Hello, Beanies!!!

I’m loving Behind Your Touch way too much. Last week I was all laughs, and I was for episode 7 and 8 too, but I also realized that I’m becoming *gasp*… invested. I’m shocked by how well they’re balancing everything right now and I hope they can keep it up. I actually am loving how the investigations so far have brought upon the development of our leads’ relationship. Jang-yeol and Ye-bun have such a good dynamic and I can’t WAIT for the romance to start. Their chemistry is just *chef’s kiss*. “I’m your weapon” is still living rent-free in my head a whole week later.

I’m still keeping up with Destined With You, but I have to admit, I’m not really feeling it. Destined love and reincarnation stories are not my thing, mostly because it’s difficult for the stories to make me feel like the romance is earned. That really isn’t a factor in the plot here yet, but I’m also growing tired of the spells and the second leads. While I normally enjoy both of these actors well enough, for some reason the acting just isn’t really clicking for me. I’ll keep watching for now but might end up dropping it if something more interesting comes along.

I’ve seen the first two episodes of A Time Called You and I am so intrigued! I have so many theories running through my brain right now. I haven’t seen the original and I’m glad. I can watch this with no preconceived notions! I found the 90s scenes to be quite cloying, but they also evoked a sense of nostalgia in me that I find hard to explain. It was like watching an old drama. I really like the idea of having a mystery drama that is tied to relationships rather than any huge, epic plots. We’ll see where it goes!

I have seen a few episodes of One Piece and am pleasantly surprised by how fun it is! With school starting it’s been hard for me to stay on top of my shows, but I’m also up to date with Only Murders in the Building and have been steadily rewatching Severance with my friends still. My The Legend of Korra watch is also going strong!

While I don’t have many kdramas on my plate currently, The Day is on my list to check out this week for Park Sung-hoon, and Boss-dol Mart looks fun!

What upcoming shows are you looking forward to, Beanies?

LIVE WATCHES
Destined with You
All I can say is this: It is my current Dramabeans challenge to not become too emotionally invested in this absolutely amazing drama that has all the flaws and all the feels and all my heart all my dispassionate attention.

Moving
This show is effort for me like my actual paying work is effort for me. It grabs my attention in a good way, but it’s not “fun.” I made gifs of Rowoon DWY the other night for 2 hours straight—the very 2 hours that I had set aside for watching this week’s Moving episodes—but yet chose not to watch them. [Yeah, go ahead and judge me about those gifs. The fullness of that kiss needed some reconstitution, and the totality was presented disparate parts. Sigh. These fan service gifs don’t make themselves, and now I’m tempted to redo it, include more cuts and put a long, slow Kenny G track underneath].

My Lovely Liar
Still here. It still matters. I’ve been through both Kkokdu’s Season and Heavenly Idol this year, and so I know that MLL doesn’t come close to being either locally, or globally, “bad.”

FROM THE RESERVES
I put Mad Dog on hold because a number of Beanies promised to do a community “asynchronous-live-watch” of sorts later. When we get to it (and I choose @hopefulromantic as my “starter pistol,” FWIW), I’m thinking we just agree to make posts on the Fan Wall as we watch, signaling in the main post what episode we’ve finished, and putting all our thoughts in the comments/replies. Then, as the rest of us catch up, we can treat the first person/few people to signal those episodes on the Fan Wall as the “weecapper” and then utilize the comments/replies of that post to share our thoughts. Anyone who’s ever wanted to unleash their inner @missvictrix (and I’m outing myself as one of these people, because damn that’s a fine Latin joke) is welcome to join.

ON DECK
My Liberation Notes. I was convinced last week that I am basically obligated watch this drama, regardless of my hesitations. Once my life settles down—yeah, right—I plan to properly binge this. Like a (minimum) 4 hours/day binge. I’m saying that number, “4,” because it probably sounds high-ish to other humans, but Beanies know that I am lying about how many hours a weekend binge can actually comfortably take up in a day when you really mean it.

Liar
Surprisingly, this week was better than I feared 😅 and it was nice to see Doha's new friends to believe their own judgement... and Solhee giving her love and support. One person is often enough.
Deukchan is an enigma for me.

Destined
I'm still quite enjoying it.
It is still funny... and I feel like I should start noting down all Shin-yu's lines. 😁
Who is not funny is the Snake Fake (I-Wish-She-Stayed-Ex)Girlfriend.
Btw, is it just me failing for Rowoon's charm or has he actually improved? (and I don't mean just his ears, eyebrows... and eyes...) - it's not only the comedy part (they are cracking me up! 😆), I found the drunken confession quite moving. (It is also clear that the curse is more and more just an excuse.)

Hwaiting to all who still watch Real, last episodes this weekend!! 💪
Next weekend I'm joining again for the new weekender. 🙂

COMPLETED
My Dearest Part 1 - I think Part 1 ended at a good point. Looking forward to finding out what happened in the those two years.

The Uncanny Counter S2 - Disappointing sequel in every way. Neither the villains nor the new counter was interesting.

A Time Called You - Some situations were condensed and there was one major character change, but this was basically a scene-by-scene adaptation. Maybe it'd have felt more thrilling if I hadn't seen the original 🤔. Pleasantly surprised by Ahn Hyo-seop, who really carried the show. I thought Jeon Yeo-bin was surprisingly weak in the emotional parts until she came into her own with the last three episodes when Min-ju's arc began.

ONGOING
The First Responders 2 - Part of me hopes Jin Ho-gae is actually dead. It would be totally in line with this trainwreck.

Behind Your Touch - Ep. 8 was a lot of fun. The mystery is getting more intriguing too with the introduction of a third psychic.

My Lovely Liar - All the new suspects coming to the fore now are making the story seem messy rather than thrilling.

My Lovely Boxer - I like the progress of the relationship between the leads. Hope snake Jae-min gets exposed soon.

Moving - This show is not good for my heart. How could they leave us on that cliffhanger 😭.

Destined With You - I like Sin-yu but I'm not even moderately invested in the OTP. Can we find him someone who's not going around blaming others when she was the one brewing up love potions. The parents' (non)love story is cute - fond as I am of Lee Pil-mo, I'll be okay with Lee Tae-ri stealing the mom away in this case.

C-DRAMAS
The Legend of Zhuohua (till Ep. 34) - Plot has slowed down with a lot of repetitive court schemes. I'm ready for the final showdown.

Fake It Till You Make It (till Ep. 13) - How is a drama this realistic also this swoony?! Don't ask me the number of times I've rewound a scene to catch and revel in every micro-expression 😅.

Sunshine By My Side and My Journey to You - These bore the brunt of everything else I had to watch so I'm far behind schedule. Still enjoying the former and liked the 2 episodes I saw of the latter. Nice to jump right into a story for once.

CRICKET - frustrating - After all the mismanagement aka no management at all, now things are turning up somehow right. The only +ve and as said before viewers, spectators are not he priority. they know they gonna get all the money with no efforts and whatever is served will be taken by audience. They are milking the feeling n emotions of everyone.

Let's see how google and microsoft fight for audience engagement this time around.

G20 - ho ha which was expected and which was expected for this world cup - will happen - political campaign opportunity won't be let go so easily. It's just that they got busy with with different affairs or different events are lined up for campaign so they didn't need World up as much

World cup still is aimed at generating 275-375 million dollars and this much is enough 1st round of elections.

Live Watches
My Lovely Liar: I love a murder mystery, and this show has really been one from the beginning, so I’m still sold. And yay for the leads working together to solve it! They are always at their best when they’re united and sharing info, so I’m excited going into the home stretch.

Destined with You: The memes and gifs have been lovely (thanks everyone!), but are not enough to negate the FL, so this is a drop for now. I’ll keep following the weecaps and decide if I want to jump back in later.

The Killing Vote: I wish there was more than one episode of this per week! I’ve totally stopped trying to guess who’s involved, I’m just sitting back to enjoy this mysterious, twisty ride.

Older Dramas
Strong Woman Do Bong-soon: *light spoiler warning* A pretty adorable end to a pretty adorable drama. Gook-doo remained semi-annoying to the end, but at least he got some sweet scenes with Bong-soon. I almost felt bad when he cried in his car. Almost. Seriously one of my favorite parts of the finale was when he went to Min-hyuk to be all overprotective - again - and was all, “I’ll kill you if you hurt her” and Min-hyuk was just like, “dude, go live your life. Stop watching us, you’re just going to go crazy.” YES. But the two of them teaming up with Bong-soon and each of them doing what they do best to catch the kidnapper was perfect. I don’t think this will be a rewatch for me, in part because it spent a weird amount of time following the comically bad-at-their-jobs thugs around, but I’ll definitely find all my favorite Prince MinMin clips whenever I need a bright point.

The Secret Romantic Guesthouse: I wanted something that would be pretty different from the other things I’m watching right now, and this fits the bill nicely. I didn’t watch it when it came out because I was busy with Our Blooming Youth at the time, but this is fun too. I can see why everyone was so taken with Shi-yeol - he’s definitely a standout so far.

K-action Movie of the Week
The Thieves: Such a good ensemble! We had Kim Soo-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun before they were paired up in My Love from the Star, and in a very different dynamic haha! Kim Yun-seok’s character was so fun and ambiguous and Kim Hye-soo was fantastic as ever. One of my favorite bits was the relationship that developed between the two people who were pretending to be a Japanese couple - it was weirdly sweet and sincere in the midst of all the backstabbing and deception. Jun Ji-hyun played probably my favorite character - Yenicall was so deliciously and consistently self-interested throughout, but in a way that was fun instead of sinister. Great heist movie through and through.

A Time Called You (Series review)
Hmm, I did not watch the original so I’ve no idea how much credit can the Korean production take for the story, but if I treat this story as its own entity: decent thought placed into the time slip however not as much regarding the coincidental pair of doppelgängers for the OTP (unlike the culprit) or the deus ex machina in the last episode (when the tape player was clearly not working). And I was rather disappointed the show chose to cut out the story of the real Yeon Jun even if I understood it, so yeah. But I’m personally glad that Kang Hoon is better positioned for his acting career now. Dramagods please!

The Uncanny Counter 2 (Series review) - Mood progression: D / D / D / D- / D- / D-
Yoo In Soo’s 2023 dramas are a fine argument against rushing towards leading roles: he’s pretty much got nothing to work with in this show and that is not great for his acting career when he’s relying on skill to land roles. As for the show, I think the less said about it the better: it’s like the writer saw how the 1st season went downhill and decided to emulate that.

My Lovely Liar (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D
Just when I thought we’ve seen the last of Eom Ho and his knife, there’s now Jae Chan to take on the mantle of crazy guy: I guess the writer thought it would be too rude for Eom Ho to have the monopoly on threatening someone’s life. Are we really concerned about who killed Eom Ji? Nope but we’re made to care because the OTP can’t get their happy ending otherwise.

Destined With You (Episode 5-6) - Mood: D
As feared, the writing for the second leads went downhill: wouldn’t it have been great if the 2FL wasn’t the devil’s incarnate or that the 2ML built an incredible friendship with the FL instead? Also, Hong Jo finally had the mean boss off her back only to run into the gardener stalker. And someone please rescue Lee Tae Ri from that affair arc: what is this nonsense!

The Killing Vote (Episode 5) - Mood: D+
Huh, couldn’t they just have strapped a body cam on Joo Hyun and let her be Seok Joo’s eyes within the hospital? The only way that wasn’t stupid is that it was intentional, which I hope is the case with Mu Chan masterminding everything. It seems a bit stupid though to have everyone go after one target even if there wasn’t any diversion but I guess that’s drama for you.

Moving (Episode 14-15) - Mood: C-
You know that the show is running out of time because Kang Hoon’s dad didn’t even get 2 episodes for his backstory (okay, I know the real reason is because Kim Sung Kyun isn’t part of the leading trio of adult stars, but still). Honestly, the North Korean threat is lame and the production only has the tactic of casting well known actors to carry the lacklustre arc?

Moving - I'm deliciously looking forward to seeing the superpowered teens and parents take down the Principal and NIS director. Kim Jae-won's story was gripping. Here's me hoping Gang-hoon is not lost forever. Of all the kids, looks like he's the one who's being indoctrinated the longest.

My Dearest - Everything has been said from my end during the recaps.
I'm amongst the few lot who are unbothered by both the ending and the introduction of a new pivotal character. I really don't know why the production came under a lot if heat by netizens to warrant NGM having to explain the plot clearer. Lee Chung-ah's addition to the cast was no sudden news either. So it was easy to predict what was gonna happen. Besides, the split parts is also not new news. Production is not to blame for the Asian Games coming up during the month long hiatus.

My Lovely Boxer - I need Jae-min off my screen ASAP. And for Kwon-sook to get wind of Tae-young's sacrifice, underhand deals and sincerity.

Longing For You - Powerful ending. I don't think the writer knows how to write romances. But the writing excelled at the detective and prosecutor parts. This is one drama since Stranger/Forest of Secrets where the police ain't treated as lesser by the prosecutors.
Director Yoo won my sympathy when she told Young-ju to play the last evidence recording to the end. This is how I like my villains to bow out - unapologetic to the end.

Destined With You - I keep on being in love with Eun-young and Mr. Gong. And it's going a long way in redeeming him.
And, I hope they move past this love declarations from Sin-yu. There's enough to last episodes instead of close to 10 calls from Sin-yu saying the same thing over and over again.
I need Jae-kyung to declare his intentions for Hong-joo.

My Lovely Liar: I like that our leads are sticking together. The was no separation and the 2ML isn’t annoying. Win win.

Destined with you: I am sad to be dropping this because outside of the central conceit of the drama I enjoy it. The last two episodes were great, expecially with the intro of Ms. Gong who is delightful. However, every single time the spell comes it lands with a thud. I think about the fact that he dislikes how he is feeling and wants to be able to control it and it makes me feel so bad for him. Another beanie said they think it lowers his inhibitions, but he says what he means. That actually kind of makes it worse for me, because it is like being in a constant state of drunkenness with no way to get sober. Awful feeling, so I will be dropping this, SIGH.😔

The Killing Vote: So the little sister’s teacher is involved somehow. However, who is the one doing the killing. It seems the congresswoman is involved too. Hmmmm.

Moving: All at once, that is what the writers said for the final converging of storylines in episode 15. The kids are off by themselves being followed by a particularly menacing YDG. The North Koreas are going through the backdoor somewhere. The two parents may or may not be meeting and Kang Hoon is non the wiser studying, while the other kid is smoking in the bathroom.

A Time Called You: I am half way through and I like it. I didn't watch the
Japanese version and had no expectations going in, so I am enjoying this.

Arthdal: If it is as bad as season 1, I will enjoy this immensely.

@missvictrix
I loved that foldable table as well! 😆

BUTT TOUCH (Ep 7-8) It was nice to see the shaman’s shamanism actually work. It gives a little credence to the absurd fantasy elements of the show. As I said early on, the show gives off Camilia Blooms vibes which puts the serial killer thread right in line with CB’s plot fault.

But adding another psychic as a serial killer is going slightly overboard. The deceptions are getting more numerous so if the writer’s intent is to drag this out to the end then that is a problem.

I have my suspects, but I don't think it is really going to pay-off. The romance plot lines do not seem very strong. Auntie and the Captain should let the past be the past.

COLD BLOODED INTERN (Ep. 7-8) The show continues with the sleazy office politics and apology fest for business reasons, but the women in planning unit 2 have come together on the same work page. Hae-Ra is now more desperate but determined as the sole breadwinner to get a full time position. But Choi’s path to promotion has been blocked by an ill-fated nepotism hire.The nephew is playing emotional mind games on Choi by faking a romance to get her guard down. I suspect the only way she gets that promotion is to grind her team either turn her staff into super star employees with blockbuster products or elite corporate spies to torpedo the VP’s son.

ONE PIECE (Netflix Ep. 6-8) The episodes conclude with the completion of the crew backstories and the command to set sale to begin the crew’s adventure along the Grand Line. But that is where it probably will end. Netflix has not green lit a second season primarily because of the huge production cost. It would take more than 14 million new subscribers just for this series to sustain the possibility of more episodes but most one-off viewers cancel after their show airs. Early stats show 14.5 million viewers total watched the show.

A TIME CALLED YOU (Ep. 1-3) I am not familiar with the original material, so I will take this remake for its own production and story. The pre-release interviews, the director said he would maintain some of the iconic scenes in the original but have his own take on the overall story.

Watching the series because the writer wrote BABYSITTER, a great series with tight, intense script which helped the cast’s stellar acting. I get the same feel with the series so far. The script has weaved many elements both dreamlike and real so really cannot tell which is right and which is wrong. There are conflicting statements by characters which can in fact be true if put into context. The writer and director appear to be on the same page painting an impressionistic portrait rather than a boilerplate puzzle.

My Dumbest The Make Up Your Mind Already Show: 5.0 (days 9/10) If the FL had as much of a shoe fetish as the ML thought, I'd have to start calling her Imelda (go ahead, google "Imelda Marcos shoes"). Sorry, but once I thought of that it took me right out of the show.

Uncanny Counter S2 The Slime Bath Show: 2.0 A fitting predecessor to Arsedal 2.

Behind Your Touch The Gum-Butt Show: 8.5

My Lovely Liar: 7.6 That's the weighted average of 9.5 for Kim So-hyun, 5.0 for the ML, and 0.0 for overdone angry obsessed brother. If you want a murder mystery then focus on solving it, or on how people in general jump to wrong conclusions and blame the wrong person, not just on one knife-wielding angry idiot. I'm also not a fan of the mothers, CEO's slimy brother, or plagiarizing rival composer, but *maybe* they have some useful plot function coming to excuse their continued existence (???). And can they give us a few more quick case-of-the-day lie detections, please?

My Lovely Boxer: 7.1 Gangsters 👎👎

Destined With You: 7.5 "Disaster Nullification Spell" -- will it nullify Arsedal 2? The love-not-love back and forth went on a little too long, but maybe they'll try something different next week(??)

Moving: 8.0 Well, at the end of ep 15 that bus was really Moving.

Killing Vote: 7.4

A Time Called You: 7.0 (ep 1/4) 💤💤 From all the hype, I assume it will get better, some day or...

Finished:
Arang and the Magistrate: This was one of the most thrilling, romantic, epic, cool dramas I've ever seen... it hit all the right notes for me, and is now my #1 fantasy drama. And have I said how cool Lee Joon-Gi is?? Because he is SO. COOL. This was a bittersweet and incredibly satisfying drama. I thought I had been spoilered on the ending, but I only knew part of the story... The drama set up its rules logically, and then followed those rules to their inevitable conclusion. I spent the last few minutes laughing and crying simultaneously. So logical, so inevitable, so lovely, so perfect.

Chief Kim: I liked it. I enjoyed seeing how all the things I liked most in Chief Kim were later amplified in The Fiery Priest, which I loved. My favorite part was Junho's eating and his crush on the FL.

Ongoing:
Destined With You: This continues to be such a fun watch! Shin-yu continues to be my favorite character. He may look pristine, but he's a mess, and it's quite enjoyable. Get a grip, Jang Shin-yu! (*I'll be saying this every week for the foreseeable future*).

Other Stuff:
I also finished One Piece. Yes, the dialogue is cheesy and trite, but the action scenes are cartoonish fun, and everything moves along at a satisfyingly fast clip. I watched the anime when it was on on American Saturday morning cartoons in the 2000s, so watching this was like watching my memories and impressions of the anime - but in technicolor. Quite fun!! (And, I would happily watch another eight episodes just of Roronoa Zoro sword fighting).

AGE OF YOUTH / HELLO, MY TWENTIES! S2

An Ode To Friendship

So I thought, as one does with their favourite shows, with my nostalgia goggles and the good memories that this drama was light fluffy, maybe sometimes sad, but overall something that would be a good pick me up from the tragedy of MY DEAREST…
HAHAHAHAHAHA ASDFGHJKL!!!
I stopped watching MY LIBERATION NOTES because it was #too_real!
LOL jokes on me right?!
I thought AGE OF YOUTH would be different???!!!
NOOOOOOPE…

In fact it was worse…so so much worse! I can see writer Park Yeon-sun laughing at my stupidity…at my idiocy…

To the beanie that asked the dreaded question, who is your favourite kdrama character?
My answer:
Song Ji-won, Song Ji-won, Song Ji-won, Song Ji-won, Song Ji-won, Song Ji-won & Song Ji-won!
My foul mouthed, charming and charismatic QUEEN!

I laughed when Eun-jae said her (ex)boyfriend was her first love, nah it was Ji-won! No one can convince me otherwise! Maybe she’ll find out later in life like I did. But her adoration, her respect, unable to keep her eyes away from Ji-won and telling her all her secrets…
Yeah there is no way in hell she didn’t have some romantic feelings for her…
At least in season one…

I’m not a poet nor a good writer, so I can’t describe my love for my favourite character. Yet Ji-won feels like a paradox no? Someone so charming and the life of the party, masking her hurt and her pain…

Not to mention the OTP to end all OTPs!
Song Ji-won did end up with Im Sung-min, tho I agree about the slow progression of their relationship. I would actually say they were the epitome of the friends to lovers trope. Whether they knew subconsciously or not, in season one they were more or less friends, it was season two where the heat, romance and the sexual tension was at the forefront. Not to mention the skinship, so so much skinship…
From almost kissing, to travelling together to staying at a motel and going to a massage…
Sung-min being her support in her time of need…
And finding out they did indeed end up together…

But alas writer Park Yeon-sun couldn’t let me live in my fantasy could she?!
Finding out Ji-won died so young…
At the age of thirty…
Her husband Sung-min and her daughter visiting Belle Epoque together…

I’m crying as I write this…
Why why why does my favourite character die so young…
It’s unfair dammit…
But also…
Realistic…
FUUUUUUUUCK…

And yet it wasn’t Ji-won’s or Hyo-jin’s tragic story that made bawl my eyes or ugly cry…
No it was something so innocuous and random that I completely forgot…

Behind your butt : I am having too much fun with this show. I love the leads and Han Ji Min is phenomenal in this role. Can’t wait for this weekend episodes.

Destined with you : The leads have grown on me. I want the love spell out of the way so I can root for them whole heartedly.

Fake it till you make it (cdrama)
I am stuck in Ep 9 and I never left that hotel room. The lead up to that ending was so well done. I rewatched these scenes so many times and am making gifs.
Everyone, go watch it! Elvis Han and Elvira Cai are absolutely fantastic and their chemistry is fire. So is the writing, direction and music.

Sunshine by my side Ep 6(cdrama)
I was surprised it was a Noona romance. I quite like the female lead (also the actor) and I really liked how they handled her divorce. It was done very well and the actors did such a fine job. Some of the scenes were so poignant.
I am not onboard with the ML yet. I don’t get why he would be in love with a woman for ten years after he met her when he was in high school. I am not quite clear what his feelings for her are? It’s just hard to get on board that he never dated anyone because of her? Or is it really her? Also the character comes across as a little immature especially the scenes with the female lead. He is supposed to be 26 in the drama.
Also I don’t feel anything for the OTP yet. I did not like that their first two encounters were her being drunk. Also didn’t like how he forced himself to be with her when she needed to be alone. He saw her husband leave the house with boxes and knew it was an emotional moment. She asked to be left alone. But he acted like a child trying to cheer her up. And started talking about himself. If I were her I would be annoyed. I wish he left the soup for her by her door and left.
And he was focused on his work and kept interrupting her when she was having a conversation on the phone with her husband who she is separating from.
So right now I don’t feel like rooting for them.
I do like his parents and the scenes at home.
I will probably wait for more feedback from beanies before I continue. For now it’s on hold. Or a possible drop if ‘Parallel world’ continues to be good.

Parallel World(cdrama) Ep 4
Bai Yu and Ni Ni!!! A rocky start but the show found its groove by Ep 2. The leads are fantastic. The mystery and intrigue is good so far and makes me want to continue. The desert landscape is gorgeous. The story is moving at a decent pace. I expect some action sequences since Ni Ni’s character is a fighter. Will definitely continue. Bai Yu as a tormented desert guide gets to wear some stylish camping clothes 😅

My Lovely Boxer The best part is like a lot of dramas when the leads are bickering. Because behind their bickering, they share a lot of personnal things.

My Lovely Liar At this stage, it's just for the bean.

Destined With You This drama is hilarious and doesn't take itself too seriously. Rowoon and Jo Boa are deligthful to watch. Their pull and push is fun to watch not like in My Dearest where I just wanted them to be a part.

Behind Your Touch Han Ji-Min and Lee Min-Ki are really good in their role. I don't really care about the other stories or couples.

Arthdal Chronicles: The Sword of Aramun I will watch it but I have no good or bad expectation, just to make fun of it (but I promise I won't pollute the review if there is one).

Moving The last episode was so weird. After 15 episodes of the parents being manipulated for each of their decision, it would be nice to see them act, because of their naivety, their children suffered.

A Time Called You It's weird but after 12 episodes, I don't really have an opinion about it. I didn't like it but neither dislike it.

This week I watched Would you like a cup of coffee, in an attempt to fill the void left by My Dearest and to forget about real life stuff. What a lovely heartwarming gem. I might watch it again.
I also started watching (more binging!) Fake it till you make it. Loving it so far. The workplace is certainly toxic and watching characters trying to one-up each other is depressing but the rest makes up for it. I find the writing so on point in this drama, the characters' issues are so relatable. The relationship between the leads is also really well written. Looking forward to finishing it.

My Dearest is so wonderful, I love every aspect of it.
One little scene from an earlier episode hasn’t been mentioned: when the four women are fleeing with the newborn baby, Jong Jong picks up the last crumbs of their provisions and they all eat from her hand while walking on. So unique, realistic and telling about their situation, their bond and what they had to go through!
I’m up for anything the drama has in store for us in the second part, and for any ending.
But here is my alternative ending after the first part: When Hang Hyun and Gil Chae are alone at night at the inn, they do not fall asleep or make love, but talk for hours. They tell each other what they have been through in the past years, their motivations, and they clear up misunderstandings (the 16:1 fight and more). Then they decide TOGETHER how to live from now on.
Gil Chae breaks off her engagement and they marry immediately (easy to do, don’t they just have to drink the wedding drink?) AND they consummate their marriage so she’s really a “used woman” and our officer wouldn’t want here anymore anyway. Society be damned… gossip is not that important to both of them anyway, it’s all the same to her father, they can marry off her sister to another businessman instead of a noble, her household will love it, the servants can become a couple too. Since both of them are astute businesspeople and a lot of money can be made after the war, they become the chaebols of Hanyang or wherever they choose to live. Jang Hyun goes off to trade for months on end, so he doesn’t feel suffocated, and then comes back to passionate reunions. They have a couple of very smart and very unruly kids who are loved by everybody. Gil Chae only meets her BFF Eun Ae without her stick-in-the-mud husband. King, Khan and Crown Prince are doing their historically accurate, doomed thing anyway. And hopefully, Ryang Eum gets over his heartbreak, flourishes as an artist and finds a real lover somewhere else – maybe Qing was less strict in these matters?
I can see it all in my mind 😊
Finished Uncanny Counter 2, that was disappointing. The world building and the characters had been so good in the first season, but S2 was repetitive and a letdown. My favorite: the evil spirits in the first few episodes, I loved their styling.
After finishing this, Netflix’ first suggestion was Hot Stove League with Namgoong Min and Cho Byeong Kyu (Mun from UC) – chance or good algorithm? This had been on my list for a long time, so I looked in and like it. Who would have thought I would watch two sports dramas at the same time, and about baseball and boxing at that…
My Lovely Boxer So the boxing turned out fine so far. For once, I’m not on the SL ship. Jaemin seems to be the right, sweet, tender person for innocent Kwon Sook, but he’s too sweet – is there some other intention? He only got interested in Kwon Sook after he knew she was the genius boxer.
Behind Your TouchNice watch, but not...