#I love Lee Hye Joon as a character too

[teafiend]

Let me make a detour from my usual KDrama rare pairs to fangirl scream about this pairing. This show has tropes galore to make a shipper like me go squeeing to high heavens. Love this for me and the show, truly❣️

While not wholly a rare pair as this pairing from the drama itself has a number of high quality FMVs to fangirl over - and the overwhelmingly more popular ship with viewers - and there exists a tiny amount of fics in Korean, on Ao3, the fics (in English) for this pairing is basically nonexistent. A sad state of affairs, certainly, but the main female character is generally beloved, and the number of FMVs enough to tide me over for a time, so all in all, this is a very wonderful ship for me to have fun with.

Compared to some of my other rare pairs, this ship is unironically a major, major comfort! There is extremely little frustration to be had although fan content is not in abundance either. A lovely, sexy and peaceful ship 🥰🥹

[kpopscatterbrain]

Kdramas i've watched this year

Some of these are older dramas but i'm a procrastinator

Black Knight (2023): Loved this one! I have watched it probably 5 times now. Kim Woobin kicking ass is all i need!

Under the Queen's Umbrella (2022): I didn't watch this when it aired (no idea why). I was worried that the plot would be overrun by romance but thankfully i was wrong. Loved Kim Hye-Soo's performance (i cried a little).

Island seasons 1 & 2 (2022-2023): Honestly i only started this one for Kim Nam-Gil. I loved the cast, but the flow of the plot was a little off (don't know how, i can't put a finger on it). Was positively suprised by Cha Eun-Woo's acting, i think he needs more roles like this! Hot villain alert no.1! Sung Joon as a bad guy is either a blessing or a curse. Cgi could have been better.

Taxi Driver season 2 (2023): Loved the first season so of course i had to watch the second one. Love Lee Je-Hoon. Love the main characters. Love the plot and the message of this drama. A masterpiece. Waiting for season 3.

Weak Hero Class 1 (2022): Only heard of this drama wayyy after it aired (thanks tiktok) and god does it deserve every award there is! I was a bit hesitant because Park Ji-Hoon was the main lead, but boy was i wrong because his talent got me speechless (weren't we all). I cried, i cheered, i shadowboxed, i cried a little more and in the end i called my therapist. Thankfully season 2 is coming.

Bloodhounds (2023): Woo Do-whan and Lee Sang-Yi in the same drama beating people up? Yes please! The plot wasn't mindblowing, but sometimes just simple ass kicking is enough. Bromance was bromancing. Park Sung-Woong with another great villain character.

Revenant (2023): After dropping Mr.Sunshine i wanted to see Kim Tae-ri in other dramas, so when this aired i gave it a go. Her range is phenomenal! I have only seen couple spookier dramas, so i made a mistake and watched this at night (slept with the lights on). The eerie vibes and plot twists were well made. Hong Kyung had great chemistry with Kim Tae-ri and his cop role was refreshing to see after his performance in Weak Hero Class (if you know you know).

Flower of Evil (2020): Okay, this is one of the dramas i procrastinated hard on. It's been sitting on my "have to watch" list since it aired and i'm the only one to blame (i hype up a drama in my mind, then don't want to watch it because now i'm afraid it doesn't go the way i think it does and then i get disappointed blaablaablaa). This year i finally got over myself and why. didn't. i. watch. it. sooner!!!! It is all i ever wanted in a kdrama. 1. serial killers 2. a psychopath (but is he really?) w/ an effed up childhood 3. mindgames 4. marriage problems (but has a lot of soft & cute scenes) 5. Lee Joon-Gi. Also as a plus (hot villain alert no.2) the bad guy is kindaa (i'm sane i swear). I would be lying if i didn't say that i found the wife slightly annoying (might be me, but she went too much back & forth and sometimes i had to take a breather while watching), but all in all this drama will be hard to top and i fell in love with Lee Joon-Gi.

Moving (2023): Honestly one of the best dramas of the year. I don't usually really go for plots that have a lot of romance in them (if you haven't noticed), but i found this one to be really well balanced and the romance scenes weren't "cringy". Although Bong-Seok and Hui-Soo were great and had great chemistry, i looooved the background stories of the parents. Park Hee-Soon also pops up as kind of a non-villain villain. I hope there is a season 2.

Song of the Bandits (2023): Kim Nam-Gil again. 1920s Korea and gunslingers... what more could i need? After Mr. Sunshine left me with a disappointment (this might be an unpopular opinion) i craved for a drama set around the same time period, but with a little less romance (i know, i am defective). I think dramas should explore this time period more, but i understand it might still be a touchy subject. The skills of the cast were obviously great, Kim Nam-Gil killed his role like always, but Lee Ho-Jung as Eon-Nyeon shined with her performance (i am now a new fan). Hot villain alert no.3! I have seen Lee Hyun-Wook in Remarriage & Desires and seeing him as a villain made me feel things. If there isn't a second season i will cry.

The Killing Vote (2023): A "serial killer" in a dog mask making the public vote on punishing criminals and everyone suspects each other? Cyber crime? Chemistry between two cops? Major hot villain (no.4)? Sign me up. I love when crime dramas make you question your people reading skills (i have the tism so i really got none) and have all kinds of theories flying around. I liked that even Kim Mu-Chan and Joo Hyun had obvious chemistry between them it didn't overshadow the main point of the plot. I liked Seo Young-Joo's delivery and i hope he gets more bigger roles. Kim Kwon.... why does the psychopath have to be hot? He also needs more bigger roles. !spoiler! Also Park Sung-Woong killing (heh) yet another morally grey character.

The Worst of Evil (2023): Okay, first of all i have to say... the wife ruined everything (some agree and some don't). We get another bromance duo of the year with Wi Ha-Joon and Ji Chang-Wook. Loved the crime organization infiltration plot, heavily despised the romance plot (sorry Bibi baby). I was constantly on the edge of my seat and the characters started to get so morally grey that in the end everyone needs group therapy. Action scenes were chefs kiss. A honorable mention goes for Lee Shin-Ki as Seo Jong-Ryul (or Chief Seo, knife guy, the man has many names) and Bibi for her performance as Lee Hae-Ryeon.

Evilive (2023): Heavily underrated. Kim Young-Kwang doing what he does best, playing a psychopath. This combined with a bromance plot with the one and only bromance master Shin Ha-Kyun? I'm sold. The dramas literal title "villain story" really sums up the plot. Sometimes you are not sure who to cheer for. Sometimes you are not really sure about your own sanity. But to be fair, so aren't the main characters.

Vigilante (2023): Love it. Currently re-watching it. Needs more attention. Needs more episodes. I'm in love with Nam Joo-Hyuk. The best crime drama of the year, the title is all i needed to hear. Beating up criminals in well made action scenes is my favorite genre. No romance. One sided bromance? Morally grey characters (am i repeating myself now?). Yoon Ji-Tae as a beefy cop and Lee Joon-Hyuk as a slightly insane admirer? If we don't get a season 2 i will start a riot.

[twig-tea]

Love Class 2: A Love Letter

I caught up on the last episodes of Love Class 2 and I felt like I need to give the whole show (both seasons) a rewatch because s2 had so much going on, and my attention definitely suffered in the beginning of S2 from everything else airing at the same time and the proliferation of characters. But I finished the series feeling like something special had just happened, so I wanted to sit with that for a minute and see if I could articulate why. Especially after the disappointment that was the ending of the Minato's Laundromat sequel, I wanted to process my thoughts around what made this one good.

This is not very coherent and very long, mostly because I just wanted to get it down before I got absorbed by other shows again [Spoilers for both seasons follow].

To remind/recap about Love Class 1: The first season focused on Cha Ji Woo and Lee Ro A. Ro A is a returning student who was just released from military service; he lives with Kim Nam Joon who has a crush on him and another roommate. At first, Ji Woo has a crush on Bae Yoo Na, a girl in his class who is being stalked. Her uncle works at the college and so she knows the professor, who is being pursued by one of the other (female) students in the class, Kim Hye Won.

I had forgotten most of this tbh. On rewatch, I remember how much I liked that Yoo Na and Ro A fell for Ji Woo for the same reason, and Ji Woo fell for them for similar reasons too. There is a lot more forced proximity between the leads in S1, with both the class and then the broken arm, which helps because the entire season is so short. There's a resolution with the stalker plot, a nice moment where Ji Woo is honest about how his feelings, and in the penultimate episode, Ro A decides to protect Ji Woo from himself (and homophobia) by rejecting him and disappearing.

Season one ends with a standard separation (that is only kind of earned); an explicit message from the surf shop owner: "If you keep avoiding things out of fear, you'll never experience the good things in life"; and in the last minute we get basically a standard K-drama dead fish kiss (@gabrielokun has done some very kind cropping here so it looks a bit better).

Overall it was ok. Felt very standard at the time, the leads were cute and it was nice that the love rivals Yoo Na and Nam Joon were not treated as villains in the end. The het side plot with the professor felt tacked on. Ji Woo's changing emotions towards Ro A were signposted well but felt fast, and Ro A's fear of ruining Ji Woo's life by turning him gay felt a bit overdramatic and disappearing entirely (including dropping out of class and moving) was a lot. The end left no time at all for them as a couple, so it was very unclear to me whether they'd actually last.

After rewatching S1, I need to give S2 major props for doing the sequel thing right. The show picked up on a lot of the elements of the original while being a completely stand-alone story and not repeating anything in the OG.

Really quick summary of S2 mostly for the names: Lee Hyeon and Min Wu are friends in university together who have known each other since high school. Min Wu has been trying to ignore his crush on their mutual friend Ma Ru (who went straight into the working world and then quit so got kicked out by his parents). Meanwhile Lee Hyeon has been looking for his former tutor Kim An for 2 years; Kim An appears and Lee Hyeon pursues him by joining Love & Marriage class with the help of the TA Sung Min. Sung Min is being pursued by returning student Ju Hyuk after Ju Hyuk sees him in an embarrassing situation with his pants literally down. Shenanigans ensue [many more details recapped below].

Rewatching S1 helped me realize why I liked S2 so much. In season 2, it's like they heard all the complaints and addressed them:

The only heterosexual is there to support the gays; no love rivals here (also PS Sa Ra's character was delightful; I loved the way she knew exactly what to do on those stairs during the fake date!)

All of the couples are gay and get more time overall (the whole series is longer too; 10 instead of 6 eps and some of those eps were over 30 mins each)

All of the couples also have a history together before the show starts, so all have [a varying amount of] feelings before we even begin

And because of the difference in where these couples are starting, everything happens so fast and there is so much more character development

Rather than the love & marriage class being about getting to know someone, because of Lee Hyeon and Kim An's history, the assignments from the class end up being about getting to relearn someone who has changed and you don't know why; bridging barriers and re-establishing intimacy, which was a fun twist

While the first season did a bit of talking about building relationships and forming meaningful connections, it really didn't have time to do much with this and the premise of the "love class" felt barely used. In this season these themes get explored more, with everyone at one point or another needing advice or having to work on their relationship

Of all of the characters, only one didn't know he was gay/bi going into the start of S2

All of the couples express obvious sexual desire and have sex (some before they even date, it's a miracle)

All of the couples have multiple kisses!

Homophobia isn't removed from the world entirely, but it's not a major plot point in this season

None of the couples split up right before the end; the closest is the older couple in ep8 and they reconcile by ep9 [and sidenote: did the professor drop that whatever he lost on purpose so Sung Min would see him with his nephew?!]

They essentially dedicate two episodes to revelling in the happy ending and building out what these characters are like when they are in a relationship, and I love that; no penultimate episode drama

The couples get an entire episode to triple-date and they all just relax being able to be out and comfortable together, it's extremely cute and also heartwarming and a little sad that this is the only place they can feel away from the gay boy scrutiny [this is what I meant by homophobia not being removed entirely from the world, but it's presence is in its absence rather than it being a plot point, and this was refreshing]

The couple that is in the class is out to the class by choice at the end; no more being afraid of rumours the way the original couple were in s1

The stalker plot got darker (it's one thing to stalk someone but to impersonate them at a job that could get you in trouble? Diabolical) and had more clear motivations for his character; also no police were involved in the resolution this time which felt more realistic

Both seasons deal a lot with characters holding in secrets and not communicating; but in s1 the confession from Ji Woo led to Ro A lying to him directly. In contrast, in S2 direct communication is met either with being shut down or with communication back; the other characters sometimes say it's not the time, but never punish the other character for direct communication. And in some cases the direct communication finally helps move them forward/out of misunderstandings. And not directly communicating leads to mess.

In s1 the seniors were bullies and they didn't really face any consequences; in contrast in S2 the boss at the cafe was such a bully and he got harassed into taking a break, realizing he was being horrible, and becoming a better person (and getting a love interest lolol)

In addition to all the things they did differently, there were so many things that echoed or called back to s1! Parallels to the first season:

Sa Ra gets to repeat the moral from the first season: love requires bravery. All of our couples exhibit different levels and kinds of bravery at different times, but all of them at one point or another take that leap and decide to be brave.

The storytelling strategy of flashing back to show us something we hadn't previously seen to recontextualize what we have since been shown was used once in s1 and used in all three couples at the end of every episode of season 2, as well as sometimes mid-episode.

Someone startles/disrupts the Love & Marriage class to ask to be paired with someone of the same sex in both seasons

There is ominous door-knocking in ep2 that ends up being a fake-out but works extra well as creepy because of the knocking by the stalker in s1

There are also similar moments in s1&2 where the "friend" (who is more than a friend but was rejected but still lives/lived with the love interest) stalks and surprises a character to tell them 'truths' about their loved one

The show keeps the feel of s1 in terms of the mix between cute, funny, and sinister (for better or for worse, though I think S2 balances these better)

The relationships in S2 have a lot in common with S1: there are friends who have been friends since high school one of whom is pining and the other rejects him and they agreed to be friends only who live together; rather than a teacher and student there is a returning student and TA; there is a returning student in both seasons; there is one friend out of a trio who is more of a himbo and doesn't go to their school but is still around all the time

Both seasons had a character who seemed to be unaware he was gay/bi until he was put in a position to be forced to realize it, and credit to both seasons, any gay panic was mostly off screen/tied up in figuring out their feelings, and none took place after they told their gay crush

Both seasons touched on how rumours and social isolation can affect you (though the rumours in S2 were not about being gay)

I mentioned it above, but the way the couples relax when they're all in the open and on the trip together was a really touching callback to the first season dealing with the scrutiny of homophobia (whispering, rumours); and the in-class couple showing a photo of them kissing in class is such a huge contrast to s1's couple having a photo of them feeding one another taken and shared without their consent.

Also also in s1 there was a double date near the end of the show so that was also a cute parallel!

While the bullying seniors didn't face consequences in s1, they were interrupted by various people trying to protect their love interests throughout the show. That theme of protecting your love interest from bullying continued to greater effect in S2 and I thought that was really cute!

Cameos of s1 couple and the couple from Private Lessons appeared in s2; it was unclear to me whether the couple from s1 was reprising their roles (though I assume so) but the couple from Private Lessons definitely had the same character names!

Putting aside comparisons now, the storytelling and characters in S2 are so much more interesting!

Ep1 starts with the mysterious fall from the roof [fake-out #1] and then the scene with Lee Hyeon and Min Wu [fake-out #2] in which they call Ma Ru and establish some of the friend group dynamics and then we get the hint that something else is going on with Lee Hyeon (Min Wu asks if he's given up on looking for someone); and then we get the moment that connects storyline 3 to storylines 1&2 between Kim An and Sung Min. So much tight storytelling in this first ep, I remember on first watch being surprised by how much attention this series was requiring considering s1! I scrolled the tag and saw most people found eps 1&2 confusing, and I can say I definitely found it much easier on rewatch and going in with different expectations.

Ep2 hints at the past we don't yet know between Ju Hyuk and Sung Min (only on rewatch did I realize Ju Hyuk asks Sung Min to eat with him like a normal person and the way he promised he would but Sung Min doesn't remember or realize what's happening, and turns him down kindly, which is why he resorts to being an ass.

Ep 3 we get the first hints Ma Ru knows something is up (being afraid to knock on MinWu's door), the first love & marriage assignments (observing your partner and writing them a letter of what you want to say to them) as well as the underwear gift from Ju Hyuk to Sung Min, and the note at Kim Ann's locker. This episode really starts to build on the theme of intimacy and what intimacy means, when is it appropriate, how do you establish it, and the conflict that arises when people are on different pages about your level of intimacy. Like most have noticed, this is where it really takes off and comes into its own as a good show.

The rest of the show really builds on and plays with these histories, intimacies, and conflicts. They have time to actually hurt one another (eg the slut shaming) and actually make up. Each one moves at a different pace. [Sidenote: have I said enough how happy I am that the older couple slept together before dating?! To be clear I am just as excited when an ace/demi/inexperienced character gets to be ace/demi/explore or come into their sexuality, but I only have so much patience for the blushing maiden trope in adult gay men who have clear sexual attraction and interest especially when they have previous experience, and anything outside of one-partner-in-their-entire-lives is still so rare in BL. And as an aside on this aside, I love how much Ju Hyuk's rizz works at first but then backfires on him later, forcing him to use actual communication after all!] Each couple has a reason for the hesitation or delay in becoming a couple (power dynamics and uncertainty about where you stand; friendship you don't want to lose; being burned before and feeling like you aren't allowed to have anything good in your life). Even more importantly, we get reasons for everything: why Min Wu is growing distant with Ma Ru; why Kim An is more terse and cautious with Lee Hyun; why Ju Hyuk is so weirdly rude to Sung Min. And, as I mentioned above, we actually get a motive for the villain of the story too, Kim An's childhood friend/brother/rejected love/stalker (whose name I keep forgetting even in rewatch lol sorry bro). He thought Kim An was only with him because he was desperate, and so when Kim An started making other connections, he thought he had to ruin Kim An's life. And he thought when he came back into Kim An's life, Kim An would still be desperate, and he'd be able to fit back in. He didn't understand that Kim An had still loved him even if he was no longer interested in a romantic or sexual relationship, and would have kept him in his life if he hadn't been betrayed; he didn't understand that Kim An would be able to rebuild his life without him; he didn't understand that Kim An would not forgive him even though he still cared about him. It really is tragic, and the tragedy is in a lot of ways understated.

Yes it was a bit messy with the three plots going on simultaneously but when binged, and definitely on rewatch, it was easier to follow and I enjoyed how the interaction between the characters moved each of the plots forward. I wonder how much the pacing bothered some viewers because it definitely is not paced like a usual kbl, but that's one of the things I liked about it lol and there were some parts that I enjoyed only on rewatch because I could focus on them.

All of this incoherence is to say: I really like the storytelling in S2 so much more than S1; I think it's one of the better sequel attempts I've seen, in that there are clear connections to the first season but everything is built on rather than recreated; and the stories were also just more interesting. Season 2 delivered on the premise of Season 1 without re-using the same structure, plot points, or story beats. Lots of tropes were repeated but they were always used in a new way and played out differently. The finale felt queer in a way I don't expect from Korean BL. We got some of the things I always say I want more of in any series: more time with folks as a couple working out their relationship post-get-together, clear communication, and queer community. Overall, this show affected me more than I expected. It wasn't perfect execution, but TL;DR, more of this please!

[kimchislaphearts]

Love Attack (2023)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Plot: 

Tired of always being ranked second in class behind Kyung J00, Seok Jin decides to try to distract her from studying by launching a "love attack" on his academic rival. 

Cast & Crew:

Kim Do Hoon as Cha Seok Jin

Chae Won Bin as Kang Kyung Joo

Supporting cast - Heo Jin, Park Sung Joon, Nam Joong Gyu, Baek Hyo Won, Han Ye Ji

Director - Lee Hyun Kyung

Screen Writer - Choi Yi Kyung

Music:  

The chosen music fit the drama special well. 

Awards: Best Actress in Drama Special/TV Cinema (Chae Won Bin) - KBS Drama Awards 2023

Overall: 

It’s been way too long since my last drama special, long time no see!

So many people told me about how cute this one was so I’ve been saving it for a rainy day. I’ve been sick for the last couple of weeks and the weather is miserable so I decided it was time. My sources were correct, this drama special is certified adorable and had me smiling, laughing and almost crying along the way. 

The story centres on Seok Jin who appears to have it all - looks, money, brains, however, he is perpetually stuck in second place thanks to his rival number one student Kyung Joo who despite working a million part time jobs still takes the number one spot. Things are going to change, however, as Kyung Joo is taking off to study abroad… or is she? How can Seok Jin possibly change his fate as a second place student? Hint: it’s the title of the drama… A LOVE ATTACK! 

This drama special has a lot of things I like in a drama; fake dating, cute youthful hijinx, cast chemistry, a cute halmeoni, gorgeous countryside trips with autumn foliage, shots of delicious food, and a nice backing track. All this combined into an almost perfect watch experience for me.  

I think that the writer did a decent job plotting out the story over the just short time frame, honouring the lead character’s journeys. Although it was so cute I could have taken a little more than what we got. Based on this I am now keen to watch the writer’s other special Dog Days of Summer.  

Throughout the drama I was often reminded of Park Hyung Shik and Park Shin Hye’s characters in Doctor Slump as if these kids could be an alternate universe version of them. I loved those characters and their journey too. 

The cast were all familiar faces and they did a good job of making their roles believable from the sad drunk friend to the sweet little halmeoni who doesn’t want her granddaughter missing out on life experiences. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this drama special and if you are in need of something short and sweet it’s well worth a watch. 

Rating: 9.5/10

Watch it:  KOCOWA 

Trailer:  KBS Drama YouTube

[kdramacrybaby]

The Glory (2022)

Genre: Revenge, Thriller

Synopsis: Moon Dong-eun faced severe mental and physical bullying while she was in school. She had to give up on her dreams because she had to drop out of school, so instead, she spends her entire life planning the perfect revenge on those who hurt her. Whatever it takes, she will take them down one by one. Her bullies are living their perfect lives, but with Dong-eun suddenly back in their lives, everything starts crumbling around them.

Episode info: 16 episodes / Runtime around 60 minutes

Lead cast: Song Hye-kyo (Moon Dong-eun), Jung Ji-so (Young Dong-eun), Lee Do-hyun (Joo Yeo-jeong), Lim Ji-yeon (Park Yeon-jin), Yeom Hye-ran (Kang Hyeon-nam), Park Sung-hoon (Jeon Jae-joon) Jung Sung-il (Ha Do-yeong)

Link to watch: You can watch on Netflix or Dramacool

Drama rec masterlist | Drama rant thread (beware of spoilers)

Firstly, I want to start with the warnings for this drama - because this drama is dealing with severe bullying, as well as sexual assault and domestic violence. And Netflix does not shy away from showing everything, and I really mean everything. So if this is something you have a hard time dealing with, this drama is not for you, just trust me on this one. Even I had to look away sometimes, and I’m not usually squeamish.

While this drama was a hard watch, in the sense that it’s so brutal, I really liked seeing the female lead just not giving a single fuck. She does not care if what she does makes is technically wrong - she wants her revenge, and she is going to get it. Don’t get me wrong, she is kind to the right people, but as she states multiple times herself: “I am not a good person.”

And this thing about being either good or bad is such an interesting topic. I think I touched on it in both Vincenzo and Your Honor too - good or bad is not black and white, and Dong-eun is most definitely that grey area where she balances on the edge of both. She never did anything wrong - she is 100% the victim in this scenario - but by choosing revenge, she suddenly becomes a vigilante in a sense, and that requires some morally bad actions. 

The people who help her in the end (and the people she ends up helping along the way, even though she has a hard time seeing that herself) are all victims too, with their own trauma and their own ghosts to deal with. They do not care that they have to join her in the grey zone, because they too have suffered and felt trapped in their own selves as victims. They want to take back their power.

Idk, I just really love dramas that have you rooting for a character who is morally grey, because it makes you think - how far would you go?

And while it is a drama about revenge, it is also a drama about healing - about allowing people to break down your walls and help you move forward to better places. About learning to love and accept yourself for who you are without the trauma casting a shadow over every part of your future.

The actors are phenomenal, absolutely blew me away with their raw emotions all around. Especially the younger actors were absolutely amazing, they must have worked so hard, and I hope they are okay after having to do the very graphic bullying scenes.  

In the end, I just want to mention that - in case you didn’t already know - this series is loosely based on actual bullying cases from South Korea. Bullying in their schools really do get this bad, and it is wild to me that kids are capable of this evil. Bullying should absolutely never be allowed. If you see something, say something. Don’t ever be a bystander.

[barbarasecretfiles]

VINCENZO(2021)

VINCENZO Song Joong Ki as Vincenzo Cassano / Consigliere/ Corn Salad Jeon Yeo Been as Hong Cha Young Ok Taecyeon as Jang Jun woo / Jang Hanseok Kwak Dong-Yeon as Jang Hanseo Kim Yeo Jin as Choi Myung Hee Jo Han Chul as Han Seung Hyuk Im Chulsoo as Ahn Gi Seok Yoon Byung Hee as Nam Joo-sung Choi Young Joon as Cho Young woon Kim Yoon Hye as Seo Mi ri Yang Kyung Won as Lee Chul wook Jae Myeong Yoo as Hong Yoo Chan Seo Ye Hwa as Jang Yeon Jin Yeon Bok In as Oh Gyeong Ja Choi Deok Moon as Tak Hong Shik Hang Na Lee as Kwak Hee Soo Hyung Mook Kim as Toto

Vincenzo officially ends last May 2, 2021. To be honest, I find it difficult to put in words what I felt while watching this series. It was too much but it was also too good. I was amazed on how they write the story as the beginning parallels the end. If you look deep in the story, you'll find some cultural references that have made the story deeper than it actually looks. At first, some are disappointed because when Vincenzo went to Korea, the show was full of comedies rather than actions. But I think some of the comedy parts are made to hide the dark meaning behind it. I want to commend whoever did the casting. The whole Geumga family and Babel Group casts was amazing. The director and writer maximized the use of all characters. No one was left behind. And even though it was Vincenzo-centered, hence the title, the other leads did well, too. Jeon Yeo Been and Ok Taecyeon steals the spotlight. Definitely a gamechanger. Jeon Yeo Been's character was constant throughout the whole series. Unlike any other strong female characters who became weak when they fell in love and eventually became reliant to their male partner, Hong Cha Young remains independent and fierce. Hong Cha Young is what the patriarchal society hates. She's loud, outspoken, strong, and consistent. She have shown her weakness and frustrations, making her character real. But it doesn't stop her on achieving her goals. Even if she's in danger, she's brave and can stand on her own. Jeon Yeo Been portrays her very well. As for Taecyeon, he did great, too. Jang Jun Woo is such a cutie and I'll miss his curly hair. But Jang Han Seok brought something different. His character was stressful and I was amazed on how Taecyeon portrays him. Taecyeon can differentiate Jun Woo to Hanseok. Actually, Taecyeon broke the stereotype of idols who can't act. Taecyeon CAN and he was amazing. This character is very different on what he usually plays. Hope he will have another project with Yeo Been because their chemistry was great. I just don't ship them together because he was a villain. When Hanseok said he loves Chayoung, it felt dry. They actually hinted that Hanseok loves Chayoung at first few episodes(when he got angry to Hanseo because he tried to harm Chayoung) but they removed it in the later episodes. I thought that they finally dismissed that idea because it will contradict on Hanseok's heartless character. Furthermore, if you are someone who wants to watch or expecting a lovestory, this might frustrates you. Because the love of the two leads was slow but this power couple won't disappoint you. I also want to praised the other villains in the story. Its great to see that they can keep up with Vincenzo.  AND GEUMGA FAMILY THE BEST!!!!!

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT Some says that the ending was brutal. But for me, they executed it just right. Remember, Vincenzo is a mafia. The villains can bend the law and kills whoever is in their way. No justice system can punish them for what they did. And can we talk about how they die? Attorney Han was stabbed because he was a backstabber. Myunghee died in fire while a Zumba song was playing. If you remember, she was dancing while Lawyer Hong Yoo Chan was announced dead in the television. And Hanseok? He died with no one knows where he is, the thing he was most afraid of. Plus, that spear of atonement, it pierced his heart eventhough he didn't have one. In the end, his flesh was eaten by a vulture. I am confused if that part was intentionally did by Vincenzo, hence, the he have the book on how to befriend or not. To be honest, these villains was actually a coward when they don't have a gun with them. Or when you remove their power. They are no match with Vincenzo who calculates everything and 100 steps ahead. The dumbest thing they did was to kill Vincenzo's mom. They just removed his weakness and provoke him. They deserved their death. The death of Hanseo was the most undeserved of all deaths that have happened (eventhough it was already foreseen). He deserved better. His character development must be commended. Although, I don't think Hanseok plan to kill him. He was just provoked on what Hanseo said (not deserved to be born) because it is what his father is always implying into him. And to Chayoung, too. I don't think he plan to kill Chayoung. The bullet was actually for Vincenzo. Lastly, Vincenzo did also received a punishment for all he did. It was difficult for him to go back to Korea, where his love one was. It was actually a torture for him because his love interest was away from him. Love how in the end, the writer and director didn't sugarcoat his character. He was still evil. An antihero. And I love him for that.

LASTLY, I want to thank all the fans and viewers of Vincenzo. All of you who made the theories left and right. When the 2 weeks drought came, a lot of you filled the gap. It was such nice to see a very great fandom! Will miss this weekend drama with all of you!!!

I'll give this drama a 1 million over ten!!! Recommended!!!!

[andoqin]

Dramas I've watjched this year Pt 1

This is gonna be all the dramas I started and... have either paused or dropped for various reasons.

If I paused them I might go back to them at some point but if I dropped them that's it.

Mad for each other I like the main actors and I found the Netflix says I finished this... I have no memory of doing that, which should tell you a lot.

Doom at your Service - this one is on hold for now and I actually feel like finishing it because the premise and the actors are really for me and the mood the show brought to the table fits with my end of the year mood. I do think being able to binge this will be beneficial, because I think it wont actually hold up to much scrutiny especially in the latter half. (On Hold for now, 4 eps watched)

True Beauty - I knew this was going to be a hard sell for me and I was right. I always have trouble with high school shows, part of it is my age and part of it is the saccharine spin shows will often put on that. I dropped this fairly early on and I don't think i'm going to give this another chance. The main actress tries, but it's not enough and the cute lesbian romance my heart wanted was not going to happen :<. (Dropped, 4 eps watched).

Novoland: Pearl Eclipse - now granted I didn't technically watch an episode - 2021 had me too wary to start sth and I wanted to give it some time, but I followed along closely enough for the first 10-15 eps on my dash... and well considering how hyped for it I was and how much I *wanted* to watch it it deserves a spot on this list purely on account of the collossal waste of talent, time and audience patience this show is responsible for. (0 Eps watched but way too much time spent reading rants)

Awaken - This started in 2020, but I didnt watch (parts of) it until it was complete. I tried 3!!! times to finish this, with crime shows it's often a matter of me being in the right mood/the show hitting me in the right way until I'm invested because there's no romance (usually) to hook me emotionally. The reason I tried to watch this three times is purely Nam Goong Min and a little bit of the premise, but my god the editing is so bland, the show so averagely shot and the writing not good enough to carry it. (Idek how many eps I watched but I tried!!! 3 times!!!! damn you NGM!)

Inspector Koo - This one I'm DEFINITELY going to finish, now that it's all complete but currently I'm not in the mood for it at all. I can see it's strengths and I'm loving Lee Young Ae and Kim Hye Joon playing off of each other (and what a delightful dynamic that is!!) and the surrounding characters are all very interesting (need to find out what Santa's deal is!) but for some reason the thought of actually finishing it fills me with blah at the moment, which the show doesn't deserve. (6 eps watched - on hold for now)

The Sword and the brocade - TANG SONG YUN, WALLACE CHUNG!!! in a historical drama together, in pretty pretty costumes. It should have been great! But this drama suffers from its length, and even the beginning has some hilarious weird things about it (the fact that he saves her from drowning and its... nbd??? apparently????????) but I was willing to overlook that because they had a lovely understated sort of chemistry, and Tang Songyun really tried to get everything out of her role, but the writing just let down the show so hard I dropped it at the midway point and just never bothered to pick it back up and basically forgot about it. (20ish eps watched. Dropped)

Jun Jiu Ling - I was initially excited for this, I mean I didn't enjoy the source novel a whole lot, but it had Peng Xiao Ran! and Jin Han!!! maybe they can save it but lmao no, I watched 2 episodes and basically peaced out. PXR looked bored and lifeless and Jin Han is not a strong enough actor to really elevate a shoddy script. This isn't to say he's *bad* but if the writing doesn't favour his strength he's completely adrift. This, coupled with the blah production values makes this an instant miss. Only read @purplehanfu's hilarious recaps for this show! (2 eps watched. Dropped)

Jirisan - JOO JI HUN, Jun Ji Hyun!!! I'm just noticing a trend in the last three dramas. I get overly excited for the cast, because I think they largely pick dramas I like, but man the case of blah writing continues. This added to some eh directing had me watching parts of ep 1 and 2 with some skipping, 3 and 4 with more skipping and just not watching more. (Sort of 4 eps watched but not really, Dropped)

One the Woman - Lee Ha Nee is a delight and this show is one I might actually finish, since I do love this kind of premise and the acting of the supporting cast is helping a lot. I do think Lee Sang Yoon is not giving his best performance here, it's not bad but LHN outshines him so severely I honestly wish she was with anyone else. The problem is that I watched it to the halfway mark and I dread the second half which I can see will have a very bad Kdrama 2nd half downturn. Sigh. For LHN I still might though, thank god for the skip button. (On Hold, 8 eps watched.)

Rattan - This had some beautiful visuals a truly bonkers premise, but I think when I was watching the eng subs were sus at best and I kinda forgot about it. Watched about 4 eps?? No idea. Someone tell me how it ended up being as a complete drama please, I dont think my dashboard knows this drama exists haha. (Dropped, possibly might finish at some point)

Song of Youth - I started this for Bai Lu, but good lord her character was so unpleasant and they did sth so weird to the color grading/saturation for this drama I pretty much forgot it existed after 4 eps. (Dropped)

Bossam - Steal the Fate - Another one I was really into for the premise and the actors. Jung Il Woo seems to fare much better in historicals and him being a widow/bride abductor who accidentally abducts a princess was genius set up for me. Once again though the writing was not strong enough and while I did appreciate seeing JIW shirtless the writing left me bored witless. (Dropped)

Sisyphus: The Myth - AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHHAH ha hahahahaliksdjsakjd. I have a wholeass fucking rant on this trash dumpfire of a drama. Well only episode one but jesus fucking christ. Do not watch this. People didn't listen to me and continued and wasted their fucking time. Turns out Cho Seugn Woo can pick trashfires after all, after his string of strong strong dramas and performances. It's like he forgot what acting properly was? I'll just avoid PSH dramas from now on. (I wasted 1 hour on this episode and then whatever time I needed to write down my rant, which is honestly more than this drama deserves).

Hometown - I have only 4 episodes left on this one but by god it was just getting stupider by the second. Manipulating/Hypnotising people via sound/speech? I know that the police in dramas can't be too good otherwise we wont have a mystery or a drama, but this is just getting ridiculous. And everyone seems to have swiss cheese for brains. The production value is pretty high, it looks cinematic, the directing is actually pretty good I think but the script is just... no thank you. (8 episodes watched. Dropped)

Happiness - I'm currently pausing this, but I will definitely finish since I'm on ep 8 and I love the way the show has dealt with its premise and its main characters. Plus PHS is really beefy now??? Good Stuff. (On Hold)

Vincenzo - The hilariously fake italian stuff and the general vibe just didnt work for me so I dropped this fairly early on. I do enjoy the gifs I see on my dash but that's it. (Dropped)

The Devil Judge - It is very homoerotic, so I will have to finish, I just gotta find the time and energy to overlook its nonsense premise, which kind of overstretched my suspension of disbelief. (On Hold)

Taxi Driver - I found the first case pretty interesting, and I liked the lady cop but the core premise was a bit eh and something in me seems to not like vigilante justice all that much because I didn't really like our main characters. (Dropped)

Racket Boys - This show is pure unadulteraded fluffy goodness, but it didnt hook me deeply and that's the only reason I like shows like that. If the vibe is for you though, check it out, the kids feel like actual friends/found family. (Dropped)

Mouse - LMAO lmao lmao lmao no. Once again a DYSMAL fucking first episode that told me that finishing this show would drive me batshit. Plus the whole eugenics angle???? Miss me with that shit please. Also the cops in this universe have single digit IQs I don't know how they survive. (DROPPED LMAO)

A Tale of thousand Stars - I loved LOVED LOVED the trailer for this one, but the premise should have rightly scared me off, transplant love stories are always iffy at best for me and I just couldnt connect with the main characters and didn't believe the actors when they tried to act like they were in love. (Dropped)

Yumi's Cells - I found this to be a surprising delight and I was even into the little emotion animations, but I made the mistake of watching it while it was still airing, catching up and then forgetting about it. I might still continue watching, but maybe once S2 comes out. I do like the way it handles relationships and the fact that for once it's not going for a "HEA" in the traditional sense. I also think making this not a full 16 ep show was a smart move. (On Hold)

22 Shows of which i dropped 16! and 6 are on hold...

[drivingsideways]

Melo is My Nature Review

Well, as usual, I’m late to the party! I picked up 2019′s Melo is my Nature/ Be Melodramatic with some trepidation since I was (am!) still smarting a bit from the disappointment that’s Hospital Playlist S2, and I wasn’t quite ready for another. 

I’m so glad I gave it a chance! While it isn’t a “perfect” series- in the nature of the world *sigh*- its combination of quirky, clever, self-aware humour and heartfelt performances won me over from the first episode. 

More thoughts under the cut (along with some spoilers)

I’m very fond of ensemble dramas that love their characters, and “Melo is my Nature” does that very well. Perhaps a little too well, to the point that you feel the writers letting themselves be more than a little indulgent during the middle stretch of the episodes. But I can’t complain too much, because yes, I know the feeling!  “Side characters” that refuse to stay in the lane and take over the narrative are also my favourites, as a writer and a viewer. I loved, loved, loved Lee Joo-bin as the flighty-but-amazingly-smart Lee So-min; that felt like such a delightful  clap-back against the prevailing sentiment that often goes against young, successful women and the ridiculous levels of expectations of them, in how they need to perform gender and  femininity and smartness. I loved that (like Emma! There’s a lot of Jane in this series!) the writers managed to make her likeable even though they never disregard her flaws or its consequences.

 Another performance/ character that I totally adored was Baek Ji-won as Jeong Hye-jeong, the industry maven who may be (?) a nod to Kim Eun-sook, I suppose! I was afraid at some point that they’d just trash her character, by making her a little too ridiculous in an unkind way, but I found some of the loveliest scenes involved her- like the one where she tells Jin-joo to do the work, but not be too successful. In the end, there was a love and fondness for her, a genuine empathy, that really was core to what made this show so successful. 

Shout out also to two of the weirdest characters I’ve watched, but thoroughly loved- Heo Joon-seok as Director Dong-gi & Lee Ji-min as Nutritionist (?) Da-mi. I absolutely adored that the only wedding in this series is between these two, and they do it in a completely predictably-unusual way. 

Re: the “main” characters, I loved all of them without exception, though some more than the others :) One of the things I love about the show is how real and present the three female leads feel; they feel like whole, entire people rather than caricatures of them, even when the show reaches almost unusual levels of quirky. I love that a through-line of the narrative is how important women’s labour is- to themselves. The work they do, which is acknowledged as a part of their identity rather than just something they do to pay bills (though of course there’s acknowledgement of that aspect too!),  their hunger to do it well and for it to matter- all of that is portrayed in a way that’s charming  but still taken very seriously. And the way you know that its taken seriously is in the things they focus on- how Oh Jin-joo struggles to write alone, and how Han-joo’s learning to be someone’s mentor while struggling with her own insecurities, and how lost Eun-jung feels, when work which was supposed to give her purpose fails her in a time of crisis, and how unmoored she feels without it. 

Re: the romance- I’m someone predisposed to dislike heterosexual romance, especially at the present moment, so it’s always with a great deal of hesitation that I start watching shows that I know have a large romance component. It’s always a bit of a coin toss for me whether the show will end up making me hate the romance or just about tolerate it. I rarely expect to *like * it.  So “Melo is my Nature” was a pleasant surprise!  This is  one of the few series where I felt the writers put in the work to sell the “main romance” of the show. You get to know the Oh Jin-joo and Beom-soo in sharply etched sketches before they move into the romance part (with a lot of tongue-in-cheek meta humour about the formulaic nature of tv romances). I genuinely felt that thrill of  “oh this could go platonic or romantic and I would like either” slowly ease into “oh my god these two are MEANT TO BE”, because the Romance is clearly in the all the ways they are NOT meant to be, but also, very, very definitely are. DELICIOUS. Just my cup of Jane Austen in a different context/ time.

Through most of the show though, my heart was divided between two characters- Jeon Yeo-bin’s stellar Eun-jung and Han Ji-eun’s pitch perfect Han-joo. Jeon Yeo-bin brought edginess, dark humour and a deep, almost- inconsolable grief to Eun-jung. Some of the stand out scenes of the entire series are hers: the moment where she watches herself on video talking to an imaginary person, and the moment she breaks down in front of the psych after talking about her mother. Watching this show, it really felt like- oh, she’s a star. Consider me sold on her for life (though, no, I will not watch Vincenzo unless there’s a Hong Cha-young supercut out there, in which case, please put it in my eyeballs now)

Han Ji-eun, imho, actually pulled off the toughest performance, because I think Han-joo’s strength of character is so often concealed by her “silliness” (in a similar vein to So-min’s), and that often makes her someone you’d overlook or not take seriously.  But god, she broke my heart, from the scene in the first episode where she’s sitting alone at a table after a rough day and watching her horrible ex live his best life to the hilarious and excruciating  “Oppa” scene, to the one where her kid is quite unconsciously cruel to her in the way kids can be. I was disappointed in the way they dropped the “reveal” about whom she’s dating in the last episode- not that I wanted her to be in an romance with Jae-hoon, god, NO- but it felt quite clunky.  This is one of the two complaints I have with the show. 

The second one is that starting from the middle, episodes began to noticeably feel like scenes/ sketches spliced together. Each scene is, within itself, perfectly written and performed, but the seams between the stories began to show. I felt one of the main reasons was that Eun-jung’s trauma tonally felt like it belonged in another show, but instead it had to get stitched into the mostly happy/ frothy storylines of the other characters. Sure, we had Hae-joon and his girlfriend’s terrible relationship, but the show had an easier time integrating that by way of Han-joo.

That said, I love how clever this show is! I love that it loves its own cleverness and can’t resist the urge to show it off- from all the meta references, in-universe jokes, and oh, that entire episode devoted to farting, complete with a song about it,  which I think maybe my fave episode of the series. A great look at the place of performance in intimate relationships (and how the women bear the burden of it more than the men), but coming at it from a place of compassion and humour rather than anger. Love that choice, for the show and us! 

I think @rain-hat mentioned in a comment here or twitter that Melo feels like a part of a triangle of shows along with Run On and Search : WWW.  I’m inclined to swap out Run On for Rookie Historian, or huh, maybe change the triangle for a quadrangle? Rookie Historian dares to imagine a past where our protagonist is (mostly) unshackled by the patriarchy and in the “modern” ending to its main heterosexual romance, reminds us that people have always found ways to find joy and thrive outside the rigid bounds of society. Search: WWW goes about it in the opposite direction- placing us in a present/future where the patriarchy doesn’t  and hasn’t ever mattered. Melo, I think, doesn’t quite do that, but in common with both these shows, it refuses to focus on the trauma of living under such structural violence, and instead talks about how we all (irrespective of gender) can find a way to remain unbroken by it. And while both Search:WWW and Melo do well at queer-platonic relationships as an alternate to the heterosexual project, it’s Run On, I think, which goes furthest there- firstly because though ostensibly structured around a het romance, that romance turns out to be falling in love with yourself/ loving yourself;  secondly because it’s most explicitly queer in the choices that the characters make and the lives that they choose for themselves- Min-joo & May are each others darlings and will be for life, Yeong-hwa and Ki Seon-gyeom are allowed a tenderness in their friendship that feels like an explicit repudiation of toxic masculinity, and of course, you have May being asexual, but not aromantic, and Goh Ye-jun’s whole arc of accepting himself as a gay man, and finding acceptance of that identity from others. 

Anyway! tl;dr would recommend (and have recommended!) Melo is my Nature to anyone fond of women, clever story telling and also ridiculously happy songs.

[yeo-rims]

so the holiday kdrama au

the holiday kdrama version i am thinking... one of them lives in jeju and the other one in seoul (don’t @ me i like the ocean).  cameron diaz character would be someone like: uee or lee ji ah, maybe seo hyun jin? idk im trying to picture someone that looks like a city girl but also is good at romcoms. iu is too young. jeon hye bin? esom! i feel like either esom or uee. 

kate winslet character is kang mal geum for sure. 

jude law must be a hot man that doesn’t annoy me and is good at romcom (and cant be so ji sub bc he’s too old for the women im thinking of)

jung kyung-ho? he is hot, he doesn't annoy me, he should do more romcoms and we know he is funny. who else? jcw redeeming himself in an actual good romcom? idk he doesn't vibe with the women i’m choosing. ngl this is THE role for jung hae in but i’m still mad at him, so idk. (it is the role for him, reclusive father...GOD). ldw wouldnt vibe with esom nor uee. wait wait seo kang joon! but idk if i can visualize him as a father, maybe after army? i am typecasting him bc of wtwif. ok i see it. an bo hyun. i can see him as a father and reclusive man, he doesnt annoy me and neither does he look bad with the women im imagining it. 

yoo si yon in the jack black role because he is so funny and deserves a good drama and it would also be a noona romance. what’s not to love. dont @ me. either him or hyungsik bc he can play puppy so WELL. 

other men for jude law that came to mind: junyeol or lee he joon (but he overacts, idk...)

so cameron diaz would be: uee/esom

jude law: an bo hyun or junyeol

kate winsled: kang mal geum

jack black: yoo si yon (or hyungsik)

[saturnsummer]

 law school: love and goodbye letters

notes: i would like to give out love letters to the amazing cast, our 8 students from hankuk law school. like what the director said, i’ll support them in their journeys as they take a step into their new chapter, wherever they go. their stories continue and live on. it’s been an amazing journey, although I was initially hesitant on starting it. while i will definitely be suffering withdrawals and probably think about it too much, i’m thankful i started watching.

the finale has left me with so many thoughts, I want to send them off right. also, writing these letters have helped my process my feelings towards the show and stop me from getting so withdrawn. so, shall we begin this court hearing?

over the next couple of days, my inbox will be open to requests! i may not write the fastest, but I’m willing to fulfil any of your desires about law school now that it has ended.

(skip please, if you don’t want to see my personal reflections.)

HAN JOON HWI// KIM BEOM

you have been a pleasure to watch, a seasoned actor indeed. you brought life to joon hwi, depicting the student that is smart, aloof, but is actually caring for their friends alike.

joon hwi, when you entered law school, you wanted to be a prosecutor. now, you finally got your dream. you were broken, sad, betrayed by your uncle. you remind yourself that you cannot be your uncle. but at the end, you’re happy, aren’t you? you’ve been through hell, yet somehow you told yourself to hang on. believe it, samchoon is proud he raised a noble nephew to fight and correct the flaws in the law. 

you have taught us the black and whites, yet seeing the greys of law. and with that, as you continue your journey as a prosecutor, remember to judge fairly and make sure no one suffers unjustly. 

you’ve done well, kim beom. thank you.

KANG SOL A// RYU HYE YOUNG

hyeyoung, you’ve brought so many emotions across the screen. as kang dan and sol, you had the challenge to play polar opposites, the moon and sun. you were feisty, you were soft. yet, you brought the humane qualities out of sol, conveying it to us.

kang sol a, you represent that majority of students, or even adults alike. you’re single parented. you come from a broken family. you have an estranged sibling, one you try so hard to find. you are barely making enough to live by. on top of that, you are on a scholarship, yet scoring grades that skim the pass. you represent so many students in the world. yet, you didn’t let these weights hold you from feeling your passion into law. you fought tirelessly for your friends and family, and stayed grounded in your morals and values.

this is why you are my personal favourite. that you love and strive for something so much, you work on it endlessly and still rigorously put in hard work. your passion for law inspires me to be equally passionate for my future degree as well. the fact that you went to law school seeking an apology, I hope you have gotten your apology. your zeal for justice will live on.

as a lawyer now, i hope you will remember your endless nights. i hope you know your worth. i hope that everyday, you trust yourself and be bold and courageous, like how you are when defending for your professor. you will excel, and you will be a good lawyer. 

so thank you, for speaking up for the students who find it tough to get through school. for telling us and giving us faith that we can survive. 

KANG SOL B// LEE SOO KYUNG

sookyung, you are far from your character of solb. yet, you were a perfect representation. you were elegant, classy and held that prestige whenever you acted.

solb, you represent that group of us that are pressured. when the society pressures us, it is nothing compared to our family’s pressures. you held your mom’s pressure to heart, studying endlessly, trapped in a cage that you couldn’t get out of. you isolated yourself to break free, acting cold.

you finally broke free, with your consultations with your therapist. and i hope you know just how proud i am of you for standing up for yourself. your unnies and oppas will always be supporting you, and wherever you are now, whether you are training to be a judge or not, i hope you never forget that you are supported. you are a free bird, and you should do things for yourself. 

thank you, for being the solb we have learnt to love, the student we aspire to be. solb, you are forever an A+ in our eyes. 

SEO JI HO// LEE DAVID

david, you are the man backstage always goofing off. your character hates goofing. yet, your simple eyes and acting brought so many emotions. you didn’t have many emotional scenes, but your expressions were so well done.

jiho, you started law to fight for your dad, for justice to be served. but over your journey, aren’t you glad you have made so many friends? your 3 years there have proved that you have earned justice, but you earned friendships that you will never experience anywhere else. 

wherever you are, if you are at a law firm working and earning lots of money, cherish the friendships. justice is served. learn and let go, and maybe you will enjoy your life a bit more.

JEON YE SEUL// GO YOUN JUNG

youn jung, where can i start? your acting was phenomenal. you played the cheery girl so well, yet at the same time you empathised with the victim of a domestic abuse. your scenes blew me away.

yeseul, I hope you carry this on your heart. you are loved, you are right. you are not wrong. you speak up for those abused, because you were once them. with the power of the law, I know you will go on to defend for them and fight for them. you will bring justice, and you will be the woman of power in the courtroom.

leave your immature self behind. you have matured to be a woman of confidence, boldness and most importantly, knowing you are not wrong.

you will be the woman of the courtroom. your kindness is your strength. wherever you are, defending abuse victims, thank you for speaking out for the millions of women who victimise themselves, still. you have inspired the generation of women to provide support for them.

MIN BOK GI// LEE KANG JI 

kangji, your goofiness on set and in the show plays out especially well. you were lively, yet at the same time the right support we needed.

bokgi, you will forever be remembered as the boy who comes to classes with a head band. you were casual, easy going and the extroverted one in the study group. you brought life to them, taught them to live and take things easy. you supported yeseul regardless, and always stop by her side. you are unafraid to be defensive over your friends.

for that, we thank you for being the character that is loyal. that regardless of what happened, you stayed with your group even though you could easily walk away.

JO YE BEOM// KIM MIN SEOK

minseok, you were fun to watch on set, yet a more fun character to watch grow with your actor friends. yebeom had many iconic lines, yet you did well in them.

yebeom, I will not understand why you were a spy. i however, will empathise your situation. what could you do? regardless, all that is useless now. you were sidekicks with your bestie bokgi, and together, you were both the life of the group that reminded them to breathe.

you made a good choice to be honest when sol a confronted you. and you should be thankful that the group still kept you even after all that. I hope that in your law career, you will remember the codes of law, and remember what is right. you stand for truth, you stand for justice.

YOO SEUNG JAE// HYUN WOO

hyunwoo, you had lesser scenes, yet each scene you had was a turmoil of emotions each time. you conveyed your emotions so well, and I’m so impressed.

seungjae, you are the oldest of the study group. you’ve been through a lot, haven’t you? you’re permanently suspended from law school, and with a kid now. I hope things are going well for you, whether you are a doctor or a computer guy now.

thank you for being the bigger man, to admit to his mistakes and asking for a bigger punishment. you have deep regrets, but I know you will grow and learn from them. you deserve your happiness.

to my law school fam,

thank you for this beautiful journey. you have taught me to be righteous, to be bold and to be confident. you taught me the results of tenacity. you taught me how to upload my values. you taught me the reasons to be lawful and that I should stand by my morals. you taught me confidence and courage.

truth and justice, only by the law.

it’s been a journey, my graduates. I close the hearing as make my final decision. i will close my case.

thank you, directors, pds, writers, staff, editors, musicians, make up and stylists. I hope you will meet again on another shoot.

goodbye, thank you. we’ll see each other again.

[taetaesource]

Acting with Kim Seon Ho

I might come up with a full fic of the drama. 

You started out as a idol trainee but never debuted but became an actress instead. Although you are not very young, korean age 29 and Seon Ho is 35. You didn’t star in many dramas and was not as popular as names like suzy and park shin hye. In this sense, you are alot like Kim Seon Ho before he hit it big with Start Up. 

You did not grow up in korea and speak better in english than korean. You’re friends with the korean-american celeb community like BM, Jessi, Eric. Your best friend is Blackpink’s Rose because you guys met during trainee days as a music school and later reconnected at a private Tiffany&Co event. 

You are under Starship ent which is a fairly big company with actors like Lee dongwook so your skills isn’t too far off and in general you land in scripts and channels that are not too bad. 

You got an offer from the writer who wrote Crash Landing On You and upon reading script and much discussion with the company, you decided to take this up. 

You learn that the production team is trying their best to get Kim Seon Ho to be the male lead and you felt honoured and at the same time pressured. You really wished to have him as your partner in this drama because you knew that he was talented, but you also wanted to keep your hopes low because you knew that he was booked left right centre and he has many scripts and projects flooding in. 

The storyline of the drama was also one reason why you kept your hopes low. 

The drama centers around the female (which is your role) whose husband requested for a divorce as he fell in love with a co-worker who is a headstrong career woman. The female lead tries to salvage her marriage by entering into the company that her husband and his mistress works in and struggles her way into the workforce after being a housewife for 10 years. 

The truth is, you were deliberating very hard as to whether this role was suitable for you as it is quite a leap from the usual roles and it might change the image that you have in the public eyes. For the male lead, this change is an even bigger risk and now that Seon ho is getting more popular, you were pretty sure there’s 60% chance he would reject the offer so as to keep his image. 

But the script was interesting as it portrayed third party and affairs in a different light and the characters were complex so this would take your acting skills to a new level. With that, you decided to take on the challenge despite the risk that you might not be offered dramas in future that were of younger romantic comedy genre since you will be remembered as an actress that played mum and divorcee. 

To your surprise, Seon ho took on the role as well. And the reason you heard of is that he felt that the script is compelling and he wanted to challenge himself in a new role. 

The other female actress who will play the role of the third party is Son Na eun of Apink and you thought that she was a good fit for the role too. 

The day of drama reading, Seon ho was the last to arrive and he was so apologetic about it. He was polite and greeted everybody with his big dimple smile. It was his first time meeting you and Naeun so the 3 of you were quite awkward and unfamiliar. 

When filming officially started, you were so busy preparing and translating your lines and practicing them that you felt very pressured. As the drama was produced by the team behind the hit success Crash Landing and also featuring the current hot actor Kim seon ho, it was also highly anticipated and everyone was looking forward to the drama to air. 

The filming process was also tiring as the tone of the drama is quite serious and sad compared to a light-hearted love drama or comedy. But to your surprise the filming was quite enjoyable mainly because seon ho is very easy to work with and also very professional. 

Even though he must have been very tired as the shoot is often in between his other projects like 2 Days 1 Night and his other pictorials and advertisement shoots, he rarely screws up his part and came prepared with his lines so there won’t many retakes. He is also very bubbly and cheerful, making the filming atmosphere livelier and friendlier. 

The chemistry between you and him hit off better than expected as well. You enjoyed his sometimes awkward jokes, you could follow up with this ad-libs and both of you saw eye-to-eye when it comes to how the both of you should act certain scenes to bring out certain message or emotions. 

You usually speak to your staff and manager in english which would leave the total korean boy seon ho in awe. And you always joke that the hardest part about this drama is that you have to pretend that you dont understand english as you are supposed to play the role of a clueless housewife who became an intern in a top company. And Naeun who doesn’t understand english has to play the role of your manager who is capable and good at presentations and reports in english. 

When the drama air, the public had good response and the chemistry between you and seon ho became recognised just as how people were speculating that Hyun Bin and Son Ye jin are definitely dating. 

The both of you were not at the dating stage yet because seon ho is so busy. And his personality is so friendly that he usually maintain a very amicable relationship with everybody so you established that the both of you are just very good colleagues that managed to become friends outside of work.   

To your surprise, seon ho called you one day - “chae young ahhh” he repeated and emphasized “chae young” a few times which was not your real name but the name of your character in the drama so you kind of had the sense to reply “oh yeobo”, which absolutely pleased him. Turns out it was a call from seon ho while filming 2 days 1 night. He was on a mission and he had to prove that he wasn’t lying when he said on the show that the both of you had good chemistry so choosing you to call to help him in the mission is the best person. You had to make a guess of the option his group chose in order for them to pass and be given lunch. The way you answered the call has already made a great impression to the team and the 2d1n members were all impressed by the chemistry you had with seon ho. You also passed the game round and they were saying that you should drop by the show as a guest as the next week, they will have to bring a female guest who are also their good friend to help them in the episode. 

Your company is rather particular about their artistes appearing on variety shows and it’s only after they screened the other female guests and realised that the rest are mostly comedians, that they allowed you to be on the show and the instruction was that you have to maintain your image. 

It was easy as the members and everyone in the team treated you like a princess in comparison to the 2 female comedians so as to make the show funnier. And seon ho especially took care of you as well even outside of the filming. 

He introduced you to the actor yeon jung hoon who was on the show and in between breaks you were able to consult him about some concerns that you have, especially since you are juggling 2 dramas. 

Towards the halfway mark of the drama filming with seon ho, you were offered another drama, a love story drama with a younger actor this time Seo Kang Joon. As the new drama is a typical courtship and love story drama, you were afraid that the way you act might not be able to draw a difference that well that the audience will be able to see the shadow of the divorced wife character that you are playing in the other drama. 

Jung hoon adviced that every role will have some kind of resemblance because it all came from you. It’s impossible to always present a totally original and fresh character without some resemblance here and there. But maybe if we see the resemblance as the actor’s style and essence, then you wouldnt feel so pressured to draw the distinction between all the roles that you act in. 

This scene was aired on 2d1n and it helped the public to see your professionalism and seriousness that you have towards acting. 

You also helped the team by giving a call to Blackpink’s Rose. Rose answered the call with “heyyy what’s up” which excited the members even more as they didn’t expect the both of you to use english as main form of communication. 

You were also good friends with Park Yuna who got famous from her role in Sky Castle and she also played the role of Bo young who is your sister in the drama with seon ho. Yuna was also an idol trainee previously which is why the both of you clicked so fast. 

The drama with Seo Kang Joon was a success too but of course both dramas did not do as well as Start-Up and Crash Landing but in your terms it was successful as people were talking about it and it was the more popular dramas among the rest that were airing as well. 

The chemistry between you and seon ho stood out even more as nobody really talked about seo kang joon and you having chemistry in that way. 

Very quickly, you were offered a movie role and the male lead they were offering it to kim seon ho again. This time, the storyline was less sad as it was about a man and woman who took a break from their current life and went to Jeju island as an escape, met and fell in love there. Seon ho’s character broke up with his long-term girlfriend while your character left her job after being there for 8 years. And the both of you met in Jeju. 

Many people were speculating if the both of you were dating, especially since dispatch released pictures of the both of you coming out of a convenience store together on your off days. And when your agency checked with you, you said no because technically seon ho has never officially asked you out. But somehow you felt a little bitter when you heard from your management that seon ho’s side has also denied the dating rumours. 

But netizens were quite supportive especially because the pictures taken were candid shots of how the both of you played with each other. Seon ho offered to hold your plastic bag but you lifted it like how you would lift dumbbells to joke with him that you didnt need his help and he was laughing so hard. Most comments that people have after seeing the pictures is that the both of you are so cute and pure. 

But because the pictures were exposed by dispatch, it made you and seon ho a little uncomfortable in front of public setting. Like the both of you had to attend the movie premiere and it was awkward to be standing together in front of the reporters and cameras as the both of you know that everyone in the room has seen the pictures and may or may not ask about your relationship status. You are not sure if it’s even more uncomfortable if they dont talk about the white elephant in the room. But the both of you were obviously less chummy that day, keeping a distance and avoiding eye contact as much as possible. Which led to people speculating that the rumours has caused you guys to break up. 

But you were still in contact with each other in private, just that you two did not meet in person since then. It was after few months that the both of you met again and it was at drama awards. It felt less uncomfortable and awkward maybe because the both of you were more overwhelmed by the excitement of seeing each other again after so long that you two didn’t really care whether people will ask if you guys are dating again. 

Another heart fluttering moment was when the mc asked if any of you felt something for the other person that you were acting alongside with, and the both of you raised your hands shyly and blushed when you both realised that both of you raised your hands. 

When seon ho went on stage to claim the best actor award, you stood up and clap proudly. And the mc jokingly asked since the both of you raised your hands just now, are you guys dating for real already? Seon ho laughed this time and said “don’t worry i will let you guys know if there’s good news” making everyone excited with his ambiguous answer and you could only laugh and facepalm in embarassment. 

Eventually, dispatch released articles of insider saying that 2 actors who have acted together recently in drama and movie are dating and it pointed to you and seon ho again. 

You talked to your agency, wondering if the best way is to deny it again because you know that couples that admit their relationship usually end up breaking up. And couples who stay together usually become less active or don’t have many projects up ahead. Plus seon ho’s career is at his peak now, he wouldn’t want to risk anything and he might not even have the time to keep this relationship going. 

But your management got the news that seon ho’s side is okay to admit to it if you are okay with it and that shocked you. You didn’t expect him to want to keep this relationship more than his career. But to seon ho, he doesn’t see how his career will go down just because of this. And his fame was a sudden one, he was never famous before that and he was okay with it. 

Your management was also quite relaxed about this. It seems that you are the only one thinking too much into this. Eventually you realised that it was all in your head. 

The next day all the news outlet were reporting - “BREAKING: Actor Kim Seon Ho and Y/N is in a relationship”. 

[dramarants]

KDrama Actors Who Caught My Eye

GIF by iamacolor

Ji Chang Wook 

Surprise! Healer is one of my all time favorite dramas and this man has one of my all time favorite faces. He gives the sweetest heart eyes, can handle heavier emotional scenes, and most of the main roles I’ve seen him in are puppies with grumpy exteriors which he does so well. His latest drama choices haven’t been great (older posts in his tag can tell you more) but his swoon factor makes the mediocre ones worthwhile!

Dramas watched: 7

Greatest Hits:

Healer (2014) - action, political drama with fluffy angst romance

Suspicious Partner (2017) - lawyer romcom with a serial killer plot line

Empress Ki (2013) - jcw as a sheltered crown prince, the show guts you

Latest:

Melting Me Softly (2019)

Lovestruck in the City (2020, still airing)

Park Seo Joon

Tumblr was in love with this man when I first started watching kdramas and he grew on me too. He kept showing up in popular recommendations (and in the boba shop across from my favorite study spot on campus lmfao) and his charms work well in bringing warmth to some of the typically “alpha” characters he’s played. What can I say, I’m a sucker for smiles.

Dramas watched: 6

Greatest Hits:

Fight for My Way (2017) - slice of life romcom, a tumblr fave!

Itaewon Class (2020) - slice of life with some punch, great OST*

What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim (2018) - psj fan holy grail romcom**

Breakout Roles:

She Was Pretty (2015)

Kill Me, Heal Me (2015)

*haven’t seen this yet but really looking forward to it!

**ngl this cloying tropefest was too much for me but v cute, great kisses

Kim Seon Ho

Oh man where to begin. When I first saw him on the Start-Up thumbnail, I thought “who casted him, he seems creepy” and good lord was I wrong. By ep 3, I was completely awestruck by his talent, expressions, charisma, dimples, voice - okay I’m stopping you get the point. This man is an insanely wonderful, versatile actor (plus a total dork on season 4 of 2 Days 1 Night!) and I can’t wait for all he has in store for us.

Dramas watched: 7 (in 30 days, whoops)

Greatest Hits:

Start-Up (2020) - tech workplace drama, jipyeong breaks your heart

Catch the Ghost (2019) - subway action dramedy, lead role!

Welcome to Waikiki 2 (2019) - pure comedy, he just looks pretty even when he’s suffering

Breakout Roles:

Good Manager/Chief Kim (2017)

Two Cops (2017)

Im Siwan

I’m cheating with this one bc there’s other actors I’ve seen more of but recently I’ve been obsessed with his absolutely adorable, grounded portrayal of Ki Seon Gyeom in Run On and I just started Strangers From Hell where he plays a much darker role! He’s an idol turned actor I believe, and while I haven’t seen a lot of his work, I’m loving what I’ve come across so far.

Dramas watched: 2, one in progress

Greatest Hits:

The Attorney (2013) - legal drama movie, his breakout role 

Misaeng (2014) - classic workplace ensemble drama, so so good

Run On (2020, still airing) - feel-good slice of life, awkward cinnamon rolls with various burn degrees

Latest:

Hell is Other People/Strangers From Hell (2019) 

Honorable Mentions: 

They stood out in the roles I saw and star in dramas in my watchlist!

Kang Ha Neul - 3, so glad he never got braces for his dorky smile

Jo Jung Suk - 3, hospital playlist is what really sold him to me

Nam Joo Hyuk - 5, didn’t realize I've seen so many of his dramas

Yoo Ah In - 2, secret love affair?? Jesus Christ??

Lee Junho - 1, his performance in just between lovers is exquisite

Jung Hae In - 2, fits the beta lead trope so well if you’re into that

Kim Myung Soo - 3, held his own across shin hye-sun, a cutie

Oh Jung Se - 2, stellar performance as kang tae 

Lee Jae Wook - 2, mostly fascinated by how a man can look like a dinosaur but still... cute? dare I say hot?

Jang Seung Jo - 1, wanna see more after his role in jtbc’s chocolate

Kim Won Hae - 9, one of the busiest drama dads/comic reliefs in the biz let’s be real

Sung Dong Il - 8, another busy drama dad/comic relief/evil historical politician but his role in my drama journey has to be acknowledged

Happy to discuss or get recs for dramas with strong performances or your favorite actors!

[bookwormfangirlwriter]

Law School Episode 7 thoughts [SPOILERS ALERT!!!!!!]

I think it’s probably because of how wonderful Ep 6 was but Ep 7 didn’t feel that great for me. But with that said, I still love this show so much. 

THE GOOD

+ Han Joon Hwi. I think this is my favorite Kim Bum’s character so far. His cheeky banter with Seo Ji Ho in the beginning of the episode is just adorable. I also love how calm and collected he is when facing both Ye Seul’s jerk boyfriend and the Prosecutor Jin. He definitely reminds me of the guile hero archetype who uses his mind to get out of situations. And this is probably too early to tell but I think by the end of the show, Joon Hwi might not become a Prosecutor like he originally planned but will maybe become a Professor like Yangcrates. Besides Yang Jong Hoon, all the Prosecutor characters introduced so far have been very shady and I don’t know if after everything, Joon Hwi will want to be a part of it. Also, I have to say that I really appreciate him not being all broody the entire episode. 

+ Kang Sol A. She has really grown on me since episode 1. I admire her bravery, great sense of justice, and kindness. We all need a Kang Sol A in our life. #bestiegoal. The scene where she testified in court cracks me up. Ryu Hye Young and her pouts are so precious. (Also I just rewatched Reply 1988 and I can’t believe Sol A and Bora are played by the same actress. RHY is so talented!). One thing I wish they had done though in this episode is showing more about Kang Dan and Kang Sol. They are twin sisters and Dan went to Hankuk Law. I feel like there's more to show, especially right after the revelation. I don’t know about you but if I find out the Professor I respect has been in contact with my estranged twin sister, I will not wait for answers. 

+ Yangcrates. While I definitely don’t want to be his student, I gotta admit, he is a very cool teacher. He really cares for his students, not just Sol A and Joon Hwi, and he means it when he said he didn’t want his students to turn out to be delinquents who broke the laws. He also has that commanding presence that just oozes charisma and captures people’s attention. The moment he starts lecturing in the middle of the trial, I lost it. Such wonderful comedic gold. And it feels so in-character too. 

+ The side characters’ dynamic. Law School sets itself apart from the typical legal drama thanks to the school settings and in my opinion, it is actually these interactions between the side characters that keep the show grounded and light, especially when we don’t have a lot of Han Joon Hwi and Kang Sol A moments. Mr. Sung is hilarious! He is probably my comfort character in this show <3

THE MEDIOCRE/BAD

+ Seung Jae. That transition and the last 4 minutes of the episode is very well done. I get chilled watching it. My guess is that he was trying to get the test answers from Professor Yang’s laptop when Professor suddenly returns to his office and thus, has to hide in the closet. All the clues so far have been pointing to him being a cheater but I wonder if there’s anything deeper behind it? Of all the plotlines going on, the cheating storyline seems the least matter. I’m assuming they will focus on him next so I hope we get some closure or insights. Cause right now, I don’t know if I know enough about Seung Jae to care about him. 

+ Sol B and her family. While I appreciate that the storyline does not drop her character arc as soon as they mystery is solved, right now, they are pretty much just on the screen for the sake of being on the screen. I can see there are crumbs laid for the future but the hints are too subtle that it just makes me feel disappointed when they show her and then nothing really comes out of her scenes. 

+ The subplots. There are too many currently running at the same time that it just takes attention away from the more prominent ones that are connected to the story. Just counting in Ep 7, we have 

Ye Seul’s abusive boyfriend

Ji Ho’s quest for revenge? (Like is that happening anymore now that professor Seo is dead?)

Joon Hwi’s quest for the truth and THAT revelation (I feel like it should have been a bigger shock than this)

Sol B and the ex med student

Kang Dan’s mystery (also, Idk about you but if I found out my Professor knew and has been in contact with my estranged twin sister, I would not simply let it go just because of finals coming up.)

Professor Kang’s family drama

Lee Man Ho

Professor Yang’s case against Prosecutor Jin. 

THEORY

I am very convinced that Prof Seo killed himself. When he was high and hallucinated Ji Hoo as Joon Hwi, what he said kinda felt like a suicide note to me, especially the part where he was begging him to understand how much he loved him. 

[katierosefun]

got through march in some shape or form, so once again . . . another list of media that i’ve somehow consumed to keep myself from going insane. (when i tell you making these lists for the last year or so has been one of my favorite things of the month . . . the urge to quietly categorize everything . . . ) 

kdrama: 

soul mechanic

i’m pretty sure i started this show way back in september or october, but i finally got around to finishing it this month! and you know, while i have some issues with this kdrama, it had its genuinely touching moments. basically, this series is about a young singer with borderline personality disorder, han woo joo (jung so min). she’s bounced around between therapist to therapist when she meets the unconventional psychiatrist lee si joon (shin ha kyun), who has his own hurts he still needs to heal from. together, they learn how to heal and also move on with their lives. 

my only complaint tbh is that pretty early in the show, han woo joo and lee si joon fall in love with each other. which isn’t that great, because i’m pretty sure it’s unethical to date your patient, but it gets mildly better as the show goes on (ie. si joon stops being woo joo’s doctor). i think it’s also telling that despite it’s pretty explicit that they’re in love with each other, i kind of forgot about that part of their relationship quickly, esp. after resuming this show. because tbh, this show seems much more concerned with telling the stories of those who are struggling in some way with mental illness or mental health in general. so despite my problems with the show, i enjoyed how this was perhaps the first show i’ve ever watched that actually treated patients suffering with mental illness with humanity. there’s no ridiculing, no condescension. there’s some moments that made me scratch my head because ehhh, i don’t think that’s good medical practice, but for the most part? i was more touched than offended during the course of the show. and more than anything, i really loved how strangely real han woo joo felt. when she’s on a high, she’s on a real high, but when she’s on a low, she’s on a real low--and what i liked about this show was that han woo joo remained lovable. it’s so easy to make characters with bpd seem like villains, but she just always seemed human. 

so...would i recommend this show? i’m not entirely sure. it has its dragging moments, but it also has its happier moments. you could probably afford to skip around without losing too much of the plot, just because each episode (esp. the beginning half!) examines different patients of different mental illnesses + disabilities and etc. overall, i’m not sure if i would revisit it, but the soundtrack is nice, and the acting was great.

inspector koo 

so this show was on my to watch list for months now, but at long last, i finally got around to watching it, and i’m so glad that i did. basically, this show is about a former inspector named koo kyung yi (lee young ae). after the death of her husband, she kind of spirals: playing computer games, becoming an alcoholic . . . this is a woman who’s walking a knife’s edge, but by god, she’s so much smarter than she lets on. when these murders start happening, her junior and friend na je hui (kwak sun young) convinces her to step back out into the world. and thus begins this game of cat and mouse, and it’s just so satisfying and so lovely because what i adored was that all the characters are a bit of a mess, and they’re all insanely lovable and relatable in some regard. 

and the villain/antagonists! gosh, i can’t remember the last time a show had solid antagonists except for perhaps beyond evil--but inspector koo definitely had some insanely interesting antagonists, my favorite of course being song yi kyung (kim hye jun). the way her story just intertwined with koo kyung yi was so . . . much. and so good. i was obsessed with it. 

anyways. this show was fantastic. incredibly satisfying, insanely smart, with a fab cast and fab writing and fab music. and it’s only 12 episodes, so it makes for a much easier watch than 16/20-ep kdramas.

sweet home 

so, i only started watching this show because i learned that kim shin rok, who played oh ji hwa in beyond evil, has been casted for season 2 of this show. and you know, i liked this show more than i thought i would! based off the webtoon of the same name, sweet home is basically about a bunch of people stuck in an apartment building as humans start turning into monsters. they’re not exactly like zombies per say, in that no one really knows for sure how this change happens, and there seems to be different kinds of monsters (some of them look like spiders, others are weird blood suckers, etc etc). 

the story mostly follows cha hyun soo (song kang), who you learn pretty early is one of those people who can turn into a monster, but he’s somehow got it mostly under control. the other survivors include eun hyuk (lee do hyun), a medical student who functions as the leader of the group--as well as  his younger sister eun yoo (go min si). my personal favorites also include the down-to-earth bassist yoon ji soo (park gyu young) and the christian swordsman--yes, swordsman--jung jae heon (kim nam hee). the characters are all pretty interesting, and there’s this underlying theme about wanting to live, even if your life is pitiful (and even pitiful without the monsters :(). 

that said, though i enjoyed the series, massive trigger warnings for themes of suicide, self-harm, alcoholism, etc. and maybe skip watching if you’re not mentally in a good place right now, as it can get incredibly dark. 

tv shows: 

yellowjackets

 . . . if i had a nickel for every time i watched a show about girls stranded in the wilderness and also had lesbians and also warren kole playing a husband/dad figure, i would have two nickels, which isn’t a whole ton, but it’s kinda funny it happened twice, dontcha think?

but anyways. yes, i watched this show. basically, it follows this soccer team called the yellowjackets--they were all headed to go nationals when their plane crashes in the middle of nowhere. we jump back and forth between the girls back then vs how some of them are now (way after the fact, i think all of them are either in their thirties or forties by now). some girls . . . we never see their future selves, so it’s presumed they either died or went missing or who knows what. 

phew. this show was insane. it was good! but it was insane, very dark (literally. i recommend not watching this on a small screen like a smartphone, because i could only see the darker scenes on my laptop for some reason). fair warning, there’s quite a bit of gore (especially the first few episodes . . . um, maybe don’t watch this show while eating). i liked it. i can’t say much more on it because i feel like this is one of those shows that are best watched blind, but! you know, it was. a ride. 

the invincibles

i started this show way back over the summer with my friend, but i didn’t get to finish it until this month. and holy crap. what a show. what a show.

basically, this show is about teenage mark (steven yuen), who has now developed super powers. this isn’t a surprise, considering his dad (jk simmons) is omniman, earth’s greatest superhero. but as mark gets the hang of being a superhero, a greater threat arises, especially after the murders of the og superheroes, ominman’s team members. this show is off the walls insane and fantastic. each episode left me wanting more and wondering what the hell was going to happen next. the acting is superb, the animation’s fantastic . . . but also please keep in mind that there’s a hellish amount of gore, especially in the last two episodes. like. genuinely a lot of gore. that said though, i enjoyed this show immensely. it’s original, smart, funny, and just genuinely so refreshing. i cannot wait for season two.

the haunting of hill house 

unfortunately, i did decide to watch this again. and cried again. and i think this has actually become perhaps my favorite non-korean show of all time because i still can’t quite get over how masterful this series is. i’ve already added this show to one of my rec/watched lists (i think back in january?), but i just have to mention it again because the second time around watching it just made me feel so many more things. i don’t really know what else to say except i think this show was genuinely a show that made me realize just how much horror can be used to tell a story about grief and trauma and, of course, love. the first half of the show always scares the socks off of me, but the second half of the show . . . i think starting episode six and onwards . . . i literally could not get through a single episode without crying a little at least once. what a beautiful story.

persona 

tbh, i didn’t really know where to put this--in either the short film or the television section, but i don’t think it’s either? persona is basically a collection of short films by different people, with lee ji eun (better known as the hit singer iu) starring in each one. the films are kind of each a mixed bag for me--i really loved the last one, which is about two people walking in the night. i don’t want to go much more into that for the sake of spoilers, but it was quite touching, and it also felt very personal. (and i’m very glad i watched it in the second half of this month rather than the first, because i don’t think the “me” of the first half of this month wouldn’t have been able to take it, just because it’s very . . . heavy, in some regard. beautiful and oddly healing, but def. very sad.) 

the first three films, to be honest, didn’t really stick out to me. the first film, maybe, if only because it was oddly uncomfortable (iu plays a young woman who despises her father’s new wife, who’s played by the iconic bae doona. a tennis match ensues). the second film was interesting, kind of bordering on fantastical (about a boyfriend who’s very upset with iu for some reason), and the third short film was kinda funny (iu plays a high school girl who gets into some chaos with her best friend). overall, i enjoyed watching these short films, and it was a very stress-free experience--and if anything, i was very impressed by just how versatile an actress lee ji eun is! truly, she’s one of those triple threat (quadruple threat, tbh) talents of the 21st century: a phenomenal singer, songwriter, and actress. persona feels like a very good showcase of exactly how she can nail so many different genres.

short films: (because i watched a lot more short films than i usually do . . . probably because march was so crazy and sometimes i wanted to watch something quick, and also getting a letterboxd means that i have so many more film recs including, yes, short films. also, if you’re not following me on letterboxd, i’m just saying . . . you should follow me on letterboxd. if you want!)

naysayer 

three scenes, eight minutes, two actors. how the hell is this short film somehow so fantastic when it’s working with literally so little, i have no idea, but it’s amazing and it’s stunning and the losers will say i’m hyping up this short film way too much, but i’m honestly obsessed with it. i won’t even go into the plot because i feel like it’s just one of those short films you need to watch with zero context. i will note that i don’t think anyone else besides a fantastic actor like steven yeun himself would have been able to execute the writing in this film--so he really delivers. i understand now why people are so in love with this man, because he’s phenomenal in every role, even in this brief film. i also need to note the use of the music and the camerawork . . . there’s something so eerie about this short film but it works in the best way, oh my god . . . just watch it. it’s available for streaming on vimeo. a fantastic watch, especially if you want to see the joys of short film.

canvas

this was a nine-minute short film i watched while just eating lunch one day. genuinely pretty, a lovely short film and the animation was so ! ! ! !! ! ! ! basically, this short film is about an old man who lost his wife. it’s a simple story, but a rather sweet one. also, the sound design was fantastic. and the art. especially the art.

bao 

okay . . . so after watching turning red, i decided to watch bao, which was directed by the same woman (domee shi). it’s a 7 minute short film (wow, i watched a lot of short films this month, huh), and it was just . . . so nicely animated and also so powerful. i think there’s a moment where people were a bit weirded out by the film, but to me, it actually made a lot of sense in a comedic but also genuinely sort of sad way. something related to parenting something related to love also manifesting in overprotectiveness sometimes, and now i’m very glad that domee shi is in the industry because after watching turning red and now watching bao, i’m just . . . ?? so appreciative of how she seems to make these works that really deeply look at asian parenting in this incredibly nuanced, complex way that i don’t think we get enough of? asian parents--and immigrant parents overall--are notorious for being incredibly disciplined and hard on their children, but i still have very distinct memories of bristling whenever my non-asian friends would criticize my parents’ parenting style, because often times, they just didn’t understand that the way my own family operated was based on such different foundations from a lot of my own friends’ parents.

this is all to say that yeah, parenting is hard, but it’s also so hard to find stories about asian immigrant parents that genuinely give some grace to asian parents--or at least try to understand them, even when the child is ultimately the one in the right. i suppose i write all of this now because i’m at that age where i’m appreciating the way my parents raised me--and now i see that while i would get angry and frustrated with them for not letting me do certain things, i recognize now that it was all coming from a place of love. so the fact that bao (and turning red, for that matter!) really depicted flawed asian immigrant parents but also made them incredibly complex and showed them for what they often really are (loving, scared of their children getting hurt, etc) just moved me to so many tears.

knick knack 

. . . i feel like basically every 90s/00s kid remembers this short playing at the start of every single disney/pixar movie on vhs, but because i was kinda bored and looking around for more pixar shorts to watch, i decided to watch this and boy oh boy did it unlock a bunch of memories from when i was, like, 5. i dunno what to say except it was kinda funny, but also very obviously from the early 90s. but that said, i found the animation incredibly funny, and also, the vibes just make me laugh. so i guess it was cool, at least for the nostalgia.

movies:

pirates: the last royal treasure 

i love han hyo joo so much, and she is honestly perhaps the best part of this movie. not to say that this movie was bad, per say--i actually laughed quite a bit. i did like how this movie is about pirates! and the music was neat! and the action scenes were cool! but this movie is also about two hours long, which i personally think was about 30-40 minutes longer than it had to be. 

there were also just . . . a lot of things going on? like, a lot? which, sometimes, i get that could make for an interesting story, but for me, it was just very whiplash-y and confused about where it wanted to go. (even though the action scenes were cool.) but besides that . . . han hyo joo was cool. that’s. that’s basically all i have to say. it was fun, but i feel like it could have been better. :/

after yang 

you know, i’ve been curious about kogonada ever since i watched columbus (2017), and so i was really thrilled to find out that he recently made another movie. after yang is pretty similar in the color palette and art-wise as columbus--lots of greens, lots of really beautiful still shots, lots of poetic language, but all in such a quiet way that makes me think a lot. music is always beautiful, too, and the actors are so very poignant. 

basically, this movie kind of follows a family who, after the breakdown of their android (?) “techno-sapien” yang (justin h. min), the father jake (colin farrell) tries to put together the pieces. meanwhile, the rest of the family, like mother and wife kyra (jodie turner-smith) and daughter mika (malea emma tjandrawidjaja) all struggle with this loss. this movie was just so genuinely quiet and lovely and also made me think so much about whether death is truly the end of all things--and how it really might not be, and what makes a life, anyways? and how does one have a significant existence? these were all questions that kind of flew around my mind as i was watching this film. granted, just because after yang, very similarly to columbus, is a relatively slow film, i have a feeling this might not be for everyone--but that’s okay. if you ever need to watch something quiet but sensitive, then is def. something you should consider watching. (and if anything, for what makes a beautiful film. because there were so many shots that made me realize just how much film is an art form.)

turning red 

i didn’t even know this movie was actually a thing until everyone was talking about it on release day, and so i decided to give this a watch . . . and i did not regret it one bit. one bit! literally! i think this might be one of my favorite animated movies, if only coming up second to raya and the last dragon (which is still one of my fave animated movies of all time). basically, for those who don’t know, this movie is about perfect chinese-canadian daughter mei lee (rosalie chiang) whose 13 year old life is completely turned upside down when she turns into a red panda. the reason? basically, an ancestor had prayed to the heavens and been granted this gift to turn into a red panda and now, all the women in the family turn into red pandas when they’re in great distress. there is, however, a way to “return” this gift, if you will--and so mei’s waiting a whole month for it to tide over. 

for those who are wondering if this movie is basically a metaphor for getting your period--in some ways, yes! but also, in a lot of ways, i think it’s about puberty overall. and also specifically puberty but also dealing with generational problems + the desire to be perfect and then some. it’s such a perfect film with all of these overlapping and interweaving themes, and i genuinely loved every single second of it. 

olivia rodrigo: driving home 2 u 

i actually didn’t have intentions of watching this documentary/film in one sitting, but i wound up watching the whole thing through anyways. i really do adore olivia rodrigo’s music, and i think she has so many amazing things in store for her. so this piece was just this really fascinating, lovely way of capturing her songwriting process, as well as how she views her own music as a whole. now, i’m always going to be the kind of person who’s very skeptical of who singers/actors really are behind the camera (i feel like as soon as a camera starts rolling, you’ll always act a teensy bit different)--but in any case, i found myself really feeling a sense of just how seriously olivia rodrigo takes her music. we also get a sneak peek at some of her other songs in the works, which was really fun! and also a look at her original lyrics for some of her songs. overall, this piece was fantastic: part documentary, part concert, i really enjoyed watching different facets of the album come to life. 

music: 

music from before the storm by daughter 

it’s been a while since i’ve really listened to daughter’s music, but i’ve been getting back into that band as a result of this playlist. music from before the storm, i think, is probably my favorite daughter album, just because it has so many different sounds from their first album. there’s a lot more emphasis on electric guitar, drums . . . and i feel like the best way to describe this album is like i’m under water or staring off and watching a storm rip everything up from the ground, but in a weirdly fascinating, weirdly lovely way. or like, if you ever got caught in a thunderstorm--you know when it’s raining so much, and the thunder is so loud, and you’re mildly terrified but also, you understand why the poets are so obsessed with storms and rebirth and all of that really interesting stuff? that was kind of how this album felt. 

or maybe i just felt that way because i was listening through the whole album while writing some sad beyond evil related stuff, but in any case: i love this album. my favorite tracks are probably i can’t live here anymore and a hole in the earth. 

[peepspersonalperspective]

MY PICKS: Top 10 K-Dramas

Disclaimer: These are totally subjective choices and I've justified them as per my preferences. Consider them friendly recommendations and let me know if you disagree. Also, I've discovered the wonderful world of K-Dramas over the last couple of years and they've really evolved not just in storytelling but also production value so I personally prefer the more recent ones. So for example I haven't put a very popular pick like My Love from the Star simply because I've seen better stuff since (don't shoot me). Anyway, 가자!

MEMORIES OF ALAHAMBRA

This is my first recommendation for anyone who's just starting out watching Korean television content simply because it's so different from what new viewers expect it to be. It's so gripping and thrilling. I would expect nothing less from Song Jae Jung's writing.

So it's a sci-fi show, set in Spain, about an augmented reality game, that seems to have physical implications in the real world, sending the lead, Hyun Bin on a rollercoaster ride to find answers. Exo's Chanyeol has a recurring role as the game developer, so that's exciting too. I learnt that he was cast because of his love for PubG. Lol.

Every episode will leave you wanting more, and you'll find yourself as desperate to search for answers as Yoo Jin Woo (Hyun Bin).

Granted, mid season, it gets a little complicated, especially with newer nuances of the game unfolding, but fret not because the characters are discovering the secrets of the game with you. So they're as confused as you would be, and that's why this show is so good! More so because the graphics are excellent! You can tell they really spent money on ensuring high quality work. You will really feel like you're part of the game with Yoo Jin Woo.

Anyway, if you are an EXO-L, or you like gaming, sci-fi, thriller and Hyun Bin, this show is great!

2. W - Two Worlds

Another piece of awesome from Song Jae Jung. I would still rank this show a little below Alahambra, because I think the makers made improvements from this sci-fi drama in Alahambra, in the sense of storytelling. Still, W is just as intriguing.

Oh Yeon Joo (Han Hyo Joo) gets sucked into a comic book where she falls in love with the lead character of the comic book, Kang Chul (Lee Jeong Suk). Sounds like a typical romance drama right? Don't be fooled because there are many many twists and turns along the way.

I feel like there is metaphor in there somewhere about existentialism, the creation and destiny. But maybe that's just me reading into things.

Lee Jeong Suk is extremely desirable as Kang Chul, unsuspectingly charming and endearing, and Oh Yeon Joo is an absolutely relatable character, and how she deals as an ordinary girl thrown into extraordinary circumstances is genuine.

I would say this drama is wholesome, with sci-fi, suspense, thriller, action, romance, filial relationships, and more. And while it's usually difficult to jam pack all this into one show without screwing it up, W emerges exceptional.

3. Extraordinary You

This show is so cute! If you want just a light hearted, quirky show, this is the one for you.

It's about characters in a cartoon becoming aware of their existence in a cartoon. But don't worry this is NOTHING like W.

The best part about the show is that it's not about the main characters of the said cartoon. It's the story about the extras finding their way in that world, hence the pun intended in the title. The main characters (of the cartoon) are actually the most dull, because they are bound by the laws of stereotypical high school romance. But the real stuff is happening on the sidelines, with Kim Hye Yoon as Dan Oh and Rowoon as Haru.

Dan Oh is a hilarious character and Kim Hye Yoon does a fantastic job of switching emotions when she's in and out of a scene in the cartoon. One minute she goes into character mode, next minute she's bitching at the sorry fate of her character when she wakes up, to the astonishment of the characters surrounding her (who aren't aware of their reality yet).

Rowoon has a quiet charm about him that perfectly complements Hye Yoon. Check it out for a chuckle and a taste of something different.

4. Crash Landing on You

This show is hard not to like. Apart from the poorly picturized tornado carrying our leading lady over the border to North Korea, this show is a wonderful Netflix and Chill kind of show, I think.

The cultural disparity between the South and North is interesting to watch and also entertaining. Like when they mention buying mobile games at an App store (a literal application store in a Pyongyang market).

Ri Jung Hyuk (Hyun Bin again) and Yoon Seri (Son Yejin) are such a delight in comedic, romantic, and dramatic scenes. But the scene stealer for me was Yang Kyun Won as Pyo Chi Soo, and his unshakeable nationalism that he is ready to set aside for some shampoo and conditioner.

The interesting thing is going into the show, you have an idea of the longevity, so ofcourse, Seri's journey back to the South ain't going to be easy, also her relationship with Ri Jung Hyuk is doomed, and yet you find yourself rooting for them at each step, crying with them during their failures and crying with them even in their triumph. But the most tears were shed for the least expected character, who simply left us all heart broken.

5. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

In a world where women are expected to behave and look a certain way to be considered attractive by someone they're vying for, here's a food hogging, tomboy, weightlifting champ, with her first crush.

The premise may rope you into the show, but midway you realise that the heart of the show is in its characters, and without realising you become so invested in them that you feel their fears, insecurities, and cherish their victories with them.

This coming of age show really relishes on the quirks of each character, friendship, love and aspirations. It's not a very dramatic story which is probably why it didn't rate very high during its broadcast, but that's part of its charm, and that's why it's been able to gather a significant cult following since.

Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo Hyuk portray the most sincere friends and eventual couple. Their relationship blossoms in the most organic manner and it's so heartwarming. They're not cheesy or unrealistic; they even beat each other up! I don't think I've seen that level of comfort portrayed on screen so well before.

Watch out for guest appearances by Ji Soo and Lee Jeong Suk.

6. Strong Girl Do Bong Soon

I'll be honest, this recommendation is mainly for Park Hyung Sik. He's amazing in the show. And there could be no better supernaturally strong petite girl than Park Bo Young, either.

So there are actually a lot of things happening in the show, story wise, but I promise it all comes together in the end. There is quite a build up and I'm happy that it pays off adequately.

This is like a superhero show with all the spices and flavours of a Marvel movie, but K-Drama style. There's an invincible villain, some idiot gangsters for comedic value, romance (a love triangle infact), functional training, a point of lost hope for Bong Soon, and then her resurrection as a superhero.

It's all there, and more.

But Park Hyung Sik.....

7. Itaewon Class

This recommendation is simply for the refreshing change of representation on TV. I know a lot has already been spoken about it already, but I have to admit that that's what sets this revenge drama apart. That, and the music. Dayum, Start by Gaho is so catchy! And let's not forget V's Sweet Night.

This show starts off slow but give it 3 episodes before it gets to the real shit.

Park Saeroyi is almost too good to be true, and in that lies his shortcoming. His character is so strong that while watching him I forgot that Park Seo Joon was acting. And despite some unnerving moments I found myself rooting for him. He has some strong motivational lines too, like about his choice for a better life. His determination is almost unreal, as he goes on to take down his mortal enemy.

Some of the best scenes, though, are of Jo Yi Seo (Kim Dami), a sociopathic enterprising genius. She was the one who actually kept me hooked to the series. She added some much needed flair to the show, and as it appears to Park Saeroyi's establishment.

Actually, every character was strong, every character had a strong backstory and motivation for the action, and most importantly they never broke character.

Watch out for Park Bo Gum's special appearance.

8. Love In The Moonlight

Speaking of Park Bo Gum...

This show is all kinds of weird in the best way! A girl pretends to be a palace eunuch and falls in love with the crown Prince. That is so messed up!

But that's the fun part! And Park Bo Gum and Kim You Jung make it a wonderful ride. Full of quirky romance, political conflicts and hidden identity issues, this show is addictive af!

And even though this wasn't in the show and was just a promo, be sure to watch Park Bo Gum's Bombastic dance. It's adorable!

9. The Third Charm

I'm sure this is my least popular recommendation. But something about watching this show was so cathartic. I highly recommend it for those who may have gone through heartbreak ever in their lives.

This is probably one of those rare times when I was lost in the story instead of Seo Kang Jun's eyes. Hehe. This story is about an on again off again couple and their journey through life together and apart.

This was meant to be a healing drama, and it really does take you through the emotional evolution that comes with growing up. I think it's the perfect medicine for a healing heart.

10. It's Okay Not To Be Okay

This show! This is my current obsession. Kim Soo Hyun's comeback couldn't have been more perfect. Seo Yeji couldn't have been a more perfect casting. And the two leads couldn't have had a better chemistry.

This show is all kinds of whimsical and I love it. Also a healing drama, this show deals with.... Baggage....to put it simply. Some baggage may be bigger than other baggage, some even irrevocable. But seeing all the characters overcome this baggage is so fulfilling.

But the charm of this show is in Ko Moon Young's (Seo Yeji) craziness and the Tim Burton-esque setup, that really makes one perceive fairytales in a whole new way. I mean I always knew that fairytales were sanitized German folklore, but I never thought to find a very different messaging from the material. The parables are ingenious, and it really is a pleasure to watch each and every person on this show.

Special mentions: Goblin, Reply 1988, 30 but 17/ Still 17, My ID is Gangnam Beauty, Hotel Del Luna

[possession1981-moving]

what are your fave kdramas (and tv shows overall), kind of got curious bc i know you liked jbl, and saw you watching yom now.. plus it's never too late to make my to watch list longer than it already is 🥴

aleks i’m sorry this took me like a while to get to bc i started panicking over narrowing down all the dramas i’ve watched into like a top list but i will give u a top 21 kdramas (i could have forgotten something though so it’s not set in stone) excluding jbl, which is definitely in my top 3 officially! u’ve probably seen a bunch or most of these they’re not exactly obscure but..

The smile has left your eyes (ruined my life) When the weather is fine (literally the catharsis..........) My country: the new age (also ruined my life) Wok of love (everything about this show is so sexy i gotta rewatch) Run on (character arcs <3) Angel’s last mission: love (i literally would watch anything shin hye sun ever did but this show truly slapped me in the face and said cry bitch.) While you were sleeping (introduced me to jung hae in my beloved)  Something in the rain (pure melodrama i had such anxiety) One spring night (why is jung hae in so fucking great?) Strangers from hell (the sexual tension between siwan and lee dong wook 100% the reason the horror and suspense work so well) Hotel del Luna (literally genius in every way, plus actor jieun!!!!) It’s okay to not be okay (i love a show that makes me process my own trauma) Mr Queen (shin hye sun is literally the most brilliant actress in korean tv) Still 17 (see above) OCN Black (so many truly unsettling moments, i love go ara she is perfect) Hwayugi (fantasy!!!!!!!! suspense!!!! melodrama!!!!!) Reply 1997 (i rewatch so often...) Reply 1988 (same......) 100 days my prince (kim jae young desereved more screentime :/) Bubblegum (jung ryeo won and lee dong wook? TOGETHER??? sign me up! it’s so sad tho) Are you human too? (seo kang joon u are so much to me!!!!!!! i love the way this show genuinely engages with really fucking tricky existential topics in such a real way. also the amazing vixx ost <3) Sky castle (literally i mean it’s perfect. the way that show goes in and just questions power in every single place it appears.... chills. also kang chanhee did not GIVE ALL OF THAT for him to keep getting cast in little tragic cameo roles that propel the emotional narrative of main characters i’m looking at u true beauty and imitation)

i have a strong preference for working class stories and shows where the main characters are like, real adults in their 30s or so because i just think the writing tends to be better... i also love horror elements and fantasy and historical shit but most of all i love melodrama and tragedy. currently i’m watching youth of may as u know and also doom at your service and so i married the anti-fan and i am loving all of them tremendously what a good drama spring!! also for a bonus my favourite cdramas are ashes of love and the untamed. in terms of tv shows overall i love old classics like twin peaks and the x-files, i still mourn the get down, i’ve been an umbrella academy fan since my father figure gerard way released the original comic book and i still rewatch criminal minds regularly although now i do it with a critical eye because there’s def a dose of the copaganda but like the characters are so well written. also i love hannibal but i still have to finish it!!!!!! buffy is still my mvp show though like through all its problems i still would rewatch 100000 times </3