COMPLETED
Lovely Runner - Such a good finale and show - thematically consistent even if the time travel mechanics were a bit too convenient. SunSol were a delight till the end. Shout-out to Tae-sung for being a great 2ML too. Also totally fine with the cabbie just up and dying - liked what Tae-sung said about him to his dad.

ONGOING
The Atypical Family - This show keeps improving week-on-week. It's weird but understandable that the Boks keep giving the scammers a pass. The parking lot scene was great as was the scene with the car.

Dare to Love Me - If this doesn't end with burning the entire cult village down, what are we even here for?

Crash - What a good journey we got for Yeon-ho this week - from being beaten-up to (temporarily?) getting over his fears and doing his job right. The team gelling together more and more makes me happy.

Frankly Speaking - The show went way off the rails this week with the trauma dumping on practically every character. Feels like the stated premise of the show is far removed from the actual plot.

Uncle Samsik - I liked the little bit of humour that was added to their scheming with the gangster dressing-up to roleplay Kwang-min. The rest remains gripping too.

STARTED
High School Return of a Gangster - This was better than I expected. Too bad Lee Seo-jin exited early but Yoon Chan-young is definitely holding his own. Nice to see Bong Jae-hyun again after Twinkling Watermelon.

Dreaming of a Freaking Fairy Tale - Almost dropped it at Ep. 1 but Ep. 2 was unexpectedly quite fun. In.

C-DRAMAS
Joy of Life (Season 2) - Apparently all episodes have dropped but I'm so far behind 😭. Only gotten to Ep. 16 so I'm hiding away from all spoilers. Still enjoying it though! Hopefully will finish within the week 🤞.

Couldn't get past 30 minutes of Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red Moon Pact. Just couldn't work up any interest. Probably doesn't bode well for the two more dramas to come in the series.

Waiting for The Double, which is finally confirmed for tomorrow.

Vacation time Kdrama extravaganza! Pt. 1 of 2 (Pt. 2 in the comments)

Carry Sun-jae and Run: 🏃‍♂️‍➡️❤️ LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!! ❤️ It's like this drama was made for me!!!! The last two eps of Lovely Runner were wonderful. It's now one of my favorites because of the beautiful, epic romance, and the consistent focus on unconditional love, and making hard choices to save the ones we love, even at great cost to the self. It never lost sight of its themes and messages, and the journey of watching Sun-jae be in love and Im-sol fall in love across years and timelines was beautiful. Sun-jae is an amazing ML (my new favorite!!), and Tae-sung was an amazing SML - in the end, he was the real MVP. While I struggled a bit at times with Im-sol's character, I also understood her motivations, even if I disagreed with her methods. I liked her growth as she finally allowed herself to fall in love. I'm going to miss it! ❤️ *New list rankings: #3 on Top-Ten; #1 on Fave Rom-Coms; #2 on Fave Fantasy Dramas; #1 on Fave Timeslip Dramas, and added to my Best Endings list.*

Frankly Speaking: 👨‍💼🔊 (through ep. 8) On pause. I'm going to finish the last four episodes next week. I think I'll feel less frustrated that way.

Crash: 🚔💥 (20% of ep. 5) Dropped. I like predictable procedurals with quirky teams and fun car chases (see: Numbers; Flex x Cop), but this just wasn't holding my interest. 🤷‍♀️

Dare to Love Me: 🎭🪡 (1-6) This is essentially a fusion sageuk that's a goofy, tropey, straight-outta-2010s rom-com. I'm actually finding it pretty funny! Not sure how long I'll stick with it, but I really like Kim Myung-soo's ML, and it's the perfect mild and mediocre palate cleanser after the excellence of Lovely Runner.

Mr. Queen: 👨‍🍳➡️👸 (9-12) Allegiances shifted and were revealed, along with vital memories. Then that explosive cliffhanger end of ep. 12 - shizzle got real! The King is taking more action, I still have SLS, and the sword fights and combat scenes are excellent albeit infrequent. This must have been a stressful live watch waiting for new episodes 😂

Atypical Family
The turning point is here - Gwiju stops his obsession with the FIRE SAVING and HAPPY moments, stops focusing on HIMSELF and HIS pain and starts seeing Dahee's pains. I'm not sure this is enough to heal his survivor's guilt, but it is a good start.
They both start doing things for each other... and start falling in love... and the chemistry is there now.
They are also trying to protect each other - Dahee is pushing Gwiju away from her dangerous adoptive family, including showing on purpose her lowest conning side, and Gwiju is negotiating for spending time with Dahee so she is not locked up and he can protect her better.

Finally No More Running From Sunjae
This never reached the quality and depth of Shining For One Thing or One Day or Someday for me, but the leads were cute and sweet together and I admit I absolutely enjoyed watching them falling in love multiple times (that final petal proposal was lovely 🌸). I also loved Taesung and Sunjae's friends... and ToD's heroic cameo - finally a career advancement! 🥳

Freaking Funny Cinderella
I was rather down yesterday, overworked, mourning lack of watching time for Hagwon and Go Kyungpyo... and missing my chingus on Dramabeans... and then during a break I pressed play on this show and 🎊 it was exactly what I needed to distress! The show is wacky and sometimes so absurd... and it made me laugh a lot. I like the twist that Stepmom is actually kind and naïve and that it was Dad who was calculating. Male Lead has a bit of a Willy Wonka flavour and the leads have a nice chemistry, their first meeting on the stairs (with the fallen slipper, of course) sparkled. Both episodes went fast and I can't wait for more. 😊

LIVE WATCHES
Beauty and Mr. Romantic
A joy-and-a-half. I still unreservedly recommend this drama to any and all Beanies who have ever enjoyed, or who want to try out, a weekender. We are on episode 20 and still going strong!

Frankly Speaking
I will be getting my bean for this drama next week goddamnit. I didn't even feel much sympathy when my darling 2ML's past childhood trauma was revealed (and it was traumatic) because I was too distracted by the sudden appearance of mystic powers not caused by electrocution. I don't even know what that sentence means, and I typed it myself.

FROM THE RESERVEZ
Zombie Detective
...was a hoot. Most pleasant surprise was Ha Do-kwon, as always. That man is something like the hardest working smolderer in showbiz. When he gets a role he throws himself into that thing 1000%. Evil Magical Japanese Soldier-Villain? DONE! Tsundere HR manager who's only there to fill in plot holes? DONE! Sullen, hot baseball player? DONE No, actually, that's still who I really think he is. He only acts on the side. I sort of also want to see Penthouse now because of him, and I've always also wondered how Kim Young-dae does...NO, Seon-ha. Settle down.

Tale of Arang
...is plotted so far a bit like Zombie Detective only in Jose-euk mystery land! But I can tell it's going to be far sweeter. I think I'm going to take my time with it, unless it doesn't let me and I get sucked down the rabbit hole. Also, Arang's ghostly neck tattoo is super hot.

ON DECK
Wok of Love, Secret Royal Inspector and Joy and Bitter Sweet Hell
Say the magic "word" and win $100! These are truly the next three dramas on my list. What's the connection between them?? LOL.

Crash: I love the random moments of both hilarity and sincerity in this drama. They bring a lightness to a rather heavy drama. I love our little team and how they are coming together so nicely.

Lovely Runner: I will say that all is well that ends well, but I really disliked the middle. The last episode was so great, watching them together being cute, also that proposal was A+. However, the pacing was awful, this could have been a tight twelve. Im Sol learned absolutely nothing and there was really no point in her going back in time. Sigh, it is really to bad because it really had the makings of a good drama.

Frankly Speaking: I just absolutely loved the tent scene. He understood she had agency and the right to open up when she wanted too and she realized she could finally trust him. It was just fantastic. I have no idea why they decided episode 10 needed to end like that. SIGH, we were going well at a steady pace, for Why?

Uncle Sam Sik: This coup attempt is a mess, everyone is backstabbing everyone else. Man oh man, will Sam Sik prevail, will Taemin get some peace, how will this drama end?

Dream of a Freaking Fairy Tale: I laughed, several times. The leads have solid chemistry and it was enjoyable for the very clearly budget drama it is. Does it have problematic issues? 100%. However, we moved passed it quickly enough that I can’t wait for the next episodes.

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon: OMG, I am really loving this drama. Talk about wish fulfillment for Joon Ho. I love that for him and us. Our OTP is very cute, unfortunately now, here comes the angst. Meh, hopefully it is handled well.

Lovely Runner (Series review) - Mood progression: C / C / C- / C- / C- / C- / C- / C-
There is something to be said about the crack factor of this drama and whether it was worth it all sacrificing artistic quality for the sweet fluffiness that everyone secretly loves digesting. But I do like to have my cake and eat it too, even if I can very much acknowledge that I enjoyed watching a hot guy riding into the sunset with his destined girl. It will be very interesting, I think, to see how the leads navigate their acting careers after this show. I hope Song Geon Hee gets a break soon!

Dreaming of a Freaking Fairy Tale (Episode 1-2) - Mood: D+
After Lovely Runner ended, I had some appetite for more simple plots and this was an easy pick for those romance tropes. Or so I thought, because it ended up being a challenge as to how much I could press the fast forward button, worst, a training as to whether I could watch shows at 3x speed. From what I saw, I have 0 faith in the characterisation of the 2FL.

High School Return of a Gangster (Episode 1-2) - Mood: D+
What’s a school drama without the school bullying right? But also, the fact that there was another vehicle that intentionally ran over the mobster tells me that this wasn’t a simple accident, which also means some narratively meaningless drama to watch down the road. The soul swap is fine but it is fun watching Yoon Chan Young acting circles around everyone.

The Atypical Family (Episode 7-8) - Mood: D+
It’s one thing to get disappointed when the show reveals that the ML saved the FL (of course that happened), but I’m really annoyed that they had this random shady arc pop out of nowhere for the butler or that the flying sister is having Stockholm syndrome with someone who tried to murder her. And of course there is a thing about mutating powers which I think is bad.

Frankly Speaking (Episode 9-10) - Mood: D
I was hoping that the kid wasn’t a literal mind reader because the writing couldn’t handle more than one fantasy element. It proved to be more than futile though, as shamans and birth mothers invaded the plot followed by epic downer of an ending that left me infuriated to say the least. There’s 0 cohesion in the story as it erratically jumps from one plot point to another.

Crash (Episode 5-6) - Mood: D+
As the show concludes the 1st half of the show by showing us the shadowy figure of the hidden vigilante, I continue being a tad unimpressed at how predictable the writing is with the characterisation as well as the intentional flood of red herrings. I can entertain myself better by imagining the craziest arc like Baek Hyun Jin’s character being the hidden vigilante.

Alright this week in Truck of Doom antics:

The winner of course goes to LOVEY RUNNER, the ToD for once did its job correctly and killed off the serial killer 👏👏

In second place is CRASH, unfathomably or maybe the first time in history ToD actually didn’t kill anyone and stopped just in time without injuring the police officer. However ToD did kinda interfere in slowing down the police officer chasing after a serial rapist

And lastly the most absurd use of ToD (in recent memory) goes to FRANKLY SPEAKING. It came completely out of no where, that had me confused for a moment and then made me laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it

CONNECTION (Ep 1-2) It starts off as an action movie with a police officer getting away with breaking the legal rules to bring down a narcotic gang. But he is suddenly set up apparently by an old friend to become a pawn in a game of revenge. The machine gun plot bullet points does not help set up the characters or their motivations very well. I came to the series to watch Jeon Mi-Do's (Yoon-Jin) comeback but her character of a divorced mom who lost custody of her daughter who is a shady reporter does seem like a cookie cutter support role. But really got me in episode 1 was that Ji Sung’s character (Jae-Kyeong) is the edgy cop who breaks protocol but should have known better that the “cover up” is worse than the offense. I don’t know if the ethical and professional violations are the best foundational supports for that story.

This show starts off with the main cast being unlikeable characters making bad decisions. The idea that someone waited 20 years to get revenge on Jae-Kyeong seems extreme.

BITTER SWEET HELL (Ep 1-2) The premise of this series is similar to the recently finished HIDE wherein the FL suddenly realizes that her family is corrupt, secretive and cruel. No Yeong-Won (Kim Hee-Seon) is taken in by the rich Choi family after her father’s suicide (caused by a false scandal that her FIL was a part.) She is taken into the Choi family as a teen and just like in HIDE, she is groomed to become the smart, respected and pillar of the family by marrying Choi’s son, Jae-Jin (Kim Nam-Hee). She becomes a successful psychologist and he becomes a successful doctor (who appears to struggle with blood/surgeries). He also appears to pattern is life after his dad in the affair department, cue colleague Dr. Oh. Her mother-in-law Hong Sa-Gang (Lee Hye-Young). is a writer of mystery books. She is a dark character bitter about her husband’s lifelong affairs and illusion of family bliss. When he is killed by a fortunate land slide, she becomes happy and giddy like a teenager.

It sets up as a band of characters plotting No’s mental and physical breakdown as new patient, Lee Se-Ra (Yeon Woo), appears to be a home wrecker mistress. (This is a role that has typecast Yeon Woo). By the end of episode 2, we are the edge of No and her MIL uniquely joining forces to figure out the family’s darkest secrets.

TAROT (TV/Movie?) I am really confused by the production company on this 7 episode horror series. Jo Yeo Jeong’s episode was invited to the competition for short TV/film category. It was well received with her, the cast and director doing the French pink carpet. Afterward, it was announced that three episodes of the series would be bundled as a movie to be shown beginning June 14 with the other episodes released later. Now, just a day ago, I saw another poster ad for the series that stated that the first three episodes would run this weekend on TV: one episode will air June 1 on KBS2, the second (JYJ’s) later in the evening on SBS, and the...

Carry Sun-jae and Run: I’ve watched the first two episodes and it’s as fun as I was hoping! I was crying in the first 10 minutes as Sol received Sun-jae’s sweet message over the radio, so clearly it’s succeeded in drawing me in. And I love how spectacularly she thinks she has failed at drawing him in when he already can’t get her out of his head. When he ran after the bus so that she could get off at the right stop, something deep in my reptile brain swooned ☺️. So excited to continue with the promise of a good ending!

I Remember You/Hello Monster: (Finished!) *spoilers* I really enjoyed this show. I know it’s probably my bias (because he’s my bias), but I found Lee Jun-young more interesting as a 20something (Doh Kyung-soo) than as a 40something (Choi Won-young). Not that I didn’t like him in the bulk of the show, and I was intrigued by his backstory and desire to “help” people (can we have more exploring the weird relationship he has with the woman who let him out of his childhood prison?) but he was so quietly magnetic before, and I missed that in his older adult form. I have to say, it was a bold move on the show’s part to leave the story as open as they did. I was pretty satisfied with it (although I found the obligatory 1 year jump annoying and unnecessary, as usual) and I feel like I have a clear idea of what choice Min is about to make, but to spend a show following people trying to catch a serial killer and then not catch him in the end was bold. I appreciate the relationship that Hyeon and Jun-young have though, both sort of fueling the other, surprisingly similar to one another but with small key differences. One pleasant surprise was the team leader (played by Lee Chun-hee) who I thought might just be a pompous windbag when he first arrived on the scene but ended up being sweet, thoughtful, competent, and conscientious. And I decided I do like the English title “Hello Monster” better (*gasp*) because of the way that it invites you to think about who the monsters are in the show, what made them that way, what made other people turn out differently, and what our response to them should be.

We have the third chapter of our weekender BEAUTY AND MR. ROMANTIC unfolding very nicely and still at a decent pace with very little, if any, of the time-wasting filler that afflicted the previous two weekenders. Speaking of afflictions: When is an affliction NOT an affliction? Answer: When amnesia is an actual blessing and our FL now realizes that she does not want her memories back (and she is right about that). Sadly, we all know that they will return at some point and that this is really a shame. How about overcoming affliction? Mari may always seem childlike but in fact has become a pretty young woman who desires our ML who is in love with our FL. She has gone from brain injured girl to being part of a love triangle. But what fun: our ML and FL are part of a second love triangle involving our evil 2ML. You heard it right: 4 people, two triangles. Both destined to be resolved when memories return and a birth secret comes to light. For those wondering where our FL’s younger brother is- he is doing guest appearances on other shows- I saw that young actor in the first two episodes of CRASH.

CRASH has been quite entertaining for myself and my wife. We are looking forward to the next episode, with episode six having ended with the highly satisfactory traffic death of a character who, in the immortal words of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Lord High Executioner, “Definitely will not be missed”.

My wife took a week off from watching Chinese costume dramas (with the exception of the excellent JOY OF LIFE 2) to watch a number of other shows. One that she particularly liked was a Ballet entitled THE DANTE PROJECT which was mounted to celebrate the seven hundredth anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri. It is an interpretation of the entire Divine Comedy. My wife loved it.

FRANKLY SPEAKING continues to be entertaining but I am behind on my other shows.

Missing Crown Prince: 6.0 Compared to Frankly Atypical Fairy Tale Runner, the FL here is rather bland.

The Atypical Family: 8.5 Bonus point for perverting the MIL-paying-the-girlfriend-to-go-away trope, and for having I-na beat up the big guy, but somehow when I'm getting new glasses they never manage to make my prescription lenses that day while I'm waiting.

Lovely Runner: 7.0 OMG! Baddie is hit by Truck (which apparently decided to switch sides for this episode), sinks into the our old favorite, the bottomless river, and is NOT magically healed. Or -- but wait, there's more! ...
1: If you can't resign yourself to not having the leads on your screen any longer, consider that although they said the baddie was dead they never actually showed us the body. What if the healing power of the water is stronger than they gave it credit for and he comes back for more timey-wimey goodness in season 2?
2: Last week I said that maybe Sol could play some time games to ToD the baddie. We don't see the driver of the Truck that did him in -- can we ever be really sure it wasn't her? Or maybe if we believe one fan theory, Sun-Sol's time-traveling white-coat stalker daughter?

Crash: 6.5

Frankly Speaking: 7.0 Show is mostly ok-ish, but the last few minutes of ep 10 -- well, speaking frankly 😠👎🤢🤮😠😖👎👎💩💩

High School Gangster: 7.5

Dreaming of a F***king Fairy Tale: 7.5 Not great, but at least it's different enough to be a nice change from standard kdramas. Pyo Ye-jin's style suits this show far better than that Moon/Day lemon. I expect the show to run out of fresh gags in a couple weeks and revert to standard k-mediocrity, but I can't down-score them for what they haven't done yet.

Live watches

Frankly Speaking
Oh dear, why?

Dare to Love
Still enjoying this gentle watch

Crash
Really glad Mr kidnap a girl and make them cry finally got dealt with.

Uncle Samsik
Still enjoying this one but wish it was done as two big drops the week by week wait is hard to endure.

Dreaming of freaking fairytale
Live action cartoon but not nearly as bad as Oh! Youngshim

High school return of a gangster
So far so good.

Completed

Lovely Runner
Loved the ending 🥰

Binge watch corner
Jealousy Incarnate rewatch for this month’s Watch and Discuss K drama club meet up

The most effective advice for a charismatic young actor with limited acting skills has to be: Ruin your image, go petty and silly, and laugh at yourself! Play the fool, and win our hearts.

🤣🤣🤣👌👌👌

I am currently watching the Devil Judge and I really love it! Usually I dislike dystopian stories, but I wanted to watch this for years because of the bromance and recommendations from friends. Glad I finally bit the bullet! It's been a slow watch for me, sometimes I just have to take a little breather while watching an episode, I always had that habit for shows that have a lot of suspense, have a lot of second-hand stress/embarrassment (not even in a bad way, I just feel a lot of stress for these characters xD) or very wholesome moments and this show has a lot of all three.

The little Kang-Kim family that's been building up has my heart! But I do know several spoilers and who is going to die, so i'm dreading the episodes were shit fits the fan (I'm starting episode 10 today)

Other than that i've been watching several anime these days, recently some anime movies (Maroboshi, Drifting Home and Ponyo. All were amazing!)

I did not watch as much as I would have liked in my two weeks holiday, I always went to bed early xD. But I am planning to watch the 8 show, connection and many more that have come out recently (as soon as I am finished with the school year)

My mum wasn’t too into Blood of Youth after a bit so this has turned into a me only watch, and instead we’re now watching To The Wonder together. Half way through and enjoying how calm both the plot and just the general visuals of the drama are!! A line that’ll stay with me for a long time is the mum’s when she tells Wenxiu that it’s okay to just be, she doesn’t have to be ‘useful’, she can just be

Lovely Runner ending has left a huge void on my watch plate 😭 Will try out the new Cinderella whatever the name was K-drama and hopefully I click with it.

I have devoured S1 of Maxton Hall and am very glad to hear S2 has been greenlit but now The Wait is already hurting. As if waiting for S3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty , and S2 of My Life With The Walter Boys wasn’t already enough. I’d add in waiting for part two of Bridgerton Season 3 as well but comparatively, the month gap between the parts isn’t as painful as the months (plural) I’ve spent waiting for those above mentioned shows. Though, I’m not looking forward to going back to waiting for Bridgerton S4 once S3 has aired and I’ve maxed out on how many times I can rewatch it 😮‍💨

Also finished Lady Revenger Returns From The Fire and it stayed a solid watch through till the end! Not obssessed with it but it was a good, entertaining watch and that’s good enough because I’m exhausted enough for being overly emotionally invested in other shows already.

JOY OF LIFE 2 (ep 14)—I was grinning like a fool because I was happy to be with the characters again. But I did not become invested until episode 6 and I think the tonal shift is part of that, but also the first episodes felt like fluff—even though they set up very important storylines and character motivations.

I am giddy having Zhang Rou Yun on my screen and in his element. I am curious to see where he takes this version of Fan Xian, who has been shaken by betrayal and reveals. He is more mature but also more wary. Last season you knew no matter what happened he would come out on top because of his own abilities and because of his backers. This season is a more uncertain and I love how the narrative is keeping me on the edge of my seat. Of course, I don’t want Fan Xian to be in any trouble he can’t get out of in the end, but I do enjoy seeing how he navigates the political battlefield and confounds his enemies with his strategic mind—and his trademark shamelessness!

UNDER THE QUEEN”S UMBRELLA (ep 14) —It is hard to write about this one because it is extremely good, and I have so much, maybe too much, to say. I wish every child could have a mother-lioness like the Queen. And every drama graced with an actress of Kim Hye Soo’s ability. THIS is how you write a drama about women.

LOVELY RUNNER (ep 11)—Honestly, I was anxious about the timeline changes, but so far each timeline has been interesting. The writer knows how to create tension without unnecessary angst, which is refreshing. Although I understand her reasoning, i do wish Sol would stop being the noble idiot and confide in Sun Jae fully.

YOU ARE MY SPRING (ep 2)—I am starting a re-watch and got sucked in again. The opening in the frame of a fairytale does it. I remember enjoying these characters a lot, and the writing contains some of the best conversational dialogue, particularly about mental health. And Yoon Park can play sweet and chilling well; it’s fun seeing him play this part knowing the punch line.

AMERICAN NINJA—Why can’t adults have playgrounds? Oh,wait.
I have warm memories of watching this with my family and it was fun to revisit it and see the current version.

OTHERWISE:

I am thinking of picking up Dare to Love Me because I need an uncomplicated light watch.

Books:

ONE TIME —Sharon Creech is one of my absolute favorite authors and this story did not disappoint. She has the ability to entertain and delight; and inspire and edify; and revel in language. Also, I learned that there is a word for the path of the moonlight on water (Swedish: mångata) as well as the the sunlight that is filtered through tree leaves (Japanese: komorebi). What could be a better discovery?

CRENSHAW (Audiobook)—hearing it is even more powerful (for me) than reading it. Katherine Applegate is a master of exploring difficult social issues with empathy, humor, and heart. Here: homelessness.

COMPLETED
Carry Sun-Jae and Run
What more to say that hasn't already been said? Thanks for the memories uri SunSol! 🩵💚

WATCHING
Joy of Life 2 up to episode 20
Season 2 continues to delight. The cleverness, complexity, intensity, and sly comedy just gets better with every episode. I'm so glad I've stretched out my watching so I can enjoy the passionate, impish Fan Xian a bit longer.

Frankly Speaking
I'm sad to see this drama floundering, but alas... it now feels like a random patchwork of scenes that are haphazardly sewn together. I sincerely hope they find a way to pull all the threads together for the finale. We did get another Kwon Yul scene this week!

The Atypical Family Still weird. Still love it. 🧡🙃

Missing Crown Prince eps 13-14 of 20
Episode 13 was the best so far. Although I'm expecting an HE, we still don't know what that might look like or how it could be achieved. I'm frankly astonished that this story continues to be engaging and worth the watch. This week's comments here: https://www.dramabeans.com/members/zindigo/activity/1586191/

Wishing you all a great month ahead! 🫶

COMPLETED:

1. LOVELY RUNNER - Just such an excellent Fantasy Rom-Com which has now joined my list of favourites!

LIVE WATCHES:

1. CRASH - I look forward to the TCI's weekly cases and shenanigans!

2. DOCTOR WHO - It's early days yet but I suspect Ncuti Gatwa will be joining my shortlist of favourite Doctors (David Tennant and Matt Smith).

3. WILL TRENT - This continues to be a solid police procedural and it's interesting to compare and contrast it with CRASH. Both are just as good but in different ways.

OTHER WATCHES

1. DOCTOR SLUMP - I'm past the halfway point now as I watch it slowly. I like it but it's no LOVELY RUNNER.

2. SECRET INSPECTOR AND JOY - Still very entertaining. I'm on the home stretch now with just 4 episodes to go.

3. A GOOD DAY TO BE A DOG - This is actually pretty decent for binge-watching. I think the erratic schedule when it first came out didn't do it justice. It's a nice fluffy watch though Cha Eun Woo is wooden as always.

Crash It's nice to see the team working together. It would have been nice to see them more before solving past crimes.

Dare to Love Me This drama is pretty weird.

Lovely Runner This drama is the same as Twinkling Watermelon for me. The relationship was great but the whole story didn't make sense and the time travelling didn't bring anything to the characters at the end.

Frankly Speaking I don't find Ko Kyoung-Pyo's screen presence strong enough to be a lead. He doesn't stand out from the other actors in the same scene. I find Joo Jong-Hyuk more interesting and he gave more depth to his character.

The Atypical Family Moon Woo-Jin is one of these young actors who really shines in his role even if it's a very small one.

Connection I watched the first episode and the way he became addicted was so stupid, I haven't watch the second one yet.

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon A drama with normal and real people!

Uncle Samsik I'm behind.

Dreaming of a Freaking Fairy Tale The over the top style didn't work on me, I didn't find it funny and the characters weren't interesting. It's only in the second part of the second episode, things became better. But I'm not a fan of the actors in their roles.

Ok, here we are again 😊

What I have been watching this week:

_ Lovely Runner (final episodes). I had a good time with this drama, but I missed depth and a better editing and script. I wish I had liked the main couple as much as everybody else. Great OST and lovely SML.

_ Atypical Family (8 out of 12). My favorite show this spring. It keeps being good and unique. Looking forward to the new episodes.

_ Frankly Speaking (8 out of 12). I have binge-watched seven episodes in a few days and I was enjoying it a lot, but I'm afraid bad things are about to happen and that would be really sad.

_ C-drama Joy of Life Season 1 (38 out of 46). Great, as always.

_ Western show Virgin River Season 5 (8 out of 12). Better than the boring fourth season.

After finishing Thirty-nine last week, I took a few mild rewatches for balm, and went straight into Blood Free. What can I say. I absolutely loved it.

My minor quibble is with the extremely detailed depiction of the raid and shoot-out in the last episode which was completely American, and the show had already set up enough perfect suspense to not need it.

Lovely Runner. I really liked when Sun Jae got his memory back and we saw all 5 timelines. It was crazy to me that 5 timelines happened haha (possible a 6th where they got married). One of the reasons I like the amnesia trope is for the exact reason shown in the show: fate and destiny. I like that even though Sun Jae didn't know or remember Sol, he was instantly drawn to her and couldn't help but fall into a rthymn with her. I'm not a romantic but those things get me. I think the last timeline was my favorite, probably cause it included experiences & built upon all the other timelines. I love me parallels and so again, I was going "aww" when Sun Jae did his official proposal. I loved that it was an intimate and sweet callback that was just them vs his grand attempt. As always, everything else aside from them was kinda anticlimatic and left things to be desired (particularly the cabbie conclusion) though I did like Tae Sung.
The best way to watch this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dPI6AhYX4Pw&pp=ygUVU29sIGFuZCBzdW4gamFlIHN0b3J5

Into the World Again (aka Reunited Worlds). I thought more super/enhanced power was gonna be used when I first started this. I didn't particularly care for the main romance but instead liked the friends and family moments way more. There were times when I felt like I missed something because how did they get so close or how did he learn about this. For most of the show, I was pretty unaffected but once he started making his goodbyes, I was definitely emotional haha. I wondered how long he had returned for cause an AWFUL lot seemed to happen in that period of time. Multiple jobs, businesses, and publications to name a few. I think if more focus was on the healing aspect vs the romance aspect, the show would've been better but it's still nice and fairly satisfying.

Crash. I'm liking the mystery of who and why is someone sending the articles now and who killed that jerk. I thought it was the TCI team leader but I don't know. He certainly hasn't even off any hostile vibes towards anyone even when he or his team is disrespected or disregarded. Maybe he knows the culprit? I liked how Yeon Ho used the advice and techniques So Hee taught him to become a better officer. It was satisfying to see him be successful after applying it. I was surprised by the other team leader shutting down the gossipy kissup and when he took So Hee seriously. It was a pleasant surprise but surprising none the less. I don't know what to say about the guy from HQ, he's kinda slimy. How could he choose to withhold information that could put more victims in danger (and nearly did) just so he and his team could get the recognition? Ugh, and I think he's gonna try to exploit or use Yeon Ho (and the rest of the TCI team) in the future.

I forgot to mention The 8 Show last week. I don't have much to say about it other than it just made me think about desperation. It made me think how clearly I've never been...

MIDNIGHT ROMANCE IN HAGWON genuinely stresses me out, the education system in Korea is so intense

LOVELY RUNNER
I enjoyed its cuteness and charm and will likely go back and watch some iconic scenes. However as someone who is disabled, I was enthralled by the first episode, especially with highlighting the discrimination people with disabilities face. It felt validating to see how a drama showed that disability discrimination can come with city planning.

ATYPICAL FAMILY
marathoned it two days and can’t wait to watch the rest of the episodes

FRANKLY SPEAKING
Can’t convince me the writers weren’t high when they wrote this…wait it’s South Korea, they were probably drunk instead

DARE TO LOVE ME
This is a rom com version of SAVE ME. They better not make Joon-ho a villain, and I will riot if Seongsan Village and evil Grandpa isn’t investigated for being a cult.