New Life Begins - Chinese
So loving this, all other dramas are a distraction. I am playing catch as I am on episode 17 and the next two episodes to be released are 27 & 28. This is what I was hoping Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist would be; a rom com period piece with minimal palace politics. This one has NO palace drama between the women apart from two characters who made low key attempts to intimidate and both realised it didn’t gain them any points. Palace politics are very much in the background and so far no one has been killed. Found family, strangers to lovers and slice of life friendships across class and culture.

Please write me a fan letter
Looking forward to seeing how this delightful show wraps up.

New love playlist webdrama
Enjoying this university setting for a ‘love in a time of Covid’ drama. It is part five of the Love Playlist bite sized web drama series. These are new characters as it’s three years after the last series ended but the previous characters popped in for a brief cameo.

Love is for suckers
…

Three bold siblings
So glad the main couple got married secretly so hopefully they can shut down the immature behaviour. Is it me or has the CEO changed his hairstyle to a younger looking style?

Buam dong Avengers
Just started this one for the January Watch and Discuss Korean Drama club.

Cheer up
No epsiodes but didn’t miss it.

Dropped:
Behind every star
Not worth hanging in there for the bean; life is too short and new dramas are coming out all the time calling my name.

ONGOING
Under The Queen's Umbrella -Bogum's scene with his mother was touching - was reminded of a similar scene for the same actor in Racket Boys. I'm glad Cheong-ha was given a personality beyond 'obsessed with Seongnam'. Hope their misunderstanding is cleared quickly.

Curtain Call - That was some quick thinking with the panic attack but the plot hasn't moved in 3-4 episodes.

May I Help You - No new episodes 😔

The First Responders - I knew how the child abuse story would develop from the get-go so Ep. 4 was a bit boring but based on the preview Ep. 5 is going to be extra exciting 😅. Side note - I really like Pil.

STARTED
The Youngest Son of a Conglomerate - Yet another chaebol with a golf club 🙄. Got better Ep. 2 onwards. Nice to see Kang Ki-doong here too!

Summer Strike - Watched the office scenes at 1.5x because I'm extremely tired of how awful workplaces are in k-dramas, esp. to women. It got better once she quit but the people in the new town aren't very likeable either 😭. The trying-to-wake-her-up moment was funny.

C-DRAMAS
Still watching She and Her Perfect Husband.

Started New Life Begins but didn't get time to go far. It's funny and makes me want to read the book but I can't find a translation.

Fan Letter has finally arrived and I like it. Despite the serious illness it manages to keep lighter and romcomy tone... and it even makes me laugh occasionally (hair-slap 😄 ). I like the main leads (also the actors) and hope for a miracle for Yuna.

Summer Strike - hmm, my expectations were probably different. I will put my Kafka lenses on and see whether they will help me to keep watching.

Silent (4eps) - my Japanese friend has recently recommended me this jdrama. Good old high-school/young adult melo with a hearing impaired Hero. I like all those little details (like a flashing phone)... though... I'm not sure one would be able to talk/pronounce so well after a hearing loss in reality. But that's a detail, really, as one watches it mainly for all those FEELINGS 😉

Continuing with Shining For One Thing... and still watching Perfect Husband, don't know why, probably for Yang Hua and his drunken poetry 😁 (btw Xu Kai quite reminds me of Rowoon).

Under the Queen’s Umbrella: Kudos to this drama for always moving the plot along and keeping palace politics exciting. I love how the Queen is gaining allies just by being a protective mama. The Crown Princess search was fun. Cheong-ha is delightful and as unconventional as our Queen.

Reborn Rich: I thought the first episode was a drag but Episodes 2 was really good and Episode 3 okay. Kim Kang-hoon held his own against Lee Sung-min. I like Song Joong-ki but the drama got less interesting when he took over the role of Do-joon. I hope the drama doesn’t linger in the college years.

Summer Strike: I liked this. I thought Seolhyun did a good job with her character. She’s very relatable, even if she’s making some questionable decisions. I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing more of Dae-bum. He seems sweet.

Revenge Of Others: This drama is all over the place, but it does keep my attention. O-sung is the obvious subject, but I don’t think he killed Won-seok. Jae-bum really seems to have lost his memory, but the lapses are weird. What does the pregnant girl and the mysterious baby daddy have to do with anything?

Love Is For Suckers: I was not a fan of this week’s episodes. There was not enough Chef Jang and Ji-wan and what we did get was frustrating. Jae-hoon and Yeo-reum’s friends have all but disappeared. Jae-hoon and Yeo-reum are a drag. The morning after scene was so uncomfortable.

Behind Every Star: I enjoyed the guest storyline in Episode 5, especially the spider killing scene and tango. This was one instance where they improved on the original storyline.

Curtain Call: Kind of a filler episode but at least Jae-hoon and Yoon-hee are finally starting to feel guilty. It took them long enough to realize this is not a harmless play.

CRICKET - Boxing Day test - time to move onto tv

JAPAN - Haruka's drama and its romance - naah i won't

Sisters fight - A GUY -relationships - taken from manga to drama - you can expect some crazy action and it surely is crazy action - this deserves 1 huge bucket of popcorn.

Sumo Girl - cute - in its own way.

pENGUIN - KeeP oN FighTiNg - you are 1st - Nao is in then you want to see.

Fumika baba's drama is garbage but in manga there are scenes which they won't translate to drama - still it has scenes.

I was surprised when they translated sweat fetish into a tv drama so this one looks pretty simple compared to that one.

Honda with Idols - bleh - honda trying hard. still a timepass. this one is for 2005 not for 2022.

edgy teen scammer - naah - yamapi's better one

first love is first love - timepass

Kiyohara this time didn't chose right tv show to be in - still got the same with new one.

CURTAIN CALL (Ep. 7): Even the actors are getting more troubled by the deceptive play for Grandma's benefit. We are getting into Makjang birth secret reveals; I hope it is sooner than later. There was a sadness to this episode: both wealthy grandchildren and poor lost NK grandson do not have many true friends for support. I don't think Se-yeon is aware of the fake couple (yet). I don't know if the real Moon-Seoung will be good or evil. The fake out cliffhanger trouble endings are getting a bit annoying: too many get out of jail free cards by the writer. I want the plot bomb to drop to see all the fall-out.

BEHIND EVERY STAR (Ep. 5-6) The cameos were OK. It is so repetitive that stars cause on-set problems that agents have to manipulate, lie and console to get things back on track. That format is getting tiresome. The office politics and birth secret reveal is not very interesting.

Summer Strike It was a good introduction. I hoped she would have been better welcomed but I'm really exciting to see her being just happy.

Curtain Call I'm not sure to know what this drama is about? There are a lot of characters with different motives and nothing is really happening...

Cheer Up I didn't miss it but if I was in the production/crew I would be disapointed by how SBS is handling this drama.

Behind Every Star After EAW, I was excited to see Joo Hyun-Young in a new drama. But she's not really good in this role, she made this character so bland...

Love is for Suckers PD Kang is not really helped by her colleagues, Yeo-Reum completely messed up Ahn So-Yeon's situation... The only scenes I cared about were Chief Jang and Ji-Wan's ones.

Reborn Rich Still trying ot understand what the ML wants.

The First Responders I'm stuck in the middle the episode 3...

Under the Queen's Umbrella I pity Prince Uiseong, his mother lied to him and used him all his life and even doesn't know.

Revenge of Others Sometimes, I'm feeling I'm watching Lord of the Flies, a story without any normal adults.

First Love It's a Netflix Japanese drama. I always loved the song First Love (Hatsukoi) by Utada Hikaru. So when they released a drama inspired by it, I needed to watch it! The first 2 episodes (9 in total) were confusing with the back and forth in the different timelines. Both actresses were good but they didn't look alike... I liked it but there were useless scenes. At the end, her mother stole her more than some teenager years...

Silent Each character has his/her place in the story :)

House of Wheels As a fan of Extraordinary You, I was really excited to see Kim Hye-Woon and Lee Jae-Wook reunited with Rowoon on screen! It's nice to see the importance this drama had for each of them and the friendship they found. It was cute to see the very tall boys cooking in the kitchen and the little KHY carrying and setting up the table.

Love is for Suckers (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D+ (honestly would’ve been D- without John and Ji Wan)
Boo, the only screen time of John and Ji Wan is them facing manufactured drama and silently staring at each other for the final pick? Why are they having to go through the cliche setup of a OTP romance without having the lead privilege? In other news, I’m thankful the gym guy spilled the beans because that would have been one mega heck of a character assassination otherwise. I’m also already dreading the whole nonsense about the staff and cast member rumour since it’ll mean less time for the chef and writer to finally get together. We all know the dreaded possibility of noble idiocy lol.

Please Send a Fan Letter (Episode 1-2) - Mood: D+
When I first heard that Yoon Park had finally landed a lead role (even if only for 4 episodes) in a script that had won a writing contest, I was hyped for the possibility of a good show. Cue the hateful reporter, jealous radio host and a Truck of Doom: why couldn’t the show just focus on the perfect narrative conflict that was Jung Seok trying to balance his life between being a good father and going for his dreams? The fan letters would’ve been fine as a setup but then it got used to reveal Kang Hee’s trauma which I’m sure will become a source of drama between her and Jung Seok. Sigh.

Revenge of Others (Episode 5-6) - Mood: D
Cliffhanger was a mistake: not only does Soo Heon have plot armour as a lead, his terminal disease trope would be for naught had he got killed right there. So why did the production use it to end the 1st half? There was the reveal that Jae Bum had attempted suicide which shouldn’t have been dialogue, but I guess we needed that dramatic light bulb flicker. I’ve read theories that Jae Bum and Won Seok were in a relationship and it does fit many details (adoptive parents with 0 concern, horseback photo, cause of blackmail, trigger of suicide) but I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out otherwise.

Summer Strike (Episode 1-2) - Mood: D
Toxic work environment, breakup, death of a loved one: surely, there must be some less contrived setup that leads to a character deciding to drop out of the rat race and live a minimalist lifestyle? That aside, I was also put off by the rather random thriller element as well as the get-off-on-the-wrong-foot conflicts between Yeo Reum and the countryside folk.

Behind Every Star (Episode 5-6) - Mood: D+
Well, it would’ve been more disingenuous had the tax guy and Je In not broken up as fast as they got together: as Jung Don pointed out, it was never going to work when you mix your professional and personal lives. As for Tae Oh, even if it truly wasn’t an affair, the time to come clean was years ago and not when everything got exposed. Cameos were okay.

I was beginning to think I’d never find a drama I’d enjoy again. I’ve been in a severe drama drought since Extraordinary Attorney Woo ended. All the dramas I thought I would like left me feeling bored and uninspired so I dropped them after two episodes. But now I feel like I’m singing in the rain with Reborn Rich, Fanletter, and Summer Strike. 🤞🏼
𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵: The story has my attention. And I’ve always liked Lee Sung-min. The man has charisma and presence. Like another beanie commented, some actors don’t just play a role, it’s as if they become that character. That’s definitely true here. Like Hyun-Woo, I feel like I’m really watching history unfold before my eyes when I see Old Chairman Jin. And by the way, sixty ain’t old, y’all. 😉 But it was episode two that sold me. The scenes between LSM and Kim Kang-hoon were mesmerizing. Kudos to KKH for holding his own. I wish we could have had more.
𝗙𝗮𝗻𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿: It’s got all the feels. Don’t care for the hospital’s pink walls, but who cannot like little Yu-na and admire her resilience in the midst of battling such a terrible disease? I’ve always liked Yoon Park, and IMO Sooyoung has never looked so beautiful.
𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗲: I’m with @daebakgrits, the heroine left me feeling a little frustrated. For several reasons. But I’ve always envied those who have the courage to uproot their lives for a new adventure, so I’m willing to stick around and see what happens.

Cdrama - New Life Begins. ♥️ ♥️ ♥️

Behind Every Star: 8.0 The shows-within-a-show format works well for shoveling in lots of ridiculous stuff without being ridiculous. The main show is only so-so.

Reborn Rich: 7.5

First Responders: 7.5

Fan Letter, Please: 7.0

Summer Strike: 2.0 Out after about 20 minutes.

Cheer Up: __ Guess they're all off cheering for the World Cup?
May I Help You: __

Love Is For Suckers: 6.0

Revenge of Others: 8.0

All of Us Are Dead rewatch: 8.5 (ep 6/9)

Summer Strike: I liked it. I liked the setup and it seems the show is trying to have the FL learn to standup for herself. I hope her arc is interesting.

Behind Every Star: It is a rather mundane watch. Nothing to get excited about, but enjoyable.

Love is for Suckers: This drama, talk about a drag. This did not need to be 16 episodes. Also I am not sure how Bipolar disorder is treated in SK, but as far as I am aware, it is not curable, you always take your meds. That was a weird take and I was not a fan. Also YR could have literally grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back. That melodramatic fall was so stupid I laughed, also the version I watched was not fully edited, so you could see the wires. As for CR sleeping with the contestant and possibly getting caught, that annoyed me, not because they slept together, but because she is a professional. It was sloppy, the fact that we are supposed to understand she was in a bad mental state, doesn't work for me. Because afterwards she should have gone back to check the tape just in case. Sloppy and CR isn't sloppy. MEH

Reborn Rich: He invested in Amazon, LMAO. I would too. Ha

The First Responders: I actually like this case of the week. How disturbing, but people will do crazy things for money.

I am not sure what to make of the two unsettling tales I have been watching this week: SOMEBODY and WEAK HERO CLASS 1.

Somebody has been appalling and mesmerizing in equal measure. Did I watch the My First, First Love, psycho version? Do serial killers deserve to have a soulmate and should I question the purpose of a drama that makes me root for the love of these two frankly horrible people (Asperger's is no excuse to get euphoric over the act of killing)? One lesson is clear from the drama - never ever set off alone to meet a physically strong and smart serial killer when you are paralyzed and in a wheelchair - but most people would know that anyway.
Did Sum put Yun-o out of his misery like the street cat before or did she punish him for rejecting her sexually? The acting was impressive, but I am still unsure what this drama was all about.

It is a little easier to understand 'Weak Hero', but the violence is also hard to stomach. The inappropriate use of a golf club to punish a child was the worst amongst all these violent scenes. I have not finished all episodes, but at least I can see where it is going. This kind of school bullying is not something the police should have covered up, the parents, courts, social workers and the police are needed to put a stop to it.

Some lighter entertainment was needed in between these dramas and I really missed MAY I HELP YOU, but BEHIND EVERY STAR was a nice break, too. The best thing is how the actors seem to enjoy playing a cameo of themselves. Loved bickering Park Ho-san and Oh Na-ra, killing the spider!

Did enjoy SUMMER STRIKE, but find it also hard to identify with the FL. the sudden change from push over to risk taker was not very credible.

QUEEN'S UMBRELLA: Oh dear, another crown prince who walks out of his wedding night. The Queen will have to help setting this marriage on the right path, among other things.

LOVE IS FOR SUCKERS should have ended after last week. I fear making up more unnecessary drama will only make it worse.

Fan Letter - I love the first two episodes and I'm hoping we do not have a separation trope anywhere. I can't say how much I enjoyed this one. It's nice to note that Kanghee has a classmate who she can be just Kanghee with.

Under the Queen's Umbrella - Crown Prince Seongnam. Now that's how it should be.
Cheong-ha really held herself against the Queen Dowager. I'm glad she has an agency for herself that isn't initially tied to the Queen Dowager, her parents, or the Queen herself.
It wasn't just a feeling when a number of us started finding faults with Uiseong's paternity. On the other hand, it was perfect that the Queen used her very own antagonist to question the paternity of not just the Grand Princes, but all the King's children. 'Tell me if you'll annihilate all the King's children because you want the head of the Queen and the Crown Prince.'
Somebody needs to bridle whatever emboldens Consort Hwang's father.

Curtain Call - With the assurance that real Moon-seong doesn't implicitly spell doom should he appear at Nakwon except he might dive straight into the hotels affairs and shake things up for real this time, I'll say that nothing happened for the past 2-3 episodes. Character development? Yes there's movement, especially with Dong-je. I like how his character's layer is being peeled slowly to the point that I consider him a worthy contender for Se-yun's love. But plot-wise, nothing happened and it's tiring. Shake things up.

Love is For Suckers - I'm yet to complete ep 13 but I do not feel good with the comments here. This was supposed to be an interesting friends-to-lovers drama. So what exactly are they doing on LiFS. Not to talk about the editing issues in 14. I'm going to assume it's Chae-ri's payback at DNA for trying to end her show abruptly.

Reborn Rich - I really don't know what to say about this. I haven't been able to get past episode 1 till today but the recap is the one thing that'll make me go back to Reborn Rich. All the politicking doesn't even draw me in despite my knack for power plays and trips.
It's really cool to see Song Joon-ki again on screen.

I didn't want to but I'll be picking up Summer Strike. The talks about it are too good to miss out of.

Love Between Fairy and Devil: So . . . I've never particularly liked the Beauty and the Beast trope, or xianxia, or squeaky female leads, but this is remarkably cracky and engaging, mostly thanks to good old fashioned storytelling. I sit down to watch one episode and realize hours later that I've watched six. How I ultimately feel about it will depend on what happens in the final third, but so far, it's a lot of fun.

Gaus Electronics: It was ok. I enjoyed the actors, but if you're going to give every character just one personality trait I wish they'd been more creative than "doesn't smile" or "is balding". I also felt that my lack of fluency in Korean meant that I missed most of the puns and wordplay.

Thanks to my fellow Beanies we discovered BEETHOVEN VIRUS and love it.

SUMMER STRIKE is a bit different from what we expected but two episodes in we are liking what we see.

We also loved the first two episodes of FANLETTER, PLEASE (Viki title).

BEHIND EVRY STAR continues to be very entertaining. But you really have to pay attention, or you will miss things.

I finally finished THE VIRTUAL BRIDE. It was good to a point but not perfect and, in fact felt truncated with loose ends hastily tied up in the twelfth and final episode. Yet it really did not need sixteen episodes either. On the whole it was watchable.

My wife continues to love UNDER THE QUEEN’S UMBRELLA.

Even more watchable is the light Chinese costume drama NEW LIFE BEGINS. I am enjoying this one a few episodes at a time. I recommend this one highly.

We have continued to enjoy the C-drama SHE AND HER PERFECT HUSBAND. The details make a difference in this show: Drunken poetry from the ML to the FL followed poetry from ML’s father to his mother- an unusual example of foreshadowing. The writer is doing something different with the ‘contract marriage’ idea (including the fact that our leads are still not actually married).

Episode 17 of the weekender THREE BOLD SIBLINGS ended with Soo-rim trying to take vengeance on Sang-min for have dumped a pail of water on the FL. Unfortunately, she ended up soaking the FL’s future MIL plus another relative instead. That clinches it: She desperately needs a man like Shin Moo-young to keep her from going off the rails in the future. Perhaps the highlight of Episode 18 was ML’s young aunt kissing FL’s little brother- or was it the very end when ML and FL are handing in their marriage registration? Now the real fun begins.

The show within a show is over on LOVE IS FOR SUCKERS and this is a good thing. Final episodes are next week.

Love is for Suckers: I was also frustrated with the first half of ep 14. This drama is seriously dragging things out even though it had good potential material if they made the drama more of an ensemble drama and showcased the Kingdom Love 2's cast more. I'm in it more for Chef and Ji-wan now. I cheered Ji-yeon on for rejecting Jae-hoon. It was the brave thing while everyone seemed fine with putting on a show in order to save face for themselves and others, not realizing that this could have real life consequences since people are tuning in to watch their contrived romances.

Three Bold Siblings I glad that TJ is still able to instill some fear into Sang-min, but I don't love how she decides to pretty much take the kill them with over the top kindness. I'm glad TJ and SJ took the step to register their marriage, even though I am not too fond of SJ. SJ's mom's getting annoying - SJ could still do his duty as eldest son while not living in the same building.

New Life Begins Up to ep 21. More than halfway now and it still continues to be a warm, wonderful drama that is more focused on sisterhood among the palace ladies. I love how the drama takes some of the trope mean palace lady characters and surprise us with their depth and sense of agency. We've also got some of the brother princes working together and it's that harmony that brings about good government. I just love how the character are visiting each of the 9 states on official missions and how we get to learn about the cultures of these 9 states. You can see how they sort of parallel off some aspects of China's real life provinces.

Behind Every Star: Started the first 2 episodes. I started the French original, but the korean is more alluring since I keep up on korean entertainment. It's a good watch so far, but I think if there weren't many other interesting things airing, I would watch this while airing. I may save it for later.

I began the year with a well-done K-historical, King of Tears, and I'm ending the year happily lost in the epic 2010 C-historical Three Kingdoms. Keeping up with Queen's Umbrella and Reborn Rich on the side but finding both overhyped & underwhelming.

Summer Strike: "it’s hard for me to relate to this drama’s heroine, who would rather drag her feet around town in a pair of broken sandals than change into the sneakers tucked in the side pocket of her hiking backpack".
LOL I was thinking the same thing for the entire scene.
And I wouldn't do what she did either (except quitting my job since it sucked big time), but I'm happy for her.

High Kick: my favorite show at the moment.
I'm disappointed Min Ho chose Yu MI over Beomi. What the hell dude. This gives me flashbacks of high school. My bestie betrayed me a couple of times too because of her boyfriends 🙄 I will never get over that, and she hated me for it LOL.

LifS: yes. I'm still watching this.

The Love in Your Eyes: I could cream everytime the SFL appears. But our leads are cute as hell.

3 Bold Sibilings: Can couple #2 start dating already? I love them!.
I hope auntie doesn't find out maknae's Tae Joo's brother, otherwise I can say bye bye to my ship for other 20 episodes.

Busy Saturdays Part 2 has ended, now where on Drama land have I been all this time?🤔

Love In Contract❤️📄(15/16): I was not even planning on watching you in the first place, and this is how you repay me for taking a chance on you, show.🙄 Ji-Ho could have had a more interesting background (or job!) that required his conversation counselling, but he was a lovely character so I was going to let it slide. Until he got character-assassinated into acting on Sang-Eun’s behalf without discussing things with her first. Dude, such behavior is why she left her background in the first place!🤦‍♀️I hope to finish the last episode soon to earn my bean without any expectations, but it is hard not to wish better things for Gwang-Nam!💪🏻

Please Send a Fan Letter🏥💌(2/4): This will be a quick bean, but also one of my favorites in this meager year. My first impression of Soo-Young is a good one. Kang-Hee gets scolded for being rude all the time, which I think is up for debate. Not being a ball of sunshine does not immediately make you a rude person in my book, and even if she were rude, it works both ways. Everybody seems to be out to get her and at the same time expect her to act like a saint no matter what they say or do to her. Now that I mention it, that tabloid reporter really is taking his job (too) seriously! Whenever I get too annoyed with him I just think of how much passion and fun the actor is bringing to this role and I am able to have fun with it.😆

The Romance of Tiger and Rose🍌🍊(10/24): What on earth is this?!😍I easily get invested in whatever I am watching, but I have never actually raged at the end credits before! As hobby writers my friend and I loved the premise of a female lead waking up in her script and getting thwarted by everyone no matter what she does to get her story right, most of all by her own male lead!😊Her writer mindset makes her oblivious to how her personality is perceived by other characters, the best example would be her smitten husband!🤭Another unexpected first this year, this time my first C-drama!🥳

Ghosts BBC Season 1🏰👻(5/6): a popular, but redundant recommendation. It is from the team behind Horrible Histories, of course I am going to watch! I enjoy our actors playing actual characters for a change, instead of switching sketches every five minutes. I certainly do not mind Ben as the Captain or Mat as a Mr. Darcy lookalike.😂

Summer strike. I don’t like FL, but I hope this is one of those dramas in which we see her actually realize life is about learning to be happy by yourself and not by fitting into other’s standards. It sort of reminds me of Weather. I always love ISW, no matter what, so...

Love is for suckers. FF anything in which Chef Jang and Jiwan or PD Kang are not. Two episodes to go and they feel too many.

Reborn rich. I really loved it. Like the idea of this kind of revenge, although I hope it dones’t get too makjangish. Episode 4 was interesting. I just hope we get another time jump, because… am I supposed to watch a 37 yo actor playing a 20 yo student for he whole drama. Hope not.

Never give up. I finished episode 7, and I’m enjoying this drama. I’m smiling all the way through. Of course there are lots of things I have to turn a blind eye on, like: if PilSu is going to be payed by landlady why can’t he tell his wife? Why is SK obsessed with first love? But easy to leave this aside. I’m happy I followed beanies recommendation to watch.

The Good Detective 2. This drama keeps exploring what it means to be human and I love it. I’m on episode 5 and I understand more and more Kang Do Chang. He knows how the world works and even so wants to do things right. I wonder in real life how many investigations are shut down because someone wants “immediate results”. Too many I’m afraid, and meanwhile who cares about the victims?

Happiness. There is no way on Earth I could have watched this live. Two episodes a week? Are you kidding me? I can only take one every two weeks because zombies are scary!! I’m holding one because PSH and HYJ are so cute together but the drama is full of people you love to hate.

Didn’t have time to continue Adamas this week (and now that I’ve written all I’ve watched it’s no surprise), and I want to watch Send me a fan letter but not so sure of when...

I only yesterday discovered there was a new Bong Joon-ho movie out this year so I have 'Decision to Leave' queued to watch this weekend.

Blame Viki for my other recent movie watch, the very silly 2008 historical sex comedy "A Tale Of Legendary Libido". As vulgar - and as innocent - as an old timey Burlesque show. I went in to ironically hate watch it but unexpectedly found it rather... charming?

Thought I would do this again after years of not!

My Liberation Notes: Now that we're on the cusp of December, and I've got a Year in Review to write up, I'm at that point where I'm refreshing myself with all my favourites of the year to make sure that they're definitely great, and not just shows that were great at the time. I was a little nervous to revisit this one, easily my favourite K-drama of the year, but luckily I had nothing to fear. It's still excellent. Absurd and funny and insightful and wistful and melancholy and transcendent.

Extracurricular: My favourites list is average looking kind of sparse this year, but not because I found this year to be lackluster of anything. I've been busy playing catch up, cleaning up my watch list and finally getting around to the dramas like Extracurricular that slipped through the gaps over the last few years. This is as great as everyone says, I'm not disappointed. With two episodes to go, though, I am ready to be devastated.

Love is For Suckers: I feel like I've earned the right to talk about this one, even though at this point I'm just skimming the cream from the top and not actually subjecting myself to the awful OTP anymore. Episode 14 was a fever dream. No one's even trying anymore. The blatantly unfinished nature of it is one thing (whenever the mics were fully in shot, I got so confused - had the drama just decided to commit to the meta? Show in show in show inception?) but the characters choices also felt hasty and weird. It's like the showrunners were busy swimming in mediocre forced tension for so long they forgot that, oh, most of the main characters have arcs that need wrapping up. Chae-ri's felt particularly bizarre. I need to know that John Jang and Ji-wan are going to be okay, though, so I'll see you next week.

Decision to Leave: Went to see this movie given the rave reviews it's received and left puzzled and disappointed. It felt like the film's main selling point was the fancy camerawork. The plot stretched logical reason. While Park Haeil's performance was solid, Tang Wei's was alright - nothing extraordinary. This is my least favorite Park Chanwook film

1899: Creators of time-space bending German show are back with another series, this time about passengers journey to the US who encounter a ghost ship and strange things start happening. Alot of exploration around consciousness and reality in 1899, and I'm LOVING it.

Reborn Rich: Makjang! Chaebol! Reincarnation! It is like eating gourmet junk food. Lee Sungmin is the star of this show.

Love Is For Suckers
Ep. 13 was okay, but in Ep. 14 I thought I was watching the same episode again and had missed some bits because I had fallen asleep. Show was like “so this happened, but have I told you that this happened before? Oh, I forgot, have I told you that already… Ok, let me get back at the present… Ah, do you remember this?” The romance of our main couple is supposed to look like a great love now, but I’m not really feeling it. And what became of the romance between John Jang and Ji Wan??
Under The Queen’s Umbrella
Same as last week: I’m enjoying every episode, so great to watch a drama where you can trust the writing, acting and directing.
Curtain Call
I found this a bit slow this week, the storyline is obviously building up to the real Moon Sung coming back.
Reborn Rich
The format with 3 episodes a week is great, I’m looking forward to watching this week’s episodes all together. As so many have said: Kim Kang Hoon as young Do Joon is fantastic, watching him together with Lee Sung Min is a revelation. And Song Joon Ki does have too much filter on his face in Ep. 3.
First Responders
I watched a couple of episodes and I do like the new setting with joint operations of police and fire department. They seem well researched and bring background information and insights into the work of first responders. But I do have a problem with the first three cases. Yet another serial rapist and killer, and in two cases victim’s bodies are being dismembered and disposed of through the toilet, isn’t that too spectacular? And I have an even bigger problem with the teenage murderer in Ep.2. Does Korea really see teenagers as would-be murderers who become criminals because they know they will get away with anything before they are 14?
I will give it one more episode to decide if I keep watching.
Revenge of Others
I just read the recap of Ep. 5-6 and I’m glad others are as confused as I am. I do like the show and the actors, so I hope some of the mysteries and misleads will be cleared up soon.
Finished The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
What a great melodrama/mystery/thriller drama, I highly recommend it. Seo In Guk as anti-hero was great, all the other actors too, the story was thrilling and the ending perfectly fitting for me.
No Cheer Up, no May I Help You, so I had time to watch
Weak Hero Class 1, after I got so many recommendations for it, and it didn’t disappoint. But: if you have trouble with the violence in Ep.1 this drama is not for you, it only gets much worse.
I expected a story of 3 underdogs becoming friends and fighting bullies together like superheroes, but this developed quite differently. Rarely can a drama keep up the pace from start to finish; this didn’t have any slow or unnecessary parts. The acting is fabulous, the atmosphere so tense throughout, the OST is unusual and fantastic. Several good cameos too, I had come to know Jo Han Chul as a funny actor and this...

Please Send A Fan Letter: the show is cute and feels familiar. I'm happy to see Yoon Park in a leading role, having Yoon Park as a calm and cool sunbae? I'll fall for him too!
I'm worried about the ending though

Through the Darkness: I finally finished it! The scene when Hayoung eats sweet potato while crying breaks my heart. I'm not entirely convinced by him coming back to squad but if Hayoung is happy, i'm happy too. Overall, this is his journey.

Twenty Five Twenty One: I am one weird person who watched this drama from episode 9 back when this drama was airing. But the decision led me to come again to this show to finally watch it (or binge watch it) from the beginning, because i like the ending and this is a good show. I love Na Heedo, her spirit, her big dream, her honesty, her big heart. I want to be her friend and hear her talk. One thing i'm not convinced enough is the OTP. I understand the attraction, but not romantically. Maybe i'm the only one.

Also I'm watching Nine now. I'm ready for the journey!

This week I watched Soundtrack #1 and Age of Youth 1.

Now I'm watching Age of Youth 2 and 12 Nights (yeah, main actress and main actor in 12 Nights were in Age of Youth too).

Summer Strike - I'm not sure about this--I find the characters frustrating.
May I Help You - no episode this week.
Love is for Suckers - ep 14 really was a letdown. As mentioned, the new events didn't even start until 20-30 min. There was very little of John and Ji-wan, whom I am VERY invested in (the opposite of how I feel about the main couple). I was frustrated where things let off. The balcony incident was SO cheesy. I also just keep thinking too about what a boring show Kingdom of Love 2 would be in real life. Everyone pretty much just keeps the same love interests throughout! But I'm still obsessed because of John and Ji-wan. I wish they had their own drama!

Revenge of Others- A drama which shows brutality of highschool kids. The violence is off-putting, but the writing and the lead characters are what keeps me watching this. The cliffhangers each episode, really keeps you edge.

The Queen's umbrella- Totally loving this show. The politics between Queen Hwareyong and Dowager Queen is interesting to watch.Finally a drama on the involvement of Queen, with multiple children, showing as a powerful figure in history and is at level of the King, making her decisions and also protecting the innocent with all her might and the power. Rooting for her and her children till the end!

This week I took advantage of the U.S. Thanksgiving break to binge watch Gaus electronics (as well as fast forward through Love is for Suckers, but don’t get me started on that!). I really enjoyed Gaus Electronics. In fact its one of my favorite shows this year for its number of laugh out loud scenes. Is it perfect, with every scene a comic gem? No, of course not—sometimes its too scattershot and zany. But most of the time the writing is extraordinarily clever, with a wonderfully funny cast, and actually a perfect rom-com couple—funny but not over the top bickering, no dark traumas in the past nor dead relatives haunting the relationship. Ko Sung-hee as the female lead and Kwak Dong-Yeon as the male lead are exceptional comic actors and there are many funny throwaway lines—when they discover they live next to each other (This show’s fun with rom-com tropes rivals Business Proposal’s) she tells him she wants him to pretend not to know her, as “stark neighbors of a harsh society, complete strangers.” That “stark neighbors of a harsh society” is what makes me laugh. Then the character played by KDY calling her “sunbae” even in intimate moments. I’ve taken to calling my wife sunbae at all times. (Its appropriate, even though I am older than she is.)

One joke that I thought was particularly clever was to have the love-struck chaebol attempt to use a (distorted) line from My Liberation Notes to woo his crush: “Revere me. Revere me, or go lose weight in less than an hour” Her response “You shouldn’t have messed with Mr. Gu.” It was really funny in context, but one of the reasons I thought it was especially funny is that I too have actually jokingly used the “worship me” line with my wife several times after we watched Liberation Notes. (I don’t over use it: I’ve only said “worship me” when I’ve done something consequential, like twisting open a stuck jar lid or cleaning the toilet.) I highly recommend this line for a laugh, BUT ONLY if your date, partner, or spouse has seen Liberation Notes. Otherwise the reaction will be uncomprehending irritation.
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After watching Gaus, I am so pleased that @laurensophie, @elinor @jerrykuvira, @lordcobol @oldlawyer, @emsel and other respected DB commentators also liked it, because for me, they make up for the 99% of Koreans that disdained the show. Joking--as someone with deep respect for the Korean people, I actually hate that 2 of the few shows that I really enjoyed this year (Sh**ting Stars and Gaus) were actually two of the lowest rated of the year. The knowledge that if my views became known, I would be disliked by 98.3% of Koreans, or 50,501,178 people, is a sobering thought, though it does prevent overconfidence!

This last year I've been feeling a bit out of pace with the Beaniesphere, which is mostly a consequence of the multiplication of drama outlets, most of which I don't have access to, or if I do, dramas tend to be aired with a month's delay in my region.
All this to say that I went back to my lonely drama viewing (*sob). No fangirling on the Beanie-wall because going there is getting spoiled. No more fun screengrabing to make gifs because Netflix and Viki apparently don't like free advertising (*sniffle). No bonding with other Beanies over drama cuties (*sigh). I'm a sad, sad Bean.
But I've been Beaning on (hi, @turtuallysarcastic)!
Last weekend I marathoned Somebody , which was... unhealthily gripping? Look, I don't think I'd recommend this to anybody unless they are into serial killers because there's so much questionable stuff about it. But it feels a lot like k-cinema. Both acting and production are luxourious.
I also watched the first 2 episodes of The queen's umbrella and loved it. I haven't liked a sageuk since The Red Sleeve, so my hopes are up for this one!
Over the last couple of weeks also binged Little Women (in my mind I call it "Captain Skinnypants saves the day - everyday") and Money Heist- Korea. Much fun, no sense.

Reborn Rich — I’m only 2 episodes in so far, and while it’s extremely well-done, not totally in yet. I did cackle with delight when I realized the Chairman and his son were a King 2Hearts reunion (they played LSG’s lovely brother and the most hilariously named villain of all time respectively.)

Come and Hug Me — I’ve been putting this show off for years because I get scared easily, but finally started and it’s v engrossing. NDR as the young ML is excellent as always.

Three Bold Siblings — I keep seeing clips of the two secondary couples which look fun, but in the bit I did watch found the ML so unconvincing I had to stop. :/

Nirvana in Fire — finally finished season 2 (which I ended up really liking, despite a months-long break in the middle) and immediately restarted season 1. It’s so good!

Waiting to hear Beanies’ final verdict on Love is for suckers before going back to it (looking decidedly less likely based on this week!) and how Fanletter ends before starting.

Love Is for Suckers: Still watching despite moral qualms about, well, everyone at this point. The show-within-the-show is BORING and its crappiness has infected LIfS. So much wasted potential.
May I Help You?: I missed this!
Summer Strike: Uneven but promising start. Im Si-wan is charmingly expressive when he’s silent and I’m looking forward to him actually speaking. His caterpillar flip in the sleeping bag was impressive! (There must be abs in there somewhere.)
Fanletter, Please: The first two episodes were unexpectedly engaging, but ep. 3 got messy. I’ll finish it anyway.

Older stuff:
Beyond Evil: Halfway through and this is so creepy and good - but so intense I can only watch one episode every couple of days.
Greasy Melo/Wok of Love: Still watching, although it’s devolving into something less clever and more disjointed in the second half. Jang Hyuk alone still makes it worth it.
Alchemy of Souls: Rewatching Part 1, one episode a day until Part 2 starts. It’s addictive fun all over again!

I’ll have plenty of time for drama-watching this week now that I have Covid. 😒 Dammit, I escaped for so long …

We are watching Innocent man and it's fun.
But not as fun as Cheat on me if you can. In both these dramas, they are all crazy and lie all the time.
She and her perfect husband is a bit slow on the cuteness and gives too much airtime to dispendable side characters.
Finished: A piece of your mind good music for this atmospheric drama. I almost already forgot about The girl who sees scents.
I have suspiciously low number of active dramas... I might start something on a whim, or even un-pause one that is waiting to be finished but not totally dropped...

Under the Queen's Umbrella. I love this show. Can't wait how the romance with the CP and CPess unfolds.

Signal. I started watching this while waiting for the above episodes to drop. I don't know why I waited for so long to watch this. It is soooo good.

Curtain Call. I have a feeling Kang Ha-neul wasted his talents in another show. That's looking at you, too, Insider! The appearance of the real grandson should be interesting. And will be a cop-out if Ha Ji-won's character end up with KHN and Jung Ji-so with the real grandson..

Gaus Electronics. I started this because many here loved it.

Watching K dramas Reborn Rich If Lee Sung-Min‘s character dies, so will my interest.

Curtain Call Need the real grandson to appear stat.
Love Letter Happy Ending ?
Stained Bleak
Ojakgyo Bros Uee & Joo Won
No C dramas this week
Couple of movies. When The Show Tent Came To My Town

(Japan 2005). Set in early 70’s . Rumiko, the new girl, transfers to the countryside from Tokyo. Smart, pretty, wealthy and so fashionable. 4th grader Akira falls for her, as do all the boys.
As much as the boys adore Rumiko, they are terribly cruel to another classmate Hideko, who they dub Wolf Girl. When the cruelty increases, Rumiko takes a stand.

Duvidha ( India 1973) Based on a Rajasthani folk tale. A newlywed couple journeys to their new home. Son of a merchant, he soon leaves his new wife at home while he sets out to build his own fortune, which takes several years .

A ghost living in a banyan tree witnesses the brides’ arrival and subsequent loneliness and takes on the husband’s form. Years pass. The ghost and the wife have a child. When the real husband returns, he has to prove he is the real husband. The actors do not speak, the story is narrated.

Been a while since I last posted what I have been watching.

Due to the World Cup, I couldn't watch Cheer Up and May I help you. I so miss them 😭😭😭

But I am watching C-drama, She and Her Perfect Husband. The woman who refused to get married and the man who refused to get married. The story cut my attention and I am enjoying every bit of it. Now that they have both registered their marriage, let see how the romance unfolds.

2. Revenge of others. Let Wednesday be here already. Who killed Park Wonseok??? I am curious.

3. Love is for Suckers: Very boring. But I am here for Chef Jang and Jiwan. I hope Chef Jang man up and tell Jiwan how he truly feels.

4. Reborn Rich: I am enjoying it. Now that Sooyang has the debt of 700million dollars, how will they recover? Another reason to watch to the end.

Glitch 8/10: The plot's ramping up but I kind of miss the low-key offbeat vibe of the earlier episodes. Still, we're starting to get some answers (though many lead to new questions) so I'm excited to see where the pieces finally land.

Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (China) 28/58: Why do I love this show so much? Noble idiocy, misunderstandings, a lead couple with the worst communication skills in the universe, jealous mean girls who don't know the meaning of 'he's just not into you'... This drama features every trope I ordinarily hate in spades, and yet, I'm obsessively addicted. Help?

Completed:
Crossfire (China): WOW. This was so, so good. I don't think I've been this invested in so many characters in a single drama, ever. Though the ending was a bit weird. My totally baseless speculation - I wonder if this drama toed the social commentary line a bit too closely to get past censors without the sudden Patriotic Message at the end? Regardless, what an incredible story.

Young Blood (China): A fun watch! I enjoyed the comic-bookish art style, the fight scenes were great, and the main couple was cool. I'm a big fan of gender reversals in romance, and to have a badass, aloof, ambitious heroine paired with a cunning trickster-type? I need more of that. Not a fan of the cliffhanger ending, but at least there's a second season coming. Can't wait!

I finished the Hot stove league this week and realized I like k-dramas where romance is not the main plot.

I'm watching Reborn Rich hope it will be stay this good until the end. The drama has a potential to be a solid drama. So far a well written and well acted. It'ss been so long to finally loving a Song Joong Ki drama. Hahahahaha

Getting more into C-dramas
Unexpected Falling with Peng Guan Ying and Cai Wen Jing. I just chanced upon it when I was bored and I love their chemistry … WHEW! I saw recommendations to go watch their previous thriller “The Controllers or Confidence” and my oh my, you can just watch it for their explosive chemistry and ignore some parts of the plot. I saw someone liken them to Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin, hoping that they get together irl.

K-Drama
Behind every star —- I just watch it for the hijinks & as a light watch.

Blind —- I still need to finish the last two episodes

Reborn Rich —- I want to watch it but can’t get past the opening yet … maybe I will wait for more episodes first. I love Song Joong Ki!

The JD ‘Silent’ wasn’t on this week - weep - and as I’m in a deadly new/recent KD slump, I went back to the ‘The smile has left your eyes’ as I wanted to see Jung Somin and SIG’s amazing chemistry again. Their connection is electric yet also poignant. This drama has many flaws but their acting is so realistic and believable in truly incredible circumstances. SIG just shines as he delivers a layered, complex, enigmatic yet tender performance as the mystery at the heart of this Drama. I would love to see them act together again in a well-conceived, -written and -directed project.

Finally started Extraordinary Attorney Woo and so glad I did. It is, so far, completely charming.

I also started New Life Begins yesterday after seeing it mentioned here. It has made me laugh out loud a couple times. That puppy is super adorable.

I said in the other post that I was lining up winter watches for December, but I guess I needed a little splash of brightness that both of these dramas are offering.

On the other hand I did watch the first ep of Summer Strike. I don't think I'd realized it was going to be slice of life. It is interesting that it takes place in summer, even warm enough to jump in the ocean, but it feels more muted and cold compared to the color and warmth of the other two dramas.