Currently Watching
Carry Sun-jae and Run: 🏃‍♂️‍➡️❤️ I love Ryu Sun-jae so much. I'm so impressed by Byeon Woo-seok; every time he looks at Im-sol there's so much love, adoration, and hope in his eyes, and when he cries, it's real crying, not acting-crying. Sun-jae has saved her in every iteration of the timeline. His unconditional love, faithfulness, and constancy are beautiful. That ep. 10 ending was A+ beautiful (*yep I cried*). Also, I can't believe we got a Spider-Man kiss; so 2009 😂 Have I mentioned I also love our SML? Still 6 eps... I predict a dystopian future before a final reset (thanks to Halmeoni), and a final time-skip to 2024, for WHAT HAD BETTER BE a happy ending.

Frankly Speaking 👨‍💼🔊 Our poor ML has so repressed and subsumed his true thoughts and feelings for so long. The eruption of everything, besides being hilarious, is shaping up to be an interesting exploration of his growth. I love the theme of protecting your heart. The FL is good medicine for the ML, and hopefully they can help each other to have strong hearts and happy careers. Really truly enjoying this!!! There's something really relaxing about its vibe that I really dig.

Finished
Soundtrack #1: 🎼❤️ I think this is actually a fantasy (Lol) about a woman who has managed to not *yet* have fallen in love with the ML, who is kind, thoughtful, successful, looks like Park Hyung-sik, and has been in love with her for years. I had seen comments about this being "boring," but to me, that came through as sweet, soothing, and relaxing. It really snuck up on me how much I loved this!!! Low on angst, it's the perfect choice if you're in need of four short-ish episodes of a ML being in love and a FL falling in love.

Welcome2Life: 🧍‍♂️⏳️🧍‍♂️This was really good! Also super stressful, because the cases were very dark. Rain was absolutely excellent. I highly recommend this if you like mystery/thriller/personal growth dramas (*and Rain*).

The Midnight Studio: Too much nonsense in the last episode. It is as if because of the pre-emption the writer felt the need to tack on more stuff. It added nothing to the drama. The single best part of this drama was the intimacy in the romantic relationship. I believed every bit of their relationship. I hope we see more relationships like that in the future. The Nam Gu and Na Rae relationship was the worse, in life and death he treated her badly. There was no resolution and nothing was gained. As for Sung Ho and Ji Won, what a terrible contrivance. She is the one that gets the short end of the stick on this. Smh, a mess. Luckily, we had the romance of our OTP, man, lol.

Lovely Runner: I really really really hope that in the back 6 we don’t do the back and forth anymore. Girl, just be with that man. Change what you can and move on. The best parts of this drama which are genuinely far and few in between are when Sol and Seong Jae are being themselves together. Also, Taesung, but he is awesome despite the fact that he is rather superfluous to the overall storyline. So, writer, please let the next 6 episodes just be them together, fighting off the serial killer, loving each other, just together. I will actually scream if there is another separation.

Frankly Speaking: Special shout out to Kwon Yul for appearing so randomly in this drama. I am never expecting him and it is such a joy when he pops up. I hope he cameos this way until the end. I am 70/30 on Woo Joo being Gu Won’s mom, but the writer is doing the best to make it a mystery, because Gu Won has not called her mom once. So, the 30% is some mystery sister or sister-in-law who also works at a TV station and is his mother. Who knows. I really like Woo Joo, she is so sweet but not in a saccharine way, she seems to really just care generally. I like that the attraction between our leads is slow and mutual. It reminds me of the Ed Sheeran song Thinking Out Loud “People fall in love in mysterious ways, maybe just the touch of hand.” As for Jeong Heon, he seems to have a rather nasty streak, hmm. I also really like that the foreign actress (I-Na) has nailed the Korean mannerism, her Korean is pretty good and she is seamless in this role. Huzzah, for a good non-Korean actress.

Blood Free: I mean it ended with a bang and lots of questions. The ending was not satisfying. This is the 2nd time this writer has given an ending I despise. I think with Stranger: Forest of Secrets, she had one issue, so her focus was laser sharp, she was able write a tight basically perfect show. In BF and Grid, there are too many pots, ingredients, cooks, sous chefs, spoons, ladles, chopsticks, measuring cups, etc in the kitchen. In the end you end up with an opening premise with no conclusion and a series of other premises with no conclusion either. She touched on many things, but no meals at the end. It is unfortunate because there was a lot that could have been explored.

Chief Detective: We are almost at the...

Completed

Blood Free : Ep 10 was chaos
and full of blood. But the action sequences were good. I enjoyed watching Joppa in all his coat suit glory. The show had a lot of potential for creating a debate but instead it went too deep into the corporate greed that it forgot how it started. Not sure if we will get a season 2 and it might be really far off.

Nothing uncovered : it was a decent watch. The two male leads carried the show. FL was the weakest link, both writing and acting. I liked the investigation and reveals throughout the show. A decent closure to all the cases and a very realistic legal system where the rich keep dragging the case. Frustrating, yes. But felt real.

Will love in spring (cdrama) : Overall, a great drama. I wish the last few episodes were more terse. I didn’t like the way Jie handled her leaving to Shanghai. For a couple who made every effort to communicate, this felt off. Still, the show portrayed relationships realistically and the portrayal of her disability was very sensitive. The OST and cinematography was beautiful. Also, it was really nice to see a couple having physical intimacy and wanting to hug and kiss. So refreshing for a drama. The leads were amazing and had terrific chemistry!
Arrival of JiSan Goose with its plus one was hilarious and cute.

Ongoing

Atypical Family : Too early to tell. Need two more episodes. The more I think, I feel the FL might have the super power to travel to future. Thats the only way I can make sense of the hand holding scene.

Frankly Speaking : One of the shows where I feel very calm and relaxed watching the leads. I like them together. Their interactions are sweet, genuine and comforting. I am looking forward to the reality show hijinks and how she plans to use his skills.

Lovely Runner : I am glad Sol finally revealed her secret. She was suffering by herself. Not sure what this should will do for another 6 episodes!!

Dropped
Under the Gun :

Live Watches
The Midnight Studio: When it was good, it was so fun and great. Sadly it was increasingly meh as it went along, and while I was never upset at anything that happened, I wasn’t thrilled with most of the ending either.

Older Dramas
Marry My Husband: Finished! This was a blast and a half. Most importantly: where can I get a best friend like Hui-yeon? I don’t even need her to be my rich fairy godmother (although, yes please), I just want to eat with her on a regular basis so we can wax poetic about food together. And I’d love someone who’d be ready to go to a wedding of people she hates just to support me as I look amazing and make everyone jealous.

K-action Movie of the Week
The Roundup: No Way Out: As long as Ma Dong-seok is happy making these, I’ll be happy watching them. The first one was definitely the best, but they are consistently entertaining. It legitimately sounds like Ma Dong-seok breaks the sound barrier whenever he punches someone. My favorite parts were when he inexplicably has to take on some no-name thugs on his way to work, when he breaks his ribs but carries on as if it’s nothing, and when he and his partner crack a window for the low-level gangster they’re keeping in their car. (Husband, “Who is that smarmy-looking guy and where have I seen him?” Me: “It’s the guy who played the shady substitute in Moving and the incompetent magistrate in Kingdom.” Jeon Seok-ho does good work 😂)

COMPLETED
The Midnight Studio - I did like that they talked about going to the netherworld instead of it being one-sided noble idiocy from Ki-joo but there was NO reason for the time-skip other than to make their romance seem epic and dramatic. The continuing ghost love story was also a…choice. Will remember the cute OTP and not much more.

Blood Free/ Dominant Species - Not surprised by the open ending. There were too many unaddressed issues for it to end any other way. But where did they take poor Man-sik 😭.

ONGOING
Lovely Runner - So much happened in these episodes. I'm loving the writing for this show where you feel weighed down right along with Sol and Sun-jae in their separate worlds just wishing they'd connect and then that final scene 🥰. Finally they share the weight together. Just 💯. Nice to have more Tae-sung again - could do with less of the brother and more of him.

Frankly Speaking - MUCH better second week. The best parts are when the show gets the emotional beats right and doesn't try so hard for the jokes - like the transformer blowing out - drawn-out but still funny.

Chief Inspector 1958 - I lost count of how many times they said "the world has changed/ it's a new word" in Ep. 6. We get there's a new big bad in town (and in the era) but everything getting related back to him is exhausting.

STARTED
The Atypical Family - I paused this midway through the first episode because it was hard to watch people who are already hurting being conned like that. But I pushed through to complete both episodes a few days later and as a whole they didn't seem too bad? At least I'm curious about the super-powered family and why Da-hae caused a change in Gwi-joo's powers (is it like the Patronus in Harry Potter - he could touch her because she told him he could touch her 🤔).

C-DRAMAS
Completed Young Babylon. Too much of the latter half of the show was a never-ending cycle of misery. The awful friend kept getting free passes, the poor good cousin suffered the most, and then they tacked on a "it was all a dream bit" 🙄.

No other c-dramas on my plate right now. Nothing appeals to me. Should I just wait for Joy of Life 2 🤔?

No dramas this week, except at work.

KANG HYUNG-WOOK (YouTube): I recently found out that Korea’s number one Dog Trainer Kang has his own YouTube show, DOG GUEST SHOW. I knew he has been on DOGS ARE INCREDIBLE (KBS), about problematic dogs, but his YT show is about celebrities bringing their dogs to his set to brag about them. And yes, it is pretty funny when the dogs do not obey their owners.

Live watches
Lovely Runner
I was a bit of an annoyed ‘my fun watch has gone dark’ watcher this week but thankfully the dark was short and the fun and swoon were long.
Please keep the dark to fun watch ratio 10/90%

Frankly speaking
I continue to enjoy this perfect for the mid week watch.

Looking forward to rounding out the week with my new weekend watch The midnight romance in hagwon. Hoping to be able to watch at least 4 episodes before walking away but I am prepared to run away screaming if needed.

Binge watch corner

Yet another example of the joys of being part of the beanie collective as a couple of webdrama recommendations led to two fun watches this week.

Secret crushes
10 mins episodes 3 series I only found 1 and 3 which had Byeon Wooseok in it unfortunately some of the episodes did not have English subtitles

Failing in love
Longer episodes and listed on Asianwiki as the same writer as Our beloved summer.

Frankly Speaking
I like Kibaek and Woojoo's talks and their growing friendship.
And I live for Kwon Yul's cameos, they are hilarious.

Running from Sunjae
I was getting tired from Sol's frantic avoidance and making Sunjae constantly sad. Luckily Taesung brought some sun and comedy and I love how he has chemistry with everyone (especially with Sunjae 😁). I also somehow ship Sol with both of them? 😅
The ending made me cry, with Sunjae figuring out the truth and trying to explain that living fully NOW is ok, even knowing the consequences.

I'm Not a Hero
I feel like I'm in some Tim Burton's Grimm's fairytale... and I'm enchanted and want to know what happens next. The cinematography is part of the charm... and I'm also digging the subtle humour. (Just Show, give Yina soon some happiness please!)

On the Verge of Insanityrewatch, ep 1
I roped my husband into (re)watching this (yes, @attiton you are responsible). He finds it sometimes slow (he is used to his Yes, (Prime) Minister series), but likes the humour and some of the details... and he is willing to try episode 2. 🙂

Looking forward to Midnight Romance. 😊

The Midnight Studio (Series review) - Mood progression: C / C- / C- / D+ / D / D / D / D / D-
The show started out fine but as with all fantasy shows, if you don’t develop your fantasy elements and let makjang dictate the plot (the evil spirit started ruining stuff from the Seo Ji Hoon procedural onwards), it’s only natural that the plot falls apart. Well, I can’t say I didn’t see the deus ex machina coming but it’s never not disappointing to see how it all ended.

Lovely Runner (Episode 9-10) - Mood: C-
There is an undercurrent of repetition amongst each usage of the watch’s time travelling powers (FL flailing around and ML rescuing her from sticky situations) that makes me sigh. It’s hard to say that the writer subverted the noble idiocy arc when it’s actually a drunken confession from the FL. At least the 2ML was upgraded from a cameo to plot device this week? Yay?

The Atypical Family (Episode 1-2) - Mood: D+
While flawed characters can spice up a narrative, there is nothing interesting when the plot is spelled out for you: the FL’s a scammer who begins to feel guilty when she falls in love for real with the ML while he gets angry when he discovers that it’s all a lie. And they’ve also telegraphed that the ML saved the FL from the traumatic fire because yup, childhood connection.

Frankly Speaking (Episode 3-4) - Mood: C-
Oh, a show having Kwon Yul as an extended cameo (and not a villain for once!) is already a win in my book. Also, it is nice to see that once the show cut down on the humour and focused on the more serious beats, it actually had some real watchable moments. Of course, the 2ML/Ha Young characterisation is particularly troubling (especially him!), but we’ll see.

WATCHED, WATCHING, AND WILL WATCH

LOVELY RUNNER
This show continues to deliver. Sure, it has somethings I don’t like—mainly, the loveline between the brother and best friend, which for this otherwise well-written, well-acted show, is oddly underdeveloped, overacted, and time wasting when we are supposed to cherish every moment. However, Kim Hye Yoon and Byeon Woo Seok are magical together, and every scene between them is so fun and mesmerizing to watch. This show and the buzz around it remind me of Coffee Prince, when Gong Yoo’s career blew up because the chemistry between him and Yoon Eun Hye was lightning in a bottle and his in-love eyes just was so captivating and believable. Same here. Career changing show for BWS and hopefully just as much for KHY because, while he is deservedly the heartthrob, she is the heart of the show. Can’t wait to see how the second half goes with the timetravelling piece seemingly in a different set of hands.
Also, one aside (or it is a main?)—Byeon Woo Seok’s athleticism/grace in his body is a sight to behold and is really beautiful to watch.

STARTED, BUT NOT SITTING RIGHT AS ENTERTAINMENT
ATYPICAL FAMILY
The outright, long-term neglect of the teenage daughter just overshadowed everything else. It didn’t help to have the treatment of main character’s weight and emotional overeating seem mean-spirited (“let’s have her eat so out-of-control and messily to have food smeared on her face” is a telling decision). All the other plot points—“oh, look, somehow the FL has singular power to touch and be touched by the ML when he is using his power”; “who’s zooming whom?”—are hard to enjoy when seeing a very sympathic KID being neglected and perhaps manipulated.

COMPLETED
WILL LOVE IN SPRING
Started out great, held strong, but ended in a bit of a frustration with how FL hid her plans to leave. Her ambition and desire to live her life, which was understandable, but at the same time, she just thought she should have it all without trying to communicate and work out things with the ML. It all resolved so neatly that it felt facile. Overall though, it was a good watch and the acting was great.

ANTICIPATING
MIDNIGHT ROMANCE IN HAGWON
Very curious about this one. Wi Ha Joon caught my eye in Romance is a Bonus Book, which I didn’t love because the coats sometimes overshadowed some of the plot and I kept wondering how a mother could completely forgot about her child for long periods of time, but I liked him. He also held my attention in Little Women even though he wasn’t one of the Little Women. Hope this will be good.

Chief Detective 1958: 7.0 Day 6 - the fight scenes got tiresome. Instead of showing us how brave and tough the good guys are, how about showing us how clever the writer is? Day 7 - that's a little better.

Missing Crown Prince: 5.5

Atypical Family: 7.0 I have the world's most useless blend of the ML's special power and his mother's. He can visit the past; she sees future stock prices and lottery numbers when she's asleep; I see recent stock prices when I'm on the internet. Sigh.

Lovely Runner: 7.0

Midnight Photo Studio: 6.0

Blood Free: 6.5 Is the Disney Rodent pulling a Netflix on us? Will there be a 2nd season? Will it be before or after the sequels to Signal & Vagabond? Remember Vagabond? If so, poor you. Can Han Hyo-joo just go do another Moving instead?

Frankly Speaking: 8.0 I wonder what the JTBC news people think of a JTBC show in which the lead quits the "JBC" news department because it is corrupt.
So they have a power outage because of an out-of-control car and they didn't even need Kim Sae-ron. The ML's mouth isn't the only thing out of control.
Contact with the FL is what turns on the ML the ML's ability to lie. Because of course. Guys are always so completely honest and truthful around a really, really pretty woman.

Godzilla Minus One: 7.0

FRANKLY SPEAKING is just so much fun. While the comedy was tuned down in this week’s episode, I like seeing the progression of our main couple-to-be. Also the random quasi cohabitation? Yes please. While their shared rooftop terrace is not as cozy as DR SLUMP’s, I still love this trope. 👏

I hit pause on episode 14 of MIDNIGHT STUDIO and couldn’t yet find the time to continue. 🫣 I’m sure I’ll get around watching the finale, but somehow I was swept away by watching…

ON THE VERGE OF INSANITY! So, soooo good! Thanks to @attiton for bringing this to my attention! Love the setting, the main characters and just want what’s best for them. Also, while I’m usually pretty (stubbornly) immune to any kind of scene that is heart-wrenchingly tearjerking, I was taken by surprise & cried along (angrily!) with a junior engineer, who was being gaslit and taken advantage of by her superior. 😭🤧 The unfairness of it all! *shakes fist* Looking forward to continue (have some tissues ready).

Also looking forward SOOO MUUUCH to finally start watching MIDNIGHT ROMANCE, and cannot seem to shut up about it. Apologies. 🥳

JOY OF LIFE season 2 —It’s almost here! An official date has been a dream. I still feel like I am lucid dreaming.

THE MATCHMAKERS—I understand why Beanies were propelled to write essays about this one.This is one of the best dramas I have seen because all aspects are complete. One of the best drama OST/scores too. Plus, adorable couples abound. I was most drawn into the oldest Maeng sisters’ story, and I wish there was more of her. (Casting aside, I want to know how she and the CP are together in the future) But far and above Rowoon was the standout for his comedic timing: some of his expressions had me in stitches. He and Kim Hyun Mok were the perfect comedic duo.

LOVELY RUNNER —I have only watched the first episode and color me impressed. It was the full immersive experience that I relish in a good story. And as a fangirl myself, I appreciate the portrayal of being one. So far it is most respectful and true-to-my-experience depiction—both the deep gratitude for the impact the artist have left on you and the “his collarbone is guilty” moments. I hope of the experience of bring an idol is similarly treated.

LEGEND OF SHEN LI —I took a look at the original novel. Of course (amateur) translated works loose some of their essence. But I can say the drama makes the story shine and much of this is due to the leads. Their chemistry is the type that sizzles with eye contact only. I also loved the ML —minority opinion, I know. I loved that he was very trickster-like and that his character is revealed slowly. But it definitely takes a patient watcher. And the FL is one of the most collected, brilliant leaders in any drama. What a pair!

ON THE VERGE OF INSANITY — I came back to finish this after a pause and I am enjoying it. I really want them to take down their company. I think the only way to survive there is to be on the verge of insanity. And once again I am mystified by the way Lee Sang Yeob can make an objectively awful character sympathetic.

KING of MASKED SINGER —our queen is making history! I am rooting for her to tie the record held by Music Commander (Ha Hyun Woo).

Nothing Uncovered - I'm yet to watch the finale. But I did watch episodes 11-14 this week. At the end of it all, the highlight of this drama was Han Chae-ah and Yoo Yoon-young.

I already knew that the crimes being pilled on Woo-jae would turn out to be false except for the accidental murder of Lee Na-ri. So I didn't know why they made it seem like he killed her dad too when it was first revealed.
This one had so many cool whodunnits but the writing almost ruined it. It makes consistency.
And don't even get me started on the emotional affair.

Find Me In Your Memory Episode 3-5 - I'm loving this progressively. But it is not at the besotted stage yet.
Just as I guessed, there is the old connection trope between Ha-jin and Seo-yeon. I'm guessing hanky-panky as in murder.
I also don't trust nor like the father-son psychiatrist duo. One sees Yeong-hoon as a lab rat and the latter sees him as a competition for his father's misguided affection? His father on another hand is sus. I can see how his actions will result in the shaping of an evil SML. Not even a meal...? I know his son is a psychiatrist and we expect that he'd be able to logically look at it flimsily but the guy is broken already. I won't be shocked if he became a psychiatrist because he thought it'd something that'll bond him over to his dad - shared occupations but the Good Bad Father is using him instead. There's no going back from this and its only episode 5.

The dating rumor though. I love me some spunky heroine ready to mess up the calculated hero's life.

Blood Free - My favorite airing drama has come to an end. I don't want to dissect the ending all over again. And I deeply appreciate @solstices for highlighting the social thematic commentaries Blood Free made. Solstices articulated those themes so well with words so right.
I look forward to Blood Free 2

Lovely Runner (through Ep. 10): Ahhh, the angst! It hurt so good. Well, I can say that thanks to the end of Ep. 10; otherwise it might've just hurt. I'd really like Sol and Sun-jae to start working together to protect each other. And for Sol to finally acknowledge Sun-jae's feelings and her own.

Frankly Speaking (through Ep. 3): Began watching thanks to Beanie recommendations and I'm excited to see more OTP rooftop scenes. It's so nice to see the understated way they care for each other. They could be an example of how even the worst situations are more tolerable if you have just one person fully in your corner.

Atypical Family (through Ep. 2): Intriguing so far. Not one for the feels, but it's striking in its cinematography and some of the storytelling choices. There's high crash-and-burn potential, but I can't look away.

Midnight Photo Studio (completed): The camera/curse storyline lost focus, but Bom and Ki-joo were a lovely, mature and communicative couple.

Missing Crown Prince (through Ep. 8): Not even halfway through and the crown prince keeps getting captured instead of being missing. Um, that's not what I signed up for. I'd prefer less palace drama and more picaresque adventures in the countryside.

Beauty and Mr. Romantic (through Ep. 12): Yes, I'm being a wimp. I peeked at the hangout and saw that Do-ra's downfall was imminent. Might wait a couple weeks and catch up when the pain’s not so fresh. I really like Do-ra, Pil-seung, his moms and Mi-ra, so I don't want to drop it entirely.

Blossoms in Adversity (completed): Beautiful historical drama that pretty much fulfilled my every wish as a viewer. You could call it fan service in the most complimentary sense. Suffice to say this will be a rewatch whenever I need a dose of positivity and women's empowerment. And it stuck the landing, too.

FINISHED:

1. GANNIBAL - This J-Drama adaptation of a webtoon series about a disgraced cop sent to a remote village ruled over by a family of cannibals is first-rate Horror if that's your kind of thing.

It ends on an abrupt cliffhanger but season 2 has been greenlighted so I'm happily waiting for that to come out.

CURRENTLY WATCHING:

1. DOCTOR SLUMP - I am watching this at a steady pace and am enjoying it still.

2. THE UNCANNY COUNTER- Picked up where I left off. It's a great series but for some reason, I can only dip into it now and then so this will take a while to finish.

3. DEAD BOY DETECTIVES - This is quite entertaining and contains guest appearances from The Endless since it is set in the Gaimanverse. Well worth a watch for Neil Gaiman fans and anyone who likes that kind of thing.

DUE TO BEGIN:

1. LOVELY RUNNER - For some reason I haven't gotten round to starting this yet even though I have seen various cute clips on social media and Beanies have been giving this a very enthusiastic thumbs up. I really should start it - it's on Viu so I have no excuse...

Currently watching :
LOVELY RUNNER: I am enjoying it.
When Camilia Blooms : It must be me..the drama is good but for some reason I'm not as much enjoying it. It's a feel good drama with of course a serial killer, I mean they're a must in every feel good ones to add story..