DR. CHA (Ep.11-12): The theme of these two episodes was Mistakes. People will always make mistakes but one can only learn and grow if they accept responsibility, ask for forgiveness, and move forward with the resulting knowledge. It is clear some people hide them; some run away from them; some admit them and take blame and some refuse to acknowledge them. But it seems the characters have a hard time learning from them.

Bora!/True to Love: There were so many good things and so many cringe things. So many things explored and so many left unexplored. The last episode gave us the relationship that we wanted all along, and the one literally no one wanted ever.

The Good Bad Mother: It’s always a bold move to shove all the backstory into a short period of time. I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that no one is ever going to get mad at Young-soon for her abuse, even though it continues to the present day. But, I’ve never been more invested in the little family with the twins, so as ever, my feelings are complicated.

Sh**ting Stars: I’ve been wanting to watch this since it came out last year (didn’t have Viki at the time) but I just hadn’t been finding the time. Then I realized all I wanted was a romcom right now so I pushed play and I’m so glad I did. It’s got everything I wanted. Normally my squees are internal but this show made me do one out loud. Adorable.

Black Knight: My partner and I started this this week. We’re just moving slowly, but it’s set up an interesting world and I’m invested in the mystery and the characters. Partner says the architect of the utopia dome looks like he’s straight out of Hunger Games and he is not wrong.

Bora! Deborah (Series review) - Mood progression: D / D- / D- / D- / D- / D- / D-
Can you imagine anything worse than featuring an ex as a romance obstacle in the penultimate week? That’s right, doing it in the finale week with another person! But wait there’s more: an inappropriate office romance that goes into weird territory in the finale, a dysfunctional marriage that magically gets resolved in the finale, teenage pregnancy in the finale OMG WTF

All That We Loved (Series review) - Mood progression: D / D / D- / D-
Nothing of narrative value happened within the penultimate week, so I was wondering if the finale week could at least wrap it up properly: nope, penultimate episode wasted on some weak conflict, finale episode pulled some disappearance bullshit

Oh! Young-shim (Episode 3-4) - Mood: D
Lmao, they actually placed a shirtless Lee Min Jae in the preview, as though they read my mind about how boring I find the theatricality of the protagonist here. It’s honestly hard to pinpoint who’s better in acting between the OTP here and I can’t tell if the direction is contributing to the awkwardness or not. But whatever, it’s just three more weeks before it ends?

The Good Bad Mother (Episode 9-10) - Mood: C-
Episode 9 clearly demonstrates the weakness in having a cliche revenge arc: show ended up using one whole episode for a contextualisation that seasoned viewers would’ve already predicted. And next week’s already the penultimate week: I don’t know how the drama going to wrap up everything in 4 episodes without rushing something, there’s just way too many arcs?

Doctor Cha (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D+
Yeah, it’s clearly dragging now, what with In Ho fainting in the cliffhanger and Seung Hi getting the perfect opportunity with Dr Cha’s mom to hold Dr Cha hostage in the preview? With 4 episodes left, I doubt there’ll be any romance between Dr Cha and Roy, but honestly I’m more worried if she’ll even divorce. She might want to now, but who knows if she might soften up?

Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 (Episode 5-6) - Mood: C-
Oh, we’re getting somewhere with the plot? The Japanese generals and the whole Korean independence movement thing is still really random to me but Hong Joo forcing the frenemies to work together is something I could watch. I wish there was a narrative link between the romance and the action: it honestly feels like it’s for Kim Bum fan service. Fine but yeah.

My Perfect Stranger (Episode 7-8) - Mood: C
We’re done with the first half with a cliffhanger that would’ve been better placed at Episode 4 because of its obviousness. I do however feel assured that the writing is moving in some direction instead of being too twisty, though I hope that it hasn’t revealed all its cards yet with Mi Sook being an obvious mastermind now. She can be the greatest red herring but we’ll see.

Dr Cha
I still love the black comedy (and the handicapped parking permit was a great way to show Inho's true character)... but... Seunghee was a huge disappointment this week. Last week, I really thought she had turned a new leaf, she even started being nice to Jungsook and it felt like she wanted to pass Jungsook some of her experience and knowledge before she leaves for States. Unfortunately she then suddenly got consumed by her obsessive dream about her family life with Inho. Why?? I had a different wish - I wanted Seunghee and Jungsook to join hands in kicking Inho to the curb (and maybe even become friends).

The Real Has Come
Taekyung became part of the candle club of men loving their wives, Yeondoo bonded with Noona over the troubles of combining work and family... and Grandma became a new transfer student. 🙂

Romantic Doctor Kim Sabu (only up to E6)
I love the idealistic Kim Sabu, but I also see the point of Cha Jinman, he is not wrong either, it is important to weigh the options before deciding where to put the recourses (neither the staff and their energy nor the finances are unlimited and should be spent wisely). I actually think that Cha Jinman could be a good balance to Kim Sabu - one is (perhaps too) focused on the patients while the other is (perhaps too) focused on the doctors/hospital.

Deborah
Juwan was a selfish immature prick totally not respecting Bora until the very end. It was unfortunate that he still managed to shake Soohyuk who lost his self-confidence and climbed back into his shell. The Introverted Me partly understood him, but I wish he had more trust in Bora (and the time they spent together) and TALKED to her and was honest about his heart (I also wish that the writers didn't let him so down, because Soohyuk has been growing quite well, heck he even bought flowers and wrote his confession!). Luckily at least Bora continued her growth and I was proud that she stayed true to her feelings and was clear about them to Soohyuk... and was ready to live without him if he didn't accept her feelings.
Anyway, the show was not perfect, but when it was good, I loved it. I also loved Yoo Inna and without her I would had probably dropped the show.

CRICKET - the real cricket is starting within 2 weeks

James - 20 years in test cricket - big big for a fast bowler - This ashes is surely for saying goodbye to international and maybe all cricket

Lord test tickets aren't as much cost this time around

World test Championship - hope hot summer won't bring major storm and storms to affect this aggresive beautiful cricket summer.

Oh Youngshim: I quit. The leads, particularly the FL are not likeable or particularly redeemable. Making her violent and playing it for laughs is a weird choice. Pass, it is too bad because the episodes were short.

My Perfect Stranger: I continue to enjoy this drama. I love our leads and how they play off of each other. I love loved that he gave her hug, they both needed one. I ignore the time travel aspect because thankfully it isn't a huge central tenant of the show. I also surprisingly like the whodunit aspect of the show as well. I think the Ko siblings are definitely involved, but how is the question.

Bora!Deborah: Where potential goes to die. There were some really great moments in this drama. The OTP was so fun and delightful. As for our side characters, I refuse to even talk about Sangjin and the child, just SIGH. So much potential for greatness.

The Bad Mother: She is a bad mother and not in the badass way, just the terrible, abusive and toxic way. Mi Joo, I want only good things for you and the babies. Oh Kang Ho, I really hope his memory comes back quickly.

Race: This drama has settled and is becoming something I look forward to.

Kim Sabu: Triage folks and medical staff is important in emergency situations. Come-on, this is medical drama 101, why are we doing this silly dramatic nonsense. I am disappointed in these episodes.

simultaniusly watching both series of Tale of the nine taled and enjoying both for different reasons. one is heartfelt and bittersweet the other is friggin hilarious. and I have no problem with creepy or scary.
but there is always the time travel dilemma whether you should remember what happened in the past , even though it had not happened to Yeon yet before he went back but the future Rang should have knowledge of it, no? unless his memory was deleted. ok confusing.

whats annoying is I could also watch S1 at work at a break moment but S2 is too funny and im getting stares. then I have to answer their questions and cant enjoy my moment.

BORA stumbled to the finish line with an unnecessary teenage pregnancy, a creepy office romance and a lazy marriage suddenly back in romance territory, which means playing video games together. At least we got the main couple together and it was their conversations that I found the most interesting part of the whole drama. Yo-In-na and Yoon Hyun-min carried the show.

RACE on the other hand has a well written office drama script. The acting, apart from safe hands like Moon So-ri and Jo Han-chul, is not the best, but the drama itself is very watchable.

Dr. Cha is still my favourite. In-ho and his mother will end up defrauded and penniless with no wife/daughter in law to take care of them. I can't say I feel sorry for them.

Lots of drama at Doldam, maybe a touch too much. These doctors all risk burn out.

I now only see a BAD MOTHER and good Mi-joo.

(Why is this discussion inside Tale of the Nine Tale 1938 Recaps? 😅)

What I have finished:

_ Bora Deborah: have I enjoyed this drama? Absolutely. Do I think it is good? I do. Have I liked the ending? So so. Something failed in episodes 13 and 14. This drama needed to have 16 episodes.

_ All that we loved: this is not a good drama, imo. I have finished it just because it was short. It started better than ended.

_ Fated to love you (Korean): binge-watched this in three days. I liked it a lot.

What I am watching:

_ Six Flying Dragons (31 out of 50).

What I'm going to start... Hmmm. Maybe Meteor Garden. I have not watched any drama related to Hana Yori Dango, not even Boys over flowers. I think this is not the kind of story I enjoy, but I want to know why this is so popular.

Oh! Young-shim As we would say in French, it doesn't break bricks

My Perfect Stranger I like it. The investigation is interesting and I'm really curious about the characters. Hugs can make me as happy as kiss scenes.

Bora! Deborah Four love stories and only one good that was still dragged for no reason...

Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim 3 Elizabeth and Jessie are not given a great development.

Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 It's still pretty and funny and I don't care about the rest.

Race I like the office setting and the different relationships.

One Day Off It's super weird but fun and I really like the different places she visited.

My K-drama schedule consists of ONE drama, how sad 😢

Race (4/12): Love a good slow burn office romance, just hoping this doesn’t fall into unnecessary angst territory! I can handle the good kind of plot consistent angst though. You’ve got my heart Jaemin 🥰 (given just how many celebrities and fictional characters I crush on, I’m forever surprised at just how big my heart is)

Oath of Love (9/29) - I usually don’t do medical dramas but this one I’m really enjoying so far! Maybe because it’s not a medical workplace set up and more like a healing-melodrama-romance where the ML happens to be a doctor. True to the genre, it’s got a lot of touching moments and the plot-lines involving parental dynamics are especially emotional because they’re exploring how complex the parent-child relationship can be, especially in an asian household. The romance is developing so beautifully too, and I didn’t realise I was falling in love with them as they fall in love with each other, until my mum kept catching me with an idiotic smile plastered on my face while I was watching 😂 I haven’t felt this giddy over drama in a long time! I’ve got butterflies in my stomach and it feels like I’m a teen again, getting texts from a crush hahaha. Everything else in the world disappears and I’m wholly absorbed in the unfolding romance on my screen. I’m going to be so sad when it finishes.

Also, considering this has Xiao Zhan and I just finished a Wang Yibo drama, I guess the natural next step is to finally watch the much acclaimed ‘The Untamed’ after I finish this!

Back from the Brink (23/ I forgot how many eps there are going to be in total): started this on the heels of finishing TTEOTM and that’s turned out to be a good choice, because it’s engaging without being too serious. ALTHOUGH, there is a healthy amount of future angst brewing and I have now copped second lead syndrome real bad, so this is going to end up hurting for sure eventually 🤡.Highlight of this week’s plot line was this whole scenario though:

ML: previously did something pretty bad without warning to FL (tbh I get his logic objectively but he could’ve & should’ve talked to her first)
FL: is facing the consequences of recovering from ML’s actions and is also now naturally scared of ML, doesn’t want to see him again
ML: is visibly confused and upset and FL’s reaction, has sad puppy eyes the entire time he sees her

SIR what did you think was going to happen after what you pulled 😂 FL is usually kind and pretty forgiving so I knew it wouldn’t be long till she did find out why he did it and forgave him, but I’m glad she is dragging out any form of forgiveness for the ML for now, because he shouldn’t be able to re-gain trust that easily pls.

Love Between Fairy and Devil (10/36): I love this show MORE somehow on the second watch!

The Good Bad Mother
I feel vindicated I knew he was not as cold as he appeared. The lettuce farmers trapped in the shed but able to break out when needed was funny. Is it any wonder the henchman turned farmer is forgetting his reason for being there when he is away from the toxicity of his work place. I am sure he will end up staying and marrying one of the women who rejected Kangho. The pay will be rubbish compared to his current role but quality of life will improve.

All that we loved.
What was that ending? I didn’t guess which of the boys it was so fair play but the random disappearance and reappearance of the other boy made no sense to me. How he survived at such a young age when he was unwell and how he was hidden from the private detectives but he managed to make contact with a famous person. I enjoyed the story but the actor playing the psychiatrist Goo has a face for vampire type roles, which I can’t handle so I think I was on edge the whole time waiting for something random to happen. In my defence it’s not as ridiculous as it seems with the mixed genres floating about these days!

Race
Still loving this one but as it settles in some of the characters are annoying me, a lot.

Oh! Youngshim
Oh my, a live action cartoon not really a good cross over but watching because I have hopes it will improve. I also know this is wishful thinking but my watchlist is lacking so a no stress killing time watch is fine until something better comes along.

One Day off
I like this one, it has filled my Finland papa hole.

Completed
Finland Papa 🥺 my weekend was so empty without it
The wind blows all about early onset dementia.
Unrequited love - Chinese coming of age university romance

Audio Books:
The easy life in Kamusari by Shion Miura Japanese.
A teenager is sent off to do a year’s apprenticeship learning forestry in a mountain village, he is not impressed. He starts to write a diary to kill time and eventually learns to grow physically, socially, spiritually and emotionally as he learns to understand the village traditions. By the same author as The great passage.

JOSEON ATTORNEY -- Finished. I really liked the instrumental OST, the cinematography (especially how light and shadow were handled), and Woo Do Hwan's powerhouse performance. The themes and cases were quite dark and heavy for me, and I definitely sobbed my way through episode 14. Comparing this with the other two recent historical dramas, while JA's story wasn't as ambitious as OBY's, it was often more consistent. OBY had the better ensemble cast, but in JA, Woo Do Hwan was given the scope to steal every scene he was in. JA did a much more interesting job than TSRG of exploring morally grey characters and their motivations, including our ML who made some big mistakes, and often resorted to questionable tactics to achieve his goals. I'm glad I watched, and there was finally, FINALLY, a happy ending. Also, it's worth saying again: Woo Do Hwan is PHENOMENAL.

MY PERFECT STRANGER -- This is getting more stressful! It's starting to remind me of Doctor Who - are there fixed moments in time they can't change? Can they actually save anyone - including themselves? FL has had to rely on ML out of necessity from the beginning, but I'm glad they're both trusting each other more, and ML is becoming more empathetic to her. I LOL'd when ML asked FL if she thought it was a coincidence the house he chose was right across from her family's, and I thought, "Yes. Yes, I did." But there are no coincidences in this town, and everyone is suspicious!

I told my mom she should watch STEALER, and she liked it! (Even though she found it stressful at times). She enjoyed the friendship and teamwork.

C-dramas -- I'm really enjoying BACK FROM THE BRINK, but paused at ep. 7 to wait for more episodes to become available. I don't think it will be as good as THE STARRY LOVE, but it vibes in a similar way for me! Still waiting for THE INGENIOUS ONE.

Bora! Deborah could have done something more than what it doled out in the finale. A wedding that should have been, and a wedding that should not be until a few years in time.
For someone to actually quote your exact words (something about lavender) from your handwritten gift card and tell you they don't want a man that frowns away from expressing their feelings in clear terms, it felt very self-serving that it was reading Bo-ra's manuscript that made him finally say the words. Soo-hyuk should have been a second male lead and then they cast someone more honorable than Ju-wan as ML cause he's our typical SML material except I won't be rooting for him. Soo-hyuk never grew. All I see is Bo-ra catering to his pride for a very long time.

My Perfect Stranger - This one was out for my eyes to shed tears this week. Thankfully I fought it back from dropping. The hopelessness that weighed on them when the two supposedly averted murders occurred was overwhelming.
I do hope they find strength in knowing that they saved a life that same day they lost two.

Oh! Youngshim - As stated in the recaps, this one is best enjoyed with your head turned off. Their back and forths are a look forward to. And I'm also looking forward to Mr. Oh's next cartoon piece. Seems like inspiration is back on his side again.

Dr. Cha - Not grown ass men engaging in floor fights please. It's not fun at all.
And... can we have some progress with Dr. Roy's birth secret.

Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 - It's a blessing that I have two guilty pleasures for a few weekends now. I salute Hong-joo for piercing both men with her sword as that was one of the many ways to get them to stop but choose to deploy that one.
Moo-young. What's with the guy?

And on my unfinished projects, It was Grid Ep 8 on my screen. While I was glad Eo-jin survived due to the new timeline the Ghost created, I'm surprised it also brought back Man-ok. And, I like Sae-ha's mom. What happened to her really sucked life out of her. To see her this lively and bubbly...it's good for her, and for Sae-ha.

Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938: 8.5 They're going to make us wait a week after THAT???????

Joseon Attorney: A Morality: 6.5 Ending hit all the required kdrama notes in the most kdrama manner they could think of. Couldn't really accept the chief baddie's mental mutations though.

Doctor Romantic 3: 6.0 There are baddies that are fun to watch, and then there are ones like the bully drug addict old acquaintance in days 7 & 8. Put him in day 1 and I'm out.

My Perfect Stranger: 8.5

Bora! Deborah / True to Love: 5.0 Day 14 was good only in comparison to the appropriately-numbered day 13.

Joseon Attorney: Satisfying enough ending though I would have liked a bloodier revenge. I skipped episodes 13 and 14 and went straight to episode 15 and I think it made a positive difference how much I enjoyed the series overall.

The Real has come: ML is catching feelings now! I think the characters and relationships and dynamics are developing pretty nicely. Of course, except for the villainous Sejin.

One Day Off (ep 1-4): Short arthouse-y vignettes. Makes me sort of want to just take a short trip elsewhere and let my mind wander.

Meet Yourself (cdrama, finished): What a beautiful gem of a drama chock full of warm, lovely characters. All the characters ended up in a much more healed, better place by the end. Among many things, I really admire how the drama kept the memory of Nan-xing alive.

Love is Written in the Stars (finished): C-drama. Quite a frustrating ending though our leads survived. The writing is pretty poor even by youth web series standards. I think this is a case where the ensemble of actors really made the drama more watchable and adorable than it should have been.

Back from the Brink (up to ep 12): Xianxia cdrama. Very watchable and it is progressing nicely. We get some cute "monsters"/spirits along the way. It feels like I'm watching an anime. My only big complaint so far is that they have distractingly too many outfit changes for travelers.

Only watching Cdramas right now while I try to decide which Kdrama to start next. Can't decide between Fight For My Way or Tomorrow With You.

Finished Your Sensibility, My Destiny. Cute little drama. The premise of the ML not being able to feel anything - touch or emotions - was interesting and pretty well done in the beginning, but the drama seemed to forget all about it in the last half.

Started Find Yourself for no other reason than Song Wei Long. I'm shallow like that.

Finished Love is Sweet. SML really got on my nerves, but otherwise I enjoyed it a lot. Don't know how many times I watched the "What's the next level?" scene and cracked up.

Up to ep 18 of Back to the Brink. I subscribed to Youku for this drama. If you look at it objectively, it's nothing special and definitely low-budget. And the story has veered waaaaay off from the novel. But I still luff it to pieces.

Still making slow progress with Love Like the Galaxy. Should finish it this week.

COMPLETED
Bo-ra! Deborah - My dislike of this show varied week on week but Week 7 took the cake. Feels like they tacked on the 'open ending' voiceover purely because no one would believe most of these characters can live happily ever after.

ONGOING
Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 - More genre-jumping with multiple worlds. I love it.

My Perfect Stranger - Plot holes galore but I'm still invested.

The Good Bad Mother - Mi-joo is a queen and deserves the world.

C-DRAMAS
Wanted to start Here We Meet Again but the subs are atrocious. Will wait for better subs.

Giant is such a compelling drama! I wish adult Yeo Jin Too and Kim Soon Hyun could play the adult version of their characters.

Finished - Our Blues and My Liberation Notes. These are so good. MLN is now my favorite Kdrama. Still mystified that The Glory is best drama according to Baeksang.

I picked up Trolley and Taxi Driver, Season 2.

Non-Korean - Beef. It's always good to see Steven Yeun in something.
Harry and Meghan. Watched it to see what the hype is. Dropped at episode 2. My prediction is that she will divorce him.

Rainless Love in a Godless Land: So how exactly does one get a hot rain god guardian? Asking for a friend.

My Perfect Stranger: I have stalled at episode 8 as I'm concerned about the Big Bad/Red John type character perhaps being some teenager. That seems too simple for a show with 8 more episodes but I've been burned before. Will see how the reviews are in upcoming episodes. This is one that should really be 12 not 16 eps.

Kind of stalling on dramas and feel I should go back and finish some that I was one or two eps from finishing.

Books: I read A Death in Tokyo from Keigo Higashino. Realized I'd watched a drama based on a book series of his but dropped it early on. This book is solid so might give that other book series a go.

So so happy to find a Korean drama to enjoy, One Day Off. I'm going to slow down to savor each episode and already re-watched ep 1. It perfectly captures the first encounter of a newbie on a meditation retreat; from the inability to turn off one's "monkey mind" to the difficulty and joy of noble silence. Episode 2 addresses the "savior-teacher" trap in a delightful way. In both episodes, the side characters are wonderfully written. Can't recommend this little show enough!
Meanwhile I am working through the highly recommended C-drama Joy of Life which is so chucky jam full of marvelous actors it's hard to single any out. Enjoyed the clever end-around by the writing team of the C-censors' ban on time travel plots. The crux of the drama has the ML applying an egalitarian mindset to a class stratified society. Beautifully directed and filmed. Looking forward to Season 2!
And for pure relaxation did an occasional dip into The Love You Give Me although the angst is getting old. Also hit play on I Hear You to enjoy a pretty male lead and marvel at how far Zhao Lu Si's acting has come along.

I watched The Good Bad Mother and I'm still liking it and looking forward to it each week. I wonder why the english title is the "good" bad mother rather than a straight translation of The Bad Mother. Is there another project called The Bad Mother? Are they trying to say she's a "bad" mother with "good" intentions or she's good at being bad?

I started Misaeng: An Incomplete Life again due in part to someone's recommendation. I'm surprised by how successful this drama was due to the boring concept, it's just about office life but as an incompetent, unqualified airhead loner, oh how relatable the lead character was to me. I did end up feeling for him which makes me want to watch more of the story to see if he becomes a good office worker and/or builds a rapport with his coworkers.

I watched Shopping King Louie due to @sicarius, @zeinabsamir, and @lapislazulii 's recommendation. I liked it. It was cute and sweet. I have seen that old lady actress' characters die 3 freaking times now!. I kinda saw her death coming but at the same time I didn't. I think Seo In Guk does these kind of characters well (immaturish, cocky at times).

One Day 1 I like the premise a lot, the actress, the promise of beautiful country scenery so I thought it deserved a chance. It was just so confusing. What was that about? Did anyone here get it? Was there even something to be get?
In this first ep a "maybe" bored teacher takes a walk on the country and interacts with people in a monastery. Random strangers come at her and say some meaningless things, she looks bored/scared/amused and gives short replies, we don't really get to know anything about her or anyone. A monk farts loudly in her face. After absurd 20 minutes of nothing the last 5 minutes show a beautiful place with motivational music which makes a silent person speak and our heroine to smile, I guess that's to say something about the power of nature and humans finding their place in the natural world. Love that. One could just have watched the first 5 minutes with that promising intro and those last 5 minutes. This person would have imagined the episode was great.

Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 I am all here for the gumiho brothers and Hong Joo. I am enjoying every episodes mostly because of them. It went a bit creepy the past week so I aim to watch the next episodes during daytime. But if the preview is anything to go by, it may not be as dark as the last episode? I hope.

Six Flying Dragons very interesting glimpse into the Goryeo/Joseon history. Bang Won is not the typical "good guy" lead butI can't help but root for him. I know the other aspects of the story are fictional particulary the Nameless but the other aspects of the palace politics is still very i teresting for me. (thanks @eazal for the link). Its very useful!) Sambong is ahead of his time for the radical changes he was pushing for. He is not in any means a saint but you got to admire him for his guts.

My Perfect Stranger I think I need to rewatch some scenes to get a better idea on whodunnit. I have my guesses but who knows at this point. The show are pushing for two possible culprits but I think its not YY's father. He knows something but it was not him.

Doctor Cha the husband is getting more annoying every week. SeungHi is getting more ridiculous with her warped sense of entitlement. I am sure glad Jeong Suk is not allowing herself to be gaslighted by this two awful people.

Falling for Innocence Okay this was in my To Watch list for the longest time and remembered it when another Beanie created a list of shows she liked. Its the typical old school romcom. It was a pleasant surprise to see Kim So Yeon here - I only remember Kyung Ho as the lead since I didnt see any of KSY previous dramas except for the latest one. Not a bad idea to get this started with my newfound love for the actress because of Tale1938.

Thanks to what my family and I are watching this week, I’ve been able to compare myself as a husband and parent to a few kdrama models.

Dr. Cha has my wife looking at me with new appreciation, because unlike Dr. Cha’s husband, I told my wife right away about the children I fathered out of wedlock, and then actually encouraged and supported her as she resumed her career, in order to pay for my second family.

My daughter is watching The Good Bad Mother and this week she hugged me with tears in her eyes, saying “I know you severely beat me every time I got less than 100% on school tests, but it was so wonderful of you as a parent not to throw me in the ocean when I was incapacitated from that accident.”

Finally, unlike the slug of a husband in Bo-Ra!, Deborah, I’m proud to say I openly just sit and play video games when my wife wants to go out, rather than concealing it. But, most importantly, every time my wife requests physical intimacy, I eagerly respond.

Yes, thanks to these healing kdramas, I’m feeling pretty good about myself these days!

P.S. Should anyone in the future hop in a time-travel car and start investigating me as a result of this post as in My Perfect Stranger, let me point out that by the principles of Bo-Ra, Deborah, all men are liars. I am a man.

Except for that last husbandly behavior I describe. That is absolutely, entirely true.

BORA: In the end, the drama ended up hoist with its own petard--i.e. defeated by the main theme and false dichotomy that one can be either realistic or romantic, but never both. In one fictional plane, this drama tells an often fun and occasionally poignant tale of two complicated, wounded protagonists falling in love and becoming a perfect match despite their resolution remain only epic friends. In another, this is a gritty, slice-of-life drama showing the reality of bitter breakups, a marriage in decline, workplace harassment and prejudice, and a cultural indictment of patriarchy as examined through the story of a grown-ass man deciding it's a younger, naive employee who makes his heart sing despite the fact that a) she has no discernible personality and b) is doomed to be screwed over in this arrangement. And of course, there's the time-honored kdrama subplot of young couple who have sex once and end up pregnant, and then decide that that's enough on which to base a marriage. I did love Yoo Inna in this, though, and praise her comedic talents. It's thanks to her that the main pair was appealing enough to keep me watching all the way through to the end. I also must commend whoever came up with the genuinely funny "Maternal Grandmother's Chicken" rebranding joke.

GOOD BAD MOTHER: I like the theory that another Beanie proposed about annoying mask women actually being the daughter of a Yakuza leader and that's how the villains will be defeated and everyone can live safely and happily. Meanwhile, I'm still frustrated with Mom, but appreciate the exploration of all kinds of relationships between mothers and their children. Mi-joo and Kang-ho's past and present relationship remains the main draw for me, as well as the humor. Kang-ho blowing bubbles in his drink during the blind dates was hilarious and so true to what a person with a seven-year old mentality would do when bored and uncomfortable. His mother's decision to put him in that position in the first place was completely unacceptable, but those moments almost made it worth it for me.

TALE OF THE NINE-TAILED (1938): I had no intention of starting this one, even though I thought the first season had some memorable moments (which all featured Kim Bum, of course). I'm still enjoying seeing one of my favorite actors clearly having a great time, but the story and humor are also keeping me tuning in. This show is pure fantasy fun, without the time or interest to explore anything else. Rang does deserve a better romance than what he's getting now, but this drama can join a long list of other ones who fail to properly use Kim Bum as the romantic leading man he can totally be. In the meantime, at least I still get to see him in perfectly cut suits.

DINNER MATE: I spotted this older drama on Amazon Prime and find it to be a nice counter-balance to "Bora." It also deals with breakup angst and men who close off their hearts, but the tone is more consistent and I love all the...

I watched Ju Ji Hoon movie GENTLEMAN, which was ridiculously fun. I enjoyed it very much despite the mediocre subs that rather confused me towards the end of the movie. Still, very fun.

I also watched movie SWITCH, with Kwon Sang-woo, Oh Jung-se, and Lee Min-jung. I didn't know it is a remake of American movie Family Man, and at first I was kind of surprised at the blatant similarities. But the 3 leads were so so good that they completely sold it. And I LOVED that in the end they acknowledged an important point that I wished they would acknowledge.
It reminded me very much of WELCOME 2 LIFE, I might rewatch that one soon.

Started DARK HOLE for Lee Joon Hyuk, did my best but couldn't get past 2 or 3 episodes. Watched the final episode and dropped.
Now rewatching 365, REPEAT THE YEAR to compensate.

I have to confess that I wasn't a fan of Seo Kang Joon until I saw him in Grid. I have been debating with myself to start ARE YOU HUMAN TOO since then but haven't gotten enough incentive yet.

Dr. Cha: I find this one entertaining and annoying at the same time.

9 Tailed: Up to episode 4. Kim So-Yeon is mesmerizing in this so far. I'm finding her character really interesting up to this point. I'd only ever seen her before in the Penthouse series.

Giant: This is my current binge watch and somehow I'm only up to episode 21 of a 60 episode drama! I like digging in to a long drama. Something about these older dramas are very addicting.

Current/recent:
Bora! Deborah: So much less than it could have been, but the interactions of the leads - though there were never enough of them - teased a thoughtful, well-written, mature rom-com and the show was good when it focused on those.

My Perfect Stranger: Still in it for the mystery, but when will the car get fixed?

Older stuff:
Stranger (Forest of Secrets) 1: That was INTENSE. I had to stop watching mid-scene and just breathe multiple times during the final episodes. I’m already rewatching it before starting Season 2, and still kind of flabbergasted that the show killed off a particular character - as well as glad I didn’t look at the Season 2 cast list on MDL, because that death was a shock worth experiencing unspoiled.

Be Melodramatic 1-6: The quirky tone and the three FLs are awesome so far. I didn’t expect the beginning to be so sad. The show’s PPL and meta-PPL game is stellar and the conversations between Jin-joo and Beom-soo and between Hyo-bong (the brother) and anybody are literally laugh-out-loud funny.

Dal-li and Gamjatang: Started and then immediately put on hold - the first episode was fun but made me realize it’s too soon for another Kim Min-jae drama just after finishing Do You Like Brahms?, and I’ll need to wait a while to avoid lead actor burnout or whiplash.

Someday or One Day (Taiwan 2019): Five episodes in and I’m finally sort of getting into it. Maybe my sky-high expectations were part of the problem. I love timey-wimey stuff so the plot is right up my alley, and Greg Hsu is very appealing. However, I’m not impressed with Alice Ke and don’t find her convincing, especially as a high-schooler. She was such a drip in the first few episodes that I nearly dropped it.

'One Day Off' has a bit of the flavor of a Hong Sang-soo indi film. 'The Woman Who Ran', 'Claire's Camera', 'At Night On The Beach Alone', etc. These films are not structured as 'K-dramas' and I've already read one online site who mistakenly critiqued 'One Day Off' through a K-drama lens. Viewers should take the title literally, watching the series is taking a day off from your standard K-drama tropes.

Finished Joseon Attorney
The final episodes certainly weren’t the best in this drama. The wedding plot was way too risky and elaborate, it was hard to accept the king as a good man after what he did to the sister, and FL’s disappearance was so unnecessary and cruel. In order to cherish the happy ending, I tried hard to forget all that and focus on WDH. (And they even cheated us out on a scene with WDH and Bona in bed being lovey-dovey, fully clothed of course… WDH had posted that on Instagram and had to delete it and apologize!)
Finished Bo Ra! Deborah
The final episodes were very frustrating. The almost get-together-again in Ep. 11 was terrible. How can a self-respecting romance coach go along with this guy? “For our past love” my foot… I guess they needed to fill up an episode? And then another half episode with our even more frustrating ML… On the plus side, Yoo In Na and Ju Ne!
Doctor Cha
The handicapped sticker, such a relatable last straw! Loved the episodes and looking forward to the rest of the show.
Dr Romantic S3
This show is getting very dramatic with the shooting incident episodes, but it still keeps the character growth, mentorship and romance themes, so I’m fine with it.
The Good Bad Mother
The backstory of Kang Ho’s and Mi Joo’s past was not surprising but good to see. The relationship between Kang Ho and his mother is still hard to take for me, especially how Kang Ho could have understood and forgiven her as a teenager.
My Perfect Stranger
Changing the past is not easy in this drama… Favorite moment: “Would you like a hug?” I love their relationship and support of each other. Also, we didn’t do half-tucks then, FL should also watch the way she styles her clothes so as to not change the future! 😉
Race No great transitions this week, but a beautifully lit stairway scene 😊. A good watch for me.
FinishedLove Revolution
Cuteness overload and a perfect lunchtime watch. I was prepared for the ending that did not end the storylines at all but hinted at a second season that didn’t happen after all.
Mr. Queen
Of course you all know it’s a great drama, but I had started it early on in my drama-watching career and couldn’t take the over-the-top shenanigans in the first episode… Now I enjoy it immensely!
KDrama friend project:
Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 - favorite part of every week! Besides the actors, the bromance and the fantasy elements, we appreciate the costumes and styling a lot. Continued Cool Doji Danji which is surprisingly good. Also saw the short BL Happy Merry Ending which may have been the worst Korean BL I’ve seen in terms of writing. The actors looked fine, chemistry was good, the setting as wedding entertainers was promising, the music and singing were fine – but all that was so much diminished by an unexplained past and timeline, unmotivated break-up, underused side characters, unconvincing character growth…...

Dr ROMANTIC 3 -- At episode 10.
I am totally invested. This episode is a turning point in my emotional journey about this season.
And Prof. Cha Jin Man, please answer your phone!!

I enjoyed the final episodes of BORA! DEBORAH. It really comes together in the end and even the end credits continue to tell the story of our several couples. But the best part in the last episodes may actually have been seeing Bora’s Ex finally getting his comeuppance as he is revealed to be the true skunk that he is. But this show had true dramatic flaws- for one thing we never got any idea as to why our ML exhibited the behaviors that destroyed one relationship and almost cost him another.

My wife and I love DR. CHA (and hate her husband).

My wife spent the week watching mystery dramas like MAGPIE MURDERS and Season 3 of VIENNA BLOOD. A bunch of stuff arrived from our library at the same time, including season three of ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL with the result that her Chinese costume dramas have taken a back seat for the moment.

OH! YOUNG-SHIN is trying hard but sometimes seems to be a bit out of kilter. I think that this is another example of not knowing what to leave in or out when adapting a webtoon, or what to change when adapting a webtoon to a live action drama: BUSINESS PROPOSAL was very good but would have been truly great if someone had not made an idiotic decision to change the nature of the 2FL’s father, thereby robbing us of some of the best moments from the webtoon while the retention of an unnecessary side character from the original story spoiled BACKSTREET ROOKIE for many people. This show seems to have similar adaptation problems but I have not given up on it.

Last week on THE REAL HAS COME! Our cliff-hanger was resolved in an unexpected but wonderful way- and the FL’s uncle may be about to have some stories of his own because of it and because of his kindness to an old crush (who really came through for the family when someone tried to scam their chicken place- this one’s a keeper, Uncle). It also looks like the story of our ML’s younger sister and little Soo-gyeom (and her dad) is just about to get started in earnest- prepare to be completely charmed. On the other hand this week will see the return of our Second Male Lead while Se-jin, our second female lead has figured some things out: If you want to see a truly outstanding performance of the role of a female villain then this show is for you. Part of the draw of this show is the combination of makjang juxtaposed with comedy- and a writer who is constantly surprising us while engaging us in a confrontation with some of the serious difficulties which people face in their lives related to the having of children. We have characters that we get angry at yet what angers us may be that these people are all too human and flawed it many different ways.

PSA- for those of us who were not able watch the Jdrama comedy WE GOT MARRIED AS A JOB on a legal site will be pleased to note that it is coming soon to Viki under the title MARRY ME! This is one of those quietly wonderful shows that the Japanese make so well.

On my Netflix watchlist is a French...

BRIGHT GIRL'S SUCCESS (2002). This just popped up on Viki. Although the premise of the story - saving a corporate cosmetic line from being forced off the market - is so light I worried the whole time it might float off like a puff of face powder in the breeze, it was so fun watching Jang Nara bossing Jang Hyuk around that I didn't care. This is the first drama they did together and it was very early in the drama career of both. Can see flashes of Chuno in JH's eyes as, dressed in a business suit, he flings himself at a corporate opponent.

ONE DAY OFF, 1-4. Slightly abstract, irony-tinged vignettes, each focusing on some dimension of life: spirituality, art, romance, etc. The more I thought about the episodes, the more I liked them. She seems lonely, and I wonder what is going to happen next. But is Viki only showing 4 out of the 8? I'm confused.

FOREST (2020). Could not warm up to this, although it's beautiful to look at and I liked Park Hae-in. One problem is, I'm not on board with women doctors or lawyers being portrayed as sweet, girly, or giggly. By 2020, kdramaland should have gotten over this.