Beanie level: Eunuch in drag

There’s one week left for Castaway Diva, and I have thoughts that I need to express.

I enjoyed the first half. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting it to be, but that was ok, because I ended up liking a lot of the things it ended up being. The abuse was unexpected going in, but I think it worked well, and it instantly made me feel for the leads. But the father plotline has annoyed me almost the entire drama.

Why couldn’t dad just stay in the past? Why did we need him to show up again? Why couldn’t this have been a story about two young people overcoming their childhood trauma, about a family having a happy life, about Mok Ha surviving on the island and surviving being thrust back into society while also navigating the music industry all in what would have been uniquely her own way?

This is honestly one of the reasons I’ve moved away from Kdrama’s. I’ve gotten so tired of their constant need to throw everything and the kitchen sink into their stories. They can’t ever have a story that’s straightforward and simple. It always has to be a mashup of genre’s and subplots. And while I enjoyed many of the unexpected elements of Castaway Diva, this has definitely been an ‘everything plus the kitchen sink’ kind of story.

I don’t want to drop the drama, but this does seem to be how I always end up disliking or dropping a Kdrama (except when the drama is just objectively terrible or something). I go in all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, excited for the type of story the drama is portraying itself to be, then it starts throwing a bunch of other stuff in there that I don’t exactly like but put up with because I like everything else, then I’m over halfway through when I realize that I’ve been forcing myself to keep watching when I really don’t want to anymore.

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    One last minor complaint, but it was too jarring of a switch, in my opinion, the way the brothers completely changed their minds on whether they should reveal their identities to Mok Ha or not. It’s not the worst thing ever or anything, and I think if there had been an extra episode just before that happens to show the characters changing their minds, it would have worked fine. I just found it a little too sudden.

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      A lot of characters’ action (especially Ran Joo) in this drama seem on an impulse and the show isn’t even trying to make sense of it.

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Castaway Diva:

The audacity of the police to be like ‘A video of someone putting hornets in the victim’s car which we know led to his car accident is not enough evidence to convict the person who put the hornets in the car of causing the victim’s car accident. Why don’t you get a victim statement? FROM A MAN WHO IS IN A COMA!!!!’

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I know we’re literally only 3 episodes in, but Castaway Diva is straight up killing it!

Thoughts so far:

Every time I try to commit to one of the brothers being Ki Ho, I stop myself, lol. But I feel like…it’s Bo Geol? Maybe?

Woo Hak is way too confident about being Ki Ho, and Bo Geol is too insistent about both of them forgetting about all of it for me to be confident at all that Wook Hak is Ki Ho and Bo Geol isn’t. I think waking up one day with no memories of your life before that moment then spending years of your life trying to make sense of who you really are would probably make you a little desperate and willing to latch on to anything that could make even the tiniest bit of sense. Being Ki Ho probably feels like the answer to a question he’s lived with all of his life, the portion he can remember anyway.

Bo Geol reads to me as someone trying to forget. Forget the abuse, forget the years of not knowing what happened to Mok Ha, forget waiting outside that damn building hoping, yearning, longing to see her and being disappointed every time. I think he got to a place where he just couldn’t do it anymore, and I’m positive this is why he told Woo Hak to stop bringing Ki Ho up and to forget the past. Of course, there’s also the variable of whatever reason his father is trying to track him down which could also potentially explain why he just wants to forget everything. (I have questions about that plot point below.)

I know people are worried about Ran Joo potentially taking advantage of Mok Ha, but I’m honestly not. No matter how that plot point plays out, I feel like it’s going to be right for the story. Writer-nim has set Ran Joo up as a very sympathetic character with her backstory, and the way she fought on Mok Ha’s behalf this episode was so lovely. So even if she does make some bad decisions, I think she’s going to do the right thing in the end.

I only have one question for the writer right now, and that’s why we should be so concerned about Ki Ho’s father showing up. Without more information, I really don’t know what his father can do at this point. I mean, I could come up with theories, but that would mean coming up with more backstory for the brothers and the mom, and then I’m waving my arms around wildly in the fog, lol.

I am regretting watching ep 3 tonight though, and that’s because I don’t have ep 4 to immediately watch next, lol.

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Castaway Diva episode 3 HERE I COOOOOOOOOOME!!!!!!

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Ep 1 of Castaway Diva was fabulous. It was not the overall tone I was expecting, but I’m totally okay with that. Can’t wait for the next ep!

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    It reminded me of Extraordinary Attorney Woo in how the childhood backstory was well done in just the first episode – not too little or too much – but enough to be satisfying in setting the drama’s tone.

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I think it’s time to take a break from currently airing Kdramas, because to be honest…they haven’t been doing it for me for a little while. I’ve been telling myself I need to take this break for a few months now, but then a Kdrama would come up that would draw me in. And then promptly let me down. (Oh! Youngshim being the latest example.)

Jdramas have honestly been ticking all of my boxes and fulfilling my drama needs lately, and I really want to get more into Chinese and Taiwanese dramas, as well as go back to the Kdrama vault for dramas I’ve missed, or that were popular when they aired but for some reason, I never watched them. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of gems in that vault.

This post is going to be my reminder/push to follow through on this Kdrama break. I can always come back to Kdramas later.

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    Yes, I actually feel the same.

    It seems to me that for a number of Kdramas that are produced nowadays, they aren’t that much different. The main plots seem to be the same or similar although the packaging looks different. They are about people having some kind of trauma, revenge, violence, affairs, and everything that seems to reflect Greyson reality of being a human; but they seem to miss that kind of charm that sparked joy they did so well in older dramas.

    Or perhaps I just want simple things such as the good always beat the bad, and a hard-working and earnest girl always gets the guy? Perhaps I just want something as straight and simple as that.

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      *grey-ish reality

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      I think that’s part of my reasons as well. There are still some Kdramas that peak my interest, but they either end up being a disappointment or they aren’t the sorts of stories I’m craving in this season as a drama lover. Like you said, a lot of Kdramas right now are very gritty and grim, focusing on heavy topics or revenge or characters that are just selfish and reckless and unlikable. There’s a place for these stories, but they aren’t what I’m interested in right now. And you aren’t really seeing straight romance/rom-coms anymore, which is one of my Asian drama staples.

      Kdramas also just feel different than they used to. I can’t put my finger on what it is, but there’s something they used to have that isn’t there anymore and it leaves a lot of stories feeling lacking to me.

      I actually just did a tally, and in the last 3 years have looked like this for me and Kdramas:
      ~Started 15
      ~Dropped 7
      ~Completed 8

      Of the 8 I’ve finished:
      ~2 are dramas I loved
      ~2 are dramas that I enjoyed but that still had some flaws
      ~The rest were either a mixed bag or really disappointing

      So of the 8 Kdramas I’ve finished in the last three years, only four were really worth it. I haven’t been having a lot of luck with Kdramas the last few years, lol.

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      “Or perhaps I just want simple things such as the good always beat the bad, and a hard-working and earnest girl always gets the guy? Perhaps I just want something as straight and simple as that.”

      Truthfully, I’m kind of missing some of that myself.

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    I can sympathise totally! I haven’t intentionally taken a break from kdramas yet but there’s not been much lately that I’ve really enjoyed watching. Especially in comparison to last year, and that feeling has only been increasing throughout the year so far. That said, some of the upcoming dramas look good though, so better or for worse I’ll give them a shot, but I’ve been exploring much more on the Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese side of things too lately. I suppose not having all my eggs in the one basket means that I won’t feel as let down if a drama does go a bit sideways for me!

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    I definitely feel you! Kdramas this year have unfortunately been an underwhelming bunch as a whole. While I’m not planning on taking a break anytime soon (still holding out hope for some upcoming shows before they inevitably disappoint me), I totally understand people moving away from the medium for a bit.

    Like you, shows from other countries have increasingly been fulfilling my needs for strong storytelling and compelling characters. I know it’s almost a taboo to admit on this site, but I’ve slowly been rediscovering my love for English-language television. There’s just so much great stuff out there! And much of it very much exploring and telling the kinds of stories that pique my interests the most. I’ve just finished live-watching the last season of Succession, a show that has almost makjang-like elements in its surreal writing and heightened characters, and yet somehow depicts our hellish late-stage capitalist reality with a kind of sharp clarity I rarely see in media of any medium. I now realize just how much I miss this sort of content from my tv shows and how lacking a lot of kdramas are in comparison. Because you’d think with all the increasing prestige and budgets, a creator out there would try to create something actually new and creative, but apparently not. Kdramas, as a medium, feels like it’s stuck in a rut.

    Sorry, I got a little rambling. I just have a lot of thoughts on this topic and it was also the perfect space for me to sit out my feelings on maybe my favourite new show ever, which I fully expected to be a kdrama and is not.

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      I have reserved the next couple of months to finally binge Succession – can’t wait!

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    I know I am replying late, but I just browsed your Fan Wall here. I recently watched two Jdramas that I highly recommend: Full Time Wife Escapist (We Married as a Job) and Turn to Me Mukai Kun. Both are now available on Netflix NA.

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      We Married as a Job is one of my favorite dramas of all time. I love every single thing about it. (My MyDramaList review, if you’re interested: https://mydramalist.com/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/reviews/142523)

      Turn to Me Mukai Kun is on my to-watch list. I don’t have Netflix or most other streaming services though, so I have to find other ways of watching dramas.

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        Turn to Me Mukai Kun will be worth your effort to find and watch. If you care to scroll down my Fan Wall a bit, I put up a couple of images/links about it. What amazed me the most about this show is the incredible script; it contains some of the most intelligent and thought-provoking dialogue that I have ever seen concerning human interactions and relationships.

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Why can’t I make posts on my fanwall longer than 200 characters? Does anyone know why that’s happening?

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    This is a perennial issue – here’s how to get around it:

    Type your text somewhere else (Word, notes app, etc.) and then copy it. Paste it into the dialog box using the mouse/cursor, not a keyboard shortcut. For example, in Chrome, go to Edit then Paste. Shortcuts such as command-V or ⌘-V won’t work. After pasting, do not type anything else in the dialog box or everything over 200 characters will disappear again. You can still add photos or links.

    There’s a much greater limit on characters in replies to posts.

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      Ya know, reading your answer, I think I may have asked this question before, lol. Thanks for the reminder!

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I just watched the first ep of Oh! Youngsim, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Has anyone else watched it?

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    I have!
    It’s simple, old school, cliche and I liked it. 😂

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      It’s SO old school, simple, and low budget, but I find it oddly charming lol. The little cartoon adds a bit of flair to the show, too.

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        The old school I don’t mind, but it did feel very simple and low budget. Honestly, it felt a little bland in how it was presented, even though I liked the story. The cartoon is really cute though.

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      I thought the story and the characters were generally good, but something about it felt off to me. I struggled to connect with. Hopefully, it will grow on me as I watch.

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    I couldn’t finish episode 1, so not of much help.

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    Ep 2 really started to fill out, I like it!

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      Yeah, ep 2 was much better. I actually laughed out loud multiple times. My only concern is with the preview for ep 3 which appears to imply that the dating show was only meant to be one episode within the drama’s universe. If that’s the case, it kind of feels like we were tricked to some degree into watching the drama by telling us it has a dating show premise? That might not be what is going to happen, and I misunderstood the preview. Or maybe it is what the writers have planned, and I’ll find that I like what they do instead. But it’s got me scratching my head.

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Beanies, I need assistance. What are some of the different names/terms for the traditional Asian drama female lead, the one who is usually long-suffering and constantly taken advantage of and can never seem to leave whatever situation is hurting them yet after eons of undeserved trauma, still ends up getting a happily ever after? I know there’s the Candy which is kind of treated as a catch-all term, but that doesn’t really describe the different variations of this type of female lead, in my opinion. I’m probably in the minority on this, but I actually think this type of female lead has a slightly wider and more diverse spectrum then it gets credit for. I just can’t, for the life of me, think of any terms/names/tropes other than the Candy. Am I wrong and that’s really it, or are there more trope descriptors our there I just haven’t come across yet?
Hope there’s actually someone awake at this hour to answer this, lol.

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    As far as I’m aware the only word is Candy. Although if the Candy lacks agency, I use the term pot plant.

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    “… I actually think this type of female lead has a slightly wider and more diverse spectrum then it gets credit for”

    Can you elaborate?

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    This is unrelated to your original post, @ohsoenthusiastic, but I just wanted to come to your wall to let you know how much I enjoy your reviews! Thank you for the time and effort you put into writing them, and they are already helping me with making better choices!😁

    I also liked the question you posed here on your wall, 3 years ago now! Like zoeraindasherbenji below, I’d be interested to read your thoughts on the different notches on this spectrum because I agree that there’s a bit more going on there. What are your thoughts, 3 years on?

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      Thank you! I’m pretty active on MyDramaList writing reviews, and I figured I should copy and paste them to Dramabeans as well. I don’t have any IRL friends who watch dramas, so reviews are my opportunity to verbal diarrhea my thoughts and feelings. Which usually involves me getting lost in the weeds, lol.

      I asked the above question, because I was working on a guest post for Dramabeans: https://www.dramabeans.com/2019/09/hey-thats-me-in-defense-of/ I haven’t really spent much time trying to nail down the differences between all these different types of female leads, but it is something I think about a lot. I still really love these kinds of characters, despite modern attitudes about them, and I think it’s unfair to cast them aside as ‘harmful’ or ‘bad representation’ or some other critique I see all the time. But again, I haven’t dug much deeper than that.

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So I’ve been thinking about something for a little while now, and I want some other drama lovers thoughts on it.

As we all know, there was a period there where all of the illegal drama streaming sites were being forcefully taken down by broadcasting companies, etc. that owned the dramas the sites were hosting. Obviously, this was perfectly within their legal rights to do, especially seeing as more and more legal sites were popping up where they could put their dramas and make money off of them.

Of course, this pretty much ceased all fan subbing and also meant a lot of dramas that would have never seen the light of day if it had not been for these fan teams lost their chance to be viewed by a western audience.

Now, maybe I’m wrong about this, but I’ve noticed that this takedown of illegal streaming sites doesn’t seem to really be happening anymore, even though there are still some illegal streaming sites out there. And the sites today aren’t just re-uploading the videos with fan-subs. They’re re-uploading most of the professionally done subs as well.

I only actually know of two illegal streaming sites that are out there right now, because I stopped using all of the illegal sites when they started getting taken down and have only recently started using them again, but they don’t appear to be having issues with these companies anymore. Or am I incorrect in that assumption? Are these companies still as dogged about finding these sites and taking them down?

And I guess this brings me to my next question which is…am I the only one who kind of misses the old days of Asian drama viewing and kind of wishes we could maybe go back?

Just thoughts from a beanie.

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    Also, I name dropped the two illegal streaming sites I was talking about and discovered that they are considered inappropriate words on Dramabeans. Which is totally fine but made me chuckle, lol.

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    How far is your old days of Asian drama viewing? Hehe. Is it the days before drama streaming was a thing?

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      Before Dramafever existed. I started my drama viewing lifestyle on MySoJu which was the original for streaming dramas online. They had EVERYTHING. And if they didn’t have something, someone would put it on there, lol.

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        Lol. I can’t recall if I ever used mysoju but I’ve heard about it before.

        Clubbox, cruncyroll, hjsplit, withs2, sarssubs, megaupload, mediafire, dc++, dialup etc were part of my old drama watching days. It feels so nostalgic. Drama watching has changed so much.

        I started actively watching jdramas/kdramas in Uni and my old drama watching days involved downloading the episodes and also the .srt sub files.

        I even bought drama cds/dvds. Oh the memories. New laptops don’t even have a dvd slot. Hahaha

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          I remember downloading One drama (although there might have been a couple episodes from another one at some point), because downloading was terrifying concept to me, but I wanted to watch this drama that bad, lol. I streamed everything else, because I couldn’t bring myself to download anything.

          And I totally plan on buying DVD sets once I have the means to do so.

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            Iirc, I once bought an original DVD at a legit DVD shop but the subs were awful. It was hard to make sense of the subs. 😂😂

            I still download some dramas that I like. It’s easier compared to back then. I downloaded 50+ East of Eden eps for Park Hae Jin via clubbox, I don’t recall how long it took me. Hahaha

            Walking through memorylane~
            http://www.dramabeans.com/members/katakwasabi/activity/745628/

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            @katakwasabi I honestly don’t even care if the subs aren’t very good, lol. Just owning the show would be enough for me.

            How/where do you download dramas? I’m seriously considering downloading some of my favorites, because I just want to own them so much.

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          It used to really be a community back then. The more commonplace watching dramas has become though and the more accessible they are, the less and less like a real community it feels. At least that’s how it’s started to feel to me lately. At the same time, there’s simply not the same selection of dramas today for us westerners as there was then. Back then, it seemed like everything was out there to watch if you wanted to. New dramas, old dramas, obscure dramas, you name it, someone probably subbed it. Now with legal sites that only have certain dramas and only from certain countries, it feels like there are less dramas to watch. But I know part of it is I’m just nostalgic for days gone by, and I hate endings, and drama viewing the way we know it has been slowing changing and in some ways ending and the genre itself has begun to evolve and change, and that just makes me really sad.

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        lmao i felt like dying the day mysoju died.

        I miss it too, but i don’t miss the quality of what we used to have. Still, i feel like there’s no website not that has EVERYTHING, old drama, old movies, from different nationality. There’s one that starts with a K but it has lots of problem and disappear regulary…

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    I went from Crunchyroll and mysoju straight to Viki and Dramafever. I think the illegal sites are a lot harder to take down these days, as they just keep popping back up with a different URL when they’re taken down. I totally don’t mind paying for content, but when something’s not available legally, I’ll occasionally resort to one of those.

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    Nah I think they just got really good at shifting servers and shit

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I Wanna Hear Your Song:

So what I’m saying is I’m not sure why I’m still totally invested in this show, because it really doesn’t deserve it right now, lol.

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    Well, it has disappointed me in different ways with another miserable female character and running away from logic but I can’t wait for next week to watch the rest!!😂

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I Wanna Hear Your Song:

Also, let me just say that it was pretty shitty of Maestro to hire her to be a timpanist when she made honestly what was a pretty major (even if totally unintentional and understandable) mistake that should have kept her from being hired to begin with…and then he fired her for the same mistake he originally overlooked and didn’t have the human decency to do so privately before the next rehearsal but instead chose to do it in front of an audience. Like, I was feeling your character, but that was cruel and unnecessary, and now I’m kind of hoping you find yourself naked and drunk in the middle of the road one day with everyone pointing and staring and laughing. (Don’t get me started on her going back to ask for a ‘second chance’ and him being like ‘you can be my assistant,’ because no on both accounts.)

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    I think he’s an A-hole plus the way he treats the violinist is horrible too (even if she’s not the greatest either).

    But then he has moments like on the stage when he said ‘i see your spark and i hope we’ll perform together on the stage one day’ and i go awww maybe you can be a good person after all.

    Made me wonder if this is how people get sucked into toxic relationships..

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    I may have misread this. The office did call her (her sister picked up the phone) to convey the news about the change.
    And they were surprised she came to practice.

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Potential I Wanna Hear Your Song Spoilers
…
…
…
SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THIS GIRL STILL ISN’T THE SLIGHTEST BIT SUSPICIOUS THAT THIS GUY INTENDS HER HARM AFTER TAKING HER TO TWO EXTREMELY TRIGGERING PLACES AND SAYING SUCH ODD AND MILDLY THREATENING THINGS TO HER!!! WHY IS SHE NOT RUNNING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION FROM HIM SCREAMING EVERY TIME SHE SEES HIM!!! AM I THE ONLY ONE FEELING THIS WAYS?!?!?!?! I DON’T UNDERSTAAAAAAAAND!!!!!

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    It is and will still bother me (as much as I find Yoon interesting) but idk how Yi-young’s mind works. I wonder if it is all “Oh, I’m in Dramaland so it is probably safe to be with him.” I think it might trigger some people so LMHYS should be watched with caution.

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      I mean, she’s obviously had at least two traumatic brain injuries, so maybe any sense of self-preservation was knocked loose?

      But then again, I’m finding the creepers very compelling and charming, so who am I to judge.

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        😂🤣

        *raises hand*

        Me too.

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          We are not okay, are we?

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            My barometer is so broke when it comes to a fictional “hero”.

            Sig in a Hundred Million Stars: won’t trust him with a cat but he is charismatic, mysterious, and a bit broken….so ship.

            Hyun Bin in Secret Garden: Pushy, arrogant, doesnt respect boundaries but smolders, has dimples and a quirky fashion sense….so ship.

            Cheese in the Trap Guy: um…pretty sure he is a sociopath, but he just wants to feed the heroine….so ship.

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        The thing is, experiencing trauma typically makes you More cautious, not less. So even from that angle it doesn’t make sense.

        Honestly, I don’t know why it’s bugging me so much this evening, because I was totally rolling with all of it before, making peace with whatever nonsense the drama might decide to get up to. But tonight it’s hitting all my rage buttons, lol.

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          Nah, I get what you’re saying. She’s being written as extremely naive, with very little of the spidey sense that many women recognize almost daily when it comes to dealing with creepers.

          I think I’m letting it go because I like the actors? And I know the male lead won’t turn out to be a murderer, and will soon realize his target of revenge is off, and I also suspect that the maestro is not a baddy either.

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            It’s not even female spidey-sense. It’s just plain ol’ common sense. His behavior is off on every metric, and you’d literally have to be standing on the moon not to see it. She comes across as having the intelligence level of a potato. Which sucks, because I actually quite like her otherwise.

            I know, just by years long engrained drama logic alone, that the male lead isn’t a bad guy, and he’s going to realize he’s barking up the wrong tree, but I am still very confused by his behavior and what exactly the writers want me to feel about him. I can’t tell if they want me to find him disturbing or sympathetic and misguided, and the way he’s being portrayed is starting to give me whiplash. (No offense to the fine actor playing him who’s name I’ve forgotten, because I don’t remember most actor/actresses names, lol.)

            As for the second male lead, I have issues with him as well, mostly the hiring and firing fiasco he created that served to do nothing else than humiliate our female lead and dash her hopes, but I think you’re probably right, and he’s not a bad guy. He probably even had a hand in saving the female lead from the true bad guy. But right now he comes across as a real dope who doesn’t understand how to not be hurtful.

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            I even think the male lead may turn out to be her boyfriend from one year ago, not the dead brother. But overall, I am VERY creeped out by this show and both Yeon Woo-jin and Song Jae-rim’s characters.

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            @greenfields
            If he was the boyfriend the sister would have definitely known. Since no one recognizes him I assume he was not in town.
            I have some suspicions about the cousin sister. Probably totally unwarranted.
            Why hide her memories? Without her family hiding photos, deleting pics from her phone etc she would have some peek into that timeframe. Given that she is so clueless am afraid the family did some shady business.

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            @mayhemf – to be honest, i am trying to rationalise the kiss because it really creeped me out haaha

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            @mayhemf, there is most definitely going to be some kind of connection to the car accident that killed her parents. Something smells fishy about that whole business, but hopefully that doesn’t mean there will be some noble idiocy later. I will hate that.

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            @egads
            It will be sad if her family (uncle/aunt) deceived her. I did find it odd that when she spoke about herself, she introduced herself as an orphan to Jang. That was the first thing she said. On paper, it looks like she had a loving family who treat her like their own. But somehow, it looks like she is just putting on a show to seem chirpy and happy.
            She is terribly lonely, is what I got from her so far. She clings to anything that gives her attention.

            I find it weird, that she was even ok if Nam would have kissed her on that stage.

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            @greenfields Oooooh, that’s a possibility I hadn’t thought of. Although she only lost three months worth of memory, so she would have had to have met him and started dating him immediately before the traumatic event occurred for the timing to work, which does seem a little unlikely to me.

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            @mayhemf I think her family is just protecting her/they might not actually know the truth of what happened either because the female lead’s memories are gone so she can’t actually tell them.

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            @mayhemf As for there being no photos or other evidence that she knew Ian, something most likely happened to her phone during the event in question so anything on it would have been lost, and it looks like she only knew this guy a super short period of time, so she might not have even had any photos of him to begin with. We have to remember that she only lost three months worth of memory, so only so much could have happened during that time frame.

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            @egads I hadn’t thought about that, but I think you’re right. The writers are pulling the typical ‘play up both events and how similar they are’ technique which can only mean we’re eventually going to see the ‘it’s all connected’ trope pop up soon.

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    I understand, even though I am waaayyyyy more suspicious than our lead and have a bit more info on the stalker than her I am intrigued too.

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    Me watching that car scene:
    girl why you drive so far, late at night, to a secluded area??
    girl why are you following him into a dark house??
    girl take him up on the offer to call someone you know!!!

    Girl must’ve lost a few brain cells in her numerous falls.

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My final thoughts about The Secret Life of My Secretary finale episode, in order of their appearance in my head:

I didn’t realize this was the last week of episodes! I thought we had one more week! But we don’t! And now it’s over! And I’m sad!

First the final episode of The Duchess of Duke Street earlier this evening utterly wrecks me. (Do yourself a favor and watch that series. And prepare to cry at the end.) Now my current drama love is over! I need consoling. And a tub of ice cream.

That. Was. The. Moment. To. End. The. Drama. ON. That last scene….WAS PERFECTION!!!!!! FEELINGS!!!! I HAVE FEELINGS!!!! SO MANY FEELINGS!!!!!!

This drama makes me so happy. I take back any criticisms I had before. I don’t care anymore. This drama has no flaws. Only moments of pure excellence.

I guess now I gotta find something Else to watch that will help lesson the feeling of incompleteness after finishing Two shows, one with a bittersweet ending and one with the perfect happy ending. My head and my heart are so heavy and full at the same time and I think I’m crying.

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Just saw that my submission for this month’s theme was posted the other day, and I’m over here all giddy, lol. Thought it didn’t get accepted because it was over 1500 words (I HAD FEELINGS, OKAY?!) so I told myself to forget about it and then I really did forget, lol. Now Dramabeans just needs to put out a monthly theme that lets me talk about the MySoju days, because Boy. That was the Wild West of western drama viewing, and somebody needs to teach the chitlin’s about that. ‘When I was your age, I had to walk 10 miles in the snow, do a cartwheel through traffic, and a voodoo dance on my roof just to watch a drama.’

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    MySoju was never available to me, but when I was young (!) there was a shady site which had you download an app, then download the drama episode in 5 parts and feed it into the app to rejoin. Then download the subs. Open the episode with a specific player. Load and time the subs, aaaand watch!!! I did it only once. It was nerve-wracking, and I didn’t need any more nerves wracked with a toddler and a newborn!

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      Woooooooah. That’s intense. MySoju was not like that. You watched everything on their site. You did need a strong adblocker though, because it was littered with pop-ups. And I think it could be quite slow sometimes too, but when you got an itch, you gotta scratch it, lol.

      Now I want to collect people’s stories from the wild west of drama viewing days and turn it into another post for the site, lol.

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        😂😂

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        Even back then I refused to watch anything online. I think the closest I streamed online was myasian.tv but I hated the awful quality. When clubbox was gone, Daddicts offered a ton of torrent links that WITH S2 and Haru subs based their softsubs from so that’s where I used to get torrents. And that’s how you used to support fansubs too for their efforts. By their rules, it was illegal to hardsubs. So you download the episodes and use their softsubs!

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          Gaaaah good old memories slowly coming back!!! when WITHS2 and Haru subs team slowly became hiatus due to personal matters, darksmurfsub then emerged. Their fan sub concept was sort of what viki is now, like there was a template of sub per episode. So it was autosubbed from Korean to Chinese to English. Fans of would then be involved in translating/editing the subs to make them readable for other fans and you could also see the progress too in %. Then I believe that’s when viki came around.

          Gahhh don’t you just love how fans come together and help each other out sharing their love for dramas! 😃

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            I believe Viki was actually not wholly legal in the beginning and slowly transitioned into being a legal streaming site (unless I read that wrong somewhere). It was the only way for them to continue existing if they didn’t want to be eventually shut down or legally punished. I know that’s probably part of what happened to MySoju.

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            @ohsoenthusiastic yes correct! Viki had online streaming up for free just like the illegal sites today, and boy were of low quality videos! That’s why I didn’t use viki stream at that time. I Still resorted to downloading from daddicts. Anyways To prevent the site from going down and mostly owners receive legal actions, they decided to do things under the law. It took me quite a while to sign up on their service cuz dramafever then emerged, offered HQ which then turned to HD quality videos. Dramafever didn’t have 8hr turn around of subs until recent years. Then the dramas and subs turned into dramafever vs viki competition for whoever got the licences fast. I remember if viki got the exclusive, dramafever would have to wait weeks until they could offer that same drama on their site. Vice versa with viki.

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          I never used torrents, except for I think in two cases. I was terrified of downloading things that might have virus or other nasty stuff attached. Not to mention the process of downloading torrents is confusing as h*** to me. Now I have no idea how to get into torrenting dramas, and I’m afraid of getting in trouble for it, lol.

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            Yes. I guess whether you watch it online or download, both were done illegally, so there was always that risk of getting virus from them. But torrent files offered HQ 720p of episodes, and daddicts supplied us all those torrent links, (there was a thread where you could request for seeds if drama was years old and no one was seeding), so I guess that gave an extra safety net for us when downloading videos. Then they got the memo too that they were going to be shut down, so they removed all torrent services off their sites. I *think*(haven’t been there for a long time now) they become sort of soompi now; just a forum to hang out for fans.

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      Lol I do remember those good old days with clubbox and hjsplit! And megaupload days!!! 😂😂😂 WITH S2 and Haru subs with those 1 week wait and you could see the progress of subs on their site.

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      I totally forgot all about MySoju!!!! It’s been soooooo long

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    Congrats on getting published. Your article was a wonderful tribute to Dramafever 💔

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      Thank you! It was the first time I ever submitted something, and I was very nervous about it, lol.

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        I enjoyed reading it. It’s always interesting to read about things people have great enthusiasm for. Sorry that the it got shut down so precipitously.

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    lmao
    Seeing you guys talking about mysoju, with s2/haru sub, darksmurf… bring back memories yo!
    I still have hj split on my laptop and various external harddisks, dunno why… pretty sure I didn’t need them anymore

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      Omg! Same!!!! Well I don’t download dramas now since legal licences of viki and dramafever era, but I still have those dramas and soft subs I had downloaded and saved on my external hard drive! You’re Beautiful, Dal Ja Spring, My Prosecutor Princess, Dream High to name a few.

      I remember too javabeans used to fansub for WITH S2. So the routine was she would offer recaps of Dal Ja Spring on here, then we would have wait days (perhaps weeks too) until the softsubs that she was part of translating were out! Gaaaah!!!

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        oh my…
        bow to Beanie ancestor~

        This is another trip down the memory lane~
        When I think about it, can’t believe DB has existed that long and that we are still here~

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    Congrats!

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    Congratulations! It was a good write up! You still have time to write another one before tonight’s deadline! I want to know of the good ‘ole days!

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      I wasn’t part of any communities during eh MySoju days, unfortunately. Really wish I had been though.

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    I had completely forgotten about MySoju but what a throwback! I always used illegal means to watch drama online (oops), and although I’ll always remember the fear of downloading a nasty virus by mistake with the torrents, I still look back at those days fondly. :)) I would love to read up on the genesis of these various online streaming sites and subbing teams. It would be a fun trip down memory lane!

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Just finished tonight’s ep of Secret Life of My Secretary, and I know the story is deeply flawed and nonsensical and silly, but it’s doing literally everything I want it to so I just can’t get mad. I’m anxious every week for new episodes, then I watch the new episodes and I’m chewing at the bit for more. It’s putting me in my happy place.

The only thing that would make me More happy is if they went ahead and brought our leads back together in tomorrow’s ep so that they can be cute together again and use their combined awesomeness to take on the baddies at the company. I don’t even care about Gal Hee needing to pay penance for her lie. She’s sorry. She won’t do it again. They’re clearly in love with each other. Now can our precious couple work things out and be happy together? Pweeeeeease???

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    and last scene gave me all the hope its gonna happen today for sure.. he himself make her wear her red sweater (just opposite as its always her helping him wearing his suit)… and i went awwwwww at that scene..
    i cant be angry with this show at all no matter how silly the tropes are… it just fills the void in my heart which needed something fluff at this moment

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First post on my fan wall, and I’m confused. I only get 200 characters, but other people are able to make much longer posts. Is that just something you earn after so much interaction on the site?

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