Beans of Wisdom: Seeking hug chairs

by DB Staff

Look at us, bringing back an old thing and seeing if the engine still works after a little tune-up. Here are some recent Beans of Wisdom…

Reply 1988 joins the relief that Jinxed at First is off our hands and our screens, and notes in comment #2 that:

[…] It is funny how many of this year’s dramas where we wanted and expected to get wedding scenes have not delivered and others have given them unexpectedly.

 
Bong-soo also finished the drama and calls a spade a spade in comment #7:

[…] I finished JINXED and will claim my bean. I won’t call it a bean of shame but a bean of disappointment. It could have been so much more […]

 
Meanwhile, digging Ji Sung in Adamas, Korfan discusses how our hero investigates his way through the house he’s basically a prisoner of in comment #5:

My gosh, Woo-shin and how he moves throughout that house. I hesitate to use the word “reckless” because I want to believe he does have a well thought out plan as he said ….. but at times he comes across as a guy who is just pushing the boundaries to see how far he can get, and, if trouble comes up, he just improvises on the spot. This certainly creates quite the tension!

I’m liking everything about this show and I can’t look away!

 
And the discussion of his fearless wanderings continues with ladynightshade’s reply:

I think it’s a combination of methodical planning and winging it as he goes lol. There’s way too much risk-taking and outside factors for it to be entirely planned.

 
And Blue (mayhemf):

Same! i panic every time he wanders around. And then he and Hye Soo in the same room! Panic/stress is real!! lol.
I just hope both Ji Sung’s make it alive!

 
Speaking of stress, Big Mouth’s second week offers a bit of that for its hero, along with a dual identity — and true identities — that are calling up some good old-fashioned theorizing. Timelate discussed one such idea in comment #4:

Honestly I think he IS Big Mouse and either he has a multiple personality disorder or is an unreliable narrator

I just don’t believe a guy who never threw a punch can somehow hold his own during multiple attempted assassinations and many a prison fight

 
While Lord Cobol suggests another daring possibility in reply:

Another possibility might be Mi-ho… planting all that stuff in their home shouldn’t have been easy even for a big bad to arrange quickly, but a resident could have handled it.

 
And Sicarius takes it to another level with a another good theory (and ardent hope)

Personally, I want Kwak Dong Yeon/Jerry to be Big Mouse lmao.

I don’t even care if that’s plausible or not; Dalgeon II said Big Mouse might be in the prison nearby, he has a mouse tattoo and his name is Jerry, and my mind went “Fraq. Give it to me. Give me what Vincenzo didn’t.”

This probably won’t actually give it to me either but now that I’ve latched onto that ideabug, my brain won’t let it go very easily.

 
And there’s more! Kaddicted gives us another theory in comment #11, so fully fleshed out it’s hard not to believe…

[…] I suspect Mi-ho’s dad. He’s Chang-ho’s office manager so he has the keys and knows when the office is empty. He could be conducting his business from there when Chang-ho is in court. He was a cop for 20 years and told the arresting officers that showed up at the hospital to take Chang-ho away on drugs charges that he used to be the ‘captain of criminal affairs’. That being so, he will have had contact and perhaps a long association with many criminals.

Why leave the police to become an office manager for a third-rate lawyer? I don’t remember any explanation of that but could be wrong. But if he is BM, then what a great shield Chang-ho has been. Unsuccessful, apparently inept, but could that be because of the cases he takes on, funnelled through his office manager who keeps him ticking over with only a 10% win rate?

Also, our married couple live with him in his house, so he knows their movements at all times. Mi-ho wears the pants and her father seems to be afraid of her too, but is he pretending? Really, it’s just a perfect set-up for him. Too bad Chang-ho went off-piste and tried to mug Gong Ji-hoon over the dashcam footage. I’m not convinced the haul was planted in the office ceiling in that short space of time between Chang-ho being arrested and the search carried out. It is just as likely to have been there all along if Mi-ho’s dad was hiding it there.

If father-in-law is Big Mouse, then events could also be out of his control now to some extent. Hiding behind his own family is one thing, but now his daughter and son in law are also hunting for Big Mouse, one outside the prison and one inside. It may also explain why Chang-ho seems magically protected in jail by having taken on the persona of Big Mouse. Right now he seems to think Big Mouse might actually be in there with him, but father-in-law surely has contacts after 20 years in the police, enough to start a “Big Big Big” chant from a handful of prisoners that could spread to a crescendo. There are things Chang-ho did himself to make inmates believe he is BM, but even he can see there is another force at work backing him up.

 
Leaving identity question marks for other question marks, we turn to the most recent episodes of Today’s Webtoon for some Kim Se-jung love:
 
sunnysaturdays in comment #6:

Important question: How does Kim se jeong have chemistry with everyone?
I noticed this in business proposal and school 2017 too. She’s so cute with both Joon young and Jihyung, HOW? […]

 
Kafiyah Bello in comment #3:

Can I just say that one of my favorite things about Kim Se Jong as an actress, it is that she knows how to wake up. Most actors no matter how well they act are actually good at pretending to wake up, most of them just pop up. My other thing is that she actually eats, most actresses pretend or literally pick at their food, she eats and with gusto. Random thoughts.

Now onto the episodes Ma Eum serving Rock Lee realness in their race made me happy. This was a very interesting way of depicting depression.

 
Mina00 in comment #11

Binge watched 4 episodes last weekend. Amazing cast . I loved all of them but somehow the drama seems little lost ! I hope next week will be better 🙂

 
And, finally, a comment (#13) from loveblossom on Ma-eum’s costuming (and she ain’t wrong):

[…] I wish Ma Eum had better fitting office outfits!! They keep putting her in baggy or boxy clothes and trying to make her look bulky??? One of her tucked-in buttoned shirts had a noticeable puff on her back… It was distracting. […]

 
Love for Extraordinary Attorney Woo continues, but is now joined by concern over how well (or not well) the drama will wrap up its… uh… drama.
 
PYC shares thoughts that:

[…] EAW doesn’t set out to be earth shattering but rather a piece on the personal and professional growth of Young-woo which has been such a joy to me as a viewer. I love how each case prompts her to reflect and improve, which is wonderful to watch. Likewise her relationship with Junho is progressing organically with deep thoughts on both sides.

The spicing up from the birth secret and Min-woo in my view are not that necessary – let’s hope those plot lines do not get overblown in the last four episodes.

 
Aidualc’s hopeful take:

I too now think that it wont go the usual kdrama way with contrived conflicts. I actually don’t think the conflict that’s hinted in the preview is what it seems. I think that line will be about the two people we see in one of the shots and not about Young Woo and Jun Ho. Of course like she did with previous cases Young Woo will probably relate that to her own relationship but I do think they wont linger on it too much. So far drama has surprised us by not having the usual catty secondary characters (minus Min Woo). Jun Ho is a really nice guy, it’s not a stretch to think his parents might be too.

 
Nal shares the feels in comment #4:

I spent episode 11 foreseeing things
I had barely finished saying that the dude better not break su-yeon’s heart… Sigh
And then I started asking myself, when a truck of doom would knock Min-woo off because I really can’t stand seeing him for even 5 minutes but I guess it missed its target this time. Fingers crossed for the next week’s episodes.
Protect WYW and Jun-ho at all cost! The writers better not mess with this! We don’t need any unnecessary break up or noble idiocy PLEASEEEEE
“I’ll be your personal hug chair” I melted. […]

To which Sicarius adds:

Where’s my personal Junho hug chair for my anxiety […]

 
…after which a lot of Beanie sleuthing (and possible online shopping) occurs.

 
Moving from hug chairs to ex-acupuncturists, we turn to the second week of Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist, and Beanie’s thoughts on how the show is shaping up:
 
Miso in comment #8:

I like the drama. The crimes and their solutions aren’t particularly original but I find the clinic’s association with them refreshing. I’d like more focus on the clinic’s cast of characters and their history – I guess we’ll get them eventually the way we did for Grandma.

As for the second lead, he makes me miss Bead Boy, a truly memorable example of the ‘adopted son of corrupt minister’ trope.

 
While LT is Irresistibly Indifferent, Dame Judi replies:

Also apropos of nothing, how much fun was Secret Royal Inspector and Joy? I was kind of hoping this show would be that kind of fun.

 
In comment #10, Toodlepip agrees with the general consensus of too-long episodes:

These episodes dragged for me. Commander Im is also an aggravating factor along with small things like people doing high fives (was that a thing in the Joseon era? Maybe it was but it seemed out of place) I enjoyed last week’s episodes so I’m somewhat disappointed this week. I’ll keep going for another while, as I keep this for my Wednesday night viewing, but it needs to pick up.

 
As does Kafiyah Bello in comment #11:

The episodes for this are too long, for no reason. However, I continue to enjoy the relationship of the leads. He seems like a good teacher and she a willing student. I have said this before, but I really appreciate that she is so smart and acts like it.

 
But still it seems like there’s enough cute to keep people watching? #staycuteShow
 
Speaking of cute — and to end this round-up on a relaxing note — we have the variety show In the Soop: Friendcation, about puppies five celeb friends taking time to chill together. In comment #3, Amara reads minds and explains what’s so nice about the show:

[…] kinda reminds me…of house on wheels. it was so soothing and it felt good to watch. also it’s nice to see male friendships not centered around some weird dynamic and actual intimacy.

i only caught glimpses but i think i’m gonna watch all of them to wind down. it’s been a trying time

 
Reply 1988 shares similar thoughts in comment #1:

[…] They reminded me of the pure joy of being totally comfortable with friends like siblings when they were singing and talking about who was the person snoring. I loved that Wooshik had compiled evidence in advance to prove he wasn’t the one snoring just in case

The conversation in the bed at night and in the car were much more serious adult conversations and showed that all adults whatever our roles and responsibilities have times when we need to reflect and be proactive in planning for the life we want.

[…]

I don’t like reality tv usually but I must say this has been surprisingly good and I am glad I got to experience it. […]

 
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