A huge hello and welcome back to @javabeans!! What a joy to see you once again and to read your comments on the dramas you're currently watching.

You've been missed. Hoping we get to see you around here more often! :)

I knew that last/final(?) Kdrama that @javabeans (welcome back!) and @girlfriday (So I have to wait patiently for her long return soon...) fully recapped was from 2018/five-yr. old: the 2017-2018 Kdrama Hwayugi (or A Korean Odyssey). When I looked and checked at posts from the authors Javabeans and Girlfriday, that was 2018 and it was Hwayugi. Javabeans last fully recapped was the 19th ep. of Hwayugi and the last fully recap post from Girlfriday was the final ep. of Hwayugi.

@javabeans Hi hi hi! So happy to see your post, feels like old times. ❤️

Adding to my Bean count in 2024: Return of the Year goes to @javabeans.

Welcome back! Wonderful to read your words once again.

*crying in the (beanie) club*

Welcome back, Javabeans! Great to see you here.

Knight Flower: I just finished this show and enjoyed all the ML-FL interactions and the group of friends/well wishers around them. The FL was a delight to watch with all her antics and costume changes/disguises ....the male disguise was the most hilarious. The show was nice minus the politics which was really boring with the Left minister speaking in that weird tone as if teaching a child.

Marry my Husband: I stopped watching around episode 11 due to the new entry of a character and then binged it all till the last episode. The show was doing great till the 10th episode and then showed a lot of unnecessary scenarios which dampened the mood and interest.

Watched 100 Days my Prince and Arthdal Chronicles recently and was really sad to see the cast change in the latter for the second season. Another revenge drama worth watching was Glory, I finished both seasons and it was great!

Javabeans, welcome back! You were such a large part of my teenage years, and its wonderful to hear your perspective and distinctive voice again. I hope you stick around if it fulfills you!

A JOURNEY TO LOVE: I liked this drama very much, almost all 40 episodes fast-forward free and still liking it. Great leads, memorable side characters, AWESOME OST. Unfortunately, I got the feeling it got cut short with everyone suddenly dropping dead like flies. But, one needs to find fault with everything so here it is - the perfect male lead. There was nothing to dislike in Ning Yuanzhou, he was as Mary Sue as I've ever seen. Smart, yet humble. Great leader, respectful, sweet at the same time as he kicked serious righteous ass. Great supportive boyfriend. Of course I loved him. But going through these, no doubt, trying times, I would have also liked to see him falter and doubt himself. Fortunately, there were a multitude of side characters with serious faults. I know not all share the opinion, but I loved the marquis Changqing. The character was juvenile to say the least, but I really enjoyed how the actor went for it. The princess was also a favourite of mine. Such a character development! I sincerely hope the actress gets her fair share of recognition. Overall, great drama, a favourite of mine of 2023.

Drama gets little time from me this time of year as the Eurovision Song Contest tryouts are occopying my saturdays and I've recently started re-reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. With every novel counting about 700 pages, this will seriously affect my 2024 bean quota.

Javabeans returns! Yeah!

Nice to finally meet you / read you @javabeans! : )

I'd be very interested in reading about your experience working for dramas and your knowledge on this industry if you ever feel like it.

Doctor Slump - I just finished ep 7, and I may be dropping this one. I don’t know what it is, but the show isn’t gripping me despite its points of intersection with my work and my own experiences with overachievement and burnout. I typically adore Park Hyung-sik, but I am not really digging this performance. I want to hold on, but there’s nothing I’m curious about with respect to the story…
Marry My Husband - I have 3 episodes left. I fell behind due to an increase in demands, social activities, and the frustration from the introduction of an ultra-villain. Did we really need that? The story seems to have found its feet again at the end of ep 13, and I’m hoping to finish this week. I also have to say that the scene between Jiwon and Sumin at the playground was spellbinding. Song Ha Yoon has really impressed me in this role.
The Tale of the Nine-Tailed - Lee Dong-wook’s performance in “A Shop for Killers” brought me here, and I’ll likely see it through, even though I must admit I’m not even sure *what* the story is about. 6/16 episodes completed.
The Matchmakers - I only watch this once a week, and I missed this week. I like the story, so I hope to make more time for it. Finished 3/16 episodes so far.
Just Between Lovers - I mentioned elsewhere that I’ve been trying to watch this for the past 5 or whatever years. I started my rewatch a few weeks ago, and I am finally back at ep 9, where I had stalled previously. I hate to say it; I’m stalling again. I don’t know what it is about the end of episode 8 that takes the wind out of my sails. I really wonder what my disengagement is about given I like the story and Gang Doo is a compelling character. The show is so well done, so I am determined to finish.
Nevertheless, - completed last monday. I have complicated thoughts on this one. In short, it only really needed 6-8 episodes. It became aimless after ep 5, and I became very impatient with the whole thing by ep 8. The ending was satisfying only in that it was over, but I don’t think the audience gained any clarity about the leads and their love. Perhaps that’s the point, though. Who knows. still, those first four episodes were electric, the soundtrack was great, and the directing was superb.

Usually a lurker on the fanwall but here to comment HELLO JB! @javabeans, is there a possibility that GF will comeback as well? Missing those drunk podcasts!

Very late to this WWW, but just had to pop and say yay!!! Welcome back @javabeans!

Captivating the King (ep 11): JJS is the best, this actor brings so much depth, tension to his character, like he breathes his character and right now, I think he is carrying the entire story. As for the Shin Se Kyung , I don't want to complain about her acting, she was great in Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung and I usually don't have a problem with her acting. I think the fault is in the way her character is written. Her story does not make any sense, the revenge plan is laughable, she does not seem like a leader, and the actions of the whole revenge crew are just confusing. It is really not clear what they are trying to achieve, and it is frustrating how they completely forgot (?) or conveniently omitted from their memory that the real reason for this mess is Myung-Ha's Dad and really snake Hyun-Bo! This makes watching it very frustrating.

Doctor Slump (ep 8): Binge-watched this throughout the week to catch up. The characters are interesting, and the writing is smart, I like how everything makes sense from the evolution of their friendship to them dating and now to her conflicting emotions. I still have a bit of a problem with the little brother, I would like for him to actually do something in the drama.

Early on a Monday morning (my favorite time to check in to What Watch) I see that the comment count sits at 399. Here's mine to make an even 400.
Finally finished the C-drama A Journey to Love and enjoyed it immensely. Wondering at the fuss by C-fans over the ending of a group of soldiers and assassins. What did they expect?
Dabbled in a few other light weight C-romcoms but fluff isn't sticking right now.
Caught up on Captivating the King which is teetering on the edge of wispy beard ruination.
Found Oh No Here Comes Trouble and am enjoying it even with the inclusion of almost-zombies. For sheer setting audacity Ready, Set, Love takes the cake. Somehow the male population of the planet is reduced to less than 1% so a game show is devised to find brides for the farm-raised few. All the gimmicks and tropes of competition dating "reality" shows are employed in eps 1 & 2. It's a hoot!

I just started to watch House of Ninjas. It looks fun and hope will live up to the first impression.
Following Flex x Cop and enjoying it so much. I hope the darker part of the story will not overshadow the light tone of the show.
Trying to understand Between him and her, but not very successful. Still curious about how it will end and just one episode a week does not take up so much time, so it works for me.

Yay, Javabeans! Happy to read you again! I can see that you have not been really away and the ‘kick’ from dramas still swings with much insights. Now, albeit late, I’m caught live-watching (after a long while), Doctor Slump and Captivating the King. Both don’t disappoint. Superb acting from the leads is what keeps me glued. Hope the endings don’t disappoint.

@Javabeans good to see you!! There's still so many of us here that remember you, I'm happy to see you're back (for at least this post haha)

I'm glad that you're dipping your toes back in in whatever capacity and hope DB can be a place to enjoy drama writing while still getting to detox and unwind *with* the kdramas haha :)

Dang, two pages of comments ahaha that doesn't always happen.

I'm watching

Captivating the King - although this drama switched "classes" a few episodes in, it's still suuuper watchable. I'd watch JJS agonize for ages.

Flex X Cop - it's exciting to see so many shows above 10% this week! I'm also really enjoying this one, it's just down in my books as some solid, mindless entertainment.

I finally watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo and loved it. I'm looking for my next binge now haha

@javabeans Welcome Back, if not for good, I hope it'll be for a really really long visit.

Doctor slump shows us why it is that we cannot make someone else happy, we need to find happiness to share instead. a lot of people think if they do all for someone else, then they´ll be happy but thats not how it works

@javabeans, OMG you was greatly missed, I am just so happy to see you again writing in this blog.

Oh my gosh @javabeans! It is so wonderful to see you here again. Nostalgia has hit hard. It was a different me when I first discovered the DB community and you and girlfriday - your wonderful writing and oh so delightful podcasts. Thank you for those years and here’s to many more.