#I'm watching What's Wrong With Secretary Kim

[artemis-in-space]

One of the best things about KDramas is watching 30 year olds flirt like high schoolers.

[stratfordsandthestars]

accidentally stayed up till 4am watching marry my husband, whoops. on ep 6 and had to stop myself from continuing bc i need to sleep 😭 i have to be up at a reasonable time today bc i have stuff going on in the afternoon

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

I started watching Kdramas this year and I do a lot of literature analysis in my normal life, so I found it really fun to find the tropes that were unique to this genre/culture that were different than what I find in Hollywood TV/movies and novels. I started with Alchemy of Souls and I was kind of amused looking back, because I never thought the SML had a chance with the FL but if I had known how strong the "they met as children and therefore DESTINY" trope is, I probably would have thought they would get together for sure!

Here are some of the unique tropes I've noticed:

-Leads meet as children and therefore DESTINY (What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, 100 Days My Prince, It's Okay to Not be Okay, Castaway Diva, The King's Affection, Sh**ting Stars, Destined with You, subverted in Alchemy of Souls)

-Reincarnation, which happens a ton but of course for the same reason Western media is littered with Chosen One/Saviour plots (played with in Alchemy of Souls and Extraordinary You, straight in Destined with You, Tale of the Nine Tailed, Moon in the Day, My Demon, The Story of Park's Marriage Contract... so many)

-Guy (usually) buys the girl shoes and then puts them on her. They also usually make a joke about her running away. (Tale of the Nine Tailed, 100 Days My Prince, Extraordinary You, Castaway Diva, King the Land, subverted in The King's Affection and The Forbidden Marriage)

-Guy (usually) gives/brings the girl an umbrella to protect her from the rain. I LOVE THIS TROPE, symbolism for protection and shelter gets me (straight in My Lovely Liar, King the Land, Tale of the Nine Tailed, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, subverted/played with in Alchemy of Souls, Business Proposal, Doom at Your Service, Castaway Diva)

-Not sure if this would count as a trope, but unique to the genre because we don't have formal speech in English and especially not in Canada where I live (we've basically started just going first name with everyone) I love it so much when the main characters use informal terms with each other for the first time. The subtitles don't always translate this well, but I know what the honorifics sound like and I'm all, "She didn't use "Mr." that time it's serious now!!!"

Anyway, are there more? I'm probably not catching them all!

Edit: Definitely some sort of trope around characters finding wild ginseng to solve a problem.

(I've only been watching Korean dramas by the way, I'm sure some of these tropes are shared by other dramas from China and Thailand. I just found the comparison with English language TV interesting.)

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - We In A Slump, but help might be coming from a very strange source

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Sept 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 3 of 12 - I don’t have a lot to say except that the plot is somewhat predictable but the show is still very engaging. War is fantastic. I’m enjoying it a hell of a lot.

Monster Next Door (Thai Thurs Gaga ) ep 10 of 12 - The second leads are getting better in this one. I understand where they are coming from, which makes their conflict so much more understandably painful, and honest to a friends2lovers trope. The main couple is kinda standard college relationship drama, but they are cuties.  

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 4 of 12 - How is Ohm so damn gorgeous? Meanwhile, babies’ first argument. And it’s sponge bath time. Q has got to be wondering if Min is as meticulous with all kinds of care and attention to detail all......the......time. Somebody here in the hellhole said something about this being "the most BL to ever BL." And I think they’re right. At least right now. Although, watch out, we got us a new contender from the east.

I Saw You in My Dream (Weds Gaga) ep 11 of 12 - I do love the continuation of the perversion, in a good way, of the punishment trope from last week's episode. Oh, has the show finally remembered its title? NO SINGING. 

Addicted Heroin (Thai Tues WeTV) ep 7 of 10 - More kidnapping and an attack and now there’s a girl involved and somebody’s going to China and I don’t understand anything! And I don’t really care. Is this how the actual book originally went? Because it’s wild. Also TOO MANY of flashbacks. I guess they got a bit of a boyfriend era, and the claiming during the water fight was cute, but otherwise...... meh

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 15 - One shouldn’t make comparisons, of course, but all I can think about is how amazing Captain was as Noh in the original series. Thus this show is mostly just making me want to rewatch the original. It’d be an interesting twist to have Aim be queer instead of a damaged cool girl slut. Was the helmet hand letting go a foreshadow of the iconic bookstore hands letting go? Also, I gotta say for the second episode of a series there are already too many flashbacks. Why are they using filler when they have so much content crammed into so few (comparable) episodes for a series? It’s annoying. Stop it.

Live in Love (Sun Gaga) ep 4 of 5 - This show has some interesting, if heavy handed, things to say about shipping and trolling, but also predatory/proprietary female behavior. It’s fascinating to see it tackled head on, if handled in a profoundly clumsy manner. I’m not sure how I feel about it. That said, most of this episode was actually an advertisement for a resort in Phuket. 

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) ep 2 of 10 - I'm getting What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? vibes from this show. Only this is WAY more bullying. It’s very old-fashioned 90’s billionaire romance novel only gay. It’s never a good sign when I’m watching two boys kiss and I really want one of them to just bite the other ones lip off instead.

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 9 of 12 - No ep this week. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Sugar Dog Life (Japan Sun grey) ep 8 of 10 - Gosh it’s so frikin adorable. Baby got sick. He has SUCH A CRUSH. And such a courageous little confession! Yay! Can’t wait for next week. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YouTube) ep 1 - sure, yes this is, in fact, just Ba Vinh doing his thing with pretty boys again. And yet...... There is a REASON this leapt into the standings guns blazing. So it’s high school set but it's stepbrothers trope. (My, aren’t we popular this year?) I know, but I NEVER get tired of this trope. We got us Bach (BV's sullen tsundere) and Dat (babygirl meets bully). It’s GREAT how the brothers' dynamic is entirely different at school than when they're at home. My ear isn’t trained for Vietnamese, but I think Dat is using different pronouns depending on his location (his personality entirely shifts when he’s at school). I’m not sold on the Bach character, although I always trust BV to serve in the end (at least we know the kisses will be good), but Dat is utterly in love, a touch spicy, and reasonably complex. The surrounding cast is good too, my favorite pretty boy is there playing top dog (woof), and one of the besties is out gay (YAY!). The plot of the show is...... well...... absent. Nothing happened. But if we are aiming for Love Sick slice of life style BL, I'm game. Subs are appropriately terrible and confusing. But I like it A FUCK TON so far, so I’m gonna keep it in rotation. Nice to have Vietnam back in play. What a shocker.

2024 has been a year of upsets.

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 3 of 10 eps - I weirdly enjoyed the farcical music and the utter absurdity of the court case. I also liked how it highlighted what a good team these two are. Frankly I don’t mind a bit of an antihero sleazy lawyer + conman, it's engaging. I’m getting wholesome out of Thailand. I don’t really need it from Japan at the moment. Also I don’t believe for one second our conman actually is serious about the relationship. Conmen gonna con. I'm reminded of the scorpion and the frog fable.

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) ep 8 of 12 - I love Orca so much. I do not love the autotuned version of Orca, but I knew what I was in for with this particular show, it's in the title after all. I did laugh a whole lot when Laing used kha. Hon, I don't think that word means what you think it means......

The On1y One (Taiwan Thurs Gaga) eps 11-12fin - I never thought I’d say this, but the pacing was off in the penultimate episode. Taiwan, and its chronic misuse of flashbacks strikes again. That said we eventually got a "lock in" trope and Wang being the biggest little flirt shit in the cafe OMG!!! Of course, you shouldn’t use a girl to torment your bf, but it was so well done, I can’t really complain. Meanwhile, teacher kisses. And now I understand exactly why they’re present in this narrative. Clever. Bummer of a burden on that ending though. I cannot see how they’ll manage to stick this landing. [That was ep 11]

AND NOW EP 12 - doomey doomey doom

Not the water bottle trope! Argh the teenage lust of it all. Just stop it. Wang is so smart he knows exactly how bad he has to be to leave the class. And his bf certainly knows that too. And......

......

So that was not an ending and I’m not happy about it and no one is surprised. Even I’m not surprised. I’m just disappointed. Even tho I suspected this was where we were headed I'm disappointed. That’s it. That’s all I got. How do I review something that was such a crushing let down?

Conclusion:

Based on a Mou Mou novel + the Your Name Engraved Herein team, this is old-school coming of age BL and it was bloody fantastic. Tsundere seme to beat all tsundere (smartest + tallest + bestest at everything but people) meets socially-ept cutie smart-ass uke. They're living together by end of ep 1 and start kissing by end of ep 2. A stellar tense slow burn stepbrothers trope that ate my life and than just belly-flopped the finale. What I'm left with is epic levels of disappointment and well...... at least nobody died? My standard "fatally flawed" rating for any BL is 4/10 so I guess that’s what I’m giving it. 

Before you ask me for the stats: Taiwan does not have a history of second seasons. I went ahead and ran the numbers and the odds are certainly not in our favor. I put the chances at 2%.

Yes, I contemplated a revenge rating of 2/10 but even I'm not that mean.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) ep 1 of 10 - This is a supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion in Chiang Mai being converted into a café. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

In Case You Missed It

Falling For My Boss is vertical format (nash) short from Korean BL about a happy-go-unlucky man who keeps losing his flower shop business because of romantically misbehaving employees (apparently it's a thing). When his best employee brings in a new boy he's worried she's falling for him, but it turns out it's his own heart on the line. He a clueless softy and The Boy is a lost broken sweetheart, making this a gentle little snippet of a show. There's a baby linguistic negotiation, some hung slinging, awkward handholds, and everyone is very pretty. For me the absence of kisses and the vertical format were more annoying than the length, which felt fine but many viewers will find too short. I enjoyed the 30 minutes of cute. All of which makes this a solid 7/10 from me. It was originally only available on this one ap in very short form with ads so I wasn't gonna bother. Then some kind soul cut it together without ads and stuck it up for download. Say thank you.

Oddball recommendation next: This podcast episode touches on some stuff we see in Thai BL so I think it's worth listening to. Journalist Dominic Faulder on the Complex History Between Thailand & Myanmar

Happy of the End (Japan Gaga) - Completed its run. A boy is disowned for being gay, dumped by his boyfriend, and ends up in a dysfunctional co-dependant relationship with his would-be kidnapper. We were due for another messy JBL and it's exactly as expected. I do not like it at all and DNFed. Gossip round the hellhole is that was a solid decision.

Marriage Equality Law has officially been enacted in Thailand...

Yes the actual law. Goes into effect Jan 22, 2025

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Coming Oct 2024:

10/3 Fourever You (Thai iQIYI?) 16 eps - New directs Earth (UWMA, 12%) + Pond (Century of Love, 180 Degrees), Bas (Gen Y, 2 Moons) + Maxky (Why You… Y Me?) and other familiar faces like Bever. Sampler pack university BL from Wabi Sabi that looks like it's trying to be a gay Boys Over Flowers (4 older med students hot boys) and I'm not mad about it. Trailer Not sure who's distributing this but my guess is iQIYI since they had the last few from this house.

10/7 Every You Every Me (Thai Gaga) 10 eps - Jade and Chin have lived over a thousand lifetimes. In each one they somehow manage to fall in love with each other. (This pair, TopMick was piloted in a My Universe ep, that was one of the only ones I liked.)

10/10 Eccentric Romance (Korea ????) 12 eps - Silkwood’s 2nd Thai/Korean colab, that has been in production since 2022 which is a LONG time in the BL world. I'm worried but I like the concept: friends of 10 years who’ve been hiding feelings for each other enter the same university. Plus MURDER.

10/10 Gangster and His Boyfriend (Korea ????) 8 eps? - Kim Dong Bin (famous trainee & idol reality competitor, yeah that happens) stars as a fallen idol who unexpectedly becomes entangled in a gangster family. Discovers that his friend’s father is responsible for the murder of his entire family years ago. I don't know much about this one, neither does anyone else and I'm not sure where I got that release date so……

10/21 Love in the Big City (Korea ????) 8 eps - Adaptation of Booker-nominated famous coming of age novel of the same title by Park Sang-Young. Cynical yet fun loving student writer Young pinballs from home, to class, to Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female besie and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their worries about life, love, and money with soju. As time passes Jaehee settles down and leaves Young to face his problems on his own. Young finding comfort in the arms of the series of men, including one whose handsomeness is matched by his coldness and another who might be the great love of his life. Not really BL. Stars Kim Go-eun (The King: Eternal Monarch), Noh Sang-hyun, and Nam Yoon Su (The King’s Affection). This already released as a movie and isn't very well regarded, this date is supposedly an international release as a series. I'm wary of it being BL.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I got nothing, The On1y One drove me into a funk.

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[mrsandypants]

Rules: answer + tag some people you want to get know better and/or catch up with!

1. favorite colour: Green, but also specific shades of green more than others? I had a friend recently ask and I suppose my favourites would be Pine Green / Pear Green / Basil / Emerald I know they won't show quite right on tumblr but it's fiiiine. Other than that, I love love love silver chrome, black and purple.

2. last song: So, One Pact's 'Fxx Off' has been on repeat like it is my job currently but technically I woke up to Moonlight by SB19. I adore their music.

3. currently reading: Actually nothing right now. I just finished a short little novella the other day called "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" though. Now I'm in my "seeking a new book" phase.

4. currently watching: Oh dear. Well, sort of a few things all at once. Currently my binge show is the Phillipines version of "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim" My ongoing shows are: * Sunset x Vibes * Love Sea * My Stand-In * Knock, Knock, Boys * OMG! Vampire * I-Land 2

5. currently craving: A chocolate croissant. I have been craaaving a lil flaky pastry for a while but haven't had the energy to make any or pick one up. One day.

6. coffee or tea: I'm a tea girlie through and through. I collect teaware / teas / etc. I'm the one you go to for tea and cookies for an afternoon chat. That being said, in the mornings I will *ALWAYS* have my cup of coffee (or two).

Thank you for the tag @chaeryred !!! Your answers were too cute. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Tagging @leonpob @seokwoosmole @musicalgrl @myboyfriendjake and any other lovely moot that would be keen to participate. I never know who to tag in these. 😅

[loveschoice-if]

as a newbie k-drama watcher...have any cute romance k-dramas you rec?

Ooooh that's a good question! I'm assuming you mean more like sweet romances with not too much drama so here are some recs:

What's Wrong With Secretary Kim - I feel like this is a good introduction to romance K-dramas and it has a lot of the tropes that you can expect to see in romance dramas. There are some heavy moments, but overall very cute and a little bit silly.

Touch Your Heart - very similar to WWSK, either had same director or writer. The leads had really good chemistry and it's a very sweet romance. Likewise, lots of silly moments that keep things light.

Because This Is My First Life - another K-drama I watched very early on. I thought the romance development was very natural and sweet, and it was satisfying to see the ML in particular develop and open up to the FL.

Splash Splash Love - a short movie-length drama about a girl who travels back in time after skipping her SATs. It's not as well known, but I thought it was cute. The romance between the FL and the ML is very sweet and there were so many unserious, silly moments.

If you're interested in more specific recommendations, let me know!

[beforestartitwasover]

It is a lot of dramas to watch

I really want to start When the Phone Rings, but if I start watching right now, I will think about it every day because it's a weekly drama. Also, I want to watch Perfect Marriage Revenge and What's Wrong with Secretary Kim these next weeks because they will be free on Viki and I don't have the Viki pass.

I will scream. It is a lot to watch.

(I'm currently watching Hometown Cha Cha Cha)

[peachjagiya]

Wow Peach, your journey is so interesting! Mine is simple in comparison or maybe weird. Take your pick! So, I was in CQL (Untamed) fandom sort of and used to watch K dramas. Funnily enough, my first drama was of Soejoon- What's wrong with my secretary Kim (sorry Taehyungie I met him first) but I had no idea they were friends. It was a random Instagram scroll that changed everything. A BTS concert video popped up, and there was this familiar name (chant) – Kim Taehyung. I vaguely remembered hearing it on a Chinese show, "Day Day Up," where he'd appeared with Wang Yibo when BTS was promoting in China. Back then, I was oblivious to the BTS hype and thought, "Wow, this kid is full of energy!". So yeah back to the video, since I had heard his name I wanted to see who Kim Taehyung is (btw I think I was in cave because I never heard of BTS). And was I blooooown away !?!?! 🥵. I couldn't identify anyone because they pretty much looked same to me 🫣.

I'm a big believer in starting with the basics, so when I first heard about Kim Taehyung, I was determined to understand the minimum basics, so I googled about him and in one of the recommendations it was written Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin are best friends/soulmates. That was enough for me to go searching for this beautiful friendship. I saw more and more videos on Instagram (only concerts/moments without dialogue) and fell in love how they were together. So, you see as there was no description on the videos at the time (only clips and music) I really didn't bother learning about everyone and wasn't aware of OT7 thing. What attracted me was how they looked into each other eyes, and how Jimin used to look at Tae, desparate for his one look like a puppy. So, I feel hook line and sinker. Like who wouldn't ? Little did I know, I was caught up in a case of mistaken identity! It was only after a careful search and some embarrassing self-reflection that I realized it was Jungkook, not Jimin, who had stolen my heart. Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions!

I made it a point to read about all of them but now with their pictures. LOL. Saw almost every content, love all of them but taekook always have a very special place. What can I say I'm one loyal girl, there was no coming back from them. Ah! Those were some good times.

Oh my gosh, I love this. But I couldn't help laughing at you mistaking Jungkook for Jimin. Just the thought of you being like "wow they're so close! Wow! Truly soulmates." 😂

I love this, thank you @purplemoonlibra 💜

[vorchagirl]

9 people I'd like to know better!

I was tagged by @illusivesoul

I'll tag @heroofshield @bioware-bard @acciokaidanalenko @ashenlavellan @ladyinthebluebox @beemot @commanderauri @laelior @anakliro @continuous-spec @hazelestelle @silurisanguine and anyone else who would like to do this :)

I’ll put the blanks here and my answers under the cut.

three ships:

first ship:

last song:

last movie:

currently reading:

currently watching:

currently eating:

currently craving:

three ships:

- Reyes Vidal x fRyder

- James Vega x fShep

- Harry Carlyle x fRyder

first ship:

- Ares x Xena

last song:

last movie:

- (home) Clueless

- (cinena) Alien Romulus

currently reading:

- Swan Song by Robert McCammon

currently watching:

- What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?

- Beverly Hills 90210

- Breaking Bad

- Buffy

- X-Men (90s)

currently eating:

- decaf coffee

- cottage cheese with cinnamon honey

currently craving:

Nothing 🤣 but normally I'm craving Takis or Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

[arizonapoppy]

Get to Know You Game

Thank you for the tag, @no-where-new-hero !

rules: tag nine people you want to get to know better

Favorite Color: cool colors

Currently Reading: I just picked up Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao from the library. Also doing Anne of the Island book club currently.

Last Song: Spotify says "Count the Stars" by Onewe

Last Movie: Err... I'm not sure? I think possibly Spy X Family?

Last Series: I just finished watching "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?" Spoilers: the manhwa is better than the tv series. The tv series was good, but the sub plots were a little painful sometimes.

Sweet, Savoury, Spicy: Spicy. I have sinus issues a lot. Yesterday I had Thai food for dinner and ordered it Level 4 spicy. My. Poppy says my face turned red, but at least my sinuses were clear.

Craving: A week's worth of good night's sleeps

Tea/Coffee: Both. Both is good.

Currently working on: Cleaning up my bonus room. If you didn't know me and came to my house, you'd say I'm borderline hoarder.

I will tag anyone who wants to play!

[deukaeloveclub]

rules: answer + tag some people you want to get know better and/or catch up with!

tagged by @lottieurl (this is long overdue)

favorite color: as I've said my whole life (nearly red was the first but quickly dethroned by) Blue! And I love every shade except hyperlink blue

last song: Can't Live with the World - Laura Mvula (this is my sleep/anxiety/I need something calming but musically interesting to loop in the background forever and since I am sick this has currently been on loop for 2 days! Welcome back to my Spotify Top 5 once again)

currently reading: "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson. "technically" I picked this up at the start of summer very casually before my schedule blew up so I'm all of ~30 pages in.

currently watching: loooll, so many things. I have an anime (Frieren) and a kdrama (What's Wrong With Secretary Kim) that I only need to 3 more episodes to finish. But I also started watching the old X-Men Animated series and want to start watching Why Women Kill... perhaps you can see why I don't make much progress 😂

currently craving: not being sick. i actually would like to be at work right now because i need the money

coffee or tea: coffee hates me so I'm a tea girlie. plus in my area boba tea spots might outnumber coffeeshops

tagging @xian @forever-rain-mp3 @ahnsolbin others feel welcome I am literally fighting for my life trying to remember urls

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

In my mind, you can pair red flags in two ways, 1. Pair two red flags or 2. Pair red flag with someone who won't let them be a red flag anymore. Which is not "I can fix them with love" but more, "I won't let them get away with that if they want to be with me"

Moon in the Day, Alchemy of Souls, The Atypical Family, & The Double all pair red flags with other red flags. Who cares if one side of the pairing is murderous, they're both murderous! They'll do murder things together as a couple. Awwww, so cute. (not everyone on this list is a murderer but you get it)

Then you have one-sided red flag but the other side can handle it, which includes Doom at Your Service, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, The Forbidden Marriage, and What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. Most of these relationships have intense outbursts of jealousy, to which the other partner is like, "No, I don't like that stop it," and then the other side stops. Maybe not an ideal relationship, but I don't feel worried as a viewer.

You could argue that Alchemy of Souls falls into the latter category as well, Jang Uk isn't that much of a red flag but Naksu definitely is one, but he can handle that and he does very much understand the risks of hanging out with her.

I mean it's fiction, but if I'm watching someone really unhinged in a relationship, I want to feel like there is a good balance at least.

Edit: if it's a tragedy, then the pairings can be unbalanced and fall into The Horrors, but what I don't like it Red paired with Green and then pretending it would turn out fine. Nope.

[ahundredtimesover]

IWYTS has such strong krdama vibes! Were you inspired by any? I'm seeing elements of What's Wrong With Secretary Kim and Business Proposal, but would love to hear more about your inspo.

Definitely What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim! 😉 I rewatched it in 2020 during the peak of my fic reading and just got inspired. I liked that cutesy but serious vibe. Secretary Kim’s character especially pulled me in and there were so many elements of the series that felt good to write in fanfic form haha (this is why I haven’t watched new k-dramas bc I’ll just get inspired lol) and so the tense and dramatic moments wrote themselves (think slo-mo scenes where the MCs end up staring at each other hahaha)

And also:

Pretty much inspired the whole fic. I watched these scenes and just knew I had to write it 😂😂

[misscrawfords]

Hi, I am going to start watching k dramas, so could you recommend some good ones? Which ones do you like best?

Ooh an excellent life choice, if I may say so!

Honestly, what I'd recommend would depend on what you enjoy. My personal tastes are for:

romcoms very low angst

romances with deeper characters, a bit more realistic

thriller/spy stories, usually light-hearted, romantic subplot

fantasy, romantic subplot

For gateway kdramas, I'd recommend:

What's Wrong With Secretary Kim (romcom, a classic)

Hometown Cha Cha Cha (romcom, a few angsty moments)

Crash Landing on You (romcom... ish... angsty!)

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (romcom with adorable female superhero and serial killer subplot)

If you like predominantly romances, I'd recommend in addition:

Her Private Life (Park Min Young (also in Secretary Kim) is basically a romcom goddess - HPL is v similar to Secretary Kim)

Because This Is My First Life (surprisingly relatable and thoughtful take on contract marriage trope)

Romance is a Bonus Book (less well known as some but just so charming if you like books and bookish people)

Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung (not usually a fan of historical kdramas and this is light on the romcom and heavy on the palace drama but it's genuinely interesting)

Our Beloved Summer (second chances romance, slow burn)

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (cute university sports romcom

Business Proposal (only watch when you are well-versed in romcoms - it's hilarious because it makes fun of all the tropes)

No Gain, No Love (still airing but doing something similar to Business Proposal but a bit more subtlely)

Dali and the Cocky Prince (had some flaws and some painful moments for the FL but overall excellent)

Love Next Door (still airing and I had to stop watching because it suddenly got serious and I need to know it ends happily before I force myself through the difficult episodes but really excellent up to that point - so I'm hopeful)

If you like your romcom with a twist:

Healer (another PMY drama, lots of rom but also main plot is a thriller - really excellent)

Marry My Husband (look, I just love PMY... time travel and revenge plot and swoon-worthy rom with plenty of com)

Vincenzo (the Ultimate kdrama for me - I adore it; mafia, revenge, hilarity, romcom- got everything)

My Roommate is a Gumiho (kind of forgettable tbh but I really enjoyed it a lot at the time - fantasy romcom)

Crash Course in Romance (romcom between middle aged people, crash course in the messed up Korean education system and a serial killer - IDK what is going on with this drama but overall it worked?)

Terius Behind Me/My Beloved Terius (a rather obscure one but A+ if you like spy comedy shenanigans with subtle romance)

The King: Eternal Monarch (mixed reception for this fantasy parallel universes romance but I had a Good Time)

And finally, standing all out on its own:

Alchemy of Souls Parts One and Two: just brilliant. Pure epic fantasy. I want 10 seasons in this universe and the novelisations. Should be bigger than Harry Potter.

Something to bear in mind is that most kdramas are 16 episodes and around episode 11... bad things tend to happen! Sudden illness/death/betrayal/breakup/white truck of doom... And while some of them deal with this well, others... don't. Usually it's worth getting over the hump episodes but I have to admit I have a lot of unfinished kdramas. I do keep meaning to finish them... but then another one comes along and I start that instead!

I also recommend getting onto MyDramaList to get recommendations and read reviews and find new dramas to watch as well as keep track of your watching. My list is here.

Enjoy! :D

[annbourbon]

-Dramas I'm currently watching

♡ Hotel del Luna (currently watching chapter 13)

♡ Hometown Cha-cha-cha (currently at chapter 11)

♡ Sisyphus (currently at chapter 11)

♡ Alchemy of Souls (currently watching chapter 6)

♡ Hospital Playlist (currently at chapter 2)

♡ Mr Queen (currently at chapter 20)

♡ Guardian: The Lonely and Great God

♡ Peng

♡ Sh**ting Stars

♡ My roommate is a Gumiho

♡ Woori the Virgin

♡ Oh my General

♡ What's wrong with Secretary Kim

♡ Welcome to Waikiki

♡ Ashes of Love

♡ True Beauty (currently at chapter 13)

♡ My ID is Gangnam Beauty

♡ Hey Sensei, don't you know?

♡ Flower Boy Next Door

♡ Your Home is my Business

♡ Nevertheless

♡ She will never know

♡ Flower of Evil (currently at chapter 6)

♡ Juvenile Justice

♡ Beauty Inside (currently at chapter 8)

♡ My demon (currently at episode 10)

♡ Romance is a Bonus Book

♡ Somebody

♡ Inheritors (currently at episode 10)

♡ Angel's Last Mission: Love (currently at episode 5)

♡ Inside Beauty

[somesillypig]

I started to read a Xicheng WIP based on the "What's wrong with Secretary Kim?" Kdrama, but I got distracted and watched the Kdrama instead of reading it.

It's fun so far (I'm on episode 5?), and here's my Xicheng take.

Sure, Xichen can be the sparkly uber-competent vice-chairman. Same oblviousness, less snootiness.

He's hired an assistant to help him on everything on a daily basis, and what is this, it's the youngest Jiang on his gap-year(s) from doing Jiang Corp training.

On his first day, Jiang Cheng greeted Lan Xichen in the office, looked up at Xichen, and clicked his tongue against his teeth.

Gusu Tech's vice chairman's tie is crooked. Disgraceful.

Jiang Cheng stalks up to Lan Xichen and reties the tie and pins it into place, perfectly.

Lan Xichen is shocked. Wide-eyed. Utterly taken.

Then Jiang Cheng undoes everything and smacks Lan Xichen in the chest with the tie.

"I've shown you once. Now you do it until you get it perfect. Begin."

It takes Lan Xichen 19 tries and 30 minutes before the tie gets a, "Passable. Practice at home. Here's your agenda. Drink this tea and eat this biscotti. Eat breakfast before work from now on. Disgraceful."