COMPLETED
Resident Playbook - I think the medical cases were a little on-the-nose and repetitive but the heart of the show were obviously our four(five?)-some. Watching them mature from frazzled first-years to competent second-years felt rewarding. Good finale!

ONGOING
The Haunted Palace - I was going to write good things with all the plot progress last week and the team working so well together but yesterday's episode was just ridiculous and seems to contradict much of the show's mythology 🤔. We'll see if the drama redeems itself tonight.

Heavenly Ever After - I think the whole 'mystery of Eun-ho' made the show go off the rails - don't think we needed all the Som-I/Nak-joon drama. The Pastor and Hae-sook together continued to be a joy though - and now we know the reason why.

Second Shot at Love - Soo-young is doing a great job with this character. That moment when she acknowledges the problem and asks for help 💯.

Tastefully Yours - The balance between commerce and taste was illustrated really well through the food festival. Hope Chef Jang finds her love for food again. The kiss was unexpected but I don't think we'll jump to full-fledged romance yet. Yoo Yoon-seok should make some sparks fly next week 👀.

WATCHLIST
Dear Hongrang and Nine Puzzles are still on the list and Our Unwritten Seoul will be added to it today 😅.

C-DRAMAS
Still watching The Prisoner of Beauty (up to Ep. 23) - I think I'd have appreciated more of a contest of minds between the ML and FL but then the drama wouldn't be named what it is 😂. Dreading the misunderstanding and angst to come - they are definitely going to kill off a full horde of good guys by the end.

Finally managed to start Zang Hai Zhuan today. Not much to say since I'm only one episode in but I hope it lives up to its promise.

Will see if Youthful Glory is worth my time. Song Wei-long in costume dramas is very hit and miss.

Live watches

Heavenly ever after
Who knows how they are going to tie this up well as they have left a lot of loose threads. Where is their cat? We have not seen her for a few weeks now.
I hope it is a happy ending. They both seem to have some areas that still need tweaking so it would be good to have them both return to earth in a new forms but still end up together living their happy ever after with two children a girl and boy. I also hope the dogs get to be at peace I really thought they would be adopted and live a cherished life.

Pump up healthy love
Week four I laughed out loud at the comment about his ‘unnecessarily broad chest’. He looked normal when he was in second place and maybe he will learn to slack off and return to normal range toned body so he can spend time doing fun things outside of the gym. I wish the female lead had the confidence to wear clothes that are less about hiding and more about who she is. Whether she chooses to dress up or dress down does not need to wear shapeless and dull clothes.

My guess is the second female lead is using him to promote some sports product so she can gain a wider audience to increase her income and fame.

This drama has proved to be one of the latest in the batch of ok to watch to kill time dramas from this year. I am however hopeful that the rest of the year brings us more Resident playbook, Way back love and Tangerines and less The divorce insurance and Heavenly ever after which did not live up to expectations.

Second shot at love
This is another ok watch that I think will remain low stress to the end. I like the leads and the friendship group. I prefer it to Pump up your healthy love as it has more depth and is my kind of romance.

Changes of heart - J drama
Such a low key drama with a sweet couple navigating the transition from friends to lovers. Reminds me Cinderella’s of midsummer where the couple face every day challenges and the second female lead is dealt with swiftly.

Film

Architecture 101 -2012 Korean film
I only realised that I have seen this first love tale before when they showed their student days and the abandoned house they adopted. I don’t remember the main story so happy to rewatch and see the baby version of actors I have watched more recently in their grown up form where they play leads two from Hospital playlist, The art of Negotiation and Doona.

Completed
Unforgettable - 2016 Korean film
Five childhood friends from one of the small islands spend one unforgettable summer together. Sad coming of age film.

Audiobook corner

A perfect day to be alone - Nanae Aoyama
So glad this was free as after a couple of chapters I stopped listening as the protagonist presents as disrespectful and self centred. It’s nothing like Convenience store woman or Diary of a void where I could connect with the main character in some way.

Lek- The beginning: The story of Lek, a bar girl in Pattaya - Owen Jones
It is an interesting listen so far but I...

Tastefully Yours: This drama is getting to be so much fun. I am so glad he didn’t dawdle on the realization that he liked her. Once he realized he thought she was cute with her Ddakji winnings, he was all in. I am watching the drama with my friend, who is a rookie kdrama watcher. She actually yelped like a puppy and started clapping when they kissed. Lol

Second Shot at Love: I appreciate that this drama is showing how you can be a perfectly functioning adult and still be an alcoholic. I am glad she wants to change. They could show when alcoholism gets really bad and you get the shakes, but I think it is better to show it this way. Addiction is bad in all forms.

Pump Up the Healthy Love: Hyun Joong owes his ex an apology. He treated her terribly. I hope he has actually changed for the better because Mi Ran doesn’t deserve that at all. That being said there are actually relationship gems buried under the bad in this drama.

Our Unwritten Soul: I am looking forward to this.

Finished three dramas; this is a long one 😅

Finished
Happiness: Dear reader, no one is more surprised than me; but I not only watched a zombie drama (!), but had fun (!!), and loved it! (!!!) The setup is like when TV shows do a capsule episode, trapping characters in a closed location to draw out the permutations of relationships and characters' psychology. In terms of tension, mysteries, and OTP teamwork, it reminded me a lot of 365: Repeat the Year ([-] time travel and [+] zombies). The scariness was weirdly ok for me... the two first episodes had the most gore and "sudden violence," but after that it got easier (aside from having mute occasionally, esp. in last two eps). (FYI, Tale of the Nine-Tailed and its hungry ghosts are scarier than Happiness). I had read all the recaps and the Beanie fanwall watch, so that helped a lot with reducing the stress (but not all, lol - i.e., Me: "DON'T DO THAT YOU DINGBAT YOU'LL GET EATEN*). The leads are AWESOME - both so strong, capable, and smart; their personalities balanced each other perfectly. He seems to be the calmer and more rational investigator, but he flips out when Sae-bom is in danger (give me MORE 😍). She runs on instinct, follows her hunches, and keeps her cool. Both have the skills to keep themselves and others safe! I was obsessed with them and their relationship (out of everything I've watched lately, their understated romance was my favorite), and SO HAPPY they got to be happy together! "Happiness is when I'm with you" indeed. Well plotted, well written, well acted. It also has one of the most unique and unusual OSTs I've heard in any Kdrama. All in all, this was an awesome watch!! A+!!

The King Eternal Monarch: The first ep was awesome, then it sagged, then the last five eps were awesome. I wish it had leaned harder into the timey-wimey stuff, because that was the most interesting to me. Kim Kyung-nam was excellent, and in my opinion, his character was the most interesting (and had the best chemistry with the FL). Woo Do-hwan x2(squared) was my favorite part of the drama - he's always a scene stealer (and I loved Jang Michael!!). WDH made the leads look bland in comparison. I really do like Lee Min-ho, but the ML was written bland; a perfect prince charming archetype with very little internal conflict (until the last few eps, where he became more interesting).

I'm turning into a grumpy old man this week, but I blame 3 bad shows for bringing out the worst in me, and expect to recover when Park Bo-young and Kim So-hyun hit my screen.

Dear Hongrang: 6.5 (ep 4 / 6)

Crushology 101 / Bunny and Her Brothers Really, REALLY Stupid Choice: 4.0 This might be the worst show I actually complete this year, and Roh Jeong-Eui might be one of the most useless decorations in my recent kdrama experience. I usually try not to be too hostile/critical of cast members (*cough*parkminyoung*cough*) but this show has pushed me over the edge. And I don't think she's even especially decorative by k-FL standards.

Haunted Palace: 8.0

Resident Playbook: 8.5 At least there are some kdramas that don't botch the ending.

Tastefully Yours: 7.5

2nd Shot At Love: 5.0 Stalled early in ep 4. Basically, I'd rather eat (Tastefully prepared food) than drink, repair cars and run away from a Really Angry Mom. And I'd rather look at Go Min-shi than Sooyoung.

Pump Up the Healthy Love: 5.0 Stalled 11 min into ep 7. I don't usually drop a show this far in, but it feels too much like 2nd Shot and my tolerance for that just jumped in front of a Truck. Turns out I'd also rather eat than exercise or not exercise or whatever she's doing every few minutes. And I'd still rather look at Go Min-shi.

9 Puzzles: 8.5 (ep 1 / 5) Murders! Serial killer! So much less annoying than trying to drink and not exercise -- or do I have something backwards?
FL's uncle died at the start. So they cast an FL who looks a bit like the FL in A Shop For Killers, give her a similar hairdo, and she even sometimes seems to mimic the facial expressions. Hmmmm... Well, there are worse shows to try to remind me of.

Didn't post anything last week, so this is from the past 2 weeks (there's not much difference anyway).

Nine Puzzles (1-3): Very enjoyable and interesting, and while I can't say I love it yet, I like it enough to continue. Turns out Kim Da-mi is very good at playing slightly messed up characters. Also, can they do me a favor and give Da-mi and Lee Joo-young more scenes together? Thanks in advance.

Resident Playbook (9-12): Disappointment of the year. Too much romance, too little friendship, and while the latter is clearly better than the former, there's not nearly enough of it to stand out. Fun cameos and decent patient stories alone aren't enough to save this drama that never quite feels as real as it should.

The Flower in Prison (25-42): Groundbreaking plot twist! Oknyeo is actually a princess! Truly such an unexpected turn of events that I definitely didn't predict 30 minutes into the first episode. Anyway, at least the Oknyeo & Tae-won angst era is over (only took 20 episodes)! And at least Oknyeo finally learned the King's real identity (only took 25 episodes)! And we also finally got to the main "waeji bu"/ advocate premise of the drama (only took 35 episodes)! Jokes aside, this is all very entertaining though.

Mine (6): "What did she mean to you?" "Mine. She was mine." Okay, that one hurt. Great acting from Kim Seo-hyung too.

Tastefully Yours (1-2): I actually enjoyed episode 1 more than episode 2, where a lot of the humor didn't actually land for me.

THE HAUNTED PALACE is top notch and our favorite show. This last week saw a dawning awareness by our leads that there was a mystery behind all of what is happening.

My wife continued to watch the Chinese Costume Drama SERENDIPTY which is very good. She practically pounces on each new episode of THE PRISONER OF BEAUTY- it is that very good. Fingers crossed that it can keep it up and successfully tell the main story to its end despite the forty-episode limit.

She has also just started a new Chines Costume drama on Viki: YOUTHFUL GLORY. It is still too early to judge how good it will be but so far she has enjoyed it.

I am still enjoying 24 HOUR HEALTH CLUB (I refuse to use the alternate title which Viki gave it). We finally learned our ML’s backstory and gained some insight into the FL as well- and watched her blow off her Ex. Then the ML’s Ex shows up…. What can I say- this is a rom com where the emphasis is on the com. It has Parody and Satire- and Slapstick- and Heart. The best way to describe this show is that it is a wonderful entertaining mess.
FOR EAGLE BROTHERS, our Weekender, still has its weak points but also a solid central couple story- and a truly messy side story involving the two youngest brothers, the Silla Family and may pull in our ML’s children as well. The central romance is now coming out into the open- prediction: After exposing her feelings in a moment of apparent crisis she will feel compelled to pull away.

I have also been watching SECOND SHOT AT LOVE as well as TASTEFULLY YOURS.

I have checked out two non-Korean and Non-Chinese shows as well, both on Viki: PRIVATE BODYGUARD and DEAR MY SECRETARY. The setup for PRIVATE BODYGUARD (Indonesian) appears to be like that of BOYS OVER FLOWERS except that the ‘flower four’ are all brothers (and therefore “the four princes) and their father has decided to adopt our orphan FL who has therefore come to live with them (so is this really more like CINDERELLA AND THE FOUR KNIGHTS?). In any case, so far it is entertaining.

I checked out DEAR MY SECRETARY which is the Thai re-make of WHAT’S WRONG WITH SECRETARY KIM? They really should have simply named it WHAT’S WRONG WITH SECRETARY PHIM? (and yes that is the FL’s name) because they are doing there best to imitate the original- right down to how they have fixed the FL’s hair (to make it as similar to Park Min-young’s character as possible).

Finally, I wanted to mention a lovely Chinese movie which I watched this last week: VIVA LA VIDA. It will just grab your heart.

Queen's House (KBS) (ep. 16-20): Jae-in (Ham Eun-jung)'s father Gyu-cheol (played by Namgyeong-eup) died and then... she suffered miscarriage(!) after a fight with Seok-ja (Lee Bo-hee). And then, she took to mental hospital and she attempted to escape.
Pump Up the Healthy Love (KBS) (ep. 7-8): My favorite highlight for this week was the end of episode 8 that this scene I cannot stop laughing with: Mi-ran did a successful treadmill movement at the escalator while she just pretending to do a breakup with Hyeon-joong when he had a former/past lover Kang Sol (Park Hae-in).

EAGLE BROS (Ep 31-32) Our writer fakes us out to get our leads to embrace. But the growing consensus is that we cannot embrace either Brother #3 and #4's forced love lines. We are as unhappy as baby Ha Ni.

TASTEFULLY YOURS (Ep 3-4) The show is getting farther away from basic reality in its underdog story lines, but it is still watchable for the food and Go Min Si's acting.

PARASITE (2019) I bought the Criterion Collection edition. I did not know it came with 3 discs, which includes a black and white version of the film. I will review the extras disc later. I saw this film in a US theater just before the Oscars. It still holds up as one of the best Korean movies I have seen for its social commentary and dark themes. I had forgotten how detailed the set production especially the perfect water studio semi-basement apartment work made it so realistic. It also reinforced the industry accolades for Jo Yeo Jeong’s performance as the key character for the story structure.

Happy Saturday, Beanies! Once again I had no time or brain capacity for anything other than That One Show, sorry)))

MARRIAGE IS A HARD WORK THE PRISONER OF BEAUTY: We're finally leaving behind what I call midway romcom stretch, and as much as I enjoyed it to an extent (particularly – delicious slowburn, and that's coming from me who LOATHES slowburns), it did overstay its welcome by mile logically and narratively. Off to the juicier stuff – intrigue, angst, more sieges after a long while – we go! Count on cdramas to go full dark and bloody nearing the end. Already lamented overboard comedy last time, but damn, it got really excessive and goofy even for my taste in mid-10s. Thankfully, plot wisely sprinkled some blood all over the cheese to tone it down, or I'd get seriously annoyed. Starting to think that, perhaps, PD wasn't the best guy for the job, or at least needed daily reminders this is primarily a melodrama, not a teen romcom skit or agricultural documentary. Even characters seemed tonally confused at times, ouch. And heavens, someone, pls do something about camerawork in action scenes! We've got a whole big war segment ahead, it cannot stay THIS bad and waste all the effort and money! My man's barely recovered from double leg fracture to do stunts himself, show some appreciation, ffs!

*long sigh* That was cathartic, thanks for your patience. Now to the good parts – like chemistry. Did I say it was decent last week? Scratch that - it's pure fire actually! Maybe not always in sexual sense, but the growing connection and tension between leads build up amazingly, even if I side-eye the ways script gets them there sometimes. The catch for me is how period accurate in terms of vibes it stays during all OTP relationship ups and downs – love, care, pain, doubt and desire are conveyed through tiny details of that era. Like FL's daily wife duties include helping ML, her husband, to dress/undress and bathe, and those are not big romantic scenes purely for the sake of otherwise rare swoon – it's simply a routine since they're, gasp, married! Yeah, can't praise the number, extent and quality of bath scenes in particular enough, bless! Found strong contender for my fave trope of 2025 Ning-ge said such mundane stuff was his favorite part of the drama as well. Someone misses being taken and fussed over, methinks

@stroopwafel I'm not watching Tastefully Yours, but I have been amazed by Yoo Soo Bin's acting in The Perfect Deal. Yoo Seung Ho's acting was phenomenal as ever, but YSB was a revelation.

I'm watching 24-Hour Health Club and I think there is enough evidence of how much I'm loving it all over the site this past week! 😆 So I'll stop here.

I hadn't been watching anything because I couldn't decide what to start after Tangerines, but this week

Resident Playbook Loved it 🩷! It was a perfect spin-off that kept all of the warmth of the HP series, improved on the only thing I thought underwheming in the original(the romance), and was still its own story. HP is one of my favorites, but I wasn't in a rush to start this one. Until I saw a clip of the bus stop scene. And binged the whole series in a couple days. It was so enjoyable to watch the first year residents come into their own as doctors (with some wonderful mentors) and grow as people, and the OTP was so, so darn cute. The comeuppance for the fox was perfect and I really loved the direction they took with the sister's storyline. It definitely was a heartwarming welcome back to Yulje

The Hot Spot (j-drama) Finished this recently and loved it too 🛸! It was a lowkey kind of hilarious and a laid back watch, where talks of parfaits and grade school memories were more exciting to our ever growing group of childhood friends than news of aliens and superpowers.

Now back to figuring out to watch next 🙈

The Haunted Palace: (through ep 10) Team Bibi over here. Let the man eat! Gangcheol’s foray into polite speech to the king was perfection and I hope it means this friendship has officially begun! I loved the reveal that Gangcheol has been paying close attention to Yeo-ri, and doing much more than merely protecting her, for a long time. I hope the show continues to deliver and gives us an explanation for why our colossal shadow is so sad.

Tastefully Yours: (through ep 4) Yes to jang-making, yes to food truck teamwork, yes to chaotic found families, yes to acting on your feelings, and yes to every single one of Kang Ha-neul’s facial expressions. I’ll have three orders of gimbap to go please.

Dear Hongrang: (through ep 6) Happy to report Jae-yi got way less annoying! We’re now in the thick of the fauxcest, but somehow I don’t mind? I’m sure it has everything to do with Lee Jae-uk smoldering his way through every line of dialogue and every swordfight but I feel fine about that. I actually like the premise that both of the Min clan parents are garbage people (The uncle might be my favorite character over the age of 30) and I hope everyone gets what they deserve In the end.

Watching K drama Let’s Eat (2013)

J dramas

Finished J drama Usotoki Rhetoric (2024) I enjoyed it, girl with ability to detect lies treated as an outcast in her village to become a valuable assistant to a detective in the big city in set in the 1920’s
Viki

Suspicious Partner (2025) Fluff
Under 30 mins once a week.

C drama

I Am Nobody 2 (2025)

Working out in the yard , so many flowers in bloom

Just Finished:

1. DEAR HONGRANG: Please do not binge (like I did), I suspect my viewing experience would have greatly improved if I had read up on the novel (Tangeum) summary beforehand and watch the drama adaptation more mindfully.

Dark, moody, taut -- Strip off its bells and whistles (and numerous money shots fight scenes) and this is at its core an intimate and searing scrutiny of a family & its fractured dynamics; a tale of obsession, longing, grief and loss and how the appearance of a long-lost kin begins to dismantle and collapse these already fragile relations. Incest takes on a whole new meaning here as metaphor (and it's not what you may think it is).

Live Watch:
NINE PUZZLES - I love serial killers. I love puzzles. I love crime-solving. I love a quirky protagonist (Kim Dami here is like a more mellow cousin to her other incarnation, Jo Yi-seo). What's there not to love?

TASTEFULLY YOURS: Here for the food, not the romance. Love my bootstrapping kitchen quartet with their chaotic energy!

Eagle Brothers: It is not easy to let the dead be dead and the living keep living. Chun-soo really embodied this statement perfectly. Not that Gwangsook needed the Oh brother's approval to date someone new but I really loved that he appended it. I know he loves his late brother. I come to see that he has also come to love his sister-in-law so much so as to want her to find happiness again.

Resident Playbook: Professor Chu Min-ha is the perfect gift wrap from Hospital Playlist. How far and how well my lovely characters have grown.
Jung Jun-won is a revelation.
And, I perfectly love how Joo-young's arc was concluded with her making the conscious happy choice with any regrets to find the joy of life and of family that is not the joy of motherhood. This message needs to be heard far and wide.

It is Always Midnight in Hagwon: My pile of workload made it impossible to get my weekly two episode dosage, again🤦🏽.

The Haunted Palace Episode 9-11: I enjoyed Bibi while he lasted. The moment he turned, my interest in his arc waned. But now I see the direction. I guess the production team wants to give Kangcheori a stake in the war against the Eight foot demon that isn't tied to Yeori. And what better way to do it than using his sworn brother.

Dear Hongrang 1-2: Lee Jae-wook and Jo Joon-mo clearly meet to fight from Alchemy of Souls to Dear Hongrang.
For the kind of risks Jaeyi takes, her character should have been allow to wield a sword/weapon. She's too defenseless for the manner of matters she handles.
The cult element that was introduced in so early in is giving me Our Blooming Youth vibes.
It is so nice to have a saguek not situated within palace walls.

I've gotten the 6 released episodes of Nine Puzzles which I'll get to slowly.

The Prisoner of Beauty: I was really hoping this would be a whole lot darker, smarter and sexier, but through episode 10, the intrigue isn't very intriguing, the villains are one-note, and the show's serving up standard-issue romance tropes instead of heat or anything remotely subversive. Probably not going to continue with this one.

Heavenly Ever After: To me it’s distasteful this balancing-one-life-out-with-another because it ends up being an excuse for victim-blaming. I am sure the actual reincarnation/karma religion the idea is taken from is more sophisticated.
Tastefully Yours: I wish he weren’t lying to her, we all know by now he doesn’t really mean it anymore. We all know these “It was all a bet”, “It was for an article”, “I knew you were soon to inherit” trust issues,
.***
Not-a-K-drama :
Our Nest Box Cam: This has been so exciting this week, with the chicks flapping their wings, leaving the nest, bumping into our window, surviving and looking cute, and then disappearing – hopefully to some neighbouring garden with better hiding places for new fledglings
I wrote about it during the week in “Open Thread” where we also reminisced last years chicklets, so that thread is full of Links to High Lights: https://dramabeans.com/2025/05/open-thread-917/#comment-4264953
If you want to browse the whole lot of videos and gifs, it’s these links: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDd6HkVxYgYJSuIbOl6tmsa5DoKqvfml-
and
https://imgur.com/a/titmouse-da-house-2ADX4sT
and https://imgur.com/a/nest-box-great-titmouse-2025-april-may-fGUFoiH

There are some losses along the way, but I read online that it’s normal for the Great Tits to lay 8 eggs and have only two survivors, so four chicks flying out last year and six this year … that shows a really good MumSvit!
(The bird is called “Musvit” in Danish, and I have made different versions of that combined with Mum, Mrs. and Mother: Fru Svit, Mor Svit, Titmother (from titmouse) and Ms. Tit.)

Hi Beanies! 🌺

What I am watching:

_ Haunted Palace (10 out of 16). These two episodes were quite funny. It seems this drama goes up and down for me, because last week I found it more boring.
I'm starting to ship the main couple, I have to admit the Imoogi is being very nice lately.
I still think that Bi Bi is a scene stealer.

_ C-drama Prisoner of Beauty (20 out of 36). I started this drama on Tuesday and by Wednesday night I had already watched 18 episodes. Even though I think it's not really good, it's very very hooking. All my friends think the same. It's a very easy watch, funny and it doesn't demand too much concentration. It has a very good instrumental soundtrack too.

_ J-drama Usotoki Rhetoric (8 out of 11). I like this a lot. It has a lot of personality and charm. I don't know how to describe it properly, it's mystery for all audiences, + manga characters + classic cinema, + "Amélie" magic and naif style...

What I finished:.

_ Rise of Phoenixes. Magnificent drama. I enjoyed it so much. It's a shame it wasn't ten episodes longer, because the last seven episodes felt rushed, as if something was missing, and it's noticeable that there were many footage shots which weren't included.
But overall I loved it a lot and I'm afraid that now almost any idol c-drama would fall short. I have to keep watching more non-idol dramas, like this one or my other favorite, The Longest Day in Chang'an.

_ Crushology 101. This wasn't good, but it had a nice OST and I earned a bean.

Finished DEAR HONGRANG. It Kim Jae-wook does creepy well, I thought early on that he wasn't just a noble prince in a minor role! Lee Jae-wok is back with full strength, he acted so well, also in the sword scenes, although the group fights were at times confusing, because it wasn't always clear who they were. Loved Lady Min as a villain and all the other cast. The night scenes were beautifully done.

Binged the first 6 episodes of 9 PUZZLES. Disney dramas can be hit and miss, but this is good. Love Kim Da-mi here and she reminded me so much of Lee Yoo-Young in TUNNEL. This is actually no coincidence, because the writer also penned TUNNEL and the FL is also a criminal profiler with a tragic past.

2nd SHOT AT LOVE continues to be good. FL has now made the most important first step in acknowledging her addiction and asking for help. She will be gobsmacked when she finds out ML also has a problem.

The finales of HAUNTED PALACE and HEAVELY EVER AFTER are here with the expected rise in tension. Hopefully they wrap up well.

I find the FL in TASTEFULLY YOURS not really credible as a character. She seems to be cooking only for her own pleasure, almost like a hobby and not for her (non-existant) customers. A car that blocks the entrance of a house can be towed away by police, it is a safety issue and illegal. She is a little upset about not being able to open the restaurant, but not enough to do something about it. The line for what is acceptable under dramatic licence is different for everybody. ML is noisy, but makes a lot more sense.

Tastefully Yours It's a nice rom-com. Not perfect but quite fun.

Second Shot at Love I'm not convinced yet.

Pump Up the Healthy Love I wanted to follow my rule of 4 episodes before giving up. And these 4 episodes were pretty bad. I don't really care about the leads.

Spring of Youth The first episode was not interesting so I'm not sure I will be able to reach the 4th.

The Haunted Palace I'm not specially interested by the plot and I don't think the couple has a lot of chemistry.

Nine Puzzles It was quite fun. I love both leads and their interactions. Poor Kim Curry can't take off his hat in his own home. There were some intereting cameos, I didn't expect Park Gyu-Young to have an important role. I'm intrigued by the second psy and his cop patient.

Tastefully Yours. I have to admit I thought this was going to be a little more "arty", but I'm actually liking it for what it is ... a classic k-drama rom-com.

The Haunted Palace. Continues to charm and impress. Can't wait to see what this week's eps bring!

24-Hour Health Club. Still crazy, still having fun with it. Not sure how they're going to provide a satisfyingly complete story though with only 4 eps remaining.

Second Shot at Love. I may be in the minority, but I find this is hitting all the right notes, handling an incredibly touchy subject with humor as well as sufficient seriousness. Sure it could be full-on drama, but would it have the viewership or even get its message across as effectively? I think not.

The Prisoner of Beauty c-drama. This may not be the most original c-drama story-wise, but it's elevated in every way by the actors and the quality of the production. Just gorgeous!

Wishing everyone a happy week! 🤗

We have spring! Cool evenings, rain followed by sunny days. My lone Japanese (fern-like) peony has bloomed and fat buds formed on my herbaceous peonies. A wonderful time of year.

A trio of drama watching "fails" this week.

Two episodes in with THE LEGEND OF KANG HAI on youtube and beat down by the commercials-every-ten-minutes barrier. Thank you Viki for listing this drama as "Coming Soon." I will return. And a second thank you to Viki for listing so many great dramas, making them accessible to subscribers. This platform is killing it.

Sampled both PUMP UP THE HEALTHY LOVE and TASTEFULLY YOURS. I like both these leads, but so far the stories don't work for me. May circle back as WWW comments have been intriguing.

My happy watch of the week goes to the bona fide marketing team for cdrama THE PRISONER OF BEAUTY -- Liu Yu Ning. Shame on Tencent for embargoing this highly entertaining drama for 24 months. Normally a top tier drama like this would use the FL & ML to promote the show -- promotional appearances are probably written into their contracts. In this case, the FL Song Zu Er was nowhere to be seen (under so-called "investigation" for tax evasion). So, what does the ML Liu Yu Ning do? He freezes out scripts, advances his career with a ton of glittering public engagements, and takes every opportunity to name drop TPOB. I kid, it's probably more complicated than this. But, Tencent owes LYN for keeping this drama on the public's radar. Wanna bet who this is going to be the big beneficiary from all this? And, just because TPOB is so enjoyable, I want to highlight the cast performances. Song Zu Er and Liu Yu Ning really click in this drama, and a special shout out to Liu Duan Duan -- I'm so impressed with his take on a conflicted character. This is just a great watch.

Finally, I dropped in on cdrama YOUTHFUL GLORY and lo and behold... I like it! Modest quality production but good lead performances and so far, an interesting story. Not classic, but a good, solid, peaceful watch. I'm in.