#Abyss Still the first choice of my M-T cue. Is it getting better? Maybe. If not for the cuter-by-the-episode OTP, you gotta love our crazy ahjumma knocking Young Chul off his path to kill again and exposing Prosecutor Seo’s geotrack and identity accidentally. This writer may be sloppy af, but these crazy shots do make Abyss more interesting than most trope-filled romcoms. Now with Young Chul knowing only some rules and ignorant of the more important ones, but is arrogantly confident that he’s some mastermind with a brilliant homocide-suicide plan, the next few episodes should be quite satisfying for team Good Guys.

#WWW Love it so far. Not a very real set up but I can appreciate the depiction of an alternate reality where glass ceilings don’t exist. The female lead characters are empowering to watch. So far they do not make powerful women look like bitches, but being just as douche as man are in their office politics. Now if they just stop making Tami act weird in front of her ONS, the drama will be perfectly gender-flipped. The subplot of media manipulation during election is very interesting. Just in time with knetizens calling out Naver for the BS-gate hot-topic shenanigans.

#Boyfriend I can watch this for any pairing now: Dada with 09, Dada with Wong Joon, even 09 with Wong Joon. Some scenes are so cringeworthy I can’t imagine how Yeo Jingoo holds a straight face. I like how Dada begins to acknowledge 09’s desire to be loved, but still doesn’t make it a noble obligation to love him back romantically. There’s really so many kinds of love to offer. I really hope they explain that picture book later. My guess is it’s something like The Velveteen Rabbit, except about a robot.

#Angel I’m getting really impatient with the second leads and when they come out I want to FF. Just hanging in there because Shin Hye Sun is awesome in this role. L is cute and fitting. I understand he acts over the top for comedic purpose but it does get too unnatural once in a while. Tone it down a little kiddo. I don’t want you to be branded as one of those feet actors for one highly exposed role, knowing you have the potential to do better.

#Arthdal It’s not bad. It’s not great either. My problem is the wordiness of all the scenes. This is not typical of this writer duo. How was Circle so impactful with so little words? How was Six Flying Dragons so trilling with so many character stories? Yet here everyone is talking most the time, for a very long time, but I feel not the slightest interest in the character themselves because they are all just narrators. I can’t help to doze off once in a while. Especially when they talk about Tagon and everyone gives their two cents about his motives, even a random maid. They should have introduced older Tagon later to make a grander entrance when Eunseom finally makes it to Arthdal and captures the union leader. But I get it, you can’t cast JDG and leave him on the bench for 4 or 5 episodes. TBH, Tagon bored me in the first 4 episodes. First they say he’s all too evil at a young age and then try to justify his evilness with a bad father. Casting an Oedipus shadow on him will not make me sympathize his character. Tagon is not tragic.

As much as I love SJK, his recent works has been disappointing. So could Blossom stop making him holdout for the “cream of the crop” dramas and return to his pre-Hallyu kind of work? Kang Maru is still his most impressive role so obviously his acting skill has not progressed. That being said, I hope there’s more dimension to Eunseom’s character later that will prove this role has some value, besides the fat paycheck.

I’m very convinced that in addition to Netflix, this drama is backed by Chinese investors. There’s even an official weibo account posting fluff reviews to convince mainland viewers (who btw have to watch it illegally) that the drama is good, LMAO. So I’m convinced the investors reviewed the script and were probably too dumb to understand the subtleness that is usually the trademark of these writers. This is my take on the jarring inconsistency with their previous projects.

Stripping away the messy execution, the story is actually quite interesting. I can imagine being entertained by this story on paper. Tagon, if they don’t try to gain my sympathy, can be a gripping watch as he strategically climb above his father to the top of the political pyramid. His story has a lot of similarities to Yoo Ah-In’s character in Six Flying Dragon. Defeating different leaders to rise to the top of the power pyramid and eventually take down his own brother and father. (Of course Lee Bang Won is far more interesting because he was real and had historical significance.) Eunseom on the other hand reminds me of Kim Kang-Woo in Circle. Although he’s not quite out to find his sibling yet, he does infiltrate a cruel and (relatively) more modernized world to save his loved one and on this mission incidentally free the vulnerable ones from captivity.