LIVE WATCHES
Frankly Speaking
More than happy to stay tuned in next week. I do sort of wish I could binge through to the end already--this isn't going to be a show about the intricacies of the story, as we can all pretty much predict how things are going to turn out. Instead, I believe it's going to hinge on the success of the humor when playing out each predictably awkward situation (not unlike Chicken Nugget, except less absurd). So far, so funny...toilet humor included.

Blood Free
There are no truly sympathetic characters in this drama. And yet, I gotta admit...I'll recommend it to others.

The Midnight Studio
I'm waiting until episode 16 comes out to watch 15 and 16 together as a mini-binge. I'm afraid I might need to skim-watch through to the end...I care more at this point about watching the interactions between our lead couple/remaining side couple than knowing how the "plot" focused on the curse and the camera ends up.

Beauty and Mr. Romantic
A delightful weekender! If QoT was a (poorly?) condensed weekender, then I might argue that so far, BMR is on track to be a way longer, (hopefully) more intricate sixteen-episode rom-com. Seriously, it's moving about as fast through plot points as a traditional drama. We've already had revealed a tremendous number of the central secrets and lies, and are on target to have the predicted downfall of the FL well before midpoint! Either this thing is going to run out of steam quickly, or the writer has a lot more in store for us. I very much hope the latter.

FROM THE RESERVES
On the Verge of Insanity
Truly one of the best, character-driven K-dramas I've ever seen. I recommend it to anyone and everyone who like stories about the relationships that can form between people, especially those focused on trust/distrust, betrayal and forgiveness...with a side helping of mutual respect and a soupçon of love. Also if you are, or love, an engineer, you MUST watch this show.

ON DECK
I've completed two of my April-May "airplane watches" (Wild Romance and OTVOI), leaving Crazy Love and The Spy Who Loved Me from my original list. After OTVOI, though, I can't find it in me to start either of these "lighter" rom-coms. I'm not in the mood. @amany filled the gap yesterday with a recommendation of Dinner Mate and I thank them kindly! Busted was the fifth on the list, and is funny so far, but I can tell it will be an ongoing time-filling, skim-watch, and I've just skipped ahead to Season 3 where I can not only tell they've hit their stride--but I think I've finally found the modality in which I think SUHO SHINES. He's darn funny in a variety show. Excellent news for all, but @zindigo, this begs the real question: how's he doing over there in Joseon?

Live watches
Lovely Runner
This week was a real rollercoaster but mostly funny and sweet just as I like it. Please, please, please stay good I beg of you. I couldn’t bear it if this goes down hill in the second half.

Frankly speaking
The episodes seemed to fly by. I enjoyed it and can see that it will be my candy floss watch - no substance but nice at the time.

Binge watch corner
Salon de Nabi (Fly high butterfly)
I love love love this drama. It has a really tight story of the staff and customers of a local hairdressers. It covers some deep subjects sensitively and yet manages to keep a lightness through some really laugh out loud funny moments. We are watching this as this month’s Watch and Discuss K-drama club drama.

Book club:
The comeback and The stand in both are written by Lily Chu and read by Philippa Soo. What a joy to listen to a stage actor, she brought the story to life in a different way to other voice actors I have listened to recently. They were both free on Audible (guess who used up her credits 6 months early, again😞) They read like they could easily become a made for tv rom com film, especially the fun elements of the story and the ridiculous decision making in the last few chapters. My knowledge of Korean fan culture really helped me to understand the storyline of The Comeback in a way I don’t think I could have if I hadn’t seen so many K-dramas about the idol lifestyle.

How K-dramas can transform your life: powerful lessons on belongingness, healing and mental health by Jeanie Y Chang
This arrived yesterday and I look forward to reading a book written by a Family Therapist who uses K dramas within her therapeutic work with clients dealing with trauma.

COMPLETED
Queen of Tears - I decided to binge rewatch the entire show before the finale and I'm quite glad I did. I think if I hadn't, I might have upturned a few tables at the turns the plot took towards the end. But instead I just revelled in the full emotional beats of the story, complete with multiple bouts of crying resulting in a massive headache 😭. To me this was a story about two people (and two families) learning to (re)love each other and I'm sure I'll look back on it and rewatch it fondly in the future. Have to specially praise the perfection the leads brought to the story 💖.

ONGOING
The Midnight Studio - I didn't like how they ended the cop and uncle's stories. Made no sense and I don't feel like there was any real closure for anyone in either situation. At least the OTP are still going strong.

Lovely Runner - My cheeks hurt from the amount of smiling I did in these episodes. I love that Sun-jae is still so head-over-heels. Not worried about the way it ended - the return to the past one more time was needed to truly course-correct I think.

Blood Free/ Dominant Species - RIP Ho-seung 😔. Ja-yu putting herself on the line to prove the technology was almost an eventuality. Loved the back-and-forth between the two press conferences. The torture scenes were also intense oof. Really looking forward to the finale next week.

Chief Inspector 1958 - Ep. 4 was hard to watch and quite a bit of a tonal whiplash after the madcap car chase of Ep. 3. The story is inevitably becoming darker because of the time period in which it's set but I hope it won't lose its humour even when things get tough.

STARTED
Frankly Speaking - The humour really didn't work for me. Go Kyung-pyo is working hard though so I'll give it another week.

C-DRAMAS
Completed There's a Lover in My Hometown/ Will Love in Spring - I don't know if 'lovely' is an accurate description of a show dealing with such heavy themes but it really is a lovely little show. Eps. 16 and 17 were so beautifully written and shot. I also really liked the letter Grandma Lin wrote. The ending was wholesome too - Jisan Goose!

Started Young Babylon and almost dropped it in the first episode because the second-hand embarrassment was killing me but it's proving to be deeper and more interesting than I expected. I thought it'd be a 'youth in the 90s' story but under the cover of a youthful romance, it's more of a study of the socio-cultural and gender divides in 90s China.

Currently Watching
Carry Sun-jae and Run: 🏃‍♂️‍➡️❤️ I love that she got to say "I protected myself." The return to the present wasn't as painful as I thought, and I'm still loving it and squeeing with all my might (EEGAD the KISS🫠)!! Byeon Woo-seok is excellent. Adult Sun-jae is still like high school Sun-jae: a little bit prickly on the outside, he tries to play it cool, but he's truly a melty lil' marshmallow who gets giddy being around Im-sol. It's like My Perfect Stranger × Extra-Ordinary You + a smidgen of Her Private Life. But good grief, the cliffhangers on this are no joke.

Frankly Speaking 👨‍💼🔊 Frankly, it's fun AND funny!! I laughed so much! Go Kyung-pyo is HILARIOUS as an upright, uptight, stuffed shirt announcer, and Kang Han-na is delightful as a fast-talking writer with a Girl-Friday patter who rolls with the punches (our ML, poor dear, does not 😂). The utter chaos of that opening newscast, the dressing-down of the entitled pop star, and Aespa's "Next Level" singalong were all delicious. Fun fun fun!!!

Unlock My Boss 🙍‍♂️📲 (1-12) Do I have a long list of dramas I'm currently watching? Yes. Did I choose to watch this for the 3rd time anyway? Also yes. "Hopeful," you may ask, "why are you obsessed with this drama?" That's a good question, dear Bean! I think it's a combination of focusing on a tight cast of characters; themes of what sets humans apart from AI that are more timely now than when it was released a year ago; a ML who is kind, principled, and listens; a FL who seizes agency and the steering wheel; a bodyguard who gets a beautiful story of reflection and growth; symbolism and metaphors related to both Snow White and Beauty and the Beast (apples and mirrors; temptation, reflection, illusion; the transformative power of kindness); In-seong's lovely family and their support of the FL; flashbacks to both Min-ah and the FL's respective moms; tight plot and assured pace; a great background OST that helps propel the action (*the track "Nobody is Perfect" is a banger!*); and an ending that is both realistic and hopeful. "I have another dream" 🥹❤️ It's the perfect rewatch for me!

Lovely Runner name a better duo than me and doing something I’d resolutely said I wasn’t going to do. I got a bit too curious after watching edits and ended up watching episode 8 in its entirety. So I guess we’ll be continuing this here nor there strategy (I tell myself that having one foot out is how I protect myself from possible heartbreak but we all know I’ll be gutted all the same in the end if the plot takes a nosedive).

Midnight Studio the preview for the next - and last episode - is giving me slight Tail of the Nine Tailed vibes. Is that just me??? A solidly enjoyable show though, I’m not like in love with it but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching it all the same.

Destined ahh the leads are the best!! Honestly the other subplots are being carried by how much of a fan I am of the ML and FL together. They’re a partnership in every sense of the word and I love that they’ve had each other’s backs from so early on (I’m halfway through now). The slowburn is being complemented by their very natural individual growth arcs and the fact that you can tell they’re falling more and more in love with each other - even if that’s not been acknowledged with words just yet.

New Life Beings conversely here, while the leads are sweet (especially the ML!), I’m enjoying the wider plot-line and all the supporting characters the most here. This show is the lil spot of sunshine in my current drama roster, which seems to be inadvertently following the theme of ‘ANGST’ lol

Just started Will Love In Spring with high hopes after all the glowing beanie reviews ✨

Keen to check out Atypical Family too when it drops tomorrow!

Live Watches
The Midnight Studio: Holding off on watching this week’s episodes until the finale airs this week. Excited to finish and get closure or a HEA for everyone!

Queen of Tears: There were times when I needed to check to make sure I wasn’t watching the episode of CLOY where Jeong-hyeok goes to rescue Se-ri from the villa about half a minute after he’s taken a bullet for her - complete with snow! But watching our OTP fall in love again was so cute, I mostly forgot the parts that were annoying. Eun-sh!t-for-brains turned out to be a pretty textbook example of an abusive partner, and I wish we’d gotten to see more of Beom-ja’s adorable romance, but on the whole I enjoyed the watch so much, and I’ll remember it fondly.

Older Dramas
Marry My Husband: (through episode 8) So much fun! Na In-woo’s eyebrows should be getting their own paycheck, and the revenge is so satisfying to watch. I’m loving the moments of introspection when Ji-won is unsure of herself and mourning the loss of the two most important relationships in her life - it’s nice that the drama is continually differentiating her from those who took advantage of her. I love that both our leads got a makeover scene - I’m such a sucker for a slow walk entrance!

Our Blooming Youth: I loved it all over again. The lack of easy answers, the hard conversations, the merciful forgiveness, the dreamy romance, the amazing friendships. Part of me still wishes we got to see more of our characters at the end - more of them thriving and doing what they do best. But probably my imagination is better anyway.

Queen of Tears - Well the buzz was worth it.
Can we have a decline of chaste married couples on screen? Reflection of You had steamy scenes that you expect from married couples. What makes it stand out is I didn't expect to find Go Hyun-jung in steamy scenes. Same with the husband costar Choi Won-young. This one didn't. QoT simply didn't nail the sexy part of being married.

Daddy Hong retiring from corporate is very very accurate.

Blood Free - Jayu's recollection of the conversation she had with her bodyguards was very touching and a favorite highlight of this week.
I liked the Jayu vs Jae showdown via media broadcast.

Frankly Speaking - I didn't exactly enjoy episode 1 until the moments post - electric shock.

Missing Crown Prince - Not bad. I'm not yet so into it but I somehow didn't dislike the first episode.. I intend to get into episode 2 today.

Queen of Tears (Series review) - Mood progression: D+ / D+ / D / D / D+ / D / D / D
Both Kwak Dong Yeon and Park Sung Hoon can play a himbo and bastard in their sleep respectively: it’s a frustrating watch seeing them gain 0 meaningful acting experience through this project despite the money and exposure. It does feel like there was zero consideration towards the cast and it’s sad how the high ratings will send the wrong message.

Hide (Series review) - Mood progression: D+ / D+ / D / D / D- / D-
Comparing this show to Oh! Young-shim, it’s surprisingly hard judging which was the worse project for Lee Min Jae: his character in both shows was solely to support the FL and there was negligible development. Unfortunately, his next project is Weak Hero Class 2 which doesn’t interest me one bit with the story, so it’ll be quite the waiting time.

Lovely Runner (Episode 7-8) - Mood: C-
Yeah, this week’s cliffhanger demonstrates exactly why you don’t want a serial killer arc: your story essentially becomes an irritating drag of the romantic tension between the OTP interspersed with convenient moments of thriller crap. Sure the kiss is great, but it would’ve been nice to develop the other leads instead of making them a plot device or even worse, a cameo.

Frankly Speaking (Episode 1-2) - Mood: D+
I don’t know, I love the leads but the humour isn’t landing for me, not to mention a 2ML who has history with both leads and appears to be there only because there’s going to be a love triangle down the road. The issue with superficial comedy is an extremely simple one: you can’t keep it going for 12 episodes. Even if we ignore the lame setup, things will get tired so fast?

The Midnight Studio (Episode 14-15) - Mood: D
Lol, it took the show 15 episodes to finally start talking about the fantasy element in the room after a sudden conclusion for the evil spirit whose motivations were simply explained away as greed (wonderful, brilliant). And if the show didn’t have the break in the scheduling during the 1st half, we would’ve seen the angel of death only during the first episode and the finale.

Dr. Slump
I was not in the right mood to finish Queen of Tears and finished Slump instead. This show was so strangely uneven, with parts I loved and then with parts I liked (much) less. I will fondly remember it for Haneul (dorky, heartbroken, depressive, picking herself up... and this was for me the best I have seen from Park Shinhye so far), Mom and Uncle noodles... and I teared when the proposal was about being part of Haneul's family. Even annoying Bada grew on me and it was nice to see him loosing his inferiority complex (and hearing Mom's story about Bada's name, how he was special from the beginning). There was also Yoon Park. 🙂

Kiss with Sunjae
Ooooh, Byeon Wooseok is such a delight to watch 😍 regardless if he plays an innocent flustered teenager or an adult entertainer emitting (so much of!) smexiness. I also enjoy his comedy timing and what a dedication with that falling into the fountain! 😄
The kiss was hot and I loved all the eye-kissing, but I also have to admit that for me Sol's transition from fan-love to romantic-love was a bit fast. I would also like to have more from other characters... and a bit more depth. 😅

Go Kyungpyo without a filter
So far it is mainly Go Kyungpyo's show, but I enjoy his performance very much and he can make even the Korean toilet somehow graceful. 😆😆
What surprisingly elevated the show for me was that trippy family dream scene when Kibaek faints at the awards ceremony. What a suppressed subconscious. I think if handled well, this can be an interesting journey of Kibaek to find himself and his true happiness.

Will Love in Spring
While I was slurping the first half and waited impatiently for new episodes, I now slowed down a bit and I'm giving it some space. Episode 15 was painful, but so real. And although I could understand all the insecurities of our Heroine, I was glad our Male Lead was able to say stop, I can't go like this. Thanks to their friends and family they got another chance to talk and be open... and to listen to each other. And this time they managed. The second leads also finally managed to connect and they are generally a joy to watch... and I have to admit I teared together with our Heroine when her Bestie announced her engagement. What I also noticed, both male leads are very very kind.

Webtoon corner
My Lucky Strike had a very satisfying season finale.

Last Week Tonight: 9.5 Who needs to binge kdramas when HBO just freed the whole first season on Youtube? Hint: John Oliver's content & style have aged better over the last 10 years than his hair :)
#lastdecadetonight

Chief Detective 1958: 7.0

Queen of Tears: 7.0 We won't have Eun-slime/scum/snake/sleeze to kick around any more, but those of us who were disappointed can start working on nicknames for Park Ji-eun-xxxxx. At times the "Tears" were viewers' bitter tears of blood and the "Queen" was the writer.
If we're going to have 2 bonus episodes later, will they explain things like why Evil Girlfriend targeted the Hongs?

Missing Crown Prince: 7.5

Lovely Runner: 7.6 Tip of the Day:
1: When a kidnapper ties you up but you free yourself with a box cutter, take it with you when you run away. If you don't need it right away when he chases you, you might need it 15 years later.
2: Hold on to your phone!
3: Buy a damn case and screen protector!!!! I don't care how much PPL money Samsung offers you to show it in all its unprotected glory.

Midnight Photo Studio: 6.5

Blood Free: 7.5

Frankly Speaking: 9.0 :) As @attiton says, this show is flipping made of gifs.

Seriously, go watch John Oliver. I think it's available internationally.
https://www.youtube.com/@LastWeekTonight/videos

HIDE (Ep. 11-12) The series' sledgehammer theme was that you cannot trust anyone; that anyone is a disposal asset; and that family members can be the worst offenders. Betrayal was the show's oxygen.

The series was like a roller coaster ride of twists and turns, turning average people into minor superhero characterizations. The last episode was a rushed explanation of all the events. Pros: Pure entertainment. Good escapism. Cons: Almost too much plot to handle. FL had a lot of personal baggage and strikes against her to have a happy ending.

SPIRITED AWAY (Movie) I went to the movie theater to watch my favorite film. I surprised that the Sunday matinee had 28 people in attendance, the most I’ve seen since the pandemic. The audience was very mixed in race and age which shows the power of entertainment crossing cultural boundaries.

JOURNEYS: JAPAN’S IRON ROAD (NHK): A micro-documentary/travel show to Western Japan region known for its steel making history. It showed the ancient art of making prized Japanese swords. The technique was to blend soft iron in the middle of the blade surrounded by harder iron to give it strength and flexibility. But the technique of making such swords is slowly getting lost since it is dying art form and no young people want to learn from the remaining master craftsmen. It was a nice show to find by accident after Shogun series.

LOVELY RUNNER (Ep. 7-8)
Still my favourite watch of the week! I’m working on the assumption that any changes/choices Sol makes, opens a new timeline. For example, we make many choices in life, and every choice we make or don’t make, results in one of many potential alternate timelines, futures, and possibilities. So for me Sol is jumping between timelines, when she was thrust into the “present” in these current episodes, her lack of memories is quite telling in that she doesn’t belong in this particular alternate future. Ultimately, I think with all this back and forth time-travelling, Sol will probably end up in her OG timeline, since her main motivation is the save Sun-jae

FRANKLY SPEAKING (Ep. 1-2)
Fun, over-the-top and my kinda humour. I’m curious how our ML’s truthfulness on and off switch works and I’m actually glad our FL has already caught onto things

CHEIF DETECTIVE 1958 (Ep.3)
I like the heist(ish) vibe of the show, and also appreciate the politics, especially with pointing out the blatant corruption amongst the police. Instead of protecting the people, they are sent to harm the very people they’re supposed to protect, for example harassing the homeless and the vulnerable

Queen of Tears: Hae In a badass till the end.
Beom Ja deserves her own show.
My boy Soo Cheol got robbed.
Lovely Runner: I want Tae Seong back. Make him part of the band!
Boys Be Brave: "brave" wouldn't be the word I would use to describe any of these boys.
Frankly Speaking: Go Kyung Pyo is killing it! He's hilarious. Love him.
And, uri Licia acts?? Seeing Patricia here felt as random as the final cameos in QoT. I'm not complaining tho, just shocked.
PS. for a second the ending of episode 2 made me wish this was a body swap drama. LOL I miss that trope.
LTNS: Loved this. I wouldn't mind another 10 episodes of it. And I LOVED Esom in it. This writer+Esom = YES.
Weak Hero Class 1: kdramaland kids are scary af.
PS. Choi Hyun Wook playing himself is always the best part of his shows.

BONUS
At 25:00 in Akasaka (jdrama): the main character goes from 1 to 100 out of nowhere, he's scaring me.
Sonny Boy EP9 (animation): So far, 9 episodes of people telling the ML how wrong he's been living his life.
Usury Academy (movie): all over the place.
Joseé (movie): I liked their chemistry. Maybe I'll try The Light in Your Eyes next.
My Sibling's Romance (reality show): I think the show is stuck in "my sibling". No romance here.

Completed

Mask :
I quite enjoyed this but towards the end it got a bit tedious.

Queen of tears : phew. It’s over and I got my bean.

Parasyte - The grey : I quite liked it. Even with just 6 episodes it made the emotional connection with characters.

Best Choice Ever (cdrama) : it is a family drama through and through. Even though the mother was shown to make an effort to change and be a better person, the amount of time spent on her was too much. I didn’t like how the family were enablers till the end. She was selfish and her family kept catering to her needs till the end. I wish the show spent more time with the OTP. I loved them. they were calm, mature and really worked well together. Xu Kai needs to do more modern drama if he wants to keep his hair line 😂

Ongoing

Frankly Speaking : I quite enjoyed the premier episodes.
A lot of laugh out moments. The bird sound poem!!

Blood Free : The lead actors are carrying this show. I liked all the scenes with the prime minister.

Lovely Runner : BWS is too cute!!

Nothing uncovered : almost there. I think the show did a good job with the investigation and the reveals so far. Now, how is the detective going to make this all work in the legal system with evidences?

Will love in spring (cdrama) : Upto ep 15. I am starting to see how complex the FL’s character is. As much as she puts up a front of being a happy person, we now start to see the cracks of her facade. The almost love making scene and her reaction to it was hard to watch. I felt for both the characters.

Hi Beanies! One more week in my favorite section of this site.

What I have been watching:

_ Lovely Runner (8/16). I guess that something has not clicked with me yet, because I rarely think of this show when I'm not watching the episodes, and I can't feel the chemistry that makes my heart flutter. But what's sure is this drama makes me laugh, and that's good enough :)

_ Gu Family Book (10/24). From the eternal "plan to watch list", I have started this 2013 fantasy sageuk. Even if I had not known it came from the same screenwriter than King of Baking (2010), I would have guessed it. There are so many similarities among the two dramas! I could talk about a few of them, but that would be spoilery.

_ Minidrama Under the Gun (6/6). A drama which can be finished in less than three hours. A very "slice of life" and nice story. I liked the main couple, their great chemistry, the three songs in the OST... And I earned a bean.

_ C-drama Joy of Life (episodes 3 and 4). I have re-started it after several months. And now I am determined to finish it. Episodes 3 and 4 are so funny!

Western show:

_ The Three Bodies (Netflix) (6/8). I know the c-drama is better, but this adaptation is interesting and well done. The pace is faster, obviously.

The Midnight Studio I think the Uncle deserved a better arc.

Nothing Uncovered Leave this family!

Lovely Runner I love the couple, they're the cutest! I don't like the killer arc, I would prefer that a simple car accident and depression...

Frankly Speaking I couldn't help to think he wasn't Hwa-Shin... But overall, I would have prefered they let us know a little bit more the ML before.

Chief Detective 1958 I didn't watch the episode 5 yet.

Blood Free I wished the story explored all + and - of the meat instead to go further with the organs and super strength...

Begins Youth It's nice to see so many familiar faces like the singer from My Dearest, Seo Ji-Hoon, Seo Young-Joo (he was so good in Solomon's Perjury and Girls' Generation 1979), Ahn Ji-Ho from Nobody Knows. But their stories are a little bit too much, each of them is suffering 😅

Will Love in Spring (cdrama)The episode 17 was definitely my favorite! In general, it was a great show! The end could have been written a little bit better but it was fun to see her family to stay in contact with him 😄 I loved the actors in their role! I loved each relationship, friendship, family and of course the love ones!

Queen of Tears The couple was the best part.

Hide The story was quite meh but the actors were good.

The Midnight Studio: There is FAR and AWAY too much happening in this drama for 16 episodes. The writer should have paced this differently. Going into the 16th episode, there is too much that needs to be resolved. Also, Nam Gu mistreated his wife even in death. All he had to do was be there and he couldn’t even do that, but now he is gone, smh. Also my girl Ji Won deserves better than to be dating a dead person, her entire storyline is shenanigans, from the the terrible boss to her “boyfriend.”

Lovely Runner: The best part was that top tier kiss. I felt that in my bones, so I appreciate the actors, but I would really like the writer to pace better.

Blood Free: Woof, so much happening. I really hope the writer doesn’t pull a grid and actually resolves this story; however, she decides to do it. (I remember Grid) I am going to assume there will be some more deaths, who? I am not sure.

Frankly Speaking: It was fine. I like the actors, the comedy is meh for me and the story is just okay so far, but I will continue on to watch it.

Chief Detective: AWWWW Sungchil. I am glad they got justice for him. I really love this case of the week format; it really works for the show. Also, the maknae heartbroken that his boss ended up with his crush is hilarious. His poor face as they got engaged and married.

The atypical Family: I look forward to this!!!

I am celebrating the start of an actual comedy with FRANKLY SPEAKING. The first two episodes were a bit uneven but did have some genuinely funny moments. It is so good to see Kang Hanna on the screen again after Disney made sure that I would not see her in BLOODY HEART (Does that sound bitter?).

My wife and I are finally watching SHOGUN. We are now past the half-way point and I can only say that it is at least as good as everyone has said that it was.

She also watched the excellent ‘historical’ Chinese Costume Drama BLOSSOMS IN ADVERSITY and also HARD TO FIND, keeping up with each new episode as it came out.

Viki has also posted the classic HONG GIL-DONG: THE HERO and that show has also had my wife staying up late.

The new weekender BEAUTY AND MR. ROMANTIC is moving along smartly. Will ratings pick up now that QUEEN OF TEARS has ended? Good question- as QoT ended I realized that what I had seen was a half-length version of a weekender- and that much of what seemed to be missing from QoT represented the things which had been stripped out to reduce the show to officially sixteen (but in terms of total runtime really twenty-four) episodes.

While it aired QUEEN OF TEARS was my favorite show and I still think well of it but like many others felt that some things were missing. The same writer has actually written even better shows: CRASH LANDING ON YOU, THE LEGEND OF THE BLUE SEA and MY LOVE FROM THE STAR are some of the very best K-dramas that you will ever see. QoT was a very good show but to me did not quite match those three in total quality. Park Ji-eun is a great writer but perhaps it is a bit unfair to expect that she always clear the bar that she has set for herself with her past work. That being said, I look forward to her next show.

I have also continued my watch of the excellent 2017 Weekender MY GOLDEN LIFE. It is well written and the FL is played by my favorite actress, Shin Hye-sun.

Note: The new season of BRIDGERTON is coming soon, on May 16. The new season of OUTLANDER is already here. Both are on Netflix.

May-hem is here!!! 🥳

Started FRANKLY SPEAKING, which is a lot of fun! Humor and comedy mostly works for me. FL and her colleagues are a riot, so is our jinxed ML in all his glory of comical ummm… agitation? 😂 (His inner focus on those song lyrics while his boss was talking him down was priceless. „I’m listening!!!“ Thoughtfully rude, LOL!) I hope this stays as good, but we’ll have to wait and see!

Continued MIDNIGHT STUDIO, which I’m right now watching for the romance TBH. Will surely finish for our sweet main couple. 🫰

Started MILITARY PROSECUTOR DOBERMAN, because it features ABH, became available in my region, and nobody stopped me. The best thing about it - next to our leads 🔥🔥🔥 (taking a moment to appreciate that hand instead of wrist grab 👏🫰🤝)- is the mullet and overall style of that gang leader. 👀 Watching while fast forwarding heavily, I have to admit. But love the cast!

Still watching c-drama WILL LOVE IN SPRING, which continues to be beautiful.

Looking forward to start more dramas this month! 🫰👏🥳

CURRENTLY WATCHING
LOVELY RUNNER Episode 8 may have been the single best episode of anything I have seen in a long time. The show and actors have done such a great job of establishing the characters of Sol and Sun Jae and their connection that when they reunited in this episode, it was so layered with feelings, meaning, longing and hope that it held my attention and heart the whole time. There was so much good comedy in this episode and then, bam, in an instant the poignancy of their feelings would just hit straight to the heart. And the kiss was everything-their past, their present and their hope for the future. Kim Hye Yoon and Byun Woo Seok are magical together in this show.

I don’t understand everything about the time traveling (however, I do admit that it made me go back and rewatch the episodes to catch all the details they have been showing us the whole time), but it became evident that both Sol and Sun Jae have been saving each other and changing each other’s lives for the better through big heroic gestures, like water rescues and headbutts, and also often in small, but meaningful gestures, like a kind word, food, and acknowledgement of one another’s struggles. Part of this show’s message to live and love while you can and appreciate the small moments with the people you love, and this show makes me do that for the show. Sun Jae and Sol have eclipsed all other dramas for me at the moment.

WILL LOVE IN SPRING Interestingly, this show has a lot of similarities to Lovely Runner, a FL with a disability, lessons about the unpredictability of life and death, and living in the moment. (However, there is not much comedy and many more deaths as he works in a funeral parlor.) The leads in this Cdrama are grown ups and act like grown ups, which is very refreshing. The central tension between them, how much one should sacrifice one’s own dreams and commitments for a relationship and whether such a sacrifice or compromise would lead to resentment, is understandable even if it is not always handled well. Li Xian and Zhou YuTong are such natural actors with both charm and gravitas and the chemistry between them is amazing here. A good watch.

THINKING ABOUT WHETHER TO WATCH ONE EPISODE IN
FRANKLY SPEAKING I made it three-quarters of the way through the first episode, past the elevator but before accident that sets up the show. I haven’t had the time between travel and rewatching episodes of Lovely Runner to finish this week’s episodes. However, the first the impressions were that it didn’t keep my attention despite all the frantic antics—hair pulling, pant pooping, etc. The acting was fine, but I think I wanted more heart with the comedy. I think this show is a victim of being pale in comparison to my current watches, so I may return to it when it will fare better.

FINISHED:

1. MY MAN IS CUPID - A stupid but fluffy and amusing tale about cupids. You are, however, required to leave your brain at the door in order to enjoy this.

LIVE WATCH:

1. BLOOD FREE - Han Hyo-Joo and Ju Ji-Hoon continue to deliver week after week!

RESUMING THIS WEEK:

1. DR SLUMP - Stopped halfway before I embarked on my travels. Hopefully I can finish it this week.

OTHER WATCHES:

1. SUZUME - This sublime Fantasy anime movie offering from Makoto Shinkai just shines!

TO BEGIN THIS WEEK:

1. LOVELY RUNNER - Discovered that it's on Viu so here we go! I could do with a nice fluffy rom-com that doesn't have a serial killer plot shoehorned in...

Lovely Runner (through Ep. 8): Whew ... things got hot for a moment there. But as delightful as it was watching Sol and Sun-jae being on the same page romantically for once, I'm not surprised more trouble is on the way because we're only halfway through the show. Also, it felt a little unfair/unbalanced that Sun-jae had nursed a one-sided love for 15 years, whereas Sol's non-fan feelings toward him had existed for only months at most thanks to her trip to the past. I wonder if there will come a time when they'll be more balanced in terms of the duration and knowledge of their mutual affection.

Midnight Photo Studio (through Ep. 14): Saving Ep. 15 so I can watch the last two together as perhaps they were meant to be. To be honest, some of the supernatural elements have lost me, but I'm still hoping for the best for the OTP. As for our ghost-human pairing, I just don't see how that's going to last.

Beauty and Mr. Romantic (through Ep. 12): Still speeding along! And still very watchable (with liberal fast-forwarding of the scheming villains). It's evident that Do-ra and Pil-seung belong together -- they really are happy together in a way they aren't in any other circumstances. The secondary and tertiary couples are promising, too.

Missing Crown Prince (through Ep. 6): Was that a twinge of sympathy I felt for the dowager? She thought she had the palace under her control, but now she seems to have been sidelined. Looking forward to the OTP's adventures in the wild. I was wondering when we'd finally get more romance. Perhaps this weekend.

Will Love in Spring: So, so, so good. What a contemporary romance should be. Except it's not just a romance -- the family relationships and friendships are also richly portrayed. And it wrestles with the complex issues of life -- love, desire, death, separation -- with a lot of warmth and wisdom.

Blossoms in Adversity: Hugely entertaining with an optimistic viewpoint and one of my favorite historical FLs of all time. One of the most fun shows to watch in recent memory.

Starting:
Twinkling Watermelon: A fine tale, charming. I watch on viki and love the possibility to comment, but hate all that hate … I think the FL is fun and am really tired of all the petty moralistic puritans. Trouble like her is completely necessary in this story.
Watching Continued:
Our Blooming Youth: There’s a great Re-Watch Club. I giffed a sequence for Thursday’s discussion, on the fan wall of @23new2Kdrama
My Lovely Runner: Arriving in our time, this story is getting better – though still angsty.
The People Demand that Woo-seok Live Happily Ever After!
Love Is Like a Cat : This ends Tuesday, and they have the whole “scandal” thing to clear up before that.
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Queen of Tears: I believe everybody would have liked to see more of how their lives worked out together, but it was a beautiful ending, and consistent with the trend of this drama to reflect upon authenticity, “what does it mean to be yourself?”, acting, and tropes. It was done dramatically and with a lot of humour along the way.

Not a K-drama:
Bird Box Live Cam: Thursday was The Great Hatching Day. I was really worried about the chicklets being so quiet, but I think most of them will come after it. I put out some water yesterday … hope it’ll be helpful. And for you, I put up a Hatch Day video on youtube. Links in the comments. (When the DB staff has had time to make sure I am not scamming y’all. If you are impatient, go to my fan wall, the link is there, too.
Finished:
SPY Family Season 2: Still a hilarious (and dramatic) anime – And heartily recommended. Now I can’t wait for season 3.
Heartbreak High: A very dramatic but also very good show. I hope there’ll be a third season.