Have realised that every k-drama I'm watching right now has something to do with the law 🤔.

COMPLETED
Once Upon a Small Town - Went back to being all sweetness and light. What a relief to see an actual functioning long-distance relationship in a k-drama.

Good Job - A little too much Sec. Kim in the last couple of episodes but still a good show if you like the leads. The supporting cast were great too.

ONGOING
The Law Café - Well we were always headed for this point so I really wish Jung-ho had been honest earlier. Their friendship totally would have weathered it.

May It Please the Court - The leads are great and the episodic stories are fine but the overarching politics-corruption-murder arc is SO boring.

Love in Contract - I got so mad when the FL told ML it was better when he didn't talk. He's the most precious bean and deserves better. So does the FL's BFF.

STARTED
One Dollar Lawyer - Cackled at the Fire Chicken/Buldak (my favourite ramen brand lol) joke and I was in. Namgoong Min is great as always.

C-DRAMAS
Planning to watch Falling Into You. Let's see how it goes. I'm not having a good time with c-dramas recently 😅.

Young Actors retreat❤️
Episode 5
Still the highlight of my week😊

Seasons of Blossom
I really enjoy this drama they have a good mix of the past and present storylines. I am looking forward to seeing more from the current teens storyline so we can get to see their characteristics.

The Golden spoon
I started episode three but it’s going to have to be my watch while rowing drama as the violence and game playing is agitating me.

One dollar lawyer
Liking that we are getting more backstory.

Love in Contract
What to say about this messy drama. It’s taking too long to settle in. Understatement of the year: Women are not being portrayed well in this drama. Emotional abuse is the main weapon and there are too many side characters being used to show the character traits of the main players. I am sticking with it solely because I need the bean and it’s harmless although I am shouting at the screen A LOT.

Mental coach Jegal
This week was a joy as they set a trap for the baddies and they fell for it big time. It will be good to see if they can continue to be a force to be reckoned with as they challenge the big players using their own tactics against them. Found family vibes definitely competing with the Prison playbook cell squad.

Gaus electronics
Only episode one has been released. Their bullying did not play well so I could not laugh when it was called out as it was too realistic even though they had tried to exaggerate it to be cartoonish. I will give it the four episodes before I call it unless the bullying continues to be a feature.

Three bold siblings
Only watched one episode. I enjoyed it but was distracted with finishing Healer and The Package however now they have been completed I will catch up with this one and decide if I will carry on watching weekly or dip in and out.

Also watching: Unicorn / Seasons of Blossom / Gaus Electronics
Finished: Once Upon a Small Town / Good Job

The Golden Spoon (Episode 1-2) - Mood: C
Wouldn’t it have been so much more interesting if it was Tae Yong who received the spoon and decided to swap his life with Seung Cheon who also agreed with it? Not only is it a twist on the rags-to-riches trope, it also eliminates any need for the amnesia cliche which was clearly designed to delay a conflict between the boys. But back to the actual story: it does seem like Tae Yong’s father knows about the swap and might even have let it be given Seung Cheon’s potential in the company reports. What if he himself was the beneficiary of a swap himself: he might be Seung Cheon’s actual dad!

Update after Episode 3: We have at least one more confirmed golden spoon user in the homeless lady which is a scary foreshadowing for Seung Cheon if he continues to be greedy. The writer isn’t making up all of the rules as we go, right?

Love in Contract (Episode 3-4) - Mood: C-
My brain is screaming at me about the terrible writing that permeates nearly every beat of this show (omg the 2ML has seriously no sense of personal boundaries with the snooping around and the marriage bomb he dropped on the FL) but my heart is pulling me back in with Gwang Nam/Ji Ho and their struggles to just fit into family/society. I hope they won’t drop the part about how Sang Eun’s business targets the inferiority complex of men: it’s an interesting point to dwell on but I don’t have much hopes given that the attacker turned out to be Hae Jin’s stalker. Maybe through the 2 ex-clients?

Blind (Episode 3-4) - Mood: C-
It doesn’t make sense that Sung Joon is being framed as Yoon Jae since he’s also one of the 5 boys, therefore I believe he is Yoon Jae and probably suffers from split personality disorder (voice recording sounds like him, menacing glare as Sung Hoon searches his car, shaman’s possession scene?). It seems likely that the other 4 boys are Sung Hoon himself (taxi driver’s attempted blackmail), restaurant owner, the spectacled engineer and maybe the limping guy? Though I’m more interested in what Eun Ki knows (or has repressed): her mom being a prior nurse means that she saw some stuff?

Update after Episode 5: I’m confused as to why that one particular cop is so loyal to the child abusers? He looks young enough that it’s unlikely he’s partook in the past atrocities. Unless of course, there’s a plot twist and he’s 1 of the boys?

Little Women (Episode 7-8) - Mood: D+
Yes, the cliffhanger was extremely epic with the way In Joo managed to reverse the whole situation on Sang Ah but the speed at which she managed to recover from a Truck of Doom was just funny. Also, that clearly isn’t water but she just gulped it down. Well, they can mock the plastic surgery trope but it’ll be ironic if Jong Ho’s character remains arc-less?

Once Upon a small town: This really wrapped up nicely. It was cute, endearing, and oddly refreshing.

The Law Cafe: I continue to unabashedly love this drama. That was a hell of a kiss. That being said I don't feel bad for him, he had plenty of time to tell her and just didn't. As for the marijuana, I laughed and I'm glad they did understand it can be used as a pain reliever. What they didn't get right was she was far to high energy and wasn't nearly hungry enough.

If you wish upon me: This would have been a far superior drama without the room 403 arc. Or the complete about face with Joon kyung. Her depression and obsession are not just going to go away because she found out how her mother died and her pimp was always by her side. Outside of that it was a good drama, but those two things took up too much time.

Love in Contract: I really like Ji Ho. I like his awkwardness and quiet. He likes things a certain way and there is no reason why he should have to change for others. I really hate that Sang Eun was made to give up her money as a writing choice, why couldn't she be rich and fabulous. Also my poor Gwang Nam, I want only good things for him.

One-thousand Won lawyer: I watched episode 3 and was bored. The novelty of paying the won has died out and the cases just aren't interesting enough to keep me watching. Unfortunately NGM isn't enough. I was trying to hold out for LCA, but alas.

Gaus Electronics: The humor wasn't for me unfortunately, couldn't finish the episode.

Looking forward to Little Women and the Empire.

I'm contemplating watching Golden Spoon as I read a couple of chapters of the original webtoon some time ago and I remember liking it... only... I'm not sure I'm strong enough for all the bullying I hear about...

Three Siblings - hmmm, I don't know, I was rather underwhelmed with the 1st episode and only stayed because Big Sister finally said NO. I will give it a couple of episodes... and then maybe rather join Beanies who watch Ojakgyo Brothers (which I started many years ago and still plan to finish one day... Family's Honor as well).

Seasons of Blossom - I wish they did Bomi and Jinyoung more justice, I loved them in the webtoon, but here I miss some spark... which is a plenty in the story of Hamin and Somang and I'm swooning (and then dreading the end).

Love in Contract - it's more complicated and less comedy than I expected, but I actually like the drama. And I'm especially rooting for Jiho to find his happiness.

1$ Lawyer (1-2) - this is a comedy I needed! 😎

Planning to check Gaus because of Kwak Dong Yeon, obviously. 😊 What reminds me, I finally caved in and followed Beanies recommendations and started Young Actors' Retreat. 😍

Run On: have i talked about this drama here before?
So, the drama started really cute, has really pretty warm colors, with attractive characters having really fast conversations, which i used to have a hard time following them. But as the leads start to become couples, i just lost interest. I have no idea why, i can't explain with words. The magical touch just... lost? Danah is still the most interesting character but once she's dating, she just suddenly changed to someone i don't know. Is there something i miss?

Earth Arcade: i already miss the girls. Earth Arcade has been the shining stars that gives me hope to keep going for weeks. They are so entertaining and endearing, i love their bond. The games are so fun! They also have skills to make Na PD goes weak and i love it. I wish i can wipe out my memory of this show so i can start again.

Little Women: All the brains in the Oh family were split between In-kyung and In-hye. The Won Sang-ah reveal was not surprising but still satisfying. It’s really horrifying that she was treating people like characters in a play. In-hye was my favorite character this week.

May it Please the Court: I’m happy that Hulu is finally adding kdramas since I watch a lot of Hulu shows but never watch Disney+. I’m really enjoying this drama but the murder mystery storyline is unnecessary. The leads have good chemistry and the interaction between their characters is a lot of fun. Chak-hee needed the humbling. I like that there is a lot of unexpected humor.

The Golden Spoon: I didn’t expect much from this drama given the younger cast, but I liked the first two episodes a lot. I thought the acting, writing and directing were solid. I don’t have any faith in the writing holding up, but there’s potential for a complex tale. Does President Hwang know about the golden spoon? When he asked how many meals Sung-cheon had eaten at the house, my spidey senses went on alert.

Love in Contract: I’m still not impressed. I kind of like Ji-ho, maybe because I can identify with his being socially awkward, but I don’t care much for the FL
or SML. The chemistry is still lacking but PMY and GKP have more than PMY and KJY. PMY is so thin it is distracting.

The Empire: It’s a typical chaebol family soap opera, but there was some intriguing stuff. I liked Hye-ryul and the reveal that she was a Presidential contender was good. No offense to Ahn Jae-wook, but I had a hard time buying him as a mega popular idol-ish professor. His affair with the law student was the weakest part for me. I was going to say how stupid do you have to be to have an affair when you are gunning for the Blue House, but there have been plenty of real-life politicians caught doing the same. Ultra-religious former Supreme Court Justice gramps was creepy.

Three Brave Siblings: I didn’t like the mom, grandma or sister, but I liked the FL deciding to live for herself. It was pretty satisfying watching the FL tell her sister to get out of her house after the mom tried to force her into giving up her apartment. I like Im Joo-hwan but thought his acting was a little off at times.

Good Job: The drama was dragging by the end, but I liked that it didn’t take itself that seriously.

Seasons of Blossom. Adorable. Has heart. Tone down the background music though. We know they are being cute.

Still struggling do finish with If You Wish Upon Me. I like it. I like the concept. The first few episodes were strong. Ji Chang Wook and Soo Young are doing amazing things there. But it can be depressing to watch at times, especially after work. It also doesn't help that the focus lately was on the father and gang stuff. Stuck on Ep 13.

Once Upon a Small Town I will miss it. It was a fun and lovely watch. I really like shows that take place in the countryside, it's relaxing and beautiful.

The Law Cafe I need new Monday-Tuesday dramas to drop this one 😅

Mental Coach Jegal I really like this one. Even if there are more politics than I would like, the characters feel real. The actors are great.

Good Job It's over and I won't miss it.

Love in Contract I'm dropping this one. I don't like the characters and the story is a big mess. I found very funny she asked for oversized shirt 😅

Gaus Electronics I need to try this one for KDY!

The Golden Spoon I need to see more the new poor one than the new rich one. I already feel pity for the FL.

One Dollar Lawyer This drama is like Again My Life, instead to be LJG's show it's NGM's show. But the other characters or the story is not so interesting...

Little Women Between the wife and the husband, the Sisters found very crazy people!

May It Please the Court I'm tired by the cliché of the rich FL who can't use her commun sense and looks like a fool...

Season of Blossom It's sad they didn't choose better actors for the story in the present because the one in the past is really touching and made the rest very bland.

Young Actors' Retreat There were some very funny moments like Ryu Kyung-soo thinking that Kwak Dong-Yeon was only 1 year younger than him and not 5. Poor Ji Chang-Wook who lost every game , he's really not lucky! But in a general way, I would have prefered they chose games that both women and men could do, if I understand the "we need to protect our actresses" thinking, it makes the show very focused on the male actors.

Good job (10-12): It was a good watch.
Mental coach (5-6): Such a gem. I am loving the no medal club and their interactions.
May it please the court (3-4) & Season of Blossoms (5-6): Enjoying both
Love in contract 3-4): Its not working for me. Or is it because I am not in the mood to handle it? I am not sure. Its so messy, silly and overdramatic & not on an enjoyable level. The PPL is too much. And I am not able to connect to PMY’s character. Its so unlikeable.
Golden spoon (3): Damn !! I love the acting and writing. And after ep 3 I am all in for the Noona-Munki ship….. There seems to be more than one golden spoon which might more twists.. I wonder who the stepmom called and screamed on the phone asking to come back.

OLDER

Marriage contract (11-16): A good watch. Despite my initial dislike I warmed up to this series after about 5 episodes. I liked how positively they ended the series.
Ancient love poetry (1-5): I had issues with FL initially because she came out as a bit mannerless and annoying in the initial episodes. I see a bit change in her attitude after the whole match making ceremony so I decided to continue the series. The premises are interesting and the CGI is quite good. The ML reminds of ‘unicorn” for some reason.

GOOD JOB (Episode 11-12): It is always interesting that in kdramas the evil chaebols have vicious henchmen on call 24/7. The last two episodes meandered through obvious traps and fight scenes since we already knew the ending weeks beforehand. The last episode was merely Bossam shipper fan service as our leads relationship crawled to its conclusion (but not across the finish line). The old fashion comic caper style at the beginning tapered off dramatically at the end. The cast was nice, the story was straight forward and the conclusion was what was expected by fans. The producer clearly wants a second season for the detective agency but I don’t think the ratings will support it.

HAEUNDAE LOVERS (2012) (Ep 1-2): This is an old k-school rom-com that feels nostalgic even though it is only ten years old. Early on, it has many of the basic k-drama elements: the work-a-holic jerk fiancee, a disapproving mother, comical reformed gangsters who want revenge for betrayal by other members who now want redemption as high class business owners, the man close embrace of woman hiding from thugs, orphan story, etc. Jo Yeo Jeong is cute and spunky as the daughter of disabled mob boss in Busan. I think this is her first true comedy role so I am interested to see how she performs since in an interview she once said she only learned about making people laugh from the movie Casa Amor in 2015. I also recognize several well known character actors in the cast.

Love in Contract: 7.0 If our professional temporary fake wife/girlfriend ever actually gets married for real, I guess/hope it won't be a two-income family?? Is anyone else grumpy that it's turning into Yet Another Chae-Bull Power Struggle Story? Wondering if the FL is actually the long-lost daughter of some other chaebol family??

One Dollar Lawyer: 7.1 A certain "heartfelt prayer" raised the score a bit.

Once Upon a Small Town: 6.0 Their PPL candy is supposed to keep you awake, which is good for counteracting the effects of some kdramas. For a few minutes in day 10 I thought hoped this might be a rare show in which nobody ends up with anybody. Should have known better.

Law Cafe: 6.5 OK, the reveal early in day 7 got a laugh out of me. I'd been suffering too much from Kim Seul-gi deprivation.

May It Please the Court: 6.5 Seriously? That kite scene? Tip of the day - pleasing viewers is more important than pleasing some silly court. Also, we are drowning in legal shows and shows that hint that the ML might be a killer. Next time try to please us with a little originality.

Samsung Gaus Electronics: 7.5

Good Job: 6.1 Evil vice chairman's son tried to murder him with pills? Bad Job. Doing it Russian oligarch style is messy but much more reliable, and it's not like it's hard to find rooftops and treacherous staircases in Korea. Gravity is cheaper than pills and doesn't require a prescription.
For those who don't know what I mean
https://www.businessinsider.com/another-russian-official-dies-reportedly-after-falling-down-stairs-2022-9
or
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-ally-dies-falling-down-stairs-day-russia-mobilization-1744944

Really looking forward to starting live in contract (waiting to binge it) but just want to say that I’m team go kyung pyo. I just want him to have a swoon romance and get the girl.

Watching K dramas: Little Women and Golden Spoon E2. and Ojakgyo Brothers

C drama: Love & Redemption
J drama 13 Lords of the Shogun

Once Upon a Small Town: So. Much. Cute. I really enjoyed this pretty much start to finish. It’s not inventing anything new, but it is an adorable little rom com and the OTP really stood out to me because of the amount of consideration they consistently show throughout.

Narco Saints: That was entertaining, but I’m glad it wasn’t any longer. Jo Woo-jin’s character ended up being one of the more interesting ones, unsurprisingly, but there were a few good ones. I understand why they wanted the climactic finish to play out in that way, with In-gu facing off with Pastor Jeon, but honestly, they sacrificed quite a bit of logic to get us there. Still, not bad.

Never Give Up: About halfway through this now. (Moving more slowly than I usually do because of other life stuff.) Oh Seul-gi quickly became a favorite in this show. When she got her creepy boss to stop hitting on that other employee? Perfection. Her relationship with her dad also seems to be adorable - I hope we get to meet him at some point. But of course the two men are the real story here, and I love them. I especially enjoy watching Jeong Seok claim that he doesn't care about people or doesn't like kids, but shows again and again (through his app, by staying behind with someone, when he cooks for people) that this isn't true and he's a total softie. His former "friends" I find totally infuriating, so I hope he and Seul-gi team up to do their own thing soon.

Good Job—-I’m about 2 minutes from the end. I can’t lie but the last couple episodes, I just FF’d just to see the main leads make googly-eyes at each other! And the second couple—so cringy, but hilarious.

Golden Spoon— Uri Goblin’s nephew is carrying this show, no doubt. I just need a scene where he yells “Samchooooooon!”

Young Actors Retreat— simply my happy pill each week. I love Bo gummy and In-yeop is a new favorite. Kwak Dong-yeon is also a treat and Ahn Bo hyun. Just too much eye candy it almost hurts. 😂

Still waddling along with Big Mouth. When I watch it, I’m enthralled, but when I’m not, I don’t care to start it.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Love between fairy and devil Rewatch : Completed
I've never understood the purpose of rewatching a show when everything is already seen. But this show became my first ever fully rewatched show because it is still so fresh, detailed and elaborate.
It is equally hard to say goodbye to the characters than the first time around.

It is good that there's nothing interesting in kdramaland right now so I can stay in this LBFD slump long enough and also maybe focus on real life.

My favourite two dramas at the moment are COACH JEGAL and LITTLE WOMEN. Both are well written and directed and the actors are good to watch. It is sad to see the parents accepting the violence of a coach as a means to push their children into top positions. Slapping and kicking is still common in kdramas and only mildly rebuked. It was good to see the young girl to drop out of the national team in the face of such horrible methods.

I was almost fooled in Little women by what looked like the oldest sister's terrible gullibility in Singapore, I was so relieved when the suitcase turned out to be full with bricks instead of money! But it is the youngest sister I am most worried about, she is playing a dangerous game. Her advantage will be that she underestimated because of her youth. I wish the middle sister was a little more subtle.

GOOD JOB was good entertainment, it just got the tone right. CONTRACT MARRIAGE is not quite at the same level, the plot holes are a bit too much (not recognizing the judge from her many divorces, bailing out her mother with millions of dollars), but I enjoy awkward Jiho.

All that school bullying in LAW CAFE and GOLDEN SPOON is hard to watch, I would not even call it school bullying any more, this is violent assault, extortion and sexual assault and should be a police/court matter, even if it is done by school children. I wonder how often that golden spoon will be used and by whom.

So many law dramas - I am getting mixed up with the plots!

GOLDEN SPOON: I love the dark color palette, which matches the gray characterizations, moments of violence, and overall somber tone. But I also like the unexpected comedy that comes out of the identity switch premise and the burgeoning love lines. Although the show's surface critique of social hierarchies is, perhaps, nothing new, the depiction seems surprisingly fresh and entertaining to watch. How will these boys grow and change? How will falling in love complicate things? It'll be interesting to discover the answers.

LAW CAFE: Finally, more Kim Seul Gi--and she did not disappoint. Just her presence instantly made the whole arson/bullying case more enjoyable. I continue to really like this drama and the leads, too. It's hard, exactly, to quantify why, but it's probably the surprising conversations and reactions that come out of these various scenarios. As others have said, the FL and ML have switched roles a bit, but even that doesn't quite account for the fact that both feel like less conventional characters in a fairly conventional rom-com. This show isn't shaking up the genre in any profound way, but it makes just enough little changes to keep me fully engaged.

SEASONS OF BLOSSOM: The past scenes are swoony and bittersweet, but the present-day stories are handicapped by very green actors. And Bo-Mi is such a Mary Sue. I mean, if stripped down of all nuance, her only fault is just being too caring, loving, and unselfish towards her friends. That's one big eyeroll for me, and not a compelling reason to feel sad for her because she's not with the boy she really likes. And the actors playing the two main boys aren't doing it for me, either.

MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT: If I wasn't so burned out on legal dramas, I'd be very gushy about this one. As it stands, I merely really like it. The leads are fabulous together, and the actors play off each other extremely well. They have similar energy, and that totally works. It doesn't hurt that the dialogue is clever and funny, as well. I'm only half paying attention to the underlying murder and corruption story, but very much doubt our leading man is a murdering vigilante.

@daebakgrits, I used to be a fan of Park Min-young. Healer was one of my first kdramas, and I thought she was perfect in that spunky role. But somewhere along the way she seems to have lost the ability (or desire) to get into her character. Each time I see her now, I feel like I'm seeing a cold, tired plastic version of herself. Like she's wearing the same sleek mask each time, saying the right words, striking the right poses, but her heart isn't in it. She looks the same to me in Love in Contract.

We started watching LOVE IN CONTRACT. Park Minyoung is in top form. I have to agree that the story is nonsensical, but we are watching anyway.

We finally finished TODAY’S WEBTOON. It mostly wrapped up well, but the Japanese original was better.

We really loved ONCE UPON A SMALL TOWN. It was a very pleasant show and there is nothing wrong with that.

GOOD JOB continues to be good fun.

This last week’s episodes of LAW CAFE were decent but frustrating. The MLs unfortunate family connection stands as an emotional landmine between our lovely FL and our ML. This is why he feels compelled to push her away even though he has been enamored of her for seventeen years: It is his mother’s family. The problem I have with this is how is it that our FL never learned of this in all that time? Surely she should have at least bought a clue when the nasty (and demented?) CEO of The Evil Corporation That Killed Her Father addressed the ML as “nephew” in her presence? And that also means that the cold-blooded Chairman of said company is in fact his maternal grandfather. As much as we are enjoying this show it is details like this which nag at me.

I spent some enjoyable time watching the light but nice C-drama CUTE PROGRAMMER. Not that original but well done.

My wife continues to be hypnotized by LITTLE WOMEN. As a break from Chinese costume dramas, she has decided to watch a European one: THE EMPRESS. She has also been watching Amazon’s RINGS OF POWER.

The new weekender THREE BOLD SIBLINGS (the title on Viki) seems promising. The first four or so episodes tend to be set up for the drama to come, this time the first two largely concentrated on the Female Leads backstory and struggles- and her just discovered new career. We got some glimpses into the ML’s backstory as well, including the family debt situation that explains his behavior- except that it also means that his past behavior towards the FL was truly reckless and irresponsible. That being said this new weekender seems to understand that weekenders are about families and relationships. It does appear that it will probably serve up more makjang than ITS BEAUTIFUL NOW though hopefully not to the same extent as the previous YOUNG LADY AND GENTLEMAN which may have been a ratings hit but at the price of going completely off the rails.

Finished Doom this past week. I actually really liked the entire drama until the last episode. I felt every bit of Dong Kyung's emotions when Doom returned and then.....nothing. For all their chemistry and being adults in love, there was a distinct lack of passion in their relationship that was suddenly missing. There wasn't even a kiss! Not sure who to blame....writer, PD, someone else...but someone dropped the ball with this.

Binge watched Put Your Head on My Shoulder. Oh my goodness the ML was so adorkably cute! To be honest the whole "I'm not going to tell you why I'm mad, you figure it out" is a huge gripe of mine in the real world, but I gave it a pass for this drama because the characters are young and inexperienced, and I did see a little bit of growth in that respect. I read the novel before watching the drama and definitely liked the drama better.

Next up: So I Married an Anti-Fan and the Cdrama Love Between Fairy and Devil.

May it Please the Court (2/4) : The female lead on first episode did remind me of Why Her, but I like her more cause she is silently cold. With Soo Jae on Why Her, her manner is manner of a fighter. By the way she talks and her expressions people knows at first meet she is not to mess with. But Noh Chak Hee was appear calm and insignificant. But then she was actually the one who made everyone playing the game she was setting and without them knowing. She is a strategist and controlling everyone to get what she wants, smoothly. Unnoticeably, except for that old man. Then I watched the 2nd episode, and to be honest, I like it less. The female lead seems like a different person from the previous episode. There is no strength or cleverness showed through her difficicult times and I can’t belive after her success on that law firm, she couldn’t afford a car and a house she wanted. I don’t buy that. And I really hope Lee Kyu Hyung isn’t the villain, or anti hero here. He played that kind of character a lot. Just a normal humanist lawyer will be enough. I really like the chemistry so far, and the first episode bought me in and it is enough to keep me watching another episode, but I really hope the solidness of first episode will back on the next one.

Salon de Nabi : Is anyone watching this? I was giving it a chance cause the writer is the one who wrote Age of Youth. The premiere episodes are shaky, and jeez, the directing felt old school not in nostalgic way but outdated and I want to sue anyone who worked as their hairstylist, but after surviving 3 or 4 episodes, this drama grows on me. It’s suprisingly comical and there is a touch of slice of life story in it. I’m not finish watching yet (10/16), but so far I’ll rate it 8/10.

Little Women : It unexpectedly become one of my favorite shows this year and now I’m contemplating whether it’s better to watch the 4 last episodes at once or not. I don’t think I can bear to not watch it this week, but I also don’t have enough willingness to have another week on cliffhanger if I watch this week episodes. Dilemma, oh dilemma.

Good Job — glad they went for only 12 episodes. This one was light and silly, which is apparently what I needed. I did FF through most of the second couple’s scenes as it was just too much cringe for me.

Love in Contract — second week was better than the first, yay! Loving GKP in this role though I admit that my Reply 1988 affection might be part of it. Also really hoping for a positive storyline for roommate Gwang Nam.

The Untamed — not sure if this is a whole show issue or just the stretch I’m in (~17) , but there is so much illogical behavior and shouting right now (looking mainly at you Jiang Chang.)

Love Between Fairy and Devil — this show got better as it went along. I loved that the drama at the end all stemmed from character motivation and actions that made sense. The visuals were amazing. And I ended up really liking all the main characters. What a pleasant surprise!

Tell me Your Wish: Finished
As we wished for, the gangster story was wrapped up rather quickly, and our protagonists weren’t quite as naïve as we were led to believe. And after that, we had enough time to appreciate all the main characters storylines wrapping up - and not only them, but also the last wish for a paper magazine, what a wonderful idea. I loved the surprise for Gyo Re with Tae Shik’s last wish and how his feelings showed in his face. Some topics were treated superficially (like depression or other mental illness), and of course most issues were resolved in a kdrama way (child connection, plot holes with the gangsters…), but for me, this was a beautiful, healing drama that I would recommend to anyone who has been dealing with loss and grief.
Good Job: Finished
Also a good, satisfying ending of a very fun drama. I would have liked more detective shenanigans in the later episodes and maybe a little less childhood suffering…
Law Café
Our leading couple is trying to work out their feelings and to communicate, I particularly liked the “Why is everything so easy for you?” and “Why is everything so difficult for you?” dialogue at the end of the episode. I’m not so interested in resolving the past legal corruption case and would rather see more of the episodic stories that touch on relevant societal issues. Very funny: the Soompi article with a picture of Yu Ri lying among the red peppers, with the text “Kim Yu Ri enjoying nature” – I had to laugh out loud! She did indeed enjoy nature, but in an entirely different way… The article had been written with the stills before the episodes were aired, but I read it after having seen Ep.7 and 8 😉.
Little Women
I didn’t know they had trucks of doom in Singapore… The production quality is enormous, and after realizing this is the PD from Vincenzo I noticed the wonderful shots. The story may be farfetched (orchid collectors as a secret society, orchid auctions as a way of laundering money, a top hotel in Asia not having Korean speaking personnel…), the characters may be unlikeable, but the acting is superb, setting and filming are wonderful and I love the “magic realism” setup.
Blind (Ep.2)
Haven’t continued, will decide on this after watching Ep.4.
Youth MT Ep.3
An hour of laughs and superstars being regular people (sort of) every week, what’s not to like!
Seasons of Blossom:
After having read that this is different from what people expected, I expected something much darker. I really like the melancholic atmosphere and how the past and present mingle.
KDrama friend projects:
Golden Spoon: We love Sung Jae, and we love this drama. Fantasy dramas are what we both like best, so this is the one for us. After the setup, I’m curious how the protagonists will change in their exchanged lives. And again, great production value.
Finished Her Private Life: We both were quick to watch this, because we both just loved this perfect Romcom. We contacted each other almost every day with...

I spent this week checking out a bunch of webdramas. Discarded some but found great comedic relief in My Bossy Wife 1 and 2 (The ML is distractingly beautiful) and am now enjoying Maid's revenge, a low budget drama set in a single house but packed with intrigue. A single episode is released every morning on Youtube and it is my greatest pleasure right now.

The beautiful costumes of this era led me to period drama Fall In Love (why are the Chinese exceedingly bad at naming dramas? It's love here, love there, love everywhere) and if you haven't seen it, I thoroughly recommend it. The leads are so clever and enjoyable to watch and the costumes are beautiful.

@daebakgrits The Alchemy OST, although it has only a handful of vocal tracks, is fantastic and was used in probably the most effective way I’ve heard in a drama. My heart beat faster each time that soaring chorus from Kassy rose up over a cliffhanger or the first downbeat of the Car the Garden track punctuated an emotional moment. I’m saving a rewatch for December, but listening to the OST almost every day.

Three Bold Siblings: I'm hooked. I really feel for Tae-joo as I'm also the oldest sibling. The tension between the two sisters was well-depicted. I like how the Sang-joon is still head-over-heels for Tae-joo, but he irks me by how clueless he is.

May It Please the Court: A strangely quiet drama with some very LOL moments. The "how many fingers?" scene was hilarious. "It was one. Now it's two." And so was the filibuster. Jung Ryeo-won and Lee Kyu-hyung have such great chemistry and are on the same humor wavelength. I look forward to this one the most.

Love in Contract: Okay, so he was a judge! Whew! I'm suspending disbelief in a lot of things. I do like how Sang-eun has a cute side and a hardened side. Part of me wants her to find a quiet forever home in Korea, but part of me want to see her living her a life with her best friend in Quebec.

Struggling to pick Good Job back up.

SpyXFamily is back XD XD XD

Mental Coach Jegal - oof, her mom trying to justify the abuse is awful. Hoping Ga-Eul gets protected from more than Coach Oh. Having a hard time understanding how getting flogged would sharpen her focus, wouldn't it divert her future focus away to her injuries?

Young Actor's Retreat - poor In-youp! Gotta love it when the water doesn't have enough time to fill up. T.T

A Familiar Stranger - was expecting the heroine to be a tad more fish-out-of-water-like at first. Curious to see how they plan to finalize the series being they've stated (in the series' summary) they get their identities returned.
Also a bit curious if her sister hadn't been poisoned by her in the first place.
Cheers to decent pacing and boos to the short episode duration.

She-Hulk - "If Josh isn’t spending time on Jen, then Jen doesn’t need to be spending time on Josh." Honestly wished the show would prove me wrong about Josh but it seems Jen can't have nice things (yet). This guy's popped up twice so now wondering if he's someone more important to that website then they're letting on.

Lycoris Recoil - wish they hadn't just played up the shoujo-ai elements. Not pleased with how the only canonical queer relationship also had to end like that. Taints an otherwise decent anime who managed to clear a good ending.

Going through availability issues of shows I wanted to watch. Disovered my telco provider has a promo for Amazon Prime Videos, so binged non kdrama shows first: Wheel of Time, Rings of Power and Upload.

For kdrama, watching Love in Contract - came for PMY but loving GKP here instead.

Also Prime has Yumi's Cells 2 which I could not find before. Ep 4 and all my cells are screaming this is not the right kind of love for Yumi. Babi is adorable but she is doing this for all the wrong reasons. She is on the rebound, and she is only doing this because she was flattered and her self-esteem needed a boost. I know the ending because of the beanies buzz a few months ago so I am continuing because it is believable.

Good Job was Good Enough - a nice weekly break. It wrapped up pleasantly with no surprises, and although I won’t miss the show itself, I’ll miss having something equally fun and mindless and eye-candy-ish. That leaves me with only Love in Contract and One Dollar Lawyer as ongoing watches - both just interesting and offbeat enough for me to keep going for the moment, but not enough to be thrilled and eagerly awaiting the next episodes.

I’m almost done with Goblin and casting about for something substantial but not sad (or at least not too sad) to replace it in my ongoing catch-up with older dramas. I was considering Jealousy Incarnate, but I can’t watch two shows with the same main actors simultaneously and the Go Kyung-pyo slot is now filled. Hmmm.

One Dollar Lawyer (Ep1-4): Such a funny show. Nam Gong-min is really good at these type of genre mostly due to his deadpan expressions. I burst out laughing at the trio's spying antics in the latest episode...can't wait for the next week :)

The Golden Spoon (Ep1-4): Had a sense of deja vu watching this drama since both Yook Sung-jae & Choi Won-yeong (both starring in Mystic Pop-Up Bar) are in it....but apart of the familiar faces their roles are completely different here. I thought the first 2 ep are good but by ep 4 I'm not sure where the story will be heading. My question is how many golden spoons are there really? Will everyone end up swapping bodies in the end? :P

Finished: Love in the Moonlight

Currently watching: Young Actors’ Retreat

I binged Young Actors’ Retreat because I saw recommendations some time ago, and I loved it!!! 😘 It’s such a fun show and I fell in love with Park Bo-gum. He is so bright and considerate, so I binged Love in the Moonlight for him in a few days. Went for Bo-gommy and fell for the whole cast, esp Kim Yoo-jung, Jang Ki-young and SML. It is such a lovely show that has a good script. The story is mainly based on the romance part, so without both lead actors and their super good chemistry, it would have been a big flop. No wonder why this show and its leads became mega famous when it was airing.

I think Love in the Moonlight is a GOAT romance sageuk for me. It doesn’t take itself too seriously while having a good and sensible script. It made me giddy whenever I saw the leads together. 🥰 They are such a sweet and romantic pair. And the FL’s puppy eyes! 😍

Whew! Have been away from posting for 18 days but really enjoyed reading everyone's comments. I have a new layer of "What Watch". Eight hour flight that became a ten hour flight and I had the dreaded middle seat. I left my bluetooth set at home and hadn't thought far enough ahead to pull out my old school plug-in buds from whatever *&!@#! pocket they hid in.
However I had many hours of free screen time and, if nothing else prepared me for this segment of time, three years of reading subtitles did, most def.
First off: Everything Everywhere really made me laugh and it was not fully subtitled. Must re-watch.
The Hero is a gorgeous C-film with the most beautifully choreographed fight scenes ever. In addition it is a treatise on the thin line between love and hate.
Tried <Kingmaker about 1963 political sculduggery in SoKo but dropped.
By this time my seat mate, in between snoring like a locomotive, was intently watching.
Odd little cg-animation from China called I Am Who I Am about a young abandoned boy (parents moved to big city to work) who brings two friends and a mentor together to form a Lion dance team. Fascinating details about Lion Dance competition and some incredibly realistic CG.
Tried " Three Heroes" about a spate of baby boy kidnappings but it was too goofy.
Finally, the best. I was cursing the public announcements for interrupting but finally finished as we pulled up to the gate In Our Prime featuring a brilliant NoKo defector mathematician who ends up as a janitor in an elite SoKo high school. He begins tutoring a couple scholarship kids who thrive. His lifetime's work on an integral hypothesis becomes recognized as potential for a Nobel. My seat mate was snoring through this one, but I found it fascinating.
Now I get to go to sleep and anticipate catching up on all the September premiers. Yaay back to Dramabeans!

We have finished Alchemy of souls and are left pending with a lot of unanswered questions that I hope will be revealed in the second part. It was a gorgeous and well done show. I'm in love with Mu Deok.
Maybe I have a fondness for the murderous and awkward type ? But I've seen in the comments that I am not the only one that have fallen for Brain Freeze Ji Ho of Love in contract. This show is absurd and not so funny, but I've been drawn in.
Our common watch is now If you wish upon me and I am grateful for Wookie short hair. It does make the unrealistic situations more watchable.
Speaking of realistic... this is not something that can apply to The girl who sees scents but at least it is funny. I am absolutely incapable of recognising Namkoong Min's face. I mean, when I see the actor he seems kind of familiar, but I only recognize his voice. He is not one that I would qualify as clone however I am really incapable of recognising him.
I finished the excellent cdrama Fall in love with beautiful costumes and intelligent characters. And I watch slowly Crush for the music.

I don't particularly like Chinese dramas, the squeaky voices and patterned acting is irritating, and they tend to kiss each other with a complete lack of enthusiasm which is depressing. But I've just binged City of Streamer, and I mean binged to the point of almost going cross-eyed, and I have to admit that from the first episode I was hooked and could find no wrong in the storyline, the acting or anything else about it. The clothes, the buildings, the cars, the trains, the weapons were perfectly done, and the hero and heroine had a chemistry that was absolutely scorching - you had to wait until Episode 29 before they got together but it was well worth the wait. You Koreans have a word for something that is OTT Melodramatic which I cannot remember, and there were certainly places in the drama which would fall into that category, but somehow - possibly because it is set (I think? ??) in the twenties, the melodrama seemed to fit right in. I particularly enjoyed the ML's series of perfectly-cut 3-piece suits, haven't seen anything that elegant on a ML since Vincenzo. So if you have 40 or so hours to spare and need some delightfully mindless amusement, have a look at this. I thought it was delightful!

I am completely hooked on a Chinese sports drama called (idiotically) "Falling in to You". Apart from the FL and ML leads, who are gorgeous, it's a fascinating insight into how talented sportsmen and women in China are trained. As they say, for every 99 who enter, only one makes the grade. I have little doubt that in15 years from now it will be hard for any other nationality than Chinese to win ANY sort sports medal in international competition, so dedicated is their training and so HUGE the pool.

The chemistry between the two leads is very touching but it's the background which is really fascinating. And if I haven't been surreptitiously brainwashed, I tend to believe that all the accomplishments are on a combination of genuine talent, brilliant training, and determination, and they are not depending on their own scientists to fix the dope tests. I'm always suspicious of Chinese propaganda, but in this case I hope I'm right. And again, I've learned an awful lot about Decathalon disciplines too - always handy.......