FASCINATING. I wonder if this was the term used in the single’s bar in Samdal-ri too describing Dolphin Dude…**dorkily heads off to listen**

As I never understand what Boomer means, I think I’ll have to come back to read this later. Thanks for sharing in advance!

6 feet, 2.25 inches for those playing along in imperial measurements. He’s tall, but I hadn’t realized until watching MMH how short Park Min-young is.

@qingdao, I don’t know what your link is supposed to be, but my computer gave me a security warning about it.

This sounds like data for @sicarius 😀

YES! Don’t have any preferences other than – Jeju and Daegu

Seoul, South Jeolla, Jeju, Busan, Gyeongju, Odaesan National Park.. ☺️

Oooh that sounds so fun!! If I’m going to Korea, I’ll probably be traveling eith my husband- but I could potentially be persuaded to meet up with a beanie group for a day!

Jeju, Sokcho, Busan, and hiking trails around Seoul

This sounds fun!! I’d want to visit that place where they film sageuk market scenes. I forgot what it’s called

Unju Temple!

I wanted to add a photo of the Jomnyeo squad. Beanies, can anyone help me? When I try to post photos, the entire post gets lost….

I love your description. ☺

This show really did not take itself seriously. Even when it took a few jabs at organized religion (especially Christianity), it was tongue in cheek, example: asking the Devil to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. It sorta built its own little “universe,” but unlike other shows, the “universe” existed to support the “plot/romance” so if the “rules” were broken, it was just part of the fun. What a great send off to the military for Song Kang, who looked like he was having a blast.

Is it a recent Hallmark movie? That’s all that’s showing up on the search.

That’s so cool!! I haven’t seen the show myself but am glad you posted this – my husband and I may be planning a trip to Korea at some point in the future, and I would DEFINITELY Want to see this.

I prefer to rate a drama when it has ended (and only if I have watched it from start to finish).

I bigger pet peeve:
When a drama is rated high even before it even airs, simply for the cast. Equally, when dramas are rated low before it even airs because of anti-fans

OK…. I do understand that when a show is “in progress” the ratings pertain to the latest episodes.

Just wondering what the ratings would look like if they only included submissions after the entire drama had aired. Also wondering if beanies go back and change their original rating on shows (thinking of shows like Heartbeat that had consistently high ratings until the last episode).

The last episode was good, imo, but I got a strange and strong SML with Joseon Tae-ha.

Hmm I want to think it was a happy ending but they showed so little of it, it made me think that was just Tae ha’s wistful thinking that she returned.

BUT I choose to ignore what I think it is and believe what I want it to be. That she did return to New Joseon Tae ha

Confusing ep. 11 and 12. Should they just let her settles her issues in modern Korean and without going back to Joseon era?

I think their best wedding dress is the first modern wedding (to think they are so lucky for marrying each other 4 times in this drama); Yeon Woo is so beautiful in that wedding dress

There were many enjoyable aspects of this story, especially the strong start. But I didn’t love the ending tbh. It was a weak, and largely due imo to the writer having boxed herself in on a number of plot points, leaving several unanswered questions and unexplained issues. And the wedding at the end… what? no guests? not even Secretary Hong and Sa Wol? Meh. The conclusion to this drama was ok. But it could have been better.

I would have thought that with 12 episodes things would have been tighter in the writing department. How did she get back? I think a more plausible ending would have been like how Nine tailed 1938 did it with 2 Lee Yeon’s—but the opposite, since he went to past in that show and she’s in the future in this one. And then having her regain her past memories when Joseon version of her dies or is still ultimately murdered. That way the timeline in the Joseon period ends and everyone knows she gone, and the timeline in the future is preserved because she was always there, but unaware of the love she had for Tae Ha. Then grandpa Kang still is “punished” for what he did and the secretary is too—but in the future. And that weeding seemed too empty to me. It needed to have everyone there and then let them in on the secret that they only had a contract marriage and now getting married for real! Not sure if production times were cut short and they couldn’t get the rest of the cast there, or what, but it seemed very empty.

I’m halfway through episode 11 and I’ve really liked it! I think the post about watching for the fun factor got me back into my old drama watching mood, when I’d come and squee in the comments about dramas 🙂

Rain’s new drama is also called “Red Swan” and is set to be released on Disney+ with Jung JiHoon and Kang HaNeul.

If that wasn’t the cutest 11 min audition! 😍

Perfect start to the year. Hope this year is as pretty as the drama.

Woohoo!!!! Congratulations Qingdao!!! 🎊 🥳🎉👍✨️

Congratulations!! 🎉 👏

Congratulations, Qingdao! This is a double celebration for you! Happy new year to you 🎊🎉🥳

Congrats on levelling up🥳

Congratulations and here’s a gift for your your new identity 🕶️

Congratulations!

In honor of my promotion (and for the love of Lee Hong Ki), here’s a “chaebol’s poor doppelganger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lbdPS2WbHc

Thank you for finding that!! 👍 It still really bugs me that Disney+ doesn’t release full instrumental OSTs for their dramas 😑

Instrumentals are my jam. Thank you for sharing. 🎵

Netflix … the thought process is to increase the number of days the drama will be amongst the top dramas after each “season” release.

Wondering what’s driving this trend? Post-production (editing, special effects) needs more time, location scheduling and shooting (weather delays, etc), image–having 2 “seasons,” etc. It seems like it would be less cost effective. Alchemy of Souls changed leads, director and affected the tone of the drama. Is cutting up dramas just a Netflix thing?

Possibly to squeeze as much advertising ?
IDK as I’m not a Netflix subscriber

All I know is that trend will probably make me get less beans at the end of the year.

In those months one show is taking a break I already started another 2-4 shows so I won’t feel like coming back to an old one. I’m just lazy. I watched Island part 1 but I couldn’t care less about part 2. The show wasn’t that good to make me wait for it all excited and stuff. Even with western shows I’m really bad at waiting, even tho I should be used by now.

But in general I think it works great. Idk what they win from those breaks, but it seems like a good strategy? Beanies kept talking about My Dearest during the break, there was even a countdown, I think. The Glory was really famous too.

Anyway, I prefer part 2 than multiple seasons. Having 8 episodes now and 8 episodes later it’s okay. But having a second season that ruins what you liked of the first one is a big NO.

My beans for 1987 Gwangju Uprising plots: Youth of May, A Taxi Driver, The Attorney, Snowdrop. On my watchlist: 1987 Comes a Day, May 18, Peppermint Candy. I’m sure there are many others…

I did watch it (but long ago) and am embarrassed that I don’t recall much about it but the FL. You are becoming our expert on that topic!

That show has been on my watchlist since forever. I’m really bad at watching things from my list, I always end up rewatching something else. 😔

I watched the first half of it, but never finished. It was interesting, but I didn’t find it gripping enough to keep going. To be fair, I started it fairly early in my kdrama watching journey and I might find it more compelling now that I have a better sense of its historical context.

Bad endings are a different problem that lack of endings. Ambiguous endings negatively impact the global reputation of Korean dramas in global entertainment. Are the writers becoming LAZY? Is there something going on in the industry that viewers don’t know about?

I even returned the following week thinking there’d be a new episode ! But does it seem like Netflix is dangling the possibility of a second season?

I agree. Sometimes, the ending is designed to be open. But I want the writing to have given me sufficient clues and hints so that I know how to come up to my own conclusions — rather than serving a tightly-packed story and disappearing before the end…

In general terms, I do agree with your statement here about what constitutes a failed kdrama. Like most, I do prefer a clear ending (be it good or bad).

Nevertheless, it does seem like more and more kdramas are following the open-ending route. What I am noticing is that these open endings highlight the eccentricity of my viewing (yes, even ghosts look at themselves in the mirror from time to time). For example, I hated the open endings in Pretty Noona/Something in the Rain and The Interest of Love, but I liked it in Doona!. Why? I am not entirely sure. I believe it has something to do with the build-up of the story until the open ending occurs. Suffice it to say that (to me) an open ending seems like a precarious slope for a story to take, and there is only a razor-thin margin for success. One false step and the open ending crashes down into the abyss.

Thanks to Ghost of Tim! A deleted scene and an interview with the director (4:34) in a video by Miss K-Drama on YouTube: –The deleted scene shows Doona & Won-Jun kissing in the park, the park from the first scene of episode 9. –The director designed the ending saying “who knows how life will unfold…they might or might not cross paths again.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rK3eXplkcY