When you’re trapped deep in the darkness, all you can do is to sit where you and wait until your eyes completely get used to the darkness.

So last year was my Year of Dropping and this year I was thinking, “Hey, what if I just watch the first episode of everything and then drop the things that don’t grab me and only continue with the things that do”. That would mean I watch at least one episode of the bulk of dramas this year without committing to anything. Much drama, fewer beans. It was going to be the Year of Drama Speed Dating.

This intention lasted all of, I don’t know, ten seconds before I realised that even watching the first episode of Yoon Shiyoon chewing scenery in the Psychopath Diaries or the icky age difference in the romance, Touch, was too much to ask and also was I really expecting to completely change my personality overnight?

And while I would get a certain type of joy from watching something like People With Flaws just so I can document all the occasions where other actors are forced to fulfil the contractual obligation to refer to Ahn Jae-hyun’s incredible good looks, I suspect that joy would be overwhelmed by… everything else.

Am I even capable of drama speed dating?

I think not.

And so, while I was initially going to pretend my date with Black Dog was a speed date and not an initial encounter in an inevitable long-term commitment, I have decided to just be honest. I’m a serial monogamist. I go in with a view to commitment and I’m in it till the end. That’s just who I am.

So thank you to everyone who recommended Black Dog and @saturtledaisy who is nearing Boksoo levels of propping. The first episode was great. Admittedly I’m less enthused about the inevitable education corruption and politics aspect of it (been there and done that in a Castle in the Sky), but the female lead’s emotional journey is just as interesting and I love that she has a strong female mentor, rather than the usual old man.

We’re not speed dating. We’re proper dating. See you in the recaps.

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