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Week 39 Currently Watching

Still in a drama slump...nothing is really hooking me, but I am liking If You Wish Upon Me with Ji Chang Wook and SNSD’s Sooyoung. Definitely a tear-jerker.

I am planning to get back into Love Like The Galaxy but just haven’t felt like watching it yet. Same with Immortal Samsara. I’ve been waiting for Cheng Yi’s next drama and it sounds and looks really good, but I’m trying to get in the mood to watch a really long Chinese drama.

Love In Contract was pretty much what I had suspected. I watched the first 4 episodes and it’s a mediocre rom com that I’ll watch when I don’t feel like thinking too much. The male lead is pretty uninteresting - a socially awkward judge - and the second male lead is so *blech*. He’s too immature. I’m not rooting for the female lead to get with either of them. Like she has to help one of them with their social skills and the other forces her into a situation that in no way benefits her. I don’t like the set up at all.

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‘don’t you want your favourite character to be happy???’ no? i want my favourite character to be interesting. i want me to be happy. which sometimes involves my favourite character being in exquisite agony

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Week 30 Currently Watching

Welp - it’s been a while since I’ve last updated, but honestly, there haven’t been any dramas that have caught my attention until recently.

I was interested in Why Her, but waited until a few episodes were out. Instantly hooked. I loved Oh Su Jae. She was an amazing character, but I did lose a bit of interest while waiting for new episodes. Now all the episodes are out, but I’m having trouble getting back into it. 

I don’t really care much for the romance. I guess I’m not feeling the chemistry between Hwang In Yeop and Seo Hyun Jin or maybe their romance just doesn’t make sense. I think it would have been a better story if they kept things platonic between the two or if they just kept this unspoken tension between them. 

I love slow burn, especially if the story is fitting and in the case of revenge stories, slow burns can be so so good. For example, Vincenzo and Hong Cha Young - such a power couple. But in Why Her, they’re inserting this unnecessary drama between Su Jae and Gong Chan. I would rather they focus on Su Jae’s revenge or Gong Chan’s revenge, rather than anything between the two of them.

Also got into Love Like The Galaxy. Zhao Lu Si plays such endearing characters. I appreciate how her character isn’t this annoying, reckless girl. Sure, she takes actions that are reckless, but she knows they are before she does them. She’s just smart enough to navigate her way out of them. She doesn’t expect anyone to save her and finds her way to fix her problems. That’s what sets her apart from other female leads who cause problems because they are doing the “right” thing and have to be saved by others. 

I can’t say I’m super into the romance, but I think it’s starting to get better.

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Week 11 Currently Watching

Still watching Twenty Five Twenty One - FINALLY!! A kiss scene. It was so awkward and perfect for their current relationship.

We also saw a redemption arc for Hee Do’s mom, which I kinda expected already. From an earlier episode, we saw that she didn’t really sell her gold wedding rings, and while she came off as cold and uncaring, it seemed pretty obvious to me that she was just dealing with her own grief in a bad way. Now knowing the situation she was in, I get her decision. If she lost her job too, how would she protect her daughter? 

This show is getting better with each episode and I have high hopes for the final episode, however happy or sad it may be. Please don’t disappoint me 🙏🙏

A Business Proposal is still ridiculous and I still love it. I’m so glad I have this to counter Twenty Five Twenty One.

I decided to re-watch Marriage, Not Dating - a classic fake “dating” trope drama. This is exactly what I’m hoping from A Business Proposal and I really needed it to get through the week until the new episodes.

A new drama to the Currently Watching List - Military Prosecutor Doberman. I might drop this soon though. The action scenes are pretty good, but the story is a bit slow. I have a hard time getting through each episode. It might be on my backup list for when I have nothing else to watch.

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Week 10: Currently Watching

Wow. After The Red Sleeve, I really needed a break from watching dramas. I don’t know exactly what it was about that show, but I was emotionally exhausted after it ended. I can’t recall the last time I was so affected by a show, and it was, honestly, such a strange feeling. I’ve definitely watched dramas with tragic romances and sad endings before, but this one hit especially hard.

That, followed by Our Beloved Summer, which was a great drama as well, and fortunately, much happier, but it was also packed with a lot of emotions, that I just couldn’t get into other dramas. But I’m finally back.

Currently watching Twenty Five Twenty One with Kim Tae Ri and Nam Joo Hyuk. Absolutely amazing. Na Hee Do is adorable and Baek Yi Jin *swoons*

I don’t mind that they developed romantic feelings for each other even with Hee Do still in high school. And that is because of how their relationship developed. There’s nothing forced and while they do experience some miscommunications or awkwardness due to the gap in their age, there’s nothing strange about how they come to like each other. I can’t wait to see how their relationship further changes as they grow older. And puh-lease, do not have a sad or bittersweet ending. I’m going to be devastated if it is.

Also on the list is A Business Proposal. Such a ridiculous drama and exactly what I need. It’s dumb and yet, I love every minute of the show. Give me my tsundere male lead who’s good at everything and the poor female lead who somehow gets roped into a fake dating contract to throw off the male lead’s grandfather, but then they fall in love for real and live happily ever after.

Finally, just finished Through the Darkness. A complete 180 from the first 2 dramas. It is about the first criminal profiler in South Korea. It’s always satisfying to watch criminals and disgusting creeps get taking down by the good guys. And man, they really went all out with having the worst criminals.

The ending did feel a bit abrupt. I wonder if that was due to the show being cut shorter than it was originally planned for - because there were only 12 episodes instead a usual 16 episodes. Either way, it was still a good watch and Kim Nam Gil did an amazing job with portraying the struggle of having to listen to these criminals describing their messed up thoughts.

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Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else.

C. S. Lewis (via writingdotcoffee)

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I love how I’m more invested in fictional characters love lives than my own.

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I think predictable is fine. It's fun even. I love predicting things in a series and finding out I'm right. It's like the writers and I get to high-five one another because they set up a sensible plot and I put the pieces together.

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Week 4: Guess This Drama

A detective is happily married to a wonderful man, but her life slowly unravels when she learns of her husband's dark past and his tie to a serial killer.

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Week 4: Favorite Actor

Jung Kyung Ho

Source

As I’m listing dramas, it surprises me how many dramas I have seen him in. And he’s been around for so long! Smile, You definitely brings back some nostalgia. Those were the early days of drama watching and oh, how I don’t miss struggling to find shows in good quality.

For me, he’s been an actor that’s fallen to the background, but when he comes up in a new, more mainstream drama, I’m reminded of how much I enjoy his work.

It looks like he also does theatre and perhaps musicals? It’s kind of sad when I think about how many movies and performances I can’t see because I don’t live in Korea. There are so many things that I would love to go see if I could.

Dramas that I have seen:

Ja Myung Go

Smile, You

Cruel City

Falling for Innocence (Partial)

One More Happy Ending

Prison Playbook

When the Devil Calls Your Name

Hospital Playlist

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Week 4: Favorite Scene(s)

Drama - Fight My Way (쌈마이웨이)

I love crazy Ae-ra lol

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Week 4: Favorite OST

Ailee (에일리) - I Will Go To You Like The First Snow (첫눈처럼 너에게 가겠다)

Perfect song for whenever I want to feel melodramatic.

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Week 3: Currently Watching

So I did not succeed in waiting 2 weeks for the final episodes of Our Beloved Summer (OBS). I did wait until Tuesday to watch both episode 13 and 14 back to back and these episodes weren’t mind-blowing in terms of development, but I think they were good for building up to the final 2 episodes. At least I hope so. OBS hasn’t disappointed me yet, so I think they will do a great job with the wrap up. 

There hasn’t been a dull moment yet. Everything that has happened has held some significance to the story, and they’ve circled to back to the moments that were seemingly insignificant. I’m curious what, if anything, will be shown about that last day of the documentary filming when they were in high school. I’m pretty sure the producer left the camera on to capture if anything would happen between the two of them as he ran back for another battery - I think that was just an excuse. I’m hoping we’ll get to see something, because Ji Woong changed his mind on filming the documentary after watching the recordings, so there had to be something there.

I also decided to re-watch the final episode of The Red Sleeve (TRS) and boy, was that a bad idea. It was just heartbreaking to watch Deok Im slowly lose herself. She lost her son and then her friend. It was also heartbreaking to watch San lose her. It was just an entire episode of pain and the ending did not bring much comfort. It was only after they lost everything and died that they were able to be together.

I was trying to think of another tragic love story, and one that I would compare TRS to would be Youth of May (YoM). 

***Spoilers for those who have not seen YoM yet***

Both female leads died young and the male leads had to continue living without them. What made YoM less tragic was that even if it was just for a short while, Hwang Hee Tae and Kim Myung Hee were able to love each other to the fullest. They were able to confess their feelings and share their love. Whereas with TRS, Deok Im hid her feelings to the very last moment. Even in death, in that last scene, she never said her feelings out loud.

TRS was so beautifully tragic. I plan to re-watch the entire series. There’s probably so much to pick out and analyze. I do hope Junho and Lee Se Young are able to do a modern drama at some point in the future - and please have it be a sappy rom com. 🙏

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Week 3: Favorite Drama

Oh My Ghost 오 나의 귀신님

If I think about it too much, I don’t really understand the development of Bong Sun and Seon Woo’s relationship, but their chemistry is too good, so I’ll accept it as it is.

Park Bo Young and Kim Seul Gi were great together as well.  It’s amazing how Park Bo Young is able to emulate Kim Seul Gi’s character.

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Week 3: Favorite Actress

Kim Seul Gi

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I remember the first time I saw her was because of a meme.

“When you start and finish an entire season in one night.” 😂😂

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That’s still me to this day. 

But she is so adorable and I have loved all the characters that she has played. I can’t wait to see when she gets a lead role in a full length drama, because I think she can definitely pull it off.

Dramas that I have seen:

Flower Boy Next Door (partial)

Surplus Princess

Discovery of Romance

Oh My Ghost

Find Me In Your Memory

Splash Splash Love

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Week 3: Guess This Drama

A man accused of a murder he didn't commit has 2 weeks to clear his name in order to save his daughter.

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Week 3: Favorite Actor

Jo Jung Suk

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He’s so good at embodying the characters that he plays. Every show that I have seen him in, I can’t imagine anyone else playing those roles. King 2 Hearts, Oh My Ghost, and Hospital Playlist *chef’s kiss* 

I don’t remember much about King 2 Hearts since it’s been a while, but I loved his chemistry with Park Bo Young in Oh My Ghost, and Lee Ik Jun is iconic in Hospital Playlist. And the fact that his two characters were so different makes it even more amazing. Kang Seon Woo was the typical tsundere male lead and Lee Ik Jun was a social butterfly. I guess their similarities would be that they have a side to them that’s not easily seen, but in terms of their public personality, I don’t know if they could be any more different.

The fact that he can also sing well is just a plus. I’m excited for his next role.

Dramas that I have seen:

King 2 Hearts

Oh My Ghost

Two Cops (partial)

Hospital Playlist

Movies that I have seen:

My Annoying Brother

Hit-and-Run Squad

I want to watch Jealously Incarnate, but sadly, it’s not available on Viki or Netflix yet.