Once again, delayed by travel and real life, this is two weeks+ of drama catch-up…

COMPLETED
Check-in Hanyang - They sort of recovered the story in the last 2 episodes and managed to come to a reasonable conclusion for everyone I cared about. I was esp. happy the (not-so) ill prince won the day.

Love Scout - 2-minute resolution to the company conflict they kept pushing at us for 12 episodes 🙄. At least the OTP remained solid till the end and how cute were the 2nd leads 🥰.

Unmasked/Trigger - I liked this more and more with each episode and would quite like a S2 (Cho Hae-won needs her comeuppance too!). I loved how the team came together and grew stronger and better with each case.

The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call - Oh this was GOOOOOD! Pacy, fun, interesting, and intense, with barely time to breathe. Another one where I'd be happy with a S2.

ONGOING
When the Stars Gossip - Still paused. I'm going to catch up in time for the finale this weekend. Probably. Maybe…

The Scandal of Chun-hwa - In the middle of all the evil prince drama, I found Hwa-jin's story most moving - the way she accepted her fate and worked to move on. It'd be great if our FL herself turns into the painter from now on.

STARTED
The Witch - Ooh this hooked me right in with the first episode (did that electrocution death remind anyone else of Final Destination?). Second episode was a bit repetitive but I'm still in. The cameos were cute!

My Dearest Nemesis - It was cute and fun but Moon Woo-jin totally stole the show. That scene was hilarious.

WATCHLIST
Melo Movie has replaced The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call as the single drop show I need to get to…

Planning to watch Undercover High School and maybe Buried Hearts depending on Beanie feedback.

C-DRAMAS
Perfect Match and Kill My Sins have been consigned to the 'may-or-may-not finish it one day' bin.

Completed The White Olive Tree. The intent behind the show was greater than the execution. The surface-level treatment of trauma and PTSD aside, it was a good show in parts with some good performances. Wang Tian Chen as Benjamin was a standout.

Started The First Frost and it seems to be a reasonably good adaptation. We'll see how it goes.

Might try The Best Thing and Filter when they're out next week.

J-DRAMAS
Had a sudden urge to catch up on some j-dramas. Binged Business Kon: Suki ni Nattara Rikonshimasu, The Reason We Fall in Love, Kissing the Ring Finger, and Aoshima-kun is a Bully!. All of these were the standard Japanese rom-coms - nothing particularly memorable.

Also binged Usotoki Rhetoric, which could have been a by-the-numbers part-supernatural, part-detective story but was so much more. The growing found family around our...

My Dearest Nemesis: (1-2)🐉🎮 This is adorable. ML is competent at work, but he’s secretly a softie who loves sweet drinks and video games! Choi Hyun-wook (/Moon Woo-jin) was such a good choice for this role to show the ML's adorkableness right underneath the surface. Moon Ga-young isn't using a baby voice in this, thank heaven; aside from my annoyance with her character being written as weirdly rude to the ML, I kind of like her in this.

Finished
Love Scout: My review is short (for me), because this is my Mary Poppins drama: practically perfect in every way. I absolutely loved it!! All of it!! What a sweet way to start the '25 drama year. There's nothing groundbreaking here with tropes and plot, but it doesn't need to be. This is a classic romance with classic romance tropes, lovingly rendered with a stellar cast and assured directing. Our leads are so easy to root for, because they are good and nice people who are good and nice to others (the FL has to thaw out, but her journey is lovely!). Seeing their relationship unfold with respect, admiration, and open communication is awesome. The emotional beats are so well timed. The SLs were also great characters with their own arcs and real development and growth - I loved them both so much!!!!! I loved the case of the week setup, too, as they matched people to the right places for them. There are so many easy to love characters in this, including the ML's sweet daughter and the best friends of the leads (and that awesome bookstore!). The ending was lovely. This is the very definition of a feel-good drama for me. (P.S. Lee Jun-hyuk oppa, 사랑해!! 🥰)

Check in Hanyang: I loved it and had a blast watching! As a fusion sageuk, it didn't enrage/annoy me like Flower Crew Joseon Marriage Agency or Secret Romantic Guesthouse. Instead, it reminded me of my fave fusions, Royal Secret Inspector and Joy and Moonshine (CIH is not in the same weight class as The Matchmakers or Bossam, so no comparisons necessary there). I loved the comedy, the plots, the politics, the revenge, and the character development. The writing got better and better as the show progressed, and the lightness and darkness were balanced well. The final two episodes were EXCELLENT - writing, directing, acting, music. In the second half, it becomes clear that this is a tale that explores greed, power, and revenge...

Live Watches
Melo Movie: I really liked this drama. I’ll save more spoilery thoughts, but I was relieved with how the second couple’s story turned out, and there was so much to love about the primary couple. Flawed characters done right and I’m definitely watching out for this writer going forward.

Buried Hearts/Treasure Island: Hulu (US) refuses to carry this for the moment and I am ~incensed~. I’ll see y’all on the dark side (with better subs anyway) shortly.

Undercover High School: What hilarious fun this is turning out to be! That scene at the end of the credits made me cackle so hard! At this point, I’m most looking forward to Hae-seong and Dong-min’s friendship, and to Hae-seong’s cousin (? Unofficial adoptive sibling?”
]\]\ either having to cover for him constantly or just dying of embarrassment erry day of her life!

Older Dramas
Light Shop: (finished!) This was a really satisfying drama. I loved watching all the pieces coalesce and start to make sense, and the reveal involving Ju Ji-hoon and his daughter was such a powerful moment (and then ANOTHER powerful moment!). I did think there were a lot of endings, which sort of took away from the feeling of wrapping up the story (maybe this is intentional?) - this was most apparent with Uhm Tae-gu’s character, but was true of the ghostly schoolgirl too. I’d watch a spinoff with that paranormal detective any day though!

K-action Movie of the Week
Whatever the latest Roundup movie is - Punishment?: I’ll keep watching these as long as Ma Dong-seok cares to make them. I don’t even remember what number we’re on, and while the first two were the best, these have all been totally entertaining to watch. The addition of the cyber police officers was a nice touch, and I loved that MDS’s character had no idea what they were talking about at least 85% of the time.

My Dearest Nemesis: I really enjoyed even with the hints of trauma interposed in between. They have solid chemistry even though CHW always comes off as really young to me, but I think it works in this instance. I am also interested in 2L romance, that actually seems more interesting. So, I hope the rest of it is fun.

Buried Hearts: Now, here I thought this would be a revenge thriller and it still might, but the first episode gave me melodramatic soap opera vibes, and I loved it. I realize they are loosely basing this off the count of monte Cristo, but man oh man she was MESSSSSSSSSSSSSY Pants for that. Woooof, girl no, no. Excited for the rest of this.

Undercover High school: So, I laughed really hard at our Hero’s introduction, but not so much at the rest of the episode, but that is okay. It was still fun, also they have to move a little fast in this because it is only a 12er. I look forward to this as well.

Undercover High School (1): Good start. So, Hae-seong fell asleep on his first day in class, almost assaulted the teacher, and got bullied. He's a horrible student, but that's very fun to watch. I'd say he does have one thing in common with a normal student though: the feeling of just wanting to go home.

The Witch (1-2): I love the slow & somber tone, and I'm glad the drama is taking it's time setting things up. No need to get to the main menu yet because I'm really enjoying the appetizers.

My Dearest Nemesis (1-2): The second episode kinda lost me. I really like the set-up, with the game and all, and I could probably watch an entire drama based on this alone. But sadly this appears to be quickly dropped as the drama moves into more familiar territory. There's some cool stuff here, but I don't particularly find the boss/ employee dynamic they have going on very amusing, and the only scene where I actually felt any chemistry was when she was about to accidentally bump into him at the concert. So, yeah, think I'm gonna drop this.

Newtopia (4): I'm thinking that getting drunk to avoid getting bit by zombies might come back to bite them. Then again, the drunk guy that was bitten is still perfectly fine, so maybe they're onto something?

Study Group (9-10): Great finale. Everybody got their butt kicked, before turning the tables in satisfying ways, and Hee-won saved the day because she assembled her own gang (and in my mind she beat up half of the guys on her own, because that wouldn't even be the most ridiculous thing to have happened here). A mostly satisfying ending, but I certainly wouldn't mind a season 2, especially after those small teases.

Be Melodramatic (11): That couch scene between So-min & Min-joon? Yeah, good stuff. It's funny, because I'm not really used to seeing intense passionate kissing between secondary couples in KDramas. Meanwhile, Eun-jung's story continues to break my heart in a thousand pieces.

Idol: The Coup (1-3): This randomly popped up on my radar, so of course I started this instead of the other 50 dramas that were already on my list. And, darn, this is more heavy and depressing than I thought it was gonna be. These girls can't catch a single break, and while they're all pretty flawed and messy (some more than others), the drama quickly managed to make me root for them all, so hopefully they (and their friendship) come out on top. That ending of episode 3 though… Seriously, the only two people that were still in their corner die at the same time? Are they cursed or something? Doo-ho's final words crushed me: "My girls… What will happen to them?".

Eagle Brothers: Beom-soo's arc is still shaking. And to be honest, the love triangle they're building is creepy. The only thing not totally icking me about it is because of the actress playing the salon lady. She manages to not make the character an outright borderline creep.
I love the business relationship between LX Grump and Eagle Lady. I like how he respects her craft whilst not masking his criticism under the respect. I look forward to the corporate entanglement, especially for whenever Silla Doucheguy begins his plan for hostile takeover. Is this really how takeovers happen. A takeover is happening, a total stranger is making a valuation of my company without my express permission and that valuation determines the worth and selling cost of my business. Phew!

Doubt: To think I finally settled into this crime noir after using a playback speed of 1.65-1.70x. I am glad to have ticked one of my 2024 debts off. Not just for ticking sakes, but the fact that I actually enjoyed the drama. I still maintain that I wished she was actually guilty. And I liked that my gut was proven right even though her father did not let her get through with it. The whodunnit was engaging. They hid the culprit in plain sight - the most unusual person. Even after the unveiling, the culprit still has the unusual demeanor. Kudos to the actress for still emoting that vulnerability. Most times, after unveiling the hidden culprit, those characters under a 180° paradigm shift in their life pattern and start going all philosophical. But this one stuck true to her everyday life. Kudos to the writer to for bringing such a character to life.

Maestra: Strings of Truth EP 9: I'm here with my 🍿. Runa is really dialing the manipulative individual up a notch. That lady must have something up her sleeve.

Witch: 7.5 Haven't seen a high school with such a high death rate since Buffy / Sunnydale.

When the Stars Gossip: 6.5 Re abandoned baby and secret mother -- Asianwiki thinks there's only a 9-year difference in the actresses' ages.
- Did anyone not know that phone evidence would come out?
- Also, bad timing. Saw the Kim Sae-ron news and then went to ep 14 to see a funeral -- for a mouse.

Melo Movie: 6.0 (ep 3 & 4) 💤

My Dearest Nemesis: 7.0 The in-game part was better than the real-world part. No big surprise there, being better is part of the point of games.
- "Director Killer" - are there any real-life actors who deserve that nickname?
- The title scares me. I keep thinking "My Dearest" and wondering if I'll have enough fingers and toes to count all the (d)amnesia cases.

Unmasked: 6.6 Parts of the final week were ok, other parts... the scuba/air-tank bit was fake-dramatic ultra-predictable crap.

Newtopia: 8.0 So the best thing to do when the zombie apocalypse hits is to get plastered? One way or another, bound to help. And S.Korea may be a good country to be in when it hits.

Undercover High School: 8.0 So how long till they get under the covers? Get high??

Buried Hearts: 6.0 Likely drop.

Eagle Brothers
So far I'm watching mainly for the leads, I like their encounters and talks... and how Gwangsuk is catching the interest of uri Mr Hedgehog just by being who she is. And by making an excellent makkoli. 🙂

Black Dragon Choi Hyunwook
I had so much more fun than I expected! I think Choi Hyunwook is perfectly embodying the main character who is a cold chaebol CEO on the outside and a nerdy gaming rockery boy with a sweet tooth on the inside. The leads have chemistry, the rom-com tropes are so far well done... I'm a happy watcher 🙂 Kaja Aegi. 🙂

Undercover High School Seo Kangjoon
Another premiere episode which I enjoyed more than I expected! I already fell in love when the show was self-aware how absurd it is that uri hero goes undercover as a high schooler... and integrated this into the plot. And I was in stitches during the epilogue. 😂 (Though, ehm, no complaints with the fan service 😊)
I also like the NIS team (hello Gyurim from Perfect Secretary), the adoptive family dynamic... Kim Shinrok as the villainess... and the sort of F4 school vibes... and I can't wait for uri secret agent to create a havoc there. 🙂

Study Group, finished
I sometimes felt a bit overwhelmed and wouldn't mind an extra episode (or two) to let some stories more develop... and some moments breath... nevertheless, this show still stays as the biggest surprise of 2025 for me and I'm happy I checked it out. Uri Gamin luckily doesn't change and even in despair he shows his friendship and that he is the true Study Group Leader. The Glue. The Light. The Changer. And I hope we get season 2, because I sttill believe that there is a reason Teacher put Pi Hanul's name on the list... and I want to see him getting under Gamin's spell.

First Frost, 4eps
I was so looking forward to this, because I loved Hidden Love and Brother was one of my favourite characters... but.. this drama is totally different - not only in vibe (and so many triggering events happening to Heroine! 🫣), but also the characters are nothing like they were in Hidden Love. And now I don't know whether my disappointment is just because of my different expectations or the drama really is not that good.

Still watching, but a bit behind with Ask the Stars and Cinderella Game.

I'm slowing working my way through Melo Movie, savoring each episode. Everything about this is working for me. But then again, I love melos. The cast is wonderful, the script is excellent, and don't even get me started on the soundtrack 😀 3 eps to go.

The opening week of Black Salt Dragon (my first title rebellion for 2025) was much better than I expected but I'm not sure I'll continue. TBD after this coming week's episodes. I'm not a big MKY fan, but I do like her in this role. That was one surprise. The other two were, of course, the hilarious scene between the leads featuring Moon Woo Jin, and that dragon tattoo 😉Although not into gaming, I think it's really fun as a theme.

Undercover High School didn't release on Viki yesterday, so I'll start tonight. I'm really hoping it's as good as we've been wanting it to be!

Sadly, I won't be watching Buried Hearts because of the OTT. I'll enjoy it through the recaps and beanie comments. Maybe it will make its way to Netflix in the fall with the other SBS releases they've licensed.

And I'm continuing to battle the avalanche of c-drama releases. In the last couple of weeks I finished Perfect Match (imperfect but entertaining) and The Blossoming Love (surprisingly very good). I've been dabbling with Les Belles (nothing new but Jelly Lin is so cute). Next up Flourished Peony, with 4 others waiting in the wings (Filter, First Frost, Si Jin, and The Best Thing). And March releases still to come. I may completely lose it 🤪

Have a great week beanies!

Hello beanies! Spring is almost here and the countryside is beautiful with all the white and pink almond blossoms. 🌸🌸🌸

What I am watching:

_ My Perfect Stranger (11 out of 16). What can a say? A wonderful drama. I love seeing how all the pieces of this complex puzzle are being connected.

_ Romance is a Bonus Book (14 out of 16). A nice, comfort drama. I admit I don't connect with the romance but I like the main characters (as individuals, not as a couple) and some secondary characters are funny to watch. So I prefer all the scenes which have to do with the job they do.

_ Ongoing C-drama Les Belles (15 out of 26). When I started it I couldn't imagine I would enjoy it so much. It's super entertaining! I can watch several episodes in a row without getting bored for a minute. The main actress is doing a great job.

_ Just started the C-drama Destined (2023). 1 episode. All my friends have started First Frost, also starring Bai Jing Ting, but I wanted to give priority to this show because it has been in my list for a long time.
I hope I like it, but the tag "business and independent female lead" already scared me. I have had too much of that theme lately.

What I have finished:

_ Study Group. Amazing. The last episodes were a non-stop.
I still think the best episodes in this show were the first two, but it's been a good watch overall.

_ C-drama Blossom. My impression is this drama had many more things to tell about some characters and their past, but we only saw the tip of the iceberg. So some sub-plots felt very rushed in the end.
But it's a good drama.

JIN 1 & 2: This was absolutely fantastic, and hands-down the best j-drama I've ever watched (and yes, despite being split into two seasons, it really is a single show). It's an incredibly timely look at the how the big and small moral choices we make in turbulent times ripple through our own lives and those to come, and its detailed, loving yet unvarnished portrayal of the late Edo period made me wish more j-dramas used historical settings. If you have access to Netflix, watch it now before it disappears again into the dark corners of the internet.

Study Group: For a show that claimed to value brains over brawn, I was disappointed that the only "solution" to endemic violence it could conjure up in its finale was throwing more punches. Maybe the writer should have studied harder . . .

OUR CHOCOLATE MOMENT (Ep 1-2) This is why I like Drama Specials: simple stories done well. I immediately was engulfed with the vibes of BEST CHICKEN, WOK OR LOVE and MYSTIC POP-UP BAR as the story centers around the Clock Shop where all the timekeepers have stopped, frozen in time, just like the enigmatic owner, Hong. He is a man who makes chocolate as a sentimental reminder of his past while living in a graveyard of frozen time. He is very empathic to the people who wander into his shop. Chocolate interweaves the characters' lives into a lesson often lost in our modern world: friendship is the gift of happiness, at any time, at any age. So Ju-Yeon’s upbeat performance reminds me of Uhm Ji Won’s in her current drama, almost to the point of being related in appearance and spirit. It was a very well done, well acted drama. Highly recommend.

SORRY NOT SORRY (Ep 11) Another good, social-issue filled episode. Why do people get married? Why do they have kids? It is fun? Chan-Yang’s bubbly personality is muted by pre-partum depression; Song-Yi correctly diagnoses the problem: CY has no other friends than Hana and her. It is her friends that anchors Song-Yi in making her finale decisions despite her end-of-episode assumption about Attorney Cha.

EAGLE BROS (Ep 5-6) All of the story lines continue to speed along, with a few cringe speed bumps along the way. FL has brought their "baby" makgeolli to market as she assumes the full matriarchy role for the Eagle family as the bros continue to struggle with their own personal issues.

I decided to blindside my slump by quickly pressing play on Love Scout 2 weeks ago, thinking it a safe one to force myself into. It wasn't, unfortunately, but at least I was so incensed with the disappointment that I immediately clicked play on Trauma Code. Life got crazy immediately so I've only watched 2 episodes but I have already laughed so so much snd looking forward to the rest of it! It's literally medicine! And honestly! It's not solely because of JJH! All the side characters are great too!

**Stars - Hwaiting! We can do this.
**Undercover HS - Glad Viki has it now. Look forward to it.
**First frost (cdrama) - Dropped at ep 4. It was shot beautifully and Captain BJT looked good but the overall direction, screenplay and editing didn’t work for me. It was a bit weird and disjointed feeling like melo one moment and romcom another. All the forced meeting and convenient writing didn’t work for me.

Live watching:

Buried Heart 1/16. This one is so hard to watch in the US so I had to go to the dark side. It is quite fast paced and seems to have a lot of ground it needs to cover. PHS is so manly yet sweet to his girl but you can sense he has a dark side which will shine full force when everyone and everything is against him. Revenge will hopefully be sweet.

Delayed
Love Scout. Started this while waiting for Buried Heart and on 10/12. Nice enough but not so gripping that I can’t wait for hubby to get back from travels to finish.

cdrama
Completed
You Are My Hero. Sweet and breezy to watch. Also love BJT and he delivers a manly yet sweet hero with a feisty independent FL who somehow always manages to get in weird high stakes situations with bombs and guns.

Till the End of the Moon. I binged watched this by FF many parts yet still managed to enjoy it even though there were so many timelines/past lives. Thanks to @OldLawyer for mentioning this last week’s WWW. I was traveling and it was a good distraction.

Thinking of starting The First Frost since I do like BJT. How are people enjoying it?

Sorry! Previous post deleted due to misplaced keying ...

I have a question for Dramabeans WWW contributors. Remember last year, when JOY OF LIFE 2 was released to great anticipation ... Why were we talking about anything else? Now I get it!

Whoo Boy! Fantastically entertaining. My happy watch of the week (month, year) goes to JOL 2, the hugely talented casting director, incredible storytelling author, director, production crew (sharp editing) and the outstanding cast. I know JOL 1 is considered a classic, and a masterpiece, but JOL 2 impressed me even more that the first season -- partly because these characters are now like family. It's so rare for the middle part of a 3-part series to hold the audience, and season two hit that mark for me, in spades.

[Also, for those of you who are familiar with the Virgil Flowers character in John Sandford's novels, wanna bet he's caught JOL? Because that sneaky investigator Virgil is kinda Fan Xian, no? Plus the vivid side characters ... ]

Around episodes of JOL 2, I also caught up with kdrama WHEN THE STARS GOSSIP, and got happily reminded that Gong Hyo-Jin is a terrific actress. I'm still enjoying this space drama, which has steadily improved as the story unfolds.

Began cdrama THE FIRST FROST with Bai Jing Ting and Zhang Ruo Nan on Netflix, and this sent me to cdrama THE ORDINARY GLORY (2020) office drama with a very young Bai Jing Ting. This is my first Mark Chao watch, and he's wonderful. The story is entirely familiar. Every office worker has experienced this kind of crap going on, gossip, harassement, ambition, desperation. This is apparently a remake of kdrama MISAENG (2014), which never clicked for me. Entertaining as heck.

Finally, now that I've made it through the coldest week of the year tethered to JOL 2, I'm in withdrawal and hoping that some of the newly releasing kdramas will fill the void: UNDERCOVER HIGH SCHOOL, BURIED HEARTS, THE POTATO LAB. Fingers crossed.

Our Adorable Dragon🍓🐉(2/12): I am the ML. In public I am busy with work and real life, but in my private life I squee and fangirl to the point of embarrassment about this romcom!🤣 The Leads! 😍 The Tropes! 😍 The Gaming scene! 😍 The K-drama Slump has officially been eliminated. I’ll do anything in my power to keep up with the episodes, so I better not catch any of you blabbing about this to my real life! 😤

Love Scout Stuck the landing! The ending brought both a sign of relief and a sigh of content as the drama gave our OTP and our favorite supporting characters a warm send-off. This drama really encapsulates the feeling of spring. I did wish it was 14 episodes since some parts could use some fleshing out. But with the limited 12 episodes, the drama did a great job of giving us the usual kdrama-drama while focusing more on the relationships and warmth, even if it makes the drama more of a modern fantasy.

Study Group Also stuck the landing! The study group kids are SO precious! Just want to reach into the screen and give them brain-boosting snacks. I'm going to miss the warmth, humor, and all the incredible and beautifully choreographed fight scenes. It's another drama that I think could have used an extra episode, but it used its limited 10 episodes wisely to entertain the audience. Also, it has one of the best opening sequence/OST. I never skipped it.

Les Belles (cdrama, up to episode 10). While I'm not quite in love with it, I find it really entertaining. I appreciate how this rom-com has both leads deftly delivering on the comedy and that it is more comedy-heavy (so far...). I'm liking all the set-up of the 3 couples. I wish we could clone the ML and give a copy to that prince who really just wants to be BFFs with the ML, so that all the goofy handsome men in this drama get a partner.

Happy Saturday, Beanies!

LOVE OF DEMONIC CATBOY AND FRUIT GIRLTHE DIVINE TREE: Unexpectedly, my biggest comfort watch in idk how long, last time I saw xianxia this non-blood-pressure-rising was in SHEN LI a whole year ago. Ofc, overall these two dramas aren't that comparable, but this cozy, “love and sanity will conquer all” vibe is really similar. For example, so much attention is given to basic human needs like food and physical care, and not like “once in a while as a grand romantic gesture”, no, here it's just the norm – both leads constantly ensure each other's utmost comfort, safety and happiness. Even when they fight or someone's getting hit with Magic Amnesia™ . Actually, it must be one of the funniest and most heartwarming drama amnesias ever, because it's really just there to hammer once again how good and right these people are all to each other. Also, I physically can't support more the brilliant notion of kisses being the best remedy for this disease (regularly initiated by patient himself – kudos to this naughty brave heart and curious mind)!

Heck, even villains here are not all that scary – gross and annoying in their delulu at most. Still a huge fan of Evil Cultivator Guy, his memetic parody self of all iconic cdrama Demon Lords combined is a gift that just keeps on giving! Truly hope writers won't go sudden killing spree on him and his loser sect in finale – come on, man's got a wife to win over (if he manages a herculean task of not being moron for 5 secs) and baby to parent, leave him alone!

P.S. CGI got MUCH better – that dragon was on part with TTEOTM's one! And so were mutated giant demon spiders, ugh...

Upd.: oh, it is HE! Now I'm super relieved and can finish with a light heart)))

THE REBEL PRINCESS: Finally managed to caught a few episodes more, mostly focused on hardcore family drama. You know what this show reminded me of? THE PRINCESS' MAN – both in how FL's dad is always the worst person in the room no matter who you put in there with him and the deep, nearly philosophical discussion of politics (power) ruining the relationship. Case in point – after witnessing her mom willingly going into nunnery to escape dad's cruel schemes, FL, who just married less than a year ago (and spent half of this time NOT bonding with her husband romantically or otherwise), is left wondering with a serene acceptance WHEN will her own family falls victims to court intrigue. That's right, not IF – when. Ofc, this being a drama and her being FL we can safely assume her fears won't ever come true, but realistically speaking, it's a terrible place to be a political bride at the center of feudal era turmoil.

Had some snow the other day, wasn’t going anywhere, so I watched a bunch of Korean and Chinese films, including some North Korean ones. Fwiw, YouTube has a bunch of older Korean films if anyone is interested.

Some photos at the soon to disappear fanwall.

O, Youth ! A North Korean RomCom. No serial killers ! Well Done
Hong Kil Dong Another NK film, good fight scenes.

A Shaw Brothers film , Comedy of Mismatches a funny RomCom with Chinese Opera style songs .

There were others . A Flower in Hell (1958) Two brothers , one fresh out of the army after the war seeks out his brother to return home to help take care of mom. The other brother is stealing from the army base and hanging out with prostitutes. Pretty bleak look at post war Korea.

Friendly Rivalry is the only drama I’m watching . Hyeri is 30 ? The Reply drama is the only other drama I have seen her in.

Viki has the Nodame Cantabile movies , I watched both of those.

For Eagle Brothers: maybe I'll change my mind. Maybe the leads will become my favorite couple here. Their dynamic is fun.
But I really like bro #2 and his friend.
Undercover High School: I'm dead. I thought this was going to be like an episode of 21 Jump Street but instead this is giving me Seoul Buster's "MZ Dongbang gang" vibes. LMAO
And I love the FL. She's so extra.

But what in the friendly rivalry is going on with his cousin?
My Dearest Nemesis: all I could think of during the gaming scenes was that every time I tried to watch a GOT7/DAY6 vlive at 10/11PM my mom would disconnect the internet. Meanwhile, these kids spend the whole night playing games when their dad is in the room next door and they don't need to hide it.
Kids these days have it nice. LOL

Anyway, I can't stand the ML.
The second leads are stealing my attention.
The Witch: I'm not gonna judge those kids for not wanting to get anywhere near her. It's like Jennifer's body soul is attached to her or something.

But calling her a witch makes no sense. Like, why are they assuming she's doing it on purpose? Why would she do that? She tried to put distance to the point she dropped out of school. Why would a witch do that instead of just making something to them so they would leave her alone? Like, she could just kill/hurt you for gossiping about her...? Why hurt the ones who defended her??? Crazy kdramaland logic.
Friendly Rivalry: fav show on air rn. This is so much fun. My girls are so cute together.
Study Group(finale): Something I appreciate is how Hanul's dad wasn't the typical "I'm gonna hit my son with some golf clubs" kind. He was a horrible person, and raised a horrible son but it had nothing to do with golf clubs. Or baseball bats.

I need to catch up with Chunhwa.

BONUS
GD show aka. Good Day: swag, swag.
A bunch of medical shows.
EXchange 3.5.
Severance (with a friend).

Started My Dearest Nemesis, and enjoyed the characters and their interactions immensely. My heart bled for young punker Joo-yeon, bravely baring his heart for all to see, and young romantic Su-jeong, sobbing into her bed for probably a week afterward, while simultaneously laughing at them both. I also deeply empathized with his distaste for triple espressos and silent yearning for chocolate lattes--me too, Joo-Yeon, me too.

Almost finished Chief Kim, and the redemption arcs are proceeding nicely. I was sure that there was going to be some kind of The Departed twist, but I guess not. Rooting for Ha-kyung and Yul to get together, and Chief Kim and Ga-eun would make a cute couple, but we'll see.

Hello Beanies,
I'm envious of the comments about spring as I am still in a "marshmallow world." I've entered a huge drama slump at the worst time as my husband is out of town and I need distractions from my anger at the state of my country right now.

Watched....kind of:
OASIS: I forced myself to finish this only for the main characters. (I do admit I used the FF button some) I was disappointed as it wasn't the historical drama I was expecting.

STUDY GROUP: I really tried to like it. I loved the cast (even though it took me a while to keep them all straight!), the "super hero type" fight sequences and the amazing graphics of the intro. But, I couldn't handle the bloody realistic fight scenes and the intense bullying. And, maybe, there just wasn't enough of a story going on for me. Hated to drop it at episode 8, but I had to.

On-going:

MY DEAREST NEMESIS: I really don't enjoy live watching, but I gave into this as I couldn't decide what to watch. I loved it for all the reasons others have mentioned! It is so fun! Moon Woo-jin absolutely killed that role!! I'm not usually a big fan of Choi Hyun Wook (don't hate me Twinkling Watermelon fans!) but I admit he is the perfect mix of cocky/confident/dorky for this role. I'm going to try to hold off watching to binge several episodes at a time. I'll see how that goes.

So, now I really need something to binge. Maybe MELO MOVIE? CHECK IN HAYANG? Or something off of my very long "old dramas" watchlist. Ahhhh!! What to do?

What do you call a romcom drama which takes just about every trope ever used, adds some genuine comedy, good acting and even some fun special effects- and it all works? Answer: You call it MY DEAREST NEMESIS. It helps that our “Chaebol Heir” is actually on probation in the eyes of the actual Chaebol grandmother and yet leads a double life- as our FL has discovered. So far, I am loving this show.

My drama watching this week was otherwise fairly limited.

Having finished watching the Chinese Costume Drama PERFECT MATCH (which was good) my wife is now watching ROMANCE OF A TWIN FLOWER and really likes it. She is also enjoying KILL MY SINS, which is a mystery and suspense Chinese Costume drama as well as LES BELLES which is a much lighter Chinese Costume drama whose French title seems to have been an arbitrary decision by Viki (but the show is entertaining anyways).

She also finished and enjoyed both seasons of the Japanese mystery show GALILEO and another one: INHERITANCE DETECTIVE although Netflix is only posting a single episode per week.

I watched the final two MISCHIEVOUS KISS movies on Viki. My verdict remains the same: All of the full length drama versions of the classic Itazurra Na Kissu story are better. The best is still the live action drama MISCHIEVOUS KISS: LOVE IN TOKYO.

We are now six episodes into our new Weekender and we now have a clear outline of the protagonists and antagonists in this drama: Our Chaebol ML and his wonderful grown children, our FL, now the head of her late husband’s Makgeolli Brewery plus her four brother’s-in- law and finally the antagonist Silla Brewery couple and their daughter Se-ri. We have a sketch of the relationships, including that of our FL and her lonely mom and of course the FL and the four living brother’s of her late husband (and their relationships with each other). We have the potential romantic pairings which range from the completely romantic pairing of the youngest brother, a brave, smart but completely innocent youngest Eagle brother with the beautiful, sophisticated daughter of our ML to the completely problematical situation of the middle brother and his stalker admirer. So far that last is the only fly in the ointment for this tale but not enough to keep this drama from being a good Weekender.