Beanie level: Errand boy

#Lost 16 [warning: sp ** l * rs]
Although I hoped for more interactions between the leads, the ending was satisfying; this is a healing drama, after all, not a romance focused one.
KJ’s and BJ’s reaction in the planetarium is the same they had when they previously met (the accelerated breath, for example), so I have no doubt they will be together in the future. Their connection was real, and on the other hand we knew the photos sent by Ah-ran wouldn’t be a big issue (BJ didn’t mind KJ already knew about the suicide note).
In addition, she has no ring and the seat beside her is empty, and if we want to give credit to the lyrics of the song used when they met during ep.14 and to the Akira manager, they love each other, so I’m perfectly fine with the ending.
They healed, and that’s the most important thing.

In another drama maybe KJ would go back to school or find another job, while here we see he has made a business of the stand-in service, that is the thing he is good at, and what he chose to do (even if I think his motel days are over).

I liked that the writer didn’t specify the duration of the time jump, the time for healing is different for everyone, after all.

About the other characters – >

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    I am sad for Ah-ran. She has been abused and trapped for so long, that she can’t help but being disillusioned and she can’t believe love still exists. At least she has freed herself from the husband (even if I don’t think she exposed his violent behaviour).
    Jong-hoon also is trapped into his own game. When he proposed AR to live a long and mediocre life with him, he was brave to expose his vulnerability, but unfortunately, he remains miserable and stuck in a client/employee relationship.

    I had written that a relationship between Min-jung and DDak-yi would be hell for both, but now I’m not sure; it could work.
    As other beanies, I had thought MJ could be a ticking bomb and cause trouble to BJ after all after the meeting with Jong-hoon, but this drama tried to be realistic, so fortunately, it didn’t go that route.
    She was frightened by Jing-hoon, and gave up on KJ (whom I think she fancied only because of his looks and attitude). She wants a normal and stable life, with someone who only looks at her for more than the time of a stand-in service. (In addition, was she the girl who dumped Jung-soo’s junior?). I’m happy with her growth and her choice to start afresh.

    I’m not sure what Kyung-eun and Jung-soo will choose to do with their feelings.
    I think she was deeply in love with her husband and now she’s still lost and needs time to heal and to figure out what to do with her life.
    On the other hand, Jung-soo is dense and not proactive, but she knows him and how to handle him, and the only time we saw him slightly happily smile, was when he was with her.

    He had his own development, he finally yelled at his junior and stopped trying to please him (I don’t think this is the right word, but I can’t find a better one).
    He is not a bad person, but surely not the right person for BJ, and the fact that he constantly avoided communication was frustrating, but people like this exist.
    I liked that he and BJ talked at the end, clarifying that they’re both humans, that they deeply care for each other but aren’t in love, so lifting the weight of their marriage from their shoulders.
    I still can’t understand the relationship between DDak-yi’s sister and Woo-nam. Who decided it had to be sexless? What’s going on, now? He seems to want to move to start afresh with her, so why did it seem he was crying from pain? Maybe as other beanies wrote, this storyline needed better actors, I don’t know.

    Oh, did you notice the poster of β€œBathsheba” at the bus stop? I will try to better understand the β€œHallelujha” lyrics and how it fits (if it does) with the story.

    This is the best drama of this year for me (but I still love you, YAMS) and surely entered the list of my favourites. No other show I have watched has so well (and beautifully) depicted the pain from depression, the sadness, the emptiness, the longing and the connection between two human beings.

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      I still agree with your original take that Ddak and Minjung would be hell for each other. Their last scene made me think this is how the parents in weekend dramas (shallow scheming mother, whipped buffoon of a father) come to be. Their relationship literally started like
      Min-jung: can I spend your money?
      Ddak: you can spend almost all of it

      I also like your take on Jong Hoon – he really is a pitiable character.

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    I was ok with how it ended too. At least it didn’t go up in a bonfire or slowly sink beneath the water. She needed time away from him after her marriage break up. The air between them was charged with they met at the end.

    I felt like you that Jong-hoon was pitiful. He loved Ah-ran and she barely saw him. He waited on her hand and foot, and she just noticed it. There was no redemption for Ah-ran. She took my breath away when she left BJ to be strangled by her husband. Min-jung and DDak-yi seemed a bit forced together, but it was nice to see him happy. It didn’t hurt to see her working either. Most of all, I felt for Jung-soo. He seemed lost too. I think he was a good person and he tried to resist the love of his life. He seemed a bit of a wet sop, but he truly loved BJ. He just wasn’t right for her or her for him. The refrigerator in their unit was a big empty space, and continuing on with the nourishment theme, it was impossible to fill. (On an unrelated note, he was a younger man too btw.) The conversation at the end when they spoke the truth to each other came as a relief. Everything built up to that. I loved the drama too. I thought it was beautifully crafted and made its points with a light touch. What a joy to watch these two amazing actors.

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      I was shocked to see what Jin-seop had done to BJ (I had never considered such a thing), and shocked to see AR abandoning her. I know AR was being beaten herself and wanted to save herself and probably once inside the house she called the men who stopped JS, but still that scene hit me very much and now I understand why BJ hates both so much.
      What I can’t understand is AR’s attitude towards BJ after all this, she has not even a little sympathy, but fights her like an enemy. I think her need to have the last word (sending the photos) is her way to survive.

      Your take on the refrigerator is interesting. I wondered what was the meaning behind the MIL saying that it was too big. In another episode BJ and JS talked about it but I didn’t remember why he wanted to change it; I’ll be more attentive during rewatch time.

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        That’s when I felt more sympathetic to the MIL. She was bringing food to them, poor thing. Of course, she had her son’s interests at heart, but she is also confessing that she didn’t understand BJ. I’m the same as you about AR. Horrible and twisted: a beaten woman enabling the beater and turning on her defender.

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#Lost is such a masterpiece!

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I posted a comment that is under moderation, but it has no words from the list @sicarius provided (no vel0cirapt0rs involved). I will post and ripost here to find the culprit…

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This song is so beautiful #lost

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    I recognise this – I know the melody from somewhere. It’s hauntingly beautiful.

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Getting heartbroken isn’t a metaphor.
You merely can’t see the wound. But the injury is real.
The problem is that even the patient doesn’t know about the injury because it doesn’t bleed.
[…] If I were to compare this to a car accident, this person’s arms, legs and ribs would all be broken.
“Get up and walk. Why are you lying in bed?”
You can’t say that.
You’re still hanging in there.
I want to say you’re doing so well.

#YouAreMySpringEp3

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I\’m perplexed 😐
#Oh!MasterEp.9

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    Yup. There I was, cheering madly cos Joo-in and Hae-jin manage to save Bi-soo and give him his voice back. Then Little Grim Reaper has to pop up with his mad glaring eyes and pour cold water over everything.

    I think I said, What the heck, one too many times at the end. Still watching and loving it though, lol.

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    I’m exhausted. This drama started out light, sweet and fun. It had plenty of elements already to add the required storytelling tension (different personality types, creative differences, mom illnesses, etc.). Now they’re just throwing the kitchen sink in there, too. I still enjoy it, I’m still watching – but primarily because when JooSoo are together, they blast off my screen electric. The first half of ep 9 was angst; then we got some catharsis; and now we’re set up for more angst? I’m wondering if I should pause and wait to watch the rest until it finishes.

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    If only I could tell you anything that makes sense…

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      The writing is so messed up… 😕

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        I thought the linking of the birth secret and the love triangle was done quite sensibly and even economically. In a single episode, Bi-soo and his mum reveal all to each other; his mum promptly shows the stepdad the door; and on witnessing Bi-soo’s suffering, Joo-in realises and confesses just how much she cares about her “cat”. And Joo-in was also admirably resolute when she rejected the ad campaign with Yoo-jin and came clean to her manager about being Bi-soo’s housemate.

        And then the writer spoils it all with Mad Glaring Eyes.

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          The second half of ep 9 did pull itself back on track, I thought. I really liked how he just told his mom what happened with the stepdad – 100% took the venom out of his threat. I was so happy the drama did that vs having Bi-soo keep it to himself.

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            Episode 10 is bloody awful though. Not just because of what it’s about, but because it pointlessly repeats ep9’s pattern. When the LUCA characters were pursued and beaten up over and over again, at least there was a good reason for it. Oh Master Ep10 felt like the writer either had a fit of absent-mindedness, or decided that the audience would appreciate Joo-in’s steadfastness only if she endured the same crap twice.

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Beanies, is Beyond evil worth watching? Has it a satisfying ending?

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Beanies, this morning I have taken the subway for the first time after a year!

I was very scared and really happy (well, I am scared and happy even when I go grocery shopping, this period).

Though I am vaccinated, there are still limitations, here, but finally today I had an acceptable reason to go out.

Then I took a walk. It’s beautifully strange to realize that there are other things (and beautiful things) beyond the walls of my home.

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Happy 2021, Beanies!!
Thanks for this year together!

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#2020Roundup
Day31: best PD (stolen idea from Jezz)

Park Shin-woo (IOTNBO)

Here is the end of our roundoup! Thank you to all the beanies that had this idea, that wrote posts, that commented and read.

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#2020Roundup
Day30: Drama with the cutest children

Tale of the nine-taled

These children were not only cute, but talented, too.

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#2020Roundup
Day29: Best cast

Crash landing on you

I think a drama has a great cast when not only the first and second leads, but even the secondary characters have enough space and are well characterized.

Last year my choice was VIP, this year Crash landing on you. Probably everyone has learned to love the ducklings, the village ajummas and the found family among the leads and the soldiers. And, as other beanies have pointed out, even Dan and her mother weren’t stereotyped evil characters, but very human and relatable.

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#2020Roundup
Day28: Drama I’d like to watch asap

Kairos

This year I haven’t watched many dramas that seemed interesting and that I’d like to watch, but on top of the list there is Kairos.

I am always scared to start a drama with time travels because I fear the story will derail, but I read only good things about Kairos (and was able to stay away from spoilers!), and I really want to watch again SSR and LSY.

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#2020Roundup
Day27: Crazy but fun

My dangerous wife

Actually I haven’t finished this yet, but so far it fits perfectly in this category.

It’s true, it starts with a man cheating on his wife and the woman planning her revenge, and it has strong “Gone girl” vibe, but it’s not a heavy show like The world of the married.

It doesn’t take itself seriously, and every time I watch an episode, I find myself thinking that it’s really crazy… but fun.

Oh, and the OST is great.

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#2020Roundup
Day26: Drama that was part of your Christmas

It’s okay to not be okay

My sister sent me the OST of IOTNBO from Scotland as Christmas gift.
Being from Korea, it has already travelled more than I have my whole life!

The package is really beautiful, and the book is full of photos!
I didn’t expect such a gift due to the situation, and I’m very happy!

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#2020Roundup
Day25: Drama that had a Christmas episode

Crash landing on you (ep.8)

Generally I don’t like Christmas episodes, they seem forced and too sugary, but this was beautiful.

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#2020Roundup
Day24: Drama that got boring

Oh, my baby

The first episode – and not only – of this drama perplexed me: it was labeled as a rom-com, but I felt like crying.
It had an interesting theme, though, and Jang Na-ra, and some wise observations about the children/parents relationship, and I continued watching.

But sadly it got boring. It seemed that all the secondary characters didn’t work, but above all the girls in Ha-ri’s office were boring, and Jae-young’s attempts to win her over.
The last two episodes felt really long, and for once I am not sure I liked the “whole” happy ending: I don’t know if women in the same situation as Ha-ri would be comforted by it or discouraged.

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    You perfectly defined the drama.
    I loved it until episode 10 and then, it simply got boring.
    And JaeYoung character was also so annoying. He got on my nerves, being so selfish and arrogant… I would have killed him a thousand times.
    As for the main couple, though I loved both Jang Nara an Goo Joon together, at the end I was not invested in their relation and the obsession over having the baby was too much. I also wondered why no other options (as adoption or assuming you can be happy without being a parent) were explored, and not that I liked the miracle baby ending, either.

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Happy holidays, dear Beanies!

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#2020Roundup
Day23: Drama I regret I didn’t watch live

Do you like Brahms?

I prefer watching dramas live. I like having a couple days in a week to look forward to, I enjoy the story and twists more, and I am sure I will finish the show, while it takes me lots of time to finish a drama – even more than one year – when I don’t watch live. But, above all, I love opening the fan wall and finding Beanies’ gifs, opinions or rantings.

I would have loved spazzing with you on the fan wall about this drama. It seemed so much fun!
I started watching it just before the – now dreaded – ep.12, and I’m still stuck at ep.9…

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2020 Round Up
Day22: Bad but (somehow) fun

Born again

I must say a thing about Born again: it was a sincere drama. In fact it has been bad since the first episode.

But it aired when I was having a very busy period and one of its nonsense, 30 minutes episode was the only thing my tired brain could bear.

The writing was just awful (even if the actors did their best with what they had) and the story more and more absurd, but somehow it was fun to watch that mess.

So, I don’t regret watching it, but I DON’T recommend it!

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