My final exams finished today and I have two and a half weeks until my summer semester begins, yay! Which means I finally have time to watch stuff, yaaaaaaaaaay!

Between classes and my tutoring job (as well as some other personal projects I have started–and becoming a bookworm again) keeping up with TV of ANY form has been difficult the past several months, sadly, so I’m really going to cherish this time. And lately I’ve been really wanting to catch up on jdraams, because I sense a bit of a jdrama renaissance beginning lately.

I just started Brush Up Life (also called Rebooting on Doki, the service I am watching on) and I find it so delightful! I’m 3 episodes in and during episode 3 my parents came home and I explained the premise to my dad. He kept trying to leave the room and then would circle back to see what is happening, so I think I’ve got him hooked, too (which is rare for non-crime shows).

So, Beanies, what’s up in dramaland? What’s good? What’s bad? What are you looking forward to watching each week? What did you drop?

And does anyone have any recent-ish jdramas I simply have to watch? I used to be SO into them in high school, but I got tired of how much Japan was gatekeeping them. I am THRILLED that so many are being carried by big streamers like Netflix now and really want to dig my teeth in! I think the only recent-ish ones I have watched are Why I Dress Up For Love and Unnatural–and NigeHaji but that’s EIGHT YEARS OLD NOW?!? Anyway, I love all those shows if that gives you any indication for my preference. Would love any and all recs!

So, while I was planning an epic trip to see my friends in DC to go to IU’s concert in July, reality kicked me in the face and turns out I have a mandatory exam that very day, so no-can-do.

But even if it means having to go to her concert in my region solo, I’ll do it without a second thought. If the energy at her US concerts is even 10% of what it is in Korea I know I’ll be anything but alone.

I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that finally, after over a decade of being a fan, my dreams are going to be able to come true with her US tour. I was convinced it would never happen and I couldn’t be more glad to be wrong! The only thing that could make my kboo heart happier in this life is if Taeyeon followed suit.

Anyway, if anyone is planning on going to her Chicago/Rosemont concert, feel free to hit me up!!! Would love to grab some lunch or pre-concert boba.

Omg congrats to my girlie Karina for shedding all of her creepy delusional incel fans in one go!! I knew you could do it girl!!!

Please take a moment to appreciate what a pretty hot girl she is Lee Jae-wook is so goddamn lucky

…this is relevant to this kdrama blog site because ummmmm the song is called “Drama”

Moon in the Day: Okay, for some reason I had a lot less fun in episode 2.

Kim Young-dae is like a charisma black hole to me. His “acting” drains all of the life from the screen. It’s a pity because I think Pyo Ye-jin has some promise.

It’s a drop.

(Also, is it just me, or does Kim Young-dae have a bit of a lisp…?)

Moon in the Day ep 1: OMG WHAT IS THIS SHOW????

This drama is already throwing everything but the kitchen sink into its plot and I find it absolutely HYSTERICAL. This has even more WTF-ery than any of the makjang/melo dramas I have watched lately, and that\’s saying something.

I can\’t believe I started yet another reincarnation romance. Do I never learn? At least they were enemies in the past. Spices it up a little bit.

I haven\’t seen Pyo Ye-jin in much but something about her endears me to her immediately. I really like that she\’s a firefighter and that she\’s strong while he male lead is weak AF (or, was). She\’s got spunk and I love that she tells him how it is.

I\’ve certainly never seen Kim Young-dae like this before. He\’s overdoing it, but I much prefer this to the constipated rock he\’s been the other times I\’ve watched him. But considering the fact that present-day KYD is now actually dead and is being possessed by past KYD, I worry the constipated rock is coming back.

Speaking of the weird ghosts, how creepy are all of those scenes omg. Just seeing ghost KYD looming over people while they SLEEP.

I like how they have this absolutely insane plot, then feel the need to add cardiac tumors on top of it, then just use that to make him randomly pass out to then ROLL HIS VAN INTO THE WATER. This is so dumb I was screaming with laughter. And then the dude\’s past self somehow comes from above and gives the female lead oxygen??? And then the male lead DIES??? AND THEIR FINGERS BRUSH AS HE IS ROLLED TO THE MORGUE AND THEN HE JUST GETS UP FROM THE AUTOPSY TABLE AND WALKS OUT WHAT IS THIS SHOW.

Ummm, I\’m having fun??? There is so much tonal whiplash and it\’s making me scream with laughter. We\’ll see how long I hold out haha.

Twinkling Watermelon: Eun-yu using modern slang and terminology to confuse Chung-ah’s stepsister, LOL. She deserves it!

As savvy as Eun-yu is sometimes, I’m surprised by how little she thought through her plan. I wondered if maybe the real Se-gyoung would show up for the festival somehow, which would at least make Eun-yu’s plan make sense, but… nope. Why did she think that HER seeing and falling for mom’s first love would affect the present timeline?? It hasn’t made sense since the beginning, but I had hoped the drama would do something to make it make sense. Are we supposed to just think Eun-yu is a fool who barged ahead with her plan without thinking about it? I guess so. It just seems very unlikely lol. She has been there for WEEKS.

I LOVE the twist of Yi-chan not being upset that “Se-gyoung” wasn’t there, but instead was worried about Chung-ah. Finally we are past the silly love triangle business! And him trying so hard to learn sign language is adorable. Too bad we went right into the angst phase with them.

The Matchmakers: Yawn. I was hoping this PD could make even your most run-of-the-mill fusion sageuk concept with an uninspiring cast entertaining for me, but alas, I only found this incredibly dull. Definitely no Into the Ring, although I can see the director trying.

Well, I suppose I have enough dramas on my plate already, anyway.

Points for the female lead pulling the man out of the way, though! It was especially hilarious seeing her hold him considering their ridiculous height difference, haha.

Minus points for the male lead being a lewd peeping tom… I guess I just don’t find the poor sexually repressed man thing funny.

Twinkling Watermelon: Not gonna lie, Eun-gyeol constantly saying things that make no sense to Yi-chan gets on my nerves. If it were only once in a while, it wouldn’t bother me so much, but he makes saying crazy things his whole personality. 😭 It was funny at first buuut…

With Eun-yu being so much savvier about that stuff, it surprised me that she was the one to make the anachronistic mistake before him, haha.

Also, I feel for Eun-gyeol, I really do, but something about the way he phrased the loneliness he felt in his family for being a CODA rubbed me the wrong way. He may feel like he’s on an island in his family, but his family probably constantly feels that way about literally all of hearing society. I know both things can be true, and I know he is a teenager, but it really bothered me hearing him say that. This is exactly what irritates me about centering a story with so many deaf characters around the hearing character’s angst. Eun-gyeol’s feelings are valid, and him having them doesn’t necessarily mean the show is placing his experiences above his family’s, but I hope the drama interrogates those feelings in the future.

The ONLY thing I ask of this show is to not make Yi-chan hearing again as an adult, and I’m growing worried that that’s exactly where we are headed.

This drama can do better than that, and I hope it does in the end. After all, we still have 5 episodes.

Perfect Marriage Revenge: This is so cheesy and trashy, it made me think \”This would make a great webtoon\”. Lo and behold, it is a webtoon adaptation! I knew it.

So far it\’s not quite as entertaining as I hoped, but I think I\’ll stick around for now. I could use something soapy in my current plate of fairly light dramas (you know, if you ignore the trauma of Castaway Diva).

Castaway Diva: Park Hye-ryun saw everyone foaming at the mouth over Start-Up and was like “Next time I’ll just confuse EVERYONE” and I find that hilarious.

The show continues to be fun and ridiculous and fizzy. I have a feeling it’s potato boy who’s Ki-ho just because he’s so mysterious so far and I don’t think the drama would be so obvious about it upfront, haha. I don’t really care who it is as long as they have a good explanation to go along with it.

But of course, what I’m really excited for is Mok-ha and Ran-joo. I’m really glad the show has this relationship as a main plot line just so that the romance hopefully doesn’t completely derail every discussion about the drama like Start-Up. I was one of the few people who was fine with the drama but found the fan behavior absolutely MISERABLE to experience. I hope that doesn’t happen to the same extent here.

Also, does anyone know who is singing in this drama?

Castaway Diva: Man, only Park Hye-ryun can do a story like this. The whole idea of it is so ludicrous, but she injects so much heart and gets you so invested from the very beginning and you’re along for the ride before you even know it.

I was SO happy to see my daughter Lee Re and I’m so happy to see Park Eun-bin as grown-up Mok-ha tomorrow. The kids really made me feel for them, both individually and as a duo. I am super excited to see them reunite and for Mok-ha to finally meet Ran-joo. It seems like the relationship between the women is going to be the real driving force for this drama, and I am all for it!

The Kidnapping Day: Oh, show! You may have been idealistic and unrealistic, but I love you all the same. After all, this is art and not real life.

I expressed disappointment at the direction they were taking Hye-eun’s character, but I do think it made the absolutely scathing exploration of child abuse all the more powerful. Between Ro-hee, Hye-eun, and also Byeol, we saw all of the damage that can be caused when we hold children (and people in general) to an impossible standard, even when we think it’s “for their own good”. Also, Kim Sin-rok knows how to do a mental breakdown, my god.

What makes this more interesting is that it takes the idea of moulding our children to perfection—especially academic perfection—to the extreme, right? This issue is especially prevalent in Korean society at the moment, with all of the controversy over hagwons and working kids to the bone in school. I would love to read some Korean analysis of this show and novel. I think it is more powerful in a Korean context.

I’ll miss our chaotic Myeong-jun and Ro-hee duo and I’m happily imagining them reunited in the future. I’m glad that she has Hee-ae for now. The show wasn’t explicit with it, but I’m assuming Attorney Choi is the guardian for both of them now, huh?

That epilogue was TERRIFYING and I sure hope it makes Dr. Mo realize that what she thinks she wants for her child is not what she actually wants, yikes.

Me @ my TV while watching Pushing Daisies and staring at Lee Pace and forgetting that kdramas exist.

Yes yes rewatching was a good idea.

Me at 13: Olive Snook you are a little insane aren’t you huh kind of going overboard
Me now: Olive Snook I understand you I understand you more than I have ever understood anyone

Ned >>>>>>>>

How do Choi Hyun-wook and the director even think of doing stuff like this fjsjsjdjd

When you find a drama that gets better as it goes on instead of crashing and burning