I guess I finally get a WWW for a Saturday! (I live in Australia)

July 15th 😂?

Anyway I'm still live-watching 9 dramas in total 😅 so pray for me!

ONGOING
Delightfully Deceitful - Jay being the Chairman was quite a surprise but it does make everything Jang Kyung-ja has been doing seem contradictory.

King the Land -At least we got an actual apology for the 'Arab' portrayal. Kiss was steamy but seemed a little fast at this point of their relationship.

See You in My 19th Life - SO MUCH PLOT in Ep. 8. This does seem like a show that would do better with 16 episodes. Withholding opinion for now on some of the changes from the webtoon.

Numbers - I know we're supposed to think of Joyce as this badass queen but the expressionless acting takes away from it. VP An Seung-yeon on the other hand seems far more interesting and impactful.

Revenant - I love how the show incorporates folklore elements. Dad being possessed was a nice reveal but why did the ghost take so long to kill him? Wonder what the real deal is with chaebol Grandma - maybe Hae-sang was also possessed in the past?

Heartbeat - Sweet, cute, and easy watch of the week. Please don't make the SML/SFL evil.

Miraculous Brothers - I like how they're showing Dong-ju stuck in this cycle of wanting to do the right thing but being swept away by the lure of a better life. Kang-san jumping straight to murder all the time is disturbing. Preview spoiled something that I'm excited about!

C-DRAMAS
Dropped Twilight and Fireworks of My Heart because I couldn't take the frustrating characters and melodrama anymore.

The Longest Promise (till Ep. 26) - I like this quite a bit. Most of the characters make reasonable, rational choices - how refreshing for a xianxia 😂. Quality of production and acting are also good.

Started The Legend of Anle. Only two episodes in but flirty/vengeful Reba and flustered Gong Jun - I'm in!

Will try out Mysterious Lotus Casebook once it's out.

Ohhh, surprise early WWW!

The only drama I'm watching at the moment is See You in My 19th Life. I haven't read the webtoon but am watching it with friends who have and it's been a blast. Really great hearing their insight. Shin Hye-sun is marvelous as is Ha Yoon-kyung, but I gotta say... the men are a total snoozefest.

Part of the reason I am watching so few dramas is because I started to rewatch Avatar: The Last Airbender. This show was a huge part of my childhood but I haven't watched it all the way through since it ended! And man, it's amazing how good it really is, even as an adult. It's goofy and silly as a kid's show should be but it's not too juvenile, and it's stunning just how heavy the themes are when you stop to consider. I'm 100% sure this is the first piece of media I ever came across that dealt with imperialism, war, and genocide. It's a great introduction to those topics for a younger audience and still definitely holds up as an adult. I have found myself getting choked up and genuinely moved multiple times. I'll be sad when I finish, but I plan on diving right into Legend of Korra!

I also watched my first Mission: Impossible film with my family this week and, as I said on my fan wall, I really enjoyed it despite not having seen a single one of the other films! I totally understand why they let Tom Cruise make so many of them, haha. Definitely gonna tune in for part 2 next year. Hannah Waddingham is gonna be in it!!

Since I'm not watching much at the moment, I thought I'd ask Beanies: any recs for me? I recently saw someone call one of my favorite dramas, Into the Ring, "weird", and they clearly meant it in a derogatory way. It was crazy to me because I see "weird" as a good thing and a definite reason to tune in to something, haha. Weird, quirky, strange, you have it. Anyone have any show recs that fit that description? I'd love to watch something weird right now! I love weird!

Heartbeat (6/16) - I love this show and the antics but ESPECIALLY the vampire & past lives aspect. Feels like it’s been a hot minute since we’ve had a show with these sorts of themes (I think the last one I can remember is Now It’s Showtime. Every week further reinforces the fact that I apparently never grew out of the vampire media era that dominated most of my teenage hood thanks to Twilight.

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2( ep 3, US) The second season is here!! I watched this show halfheartedly initially because I loved the book series but that was when I was like 13, only to somehow get unironicaly obssessed with how cheesy and trash-tastic it is. Can’t wait to see what more YA trope-y goodies S2 will bring. I am definitely #TeamConrad. I think?

Skate Into Love (6/40, C-drama) - I watched Go Ahead a long while back and fell in love with Steven Zhang (just like everyone else who watched it apparently). Saw an edit of this show on YT and was sold on the university setting x ice sports x Steven Zhang combination. So far, so good - loving the feisty relationship between the ML and the FL and the rom-com aspects. It’s specific but not niche at all when it comes to Asian dramas but ‘bickering main leads with some kind of a childhood connection who gradually turn from frenemies to lovers’ is like UP there as one of my all time favourite tropes.

Butterflied Lover (7/22, C-drama) - I’ll spare the spam since I’ve already gushed about it on my wall (here’s a link:https://www.dramabeans.com/members/lapislazulii/activity/1423609/) but in summary: I LOVE IT! A shame that there’s apparently CCP censorship around paranormal/supernatural elements in dramas, wish there was more in this genre!

Douluo Continent (3/40, C-drama) - was to-ing and fro-ing on whether to watch the Longest Promise now, so settled instead for re-picking up another Xiao Zhan drama that I’d started a while back. Any beanies watching LP? Any good??

I also finished When I Fly Towards You and what an absolutely sweet ride! It really captured the charm and nostalgia of growing up, first love, friendships and the ups and downs of that transition from high-school to uni to the real world. This one’s definitely going in the ’watch again for warm and fuzzies’ drama pile! I also, for the first time in forever, actually enjoyed watching and didn’t skip through a wedding scene! Usually I find wedding scenes in dramas, esp in C-dramas, to be a bit too awkwardly sappy or “staged” (or a lack of a better word) and skip through them all the time, but this was the first one where I really watched it and felt like I was actually at a legit wedding. Also, for the first time in ages, I actually really liked the FL’s wedding dress! I never usually like the wedding dresses they pick for drama weddings! A WIN!

CRICKET -

A S H E S - Exciting 3rd test - Batsman aren't showing patience and foolishly playing and losing their position. Bowlers are doing al right. Every match both teams have let their opponent easily make a come back - this made competitive matches where anyone could have turned out winner but it isn't high quality cricket - England's arrogance made job easier for Australians and their team selection lacks balance too but they are still in the game.
Sunak and albanace are doing meme cup.

West Indies - lost test - no spectators - team not showing the feeling to compete - heartache - most players are in for money playing this and that league.

American T20 league is up after so much drama

TENNIS - become more of a European sport - tennis demands lots of money - this is why it's an elite sport - Wimbledon used to have more glamour - still it has more PR

Current/recent:
HeartBeat: Taec’s ears, Taec’s goofy expressions, Taec’s suit game, and the tiniest fragment of plot. That’s all we need. Please stay silly, show.

King the Land: This should have had 12 40-minute episodes. Yoona is better at customer service than I expected and Junho is selling it harder than he should have to but even he shows the strain of those looooooong ‘cute couple’ scenes. I am enjoying the eye candy, but there's an awful lot of nothing going on. I will allow that kiss was smoking hot.

Numbers: The The only thing better than cynical smartass Choi Jin-hyuk is anguished puppy-eyed Choi Jin-hyuk, but my new favorite is Jung Hae-Kyun as the Sangah chairman - it’s a parody of his villain role in Healer, complete with golf club as weapon. His entire approach to the role is apparently ‘make faces at the camera for 5 seconds. Smash stuff. Then do it again.’ The storylines continue to be incomprehensible and I don’t care.

See You in My 19th Life: This is the one I look forward to every week. I wish it were 16 episodes and that every one of them had a swimming pool scene. (Please don’t let there be any past-life drownings. It’s a rare show that has water as a safe and welcoming element.)

Older shows:
Dal-li and Cocky Prince: Enjoyable for Park Gyu-young, Kim Min-jae, and their delicious clash of styles and values, but the show makes some jarring tonal switches and overuses the omitted scene/flashback technique to the point of exhaustion. It’s best when it focuses on the relationship between physical and spiritual nourishment - food and art, money and “high” culture - and the comic romance, and not when it veers into drug-trafficking rich people, nefarious politicians, or extended clowning. It does get points for not having a childhood connection as well as for an FL who is not a damsel needing rescuing and an ML who is mature and capable and doesn’t need the FL to 'fix' him.

The Uncanny Counter: I can’t make any sense of the rules of the afterlife, but the Counters are awesomeness in action.

King the Land
It now often feels like a loooong PPL or MV 😄 and objectively speaking, they should tune/cut it down and give us more of the other stories (Flight Attendant!!). But... somehow I'm still enjoying all those clichés (motorbike saving and "protecting afterwards " 😄) and all that flirting (the tablecloth 😆) ...having the Hermeeees smile on. 😊
(Plus, besides all the fluff, there IS a progress in ML and I liked when he apologised to the sauna desk attendant. Won does have a good caring heart, doesn't he? ❤️)

19th Life
This is the rare case when I wish for more episodes. I wish there was more time and space for the characters (and story) to breath and sometimes I question the choices the writers/PD made - like, the shot of that abandoned building from inside is definitely impressive, but I would rather spend the dramatime on other characters and themes than on the loan shark and his final moments.
(Also, anyone else having Hotel del Luna flashbacks with that 1st life backstory?)

The Way You Shine
I like how easygoing the relationship of the leads is and that Xinxing sees Tianyu's talents (I quite liked his paintings!). Ex's Sister is a huge disappointment (though what did I expect when her mom is so awful).
Mom and Uncle on the other hand are so cuuuute. 😍

Ancient Love Song, 4eps
I was planning to check a batch of the new cdramas... and then somehow clicked on this one instead 😁 and I like it very much. It's a time traveller story of a history professor (very young and handsome of course 😄) visiting events he has been writing about. The Heroine is badass and I love her. 🤩

KING THE LAND (Ep. 7-8) The show is very old school; probably too old school. The backlash on the Arab character was avoidable, as well as the trope of rich chaebol forcing a relationship on an employee. He basically stalked her during both work and off-hours. This is not a Cinderella story; she is doing fine on her own. He is not a prince; he basically continues to be condescending toward her (“i’m good at everything.”) The long (by recent standards) kiss scene was meh. For a show that does not want to be too serious, I cannot take the leads’ relationship that serious as well.

SEE YOU IN MY 19TH LIFE (Ep. 7-8) The awkward confessions and Ji-Eum’s continued candid remarks set the theme but the murder mystery is clouding the plot. The part timer acknowledging he is also a past life rememberer (with a strong connection to Ji-Eum), as well as Hanna, starts to overwhelm Ji-Eum as her past starts to cascade on her. The idea (or curse) that she remembers all her lives is because of the traumatic death in her first by an assassin who she loves now is a grand twist.

It appears past memories are the fuel for timeless revenge in the present. We know the players in the fatal accident and it is a complicated tale of time-skipping brutality. It seems past life incidents repeat in next lives. In her first life, she was a servant to a master (the part timer now). In her 18th, she took care of the master, Seo-Ha. Some would call it fate or bad karma, but the writer may be indicating that it is old dead souls take revenge even if it takes a thousand years.
It gets me to wonder if past life memory is genetic and the family was trying to end its own curse by getting rid of Seo-Ha just as they have erased his mother.

LIES HIDDEN IN THE GARDEN (Ep. 7-8) I still wish this was a tight 2 1/2 hour movie. I wish KTH went nuts after she went off her meds to lash out against her husband. But Episode 7 was a surprising double plot twist through clever editing that I did not see coming; well done. But the show left many unanswered questions as I mentioned in the recap thread.

I did raise the possibility that the show would end with a kill husband club theme. Damaged people tend to bond with other damaged people. Are the victims living a better life without their husbands? Apparently so, but did the motive justify their choices and actions? You really could not root for any of the characters in this series. The series sputtered to the end by a long epilogue that did not add to or explain the heart of the story. We are left in the gray area of right and wrong. Left unresolved is how these events actually changed Joo-Ran.

KTH’s performance could have been much better. Her glazed appearance throughout the show did her no favors but that might have been the director’s choice. She reminded me of a hollow Stepford Wife. LJY continued to perform at a high level. She had to grapple with more emotional swings. The script was good, the direction was too...

King the Land: The things I love about this show are many and varied and dutifully outlined in the comments on the episodes. Suffice it to say, I am jazzed up for a new episode today!

See You In My 19th Life: Still fun, but don’t leave too much for the end, show! If the niece character dies because she was exposed to too much past-life-connection, I will be upset.

Heartbeat Such good connections forged between our leads this week. So many good quiet moments where they gained a greater understanding of each other, interspersed with our vampire being his fantastically ridiculous self. I don’t trust the SML as far as U-hyeol can throw him.

The Uncanny Counter What a show, y’all. I need to process a bit more, but oh how I loved it and these characters. The found family, with their matching outfits and their teamwork, and their looking out for each other and being happy for each other and their poking fun at each other. *sigh* I just loved it all. The finale did just what it should, in my opinion, which was wrap up the action in the first 15 minutes so that we could finish off everything else we needed to get done. I laughed, I cried, and then I did both those things at once. Going to have to ponder long and hard where this goes on my ranked list.

Bloodhounds Ooph, this is violent. If it wasn’t for the indefatigable wholesomeness of our two MLs, this would be a tougher watch. To paraphrase one of my favorite poets, “I feel like what we have here is actually two shows. Or three. Or four, or possibly, none.” The fight scenes continued to be fantastic throughout, so it’s too bad that I lost track of what was actually going on in the last episode. Some characters I knew were goners from the moment they walked on-screen, but the timing of all of it was an interesting choice. My partner says he’s interested in watching the next thing this director does, but he hopes it’s a movie.

Keeping up with Fireworks of My Heart. Thoroughly enjoying it now. Took about 4 eps to really become invested. I’m also reading the novel again now that there’s a new (and better) translation.

Started New Life Begins and I’m up to ep 11. Only other drama I’ve seen with BJT was You Are My Hero and wow he looks so different here. Enjoying the sisterhood bonding and eye-rolling behind the men’s backs LOL.

At the halfway mark of Dating in the Kitchen but I’m dragging my feet on this one. Zhao Lu Si is great as always, and the ML’s antics are sometimes comical, but I think I did myself a disservice watching this one right after Hidden Love.

Just started While You Were Sleeping. Only 2 eps in so no real opinion just yet, except that I’m liking Suzy more than I expected - the last drama I saw her in was Gu Family Book, I think? Or it might’ve been Big. I can’t remember. But yeah, I would say she’s come a long way.

Tried to watch ep 1 of Legend of Anle but the subs were horrible. I checked again today and looks like they’re fixed, so will probably start this one tomorrow.

I can't remember the last time I sobbed while watching a drama like I did in Episode 5 of Heartbeat.

I sobbed so hard when In-hae went to the wine bar after being fired. She is so relatable in how she pretends to be okay even when she isn't and how she wandered around feeling lost in life.

I'm in love with Do-shik sunbae. When he looked around the wine bar for her with excitement, but his smile immediately fell seeing her down a full glass of wine. I cried when they flashed back to him writing "free pass" again and again for the fake lucky draw to both cheer her up and secretly pay for her meal. Do-shik is so empathetic and perceptive when he told Manager Goo, "There are days when you want to be alone," then followed her from afar to make sure she got home safe.

I sobbed when In-hae finally broke down and cried in front of Woo-hyul and collapsed on the table, "I don't know what more I can do now." It felt like when you try all day to keep yourself from crying until you just can't hold it in anymore.

I burst into tears when Woo-hyul stroked her hair and comforted her, "You're doing great. I'm proud of you." This is something we all need to hear. (I'm crying as I write this.)

I love how perfectly nice everyone is in this drama. Our vampire taking care of In-hae when she was sick and his comfortableness of touching her forehead and cheek to check her fever. Also, Do-shik just dropping off the cold medicine with Woo-hyul instead of insisting on going inside to give it to her himself. (Please don't be evil!)

I liked this show before, but this scene elevated it to a 10 out of 10 for me.

Lies Hidden in My Garden (Series review) - Mood progression: C+ / B- / C+ / B-
Well, after the tepid reveals last week, this writer certainly didn’t go out without a fight: first with both leading ladies’ moms having short but packed scenes, second with that plot twist of a cliffhanger during the penultimate episode, third with such an epic ending detailing how far both leading women have progressed. I think the story needed to not have Jae Ho as such a cliche antagonist to get more points in my books, also, Joo Ran’s sister unfortunately was a MacGuffin. But the show was definitely not lacking in either the acting or directing. And I was pleasantly surprised with all the supporting character arcs.

King the Land (Episode 7-8) - Mood: D+
Not only is the representation problematic, there is also another whole level of yikes when you consider the casting meta: it must suck for Anupam Tripathi to have gone from a career-defining role in Squid Game to this but he must have felt desperate enough since he wasn’t getting much if any acting work. It’s a whammy for multiple Asian communities.

Miraculous Brothers (Episode 5-6) - Mood: C-
Slowly but surely, the narrative is beginning to shift away from the initial help-people-with-superpowers procedural into the rich-man-murder-corrupt-police-revenge snooze-fest. It also doesn’t seem like there’ll be any explanation for all the power Kang San has obtained through his time jump and the coincidence of Dong Joo’s dad being involved leaves me unsatisfied.

See You in My 19th Life (Episode 7-8) - Mood: C-
Of course it’s the uncle that Seo Ha treasures that ordered the incident. Of course Seo Ha and Ji Eum were connected from their 1st life. Of course he had to kill her lover who has reincarnated into the shaman boy. Of course her shitty dad was also connected to that darn accident. I love the actors but now I feel like I’m just waiting to see Chae Jong Hyeop’s arc?

Heartbeat (Episode 5-6) - Mood: C-
I really don’t know how I should feel about this show: there’s nothing really fantastic about the writing, but in comparison to the other shows it does feel assured, even if it’s safely predictable. I guess my opinion might inevitably swing downwards in time when all the cliche romance stuff starts to invade the plot, but for now it’s keeping my attention, even if it’s just barely.

Delightfully Deceitful (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D-
Yeah, now this show has gone further down the drain by making Moo Young’s father the murderer of Ro Um’s parents, sigh. I also feel like the cliffhanger was designed for maximum impact but this show never needed a romance? Meanwhile, Jae In practically disappeared from the story and I guess there’ll be a last minute romance with Yo Han but wow the poor actress.

Ongoing:
See You In My 19th Life: Continues to fascinate and delight me. The pace feels just right. I'm more and more impressed with Ahn Bo Hyun, who is giving a nuanced performance that I'm really enjoying. He's conveying both sweet and strong. He's hurting, but he doesn't hurt people - he very carefully and purposefully seeks ways to care for and protect the peole he loves, even at cost to himself. We lost some of the original emotional tone (the gentle melancholy between love and grief) that I loved, as we now enter the homestretch. This is partially due to the addition of the extra sources of external conflict, and partially due to the fact that characters have been learning about the FL's identity. And, it's not like the coming conflicts weren't foreshadowed. That's the fantasy genre for you!

HeartBeat: 🧛‍♂️ Has this become my most-anticipated weekly drama? Yes, it has😁 As another Beanie commented, our vampire is so sweet and innocent, he makes an excellent foil to the cold and prickly FL. He's really, truly, nice - yay!However, the FL also has layers (like an onion) that were revealed just in time to add depth to her story. She's SO intensely practical, which I like! Her impassioned argument against fate and reincarnated lovers was great. I'm also really enjoying the ML/FL dynamic and rapport, which seems so natural and sweet. They look out for each other and are starting to do caring actions for each other. The show is doing a good job of building their dynamic in the little things - I loved when they first cleaned the house together, and then this week when they measured the house and went on the neighborhood watch together. The comdy continues to be delightful. "I'm a vampire, not a butterfly," the pepperspray incident (it just KEPT GOING!!😂), dumping water on the principal, the neighborhood watch (and flashlight scare!), gazing deeply into his own reflection!! And then the ML's comforting words to the FL and taking care of her when she was sick! I'm loving it all. Will this be the drama where the ML falls in love with the woman who is NOT his reincarnated first love? Or will it make the statement that he falls in love with her for HER, not who her soul used to be?? I'm excited about the possibilities!!

King the Land: (ep. 6) I've put KTL into my "On Hold" list. I hesitate to say I'm dropping it, because it's so cute, sweet, and fluffy, but it just isn't grabbing my interest. To me, this is like contemporary romance C-dramas I've seen - the plot is merely there as a vehicle for cute OTP interactions, and it takes a realllly long time for not much to happen. This is totally fine, but it could use some tighter editing for my taste. I think it will work better for me as a bingewatch later on with heavy use of FF. This is NOT a criticism of the fact that it's an old-school fluffy rom-com (which there should be more of), but rather an acknowledgement that I'm not in the right mood...

My viewing schedule for the coming week. We’ll see if I stick to it.

Sunday: Junho à la King
>>What am I watching this drama for now? With all my heart, I hope that the actual plot remains interesting for the next EIGHT episodes. Will we do away with our deadbeat husband? Will we focus on Prince Flight Attendant? Or will @dncingemma’s dream come true and anarchist bakers will take center stage, bringing about the long-desired Worker’s Revolution?

Monday: 19th Life
>>Please someone escape their fate, STAT! I’m really struggling watching these people suffer under the unbearable weight of the human condition, the one in which you can’t escape your own preconceived notions about the way things ought to be and see how them as they actually are.

Tuesday: Numbers
>>I’ve never had so much fun wondering why a show is maintaining my interest. Oh wait, I know why it is: @alathe’s commentary and the Beanitariat’s collective joy at the absurdity of an accountancy-based high drama.

Wednesday: HeartBeat [squeeeeeeee]
>>This is the best show on right now, and I’m not just saying that because if it ends satisfactorily, another Beanie owes me a drink.

Thursday: Not Others
>>So excited…unreasonably so…please be good!!! It’s looking like it’ll be on Viki (US), folks, not (just?) Disney!!

Friday-Saturday: Open Thread and What We Are Watching
>>What, those aren’t dramas? Actually, I’m working my way through Prison Playbook, slowly. I anticipate that I’ll be dragged in fully to these men’s lives around episode three, but these are long episodes!!

I did indeed finish My Holo Love in its full ~12 hours over a 24-hour period of being awake last week (yes, at my age this is a perilous thing to do). I have thoughts that I would like to discuss with this community. I’ll invite comments and reflections over on my Fan Wall soon for those interested in revisiting this show!