CRICKET -

A S H E S - 5th test match - turned out to be top quality with little sprinkle of ball controversy. broad's six and then taking the last batsman made it beautiful. All 4 outcomes were possible till last hour of the match - both for the match as well as the A S H E S - good competition because both teams did lots of mistakes - clouds, rain played their game as well.

Enjoyable with many laughable controversies.

World Cup O D I - this level of mismanagement - 2 months to go n they making the schedule - leave alone any talk of tickets - very much everyone wants to milk this events - money - only money matters.

have to make time for Political campaign too - elections demand shiny things and a world cup is such a nice event the party in power always utilise - -ve for sport

Liar
I liked it more than I expected and I think they are using well Minhyun's sad eyes 😁 (and although I understand that the temptation was too big, I wish our Heroine wouldn't do what she did in that last minute.)

Not Others
I think that what I'm enjoying the most right now are the actors, regardless whether it's the main 4 (they are all so good!) or the side characters, like the older police colleague. Ahn Jaewook is so sweet and cute and cutely awkward as Jinhong... and I'm tempted to rewatch Five Enough.

The Way You Shine
I'm more and more convinced that Zhaoxun is the most suitable candidate as the company successor (one point for Anni to see that... though she gets quite some minus points for invading the privacy, again 🙄 ). Tianyou clearly is more of a creative and innovative person than a leader and I hope Mom (and the company) starts seeing this and use his talents well. He is still cutely wooing Xinxing... and her resistance is futile. 😁

Lost You Forever, 11eps
I really like how they managed to capture Xiao Yao's desire to live an ordinary life... and that if it is with a companion, she wants someone who never leaves her and for whom she is the number one priority.

Past Lives, movie
It's a beautifully shot story about making (sometimes painful) decisions in life and love.
*some spoilers follow*
Surprisingly the part I liked the least was about the Past Lives Belief, I think the story can stand alone without it (and maybe be even more impactful) - this is about Nora actively deciding which life (and where) she wants to live and which one she wants to leave behind, even if it hurts. (I would also end the movie a scene earlier, at the doors closed behind Nora entering her house.)

Finished:
Numbers: This was a really fun watching experience! My initial reactions remained the same: I personally really like Kim Myung Soo (L) and find him very pleasant; Choi Jin Hyuk is great and has a great voice, and Choi Min Soo is the BEST as a villain. I was strangely pleased to see him released back into the wild at the end, because jungle cats like him should not be kept in captivity. I would 100% watch a second season of this. My mom loved it too!😊👍

Ongoing:
❤️HeartBeat❤️: Oh my lands... the sweetness of their confessions, kiss, and date were just lovely. The pacing/writing of their relationship has been A+ excellent. I'm so excited to analyze the themes once we see the full unfolding of their story in the next few eps. The upcoming conflicts and angst had to come from somewhere, and my money was always on it coming from external sources, because the ML and FL have been so open and honest with each other. Any fans of The Office? I feel about Hae-won the way Michael feels about Toby. Let's see how things go! I remain hopeful!!

My Lovely Liar: I don't love it, but it's enough fun to keep going. I hope it retains the playfulness of ep 1. That cameo by Lee Tae Sun was a highlight! (And the cute bodyguard, too). The mystery is definitely giving me some vibes of Let Me Hear Your Song. I was surprised at how the ML has been presented with very little agency. I think this is mostly due to the writing, but also a bit due to the actor, and by the end of the drama, I want to see him take control of his life and assert himself! And oh, is this going to be one of my VERY rare instances of SLS? Mayyyybe (unless the police officer turns out to be the murderer).

Older Dramas:
Flower Boy Next Door: (through ep. 9) as I continue to work my way through Yoon Shi Yoon's dramas that are in genres I can handle (shoutout to the Beanies who warned about the violence in Train - yep, that's not for me!), I started FBND. It's cute! There's really a special spark and flavor to early 2010s dramas, including the terrible fashion. Enrique may be annoying (and I like Yoon Shi Yoon enough to be able to acknowledge that), but he's also perceptive and empathetic.

(I'm mostly saving Chief Kim for my weekends, so it will take me longer to finish - sorry @attiton and @indyfan!)

King the Land: I might be the only one still having fun, but I’m comfortable with that. Hwa-ran is the villain that it takes guts to commit to, and I hope she doesn’t try to be sympathetic in our last two episodes. I even enjoyed the fakeout about the potential conflict between Won and Sa-rang. It’s nice to have two people who trust each other and talk about what’s bothering them instead of sliding into instant misunderstandings.

The Uncanny Counter 2: I know it’s only been a couple of weeks since I finished season 1, but I was so happy to see everyone again! Kang Ki-young looks like he’s having the time of his life in this role, So Mun is making grand entrances left and right, and I have high hopes for our new guy in the group.

Heartbeat I’m willing to suspend my annoyance with Cat Man if this show gives us more great moments between our leads. Let it be them against their fates please! And I’m all for the vampire sidekicks trying to do some investigating of Man-hwi’s blood farm of horror, but if anything happens to Rose, I’m not sure I’ll be able to forgive writer-nim.

Not Others Jin-hong is pretty adorable, and he seems like such a nice contrast to Eun-mi, so I hope they work out. If she could just look a liiiiittle less smug in her absolute dishonesty and manipulation, that would be great. I like where we have Jin-hee and Jae-won right now, but I also wouldn’t mind if they sped things up slightly this week.

Splash Splash Love Previously I’d seen a very terrible quality version of this on youtube, so I’m really glad I went back and watched a more legit version on Viki this week. Such a cute little drama. I would watch a whole full length drama of this exact story, tbh. But with all the same actors, or I won’t accept it.

Pachinko This continues to be pretty great. The way they splice together the events of the past and the events of the present is so powerful. When Seon-ja stood in the rain and the waves after 50 years - I’m not crying you’re crying.

My Lovely Liar Against my better judgment, I started this show this week also. It’s not that I didn’t want to watch it from the beginning, but there are so many dramas going on right now. It’s a little overwhelming. I don’t know if I’ve ever had this many going at once. Anyway, everything all the Beanies are saying about this is true - super great so far, very engaging, invested in the characters, curious about the mystery.

Current/recent: Too much of a (mostly) good thing!
Not Others: The murder plot is slow to develop for a 12-episode series and seems all over the place but the characters - and the actors - are so good that it doesn't matter for now. I will need Ahn Jae-wook to do something beyond wide-eyed gazing and hiccuping pretty soon, though.
HeartBeat: The vampire lore is not making much sense and I’m torn between wanting the show to fill it in a little better and wanting it to stay nonsensical and just focus on its strengths: romance, absurdity, and snack-packs of blood.
King the Land: Oy. I feel like a dying man in the desert, crawling toward a mirage: Must. Get. That. Bean.
My Lovely Liar: Fun, engaging start - I have high hopes for this one. It would be great if the comic fantasy sequences like Do-ha as a secret agent continue. I don’t want to admit how many times I rewatched that bit.
The Uncanny Counter 2: Yay, they're back! I had to save the first two episodes for later in the week because of the glut of Monday-Tuesday shows (this is me NOT complaining).
Numbers: The final week was like a two-hour cartoon adaptation of the already cartoonish preceding 10 episodes, but overall this was ridiculously *dramatic* fun and I enjoyed the heck out of it.

I’ll probably check out Moving this week.

Older shows:
Good grief, who has time for older shows?

Not Others (Episode 5-6) - Mood: C-
It would be a massive understatement to say that the whole dad thing was an absolute downer of a mistake: the writer had missed a crucial opportunity to subvert the trope by making Jin Hong Eun Mi’s first love but not her dad. And while logically it’s consistent with Eun Mi’s personality to be rash, one has to wonder where’s the line between immaturity and selfishness.

My Lovely Liar (Episode 1-2) - Mood: D+
Despite the fact that watching Seo Ji Hoon and Yoon Ji On playing second fiddle makes my blood boil (the thoughts I have about the casting aren’t nice to say the least), their presence alongside Kim So Hyun’s drew me to this show. Sadly, there’s a lot of eye-rolling setups and characterisations that only succeeded in lowering my expectations?

King the Land (Episode 13-14) - Mood: D+
I guess I’ll take the small win in Da Eul’s parent-in-laws defying expectations and reliving her of her household duties, but it would’ve been much better if they reflected and changed their archaic mindset regarding housework as well. Otherwise, so little of the rest was worth watching, as noble idiocy and forced separation and one mother crashed into the plot this week.

Miraculous Brothers (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D+
When I saw Kang San using his powers, I actually laughed a little because they’ve been so barely incorporated into the 2nd half of the show that I kind of forgot they were a thing. To be honest, the story could’ve done without them, especially when it doesn’t seem like they’ll be explained satisfactorily, not to mention, there’s still so much to cover within the next 2 weeks?

The Uncanny Counter 2 (Episode 1-2) - Mood: D
The writer really did not give any thought to characterisation: everybody from the new villains to the firefighter to the pitiful Yoo In Soo in yet another weird wig all just felt very clumsily introduced into the narrative. Even the characters that we loved from the 1st season lost all their personality. This would’ve worked for a short spinoff, but 10 more episodes? Nah.

Heartbeat (Episode 11-12) - Mood: D
Yeah, this is what happens when you fail to establish proper fantasy rules: the writer ends up making up stuff as the drama moves into its drama phase to inorganically raise the stakes for the OTP. Also, the antagonistic characters have no depth: I was hoping the 2ML’s affliction might motivate him to establish a deal with the ML but they just turned his arc into jealousy.

I think I need to get my eyes checked after watching 12 dramas this week 😅. The c-dramas have SO many episodes 😭.

COMPLETED
Numbers - Turning Han Je-kyun into an unkillable cockroach was an interesting choice for the finale.

Revenant - Loved it from beginning to end. No notes.

D.P. Season 2 - The USB and group of evil was unnecessary. As usual the show shone when focussing on individual stories like Nina's. Definitely a less bleak ending than S1 though.

ONGOING
The Uncanny Counter - Am I the only one who felt they went a little overboard with the villains? Anyway, it's great to have the gang back together.

King the Land - So much happened but none of it felt impactful. Mom's entered just in time for finale drama. I wonder if they'll do something new with her.

Heartbeat - In-hae's confession was so simple and earnest. Great kiss too. I love this couple.

Not Others - I'm mad at Eun-mi right now 😠. At least Jaewon is still precious.

Miraculous Brothers - Finally Kang San knows everything. I'm glad Lee Ki-woo's character is coming to the fore now - he's very good at playing the bad guy.

WATCHLIST
Planning to try out My Dearest but if it's too sad I might park it till S2 starts in October.

Will also try The First Responders 2 because I need to know what drama magic they'll use to save Son Ho-jun's character.

C-DRAMAS
The Legend of Anle (till Ep. 37) - Plot armour reaching epic proportions now. Anning gets hit with multiple arrows - dies. Han Ye gets hit with multiple arrows AND jumps off a cliff - survives 🙄. At least it ends tomorrow.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook (till Ep. 24) - One of the few instances where I don't mind an amnesia plot since it keeps our core threesome together.

Lost You Forever (till Ep. 8) - I'm way behind the airing schedule but this is so good, I feel the need to savour it.

Taiwanese Drama Trick or Love (till Ep. 24) - Too much family drama in the mix now. I need the sister's plot to move along more.

King The Land
This might be unpopular but Yoona is the MVP here, her role is not particularly complex or well written but she manages to do just enough to sell it, the character plays to her strengths and sidesteps her limitations as an actress.

Numbers
In real life there is no accounting or auditing firm where all the staff members are that blindingly attractive, but either way i enjoyed it despite missing the bus when it aired.

Moon Lovers [rewatch]
Aaaaah the Infamous high budget flop turned worldwide cult classic, its held up very well since its original release and im in the minority group of people who felt that IU was great in it,

Cdrama land has been suprisingly dry during the second half of the year but i do have lotus casebook and that Yang Yang drama on my watchlist

For many of us, suddenly there are a lot of fun Monday-Tuesday shows (HeartBeat, My Lovely Liar, and Not Others)!!! The tide has turned from the weekend to the weekdays for some, and the communities for these shows here on DB are chatty and strong. So fun!

My Lovely Liar: 9.5 Day 1 was distracting how the FL's hair kept changing from bangs to not-bangs. But if that's my biggest complaint...
- The story, acting, etc might rate about an 8 or 8.5, but bonus for Kim So-hyun being so nice to look at. Especially with bangs.
- She's lovely, but sadly not mine.
- I have screenies from a scene in day 1 that I have to remember to post when the finale airs. Can anyone guess which scene?

D. P. Season 2: 5.5 (ep 4/6)
- What's with the Kamikaze Crow in ep 4?
- Uncopyable USB? But he can open and read the files on it??? Did he try "save as" to another drive? Just take photos of the screen?
- Reading the actual news had more impact than watching season 2 had.
- I hope Netflix knows when it is time to stop.
- Watching ep 6 soon after watching Lovely Liar causes wiplash.

Uncanny Counter S2: 4.5 Samantha & Rachel in a track suit. And some other stuff, I guess.
- Overacted and childish; Mo-tak & Mun are especially annoying.
- Their attempts at humor fall flat.
- They need better music for the action scenes. I end up resorting to playing the Taxi Driver theme in my head when they go into action.
- Enjoy it while you can. After Uncanny Counter 2 comes Arsedal 2 😱😬🤮

Numbers: 6.5

Revenant: 9.0

Not Others: 8.0

Heartbeat: 7.0 Going a bit too dark for my tastes in day 12.

First Responders 2: __ I dropped the first season and see no reason to start "Second Responders".

My Dearest: 6.0

I enjoyed pairing the heavy Revenant with the light Hearbeat. But as Revenant ended (applause) and Heartbeat is winding down (boo), I'm thinking of my next drama couple. My Lovely Liar had a fun, zippy start. While My Dearest Episode 1 was expectedly beautiful, it was also unexpectedly light and silly. But that opening and ending...oh my heart, steel yourself. I hope they can stitch the contrasting elements well.

Finishing up my Junho backlist, I raced through Wok of Love. Raced because I ffw'd a fair bit. It was rather uneven. Chief Kim's brand of comedy appealed more to me. (I see you Chief Kim in My Dearest!) But my god, Beanies, you were right. Junho was on fire. I know some folks liked the polish of KTL, but Junho's little bit raw, little bit rough appeal is his superpower (to me). I hope it doesn't get glossed over in his next project. And a shoutout to Jang Hyuk's storyline, it was actually the more moving one.

I also caught The Way You Shine thanks to Beanies reccos. It was odd after watching WoL, yet another rich girl abandoned after her wedding when her father loses his money and then also goes into the food business. I wasn't sure about this initially: the production values, the recycled set up, and finding the 2ML far more appealing at first. But I've seen such a complex take on abortion in my Asian dramas. After the subplot was over, I was invested. Kudos show. Will see it till the end.

I won't have the bandwidth next week to binge any full dramas so am loving the short-form reccos. I've only seen one (gasp) so I've made a list of them all. Now, where to start.

NUMBERS: All I can say is “Okay”! Random thoughts: Han Je Gyun’s sneer at the end of Episode 11. Choi Min-Soo owned the character. Of course, the orange sweater. Han Seung-Jo and Ji-Soo child must be the most pragmatic kid in the world. Dad is busy working for three years and not able to see him, but the child has no problem. Han Je Gyun’s expression as he watched his grandchild playing in the sand. The romance between Jang Ho-Woo and Jin Yeon-ah- what was that all about? I am happy that the drama ended with Han Je Gyun cooking up another scheme.

FRUITS BASKET: It was heartwarming to see the Zodiac Soma clan being fiercely protective of Tohru in front of Akito, who of course, throws a tantrum. Tohru is a ray of sunshine. Now that Akito and Tohru have met, it remains to be see how the bonds/curse of the zodiac is broken.

THE YAKUZA’S GUIDE TO BABYSITTING: Anime. I was intrigued by the title. Kirishima is known as “The Devil” for his tendency to resort to violence. He is the second-in-command of the Sakuragi gang. The head decides it is time to restrain Kirishima. What better way than to have to him babysit his seven-year-old daughter? It is only 12 episodes long and progressed as expected. Not deep like FRUITS BASKET but like a comforting chocolate ice-cream, just what one needs sometimes.

HEARTBEAT: Angst was expected. To be fair the Cat man never said that a few drops of blood will suffice. It would have been nice if In-Hae could have given a few drops to Woo-Hyul and Woo-Hyul could have given a few drops of vampire blood to Do-Sik and everybody could be fine and dandy. But then where is the drama in that? I just want my vampire and prickly FL to have a happy ending. And Do-Sik too, for apart from his nonchalance towards half-vampire blood, he is nice. At least to In-Hae.

KING THE LAND (Ep. 13-14) I know a lot of viewers are enjoying the show just for the romance fan service. The focus on gallantry and romance is fine, it needs a structural plot to hold things together. Any conflict just fizzles into nothing at a snap of a finger. Gu Won is a genius who glides along without effort to get success after success. Hwa-Ran’s dismissal was an unrealistic fail. Sa-Rang’s independence has slowly been eroded into the Cinderella trope . . . complete with being the Gu’s family maid and babysitter, which ironically, is the same for a future daughter-in-law.

The chairman’s business split of our OTP after their dating scandal was a way to softly punish them and let them reflect on their situation. Gu Won is oblivious to this but Sa-Rang quickly learns as she is exiled to the tourist hotel. The chairman is telling her he can make her life miserable. I don’t think he is worried about Sa-Rang turning into Won’s mother but Won turning into himself. We learned that chairman married a lowly hotel employee, got married, had a son who he doted on, but divorced and erased his mother from his life. He probably does not want that to happen to Won. But to make the break up plan work, he puts Won’s mother back in the picture, to tell her painful story of how she could not be accepted nor never fit into chaebol class, i.e. Sa-Rang’s bitter fate.

This sets up for a finale crossroads. Does Gu Won play the noble idiocy card? Does Sa-Rang? Can they stay together and have it all against the god-like decision maker, the chairman? Does the fitting ending involve Hwa-Ran returning with dynamite to blow up the hotel killing her entire family? At this point, anything goes . . . towards a happy ending because all the past serious issues have been easily brushed aside.

Just finished FIGHT MY WAY at had so many laugh out loud moments. It was in many ways delicious!

Waiting for the last episodes of KING THE LAND and will surely enjoy the sweet fluff!

Started MY LOVELY LIAR, which looks really good. Was anyone else distracted, that the venue used for her first big job (the rich lady/boyfriend/waitress situation) was actually the same place of THAT KISS in KTL? I had to rewind to piece it together, but am fairly certain. Lol. Yes, that is what stayed with me about this show, along with the nice chemistry of the main couple. I felt kinda meh about the ML, since I only knew him from ALCHEMY OF SOULS, but I like his role better in this drama. Also looking forward to more music business/concert scenes.

Fireworks of my heart
The mother heard some honest opinions about herself. "I truly wish I had never been born your son" that were truly gratifying. The lovey dovey scenes between Yang Yang and Wang Chu Rang were so adorable, they make such a cute pair.

Not others
Some cute interactions between the dad and Eun Mi and JinHee and JaeWon. Love how stoic JaeWon is. It isnt making me swoon, but it is a good watch, especially since I dont have a lot to watch otherwise. Of the 4 leads, I like the dad, JinHee and JaeWon so far. EunMi is iffy.

Cinderellas of Midsummer
They drop one episode per week, so, following in @OldLawyer 's footsteps, I am holding off for a few weeks so I can watch a few episodes together.

The Real has come
Still watching it. Nothing much to say other than that.

A girl and three sweethearts
I was a little hesitant after my experience with Coffee and Vanilla, but I am liking this drama so far. The FL is hamming it a lot, and sometimes it is cringey, but she is likeable inspite of that.

The first episode of Age of Youth was so good it moved me. I hope it keeps the same quality for two seasons. Any man would fall in love with Park Hye Soo. I hope Korea will soon make such profound and humanist series again.

So much disappointment with the killing of the baby in The Way You Shine. The subject was treated with the same carelessness that we sees in Western shows.

I tried to watch The Youth Memories, but it didn't work for me: too slow.

King The Land is probably the best Kdrama of 2023.

The Science of Falling in Love started off on the right foot, I hope it stays light and fun.

My Kdrama watching is almost nonexistent this week, if not for Not Others. Continue to like the show despite mild irritation on some characters.
This week 2 Days 1 Night does a three days instead of two and I can't wait to see them. They all determined to do their best to win the games so they won't have to go to a deserted island for the next shooting. HA!
Watched movie Happiness for Beginners as per @mmmmm recommendation. The visuals are breathtakingly beautiful. I could watch it all day- it's calming. As a movie adaptation, it's not bad. But I've come to understand since long, it can only go two ways with adaptation either it's tolerable or worse.

Lost you forever has all my attention. This has been a cdrama year for me till now but LYF is the strongest of all the cdramas I've seen this year. Really liking the idea of not knowing who the endgame will be (even though I'm already greatly spoiled, the show is doing a good job in letting us root for all three or four of them).

King the Land: ep 13. Dropped. Phew.

Heartbeat: Let’s hope the leads will continue to communicate. I smell noble idiocy. But I won’t be bothered too much because it’s a matter of life and death.

Not Others : This week’s ending made me rage. Not cool, Eun Mi. Not cool.
Just give me more Jae Won and JIn Hee please!! Their scenes are precious.

My Lovely Liar
An OK start for me. Need another two episodes to decide if I want to continue.

The way you shine (tw) The show continues to be delightful. I love Tian Yu 😍
He is just so kind and genuine. I love how he teases Xinxing. And the other two females Ruo Yan and Anni continue to do terrible things. Atleast Anni is just thoughtless while RY is pure evil. I won’t be surprised if she is the one who releases the sex video.

Trick or Love (tw) Ep 22
OMG! Amnesia?? Are you kidding me?? She fell and now she forgot exactly 4 months. Lol.
Just give me more of the sister and 2ML. I love them!! I have no interest in the main couple. FF time.

When a snail Falls in Love 2023 (Thai): Ep 14
Continues to be interesting. I like the police squad.

Exclusive Fairy Tale Dropped.
It was cute but FL being silly and over the top was annoying. And ML has one expression.
Not in a mood for this. Might be an easy watch on a rainy day.

Not Others The mother is fun. The rest is so déjà vu.

Heartbeat It should have been a 12 episodes drama. Now, we entered the part where the writer invents a new rule at each episode.

My Lovely Liar Not sure how the different univers (music, fantasy, investigtion, murder) will nest inside each other and not explode. On the other hand, I'm sure there wasn't enough of Ji-Hoon!

King the Land It's the last week \o/

My Dearest I didn't watch the first episode yet.

The Uncanny Counter 2 I didn't really like the humor and missed the darker ton.

The Way You Shine (TW) The ML is such a cinnamon roll (a handsome one).

Not others, still like it, plus it is interesting to see the actor from Glory playing a normal character here.
My lovely liar- love Minhyun and his sad eyes and hope drama will do well.
Dropped- Military Prosecutor Doberman, beginning felt interesting, but just didn’t get invested enough to watch ep 2.
Tried again watching Heartbeat, but sometimes when you are done, you are done, so I can’t join others even though I adore Taec.

I was away on vacation for two weeks with family and couldn’t watch much, and so I came back and watched a lot this week, although I was supposed to be unpacking and setting up my new house…
Numbers: Perfect brainless watch when you might have missed your international flight because you got the pesky time of the flight wrong and are stuck in a weird Airbnb for a night….
My Lovely Liar-it”s been a long time since I have been that engrossed by a k-drama opening episodes
Heartbeat- splurging on a Prime membership this month and binged this to episode 12. As much as I like our goofy vampire, I found several episodes really slow watching it that way, just meet up after meetup where not much is really said. I was almost relieved when everything hit the fan in 11-12. Taking someone’s investment that you’ve barely met is a huge red flag.
Miraculous Brothers- I don’t understand why Viki is behind broadcast and it left me at episode 5-6 where the writer is being infuriatingly selfish and not telling what he knows. If he doesn’t show some character growth soon I will drop it. Otherwise it’s fascinating.
Not Others-this is so well acted and I’m really enjoying it. I appreciated that this week was about dad returning, but I want some real development between Sooyoung and her captain.
kTL- not all the way caught up. I paused because I didn’t want to watch the rich family retaliation, (my absolute least favorite trope) although it sounds like it’s all a fake out. I don’t feel as upset as others that there is not much of substance here, although it is a lot of frosting, as one Beanie pointed out. I find I’m thus watching it in small doses. I also appreciated the posts about why Junho picked this and how well Yoona is acting a badly written part.

King the land
I am looking forward to seeing how this ends. I hope it has a great finish after keeping it light and the couple chatting through issues I hope that continues to be the case.

Cinderellas of midsummer - Japanese
I am enjoying the storytelling in this one even if it is a slow watch.

My lovely liar
I loved the little drama scenes they had in the first few episodes of Unlock my boss so it was great seeing the NSI scene in this one.
I am hoping we don’t have to deal with a typical second female lead character in the one sided love of the singer.
Looking forward to this week’s episodes and if they keep the same tone, I will be very happy to continue to watch until the end.

My happy marriage - Japanese anime
It has some battle in the spiritual realms element so not sure how long I will hold out but the Cinderella element is keeping it light.

Hello my twenties
Everyone said this is a fun watch but I am seeing mentions of a ghost and flashbacks to some childhood trauma with more than one character. A man who could be a police officer or the dad of a wronged male character either way he is definitely on a mission against one the characters. I am expecting to drop at some point if the tone gets darker when these stories are explored further.

Queen Inhyun’s man
Early stages as this is the August drama for the Watch and Discuss Korean Drama club

Completed

Drama shorts as recommended by the beanies.

You drive me crazy - I loved the description by the interpreter that they are treated as if they are a transformer; people using ridiculous phrases that they would need to have an extensive vocabulary to know and not allowing them to eat if they have to work while the rest of the group can happily eat during the working lunch. Lovely friends to lovers drama.

Longing for Spring - Childhood friends to lovers with Jockeys as the male lead and second lead I think this is the only drama I have seen this profession showcased. This was a rewatch as I only remembered the general outline of the story

The effect of a finger flick on a break up
I enjoyed the multiple angles of the realisation of a relationship’s failings as well as the sweet beginnings of a new relationship being shown.

This week I watched Heartbeat, My Lovely Liar, and the variety show BroMarble. I also watched the 1st episode of Mr. Queen.

Maybe I always knew this but I forgot but this week made me realize I really need to be in a headspace to really watch a kdrama and be affected, for good or bad, by it.

For example, I watched My Lovely Liar and noticed none of the things people seemed to like about it; even trying to be objective, I don't see it. I wasn't really invested in the characters (though I am curious about what happened with the ex girlfriend). I don't know if I would feel differently if I were in a different headspace.

The only reason I even watched it is because Heartbeat made me optimistic. I thought since I like Heartbeat, maybe I could try another romcom and be interested but no. Heartbeat continues to be the only romcom that strikes the right balance for me. I was still in a sad/apathetic headspace when I watched this and I'm not a "swoony" person and if anyone remembers, I'm allergic to romance but there were moments of hearbeat that had me like🫠🥲😌🥹 and I couldn't even help it. My face just did it! My body just relaxed and I just melted at the sweet simplicity of doing laundry together or being considerate by bringing him something to drink so everyone was snacking together.

BroMarble went from 2 episodes a week to 1 and I was surprised how fitting it felt. It felt a total palette cleasner, chill out & relax type episode (to me).

I watched the 1st episode of Mr. Queen because I've seen it mentioned here and with the high octane antics and visuals as well as the gender bender aspects, I can see why it is appealing to folks but not for me. Again, maybe because I'm not in the headspace for it. Plus I'm really not into sageuks to begin with; I don't like the political schemes and intrigue. I thought maybe the comedy and supernatural situation would override my lack of interest in the other things but it didn't.

What I am watching:

- “My Lovely Liar” (2 out of 16). It seems I didn't love these two episodes as much as other beanies did, but I'll keep watching it. I'm not really intrigued by the ML's past story, I'm here for the rom-com... and for Seo Ji Hoon (SML again).

- “Miraculous Brothers” (6 out of 16). This drama has a good script, imo. I watched six episodes in two days. I'm enjoying even though I'm not into thrillers. I hope we can see a good 'bromance' developing in the next episodes.

- “Uncanny Counter” Season 1 (8 out of 16). I have decided to FF some scenes which I find too boring. That's the only way I can make it through this drama.

What I have finished:

- “Beautiful Gong Shim”. It's not a rom-com, as one could think looking at the posters. It's a soft makjang + a bit of romance. Namgoong Min fans should watch it. His character here is like the seed of the future Chief Kim.

- “Reset” (C-drama). So so good!! Now it's my favorite C-drama, along with “Meet Yourself”. The pacing is great. As a tiny "flaw", the last two episodes deepened in the villains's past story and I wasn't really convinced by their motivations.

Reading:

- “Eleanor & Park” by Rainbow Rowell. I have borrowed it from the library because a friend of mine recommended it to me because the ML was from a Korean family. I have read half of it in a few hours, it's really cute so far.