[2021 Year in Review] Viewing parties for two

by Guest Beanie

Mad for Each Other

By @shichybot

Towards the end of 2020, I met the love of my life on Dramabeans. Beanies might have come across our (shichybot and ahjussi clown) trying-to-be funny and flirtatious replies to each other’s comments in Do You Like Brahms? and Start-Up recaps. And if those were already cringe-worthy, you should be thankful you aren’t on Twitter. This post is also a sort of thank-you to @purplesheesh who saw it all, I think, and still follows us here and on “that bird app” (haha!).

Ahjussi Clown and I come from opposite ends of the world. He was in North America and I was in Asia when we first met online. Because of pandemic restrictions, we couldn’t easily meet in person. We quickly found out that what we have together was worth pursuing, and while we worked on merging our lives, we continued to do what brought us together: watch K-dramas. It’s amazing how much we owe to online platforms that enable us to connect and have viewing parties in the midst of this pandemic.

The Uncanny Counter

 
We started the year with The Uncanny Counter, and after the tumultuous Start-Up fan wars, we were content to let the characters do the fighting this time instead. We liked the innocent and earnest Mun, jaded tsundere Hannah, ripped Mo-tak with the tragic romantic story, and motherly Mae-ok. It was comforting to see a newfound family fight the evils of the world and we related to it, as we now have each other to fight our battles with.

We loved Navillera. Something about the adorable harabogi who learned ballet in his later years while battling Alzheimer’s struck a chord about preserving precious memories and not being afraid to start something new. “What will people think?” resonated with us, because we also thought the same thing when telling people about how we met, and our decision to uproot our lives for love.

Nevertheless

Move to Heaven was our agreed-upon “Best of 2021.” It had the same theme of preserving memories like Navillera, but in a deeper and more profound way. We both went through grief, him recently, and going through the things left behind by loved ones who passed away aided us in the process of healing.

We both really loved Mad for Each Other and thought it depicted mental health issues really well. The story of two “crazy” people healing together and just becoming people who were “crazy in love” was such a romantic and touching story. It really brought on the feels for my trash oppa, and of course, for the quirky leading lady, too.

Vincenzo

We watched Racket Boys and Nevertheless at the same time. While the former was sweet, heart-warming, and had lots of great moral lessons about sportsmanship, teamwork, family, community, young love, and the simple life, Nevertheless was… the opposite. The plot was sus, the characters were sus, but because of the sensual cam, lovely OST, and Song Kang’s charm, we really enjoyed it. We snarked about it, sure, but it was a well-made, realistic drama… nevertheless.

Like regular couple dates, our drama watching didn’t go well all the time. There were dramas this year which we started but ended up finishing just because the other liked it, such as Vincenzo (I enjoyed it, he said it was torture after Episode 8), Law School (he liked it and I just trudged along to know who the killer was).

We also dropped a lot of dramas (Monthly Magazine Home, My Roommate is a Gumiho, Jirisan, etc.) a few episodes in for varied reasons. There were also dramas that we found really good during the first half, like Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and Dal-li and Gamjatang, but that didn’t deliver for the second half, which was really disappointing. You Are My Spring started out really weird, but because we already expected the whiplash between rom-com and serial killer thriller, we appreciated the show more.

Work Later, Drink Now

Currently, we are watching Work Later, Drink Now and loving it so far. We are a bit behind on drama-watching because, as we are moving closer to D-day and finally meeting in person (!!!), we find ourselves busy with real life things like finding and decorating the condo, pre-martial counseling sessions, him adjusting to a new country and new firm, my visa applications, and so on. And we’re so excited to be spending our first Christmas together — like a Hallmark movie!

After all these words, I guess what I just wanted to say for this year’s theme is that I’m so grateful for this site and this space, and for a community where we find friendships and love.

And even though Ahjussi Clown and I are now going to be together in person, in real life, we are still going to watch and enjoy (or not enjoy) our K-dramas — and talking about them here with the Beanies on Dramabeans.

You Are My Spring

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