Live watches
The art of negotiation
I need this to end well as a complete story. If there is a second season it needs to be the same team based somewhere else and have the same high quality writing with only instrumental music.

Way back love
I am enjoying this short bittersweet tale. It is pitched just right and I think they chose the right amount of episodes for the story. I will miss it when it ends next week.

Divorce insurance
Male lead’s first wife is annoying me just as much as the female leads ex husband. I hope they both suffer before the drama ends.

Crushology
This is like a live action webtoon complete with sparkling main characters. So far it is a harmless low stakes watch.

Kururi - who’s in love with me - J drama
Still watching, still wondering why these three men can’t be honest with the female leads.

Hello, nice to meet you. Let’s get divorced - J drama
Still slow watching.

Somehow re subscribed to Netflix by accident so trying to squeeze in as many dramas as I can. Mainly J dramas as no new K-dramas that I want to watch.

Beyond Love - J drama
This one is part of the Netflix might as well watch it as I have another month’s subscription to use up list. I am only part way through the second episode I am not sure why it is taking so much effort to get into this one as it seems to be my kind of drama and I have seen the main leads in other dramas that I have enjoyed.

Completed
Orange Days - J drama 2004
College dramas from the era when they were doing PPL for sign language. It was ok quality wise for an older drama but frustrating watch for me as the female lead was quite rude and self centred.

Audiobook corner

Koreaboo - Shenee Howard (free on Audible)
Had Daniel Henney as one of the main voice actors
Soundscape was like it was filmed on location. London Black woman meets one of the top K pop idol group members by chance and follows his advice to visit Korea to live her friend’s dream. Has tracks from GOT7.

Non fiction while waiting for credits

Oversubscribed - Daniel Priestly
Marketing tips (free on Audible)

The next conversation - Jefferson Fisher
Communication tips

Eagle Brothers: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Gwangsook is so impressionable she's giving Hedgehog myocardial infarctions. Mr. Man has fallen hardly in love. I'm looking forward to Bom and maknae's arc.
Seri Omma. I don't know if she's befuddled or cheering for Seri, but I'd be miffed if my kid suddenly acts up like Seri is, especially at this moment.
To those who called a romance between Seri and Beom-soo, cheers. One of the parties is clearly showing signs.

How Am I Going to Kill Dong-joo This Week: The funeral theatrics was chef's kiss. I understood walking Jang-sun out of the venue, but banning Chairman Cha as well was unexpected.
Ji lady is forgetting that it is Dong-joo and not Jang-sun that brought her into the house. Who is she to act up?

The Art Of Negotiation: I don't like the return of that guy from Sanin construction. At least maknae is less of a pushover now. I loved how the whole team stood their ground when he was inspecting. Can he be gone already.

My major draw in to this drama was Kim Dae-myung. I loved the natural way he handles his characters - not as a character he has to execute but as persons going about and living their everyday lives. I loved it in Hospital Playlist and I'm loving it here. And his character spotlight only gets to highlight it all the more.

Divorce Insurance: Still on episode 1 but I managed to push further for another 10 minutes. The board meeting where he was okayed to put together his task force team was well executed. The water gun too.
FL's ex-husband is a douchebag. Just how many minutes and I wanted him of my screen already. He was a pain. To think he took out a loan in her name and had the nerve to play it to her face🤦🏽🤦🏽🤦🏽. She's too kind. Even if he's leaving me with the debt, I'm not gonna let you gloat on your way out. I'm making sure I get the last word in, and they'll hurt real bad.

Finished
The Witch: Holy cow, I loved this! What a great surprise! I was enthralled and the episodes flew by. My only complaint is that it's too short! The vibe was like reading the Brontes or Wilkie Collins... Jinyoung was the right choice for the ML. He conveys a clear-eyed innocence that makes his observation of the FL feel motivated by compassion and selfless love, rather than coming off as creepy. The FL is ethereal; she wears her sadness and loneliness like a cloak, burdened by her curse. As an adult, the FL is both the Witch and Rapunzel, in self-imposed seclusion in her high tower to protect others from herself. The story uses this seemingly simple setup (a dark curse, and a quest to save her), to give us a gothic, deeply nerdy fairy tale. Hypothesis testing has rarely been so tense (two words: tape measure. iykyk!). The plot sounds so simple, but the way the story unfolds slowly and cyclically gives us time to feel deeply with the characters. I found the ending beautiful, and I loved the often magical instrumental OST. Highly recommend - you'll know within the first 1-2 eps if it will work for you (*and don't read spoilers!!!*). I loved it!

Miscellaneous
● Well, no wonder I loved the Undercover High School OST instrumentals - one of the composers on the soundtrack is Park Sejun (one of my faves), who also composed for Call it Love and a BUNCH of other great dramas. I want "Final Match" to be my theme music whenever I walk into a room! 😆
● Lately I've been reading more webtoons on the Webtoon app. Recently finished Villain With A Crush, which was fun! I've subscribed to like 37 others 😂 I'm over 2/3 done with The Sound of Your Heart, which is hilarious. Enjoyed the first thirty eps of A Martial Master Wakes Up as a Concubine (very funny), and the first 16 eps of Return Your Soul, which has drama adaptation written all over it. Scorching Romance and This Life to the Next are off to promising starts!
● Mom watched and loved Racquet Boys - it's now in her top ten. She loved the focus on realistic relationships and love, and found the ensemble phenomenal. I convinced her to watch Undercover High School next!!

The Divorce insurance: This went from light and frothy to sad pretty quickly. His sister seems to be dead and by suicide. He is definitely more affable now than when he spoke with his sister. That being said I am still enjoying the drama and hope it stays relatively light.

The Art of Negotiation: Awwww we are at the end. I wonder if the stories will be wrapped up or just left to hang on a final M&A case.

Buried Hearts: Finally, we are at the end, lol.

Resident Playbook: Looking forward to this!!

Hyper Knife: So, we don’t know if she failed or not. Did the professor die? Who knows? The guy at the end Dr. Choi. However, this was a fun drama and our leads played beautifully off each other. PEB is a true talent.

Way Back Love: Awwww man. How heartbreaking for everyone. An accident, wow. This is so sad, but I knew that watching this. By the end of episode 4 I was sobbing.

Bunny and Her Harem (1): Because Crushology is boring. Anyway, this was stupid, ridiculous, and as cliché & unoriginal as it gets, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Live (7-12): This gets more and more depressing as it goes on, but it's still as great as ever. Sure, the whole scenario of the r*ape victims being the kids of the abused mom, who then nearly kills her abusive husband, is starting to strech believability a bit, but that whole thing just broke my heart in a million pieces. Yang-chon was always a good cop, but he certainly wasn't the best husband or father, but luckily he's improving in that regard. He should really work on his anger issues though (which I'm guessing he got from his father). Hye-ri and Sam-bo might've gotten off to a rough start, but they might just be my favorite duo at this point. Also really liked Jung-oh & Jang-mi's conversation about trauma and reactions to it.

The Divorce Insurance (3-4): I'm really enjoying this. Han-deul's life is honestly pretty sad, but I like the positive influence that Ki-jun has on her without him being really overbearing or anything like that (and he certainly has his own demons to deal with). Also, Jeon-man and Na-rae make for an unusual but really entertaining pairing. Oh, and I'm gonna need Ah-young to stay away from that dancer because I already can't stand him. Can't she just marry herself?

Hyper Knife (7-8): I can see what Deok-hee was trying to accomplish, but I do very much question the way he went about it. And if we're going by what the ending seems to be implying, it does look like Se-ok had the last laugh. Overall, I don't think this was anything all that great (even though the acting certainly was), but it was very enjoyable, and I'm pretty satisfied with the ending. And the drama did save it's biggest and best plot twist for the very end: the dogs live!

The Flower in Prison (1-4): I was looking for another long sageuk, but I wanted something with a female protagonist after Rebel was more male-centric, but I also didn't want something about real historical figures because that's like signing up for guaranteed depression, and I wasn't in the mood for that. Anyway, this sounded interesting, so I gave it a shot. I'm not expecting a masterpiece, but I am expecting an enjoyable and entertaining ride, and based on these opening episodes, that is exactly what I'm getting. Bonus points for having a female lead that can actually fight. Always fun to see in a sageuk (I don't see this nearly enough).

Potato Lab: 6.5

Hyper Knife: 7.5 "Interesting" show with good acting (esp Park Eun-bin, as expected) but the leads' motivations and story's message didn't really work for me. Another Disney show that wasn't like the Disney I saw as a kid.

Crushology 101: 7.0 aka "Bunny and Her Brothers". Too bad "oppa" meanings don't translate directly to English, but I could have fun taking "brothers" literally. Also does "Bunny" have all the same meanings in Korean as it does in English? As is Playboy Bunny, fooking like bunnies, etc, or just cute nose and ears?

Resident Playbook: __ They're ob/gyn residents. Does that mean fewer close-ups of surgeries than in other medical dramas?

Way Back Love: 6.0 💤 At least it's only 6 shortish episodes.

I turn 75 next month, so rather in the mood for a body-swap drama. Or time travel. Or something. NOT a show about dying.

More body-swaps please.

EAGLE BROS (Ep 19-20) One "bad" woman exiled by one of the show's stalkers gave us some breathing room for Gwang-Sook and Han's relationship and understanding to grow. Will the aggressive GolfPro be the next one to be exiled? We can only hope. But there are still a long way to go.

DIVORCE INSURANCE (Ep 3-4) We get a sudden corporate embezzlement arc with the nasty First Wife setting up Ki-Jun's team for the fall. The pace of this show is all over the map. One moment it is carefree, then suddenly it is grim and serious, then goofy, then tropey, then confusing. It is one of those shows that does not know what lane to run in so it weaves from lane to lane.

VILLAINS EVERYWHERE (Ep 7-8) This week a double dose of family failure! Poor Jin Woo gets dumped on at work, then is cursed with lockjaw for an entire episode. His family forgets that it is his birthday (they are gathered in Na Ra’s house because their apartment is flooded.) Jin-Woo gets his petty revenge by throwing out parts of members prized items but when they realize very late that it is his birthday, a real bad surprise party (with an omelet instead of a cake) he freaks out to go to the dump to get back what he threw out. Later, the family comes to help but par fopr the course, there is failure. Later, when Na Ra loses $10,000 in investment club savings fraud, Hyun Chul calls Jin-Woo’s family stay in his home an invasion into his home, so he takes charge of the household when she runs off to find her money. Hyun Chul’s dictatorship and extreme frugal stubbornness leads to a funny family revolt. But the power struggle ends with Na Ra’s triumphant return.

LEE MIN JUNG (YouTube Channel) Normally, Korean actors try to separate their professional and personal lives, especially if they have children. Actor Lee Min-jung surpassed 100,000 subscribers in 10 days after starting her YouTube channel. It is gaining support from fans at a fast pace thanks to its real and funny daily life and pleasant characters that Lee Byung-hun couldn't handle. Lee Min-jung uploaded her first video on the March 24, 2025 on "Lee Min-jung MJ." The 14 videos uploaded within a short period of time are showing rapid growth, exceeding 4.6 million cumulative views. A Korean business journal called it, "It's a top star, but it's pleasant and it's like a sitcom."

Shinuhodo Aishite (1/8) - Miori Takimoto marries a loving, handsome man (played by Narimiya Hiroki), right after escaping an abusive marriage. Her new husband is possibly a serial killer?? Poor lady cannot catch a break. 😔😭💀

Tokyo Holiday (1/12) - Miori Takimoto meets a hot Thai idol, and together both of them realize their dreams & hopes and find peace ☺️💕✨🌻 it is so funny to me this drama is airing the same time as the previous one I mentioned

Way Back Love (4/6) - continues to be well acted, especially by Kim Min-ha. That crying scene was phenomenal, she portrays grief and pain so well. The writing is simple but feels so fresh, and their high school days were so cute. Finding out how she drifted away from Tae-kyung, alienated Hong-seok and her sister was so sad...

Divorce Insurance (4/12) - should I just drop? I think I'm just holding onto this drama bc of the pretty people (as usual) and bc there's nothing else on Mon-Tues 😭

I've been watching Audrey Hepburn lately, I loved Charade and How to Steal a Million. I'm sure no one's said this before, but Hepburn is an amazing actress 🥺 next is Roman Holiday!

My new favorite romcom is THE DIVORCE INSURANCE on Amazon Prime. After four episodes it is holding up.

I have still not mustered the emotional fortitude to watch WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU TANGERINES but my wife loved it. She binge watched it and cried a lot. Her verdict: It is a true masterpiece. At some point I will nerve myself up to watch it.

My wife also finished the Chinese Costume drama THE GLORY. She found it to be quite watchable even if at times a bit of a mess. Not a top pick for her but she would not warn people away either. After that she watched LOVE OF THE DIVINE TREE which is truly excellent and a show that she definitely does recommend. She has now moved on to A MOMENT BUT FOREVER. No verdict yet on that one. She also enjoying TOWARDS THE TRUTH which is a Chinese Costume drama mystery.

Our Weekender continues to give us some excellent humor and some really nice moments. Eagle Brother number 2 is smiling again after being reduced to starting over from the bottom- but starting over he is now and he is like a new man now that he has been set free. Our Chairman experienced what he thought was a health scare and as a result of that has decided to bring his daughter into the company to be placed in charge of the Apparel division along with his recommendation that she hire Maknae to assist her (thus putting the story of Maknae and The Princess right back on track). Actually, his health scare has proven to us that not only is nothing wrong with his heart but rather that there is something very right with it. The story of baby Hani, her Appa Professor Brother, Hani’s Baby Mama and Seri is about to get really complicated. At least Seri has told her mom that she has no interest in marrying Bom’s Oppa. Unfortunately, Seri’s mom has not been willing to inform said Oppa of this awkward fact. Now that Gyeol, the Oppa in question, has been discharged and is coming home we will be getting some very interesting scenes. We also had a poignant moment to when our FL’s mom came across the brewery manager crying at the memorial service for his wife and son. The themes of loss and mourning are never completely absent from this show but there is also a theme of new beginnings that runs alongside of it.

For something a bit lighter I have now watched the Jdrama I WANNA PUNCH THAT SCUMBAG! Nothing with a title like that could ever be serious and it does not take itself seriously. Sometimes that is just the sort of show one needs instead of great drama.

I’ve been watching real life more than the reel one. And thank goodness for a tiny bright spot in South Korea amid all the madness. 🥂🥂🥂Three belated cheers to democracy.

But I did finish Undercover High School. Overall, I enjoyed it but found the second half weaker than the glorious first. Another thank goodness, this time for the charming cast who made up for the weakness in the script.

I’m also watching Way Back Love, and I like it! The male lead is great, but Kim Min-ha just knocks it out of the park. (Though how I wish I could shield her from the body-shaming comments.)

The Hot Spot ended. Absolutely daft and a great family watch. And if we ever go to Mount Fuji we’ll be on the lookout for aliens, ghosts, time-travelers, rapid urine-collectors and other superpowered beings teeming in its shadows.

The early reports for Crushology seem mixed. So I might wait for the recap. I’m not watching any C-dramas. While I’ll read the comments to see if I’m missing anything, I’m just not feeling the costumes these days. Sadly, even the latest book in the otherwise excellent Singing Hills Cycle featuring my favorite non-binary cleric in fantasy imperial China was meh.

However, I heard there will be a movie adaptation of the Korean book The Old Woman and the Knife. It was a good read but I kept thinking this could be an even better script. So, yay!

Happy Saturday, Beanies! Idk what's crazier lately - weather or drama schedules.

BURIED HEARTS: I'm sad to say goodbye to this trainwreck. No idea how it'll end, except one thing – DJ will live. Possibly forever, wouldn't put it past the guy. Someone on MDL said he's auditioning for xianxia and now I cannot unsee that^^

*sigh* NEVER MIND A MOMENT BUT FOREVER: Brought yall an appropriate meme:
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/023/818/cdc.jpg

This one is 200% on me – should've known better than expecting non-traditional ending from not very modern (it was filmed 2? 3 years ago?), largely traditional xianxia. And while it is far more on the hopeful side of open endings (esp if you check the novel with its clear HE), I'm still miffed – why cannot cdrama writer understand viewers simple desire for a solid, uplifting closure? Both us and characters went through so much (multiple aborted Apocalypses, for starters) only for this half-baked, obviously chopped thanks to censorship/episodes cap “maybe someday leads will reunite, but you won't see that, also guess what happened to the supporting cast, idk either” crumb in the end? Shame on you, cdramaland! Pls evolve faster, I'm getting tired...

Otherwise I still enjoyed the drama overall – likable characters and decent story are worth a lot, not to mention good lines and impressive acting of ML. This was, by far, his strongest role for me – those Shakespearean philosophical monologues alone were fire. I do want to ask LXY himself, however, about his black widower tendencies – it's 3rd drama in a row of his I saw where his wife perishes soon after wedding... Not to mention that I've read a source material of his next show, and guess how it starts? He marries fatally poisoned FL! Calamitous beauty much?

Live Watches:
1. Way Back Love (Eps 3-4 made me cry. That's all I ask for: catharsis)
2. Divorce Insurance (tonally uneven, but still conceptually interesting)

Just Finished:
1. Potato Lab (the ending? seriously, no comments)
2. My Ahjussi - after putting it off for years, I *finally* braced myself to watch it and OMG all reviewers who sold it as some dark gritty drama are doing it a gross injustice. Shame on you! I would rather watch one My Ahjussi than 100 soulless romcoms.
This is one of the most life-affirming, hope-giving, soul-nurturing stories ever. I weep, ergo I heal. SO GOOD

Re-watch:
1. Search WWW - because we all need a stellar workplace drama as palette cleanser after TPL. Bonus: it also features incredibly strong ass-kicking women front and centre + Jang Ki-Yong (whom I shalt take in any form shape or manner. Yes, including as a IU-bashing loan-shark)
2. While You Were Sleeping - I almost forgot how good it was since I live-watched it years ago in 2017.

SO, after the baptism of fire and dry run with My Ahjussi, I feel ready to tackle that show with the citrus fruits. Yeah, that one that made everyone cry. IU, here I come (again). ❤❤

Hi Beanies!

What I am watching:

_ The art of Negotiation (10 out of 12). Even though the last case (golf camp) was less appealing than others, this drama still is very interesting. However, I think it probably would need more than two episodes to have a good and totally satisfying ending.

_ Heo's Diner (6 out of 10). Silly, so silly. Sometimes I wonder why I am watching it. I think "time travelling" is the answer. Hopefully the romance will start now.

_ Way Back Love (4 out of 6). This drama is very cute and well written. The main couple gives me butterflies. But I don't know why Viki isn't showing the inner monologues. I'd like to listen to them.

_ When Life gives you Tangerines (14 out of 16). I love more all the details and the settings (so real!) than the characters and their story, but Dad has made me teary-eyed a few times.

_ Crushology 101 (1 out of 12). I think this is the most superficial script I have found in a long time, but the episode was entertaining. I wish the FL had a little more chemistry with her oppas, though.

_ C-drama Under the Microscope (10 out of 14). Interesting plot, very good performances and production, but maybe too many court scenes to my liking.

_ Korean Anime Super Secret on Viki (6 out of ?). Just a light watch to practice Korean listening.

What I have finished:

_ C-drama The Longest Day in Chang'an (2019). Amazing. One of the best shows I have ever watched, regardless of the country.
I liked it so much that after finishing it I immediately bought a book by the same writer (Ma Boyong).

Where are the week dramas (good ones)?

Crushology 101 Korean society really needed a drama about beautiful people and their difficulties.

Buried Hearts I'm behind.

Resident Playbook Really excited to watch it.

Way Back Love The ends of episode 3 and 4 were so sad. Surprisly, I'm more attracted by Jung Gun-Joo's acting than Gong Myung.

@missvictrix You should watch The Matchmakers, the writing and the direction are way better.

The Potato Lab: I didn’t like how silly and easily the knot was loosened. And I can see no reason at all that ML should be pouting an equal amount to FL.
When Life gives you Tanguerines: As everybody says, beautiful.
The many flashbacks actually worked to mix the different ages and to me at least, it showed how the old and older protagonists still were also the sweet child and the beautiful young person they had been. And also, in a way, they carried the scarcity of time in our lives with them all the time, because it was framed by an old woman writing. My small collections of gifs are here, https://imgur.com/a/when-life-gives-you-tanguerines-4kYjZih but most of all, there’s my reaction meme https://imgur.com/vmqiu3d
:
The Art of Negotiation: Excited for last chapters.
***
Not-a-K-drama :
The Residence: A whodunnit with a cool, bird-watching, stoneface detective and a lot of secrets. Fun! I recommend! Haven’t seen the ending yet.
Our Nest Box Cam: A great tit (musvit) has built her nest and laid two eggs already.

This week, as the RW financial (and otherwise) turmoil took over my brain, I came to the conclusion that China could just send Xiao Zhan and Wang Yi Bo to tour the US. Game over.

Of course, this means I've done THE UNTAMED (2019). A B movie production of an epic novel about two lovely young men who find a soul mate in each other (rare right there), and endure incredible hardship to fight injustice. What absolutely elevates this above the rest in dramaland is the kismet pairing of the stars, Xian Zhao and Wang Yi Bo. For me, the story meanders, but the lead performances are worthy and iconic -- so much so, that for these two performers, any followup roles are kinda problematic. Nobody can get these characters out of their head.

After THE UNTAMED, I'm recovering with AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU (2024), the cdrama with Xu Kai and Tan Song Yun. There is something especially earnest about Xu Kai as a performer, and it comes right through the screen. This business drama is about 3-D printing technology. That should be boring but is in fact pretty fascinating. The story is well written, and highly enjoyable. Also, because Xu Kai (like Rowoon) is so very "earnest", he's got real potential for physical comedy.

My happy watch of the week goes to Lee Joon Gi in MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO (2016). What a fabulous role, and LJG is just chewing up the screen every time he's on camera. I love, love this drama.

Because I've been dipping in to both UNTAMED and MOON LOVERS simultaneously, I've been pondering this question (once again): Do the performers, directors, producers, editors, crew on these superb dramas know when they are filming that they are part of something so exceptional, it will be part of film history?

The Potato Lab🥔🥔(12/12): Third Bean of 2025!🥳So Baek-Ho pajamas!😂 I had to pause because I could not stop laughing! You go MK, send me one too, please?🙏🏻This show would have been better with shorter episodes without all the unnecessary picking on Baek-ho humor, but Kang Tae-Oh deserves kudos for going all in and so does the show for taking me out of stressful real life for six weekends.🥰

I dropped everything else this week to watch both parts of Yumi's Cells. Just 3 eps to go on part 2. What can I say? I've LOVED LOVED LOVED it. 😍 So much so that it bumped a drama out of my top 10 for the first time since THE MATCHMAKERS. What a fantastic series (so far). I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, wept with the realism, shouted at the TV, and pondered the characters so often when not actually watching. Bonus: the STELLAR soundtracks. I could go on and on (and I did in my drama notes) but if this type of story is your vibe, I can't recommend this series highly enough.