LIVE WATCHES
Beauty and Mr. Romantic
Almost halfway through here at episode 23 ;). Weekenders are my jam (when they're this amazing)!! Do-ra's gonna be an actress (again)!!! Pil-seung's gonna continue to be bad at protecting her too 🤣

Frankly Speaking
Bean acquired. This drama was neither too long nor too short—it was just unsure of what it needed to be, and there was a sense that the reason was even unclear to the creators? Why a variety show?? Why the news? Why Trot? Why magical children dressed up as lions? I dunno, all I can say is that whatever Joo Jong-hyuk does next, there are a number of us who will tune in. Actually most of the secondary characters deserve more drama attention.

FROM THE RESERVES
Tale of Arang
C'mon romance! I'm halfway through episode 11 and I guess kissing the undead will have to do for now 😉

ON DECK
I was supposed to start Wok of Love, Secret Royal Inspector and Joy or Bitter Sweet Hell, but I did NONE OF THAT. Instead, I completely finished, start-to-end, The Spies Who Loved Me. Highly recommended through to the end of episode 12 and then recommended well-enough from 13-16. The show is about divorce first, marriage second, and being liars “spies” third. Really nicely done, until it goes OTT.

And, now a Venerable Beanie has reminded me that I should keep a promise to watch Bad Prosecutor. I mean it's been a good few weeks since I've seen a Ha Joon drama...

COMPLETED
Frankly Speaking - I don't know what story this show was trying to tell. They tried to hammer in the message with that school play and a glut of flashbacks but it still felt all over the place.

ONGOING
The Atypical Family - Not a fan of one conversation solving everything esp. when he sank right back into old habits with one setback. Using a car crash to fake death was so cruel. Anyway, I-na deserves the world so I refuse to believe this will end in tragedy.

Dare to Love Me - The characters in this show are divided into dumb or evil. There is no in-between.

Crash - Nice to see Dong-gi shine this week. Knew Taxi Dad would have an accident at some point 😔. The past accident is pulling down the narrative a bit but I'm still loving the team.

Uncle Samsik - My head was spinning with the unreliable narration of it all - who was using whom, who was using General Choi, who really planned the coup d'état …😵. The relationship between Sam-sik and San is so fascinating - an alternating mix of trust and betrayal.

High School Return of a Gangster - I like the budding relationship between Se-kyung and Deok-heon. Looking forward to seeing him deal with his old gangmates.

Dreaming of a Freaking Fairy Tale - Still ridiculous and funny. The cameos are silly but cute. The fiancée is adding nothing though.

C-DRAMAS
Completed Joy of Life (Season 2). I think the overarching narrative of this took a while to take shape but still a solid Season 2. Each arc from the 'comeback' to the examination to the treasury stuff had meaning and I can't wait for S3 (though of course I'll have to - for another 2-3 years at least 😭).

Started The Double and have watched up to Ep. 13 so far. I'd like to call it campy with the exaggerated acting, makeup and set pieces except it's taking itself so SERIOUSLY. The addition of bizarre horror elements makes me laugh even more (the giant scorpion 🤣).

Live watches

Crash
This is the first drama I watch in the busy Monday Tuesday slot because it is entertaining funny, interesting, great team dynamics. With the Panko breadcrumbs being dropped everywhere I anticipate it will be a really satisfying ending.

Dare to Love
I put this on hold last week to watch at the weekend but was occupied with other things so will probably binge this one after it’s done.

Uncle Samsik
Oh my gosh, the way they leave us hanging from week to week😬 This is a Masterclass in K drama character driven stories and for me I see it as in the same league as Healer, Miseang and On the verge of insanity.

High school return of a gangster
This is my fun mid week watch and I am glad that it overlapped with Frankley speaking so the watch schedule did not dip after a great start.

Dreaming of a freaking fairytale
I enjoyed it more this week but it landed at a competitive time of the year for me so it seems more superficial than it actually is.

Binge watch
Soundtrack #1 for the fan wall community watch. I am really enjoying this one as it has such a calming vibe it’s like a Sunday afternoon stroll.

Waiting for rain - film
Story of two pen pals and their connection, friendship, complicated family relationships, lost hopes and new beginnings. I really enjoyed it.

Completed

Frankly Speaking
I am glad that I watched it, they tied up elements but the tone changed and it was an easy bean collected rather than a joy to watch. The play at the end was just like the Shadow play in It’s a good day to be a dog. I am beginning to wonder with this and other shows that have random children that don’t add much to the story that they are campaigning hard to raise the birth rate by subtly integrating the message that children of all ages and stages should be a part of everyone’s life. I heard a character talking in Waiting in the rain about the fact their school closed because there were not enough children to warrant its presence.

Book corner
I caved and bought some more Audible tokens and just finishing the autobiography We were dreamers: An immigrant superhero origin story by Simu Liu

Crash: Man, that sucks about her dad. Hopefully he is just injured, it looked that way. Now I am actually curious as to who killed that ahole. The episodes of the week are leading to our bigger arc.

Player 2 Master of Swindlers: So we have a romping fun time ahead of us hopefully. All I want is joy and hi-jinks, I am already over the new big bad.

Frankly Speaking: What a waste of chemistry and a premise. Kwon Yul was the only asset in this drama utilized correctly. I understand what the writer was trying to do, but the execution was piss poor.

Uncle Samsik: Was it San the whole time? Is he this manipulative, forever exhausted faced villain. Is it Rachel? Or is there some other shadowy force. Uncle Samsik just wanted pizza, I wonder if he will get it by the end.

Dreaming of a freaking Fairytale: I LOVE this drama. The jokes, awareness, and the tropes are just the best. I laughed the entire episode. Cha Min’s slow realization of his massive crush on Jae Rim is so entertaining. His hallucinations and “sexy” dreams are hilarious. The intro of Do Hong with his sewing kit and ready smile. Man oh man. Jae Rim still being fabulous and completely oblivious to her effect on Cha Min, the man has it so bad. Please stay this good for 6 more episodes.

Hierarchy: This show isn’t good. Everything about this shown you have seen and it has been done better in S.K. and abroad. It is trying to be clever and deep, but I found myself saying this is stupid far too often (Jokes on me, I still watched it). No Jeong Ee has lost so much weight she looks and acts listless even in the scenes where she isn’t supposed to be sad and down. Just complete low energy. Her acting also wasn’t convincing. Her character is a Mary Sue in the worse way with tragic candy backstory to boot except make her rich. Everyone else acted circles around her. All these boys love her, but I don’t know why? Also, Ri An played American football, fenced, and swan, which is insane, lol. So much nonsense packed into this show. All the characters are awful except for maybe Kang Ha, but his weirdo crush on Jae I also makes him kind of unlikeable.

The midnight Romance in Hagwon: Joon Ho cannot keep his hands off of Hye Jin. That is a man in love. I hope we keep this joy for the next few episodes. Angst can wait and leave us our fabulous OTP. Wie Ha Joon for the swoony win and Jung Rye Won for making sure it is just right.

TWINKLING WATERMELON (Ep. 2-16)
Dealing with LOVELY RUNNER withdrawal, I took the recommendation and gave this drama another chance. I should’ve trusted beaniedom, but after watching the first episode in the beginning of the year I clocked out. I vaguely knew there was time travel involved, tho the premiere episode was so tense with all those near death experiences and I just couldn’t handle it.

Well I’m glad I gave it another chance, because I fucking LOVED it!!! Seriously I loved it more than LOVELY RUNNER. TWINKLING WATERMELON gave me those feels that the ANSMER ME and AGE OF YOUTH series did. It brought me back to my adolescence, the friendships, first loves, heartbreak and just being total dorks. There’s this sense of being able to conquer the world only youth dramas really tap into. The cheer joy even when dealing with hardships that is infectious. The positivity I miss in my adulthood, I got to experience while watching this. I’m so thankful, thankful I could also time travel and spend time with these larger than life characters. Yes I cried and laughed and cried and laughed with them. Now I’m dealing with even worse withdrawal…😢

I'm not a Hero
Poor Gwiju as a father really doesn't know what to do and what to say and his well intended attempts cause more harm than good... but here is when Ina's superpower finally comes to a rescue and helps this clumsy father to express all his love (and sorry) to Ina. Their scene was the highlight of episode 9.
Unfortunately episode 10 disappointed me, Gwiju could come back any moment and they do this elaborate plan? I also was not a fan of the general direction of going back to the obsession with the fire rescue... I was more content with the pending death sentence and living the life fully till then, preferably with more father-daughter bonding.
(Another disappointment was Donghee losing her weight. For me the heaviness represented all the expectations her mother (and fiancé) had for her and so the loss had no meaning when she still was not liberated and still was not back to herself. Well, at least she still can't fly.)
Despite my disappointments I still like the show and find it very engaging and unique... and I hope the finale will be good... and will make sense. 🙂

Frankly Speaking
This show was so weirdly all over the place... and to be honest I think I would have dropped it if it were the usual 16 episodes. Surprisingly the most interesting character (and thread) to me was Jungheon (Joo Jonghyuk is so good!) and I wish we spent more time with him. I also liked Adoptive Mom... and of course all Kwon Yul's cameos! 😍

Prince Charming Dreaming of Cinderella
Still a delight! 🙂
I'm slurping it with a big spoon, all the heartfluttering encounters and smexy undercurrents included (with torn shirts and... sewing 😄).

Vacation Time Kdrama Extravaganza! Pt. 1 of 2 (Pt. 2 in the comments)

Frankly Speaking: 👨‍💼🔊 *Sighhh.* I'll finish it next week. Gonna get that bean!

Dare to Love Me: 🎭🪡 Is this a good drama? Not really. Am I enjoying it? HECK YEAH! If someone told me this was written in 2012 but didn't get produced until now, I wouldn't be surprised. Along with a lot of the tropes of 2010s rom-coms, it also has the same addictiveness! Yoon-bok is adorbs.

The Player 2: 😎💰 (ep. 1) Drop. Basically Ocean's 11 but with more violence? Production values are SKY-HIGH.

Eye Love You: 🦦💕 (1-5) I wanted to be cynical about this one, but I just can't; it's too, too sweet. It's also basically an infomercial for how adorable Chae Jong-hyeop is 🥰 I'm watching episodes of this in between more stressful/tense watches.

The Spies Who Loved Me: 👰‍♀️🕵️‍♂️ (1-13) Started because of @attiton!! (THANK YOU!!) This has been fun and also great! I think this may be my favorite Yoo Inna role ever. It's also my first time watching Eric Munn, and may I just say, I totally get what all the fuss is about him. This isn't just a spy drama, but a drama about marriage, relationships, and spies. Great writing and dialogue.

River Where The Moon Rises: 🏞🌛 (7-9) Restarted this one after stalling on it last year in order to see Na In-woo in a historical ML role ❤️ Everything is VERY dramatic and just a little campy; the tone wasn't what I expected when I started it last year, but now I'm enjoying it. I mean, with dialogue like, "both you and your clan will be drowned in a sea of blood," you know it's juicy stuff. It's also on a more epic scale than the average sageuk, both in terms of visuals and story. The FL has a heart of revenge, and from the folk tale it's based on, we know this doesn't spell good news for our straightforward ML. We're set up for epic pay-offs in terms of the battles of hearts and clans.

Finished
Mr. Queen: 👨‍🍳➡️👸 (13-20) What a wild, wonderful ride! The plotting and strategizing amongst all the factions was fascinating, and I loved the excellent sword fights (*I promise I'm not at all bloodthirsty, but I love the sword fights in sageuks!!*). **Continued below**

Javabeans, my wife and I didn't get CHICKEN NUGGET either.

My wife and I have continued to enjoy CRASH.

I am glad that I renewed my iQIYI subscription because we have also thoroughly enjoyed a quietly wonderful show named TO THE WONDER. If you have access to this show we both heartily recommend it to everyone.

My wife watched the excellent Chinese Costume drama JOY OF LIFE 2 which has been an excellent success to the original JOL. She recommends both JOL and JOL2 very highly. She was delighted to hear that there will be a JOY OF LIFE 3. She loves the FL from WEAVING A TALE OF LOVE and WEAVING A TALE OF LOVE 2 (Gulnezer Bextiyar) and went on to watch the modern (and lighter) C-drama GOT A CRUSH ON YOU which stars that same actress. It is good to watch something lighter from time to time. Having finished that she is now watching WONDERLAND OF LOVE, another good ‘historical’ Chinese Costume drama.

My son has been enjoying the great Chinese Costume Fantasy drama LOVE BETWEEN FAIRY AND DEVIL. There is a big difference though between the way he watches it and the experience of his parents: He watches it without subtitles.

The third chapter of our weekender BEAUTY AND MR. ROMANTIC continues to unfold well. Pilseung’s birth mom has been able to avoid the reveal of the birth secret for the moment. Our two villains have learned nothing and the male one is aiming to make our FL his mistress. Our main side couple can finally start dating- or can they? Do-jun is back and Ma-ri got to feel his biceps- but she is not so fickle as to have dropped her desire for Pilseung- but that “Daebak” from her may be a harbinger of what is to come once she finally learns to take no for an answer. After twenty-two episodes our stories are proceeding at a pace that makes sense.

Frankly Speaking (Series review) - Mood progression: D+ / C- / C- / D+ / D / D
All’s well that ends well, but still, this drama was thematically incoherent from start to finish. The show did feel like a sitcom that just happened to have ML’s affliction as a MacGuffin (even Kwon Yul just shrugged his shoulders) as well as a ton of unnatural tension creators (seriously another Truck of Doom in the finale?). I feel really bad for Kang Hanna.

High School Return of a Gangster (Episode 3-4) - Mood: D+
Time goes by fast when I’m watching this show, for good or for bad: it’s not hard to enjoy the dramatic irony knowing that a gang is unknowingly targeting their boss, but we’re already halfway through the show and my mind keeps slipping away for meta reasons, like the irony that Yi Heon is actually younger than Se Kyung in real life but is being schooled on Gen Z lingo.

The Atypical Family (Episode 9-10) - Mood: D+
Ok, they literally used the extreme noble idiocy card and still couldn’t resolve the prophesied tragedy and the villain? Also, I think we’re being set up for a dramatic but ultimately narratively stupid cliffhanger where the ML’s fate is left undetermined during Episode 11. As for the fantasy, yeah we aren’t finding out why the ML can interact with only the FL during his travels.

Crash (Episode 7-8) - Mood: D+
The writer sure is faithful to the principle of Chekhov’s Gun, seeing how even FL’s dad got dragged into an ever-growing arc of evil rich people committing traffic crimes. I don’t know whether that is potentially good or bad for the comic relief characters: it does feel weird focusing on them when they’re barely part of the plot but the story is basically a boring vigilante revenge.

The Atypical Family: 9.0 Noble Idiocy for a better reason than what we're used to (?). Also...
1 - If the family is in dire financial straits and mom thinks her son is going to die -- there's this thing called "life insurance" that could solve one of her problems. Just sayin'.
2 - Gwi-ju should actually have an 98.028% infallible get-out-of-accidental-death card. If he's about to die in the present he can just zip off to the past until the danger has passed, and if he's about to die in the past he can just bounce back to the future.
3 - But is Gwi-ju's name a bad omen? Doesn't "gwi" mean "ghost" in Korean?
4 - Does I-na's power work if the other person is wearing contacts? Would it still work if she had Lasik or something to fix her eyes so she wouldn't need glasses? Could Da-hae boost I-na's power so it would work thru glasses?

Missing Crown Prince: 7.0

Crash: 6.0 At the end of ep 7 they have their PSA message about the used car business saying that scams used to be quite common but things are improving. Then they spoil it by saying that big companies are getting into the used car business and there will be more transparency and things will get even better. But veteran kdrama watchers may figure that big k-businesses are even less trustworthy than used car dealers, and that big businesses are quite capable of paying a show to tell us that used cars are just fine. No worries. Sure.

Player 2 - Master of Swindlers: 5.5 Don't have anything to add to my comments under the recap.

Frankly Speaking: 7.0 I came for Kang Han-na and some blunt truth-bombs like you don't see in kdramaland (and possibly not in Korea?). I got Kang Han-na and a kdrama, which is slightly better than nothing.

High School Gangster: 7.5 I often have to look up the slang/abbreviations I see in kdrama subtitles, so enjoying the way the "old" guy doesn't know them either.

Dreaming of a F***king Fairy Tale: 8.0 🤣

Heirarchy: __ I only lasted 10 minutes.

JOY OF LIFE 2 (ep 26) —There is a lot of setup and laying out puzzle pieces that I think will come together by the end of this season—if it was like last season—or in season 3. I think this watch takes more patience as a lot of the plot is played out in politics, but the screenwriter is still deft with inserting humor and wit. I find it all very engaging as I know this is the quiet before the storm.

Plus I am unashamedly Zhang Rouyun’s fan so watching him in this role is the pinnacle of enjoyment. He is magical, but he can’t carry the show himself. Thankfully, the other actors are excellent and continue to breath life into these crazy, always-entertaining characters. I am scared spitless by our resident brilliant, but probably psychopath and definitely amoral Princess Royal, though. Anyone else?

UNDER THE QUEEN”S UMBRELLA —Excellent drama but it lost some of the tension when I didn’t buy the deposed Grand Prince’s story and had no sympathy for him at all. But the heart and soul of the story has always been the palace family and the Queen at the center so it was an excellent watch for me.

BLOSSOMS IN ADVERSITY (ep 14) —I admire the women; I am withholding my judgement on the ML. The draw of the drama for me is seeing how this family of women are learning to adjust to their new circumstances and I love seeing the inner character strength coming out as they learn to provide for themselves. In their new circumstances feminine ingenuity, intelligence, and teamwork is of great value, a matter of life and death. Not to mention the blurring of class distinctions and hierarchy. It is FASCINATING.

YOU ARE MY SPRING (ep 11) —I forgot how much I love this drama. It is my fun, enjoyable no-stress watch. I adore the OTP and resonate with the writing.

FREAKING CINDERELLA —I was ready for a dark, social commentary comedy but I was completely turned off by the the main leads. You couldn’t find a drama watcher who loves bickering couples more than I do, but theirs was mean spirited and forced. I am sure they change and grow but I am not going to the dark side of illegal watching for them.

Long time, no post, which explains why this list is such a long one.

Perfect Marriage Revenge - Time slip. Woman getting revenge on sleazy husband. Hunky ML who gives unconditional love, respect and support to the FL. What’s not to love? There was, in fact, a lot that I loved about this show, beginning with the story. Then there was Yi-Joo 2.0, who, unlike the spineless earlier edition, met every situation head-on and didn’t take any crap from anybody. Also a big thumbs-up to the women of the refreshingly likable Taeja Group––the exact opposite of the stereotypical Kdrama chaebol family. What didn’t work for me were the balance and pacing. The drama focused too much on the makjang (endless histrionic scenes with evil stepmom and sis) and left other plot threads and characters (especially the the ML) underdeveloped. The ending felt rushed. This is one show that would have benefitted from a couple more episodes. Missed a perfect opportunity for food slap/food hurling during the cooking class catfight.

Hide - While I thought the show was pretty good overall, I mainly stayed through the end because of Lee Bo-Young. The twisty plot veered a bit too often into makjang territory, especially in the later episodes (TWO people living under assumed identities after faking their deaths?). I wanted more scenes with Team Na, and fewer closeups of vengeful neighbor lady smiling dementedly at the camera. I think the ending would have been stronger had they bumped off at least one main character; my vote would have been for despicable hubby.

Blood Free - I was primed from the opening episodes to love Ju Ji-Hoon this show, which presented some contentious moral and ethical issues that couldn’t be more relevant today. I was disappointed that this juicy setup wasn’t executed better. The premise itself had a major flaw: it’s conceivable that aging or damaged limbs and organs could be replaced, but how can you replace someone’s aging brain and still have them be essentially the same person? The various plot threads and characters were never fully developed. Han Hyo-Joo’s dull, underpowered performance as the FL made it hard for me to care about the character. Joo Ji-Hoon’s unrelentingly tense, whispery ML was a waste of his megawatt personality. Someone please put this man in a romantic comedy!

Chief Detective 1958 - Good, mindless fun, with no pretentions of being anything more. Lee Je-Hoon isn’t a great actor, but here he’s likeable and self-deprecating, which I found charming. I loved his character, Park Yeong-Han, a cocky policeman from the sticks who shows the big-city cops that catching drug lords is not all that different from catching cattle thieves. While most of the allusions to the original series went right over my head, I thought Chief Detective 1958 captured the style and spirit of cop shows from that era.

Crash. The show keeps entertaining and I like that it has its informative side with the PSAs. The mystery about the truth of Yeon Ho's accident is still intriguing as well as the man in the black car. While he may have killed the jerk and planned to kill the trucker, I don't *think* Yeon Ho is also being targeted especially if it is the father or team leader because if they had murderous intent, why would they even deal with him? On the other hand, I did wonder if because he will start driving again, that's where he could be targeted.

High School Return of a Gangster. This show is surprising endearing, kinda wholesome, and has humor given that it's a show that deals with gangsters, bullying, and violence. The actors are doing such a good job and have such good chemistry. I really like what's being done with fleshing out the characters a bit; the bully isn't just a bully but a dumb kid in over his head. The class president dynamic with main character is still unfolding and I hope it will be revealed exactly what they were talking about that made Yi Yeon decide to commit that act immediately after leaving him and made Se Kyung so apologetic.

Beyond Evil. The actions of the world confused me such as why the culprit displayed the sister's fingertips in the first place when he didn't do that to anyone else. Why did the chief have to die over a supposedly missing report from 2 decades ago. How people kept getting arrested without warrants and then were getting right back to work the next day. Why was the chief used as bait anyway to get police interest when there alreadly was police interest. Just so many things left me with questions. I watched this because it's leaving Netflix soon and I have to say, the performances are really good especially the main actor.

Bitter Sweet Hell Episode 2 - I don't know what this people are doing. But it is keeping me very much entertained.
Jae-jin though... Is he naturally easy or is that goofy exterior a facade so Yeong-won won't think too much of him? He is too readable. Normally I'd laugh at it owing to the way he's likely messing around but here, it feels like he's masking something. And don't get me started on their son. I can't raise a son for disturbance who thinks he's matured enough to set the kitchen on fire but can't handle the heat.

Uncle Samsik EP 8-11 - I took a rest from this. Just a personal disconnect from kdramas in general.
There are many key players here. And it is fun keeping up with the characters.

Yeo-jin is smart and intuitive.
I don't get San though. It seems like a change occured in him. He went from not planning the coup to planning the coup. And to think he might have been played...he should have listened to Uncle Samsik. Seems like they got him exactly where they wanted and used him to further their plans whilst he thinking he's acting on his own will. I look forward to episodes 12&13.

Player 2 - Nice premiere. And thanks for bringing Krystal back to wrap off her arc in a continuity format instead of a flashback or backstory.
I'm all for the couple chemistry from Oh Yeon-seo. But I'm yet to see Song Seong-hoon's.

I really thought they were going to add the military guy into their group. I remembered later that he has a daughter to take care of.

Missing Crown Prince Episode 5&6 - I don't know why I'm still watching this one. This is a weak saguek in my books. It has everything power struggles to look for in a saguek but somehow it is lacking in things I can't place my hands on. And, the leads are the weakest links here - the male lead, the female lead and the second male lead. It is like they have this wonderful script that is too heavy for them to carry.
I'm all for the love tryst between the QD and Choi Sang-rok and where it is going to lead them, and the extent they'd go to protect their illicit affair.

The few times where we have a King who isn't swayed by the royal court...vroom! He's brought down by poisoning.
I love this King and Queen. And I'm especially drawn to how well the Queen worries for the safety of the Crown Prince.

Connection Episode 1&2 - I'm watching this at a speed of light.
I have a few observations. Jae-kyung is too much. It needs to be toned down. And, he got away with way too many things. Questioning the judgment of a doctor who's an expert in his field...? I didn't like it that the doctor caved in to Jae-kyung's bullying.

The confrontation at Jun-seo's funeral was top-notch.

It’s been a busy few weeks for me Beanies while I caught up on all the dramas I missed out on during my hiatus. Did ya hear that sound? Yup, it’s rattle of beans collected. 🫘 🫘 🫘

But I’m tired. So I’m only watching two dramas now. It’s a funny thing tho because I’m quite struck by their OST, and not just because I’m not musically inclined. First, and I have my red umbrella ready for the rotten tomatoes, is the theme song for The Midnight Romance in Hagwon. It’s wormed its way inside my head and I find myself humming it at the oddest of times, as if it were a faint recollection of The Concert in Central Park I never attended.
https://open.spotify.com/track/7p78LtBNxXm0nfvhy6GpIr

I'm also surprisingly enjoying the songs from the The Atypical Family, almost as surprised as I am by this offbeat drama. The quirky hook of I See You is so perfectly used within the drama but it’s such a pleasure to listen to on its own. https://open.spotify.com/album/4vq5IM3eib2FIDfPdu23fP But my favorite track is by Yi Sung Yol, which I listen to on repeat. https://open.spotify.com/album/1eHNGz5204SsrzVcBB5HTZ I haven’t fallen into a K-pop hole tho. In fact, my family commented the other day what a lovely French song I was listening to. 😂

Anyway, the theme here is what we’re watching, not listening. TAF will finish this weekend (please don’t crash, please, please) so I’m thinking of adding Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale. Not my usual fare, but the early reviews seem positive.

Crash This drama is good. There is nothing new but the story and the casting are good.

Dare to Love Me I'm not sure what the writer is trying to tell with this story because no subject is fully addressed...

Frankly Speaking This drama already left my computer and my memory.

The Atypical Family I still like nobody except the cute daughter and her crush.

Connection I watched 2 episodes and I don't like the ML. I didn't understand the hospital discussion about his blood... The guy was unconscious, they needed to test his blood for medical reasons.

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon The FL is adorably genuine.

Uncle Samsik I'm still behind...

Hierarchy I felt sad for the actors because the story and the characters were so flat... The fact they hinted a second season was the most funny thing in this drama.

Dreaming of a Freaking Fairy Tale This kind of over the top humor doesn't work on me and I don't really like the characters. An umbrella is a weird choice for a cuddly toy, not the most practical to sleep with.

High School Return of a Gangster (Wavve)

Happy Saturday, Beanies!

THE TRUTH S2: This show has one motto – being unhinged – and it commits to it with fiery passion. If unwashed male underwear and handcuffs found in bed as clues in the murder case aren't enough to prove that, here we also have LYN's chara advertising fake height insoles...

I MARRIED A SHOVEL MURDERER THE DOUBLE: Textbook OTT makjang – ridiculous premise, bold colors, messy characters, acting so theatrical it puts The Globe to shame, pearl makeup, everyone schemes, out-of-nowhere xianxia moment (for real!), cheap comedy, bullying, cheerleading (oh no!) and DRAMA bleeding from every scene. Surprisingly it's OK – nothing sophisticated or truly moving (unless the theme of woman scorned is PERSONAL to you), but entertaining just fine. Writing made an effort to give novel's 2D figures a bit of humanizing depth with a varying results, best on FL's shovel-murdery ex-hubby – if you ever wanted to see a dude slowly going MAD from guilt in excruciating HD detail, he's your guy! Others are not so lucky, but paternal cousin is fun in his simplicity at least.

FL is good – could only pass for a teen if you're genre blind, ofc, but otherwise clearly in her element delivering pain, rage, snark and bitch slaps. ML tries and even succeeds when he's ordered to ACT and not just POSE, bless him, but no amount of pretty angles, dramatic fan twirls and BDSM-coded passive-aggressive flirting will make me unsee his puberty acne under all that aging makeup. Very few 20y.o. have the gravitas to pull off a Mysterious Dangerous Swoony Man of Authority archetype convincingly – he's not one of them, sadly, so I couldn't care less about him or romance here. Pretty eyelashes tho. Lemme share his endless supply of popcorn and watch the show of FL dragging them all to hell)))

FLEETING BROTHERHOOD HEROES (2024): The painstaking effort I had to make to finish this, omg! In the end, I still have very polarizing opinion on this drama – it was entertaining for the most part, but dang, the writing was hopelessly bipolar! I mean, the range of laconic yet heartbreakingly poignant drama of prostitute and her daughter (cameo characters we only knew for like 10 minutes!) - and utterly lazy plot devicey-ness of ML miraculously finding witnesses from 30+ years ago, perfectly ready to confess everything whenever he needed a clue asap... And there is a lot of examples like that.