Beanie level: Noble idiot

#2022Roundup

2022 was the year I hit the dreaded Kdrama slump. I haven’t watched most of the big dramas this year, but half-watched a smattering of fairly generic ones, so it’s partially my own doing! However, like others I did fall for a few Cdramas. _Reset_ was easily the best paced show I watched this year, and _A Dream of Splendor_ had the most compelling lead romance, even it became a bit repetitive in the latter third and the supporting cast didn’t quite get the nuance and character development allowed the leads. At the moment I’m enjoying _Her and her Perfect Husband_ on Viki, a sweet tropey delight.

Been really nice to see people’s end of reviews. Maybe I’ll watch _Our Liberation Notes_ over the hols!

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Did anyone else weep helplessly at the final episodes of Extraordinary You?

Absolutely wrecked.

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    Only partway through, but it was making me a little sad. Last nights ep did too. 🤷‍♀️

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    I cried so much for eps 15 and 16 even though I don’t usually cry during dramas… I honestly don’t know why I cried so much but I think it’s because I was so attached to the characters and didn’t want to let them go yet :((

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Caught up on final episodes of Watcher – such a stylish show with a crackin’ OST and a plot that always kept me guessing and on-edge. YES PLEASE to a 2nd season?
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    That being said, I would want much more for Miss Jo in a second season. And this closing scene with Do Chi gwang and Kim Young goon sidelined Han Tae joo from the core characters. OCN loves doing this: starting shows with a trio dynamic (m-m-f) of peers and partners and then doubling down on the importance of homosocial male bonding to the point that the female character’s role and responsibility lies in securing and protecting the men’s relationship with each other.

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Be Melodramatic is kinda ruining me for other Kdramas with its prickly, combative, jaded, hopeful, funny, caring, vulnerable characters.

RUINING ME.
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Ah, Watcher. I have enjoyed so much all the angsty sinister feelings, these shots of our beautiful leads striding toward the camera & that theme tune. Still have #15 & 16 to watch.
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I love the love-bruised-and-jaded ladies of Melo is my Nature.

8
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me looking at Are You Human, Too? on Netflix and wondering if rewatching will tarnish the beautiful memories

4
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Is Yeon Woo-jin always vaguely creepy or is that just me? Like a little smug like he thinks his boyish charm will help him coast through everything.

Anyway. Quite into this show.
7
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Me: Saccharine codependent all-consuming romantic relationships are boring and bad.

Also me: please hook Deom Mi/Yoon Jae\’s love directly to my veins.

5
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You know what, at least Park Min Young has had the opportunity to exercise her range with this wandering plot.

0
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Is the lesson of HPL that women have to carry the emotional weight of the world on their shoulders? And do the work of keeping everyone alive to boot?

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Wait. What. There was a fourth kid? What is this. I am so confused.

2
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Deok Mi is such a creeper but I do love her.

Finally watching HPL 15. I will for always wish they had generated enough plot to dodge the childhood connection trope.

5
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Ok. I have hit saturation point on the childhood trauma/abandonment subplot of HPL and want a return to zany fangirl hijinx. That said KMJร—PMY are perfection even when teary and anxious.

10
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Totally normal and appropriate workplace behaviour.

Honestly grateful for the comedic relief of this and Director Eom. These past episodes have been muy intensio.
14
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Honestly I was afraid the show would put Deok Miโ€™s fangirling to rest once she and Ryan hooked up, so I am continually charmed by these unabashed moments of fan joy on her part.
14
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    Haha yes! Iโ€™m glad they show her still spazzing – like when CSA called her or when he met her outside the gallery! I do understand the reduced fangirl aspect in a way – cos sheโ€™s interacting directly with CSA these days and there is no need to go to his events – she sees him kind of โ€˜socially โ€˜ cos of Ryan! Ultimate fangirl fantasy.

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Busy week so only getting around to Her Private Life now. I want to screencap 90% of their subtle comfortable interactions BUT FIRSTLY

GOOD MORNING to this 3-piece suit & this suit only😍🔥
24
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What is the deal with the soundtrack to Abyss? It swerves between the mystery, pomp and menace of a Star Wars First Order scene and the bouncy trumpets of the Marvel title credits? Neither of which really suit the material and continually throw me off balance. I want to find something redeeming in this show but so far it really seems like a mess with grand aspirations.

2
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Can we talk about these wonderful fecking v-necked garments on Kim Jae Wook? Like. What. How is a sternum so sexy?

Also, I am relieved they have broken away from the pastel trouser suits on PMY.

14
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    so i am extremely interested in the sudden pivot of Deok-mi’s wardrobe. It coincided with her coming out as a fangirl to Ryan, right? Is it an extended metaphor about showing off her true self, etc etc etc? (It doesn’t work for me in a lot of ways as a metaphor, fwiw)

    Or did the stylist read DB comments about the pantsuits and we brought her/him to the light? ๐Ÿ˜‰

    6
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      I wonder about the motivation for the shift, too. Like it is the fact that her professional and personal lives are reconciled in a way they weren’t before? Because I’d also easily believe it a response to fan criticism, tbh. They were styling her so fuddy duddy/prairie school marm.

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    Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone make V-necked garments work like Kim Jae-wook does.

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    I’m glad you mention those gorgeous v-necks, bc I was silently blessed whoever decided to put KJW in that!
    I mean… it just his chest, but damn does he WERK it. Like every single part of him is sexy. HOW? (and how do i get my hands on it hehehe) PMY is so lucky!

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    I really didnโ€™t like the way he was dressed in the first few episodes. Very eccentric – probably to show us his artistic nature. But whatever it is, the man can rock a garbage back as if it is designer material.

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Deok Mi\’s inadvertent mentoring of Hyo Jin is so kind and understanding. There are MANY aspects of the show\’s representation of fangirling that is v problematic. However, the way her character is as much about fostering community and joy among young girls, and trying to support them in celebrating their fannish loves in ways that (usually) keep them safe and keep their fangirling respectful.

I\’m for defo glossing the uglier sides of fandom, and I don\’t know that the show can and/or will ever address the distortion enacted by the cult of celebrity. But there are parts of Deok Mi\’s understanding of fannish practices and fan communities that resonate with my own enjoyment of connecting with others through or by way of a cherished art or artistic practitioner. Like this old Dramabeans.

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Currently RecapPing

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