COMPLETED
The First Responders 2 - It's over. I did it. I'm freeeee 🥳.

ONGOING
Behind Your Touch - I love how the show is continuing to balance humour and mystery - the 'Butt of Truth' mixed with all those revelations 😂. Only mis-step was the way Ji-suk died - just made no sense.

My Lovely Liar - In the year 2023 we're still getting token LGBT characters becoming murderers out of unrequited love 😐.

My Lovely Boxer - The suicide surprised me but it adds a good layer to the betting mafia story now that Tae-young is trying to catch them. But ugh for Jae-min being back next week. Why aren't we done with him yet?

Moving - I'm still vibrating from the nerves I had watching this week's episodes. Excited for more badass Mihyun next week. The finale is going to be SO good.

Destined With You - I have no idea what I'm watching with this show. The plot is all over the place.

Planning to try out The Kidnapping Day.

C-DRAMAS
Completed Fake It Till You Make It. The OTP and the story were both perfect until the end.

Also completed The Legend of Zhuohua, which suffered from too many episodes but was still a solid story.

Didn't get time for Sunshine By My Side and My Journey to You. Will binge both over the weekend.

Dinner Mate - Jae-hyuk got on my nerves in many ways more than one. Hae-kyung's mom's death shocked me to the bones. I didn't like how No-eul wasn't let in the know about her death. It was a far stretch.

Moving - Bong-seok flew🤭🤭🤭. It's gonna be lit and fire next week.

Destined With You - So what's up with the spell? I thought cure disease worked so what's this development we are getting now.

Live Watches
My Lovely Liar: Hoping we get Deuk-chan’s whole story this week, and it turns out to be complicated and fraught and riddled with mistakes. Also hoping that we get a nice musical conclusion for Do-ha, Convenience Store Guy, Former Idol Hyung, and even, because I’m feeling generous, Sha-on. Jazz Club Ajusshi doesn’t need a good ending, he’s already doing great.

The Uncanny Counter 2: I put my live watch on hold, but now I’m back at it. I love the characters so much that I’m willing to overlook some other things that are not as great, and even when the overall story isn’t thrilling me, I’m still loving the moments we have between our counters as they navigate this unknown situation.

The Killing Vote: Haven’t had a chance to watch this week, so this is up next! Turns out having a new job really sucks your free time away. Who would have thought?

Moving: My initial plan was to wait for this to come out completely and then watch, but my non-drama-watching partner asked me if any Beanies were talking about it because he’s been hearing about it through non-kdrama media and was interested. And when my partner asks me to watch a kdrama with him - how could I possibly refuse? We are slowly plugging away, mostly on the weekend, but it’s been fantastic so far. Just as good as everyone said it would be.

Older Dramas
The Secret Romantic Guesthouse: Even Yoo-ha turned out to be a more interesting character than I was expecting! And I loved that our girl’s mad archery skills came in clutch in the end. I gotta say: I usually dread the final episode time-jump, but this might have been the best use of it I’ve ever seen. We get to see the people who already knew what they wanted happy and together, the people who had to grow into new roles have grown into them, and the people who needed a minute to figure things out had a chance to do just that before tying it all up in a pretty bow. Shout out goes to (I never thought I’d say this) the Dowager Queen, for enduring more tragedy than anyone else, but being absolutely ready to grab whatever joy was offered to her, and to figure out how to protect what was important, both in the country and in her family.

Ongoing:
Han River Police: I tried this out of curiosity because I thought it might be like the drama version of Extreme Job, but, you know, on a river... First impressions: sometimes funny (that absolutely CHAOTIC training exercise that descended into madness), but mostly dumb fun, with a good cast. I'm guessing it will get darker and more violent as we uncover more crimes and conspiracy, so I'll see how long I hold on.

Previously-Aired:
Showtime Begins: (through ep 3) I'm taking a similar approach as I did with Bring it On, Ghost, and using FF through all the scary stuff. The FL could be a little less shouty for my taste, but other than that, it's fun so far! I really like Park Hae Jin, and I'm enjoying the comedy, and I love Park Hae Jin's approach to physical comedy - he's like a grumpy stork 😂

Mad Dog: (through ep 3) It really hasn't gripped me yet, but I don't mind, because I'm watching for Woo Do Hwan 😁 @attiton and I are doing a watch-and-chat on the fanwall; join us if you want to watch, too!

Dropped:
Welp, I've dropped so many dramas this week that are past my thresholds for certain things... (1) To the Destined With You writers, doubling-down on the cheating/affair approach was NOT the right choice; bye 👋 (2) After taking a "wait and see" approach, I'm not continuing with Moving because of the graphic, pervasive violence. It's a good drama with a great cast, but I don't want to push myself past what I'm willing to take in with regard to violence. (3) I'm also not continuing Someday or One Day because the sadness affects me too much (and I'll be skipping A Time Called You for the same reason). It's hard to drop good dramas, but I also want to respect my emotional boundaries for what I can handle in what I watch! Shoutout to @mindy, 🙌 who had a very timely reminder on her fanwall about dropping dramas that just aren't right for you!

LIVE WATCHES
Destined with You
I’m all in. Too far in. I will be hurt by this drama, but right now…don’t care.

Moving
I am going to take @mellowarmadillo’s advice and wait until the last three have dropped so I can see the whole “ending” arc.

My Lovely Liar
…is dead to me. I’ll probably watch the episodes next week, but only because I said I would AND I’m a masochist-completist. This past week’s episodes actually ruined my sleep.

FROM THE RESERVES
Mad Dog
I’ve picked up my viewing of this drama for the low-stakes community fan wall community convo! Yay!

ON DECK
My Liberation Notes
Still waiting for the chaos of my life to be solved for good. Too high a bar??

PS: Tried Han River Police but it’s not my thing. I may pick up Kidnapping Day (or whatever they’re calling it now), but probably need to wait a week or two to see how the writer/PD plans to unfold the scenario. It could easily hit too close to home on one of my greatest fears.

CRICKET - Kiwis did such good introduction of their team. Stokes - woah - time to shine
I'm still waiting for the media PR, buzz and hype that should be there for a world cup in a festival season. Where are brands and companies. As common sense say a few of Sports journaists have written articles about how upcoming Cricket sport event will be another political campaign, image buildup event management. This now happens with every sport event. Everyone loves to milk such opportunities but in Cricket it becomes frustrating because 70% of revenue if coming from India - the big 3 - India, England and Austrlaia are criticised for taken most share of earnings and they dictate terms of everything. Earlier it was England and Australia and now india with hefty money hand. Money speaks and speaks louder but it never benefits the sport at all. It's the female cricket that actually brought cricket to more regions compared to male cricket and it when there is almost no infrastructure and support for female cricket almost all regions.

I was ready to dive into A Time Called You (and into the discussions and comparisons with the original drama afterwards)... but... then Fake It Till You Make It happened and I put everything else on pause. This is a drama which grows on you and when it does you just can't leave it. It's also one of the few cdramas when I wish I could speak the language as I felt some nuances and wordplays were lost in translation. That still didn't prevent me from loving the main couple and having this huge crush on Tang Ying, she is joining my other girl crushes - Kim Samsoon and Gu Sera. No wonder Elvis was so smitten (and immediately bought that famous friendship ring, ha). He finally found someone with whom he could be himself, and in love, no games played. Their talks were the best parts... and the two confessions I have on repeat. They Are So BEAUTIFUL! ❤️

Destined
I still had fun, yes, I'm not above some petty shuffling of the chairs, 😁 but.... I also got quite disappointed this week. The show chose some paths I didn't want it to tread... and (together with Rowoon) is unfortunately loosing its Spell over me. I'm still hoping it will Get a Grip.

No time for anything else and from the little of the buzz about Liar I managed to catch I should maybe spent those 2 hours elsewhere? Like... on Han River Police?? 😆

Still watching my usual roster of My Lovely Liar (is falling apart a little bit for me), Destined With You (going strong mess and all) and have Moving on hold while the rest of the season airs so I can binge the last few episodes. 36000 Seconds In A Day also put on hold because I was a bit busy this week and couldn't fit it in :(

I've now also just started (like literally today) Fake It Till You Make It thanks to the Beanie hype here and CEO-dol Mart. Eyeing Parallel World but till wait till I finish a show before staring it!

The Kidnapping Day (Episode 1-2) - Mood: C+
It’s almost a pity that the narrative seems to be leaning towards an all-out conspiracy surrounding Ro Hee’s father as there is so much fun watching the dynamic between Ro Hee and Myung Jun. Now that she knows the truth, it could become quite interesting to see her maintain her own kidnapping. But I fear there might be sci-fi elements too with the brain thing and all.

My Lovely Liar (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D
This is just Crash Course in Romance all over again with the obsessive best-friend-cum-employer being the culprit except with a different motivation driving the fixation. On one hand, I’m glad that Yoon Ji On got to showcase what he is capable of for those who persisted through the show, on the other hand, that’s some interesting LGBT representation.

Destined With You (Episode 7-8) - Mood: D-
They really went and outdid themselves by making the 2FL a hypocritical cheater so that the two-timing ML doesn’t look so bad in comparison? And we know that the Haum CEO will bring about City Hall drama down the road, which is a boring pile of crap I’m not looking forward to with the FL being collateral damage. We’re also stuck with the stalker for one more week.

The Killing Vote (Episode 6) - Mood: D+
I hope Min Soo isn’t the real Gaetal and this is a red herring but it’s not out of the realm of impossibility given that he’s No.1 Fan based on the testimony from Gaetal’s accomplice. And I guess if we go along this route then it’s likely Mu Chan already knew all of this and is just bidding his time to take him down. But yeah, we’ll see if the writer has any tricks up their sleeves.

Moving (Episode 16-17) - Mood: D+
While I can understand why the North Koreans are out for revenge following a political assassination, it doesn’t really make for interesting watching when everything is just theatrical posturing and pointless CGI-enhanced action scenes. Also, we’re near the finale and the show still insists on dragging things out through dramatic cliffhangers: let the story speak for itself?

Behind Your Touch The Gum-Butt Show: 8.0 After the recap mentioned "Mouth of Truth" I had to look it up to fully appreciate the "Butt of Truth".

A Time Called You: 5.0 (for ep 5 / 7) 💤💤 Still hoping it will live up to the hype, some day or... One problem is the colors are so washed out. I'm used to timey-wimey shows doing that for the past/flashback bits, but here they have the whole thing washed out and they washed away the suspense and excitement too.

My Lovely Liar: 8.5 "Culprit" confesses -- but in day 13. Experienced k-watchers know that's too early and too easy. We could have believed it if he fessed up in day 15. As for who actually did it -- ok; but WHY he seems to have done it 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎 (unless they pull another twist on us next week). I can be quite tolerant of "politically incorrect" and insensitive things, but where they seem to be going is too much even for me. That ringing in her ears near the end makes me fear that we might not even get any cute case-of-the-week for the show to end on.

My Lovely Boxer: 7.5 Both "Lovely" shows this week had un-lovely suicides or at least attempts.

Moving: 9.5 Han Hyo-joo taking off her glasses at the end of 17!!!

Destined With You: 8.0

Han River Police: 2.0 Not offensively bad, just boring and unoriginal. But at just 6 episodes it's a full Bean for less than half price. Was the cruise ship wreck inspired more by the Sewol or the Costa Concordia?

The Day: 8.5 Everything that Han River isn't.

Killing Vote: 6.0 Can we vote to kill the writers who stick us with bad endings to shows that started well?

Regarding the search for Sol-hee's missing pet turtle in Lovely Liar: turtles are considered auspicious in that part of the world, for reasons such as their longevity, protective shells, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_turtles
But also, in Chinese slang "turtles head" is a guy's pen*s. This is not officially listed as one of the reasons why turtles are considered lucky, but... And I'll never get tired of mentioning that when kdramas give me opportunities like this. Remember it was her love interest who found it.

This week's quiz: which THREE current shows does Kim Hee-won appear in?

BUTT TOUCH (Ep 9-10) I think we have been desensitized because of the greater purpose of the butt touching as an investigative tool, abet a warrantless search. It was about time to narrow down the suspect list. Grandpa’s personal investigation of Ye-bun’s parents death and Cha’s success as the new assemblyman even after land scandal is compelling but could be a red herring. The clue about the third psychic at the barn touching metal could mean that he sees memories through a person’s contact with metal objects, like a phone. That puts Seon-Woo in the spotlight, but likely a diversion at this point in the series. Clearly, he has a grudge against Cha.

The Detective’s civilian investigation team was good as we finally got to “see” the logic and progression of narrowing down the suspects. There are coincidences and overlap to find the third psychic but there is still some doubt about the killer. The story this week was hard core crime solving with little of the rural goofiness of the town folk.

COLD BLOODED INTERN (Ep. 9-10) It is getting a little goofy and dark. Of course, Hae-Ra is the star of the company soccer game without knowing how to play. Of course, Choi’s taking dirty orders from her boss in an attempt to get a promotion she will probably not get. She knows she is being used. Of course, Hae-ra tells her not to trust upper management but Choi says she is using them. Of course, Episode 9 ends with a medical emergency for Hae-Ra to handle. Of course, it is waved off at the beginning of Episode 10 only to conclude with the past coming back to haunt both Hae-Ra and Choi. This show is running its course in a very, very basic format.

THE REAL HAS COME AND GONE: Only watched the last third and it was a terrible rage watch.I did like the misery loves company aspect of the Hang-Out group. I do not want to claim a Bean for this one. What is the opposite of a Bean? a) a rock, b) a weed, c) a thorn or d) a grain of sand.

THE COLLAPSE OF DAEWOO (YouTube: K-Doc) A KBS documentary on the collapse of conglomerate Daewoo in 1999 due to massive debt and $43.5 billion accounting fraud. The documentary is a throw back record of how South Korea went from post-war poverty to regional industrial power. The first chaebols believed that exports were the key for economic growth because SK had scant natural resources for manufacturing. Trade goods became the heart of the economy from late 1960s to mid 1980s. Companies were aligned closely with government to push worker sacrifices (like 16 hour work days in a military-cult fashion). In 1987, a worker during a labor strike was killed by police which turned the public against chaebol corporations. In 1997, the IMF crisis wiped out many former large business groups which led to greater public destain of businessmen. It was an interesting film archive of how SK looked and acted prior to the hallyu wave. It did show the cultural reason why chaebols are often the villains in k-dramas. However, a recent poll in...

COMPLETED:
Someday or One Day - The producers of A Time Called You are either brave or foolhardy in remaking this Taiwanese series, which sets a very high bar indeed.

The star of the show is undoubtedly the script. At times I wished I had a flowchart to keep track of all the time jumps, body switches, and interrelated causes and effects, but ultimately I was able to keep up (at least I think I was) without getting frustrated by the complex, intricate, twisty plot. The show packed a lot into its 13 episodes—besides romance, mystery, murder, and time-travel, it explored themes such as friendship, homophobia, mental health, family, and identity. Writing, direction, music, and visual design combined to bring together all these moving parts into a coherent, cohesive whole—exemplary world-building.

With the exception of the standard-issue psycho villain, I found all the characters relatable and compelling. Leads Ko Chia-Yen and Greg Hsu were standouts; kudos to Ko in particular for a finely-detailed performance in the challenging central role(s). Special mention to adorable scene-stealer Zheng You-Fei as the young Huang Yu-Xuan!

3-Iron - An odd, subversive little movie from 2004, directed by Kim Ki-Duk. Jae Hee plays a mysterious, silent drifter who breaks into houses and apartments while the owners are away and makes himself at home. He wanders around the house, fixing things, doing the laundry, watering the plants, and taking selfies. One day he lets himself into a fancy home, unaware that the equally silent woman of the house (Lee Seung-Yeon) has been there watching him the whole time. I won’t reveal anything more about what happens, but the story is—to say the least—unconventional. It’s a moody, mystical, romantic film with a quirky sense of humor. I enjoyed it, but I suspect it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

After a packed drama schedule, I suddenly find myself both grateful for the break and twiddling my thumbs. Moving remains solid. I'm swaying on the fence with Destined With You. I'm waiting to try out Arthdal and, heaven help me, the new weekender Live Your Own Life.

So while I wait, I dove into Parallel World, the low-budget fantasy c-drama that recalls the dubious charms and bad CGI of the aughts (Firefly, Stargate, most SyFy shows of the era.) It has some fun world-building but it's the characters and relationships that are the stars. I have a mad girl crush on its wise-cracking, ass-kicking female lead, find the soft and serious male lead adorable, and their romance is just *chef's kiss* It takes me back to one of my favorite OTPs in Happiness. But that show didn't have Rooster—a literal chicken, not a nickname—as its breakout star. 😂

TL;DR A low-budget fantasy c-drama that's a trippy, swoony ride.

COMPLETED:-

*My Dearest* - What I like the most about this show is that Gil-Chae and Jang-Hyun hardly ever do what you expect them to do. I never expected Gil-Chae to agree to Jang-Hyuk's plan as she knew too many people depended on her. However, I could believe that her love for him made her reckless enough to be swayed for some time, but not enough to abandon her people. Look forward to the second half of this unpredictable love story.

*The Uncanny Counter Season 2* - Coasted through on the goodwill of Season 1. Wasn't a bad watch but the drop in quality was very noticeable. 6.5 out of 10 Stars

*Love Class Season 2* - So much better than Season 1! Tells the stories of 3 couples in just 10 episodes of 25 minutes each, and does justice to all of them. 8.5 out of 10 Stars

*Jun & Jun* - Had a lot of flaws in terms of story and pacing but it was still the show among all my on-air shows that I looked forward to the most every week. That's coz it gave me what most romances this year couldn't - heart flutters! The chemistry between the MLs was smoldering. Hope to see these actors again soon in new shows, especially Ki HyunWoo who is magic on the screen! 8.5 out of 10 Stars

WATCHING:-

*My Lovely Liar* (14/16) - I don't get the obsession Korean romance writers have with murders and serial killers. Why do we need to have one of these in almost every romcom? Though I have to say that was one hell of a plot twist at the end of Ep 14. Didn't see that coming! And now so many things that happened earlier in the show suddenly make sense.

*My Lovely Boxer* (7/12) - Keeps getting better with every episode. Tae-Young and Kwon-Sook's slow burn romance is sweet, and all the women characters are very well written. Things went darker than I expected in Ep 7 but I don't mind it here. My only complaint is that Kwon-Sook's abusive father is being portrayed in a sympathetic light. Letting abusive characters get a redemption arc just coz they are family doesn't sit right with me.

*WhyRU Korea* (6/8) - Cute and funny. Much better written than the original Thai show. However, the shoestring budget shows in every frame.

*(Thailand) Naughty Babe* (2/8) - As ridiculous as its predecessor Cutie Pie, but that's its charm. The first 2 episodes were actually better than Cutie Pie in terms of pacing and humor. Hope the romance is better too.

*(Thailand) Dangerous Romance* (4/12) - Watching it for the leading man Perth, and while he doesn't disappoint, the show has been a little underwhelming till now.

*(Thailand) I Feel You Linger In The Air* (4/12) - This tender and sweet love story between two men from different eras has my heart. The makers have a vision and they have clearly spent big money to make it come alive. 1920s Thailand is gorgeously filmed, and the acting is one of the best I have seen in a Thai show. I hope it maintains this quality until the end.

My Lovely Liar: It is trundling along. We finished the whodunnit. I think he died, but can't be too sure.I feel bad for his daughter. This drama should have been 12 episodes and gotten rid of the whodunnit. It would have made for a better drama and wouldn't have stretched poor HMH to his very limited limit.

Destined with You: This is a very shallow drama with not great writing. Once that is understood the drama becomes much more enjoyable. Lol. I am enjoying the characters for what they are and waiting for a better kiss akin to episode 4 or 5 and not that blah one from 8. It looks like we are going into the past, which is great, maybe we will get the return or origin of the hand.

The Killing Vote: So our very booked and busy favorite resident slimeball chaebol actor Kim Kwon is clearly part of this plot to murder bad folks. I assume his weirdo oedipal relationship with his mother also includes murder. She seems to know he likes killing and doesn't mind. I figure he realized that if he kills it should be to the worse people so that he always has the public goodwill on his side. Why? I guess we will find out.

Moving: ANXIETY, that was the name of the game for these two episodes. Man it was tense.

Arthdal: The Horse made his appearance, everything else was the same nonsense, but I am content, lol.

I tried both Han River Policing and 7 escape. The former was boring and the latter too much in the first 45 mins.

Behind Your Touch: It's zany, it's fun, and while there have been clues, I'm still in the dark as to the identity of the serial killer. Might be more than one baddie in town for our intrepid detectives to suss out. I'm looking forward to whatever the much-hyped Episode 11 has in store for us. Perhaps a step forward in the romance department? Or at least, the end of the FL's crush on the SML

Destined With You: Losing steam with this one but not ready to cut bait. I wish the most recent episodes hadn't leaned into my least favorite elements: the love triangle/square and SFL storylines. Given that we're only at the halfway point, I'm beginning to get concerned about how the writer plans to fill the rest of the episodes. The sageuk/past lives part would be very welcomed.

Parallel World: Totally addictive. Is it a fantasy? Desert adventure? Sci-fi? Slow-burn romance? Found family story? Amazing comedic turn by a rooster with great survival instincts? Yes to all of it. And totally entertaining to boot. Despite the chaotic situations in the plot, the writing is completely on point with character development and creating relationships that you will root for.

Fake It Till You Make It: Finished this one and can't say enough good things about it. Finally -- a drama that delivered a satisfying ending! Made doubly rewarding because it wrapped up a masterpiece of acting, storytelling and directing. Featured my favorite OTP in recent memory. You know how sometimes you harbor doubts about how long a fictional drama couple would actually be able to stay together despite the happy ending in the finale? Well -- if ever one was going to make it work, this OTP would. Their relationship arc was brilliantly portrayed in dialogue and deeds.

Wrong Carriage, Right Groom: The main couples are so solid, I'm trusting that the cartoonish villains won't come out ahead in the end. There's also a fair dose of female empowerment going on, with both FLs proving to be smart, capable partners to their spouses. Even the headstrong princess (so often put in a villainous role) is asserting that she should be able to marry for love instead of duty. And thank goodness the object of her affection returns her sentiments.

My Lovely Boxer Finally, the ML will fight and not just endure the whole mess.

My Lovely Liar I'm more interested to see her loosing her gift than the murder mystery. Her power was the interesting plot in this drama. But it was lost in the investigation, she was just lie detector. But the consequences, how it works, what place it takes in her life, etc. were barely adressed. KSH being a better actress, I'm happy the story is focusing on her even if she will have to suffer for it 😅

Destined With You The leads together are the best! Wether they're fighting, bickering, being cold to each other, flirting, etc. I'm never bored because their feelings feel real.

Behind Your Touch I'm kinda thing it's the kind of drama that missed the timing for romance now, so I'm not waiting for it anymore.

Moving At this point, I'm still waiting a flashback for the school guard and the new villain who can fly... I'm kinda disapointed they're fighting against the North Koreans and not their ex-boss...

Han River Police It's watchable nothing more.

CEO-dol Mart Like every Kdrama about idols, the half of the cast is very green... But there is Lee Sin-Young is good and cute!

@missvictrix I share your love for Rowoon. He's very good at a bus stop with drunk FL being very honest with their feelings :P