#could it be the kdrama drought getting to her

[kdramaxoxo]

It will never be Something In The Rain It will always be Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food

It will never be Rain Or Shine It will always be Just Between Lovers

It will never be Into The World Again It will always be Reunited Worlds

It will never be Hello My Twenties It will always be Age of Youth

[kateknowsdramas]

She Would Never Know/Sunbae Don’t Put On That Lipstick

Spoiler Filled (way too long) Rant Below

I know what you’re going to ask. “Kate...amazing wonderful Kate...why are you still watching this show?”

My only defense is that I was in a KDrama drought and...Rowoon’s face...and I want to support my girl Won Jin Ah. But after this...Jin Ah, sweetie, you have to start picking better dramas. Melting Me Softly and now this? No, no.

This show started out not good. Very not good, in fact. But after episode 3/4, it actually got better. That’s in part because they turned Rowoon’s character from a creepily stalking stalker to more of a puppy in love. The second big factor is the supporting cast.

There are two great stories in the show involving Hyun Seung’s sisters and those are the most compelling and fun storylines in the show. That’s really the main reason why I hung on and, quite honestly, the show did find a bit of a groove. I found the cosmetic business scenes boring but that’s what the fast forward button is for.

So why am I so upset after episode 14? Here where there be spoilers.

The core problem of the show’s set up is that after Song Ah’s long term boyfriend’s betrayal, she is lured into a relationship with a man who has basically followed her around for at least a year or two, hoping for the perfect opening to romance her. 

Once she’s broken up with her boyfriend, Hyun Seung pounces at the chance to prove that he’s her romantic savior. He proposes a fake dating scenario to make her ex-boyfriend feel the pain she felt (whatever). He saves her from embarrassment and swoops in to be her white knight at various opportunities.

Lovely and romantic, right? Well...kinda not.

Song Ah has just - I mean just - broken up with her boyfriend of two years (she was going to propose to him, for goodness sake) when she gets into a relationship with Hyun Seung. She has no time to really process what she wants and if she is truly in love with him or if she’s just with him because he’s there. Sure, being in a relationship with a guy who looks like Hyun Seung and who is wholly devoted to you is an awesome set up and, yeah... this is a drama so I get it. 

So the audience spends pretty much 12 episodes watching her grieve over the loss of her long term relationship and dance around a new relationship with gorgeous Hyun Seung. And, you know what, I was kind of on board there. I still had a bit of a problem with their chemistry, but after I just let it go and got into the ‘it’s just a drama’ headspace, I was fine with them as a couple. I thought, hey, this show didn’t turn out so badly after all. 

Ha.

HA.

And here comes episode 14. Song Ah prepares to go to Europe for an amazing career opportunity. Which, by the way, she should totally choose over her brand new rebound boyfriend. Yes, really. She should have made that choice. Anyway, Hyun Seung is supportive and determined to make the relationship work which is lovely and I thought - aw nice, this is nice.

Then...then...we get a 3 year time jump in the last 7 minutes of the episode. Don’t get me started on time jumps. They’re lazy ways to move the characters from point A to point B without putting in the work of character growth. It essentially starts a brand new story within the drama. It’s narrative whiplash and rarely works well.

And what a new story we have with two episodes left. At the end of 14 - it’s evident they broke up somewhere in that 3 years. You read that correctly. 

Broke up.

After 14 episodes of watching a couple go through the ‘what ifs’ of being together, overcoming the obstacles, professing their love to each other and committing to being together...they break up and we aren’t shown that until the last two minutes of the episode when he turns away from Song Ah after spotting her across the street. But...wait...what? And we won’t know why until episodes 15/16. 

Now we’re forced to sit through the last two episodes watching their angst play out when we could have had some other conflict to show their growth and overcoming difficulties to be together.  The writer dragged the audience through this relationship and now they’re going to make us watch more angst and falling in love all over again?  When we spent 14 episodes with this couple and finally see them happy in their relationship?

No thank you. I hate time jumps and I hate the break up trope and I sure as heck hate them put together. 

There was potential with this show and I really thought that it might finish off pretty well despite the lackluster writing. But here we are. 

She Would Never Know aka We Should Have Known Better

[dingyuxi]

i had not realized how long it's been since i sent an anon message omg!! i'm still soooo behind on kinnporsche (ep 7) and i fell behind w link too... but why her and yumi's cells s2 are SOOOO good!! also showtime ended so cutely!! it was v much giving 2016/2017 kdrama vibes in the best way!! also rereading old messages i'm so behind on love all play too.. oh my goodness 😭 on the bright side i got two tattoos i've been wanting to get for like 7 months now and some stress is finally going away as i've been taking care of things irl!! also i've gone to soooo many concerts, i was going to go to raveena to see her again in may but i was too tired from moving back home from college and ended up skipping it.. but i'm seeing umi on june 29th!!!! and i'm going to see tamino and dpr regime when i'm back at school in the fall!! and i think my favorite artists i've seen have been young the giant, omar apollo, and day6!! the first time i saw day6 i was so close.. and youngk sat down and i could touch him.. i didn't ofc but i got some great pics w no zoom!! also wonpil's stare is so...... whew.. like if i was a delusional stan i would hear wedding bells because that man........... HIS STARE..... god. do you have dream artists that you want to see in concert? you like victon a lot right? :O if i saw sejun irl.. whew. ALSO CARROT CAKE IS SO GROSS. the frosting is the only good part. i also hate pies.. like banana cream pie and ... idk key lime pie is KIND OF tolerable but still . it would be a . this is the last food on earth i need to eat it to sustain myself type of meal. maybe i hate it because my sis and mom love carrot cake so they would get it a lot when i was growing up :((( i would say my fave desserts are molten lava cake, mexican styled fried ice cream, coconut milkshake, banh da lon, raspberry yogurt cheesecake (from mango mango)... before i used to be like obsessed w the most chocolatey desserts but as i've gotten older i've mellowed out w my taste!! also my sis got covid like 2 weeks ago and her and her gf were Feeling it.. they had a trip planned to jamaica too and luckily they tested negative days before the trip but it was cutting it close!! also i do have a radio show!! just through our campus' station! last semester it was highlighting bipoc artists so i played ppl from burna boy to khalil fong to ambré to youra!! but my friend asked to do it together next semester and idk how that's going to work because they like only listen to yt artists and like 2 genres......... but i couldn't say no because i didn't want to be mean...................... also regarding sm noise music... not to sound like an sm stan... but at least it's noise music done well 😫 a lot of groups don't know how to make noise music that is addicting yet not overwhelming but nct slay at doing so.. omg now i sound like an nctzen.. i swear exo and shinee r my faves 😭 but yeah i mean my favorite songs from nct are typically their slower rnb ones.. white night from nct 127 was my most played song of 2020! and teddy bear by nct dream is in my top ten for this year i think?? sorry for such a long message but i hope you've been well!!! also one last thing, do you listen to kard? they finally had a cb since jseph is done w his service but idk the title isn't hitting as it usually does... i really like jseph's part though!! - z anon

and here I am replying extremely late myself; let's count it even lmfao. I dropped yumi after it was clear they weren't gonna make babi endgame lmfaooo I'm petty like that. I only watched for jinyoung anyways :D top in link are still amazing but the whole plot is kinda dragging now, they really didn't need to make the whole killer/kidnapper plot line so convoluted. but glad that the shows you have kept up on have delivered for you! I'm in a drama drought again, I don't even really know what's coming out soon. ahhh congrats on the tattoos!! what are they of? that's quite the lineup you've got going, I'm excited for you! I hope you have (or had) fun and that you stay safe. I know so many people around me who are getting covid again; this pandemic won't ever leave us. omg I miss the day6 days. I still love them but I feel like the fandom is just not the same. wonpil is the sweetest always tho. one of my friends sent a video of him to me when she went to the concert and she was SOOOO CLOSE. VICTON my babiessss yes. my main is literally @/limsejun aldkfj that man is fineeee af (even if he is a weirdo; who we love). I will respect your choice on carrot cake (just know that it is wrong). pies are fine, I can get behind a good apple pie. I like key lime too. can't say I've had a lot of banana cream but I wouldn't say it's something I'd choose to eat. LMFAOO my friend is a NCT Stan so don't worry I'm used to it. noise music clearly caters to people (I just am not one of them). I will say that their choreography usually slaps tho. I haven't listened to anything from KARD in a hot minute so that includes their latest release. overall I'm doing well, I have one more week of this month's clinical rotation and then I have august as a break (technically supposed to be writing my thesis tho so it really a break?). I'm just glad to get this month over with bc it's not hard this rotation but it's just soooo slow and boring and I don't really feel like I'm learning anything which is the whole point of these rotations.

[somuchkdrama]

Bride of Habaek, Ep 9-10

Family

@dramajib: I imagine Kyle must resent Hoo Ye so much because of what he is, not something he’s done personally. Which would mean he knows his dad, and it SEEMS like a family thing? But do they even have family?

dramajib: Like i seem to recall HaBaek having a mom but i might be making that up in my head

@triangularlily: Yeah they definitely mentioned it

triangularlily: Maybe the concept of family is different there too. Or like how family is made

dramajib: Yeah, cos HaBaek seems to understand So Ah's complex feelings about her dad and mum, so they must have some family type business in his world as well

Habaek’s first human love

triangularlily: OH also you know how we learned more about the human woman that was sacrificed to the gods because of a drought but because they didn't even ask for a sacrifice they broke the rules of the realm of the gods and let her stay? And then she betrayed their trust later by going to back to the human world and getting married there? That sounds extremely similar to the manwha’s original plot

@rocknghorss: oh really!?

rocknghorss: was SoAh's character that woman's then?

dramajib: Huh. Is that the story of the Shim woman he brings up when she asks about what her descendents did to tie her into servitude? Because the fact that she knew that lady’s name must mean it’s common korean folklore, which probably led to her pondering his entire family tree back in episode... 5? Was it?

rocknghorss: Hmm. That was the first story, which was HaBaek lying about the reason her family is tied to the gods

triangularlily: Hm I am not sure i honestly can’t remember. I was wondering tho if this is the human he fell in love with before?

triangularlily: Cause I could have sworn one of the other gods mentioned it too

rocknghorss: It was JooDong I think. But is it clear what HaBaek's role in the whole mess was?

dramajib: I don’t think we know yet. But I don’t think he did fall in love with her tho. Kyle tells MooRa that she misread that situation, and Joodong talks about how sympathy can sometimes be mistaken for love

triangularlily: I was just speculating

dramajib: Oh yeah. In that case I’m guessing yes, same woman? And then she betrays them

triangularlily: I mean who knows at this point I just thought it was interesting tho the connection to the manwha cause I don't think she betrays them like that in the manwha but I didn't finish it so maybe

dramajib: And i suppose the ancestor was the one who... Sacrificed her? Or was somehow involved? But they mention that it was the sky gods fault with the whole servant thing. So i don’t know if those two plot points are related?

triangularlily: They did mention it wasn't even her ancestors fault it was the sky king I think

dramajib: I’m glad you read as much as you did though, it brings a really interesting take to things. Like how much of this is the story, how much is folklore, and how much is just pure kdrama?

triangularlily: Lol!

Next up: A Hoo Ye Pity Party, and some Goblin comparisons

[kdramaxoxo]

Ok I know this is completely random but I wanted to share my love and obsession for homecha , bc it is the first since I could remember that I felt this way about a drama . It's slow paced but not boring , the romance is strong but so natural , it's not overbearing and forced , it looks like the chemistry is real and these two people could actually be in love . Also the leads are so well written, both characters have so much depth and I really appreciate that they weren't looking for love , both were satisfied with their lives and didnt think themselves any lesser for not having partners . I'm literally in love with it , it's so comforting and calming and I really need it at the moment . I dont have anyone to talk about kdramas so sorry for this rant baby ❤

Anon, you never have to apologize for talking about k-dramas with me! It's literally why I'm here ❤

I love Hometown Cha Cha Cha toooooooooo

Anyone who's over here reading my blog knows I used to get real annoyed with Netflix and their k-drama releases, but I think I officially have to take that back. After Run On and Hometown Cha Cha Cha, I now have to admit that they understand slice-of-life, wholesome and soft k-drama stories! They've had a LOT of misses but like, a ton of good ones like Itaewon Class and Hospital Playlist. I guess I have to shut up now??

And I'm so happy about Hometown Cha Cha Cha. Partly because we've had a k-drama drought, partly because I didn't trust that it would actually be as good as it was, and partly because lately big name k-dramas tend to just be meh or start off strong and then lose their way. Not Hometown! It's almost perfect?

The best part (for me anyways) is that even if the show messes up the main relationship (like if they do a forced breakup or something dumb that ruins lots of dramas for me) there are SO MANY OTHER THINGS to love, that it won't be a deal breaker at all! We've got trauma, we've got idols, we've got an SLS who is actually lovely and I root for him, we have annoying characters who become endearing-- even the shopping king louie grandma gets to have a fully fleshed out story not having to do with her being on her death bed!

Sure, if you need a lot of intensity or action, you might get bored (like, if Run On or Hyori's Homestay were boring to you you probably won't like it) but if you just wanna relax and trust that the drama will actually write good and interesting characters, tell all sorts of fun side stories, and make you care about literally everyone (maybe not the ex-husband dude lol) Hometown Cha Cha Cha is you're next favorite watch.