#Original : The Heirs | Kdrama
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
skyeconch · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
“Where did you come from? I only closed my eyes for ten seconds.”
“From a fairy tale. 😚”
“Gosh. 😐”
Tumblr media
240 notes · View notes
herigo · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
34 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
THE HEIRS OR THE INHERITORS (2013)
Almost 10 years ago this drama aired. And it was my first foray into my new obsession with Asian Dramas. It also lead me into HANA YORI DANGO aka BOYS OVER FLOWERS. Original Air Date was October 9, 2013
So like BOF this drama is about a rich boy with a super complicated family dynamic. His mother is a mistress living with his father who is married to another woman who allows her husband and his mistress to live together. She also claims the mistresses son as her own for the public view.
The story is about Kim Tan (LEE MIN-HO) the second son of a chaebol family who was exiled by his older and jealous half brother to America. HOLLYWOOD.
While there he meets a visiting Korean girl there to see her sister and give her sister money. Her name is Cha Eun Sang (played to perfection by the lovely PARK SHIN-HYE)
Kim Tan becomes so enamored with Eun Sang it makes him break his brother's rules and return to Korea.
There he learns his new lady love lives in his house. But she is the daughter of the mute maid.
How did this lead me to BOF...we all know LEE MIN-HO played a version of DOMYOUJI TSUKUBA known as GU JUN-PYO for the SOUTH KOREAN ADAPTATION of BOYS OVER FLOWERS.
Though this KDRAMA gets mixed reviews I LOVED IT. And I searched LEE MIN-HO and so his version of BOF was the first I watched. Then I went back and watched all the other adaptations.
14 notes · View notes
dangermousie · 2 months ago
Text
2024 kdrama post
We are already in December and nothing new I am likely to be interested in is gonna drop before the end of the year - and if it does it will run into 2025 so I can address it in my 2025 kdrama post, unless we are all ruled by lizard aliens by then.
Normally I list all the dramas made this year that I watch, thoughts on them, blah blah but this year I disliked most of the kdramas I tried (it was the worst kdrama year for me since 2006 when I first started!) and I don't want to make a giant negative post, so I am going to only mostly talk about the kdramas I enjoyed in some capacity.
From least to most:
Love Your Enemy - I don't really like it tbh, but it's here for nostalgia over JJH.
Tell Me You Love Me - good and quiet but suffers in comparison to the original and that FL actress is just not my cup of tea.
Connection - Ji Sung gives a powerhouse performance in a very solid crime drama; it's not higher because it's just not my genre.
The Midnight Shop - it was nice seeing Joo Won in not a disaster of a drama. It wasn't as engrossing as it could have been but I did like both the mains and rooted for them.
Knight Flower - was I emotionally involved? Nah. Was I entertained? Yeah.
The Judge From Hell - "was I emotionally involved? Nah. Was I entertained? Yeah." Redux.
Queen of Tears - honestly, it should probably be in the below category but I enjoyed myself for the first half so much, I am willing to pretend the nonsense disaster plots and character interactions of second half were not as bad as they were.
My Demon - sucker for supernatural romance fantasy done right (to me it was, I know some people didn't like it.)
Goryeo Khitan War - I put it on my 2023 list too so it's double dipping but whatever. This is just a grand old school sageuk and I adored every moment.
Lovely Runner - normally youth dramas bore me but this one was so sweet, so lovely, so pitch perfect.
Black Out - did not really feel like a kdrama at all, more like a prestige BBC production, but I loved it anyway, as bleak and harrowing as it was.
When the Phone Rings - my current obsession, old school melo the way they haven't made in years.
The sad thing is, a number of these dramas started airing in 2023 and/or beginning of the year. Most of this year has been the Sahara.
Dramas which I enjoyed off the start and then fell off the cliff into what the hell land: Captivating the King (wonderful first 4-5 episodes, OK few following, stupid as hell the rest - solid acting brought down by a ridiculous script), The Story of Park's Marriage Contract (great first two eps and then downhill rapidly with each following episode), Love Song For Illusion (first ep not bad, second ep tolerable, after that with each ep, my ff fingers got twitchier and twitchier.)
OTP of the year: Duh, Baek Sa Eon x Hong Hui Joo, When the Phone Rings, have you seen this tumblr lately?
Trend I wish would die: 8 ep kdramas, 12 ep kdramas. Bring back freaking 16 ep as a minimum standard. Also pls get Disney and Netlfix out of kdrama world while we are on impossible wishes.
Genre I need less of: romcoms; Genre I need more of: proper sageuk.
Worst waste of my eyeballs: The Impossible Heir.
Most boobs per minute: Queen Woo.
Best non-2024 kdrama I watched this year: Beyond Evil. A total masterpiece.
And that's a wrap!
(My cdrama post is gonna be insane in comparison to this.)
68 notes · View notes
absolutebl · 1 month ago
Text
20 BLs Announced for 2025 That I'm Really Excited About
Boys in Love
Thai trailer
Our only true high school BL from GMMTV and it's fresh faces for the youths and old favs for the teachers. It's milk teeth Make it Right and that is perfectly fine with me! I like lotte milk. Also DIMPLES! Yay! I suspect they're using this one to test some new pairs for future seasons. Like a Project 101 Thai BL. (Honestly I just invented an amazing reality TV for you GMMTV, you're welcome.
Fight for You
Taiwan
Da Hei reluctantly takes on dangerous odd jobs to earn medical funds, unaware that his roommate Xiao Bai is secretly an operative sent by the intelligence agency to take them down.
Dare You to Death
Thai trailer
JoongDunk as police investigators in a mystery suspense thriller. Yes, I'm in. This is it. This it the one I wanted to instantly watch. Even though their's 20 BLs airing right now.
Interminable
Thai YouTube
BillyBabe are back in a reincarnation historical.
Love of Silom
Thai WeTV
UpPoom are back in another complex piece. Closeted brokenhearted policeman meets struggling single dad.
Mandate
Thai
A fierce political battle is the starting point of love between two men of different statuses and backgrounds, not to mention a 17 year age gap.
Me and Thee
Thai trailer
A photographer gets involved with the mafia? OMG is this a Thai dupe for Target the Finder? Only mixed with Cyrano? WILD. I mean to say, this one is wild WILD! Plus Est (my love) back in suits and ear dongles I see. Also GMMTV never gonna let us forget they bagged two of BL's best bods with PP, thanks all for the visuals. Of course this is for me. I'm the shallowest, remember? Plus I love a BL that's just a little bit...... well...... stupid.
Me and Who
Thai WeTV trailer
Lead pair from Monster Next Door, BigPark, in an adaptation of Wickedwish’s novel of the same name. A poor young man dies and is reborn into the body of a billionaire heir. The heir happens to be engaged to a handsome man who come to understand his secret.
Memoir of Rati
Thai trailer
Sing the praise song with me BLabies! GreatInn in a HISTORICAL with a class divide and everyone's favourite side couple! Be still my heart! I'm beyond pleased. (Also I got my boat in a lotus pond at last.) My only concern is this could end sad, it's in the title after all.
My Magic Prophecy
Thai trailer
Paranormal mystery with a fortune teller and a doctor. I'm in. I hope the script doesn't fail JimmySea again, they are such a great pair. I'm intrigued by this one but it felt the most formless of all the trailers, so I'm thinking we could see some significant tweaks.
My Romance Scammer
Thai trailer
New couple! My boys Ohm and Fluke (no, not that Fluke, the one from My Ride). Honestly, Fluke has popped up as a side in a couple GMMTV shows I was wondering who they'd BL him with.
This could win. Prettiest human on earth paired with the world's most potent single dimple. Will I survive? I honestly don't know, because Ohm historically doesn't have much chemistry with anyone but the original Fluke so... Still I l do love JuniorMark and this as a really unique premise (gay Heartbreakers), so I'm game.
Secret Relationship
Korea
This 2022 offering is now officially moved to 2025. To be adapted by Cradle Studio (a subsidiary of Kakao). About clever and resourceful Daon who has worked hard to overcome being poor. His cheap ways annoy his coworker, Sunghyeon but after “an incident” with his parents, Daon grows closer to him. But Daon also has feelings for his former tutor. This has the signs of a classic Kdrama all over it: Office setting, love triangle, lead suffering for his self-actualization. I’m optimistic about a longer treatment.
Secret Relationship
Taiwan
Rivals to lovers with unhinged behavior that in the source material ranges from rock-paper-scissors contests to competitive handjobs (yeah, you read that right). If anyone can do this, it's Taiwan.
The Hell Guard
Thai
Boy wakes up from a coma and becomes a messenger between grim reapers and the underworld. I adore this premise.
The Next Prince
Thai trailer
ZeeNew in a fantasy/historical set in a palace where Zee plays a knight and Nu a prince - YES PLEASE.
The Wicked Game
Thai
DaouOffroad doing some Jack & Joker action. Trust is a luxury. Deception is a game.
The Young Gangster
Taiwan WeTV
Adapted from a novel, may not be a BL. Sociologist begins doing research in the underworld, falls in love with a gangster.
Top Form
Thai WeTV
Adaptation of a Japanese manga. Boom (Chains of Heart) opposite Smart (Don't Say No). Actor recognized as the "The Sexiest Man of the Year" has his first-place position usurped by young newcomer. But while he sees them as rivals, turns out the new kid has other ideas.
Truemoon
Thai YouTube trailer
A take on my single favorite trope: love rivals to lovers.
Your Dear Daddy
Thai trailer
Haunted by his past, Saithan is unwilling now to tie himself to anyone. On holiday in Chiang Mai, he happens to meet Sila, the wealthy owner of Phu Saengdao farm and hotel. The two find themselves strangely drawn to one another and ultimately spend a night together, thinking they wouldn't see each other again.
(source)
Historically I am pretty poor at picking the ones I end of loving, but it's fun to try.
60 notes · View notes
deathlygristly · 25 days ago
Text
Last night I was talking to the spousal person about When The Stars Gossip and how off-putting people are being about it.
I asked him why people who only want srs bsns realism are watching kdramas to start with. He said maybe it’s that they don’t want other people to think they like things that aren’t serious and dark and all that. So I said huh, is it like the origin of that phrase I don’t like, guilty pleasure? He said kind of, yeah. I said that I don’t feel no guilt about none of my pleasures.
It’s only two episodes in but so far it’s fun and interesting and unique. I love the opening animation, and how often do you see kdrama leads having sex with other people in the first episode? Usually they’ve been single their whole lives and they’ve never even kissed while waiting for the person they saw once when they were 10 to show back up. Also Lee Min-ho’s character is just reluctantly engaged to a chaebol heir, not one himself. When was the last time we saw him as not a chaebol?
Also when the spousal person first told me about it I was expecting something more Star Trek like, like on a big spaceship hundreds of years in the future. I think it’s cool that it’s actually set on a space station in the present.
Anyway, it’s an interesting show so far and I think it’s cool. But it seems it’ll join the growing number of shows that the spousal person and I enjoy but that other people say are weird, in a way that implies that being weird is a bad thing.
9 notes · View notes
ambernim8 · 21 days ago
Text
Follow Me: a history
Tumblr media
I have been avidly watching Korean dramas since the end of 2012. I immediately resonated with their captivating, often twisty and complex plotlines, and the emotional struggles of their characters. Oh, and the romance. Jane Austen style, slow burn, meet-cute, enemies-to-lovers, arranged marriages, fake marriages
THIS was what I was missing so badly in American media. Needless to say, once I started my kdrama love affair, I never quit. I mean, a famous actress meets who meets the love of her life, only to discover that he’s an alien from another planet that has been stranded on Earth for hundreds of years—who else is telling stories like this??  True love. Cheong Song Yi x Do Min Joon 5ever!
Flash forward to fall 2024, when I took my first creative writing class ever (an extremely generous gift of dear co-workers of mine who don’t want to see me working retail any longer
bless them!!). In order to write the prompts assigned to me, I needed characters to practice with
and I don’t know about you, but I can never think of characters without thinking up a story for them. I was stuck though. Nothing was coming to me. Then, laying on the couch, feeling the pressure of my upcoming prompt deadline, there came a whisper of an idea
a kdrama plot began to build in my head. I tell you nothing is more exciting than playing with a kdrama plot, the possibilities are endless! I could see all the scenes as if I were watching the Netflix trailer for it. I grabbed a notebook and wrote
and wrote
and wrote

I used that first kdrama storyline and it’s cast of characters for the rest of that class and by the time it was over, I was sure of one thing: I wanted to write novels inspired by kdramas. It was like a someone had opened a flood gate for me. Prior to that creative writing class, I had largely pushed my dreams of being a published author to the back burner. Feeling like I had an original story to tell for the first time in years, and allowing myself to relish in that, I stopped telling myself wait and instead started saying why not?
Why not write the stories I want to read? The ones I personally reach for when I’m low on energy and motivation after a hard week. The ones that comfort me, make me laugh, make me excited. Why not write self-indulgent rom-coms like the ones I grew up with and now watch playing out in my favorite kdramas?
Sternly telling my fears and doubts to take a hike, in December 2024 I told myself I was going to write my first novel ever and post it to Wattpad to share with anyone who might enjoy it as a break from the pressures of life. Deciding the novel project I wanted to move forward with the most was a hard choice. As I said, several ideas had made their home in my head
and just as I thought I was going to pick that first storyline I used in my creative writing class, a new idea came into my head and took over.
That idea is now what I have titled: Follow Me. A kdrama inspired novel about following your heart. Ahn Soojin is a Korean American woman who finds herself engaged to a chaebol (wealthy heir). Soojin’s new fiancé—a man she’s never met—has the power to help save her from losing everything that matters most
if only she could stop her heart from choosing his younger brother. The heart wants what the heart wants <3
Romantic comedy is not a groundbreaking new genre, but if you’ve never seen how Korean dramas put their signature spin on it, I highly encourage you to give it a try! It is now easier than ever to watch kdramas with streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu picking up a large number of popular titles. If you’re not sure where to start, here are my best recs for what's currently streaming per service:
Netflix
Crash Landing On You
Run On
Cinderella and the Four Knights
Hulu
The Legend of the Blue Sea
What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?
Crazy Love
Amazon Prime
No Gain, No Love
My Roommate is a Gumiho
Boys Over Flowers
Happy watching!
Later, lovelies! xoxo
ps: leave me a comment on your favorite kdrama of all time! Mine is a tie between Secret Garden & Crash Landing On You <3
5 notes · View notes
hellolimitless · 3 years ago
Text
KinnPorsche Review
Tumblr media
Tropes : Mafia Heir-Bodyguard love story - Enemies to lovers - Whipped boy - Jealousy - Some type of Love Triangle - Hidden Identity - Rich lead with Poor lead
Trigger Warnings : Graphic depiction of Vi*lence - M*rder - Du*ious Consent - Dr*gged - Sex*al Assa*lt - To*ture
Note : I am aware of the behind the scenes of the making of the show. After the fell off with the first production company which could resulted to the show being never made. The main lead Mile Phakphum used his connections to find a new company and accepted not to be paid for starring as one of the title character. The vast majority of the original actors came back and the production could start. However as much respect i have for them and love to see the actors being so involved in a BL production, i can't hold back the criticism i have for some aspects of the show.
Positive
The casting was wonderfully done. I had reserve at first for some of the casting but it vanished when the first episode aired. All actors embodied their characters perfectly.
A diverse set of characters as each one has their own personality and differentiated with others and were recognisable.
The acting is by far the most positive aspect I have with this series. All performances were magnificent. The fact that they could transmit emotions without dialogue and only with their facial expression proved what amazing actors they are. Especially since it’s the first acting role for some of them.
The chemistry between the romantic pairings and also the friend group was there. There was not one pairing that I felt was forced or hard to watch because there wasn’t any sparks. I was more scared of Porschay and Kim because of the real-life age difference that limited their interactions compared to the two others pairing but they did good.
Cinematography was really pretty and they found really great locations notably for the forest arc and Kinn x Porsche first date
You can feel the characters are rich and they showed it through multiple ways from the house, the cars, the jewellery. The rich lead in BL drama is no rarity but obviously for budget problems, others BL had a hard time showing the character richness.
The first half (up to ep 7) were the most interesting and gripping. Of course there were some problems for me like Porsche bodyguard training that I felt was too fast and maybe Kinn x Porsche relationship swift was abrupt but still good episodes.
The show had the best “vilain” by far that can almost be on par with Korean drama vilains and for Kdrama viewers, it’s not a small thing, with Vegas. The characterisation, the acting, the impact he had on every scene he appeared is promising for the future of BL.
I appreciate that there wasn’t the regular “internalised homophobia” or “coming out process” and that everything was not make a big deal with their sexualities. Just thoughtful conversations.
Negative
The humour was for me the most negative aspect of the show. At first, it was well integrated through Porsche clumsiness in a new environment and Tankhun eccentric personality but by the middle-end of the show, it became painful and cringey. In my opinion, it affected the characters and the storyline as we lost minutes of a too long comical scene ( Ex : the scary drama where Porsche was freaking out and punched Pol) that could have went elsewhere and dumbed-down what should have been clever and insightful characters.
Uneven screen time between the pairings. I know Kinnporsche is the main pairing as they are literally in the title of the show and it’s their story but they had 2 others pairings that were also important, one in particular, that ended up being underwhelming because of the lack of screentime they had. I think for Vegas and Pete, they were probably scared to put too much of them because of the backlash due to the graphic nature of them but if it was the case, why did they were heavily promoted through interviews and had their solo trailers + they were immensely toned down compared to the novel. At the end, Vegas and Porsche shared more scenes together than Pete and Vegas. I was angry that episode 12 put only VegasPete scenes at the beginning of the episode and then it was all Kinnporsche. For Porschay and Kim, I think they didn’t know what to do with them honestly as their pairing do not have much importance in the novel.
Bad management of the budget. From what I have seen from the behind the stage, a lot of scenes could be last minute decision, notably the Kinn x Porsche underwater scene that was not on the script but one of the director thought it would look good, except that it was going to take a good chunk of their budget and to be honest, the scene didn’t even look good. I thought that every underwater scene were badly filmed but budget was lost in there. Bad management of the budget had repercussion to a lot of stuff, notably the five stars hotel gala in episode 2 that looked like a disguise party.
Disappearance and under-utilised characters, the friends of Porsche disappeared at the end of the series for Porsche to stay with Kinn’s friends that were also under-utilised especially since a love triangle (Cheating ?) between them and Porsche’s friend was teased during the bar scene in episode 3. Tankhun and Kim should have had more time for them other than Kimlock Holmes which led to nothing, especially since Kim was really intriguing as a character. The other just being the eccentric older brother that is coming for his comical scene and used as a plot device notably for Pete disappearance. The fathers were also not really present when they could have been important. Same for Macau. Characters introduced that disappeared like the doctor and the female assassin and extras where the bar and the mafia house were just empty at some point.
The second part of the show (ep 8 to 13) was weaker in my opinion
Kinn and Porsche were sacrificed and their ship became painful during the second part of the show as they were used as a plot-device by giving them a lack of trust, constant misunderstanding and lack of communication. In the beginning, it was okay as they just started to know each other but at the end, we just went back and forth between betrayal-reconciliation- once again betrayal-reconciliation. Also the fact their funny scenes were longer than any serious conversation was annoying. The scene where Porsche keep retaking photos because they didn’t look good during their first date was longer than their conversation after the Tawan incident. If it wasn’t for Apo and Mile amazing acting and chemistry, Kinnporsche would have been really different and not in a good way. A lot of their useless screen time could have went else where to develop other characters or pairing
The uneven time spent for comical scene and serious scenes that ruined a lot of scenes in my opinion. Comical scenes were unlimited while serious were short and ended almost instantly. I think the producers were in a twilight zone, because of the show adult nature that is quite rare in the BL genre and may not fit the teenage demographic of BL, they didn’t want to lose too much of an audience so they went to the standard BL route with the funny moments and stuff except they went too far and so lost the mature audience that waited for this type of series for a long time. They didn’t think that instead of the average BL viewers, new viewers were going to come in and they did. I have seen a lot of people who had never seen a BL, intrigued with Kinnporsche and started to watch.
I had also problems with the filming that I thought was shaky and not symmetrical at some point, action scenes in particular. The lightning was also bad even if I appreciated that they gave each character a colour to represent them. Of course, the mafia aspect was forgotten but I was told it was never a mafia story but a love story

Introduced plotline that were dished like Kinn always going out with body guards for his safety and then at the end, he can go out by himself normally. No consequences for Ken, Big, Tawan actions/demise in the long term.
Rating : 6/10
Favourite episode : 7
Worst episode : 8
Rewatch Value : Yes
Aging like milk : No, I think it still going to hold it’s own years after
Entering my top 10 BL : Yes
Impact : I really hope this drama success is going to push mature BL with good quality, work in the script and good acting. I am not talking about producing mature BL like Check out or Unforgotten Night.
I just wish one day BL from any countries could come close to the quality of Korean dramas.
22 notes · View notes
kdramaxoxo · 4 years ago
Note
hiii~ ! I've recently started watching kdramas again and I don't know which ones are worth watching. could u recommend some good ones to me if possible?? thank youuu ^^ (btw love your blog 💌)
Welcome back to K-dramas anon!
Also, thank you so much for the blog love - it means a lot to me :)
I'm not sure when you stopped watching k-dramas, or what genres you like, so I'll just recommend way too many and you can pick what sounds good?
Great K-Dramas in a Variety of Genres:
Fight for My Way (slice of life/romcom): I love this drama! Always a fave for me, this drama is funny and heartwarming! The leading lady is a strong female which I LOVE, and Park Seo Joon plays her really cute down to earth best friend. It’s a childhood friends to lovers trope with a group of regular people (no rich heirs in this show!) and has a happy ending and a lot of cute flirting, cuddling and kissing. Argh I love these two!
Terius Behind Me (Action/Adventure): FBI agent goes under disguise as a babysitter! While there are some intense parts of this drama because it’s a crime thriller, the characters are super funny and all work perfectly together to create a comedic element. Honestly this show was almost perfect for me, and I’m very picky.
Shopping King Louie (romcom): Ridiculously fun and lighthearted romp following a spoiled and useless chaebol with amnesia who is being taken care of by a country bumpkin in the city. Very low stakes, super adorable couple, and as many tropes as you can fit in your bag, this one is one of my favorites to recommend.
Flower of Evil (psychological thriller): A psychological thriller centered around a jewelry maker who is running from his past, and his cop wife (power couple alert!)  who doesn’t know his original identity. The chemistry of the couple is amazing and all of the characters are nuanced and interesting. I was on the edge of my seat, AND sobbing! Also, I finally understand Lee Jun Ki stans, he was SO GOOD in this!
Tumblr media
Extraordinary You/ A Day Found By Chance (fantasy/romance): This magical k-drama has my heart. It plays with all of the predictable tropes and then just goes crazy! While not perfect towards the end, I give this show bonus points for being super creative AND inspiring me to read a LOT of fan fic. I think about this drama more than any other.
Extracurricular (thriller): An unusual, fast paced thriller about an introverted high school boy mixed up in a prostitution ring. His crush gets involved and well, I don’t want to say what happens but it’s a wild and crazy ride. There really is not another k-drama like it. I like to refer to it as the least k-drama-y kdrama I’ve ever seen.
Where Your Eyes Linger (BL web drama romance): A super cute BL web drama about a boy who is hired to be his friend’s body guard. There is a lot of tension and pining, and I fell in love with the stories pacing and the chemistry between the two leads.
Just Between Lovers (romance/melo): Slice of Life romance between poor trauma babies just trying to live! The OTP is one of my favorite couples EVER and even as the years go on, very few couples have matched their love in my opinion. There’s a lot of comfort/healing themes with for me is just *chef’s kiss.* Lee Junho became my bias wrecker because of that drama.
Have a Nice Dessert (another cute web drama): If you’re looking for low angst and a super soft boy, this is your drama!! It’s a web drama (youtube) about a girl who loves photographing desserts and the boy who likes her.  Like all web dramas, it’s short, and there’s really no time for angst and breakups :)
The Best Hit / Hit The Top (romcom): A famous 90â€Čs boyband dude travels into the future and meets up with his family and friends in this really cute drama featuring Yoon Shi Yoon. I LOVE Yoon Shi Yoon in pretty much everything but this role was made for him - he is hilarious. It’s a slice of life but features the k-pop music industry so the setting is unique.
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (psychological thriller): This drama has a lot of psychological thriller-y aspects but the style of filming is really interesting and the leads could not be more angsty (especially the guy). It takes them a while to get together and while not entirely pleasant, this show is one of my faves.
Into The Ring (workplace/romcom): The perfect slice-of-life rom com! Goo Se Ra has trouble holding down a job due to her passionate personality so after she loses her latest job working for the ML, she decides to run for a small government office position because it pays a salary. Literally she does it for the money which is just *chef’s kiss.* The show is about her dealing with local politics and it’s SO FUNNY and smart and the OTP is the best! 
Hospital Playlist (workplace/friendship): This slice-of-life drama featuring five college friends who all work at the same hospital came to my mind first. Chae Song-Hwa is one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever seen in a drama and I love the depth and care the drama gives to every single person featured. There is some romance but it’s the hospital and friendship dynamics that make this show a must see.
Tumblr media
Psycho But It’s Okay (melo/romance): A gorgeous k-drama using fairytale narrations as a backdrop, features two brothers who lost their mother, and a beautiful & famous author who grew up in a traumatic and abusive household. Everyone is very closed off and holding onto intense pain, but the three come together to help one another move on and find happiness. Gorgeous angsty and melodramatic romance. Best friendship ever, and literally the prettiest lady I have ever seen.
Age of Youth 1 (slice of life): Age of Youth/ Hello My Twenties is one of the best k-dramas that centers around strong female friendships. A group of wildly different girls find themselves rooming together in an apartment. Lots of romance too, but the girl’s lives and friendships are the primary focus.
Her Private Life (romcom): Park Min Young really knows how to pick dramas. I loved this one about a museum curator who is secretly a fangirl obsessed with an idol. It’s fun and fluffy but does have a very mild childhood trauma thing with his mother but I mean, 99% of dramas like this do? If you like this one, Touch Your Heart and Why Secretary Kim are by the same person and have similar vibes.
Thirty But Seventeen (romance/found family): Precious puppies with past trauma! Don’t be turned off by the shows description as it turned out to be one of the best surprises of 2018 for me. The leads are lovely and everyone relies and supports one another - it’s so sweet.
Melo Is My Nature (slice of life): This drama is by far my favorite slice-of-life drama of 2019. Found family, strong and complex characters, I laughed, I cried. Plus a gay character that’s an actual character, with the gay as a casual side note (classy k-drama!!) It was just a perfect show for me. There’s romance, but all of the stories are super interesting.
138 notes · View notes
smiting-finger · 4 years ago
Text
alive, and back on my usual nonsense
So after getting preoccupied with other things and temporarily falling off the face of the planet (for like an entire year àČ„Ï‰àČ„), I was thinking about the kdrama Mr. Queen (which I've been meaning to watch), and the Chinese novel it was based on (ć€Șć­ćŠƒć‡èŒèź°, which I read a few years ago and very much enjoyed), and this popped out--
Wei Wuxian’s first thought is that there seem to be an awful lot of female voices around, for a bedroom inhabited by two men. Did he drink too much last night? It wouldn’t be the first time he’s overindulged on a trip to the town and woken up in a strange place the next morning, but that kind of problem has been cropping up a lot less frequently now that he has Lan Zhan around to ferry him home.
(Sometimes literally, on his back. His broad, strong--)
But perhaps Lan Zhan had gotten drunk, too? In which case, Wei Wuxian should consider them lucky to have woken up surrounded by people, rather than chickens, rabbits or, notably, on one occasion, mounds of resentful cabbages.
The chatter around him continues, pitched high with youth and - is that anxiety? It's interspersed with the odd interjection from what sounds like one (calmer, if more exasperated) older woman and a man. Probably not a nunnery, he decides. Perhaps the back rooms of a pleasure house? Although, if that’s the case, this amount of excitement over a mere two men is honestly a little excessive.
He reaches out tentatively, but pats all the way across the mattress to the edge without finding his usual bedfellow. A much less tentative venture towards the other side produces similar results.
Hm.
Wei Wuxian cracks open an eye and heaves himself upright, absent-mindedly scratching at his (unusually soft - as much as he hates to admit it, maybe Nie Huaisang has a point about drinking less and training more) side and squinting into the too-bright light until the person-shaped blur in front of him sharpens into focus.
“Niang niang!” a complete stranger cries tearfully, clutching at the sleeve of his other arm. “You’re awake! Thank Heavens, you’re awake! Physician Liu, quick, quick!”
A cushion is produced from somewhere and thrust expectantly between Wei Wuxian and the elderly man sitting at his bedside.
He sighs. It’s probably not worth fighting.
Wei Wuxian smacks his upturned wrist onto the unusually lavish brocade and is only a little surprised when it’s covered by a cloth before the physician reaches to take it.
(Do they think he’s diseased?)
((Is he diseased?!))
(((Is that why Lan Zhan isn’t here?)))
He looks at the row of young girls (+ 1 matron) kneeling along the wall to his left, dressed identically to the first and also now beginning to prostrate themselves and wail about “Niang niang!” and blessings and deserving to die.
Not a pleasure house, then.
He looks around at the rest of the richly-furnished room and its intricately-carved wooden furniture, the wealth of jade carvings and the obscene amount of gold that's gilding 
 everything (so shiny). The opulence of it all would put even Jin Guangshan to shame.
So, not a nunnery either.
He looks down at the small hands, delicate wrists and - he clutches one abruptly just to make sure his eyes aren’t deceiving him - breasts of the body that he certainly was not inhabiting yesterday.
“Well,” he says aloud, unable to stop himself from wincing at the high, soft voice that emerges despite fully expecting it. “It’s not the first time this has happened.”
===
Two days, one diagnosis of shock-induced memory loss and some discreet enquiries (as well as some indiscreet enquiries) later, this is what he knows about his situation:
He’s the main consort (unfavoured) of the crown prince of whatever place he’s landed in;
Three days ago, following a disagreement with one Consort Yun (favoured, main competitor for husband’s affections);
In the course of this disagreement, both women somehow fell into a palace lake and mostly-drowned;
Consort Yun (admittedly quite pretty) was revived at the scene, but Wei Wuxian took a full day to “miraculously” recover;
Angered by the unseemly behaviour of her daughters-in-law, particularly upon learning that the Crown Princess’s first act upon waking was to stumble upon a chance meeting between the Crown Prince and Consort Yun in one of the pleasure gardens and bodily throw herself between them (a tactical error on Wei Wuxian’s part. He’d been trying to throw himself over the battlements to freedom, but he’d gotten lost and scaled the wrong wall), the Empress (Crown Prince’s political opponent, not particularly fond of either consort) grounded both of them to their respective residences for a month, with no visitors allowed.
Which brings him to his current position, feeding the fish in his personal pond as an excuse to be alone. Not truly alone - he shoots a pointed glance at the maids watching anxiously from the other side of the courtyard - because he’s apparently a “suicide risk” now (and honestly, yes, he’d meant to throw himself off that roof, but he hadn’t meant to die - it’s simply that this new body’s cultivation level is not what he’s come to expect even from Mo Xuanyu’s modest abilities), but alone enough to start planning his next move.
Direct escape is out - he didn’t have a plan for what to do once he’d gotten out anyway, and honestly he’s better-resourced for finding out how he got here in the Palace than anywhere else, so it’s no great loss.
“What do you think, Master Fish?” Wei Wuxian asks a gold and black spotted koi with particularly sage-looking whiskers. “Shall I just stay here for the time being?”
It’s not a terrible place to be for the time being, he must admit, throwing more food into the water and watching the fish swarm. Being grounded, he’s at no risk from the Crown Prince’s amorous attentions for a month (a salute of gratitude to the Empress for the inadvertent protection). And thanks to Consort Yun and her voluptuous figure (and if the Crown Prince is more partial to that than the Zhao Feiyan style of willowy fragility that Wei Wuxian seems to have inherited, who can honestly blame him?), he’s at no great risk from them after that, either (a salute of gratitude to the unknowing sister-in-arms, taking one - and hopefully a great many more after that - for the team).
According to his maid (sleeve-clutcher extraordinaire, who even now is boring two holes into his skull with her woeful gaze from across the way while he does nothing more suspicious than scatter another handful of feed towards some latercomer fish), the body he’s inhabiting comes from a powerful military lineage. In particular, her father is (was?) a powerful general who currently commands more than half the nation’s military forces and has the absolute trust of the Emperor. So that more or less keeps him safe from the machinations of the majority of the nest of vipers in this palatial cesspit.
That just leaves the Empress, who - if his servants and the smuggled letters from the Original Goods’s mother (a salute of gratitude to the worthy woman for spelling it out so that even such an interloper as he can understand) are anything to go by - would definitely kill him to damage the Crown Prince’s political standing or throw any sort of roadblock in the way of him from becoming Emperor.
Less immediately - if his secret informants are anything to go by (a salute of gratitude to the resourceful host for cultivating such a valuable resource if not her dantian) - it also leaves the Crown Prince, who, upon cementing his power as Emperor, would also definitely kill his current Crown Princess in order to wedge his beloved Consort Yun into the Empress role.
Really, the only road to any sort of security for someone in his position is to raise the next Imperial heir, outlive the Original Goods’s faithless husband and become the Empress Dowager.
Hopefully Wei Wuxian will be long gone by then, but if leaving means the Original Goods will return (from 
 Mo Xuanyu’s body? The Ether? Or???) - well, he doesn’t want to repay her hospitality by leaving her house in a mess, so to speak. So he’ll try to set her on that career path, if he can.
But that’s an aspirational goal. First, he has to not-die before he can find out how to get himself home.
And find out how to get himself home.
If getting himself home is even possible.
Wei Wuxian dumps the rest of the fish food in the water and yells.
(It startles the maids, the fish and the poor eunuch the Crown Prince has sent as a spy into falling out of the tree he’s been hiding in and into the prickly bushes below.)
===
The problem with “staying for the time being” is 
 well, how interminably boring it is. The approved list of hobbies for an Imperial consort seems to consist of: eating (but not too much), sleeping (but not too much), embroidery (which he can’t do), reading (but only texts on female virtue and the occasional terrible novel), playing music (but not the flute), conversing with his maids (who are very sweet, but are all like, 12) and walking in the gardens (which he’s not allowed to do).
Honestly, it’s no wonder all the consorts turn to scheming and murder.
It only takes a week of confinement for him to snap and sneak himself out for a nighttime adventure, setting off to explore the grounds and see 
 a night-blooming flower, a ghost, a rat, he’ll take pretty much anything at this point.
In the end, he finds none of these things, but the walking is still pretty nice, and he even hears the faint sounds of a guqin wafting over from one of the other consorts’ residences. (He should probably learn who lives where at some point, but it’s not exactly a priority. What’s he going to do with the information when he can only visit during the nighttime? Peep?) When Wei Wuxian wanders closer, the notes resolve themselves into the familiar strains of Flowing Waters, and his breath catches on a sudden surge of longing to hear the same song, played by a different set of fingers.
(First played on a familiar guqin and then, later, accompanied by soft humming between soft, worn sheets, played across the edges of Wei Wuxian’s ribs, along the dip of his spine, and finally lower, into--)
((Is Lan Zhan thinking about him?))
(((Is Lan Zhan looking for him?)))
Stumbling blindly on, he’s so caught up in missing Lan Zhan that he misses the first few stanzas of the next piece, and it isn’t until the music starts to rise in a familiar refrain that he freezes.
He knows that song.
He’s one of the only two people who know that song, which is in fact how he got caught out the last time he found himself in a farce of an identity charade, by the only other person who knows that song, who must be - who must be -
Lan Zhan, his blood sings in his ears as he takes off in a dead run towards the source of the playing. Up ahead of him, small courtyard glows softly with the light of the only burning lamp in their vicinity. Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan-
He scrambles up the wall with the ease of a lifetime’s practice, using bloody-minded determination to make up for the lack of muscle memory.
“Lan Zhan,” he yelps, forgetting to whisper in his excitement as he flings himself over the top and into the branches of a convenient, wall-side tree. “Lan Zhan, it’s me, I-”
This is, naturally, when his foot slips. He manages to catch hold of a branch, but his tender hands and puny wrists, unused to holding up anything heavier than a chicken leg, fail to maintain their hold through his weight, and he tumbles down the trunk into a sad puddle of fabric on the ground.
“Lan Zhan,” he gasps, fighting to untangle himself from the ridiculous train that, admittedly, made a considerable contribution to cushioning his fall. He clambers up onto his hands and knees--
--and looks straight into the wide-eyed stare of Consort Yun.
===
“I cannot believe,” Wei Wuxian growls, palming the ample softness of one exposed breast with one hand, while shoving the other deeper into the many (too many) layers of fabric between them and between Lan Zhan’s splayed legs, “that after everything that’s happened, you’re still taller than me.”
Lan Zhan huffs a laugh that turns quickly into a moan, and Wei Wuxian swallows it, smothers Lan Zhan’s gasping breaths with his own parted lips and sucks them greedily down even as he coaxes out more with twisting fingers here, another tug to Lan Zhan’s poor, abused nipple there.
He slides his fingers back between slick folds and then upwards again, pushing in and out in a few languid strokes before curling them to make Lan Zhan arch harder against the wall behind him, tilt his head back and expose a beautifully vulnerable stretch of neck to Wei Wuxian's teeth.
“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan murmurs, and his voice is different, the shape of his lips is different, but the way Wei Wuxian’s name fits inside his mouth (tender, beloved), the way he tucks the flyaway strands of hair behind Wei Wuxian’s ear, the look in his eyes when their gazes meet (warm, open, knowing) are the same, same, same.
===
===
I am entirely too lazy to write the rest of it, but afterwards they regroup and it turns out LWJ has been in this world for exactly one more day than WWX, having woken up in Consort Yun’s body when she was “revived”. Consort Yun is the daughter of a high-ranking Minister in the Treasury or something, so Lan Zhan been using his new position as the daughter of a ~scholarly family~ to build a reputation for being really into Buddhist scripture, and eventually he’s going to request to be allowed to go to a nearby Temple to attain some virtuous brownie points for the Imperial family via prayer as his penitence.
That there’s also an elderly monk living there who’s got a reputation for being super good with the divine mysteries and spiritual lore about curses and whatnot is totally immaterial, if Lan Zhan happens to run into that guy, it’ll be a total coincidence, yeah.
So WWX also starts on the divine penitence route, and if everyone thinks it’s because the Crown Princess refuses to be outdone by Consort Yun, then even better, and two weeks into confinement they wear the Empress down into letting them make the trip, and when they get there, turns out the monk is Nie Huaisang.
(NHS: “OH THANK GOD, I’ve done the research but the lynchpin of this mess is definitely somewhere in the Palace and I could not for the life of me figure out a way to get in.”
WWX: “That's nice, but seriously, how come you got to stay a man?”
NHS: “My friend, I may be a man, but my balls are currently swinging somewhere around my ankles.”
WWX: “...show me.”
And LWJ is like “NO.” except WWX can tell by the look in his eye that he sort of wants to see, too).
So they return to the Palace and WWX whirls into one of their morning audiences with the Empress, distraught about a ~dream from the ancestors~ where they warned him about disrupted ley lines or accumulated resentment or an offended minor god that needs investigation by someone, and “How convenient, because we met just the guy!” And the Empress looks like she was Done Five Years Ago, but the Empress Dowager, who’s old and doddery, is like “oh no, you must bring him!” and the Empress mutters “to fucking what, offend some major gods and really do the job properly?” and that’s how they find out the Empress is Jiang Cheng.
In the meantime, the confinement edict expires and WWX+LWJ are allowed to return to their regular programming, which means that as the legal wife, WWX can continuously summon LWJ to his residence for increasingly tenuous and spurious reasons. The best thing is, it’s not even out of character for the Crown Princess, who used to regularly summon Consort Yun to subject her to not-so-veiled barbs and petty torments. So WWX summons LWJ, and then immediately expels both their entourages from the room, instructing that no one is to enter on pain of death.
So LWJ’s maids are gnashing their teeth helplessly while all sorts of piteous moans, pained gasps and the occasional scream emanate from behind the closed door, and when their mistress finally emerges there are no marks on her body, but she’s weak-kneed and having trouble walking straight, so who knows what kind of terrible tortures the Crown Princess has visited upon her.
The Crown Prince obviously hears about this, so he bursts in one day without warning, only to find the two sitting together, the Crown princess’s arms around Consort Yun’s waist, her cheek pillowed on one heaving bosom, and although she’s smiling besottedly at him now, he could have sworn that he felt killing intent being directed at him only a second ago? And to tell the truth, he’s not really in love Consort Yun either, it’s all an act to keep the two consorts (and their families) pitted in a power struggle against each other until he can finally outmanoeuvre the Empress and cement his position as heir to the throne (and also to protect his actual favourite, a third consort who’s a nondescript nobody with no political backing). So the fact that “It was all a misunderstanding, we’re friends now,” his Crown Princess says sweetly (and did she 
 rub her cheek against his Consort’s chest? Must be his imagination) is not the worst thing (at least neither of them/their families can be enlisted by the Empress in support of her son, and if they’re caught up with Being Besties, then at least they’re not bullying his actual favourite), but for some reason he still feels kind of 
 threatened? Like someone’s making moves on his wife, which is absurd because they’re both his wives, but the vibes he gets from the first one in particular are kind of 
 off?
In any case, the crew solve the mystery, find the lynchpin object (which turns out to be a jade dildo belonging to one of the Emperor’s favoured consorts because of course it is), and wake up in their real bodies, in their real world, to a very apologetic hermit-inventor-cultivator whose property they stumbled onto while pursuing a resentful beast. Turns out they triggered the glamour/enchantment/psychic maze world he created as a security system because, “I just didn’t want to risk people getting into my stuff, you know? I’ve got some things that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands”. WWX is like “oh yeah, for sure” and JC is like “WHAT DO YOU MEAN FOR SURE? HOW IS THIS AN UNDERSTANDABLE RESPONSE, IF YOU’RE AFRAID PEOPLE WILL TOUCH YOUR SHIT THEN JUST ENCHANT SOME FUCKING WARRIOR GOLEMS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.”
68 notes · View notes
skyeconch · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
“There’s no guarantee about us. It will only get complicated when we break up.”
“What?!”
“I felt like I was dying without you. But you never know what’s going to happen.”
“I can’t live without you either! That’s our future, dummy!”
Tumblr media
189 notes · View notes
dragon-wisteria · 2 years ago
Text
Got tagged by @authorofthyme for the "get to know you better” tag game
Last song: oh I think it must have been 'Devastation and Redemption' from the Genshin soundtrack (Yunjin's chinese opera performance)
Last show: technically the last show I finished was probably the All Creatures Great and Small re-boot about a month ago...
Currently watching: Love Live! Superstar!!, Star Trek the original series, Gundam Wing, Tokyo Mew Mew New, and Doctor Who (me, my dad and my sister are working our way through 'new-who' - currently in the middle of series 4)
edit: I'm also re-watching Heirs (the 2013 kdrama)
Currently reading: Great Expectations (third time reading)
And uhhh anyone who wants to do this and hasn't been tagged yet, consider yourself tagged!
2 notes · View notes
jolosturo · 3 years ago
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
MY FAVORITE #kdramas RATED 
Updated frequently! My ratings are based on my personal taste: how happy the series makes me, how much I love the stars, and how good and original the writing is.
Heirs would be rated:9.2
The Rebel would be rated: 9.2
This was a while ago. I’ve watched a few since then, including Tale of the Nine-Tailed. Rating: 9.5
Currently watching and LOVING: #DaliandtheCockyPrince (gonna be rated highly because I LOVE the lead actor, so MUCH!!! 
11 notes · View notes
dangermousie · 1 year ago
Text
Pusher post for Ja Myung Go (2009) - best period kdrama you've never heard of
Tumblr media
It got zero votes on my poll probably because nobody has watched it, and it must be remedied.
In 2009, during the ratings reign of legendary Queen Seon Deok, another woman-centric period drama made its debut - Ja Myung Go starring Jung Ryo Won, Jung Kyung Ho, and Park Min Young back before she was a leading lady. Unlike QSD which became a huge success and extended its run, JMG had abysmal ratings throughout and ended up being only 39 episodes (a large number in abstract but a cut from the originally planned 50). Ja Myung Go took a traditional narrative - the forbidden and doomed love of Prince Hodong and Princess La Hee, heirs to enemy kingdoms, and disassembled it supposing what the story would have been like if Hodong had been in love with La Hee's sister Ja Myung instead.
Tumblr media
Even though JMG is one of my favorites, its single-digit ratings (back when single digit ratings were baaaaad!) were no surprise - it took most period drama conventions of the time and even now and upended them. Proper royalty-based sageuks at the time after all centered around the progress and triumph of its protagonist - he or she may pay a great personal price but will triumph over rival factions/own shortcomings/bad background and emerge politically victorious - a great ruler to be remembered by future generations. JMG's rival Queen Seon Deok expemplifies that kind of narrative - Deokman is an outcast who, at the end, has lost the man she loved, but is a great ruler to be remembered forever and full of achievements. Yi San, Kingdom of the Winds, Jumong, etc - all follow this formula more or less. This is still the case when they make them nowadays, sadly rarer than they used to - GK War comes to mind. (Fusion-style sageuks which usually deal with 'common' people sometimes choose hopelessness as a theme - see Damo - but they have a different narrative thrust and vibe and we are not even getting into fluffiness of youth sageuks. People of JMG are miles away from that.)
Tumblr media
But this is not the story of JMG. From the first episode it is clear that there will be no triumphant narrative. This is a story of the defeated - defeated Kingdom of Nakrang, defeated people. And, except for Ja Myung herself (cast in a traditionally heroic mold even if with enough flaws to make her interesting), her mother (a very minor character) and a few other other characters, most of the characters are not heroic either. They are either fascinating monsters (Muhyul, Wang Jashi (Ja Myung's stepmother), Muhyul's Queen) or people damaged beyond repair by their surroundings (Hodong, La Hee).
Tumblr media
(Man is known as God of Battles, and not for no reason)
And even though I like Ja Myung, I confess that for me the drama is made by the clever, fascinating, monstrous Wang Jashi and Muhyul. Wang Jashi is a Korean Lady Macbeth - she is someone who is capable of poisoning her brother in order to protect her husband and her own power, but she is also someone who genuinely grieves over him. She is a wicked woman, but she is strong and irresistable. Muhyul (or King Daemushin, if we go by his throne name) is a counterpart for her (he rules a different kingdom, but I confess throughout the drama, I kept wondering what it would be like if they were married - they would rule the world). He is a capable, fierce ruler who has traded his humanity for success and rule - you see any remaining feelings leach out of him slowly during the course of the drama.
Tumblr media
And so much of the drama is shaped by those two irresistible monsters - all the younger characters except Ja Myung are trapped and shaped and deformed by them. Princess La Hee, Wang Jashi's daughter, is not capable of truly functionally expressing her feelings - even though she likes Hodong, throughout their early meetings, she lashes at him over and over because brought up the way she was, she has no idea how express herself. And Hodong, Muhyul's son, is even worse off - at least La Hee had her saintly stepmother to love her growing up. Hodong has had his poisonous stepmother who desires his death (yet another amazing character - she is a horrible person but you understand and even sympathize with her) and Muhyul as a father (there is a scene later on where Muhyul gives an order that if Nakrang does not fall, Hodong is to be executed. Father of the year he is not).
Tumblr media
In a way, that is why if it wasn't for his seduction-to-victory plan, Hodong would have never gotten together with La Hee even if Ja Myung did not exist - they are both emotional cripples and Hodong, at least, is smart enough to recognize that. I think that is a huge part of his attraction to Ja Myung - she is a breath of sane air (significantly she has been brought up outside palace environment). When I think of Hodong, it's the same emotion I get when I think of Jang Jae Min from Bali - he is twisted and deeply flawed but the wonder and the tragedy of it is that for his family he is not flawed and twisted enough. One of the last things Ja Myung tells him is that in their next life she wishes she would be his mother. I remember people thinking WTF but it made perfect sense to me - the thing Hodong lacked most and needed most was a loving parent - it is something he never got. (And of course it's also a show of love towards her sister - this way La Hee can have Hodong as a lover).
Tumblr media
And this brings me to gender dynamics. Except for Muhyul, all the true movers and shakers in the story, every catalyst is a woman. Nowhere it is as evident as with Ja Myung and Hodong. I remember reading that Jung Kyung Ho was cast as Hodong and being genuinely puzzled. He has since gone on to be one of my favorite leading men and certainly terrifying and violent and feral enough in Cruel City to play the scariest warlord of them all if necessary but that wasn't the case at the time. I thought of him as the spoiled little brother to the angsty vengeance seeker of Sorry I Love You, or as a smart little brother to the amnesiac mob assassin in Time Between Dog and Wolf. Or, more likely, in his big break-out role as the male lead of Smile You. The thing is, in all of these, even Smile You, he is the quintessential nice guy (or as the term is in certain circles, "beta male.") He was about the last person I'd normally envision as a male lead in a period drama about war. But once I saw the drama, it all made sense and not because he was bringing his later Cruel City persona.
Because despite his undoubted ability to fight in battle, Ja Myung and Hodong are all about gender reversal - at one point she even becomes his bodyguard! If you think about it, they take gender roles usually reserved for the opposite gender - she is the proactive one, who sets the story in motion, the rebel leader. He is the one who conquered Nakrang through seduction of La Hee, something seen as a typically female method. His seducing La Hee into destroying the protective drum is a far cry from Jumong fighting through hordes single-handed or Dam Duk in The Legend taking on an army with a small unit armed with nothing but grit or even the Prince in Haechi or King in GK War outwitting his court enemies with balls and brains. And, as a typically female method, his way of victory gets him nothing but scorn - in the first episode, his stepmother calls him a whore to his face. It's the same with the relationship - Ja Myung can let go of him, but he cannot let go of her.
The women are uniformly fascinating and complex in this - even someone like La Hee does not just give in to Hodong's false sweet words - she genuinely believes surrender would save her country. The drama's respect for its female characters is summed up in a single scene - one of the characters is a widow of Wang Jashi's brother (the one she poisoned). Her 10-year-old brother-in-law marries her to save her from execution. 10 years later, they are still married and when she is doing the proper thing and helping him bathe, you see her experience and suppress her desire - because her husband is now a gorgeous gorgeous man. It could be a ludicrous situation - she changed the guy's diapers and she is not what you'd consider traditionally good-looking. But instead drama treats her feeling with respect and understanding. I loved it for that.
Oh, and I am just gonna leave this little father-son convo here:
Hodong: Your Majesty, what did you tell me before? You said if only you gain Nakrang without any blood being spilt, you would bestow leniency on them. Take pity on them. The other way there will be no end to rebellion and we will all die. Daemushin: Your own grandfather, King Yuri, killed his own two sons. I was young and I could not understand that. How could he? How can a father kill his own child. Unless he was crazy, how could he kill his sons? I finally understand him today. For a King, a son with other intentions is nothing but a political enemy. A political enemy that must be killed and gotten rid of. Hodong: Do you wish to kill me? Daemushin: [throws down a puppet of a woman] You must know who this wench is. Who is she? Hodong: It is Emperor Choi Ri's unknown daughter, Princess Ja Myung. Daemushin: Find her and kill her. Hodong: Father, I cannot do that! I...I...that woman... Daemushin: When you chop off the head of that woman Jae Myung, I will make you the Crown Prince. If your father is King Daemushin, who has expanded his kingdom, then you must survive and show all other nations how to rule that kingdom. Hodong: Your subject Hodong accepts Your Highness' command.
Parent of the Year indeed!
PS If you've watched enough sageuks, you will recognize that wily old monster Daemushin is actually the protag of The Kingdom of the Winds where he looked like this:
Tumblr media
(I did a pusher post for TKotW before so won't repeat.) The funny thing is much as I adored the ML of TKotW, I can totally see him progress into that monster here. It would be logical.
Anyway, digression over, go watch JMG!
18 notes · View notes
absolutebl · 1 year ago
Text
This Week in BL - There's so much airing even I'm struggling to keep up
That's why I'm late.
Aug 2023 Wk 3
Tumblr media
Ongoing Series - Thai
Laws of Attraction (Sat iQIYI) 6 of 8 - Oh no. I am totally in love with the escaped young master & his smitten bodyguard. How did that happen? (Be careful P’Thee the broken ones are the most tempting. Tin understands.) NO SINGING! Trust Thai BL to destroy any moment of sentiment I might have by picking up a damn guitar. And we finally get Charn’s Batman villain origin story. Good use of back hug! This is a GREAT show. Melodramatic as fuck, but GREAT. Gotta say this pair in NOT Thailand’s best kissers but not everyone can be Zee++. Still I think that + singing + a touch of overacting is likely to keep this out of the 10/10 club.
Dangerous Romance (Fri YT) ep 1 of 12 - Rich /poor dynamic with characters & set up exactly as expected. Chimon is great. Perth is good too. A real rich-kid bully, Heirs level or Japanese F4 evil. All the teachers are also corrupt (that’s kinda a Thai thing, I think because they can't call out the government). I gotta say, Marc is doing a bang-up job as the jock friend, too. And the kiss twist was fun. All in all, this is good. And you know me, I love a high school BL.
I Feel You Linger in the Air (Sat YT) ep 1 of 12 - The time travel historical romance many of us have been waiting for. Adaption of y-novel by Violet Rain, from the producers of Lovely Writer. Heartbroken architect is transported to the 1930s. Nonkul (actor playing Jom) keeps reminding me of Cho Han Gyeol from Love Mate. It’s a bit slow to start but interesting when it hits its stride. The pacing feels like a Chinese historical (makes me wonder if this with be 4 or 6 act structure). Nonkul is a wonderful actor. They weren’t sharing the screen for long, but the leads seem good together. I’m in. 
Only Friends (Sat YT) ep 2 of 10 - Well. It’s entertaining, I'll say that for it. Addiction. Manipulation. Queer as folk & all that jazz. (No jazz for you, Thailand. Oh no! I’m giving them ideas.) I would like it to turn out that Mew is actually manipulating everything. This is his revenge con on Top. Mew is, after all, supposed to be "the smart one." Gotta say, this is darn near perfect casting. But honestly? This show could just be about Ray & Sand. Their story (and them in it) is easily the most riveting. Sand better be careful, the wildly broken ones are always the best in bed, because they don’t care ao they have no shame and that's HOT.
Hidden Agenda (Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 6 of 10 - I like how soft Joke’s version of seme flirting is. It’s mellow, like his voice gets with Zo. I also liked Zo casually chatting to his friends about how he feels about being flirted with. His friends gave good advice & were supportive. Oh no! A boy in a BL went into the rain ALONE. What ON EARTH will happen next? The argument was interesting, because it gave us insight into Zo’s maturity & ability to handle a relationship. I’ve been wondering why anyone would like him, and now I know. Joke & Nita’s backstory is fun. I like the gay boy protecting the straight girl reverse beard action. On a complete aside, I really like Dunk’s makeup in this series. It’s very Kdrama.
Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 7 of 8 - The house ghosts trying to help are cute. The plot is at least... a plot? I don’t know. Dias Ex Mafia is a new one on me. (COME ON THAT’S A GREAT PUN, PRAISE ME!) I’m ready for this show to be over. 
Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 7 of 12 - Honestly, the whole time I’m watching this I’m just thinking I wish JaFirst got better scripts. Speaking of, I don’t object, but these characters sure moved into sex fast. I really don’t quite understand how Daddy & Hot Doc got together so fast either. It feels like their story was meant to be spread out into the other episodes but didn’t get cut in properly, so it ended up all in this one? Or is it just the pacing is particularly bad in this show?
Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 8 of 10 eps - I have no idea what is going on. What are all of Dino’s friends doing? What do they want? what’s their point in the story? I’m even annoyed by Peak, and love him. Sex scene which they tried to make sexy. Operative word being tried. Although, there was some interesting after sex discussion about mechanics. And there was a cute bathtub chat about pet names. But this show is a lotta work for very little pay out. 
Wedding Plan (Wed YT & iQIYI) ep 5 of 7 - I like the sunshine sides? PUNCH LOM 2023! Trash watch here!
Love in Translation (Sat iQIYI) ep 1 of 10 - Pushy older bro is Earn from Love Sick, yay! And he’s the hyung of a side couple, which is "best friend’s older brother" trope! My favorite!!!! Have we seen this in BL before? I don't think so. Anyway, DOUBLE YAY! The main couple
 eh. You know I loathe stalker characters. And I viscerally HATE this one. Almost as bad as SCOY, not sure I can take it, actually. The squealing of "Tammy!" is worse on my ear than any off-key guitar strumming. I may have to DNF or fast forward through all his parts
 but he’s the lead. What to do? I do like the “Chinese” businessman actor. He very cute. (On an aside, I was just reading about commercial real estate as the loophole for foreign property investors in Thailand. Cool plot point.) I’m getting a Taming of the Shrew vibes from this. Just me? For now it's living at the bottom of the list for sheer unadulterated loathing of Phumjai. Not the actor, he was my favorite and only good thing about Our Days. But this character? NO.
Tumblr media
Ongoing Series - Not Thai
Jun & Jun (Korea Thur Viki) ep 5 of 8 - This is basically the gay Boys Over Flowers of my heart. Or as close as I think we’ll get from BL. I like both of the 2nd leads, even though I suspect Simon of actually being into everyone’s fav hyung. Cute to see the Mr Heart boys back on my screen, oh so briefly. Such a Taiwan trick, reusing a beloved couple like that. Nice gimmie to the fans. Meanwhile, Choi Jun - boy sure knows his angles but his motives? Please don’t let this be another arranged marriage beard situation? I can’t take 2 in the same month. 
Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 8 of 10 - The boyfriends ep! JC is biggest simp spoiling his baby EVER. Taiwan = the sappiest of saps. “Owning the same key” is such a cute way of putting it. Also I love the "knew all along" twist, made me happy. The angst is silly but that's normal in Taiwanese BL. 
Love Class Season 2 (Korea Fri Viki) eps 3-4 of 10 - Pair 1: Lee Hyun is such a wide-open, bleeding, no-shame romantic. It’s kinda great. Boy has a poet’s soul & NO artifice. J-Min is startlingly good, very nuanced. I know I keep saying that, but I’m v surprised by his skillz. And
 add in creepy stalker, goody. Pair 2: The "other student couple" I’m not into, also NO SINGING. Pair 3: The underwear gift was so fucking funny. “I’m going reap the boxers I sewed” is next level script excellence. These two are brilliant at gayest-of-gay flirt-negging, I'm INTO IT. One of my housemates said, in response to my audible cackling, "You seem to be enjoying your shows extra much tonight."  
My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 2 of 8 - Oh I love love love them. It’s so old school yaoi and SO JBL. No other country could produce this kind of show. I love this little feminist aspect where the weatherman treats his boy like a 1950s housewife & said boy thinks that makes him an indentured servant. Clocks. But also, the way our weatherman LOOKS at his boy. He is so in love. (It looks like we skip next week for holiday reasons?) 
Sing My Crush (Korea Wed iQIYI) eps 5-6 of 8 - It remains enjoyable. 
Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - At least we know Minato actually desires Shin, he just won’t do anything about it. Also, Minato chose the perfect person to come out to. That's nice for him. Finally, Shu & Asuka are glorious. Sides are winning these days.
Stay Still (Hong Kong Tues YouTube) ep 3 of 5 - A proper faen fatal has entered one of our couples. She won too, since she ended up marrying the boy. Still not sure about this show (and it should have convinced me by now). I definitely like the tattoo couple better than the reunion couple. Still, not a lot happened in this episode and this is short series, they don’t have time to waste. It remains intriguing but not... erm... good.
Tumblr media
In case you missed it
River Knows Fish Heart is leaving Gaga soon. It's a decent little bully romance Chinese BL (pulp) - yes, you read that right. Actual CBL. Not great, but if you're into the CBL stuff, especially the early stuff, this has some of that tenor only made in 2018 (I have a feeling it was shot in 2017 and skated through). Anygay, just staying. Catch it before it disappears because with CBL once they gone, often, they gone forever.
Friend. Boy Friend a new Thai BL pulp was supposed to start airing on Aug 19th. I can't find it. Neither can MDL.
Next Week Looks Like This:
Everything from Thailand seems to be dropping on Sat & Sun this month. It's a good thing I got quiet weekends for a while. Also the BL firehose is upon us, so much content.
Tumblr media
Starting this week:
8/20 (tomorrow) My Universe series (Sun iQIYI) 24 eps - This is sampler pack BL, 12 pairs, each pair gets 2 eps, not sure on the order they’ll drop. Known couples include EarthBank from Destiny Seeker and KaownahTurbo from Love Stage!!!, fresh faces otherwise. Jane to direct.
8/22 Kisseki: Dear to Me formerly known as Miracle (Taiwan Tues Viki & iQIYI) 13 eps - From screenwriter Lin Pei Yu (We Best Love, H3: Trapped) features a student doctor forced to take care of a gangster. I love the premise and like the writer.  
8/23 Why R U? (Korean remake iQIYI) 8 eps - I find everything about this hilarious. I mean if Korea remakes it, we lose all the sexy and then... would we have a story at all? No we would not. Not even for 8 short eps. It’d be like one of those mesh shopping bags.
8/24 Man Suang (Thailand movie, domestic cinema release) - historical drama about Thai burlesque with KP’s MileApo. 
2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).
THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS
Tumblr media
Another show reviewing itself. (Dino Love)
Tumblr media
Don't insult bastards, Lom. (Wedding trash)
Tumblr media
I would like this adorable romcom GMMTV, please and thank you.
Tumblr media
See what I mean? Trixy.
Tumblr media
Thanks boys. (All Only Friends)
(Last week) 
324 notes · View notes
helenprins · 3 years ago
Note
2, 6, 14, 17, 23
favorite tv show you’ve watched/discovered this year
MANHATTAN and, yes, i know you said i'm the only person you know you watched it, but i gotta rep my show. it's... incredible. def the best kept secret of prestige tv and MAD MEN's true heir (both are period shows set in the workplace, their structures are alike, and had incredible attention to detail/acting/directing/writing (especially this)). the first half of s1 is good, if rocky, but once it got going, it became smth truly special and that second season is one of my fave seasons of tv already. i could go on for longer, but i'm not gonna clog people's dashes w the ramblings of a lunatic about a show they haven't even heard of, so i'll stop for now
favorite platonic relationship you discovered this year
i think maybe issa and molly on INSECURE (tho that entire group of friends w tiffany and kelli is amazing). i luv friendships btwn women especially when they're rocky because there's so much more to explore there and i think the way the series shows theirs is interesting (their scenes in the last two seasons have been marvelous). they really make me wish i had started the show earlier because imagine watching their relationship evolve w time btwn seasons :'((
a tv show you didn’t plan to watch this year but ended up watching (and loving) (or not)
hmmmm i didn't expect to watch HALT AND CATCH FIRE this year, but a couple of friends kinda got me to do it and oh, MAN. i didn't really love it in s1, but it got better and better and s4 is such a stunner, i don't wanna finish it. i watched 4x7 earlier today and i've been a mess ever since then because, well, if you know why, you know why. and those character dynamics! they're incredible (donna and cam could have been another answer to the q above tbh. they are so fascinating together and i loved them so much in s3). a late entry to my list of fave discoveries of the year, but a welcome one
a tv show you’re looking forward to watching next year
those watergate shows - GASLIT and WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS, if they'll come out in 2022. but other than those, i'm excited to start a bunch of kdramas (including HEALER and WAIKIKI) at the rec of my friends, EVIL (cause everybody talks about it and i wanna see katja herbers be unhinged), THE KILLING (the american version, tho maybe i might watch the original one too) and GOSSIP GIRL (yes, i never watched the original show, but i've wanted to do it for years).
favorite episode you’ve watched this year
okay, so turns out, i AM gonna talk some more about MANHATTAN because my fave (new-to-me) ep is THE THRESHOLD. i'm not gonna go into detail because of spoilers, but i think it's probably one of the most definitive hour for the characters and their relationships. it also has one of my fave romantic gestures which isn't even THE most romantic gesture in the ep, but there's smth about that red thread that ruins me on every viewing
3 notes · View notes