almost, but not quite, a red herring. Now, at the end of Episode 4- another one: Our ML has accepted our 2FL’s proposal to have a completely superficial marriage. I wanted to kick him in the [word intentionally deleted by the writer]. However, we should all remember that this is a family weekender and the first four episodes merely set the table for what is to come. The Prologue is now completed, and the real story now begins.

J-dramas, particularly the ‘romcoms’, tend to be very uneven in quality. This week I finished UNEXPECTED- LOVE STORY IN MAISON GINSEISO. My verdict on behalf of my fellow beanies: Don’t bother with this one, it is so bland that it will put you to sleep. Of course, sometimes there is something to be said for insomnia cures.

My wife watches mystery shows when she is not watching costume dramas. After she completed WARRIOR BAEK DONG SOO (which she loved and she did not find the ending bad- just really sad) she watched the third season of MISS SCARLETT AND THE DUKE (she really likes this show) followed by the eighth season of ENDEAVOUR, the really excellent pre-quel to the Inspector Morse shows. Now she is working on MIDSOMER MURDERS series 17. Soon she will again be watching another Chinese Costume drama- but she is having a hard time picking one because so many have recently been added to Viki. We also have an iQIYI subscription which is another way of saying that there is an inexhaustible supply of these colorful and often quite wonderful dramas.

She also continues to enjoy each episode of OUR BLOOMING YOUTH which is nearing the end of its run.

The Starry Love: I appreciated that this show let its female characters drive the action from beginning to end, without ever relegating them to "princesses needing to be rescued" status. I do feel that it suffered from a lack of dynamic acting performances. Nobody was unwatchably bad, but no one really popped off the screen either.

In my opinion, with Meet Yourself we have the definitive overtaking of Cdramaland on Kdramaland in terms of product quality. Try to compare it to the disaster that Summer Strike has become after a great start. Among the many beautiful things about Cdramaland there is also the fact of not inserting serial killers in every comedy. I recommend alternating watching Meet Yourself with Dianxi Xiaoge’s Vlogs on YouTube.

I'm also enjoying Begin Again and The Forbidden Flower.

From Korea, Taxi Driver saves himself from general disaster and, given the excellent reviews, I'm thinking of subscribing to Disney Plus for a month to watch Call It Love.

OUR BLOOMING YOUTH: Objectively this week was better than the previous... but that's just not enough 2 eps before the end. Writer took the easiest road way too many times and overstretched too many plot points into ridiculousness. It's possible show has been saving the best for the last indeed, but given kdramas track record of overpacked endings... "I want to believe" (c) At the very least Hyungsik's OST - and acting ofc - will soothe any disappointment I may end up having from this drama not living up to its initial potential.

ROMANCE OF A TWIN FLOWER: Kinda sunk this week, tho remains a mostly easy relaxing watch. Leads are very sweet and I really like how all their misunderstandings end fast because they - gasp! - talk to each other and actually pay attention to stuff happening around. Same can't be said about my faves bodyguard X courtesan - boy, wtf was that?! Blabbering second maid needs to go, I feel like strangling her every time she has a scene. Snake concubine's exit was madly satisfying, but she'll return to keep bitching for sure. Not looking forward to tropey melo part.

TILL THE END OF THE MOON: Aka Rooting for the Empire: The Drama lol. Xianxia dramas seem to enter their villain era - and feeling pretty comfy there))) This one slaps hard, and while I'm not a fan of certain things about setup, overload of (decent, I'll give them that) CGI, way too many characters and aggressively righteous FL, show still has my full attention. It's so dark, twisted and borderline kinky sometimes (Ep8 lmao, so much for "no way in hell something happens between us", dude!), hard to believe that a cdrama actually went there. ML is slaying everyone and their whole maternal clans (often literally), I'm absolutely mesmerized with both character and actor's performance. Just the fact that basically everyone wants him to succeed at bringing the Apocalypse tells you what a great job was done to cause this massive sympathy for the devil. Unhinged broken boys are always a win, pls keep 'em coming, dramaland!

JOSEON ATTORNEY: Will catch up tomorrow, too lazy atm.

Wasn't able to catch up much on kdramas.

I did catch Joseon Attorney episode 1. It took two tries to make it through the first episode. I feel like it just needs to get into the rhythm.

Paused on Our Blooming Youth. Will catch up this weekend or next week.

Finished off the final episodes of some c-dramas:
Never Give Up: C-Gaus. Great slice of office-life sitcom where the drama developed a real streak of warmth that moved me and endeared me.

Royal Rumors (finished):I think some crucial plot/character building may have been left off in favor of cuteness. Which isn't terrible, but makes it confusing and not memorable. I did really enjoy how the male lead is totally a cat person.

The Magical Women, a Chinese drama about a married woman witha 10 year old daughter whose husband lied and cheats on her. What I like about this drama, one of the best this year in my opinion were the strong females especially the FL who after her disastrous marriage to a scum found new happiness with a better partner. It is about sismance among women who suffered having bad relationships. FL has a daughter who has a loving relationship with her father who loves her but is scummy to his wife. I binged watch all initial 12 episodes as the next 8 episodes will be aired later. I highly recommend this drama to Beanies who like drama plots about women empowerment and the comeuppance to their partners who either cheat and lie or took advantage of their wives/partners.

Dramaland is still a dry wasteland, but fortunately the oldies are there to keep us happy

Prison Playbook (2017)
Just passed the halfway mark, i love these characters and their stories

Rikokatsu (2021)
An adorable opposites attract J-drama about a slighly oafish conservative military man and a career oriented woman who happen to fall for each other after a quickie marriage and divorce, i loved it

Father is strange (2017)
An iconic weekender that ive never seen despite being a fan of Lee Yu-ri, im on episode 10 and im enjoying so far.

Finished Warm on a Cold Night. Decent ending to a decent show, but all in all nothing special. I was really hoping that the FL would end up being the personification of the Divine Flame, but oh well.

Got to ep 25 of Starry Love. Enjoying this one but I've learned that I have to take breaks when watching these longer costume/xianxia dramas.

Watched the 2017 remake of Kimi wa Petto. I still think the original is much better in many ways, but the remake had its own charm and I appreciated that the ending was more in line with the manga than the original drama was.

Tried to watch From Repair to Pair but gave up at ep 7.

Watched the mini drama Night of Love With You. Decent enough.

Completed The Beauty Inside. Liked the drama a lot, but I'm kinda on the fence about the fact that they never really gave an explanation for why the FL changed into other people.

On ep 7 of My Fated Boy, but I'm not how much more I'll watch. Not sure why, but I'm just not invested in the romance yet.

Started a rewatch of Arang and the Magistrate yesterday. Hope it lives up to my fond memories.

CALL IT LOVE: Still poignant, beautifully written, and perfectly paced. It's everything I love about romantic melo, but I'm still a little nervous over how it will wrap up all these frayed edges and broken characters. It has been a long time since I loved an OTP this much, and Woo-joo and Dong-jin deserve to be happy. Please, writers, don't mess this up in the home stretch--there's no artistic or thematic reason that would justify these two having to live without each other.

OUR BLOOMING YOUTH: Things ramped up this week, but our main pairing still seems stuck in romantic inertia. There's a lot to resolve in the final two episodes, and in keeping with the show up to this point, I expect the romance to have a rushed, happy ending in the final scenes. For me, the screenwriter here definitely showed promise, but you can tell it's their first drama.

SECRET GUESTHOUSE: My annoyance with OBY may be a big reason why I'm enjoying this one so much right now. Objectively, it's not doing anything radically different or exciting, and yet, I'm finding this drama more and more addictive as it goes on. I love the way the show makes revelations about the true identities of the characters, but then leaves things just ambiguous enough that we can't quite trust what we're led to believe. I also like all the potential romances, and think they're unfolding at the perfect pace.

THE REAL HAS COME: Can I just say that I hate most of the ML's family, including grandma? The way everyone has to defer to her while she treats most everyone around her like pawns she should have every right to move around on the chessboard is truly appalling. In addition, my blood started boiling while watching the sexist explosion that was most every conversation (from her co-worker and boss and then her brother) the FL had about her pregnancy. On the plus side, I do like the developing relationship between the leads, and I'm a sucker for contract marriage stories which is clearly where we are headed.

JOSEON LAWYER: I'm behind, and struggling a bit to maintain focus. At the same time, I think this one has promise and WDH has a lot of dialogue (that voice never disappoints no matter what he's saying) so I'll keep watching.

Current/recent:
Our Blooming Youth: Although it's probably a ridiculous reference to the Marvel universe, I totally heard “Shield” as Joseon-speak for “Scooby.” I’m still enjoying it, but my expectations have been lowered enough by the inconsistent pacing and writing that I will be satisfied if ep. 19 manages not to consist mostly of noble idiocy on the part of every nobleman, noblewoman, and ignoble idiot in sight.

Older stuff:
Stove League: So freaking awesome, down to the littlest details, like the game between the Dreams and their archrivals the Vikings where the key at-bat was filmed with a filter that made the players look like hyperreal avatars in a computer game.

Queen In Hyun’s Man: Damned near perfect. I was grinning like an idiot for hours after I finished the last episode. The single false note was the LOUD soundtrack telling me what to feel during the most intensely angsty moments - but did it ever deliver the angst! And the logic! Which held up through a hundred twists and reversals until (maybe, maybe not) the very last one, and I am more than willing to accept that for the sake of the narrative as a whole. Did I mention nearly perfect? (But what happened to the horse?)

Call It Love eps 13-14: I still love the still-ongoing pink filter so I really wanna hope that pink filter will be here for next week's finale episodes. So meanwhile, both episodes this week were totally the most melodramatic and saddest ever for me. I prayed for happy ending a bit next week, don't let it be disappointed, show!

Taxi Driver (season 2) eps 12-13: I still love the entire main cast including Lee Je-hoon. ...And, of course, the music! I still praying for reaching above 18.3% ratings for the remaining few episodes left.
(Note: for the weecaps/recaps of Taxi Driver second season, check out Dryed Mangoez website: https://dryedmangoez.com/category/taxidriver/)

'Call it Love', of course. This show is what I watch K-dramas for, and we seem to be getting fewer and fewer of them.

I started rewatching the 2018 series 'Misty' and its just as excellent as I remembered. Its a bit funny watching Jin K-joo (The Secret Life Of My Secretary) in an early role as a 'femme fatal' when she's mostly done innocent roles since then.

'Love Between Fairy and Devil', twenty episodes down another sixteen still to go.

Watching K dramas
Oasis Ok despite the Love Triangle
Romantic Loveshack
The Real Has Come
Apple of my Eye

J drama 1st episode Nagatan to Aoto: Ichika no Ryourijou

C drama The Autumn Ballad

YouTube : Maigret audiobooks , videos about magnet fishing, short wave radio numbers stations

Speed-binged through Old Miss Diary, which I enjoyed immensely. It's old, long, and a great slice-of-life Kdrama that any young A-A professional with a somewhat traditional family can relate to. The format is a bit outdated, but the themes and relationship issues are just as relevant today as it was 20 years ago. The only thing it lacks is a good mother-daughter relationship scenario, which is alternated with other familial ties.

I was rewatching One the Woman for a while because LHN's character in this drama always cheers me up when life happens. After several watchings of this drama, I appreciate how well her character is written more and more. It's a FL character who is not only hilarious but the epitome of intelligence and street-smarts, elegance balanced by down-to-earth, and a sense of justice that is truly satisfying from a right & wrong perspective within the narrative.

Still, I was itching for new content, so started The Man of the Vineyard since its recent addition to Kocowa.com. It's another old one in an outdated format, and admittedly, it's not great. I'm watching to finish at this point, but it's over-acted, the characters are uninteresting, and the narrative unfolding is not done nearly as well as the promise of the premise. Really well-done older dramas don't show it as much, but this one really shows the dramatic progression of Kdramas before and now.

This week I saw two movies...in an actual movie theater!

BROKER features a fabulous ensemble cast. It's about a couple of guys (Song Kang-Ho, Gang Dong-Won) who run an illegal baby adoption service. A prostitute (IU) who abandons and then comes back for her infant son ends up joining the brokers to find a good home for the baby (as well as a good commission fee). They head out in a broken-down old van, along with a young stowaway (an adorable Lim Seung-Soo) who has run away from an orphanage. During their travels, this group of misfits becomes a sort of makeshift family. They are tailed by a pair of police officers (Bae Doona and Lee Joo-Young) who are intent on catching the baby brokers in the act. For a film about selling babies, it's a surprisingly sweet/bittersweet story, with great performances all around. The director is Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose film, SHOPLIFTERS, is another "found family" story of people struggling to survive on the margins of society. Both films highly recommended.

RETURN TO SEOUL is a funny, melancholy film about a wild-spirited Korean-born woman (Park Ji-Min) who was adopted into a French family as a young child. In her mid-twenties she goes back to Korea, where she reluctantly agrees to meet her birth father (Oh Kwang-Rok). Filled with resentment and unable to speak her native language, she struggles to form a connection with her Korean family. The film follows her over the course of eight years as she moves through the world and attempts to create an identity for herself. Also highly recommended.

I just finished watching MELANCHOLIA, which I found a bit frustrating and schizophrenic. I loved the bonding between the female teacher (Lim Soo-Jung) and her male student (Lee Do-Hyun) over a shared passion for math, along with the conflict that inevitably arose when he developed a crush on her (though I didn't understand why their relationship was still considered scandalous once he became an adult). I also loved the "found family" that they form—also brought together through math—with her father (Oh Gwang-Rok) and the girl student (Shin Soo-Yeon). I was even okay with the school politics, bullying, and class warfare plotlines. But the Machiavellian school principal (a demented, over-the-top performance by Jin Kyung) seemed to have been dropped in from another drama entirely! The whole plotline involving the bitter rivalry between her and her sister was pure makjang and could have/should have been jettisoned entirely. All in all, I was glad to have watched it, but will not be up for a re-watch.

Not as many dramas this week because I am visiting my family for Passover. During the holiday, no TV. Before the holiday, new temporary job plus tons of pre-Passover cooking. Nevertheless I watched some shows in the evenings.

Our Blooming Youth The writers seem to be pulling together the mystery nicely and the pacing feels better to me. I found the scene where the heroine had to break up with the second lead nearly unbearable. At least she got to acknowledge what a good person he is. Whatever the flaws of this show are, I've been gratified at some of the things the FL gets to say that FLs in other shows have not.
Secret Romantic Guest House: Wasn’t Yoon Dan Oh also the name of the protagonist of Extraordinary You? Speaking of great pacing, this is just blowing me away with the plot.
Divorce Attorney Shin: watched it last week before traveling but have not yet seen today's episode! I can't wait to find out what happens.
The Eighth Sense: This show is amazing. It’s a campus romance BL, which is kind of risky since the consensus is that Semantic Error is the best BL ever & it’s also a Korean campus romance. Yet this seems to hit every mark, with beautiful acting. It frosts me that Viki doesn’t have credits up for the supporting cast. They deserve it! I want to link everyone to the song from the show about surfing, sung by Lee Mi Ra. She is so cute on screen and her voice is lovely, if a a little raw here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW2k6695rI4 I would like to see more of her. Japanese actors who have supporting roles in BLs wind up with other kinds of roles in other dramas, and I hope that’s how it will work here too. Probably not though.
I didn’t wind up watching much else. Sometimes my dad has the TV on here and I watch a US show with him, but mostly I’ve been reading in front of the TV. I read a translation of the story of the 47 Ronin called Chushingura, based on the script of a 1748 puppet show (!) and translated by Donald Keene in 1971. I know I read it in college but I do not remember doing so at all. It was certainly violent, and I wondered how they showed all the seppuku (belly cutting suicides) with puppets. Anyone who didn't die of suicide at least threatened to do so.

Continuing my watch of older shows:

Familiar Wife. This was on a list about fantasy dramas and do like those types of stories. I often wonder what would be different if I made different choices and it's usually fun seeing those types of situations play out onscreen. When I was watching it, particularly the early episodes, I was thinking is he *supposed* to be the worst or am I just being hard on him because I sympathized WAY more with the harried wife? I saw the recapper on here was more open minded towards him and could see that he really did, in his own mind, think he was doing good. I did like how the story developed in some ways and it also made me think of when there was that mature dramas post a couple of weeks ago.

Current shows

Peak Time. It's sad that one of the groups is leaving due to something in the past. It wasn't even anything bad but it doesn't fit the image of an idol. I swear, I don't understand why people choose that idol life (aside from the money if they become successful). I again don't remember all the performances but some of those songs were really catchy and it would be cool if they became successful songs. Coca Colada, Criminal, and Fever are the only ones I remember off the top of my head. I liked the guys who sang the song of one of the judges but I don't remember the title.

Taxi Driver. This week's episodes and next week's promo are the most stressed I've ever been when watching this show. I thought the writer & director did well with making the tension palpable. Because he's the lead, it's kinda a given that he'll survive pretty much anything but I was still on the edge of my seat because I wondered just how close he was to being caught and what would happen once he was caught. I think Manager Oh & Bishop are formidable opponents to the rainbow crew and I wonder how they will get out of their situation next week.

Hello, I'm coming up on my 1 year Dramaversary... when I first started watching K-dramas via Netflix in the USA. While in Europe in summer '22, got to watch a whole slew of K-dramas via European Netflix, which sealed the deal for me... when I came back and couldn't see some of the films I had seen in Europe... Enter Viki/ Kocowa, and well, she's a goner now...
I'm still learning the ropes of K-drama time management. As I explained to my hubs, when you watch a drama IRT you need your background dramas (preferably with all 16 shows already 'out'), so as to maximize your available viewing time... and not be left hanging (do I sound like I'm addicted?!? Yes. Yes. I. Do.)
So, like many others... have been enjoying so much
Call It Love - Unless the Drama Gods send us something unexpected, I can tell you this will be my favorite drama of the year. Cinematography, slow burn, character growth arcs, actual romance I can believe... AND THE REAL MYSTERY... what does Dongjin carry in the Ubiquitous Backpack. I'm thinking a Teddy Bear from when he was 8, but I'm up for your guesses.

To tide me over for the Call it Love episodes ---- I watched a lot of other series (Love to Hate you, a Netflix fun romp), Crash Course in Romance (I liked the concept of the star teacher/ academy angle --- but this show had 'issues'--- even though it ended with mostly everybody in a 'good place'.
And then the last two weeks I caught up on Divorce Attorney Shin (which really was well done, good feels all around, the child actors are really so talented!).
I also found "Kiss Sixth Sense" on Hulu (Have to watch CIL on that, so I think their algorithm served me...)-- and by golly--- there was actual CHEMISTRY and quite a bit of smooching in that one. I call it out, because as others have noted, most dramas just get to the hand holding part and maybe a kiss 4 episodes later. BUT if you can't stand child trauma back stories that haunt lead characters in the present day... you may not like that whole thread of the story... but if you can willingly work around that, well, quite a fun show--- but I think they missed an opportunity to title their show "Kissandra" (...because FL's like Cassandra in Greek mythology with her prophecies...)

Just started "The Eighth Sense" --- but it's IRT so, I need another back up drama until the latest episodes come out. Love the slow pacing and the two characters seem pretty true to how "regular folks" might fall into a relationship. I've seen a hella lot of ritual drinking on all the dramas I've seen this year--- but I still get a bit upset by it . Sure enough, it makes its appearance pretty early and steadily in this university story, too. But, that's just me on my soapbox. Not convinced it's not sloppy drama pacing and story telling vs offering a look into our actor's character.

On PBS Passport, got through Sandition Season 3 --- it looks so costumey and childish compared to the...

Here I am, three days after What Watch is posted, madly scribbling away in my journal. Thanks to all the Beanies who chronicle their drama journey.
Yesterday I compiled a list of the "most watched" C-dramas but the numbers of episodes for each is really daunting. I appreciate reading that other Beanies have a hard time finishing some wuxia/xian xia/costume dramas. I vividly recall when I realized I was actually going to complete Nirvana in Fire. I'm learning that limiting myself to one episode a day of these long dramas is crucial for my ability to savor some great stories.