Beanie level: Jang Geu-rae

Hello, beanies! Long time no see. I’m here writing from my sickbed (as it were) looking for entertainment. (Not to worry, it’s not the dreaded virus but complications with my chronic illness that has me on bedrest.) What of the current dramas are y’all watching and enjoying?

I’m watching Love is for Suckers, Love in Contract, and Gaus Electronics. Love is for Suckers is definitely my fave. Gaus Electronics started out rough but the last episode made me cry tears of laughter so (almost) all is forgiven. I honestly don’t care much about Love in Contract but I’m still watching…

I feel like now is the time to catch up on some other dramas but when it came down to it I just pressed play on a rewatch of A Business Proposal instead. 😂 Maybe your answers will give me inspiration!

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    My Liberation Notes, Our Blues, Hometown Cha Cha Cha, She Would Never Know, Alchemy of Souls, oh and definitely Extraordinary Attorney Woo are dramas Ive watched and enjoyed this year. Love in Contract is getting better. Hope you are too!

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      Thank you! I really enjoyed My Liberation Notes, Hometown Cha Cha Cha, Alchemy of Souls, and Extraordinary Attorney Woo! Our Blues sounds like a tearjerker but She Would Never Know looks fun! I will give it a try! 🙂

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        Haha you’ve been watching a lot too!

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          Haha, yes!!! But I feel like I’m not watching much at the moment and there’s some airing kdramas I’m curious about like May I Help You? and Cheer Up.

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            Law Cafe with Lee Seunggri is okay, some good parts, slightly slow. Mental Coach Jegal has some disturbing aspects of coach abuse and off the wall antics, but I do like some of the characters, and I’ve only watched two eps of Cheer Up. Right this moment Im watching 20th century Girl, a K-movie on Netflix.

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    Seasons of blossom is a really lovely bittersweet coming of age drama, Once upon a small town is a sweet rom com with no nasty surprises. Cheer up has college rom com with a Scooby doo mystery element so it depends if you want to deal with that. Youth MT is a reality tv show with a lot of the popular younger actors. I don’t usually watch reality tv and came for my actor but stayed for the general vibe of them all.

    If you like webtoons Seasons of blossom is my current favourite and the last season has just started again. I also enjoyed A good day to be a dog and it will also be made into a drama soon.

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      That’s so good to know, thank you!! Does the webtoon that Seasons of Blossom is based on have a happy ending? The bittersweet part scares me a little, haha. Youth MT looks super cute although I’ve never gotten into Korean reality tv maybe that will get me to change my mind!

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        The fourth and final instalment just dropped episode two this week. Each season focuses on different characters but they are all interconnected e.g. they go to the same school or are friends/siblings of the characters we met in season one. If bittersweet is not a good fit for you then I would stay away as there is something sad that is influencing the characters of each season in different ways. It is so far my standout webtoon and drama for 2022. Prior to that it was 25,21. The drama has done an amazing job at recreating certain elements of the webtoon but changed the format so merged two seasons into one unfortunately this has meant that the contrast between the themes has been emphasised rather than the commonality. People have not got to know and connect with all the characters in the same way either. Some have suggested they will be doing a season two for the last two seasons of the webtoon which makes sense as the source material is not finished but also allows the drama to do its own thing.

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    If you need something very simple and cute, Once Upon a Small Town is perfect!

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      That one looks cute! But the vet angle makes me scared there might be animal death… Does it focus a lot on that?

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        The vet takes his job so seriously he is a vegan and the one animal that dies it’s from old age. It’s a farm animal and they flag up the dilemma he has around whether putting an animal to sleep if it is suffering is something he should do or allow the process to happen naturally. It’s contained in one episode, it’s not on screen and shows human relationships with their animals is not restricted to house pets but can include working animals too. You could miss that episode or fast forward those bits.

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        It’s more about the fact he is a city vet and needs to take care of farm animals. It’s kinda new for him because he didn’t do it since his studies. But he’s really a nice ML.

        There are cute puppies and bunny!

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    I’m always watching “old” series, because I have a quite long list yet.

    Between k-dramas released in 2022 I have watched Business Proposal, Yumi’s cells 2 (I watched 1 and 2 in a row this summer. I enjoyed both, but I prefer season 1. If you have not watched them, give them a try), and now I’m watching Once upon in a small town (not perfect, but nice).

    I have “on hold” the familiar drama It’s beautiful now. I only watched 6 episodes out of 50. I probably will go back to it someday.

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    A Cdrama named Love between Fairy and Devil. It should already be on NF.

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      I finished this one a few weeks ago and it was a DELIGHT!!!! I feel like i’ve been in a complete drama slump since then because nothing else can compare!

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        Yes, I think I can relate to that! I was going to say that I didn’t know my heart craved a simple epic love story, but the show is nowhere near being simple! It might look simple but it is indeed very well-structured with so many messages hidden. But I have to say the best part of it is how HAWT the ML looks and his actions are. lol

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#TodaysWebtoon: The end of episode 13 had me so stressed I had to do some deep breathing to calm down. 😅 I bailed after only a few minutes of episode 14 because I just don’t know if the writers are going to handle it well. I’m going to wait for the recap to know how it ends up…

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    Is it the artist and his mum story line?

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      Yes 😢

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        It was nothing like we imagined and they wrap it up in episode 14. The mum was protecting him and he forgot the reason why he had to restrained while his mum was out working. She came not for the money but she felt bad for not being able to care for him properly due to her work hours. She wanted to see him before she lost her ability to remember who he was.

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We’re getting down to the final eps of Alchemy of Souls (season 1)! What’re your predictions/hopes/dreams for the finale?

My hope is it’s a better ending than Hwayugi/A Korean Odyssey (the Hong Sisters’ previous drama), Monthly Magazine Home (Jung So Min’s last drama), and Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol (Lee Jae Wook’s previous drama). Those three had some of my least favorite endings of all time. Surely they can all have better luck this time around or is that too much to ask for? 😂

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    For context these are the endings of the shows I mentioned (SPOILERS):

    Hwayugi ended with the female lead’s death, Monthly Magazine Home ended with the female lead ghosting the male lead for like five years over her guilt that her dad owed him money, DDSSLLS (aka the most cursed drama ever in my humble opinion) ended with the male lead FAKING HIS OWN DEATH to go off and get treatment for his illness then popping back into the female lead’s life without a single apology.

    Alchemy of Souls, please don’t take this as a challenge to one-up these terrible shows! Go easy on us! 😂

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    I actually didn’t mind the end of Hwayugi (apart from the truly terrible cgi dragon – whenever I see the ice dragon at the start of alchemy I’m like “I see they wanted to have a proper dragon this time”) but I don’t think Monthly Magazine Home had an end, did it? I’m pretty sure it just stopped abruptly at like episode 12 and was never finished 😅😅😅😅

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Hello, Beanies! I’m a longtime lurker, first time member and finally got the inspiration to introduce myself. I’m a disabled university student whose favorite methods of procrastination are watching kdramas, thinking about kdramas, and/or tweeting about kdramas.

My first drama was Goblin and I fell head over heels (despite the overlong episodes, endless PPL, and eye-watering slowmo.) Since then I’ve watched over a hundred kdramas. My other faves include Her Private Life, Touch Your Heart, Run On, Healer, Because This is My First Life, and The King’s Affection. Although I’m a romcom girl at heart I also really love Flower of Evil and Happiness (this one is a miracle show for me because I usually can’t stand zombies).

I’m either watching or finishing up six dramas (which is an all time record for me that definitely won’t last) that I’ll share a few quick thoughts on:

Alchemy of Souls: I don’t trust the Hong Sisters after the debacle that was A Korean Odyssey but this show is my catnip right now. I LOVE So Min and Jae Wook. I can only hope that the rest of the show does these characters justice.

Big Mouth: way too violent for my taste but I’m super impressed by the acting. I need to know who Big Mouse is but I’m not sure I can hang in there the whole series.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo: if not for the last four eps I would say this is my all time fave of the current group. I’ve been absolutely loving it butI hate the recent plot developments. The ending wasn’t the worst thing ever, but it wasn’t as good as this show deserves.

Cafe Minamdang: I think I’m still watching this out of sheer stubbornness or maybe I’ve just been brainwashed. The setup had so much potential but the execution is unbelievably messy. I still laugh about once per episode but it’s still an absolute slog.

Today’s Webtoon: Kim Se Jong is absolute sunshine in this and so far it’s been an easy watch. Some of the work related issues have gotten on my nerves though. Also, my romance loving heart needs to know if there’s going to be a love line or not…

Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist: great cast and great characters, but sometimes the plot just loses me. Sometimes I find myself wishing that I was just rewatching Tale of Nokdu instead.

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    P.S. Please forgive any formatting errors or other missteps, I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m still figuring out the system here! 🙂

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    Hello! So Goblin also made me a regular here. Not my first kdrama, but it was the first one I loved entirely. And Hwayugi gave me trust issues with the Hong Sisters too—then they had to cast Jung So Min in a semi-sageuk and I’m hooked. 😂 You have a ton of dramas on your plate for being in school! Manage your time well, ok? And welcome to the nicest place on the internet!

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      Thank you so much for your kind welcome, that’s so sweet of you!!! I’m glad that most of the shows I’m watching are coming to an end so as I get busier this semester I won’t have so many shows to juggle! If I happen to dip in and out of commenting it’ll be due to my course work. 😅 I’m glad someone else hasn’t forgiven or forgotten Hwayugi, haha. And Jung So Min really is my kryptonite too! I watched all of Monthly House Magazine for her and that ending was absolutely excruciating. I can only hope we can escape a similar fate with AoS! Fingers crossed!

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    Welcome! I’m a relative newcomer, too, and I love your list of faves and comments on current shows. I’m watching Goblin for the first time now and am, if not head over heels, at least listing heavily to starboard. It’s great to have another passionate commenter with sharp observations (which is what this place is all about), so please chime in often!

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      Thank you so much! I may not be able to be consistently active due to my university duties but I will definitely chime in when I can! 🙂 I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying Goblin! It definitely has its flaws but it’s still a very precious drama with some truly fabulous moments!

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    Hello and welcome from another long-time-lurker-turned-commenter 👋👋. Hope you find this community as rewarding as I have 💖!

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      Thank you!!! This community seems so welcoming and insightful, I’m enjoying it already! ❤️

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    Welcome to the community! I’m also a long time lurker and finally made an account early this year. I hope you’ll enjoy your time here sharing your thoughts/favorites!

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      Thank you so much!! It took me a long time to figure out how to post but I think I’m slowly getting a hang of it. 😅

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        If you have questions about how to post or anything, you can ask beanies. We’ll try to help😊

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          Thank you!!! Is there a guide to formatting? I figured out the 200 character limit trick but I’m not sure how to mention other users or use bold or italics.

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    Welcome, welcome, welcome.🥰 Happy to meet someone else who has millions of dramas on the go at one time! Please do pace yourself with the studies, it’s tough times to be studying and focus is not easy to come by so make the most of it when it’s there. We will be here waiting when you have the time and energy.

    This really is a great community and you will have fun the comments section makes me laugh out loud most days. I am impressed that you came in with a proper length post some of us struggled to work out how to post more than the character count! Any issues, just ask, there is ALWAYS someone happy to help.

    Looking forward to seeing you around as and when you can.

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      I noticed that right off too—she figured out how to get past the 200 character limit right out of the gate!

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        I can’t take credit for that one, it was thanks to @eazal‘s advice to another newbie that helped me finally make a post after lurking for ages! 🙂

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      Thank you so much!!! I will definitely be taking that advice to heart and thankfully since half of the dramas are ending soon or have already finished up my watch schedule should get considerably more manageable.

      I’ve already been so impressed by the beanies’ sensitivity and warm welcome. As a longtime lurker I’ve done my fair share of giggling over the comments and I’m so glad I get to join the fun now! 🙂 I think I accidentally figured out how to mention someone in the comments but bold and italics are still baffling me. Is it just standard html for those kinds of things and embedding posts?

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    Welcome to Dramabeans! I sure hope you enjoy ur stay here. A lot of the dramas you liked are also among my faves.
    I am a long time kdrama fan and previous lurker to this site, now I try to interact as often as RL permits.
    I loved Goblin too I got sucked into the story of Sunny, Grim Reaper and Kim Shin.
    I sure hope you do well in the university and manage ur time well. I also hope to see you in the comment sections. See ya around!

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      Thank you so much!!! I’m so happy to find fellow fans of all my faves! That Goblin trio was so precious! The actors really made those characters shine. I’ve never been able to find a drama that moved me so much as that one. It was really lighting in a bottle!

      Thank you again for the well wishes and I look forward to seeing you around!

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    “Cafe Minamdang: I think I’m still watching this out of sheer stubbornness or maybe I’ve just been brainwashed.”
    Yeah that’s all of us rn lmao. You’re in good company dw 😅😅😅

    Welcome out of lurkerdom!

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      Hahaha, thank you!!! I’m currently watching ep 17 of CM and I’m genuinely amused. The brainwashing has worked so well… 😂😂😂

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    Welcome! Glad you decided to join us! 🙂

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    Hello and welcome!

    From your list of favs, I can say that we might have what I call polar opposite taste in Kdramas. 😛 What is good is that I also have this relationship with my friend @ndlessjoie, so my suggestion is that if you see that I like/adore some shows, chance is that you might not like them!

    Enjoy your stay!

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      And my comment would be that @ladyantima and i have quite similar preferences with our dramas! I’m a true rom com fangirl at heart.

      It’s always nice to see you on the wall M!

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        🥰🥰🥰 I feel loved by Chunaya.

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        I’m always happy to find a fellow romcom fan! 😂 I’ve branched out from time to time (hence my love for Happiness and Flower of Evil) but romcoms are really where my heart is at. You can’t go wrong with a good romance and a happy ending in my book! ❤️

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          I love both leads in FoE but sadly didn’t finish it cos i was busy, then i just never had the mood to pick up where i left off. I still hope to finish it one day.

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      Totally opposite except for the one or two exceptions each year.

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      Thank you so much! Haha, it takes all kinds of kdrama fans to make the world go round! That’s good advice to keep in mind, thank you! 😂 Are you more of a crime/mystery drama fan?

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        Well, I actually am also a good rom-com fan at heart.. oh maybe slice of life, too. But in your list, apart from Goblin which I managed to live in my 3rd attempt (yes, the first two failed miserably around ep8 both times) and Healer which I absolutely adore, nothing in the list appeals to me at all.

        And yes, Mugy and I are each other s guiding light: if I see she loved some show so much, it’s a BIG warning sign that I might end up HATING it so much within the first ep. Actually, her favorite made it to my most hated list and now sitting in the rank no.1. By this I mean Marry Me Mary.

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    Brainwashed by K-dramas, it happens! Welcome, LadyAntima~

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    Welcome! I am the resident friendly ghost. 🙂

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    Hello ^^ I hope you have a nice time here!

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      Thank you! I’m already enjoying the warm welcome and interesting community you all have here! ❤️

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    Welcome!! So glad you finally decided to join and not just lurked. We all began like that. Enjoy the beanieworld!!

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      Thank you! It’s been a long process but I’m very happy to have taken the leap and made my first post! 😊

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    Welcome, LadyAntima! I lurked for a long time before commenting, too.☺️ It’s lovely that you’ve taken the plunge! I found that having a place to chat really filled a gap in my drama-watching experience – I hope enjoy being part of the community!

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      Thank you so much!! Yes, I have definitely felt the need for something more besides just watching kdramas on my own so I’m so glad to have found this community too! I’m already enjoying the warm welcome I’ve received from the beanies! <3

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    Welcome! You’ve got great taste – I’m fans of your favourites too ^^
    Also agree with everything you eloquently wrote about what you’re watching. You should be a recapper!!

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      Aww, thank you so much! That’s very high praise since DB’s recaps really take skills! I don’t think I have the eye for detail or the ability to follow plots like DB’s writers do, but I will treasure the compliment! 🙂 <3

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    Welcome! I suggest Just Between Lovers, Chicago Typewriter and Because This Is My First Life if you haven’t seen them yet. The first is probably considered a healing melo, but some of us love the romance.

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      Thank you! I’ve watched all three of those and Just Between Lovers and Because This is My First life are two of my all-time favorites! JBL made me cry so much but the romance was really beautiful. And Because This is My First Life was so satisfying with one of my favorite tropes (marriage of convenience) and plenty of heartfelt reflections. I’m not sure I could handle another drama like JBL at the moment because it was so emotional, but I’d take another Because This is My First Life any day! (Speaking of which, I wonder if that writer is planning anything new?)

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