Live Watches
The Killing Vote: Having just finished Tot9T1938 and seen Young Ju-seo in his *villain era* I was even more excited to return to him in this show. What a great character he is. I don’t agree with 90% of what he’s done, but I still wish I could shelter him from the world. Put this guy in more dramas please.

The Matchmakers: Any doubts of the premiere week have been swept away as we get farther into our story. I’m not a person who minds a few political machinations, and with our leads being this fun already, I’m here for the ride. I really love that they break the fourth wall at the beginning of every episode. It sets up the characters really nicely!

A Good Day to be a Dog: On hold because the network doesn’t care. Typical.

Castaway Diva: Yes please. I’ll be having whatever this is. I love the songs, I love the brothers, I love the complicated former idol, and I really love our heroine. I do not love the @$$hat that is the entertainment company CEO but that’s hardly news.

Older Dramas *spoilies*
Tale of the Nine-tailed 1938: I know you’re not supposed to think too hard about this ending but… you’re really not supposed to think too hard about this ending. Laying aside all the continuity stuff, they never actually dealt with the OG mountain god who seemed kind of important at one point. And Yeon arrives three years after he left? I’ll just rewrite the last 10 minutes in my head so they don’t ruin a super great time, thanks anyway.

Revenant: Loved the last two episodes! I had so much fun figuring out when she was the evil spirit and when she wasn’t, and everyone played their parts flawlessly. I do wish that we’d gotten more from the girl who became the vengeful ghost - she was a victim too and it would have been nice for her to have some kind of resolution instead of just being banished. I was also kind of thrown off by Kim Hae-sook’s character. I kept waiting for her to have some kind of interesting backstory, but she was just a comically flat villain in the midst of all the 3-dimensional characters. Still, a very good drama and a very fun creepy time.

LIVE WATCHES
Perfect Marriage Revenge
…is the perfect drama for right now. If you are not watching, you totally should be. Seriously. It's not "so bad, it's good." It's just funny and good.

The Matchmakers
…is about to turn real and dark, but I fear I’m hooked. It is toooo beautiful. I tried to make no (ZERO) gif posts, but instead made three. The show is being pretty upfront about things, so that's good. I don't feel duped.

My Dearest (skimming for the OTP)
…I gather I get to skim for another episode beyond 20?? Maybe there’s a change in plans for the ending?? Plz. Also the beginning of episode 18 was, um...

LYOL (skimming for the gifs)
…and what gifs of Ha Joon they are!!!! 🧐

Moon Show
…probably dropped, although I see that there is a community of the “few, but the proud” who are really liking it, and kudos to y’all!!!

FROM THE RESERVES
W
On hold, mainly because I can’t download episodes on Viki…but this is what I would be watching while I do some traveling. Instead, I just stare out the plane’s windows.

ON DECK
I feel like there are another million live-watch shows coming up. It feels like a flood washing over me. Yet, for others I hear they are in a parched desert of options. I think these two things are related, and when the tide turns to whatever those other folks prefer (and I do not)…maybe I’ll finally get to watch My Liberation Notes😆

Current/recent:
Perfect Marriage Revenge: The most entertaining show going. No pretensions of being deep or meaningful - it knows what it is (self-aware makjang eye candy) and delivers with gusto.
My Dearest part 2 (only through ep. 17): Thank heavens, a temporary pause in the game of self-abnegation tag. This show did not need an extension, though.
Twinkling Watermelon: OK, show, you finally got me. I want to know what happens to Yi-chan and Chung-ah - and the boys in the band.
A Good Day to Be a Dog: Dog gone.
The Matchmakers: In it for the Maeng sisters, the king, and the ever more saturated colors. The palette may be blindingly intense by the end at this rate.
Castaway Diva: I’m an inch away from dropping this and the main reason is that as @KAddicted said in a recap thread, the female characters are more like toddlers than grown women. Every good thing I had to say about PEB's performance earlier went out the window in episode 4 with her braying delivery and gestures so broad that it looks like she's a performer on a children's show. All the promise of the first two episodes is being wasted by making the FLs blockheads and the MLs mere vehicles for a tired, derivative mystery.
Moon in the Day: Did they just take a bunch of clips from three different shows with the same cast and randomly paste them together? Weirdly entertaining but not actually good in any sense.

I’ve got to drop something and it’s probably going to be Castaway Dog on the Moon.

Older shows:
Celebrity: I clicked play on this randomly to pass time on the exercise bike, and got sucked in. I didn’t exactly enjoy it - more like watched with horrified fascination. The influencers are so hateable, Lee Chung-ah is so beautiful and kind, and the ML is so hot that it doesn't matter that the FL is a slack-jawed cipher and no one here deserves a happy ending - except maybe that cleaning service guy who has to take care of all the mess.
W - Two Worlds: On my third rewatch, I think I’ve finally gotten everything figured out. Maybe. I might have to watch again to be sure.

Happy Weekend, Beanies! I have somehow progressed to 13 live-watch dramas now 😅.

ONGOING
My Dearest Part 2 - The hug scene was lovely but it really signals the commencement of the tragedy doesn't it?

Strong Girl Nam-soon - Feels like we've seen the children-trained-to-be-killers story too often recently. At least the plot is moving forward now.

Perfect Marriage Revenge - Still cackling over the brownie scene. This is funnier than I expected.

Castaway Diva - Is it okay to not be in love with this show 😬? The story feels a bit all over the place. I like the sisterhood between the FLs but the lip-syncing plan is just such a disaster in the making.

Twinkling Watermelon - What a perfect profession of love - Yi-chan best boy 🥺. Not surprised by the ending - it was clear the future hadn't changed.

The Matchmakers - As much as I'm loving Jo Han-chul as King, the court intrigue bores me to death. The matchmaking on the other hand is a lot of fun. Rowoon is doing well with the dimwit-in-distress scenes 😂.

A Good Day to Be a Dog - N/A

Moon in the Day - Laughed out loud when a roomful of people applauded Kim Dae-young's acting. The Silla story seems to be more complex than I initially thought.

STARTED
Vigilante - Feels a bit clichéd - like watching a mish-mash of superhero/vigilante movies. The most interesting character is Kim So-jin's. Not enough Yoo Ji-tae so far.

C-DRAMAS
Only for Love - The show could be cute and funny if it didn't drag its feet on everything. There is SO much filler. Why is this 36 episodes?!

Love is Panacea - This drama moved to noble idiocy and angst wayyy too quickly. Also has some of the worst secondary characters I've ever seen. At least we got a ridiculously hilarious fake princess-carry scene.

Story of Kunning Palace - Finally released and it's living up to the hype. Bai Lu brings her A game as always but I'm really loving the high drama of Zhang Ling-he's performance. The twisty, smirky villain-like vibe is 💯.

Rising With the Wind - Will catch up over the weekend.

CRICKET - England the current champ is out

Bangla - trash as usual
Sri Lanka - no cohesion or team buildup
Afgans - the new performer who could have made to semifinal but not because of its own stupidity

Kiwis - as usual struggling but always a part of semifinal.
Netherlands - also did good - for the guys who have many part-time jobs or office work to run their house.

Australia - is peaking now - juggle but then come out as a power boost.

Safas - booster in 1st inning but if hv to play 2nd inning - almost chokes.

Pak - as ever depending upon other teams to hv a chane for semifinal.

Drama cup - Lanka , pak , bangla all are doing good in creating drama and controversies

India - looking too powerful - but - semifinal n final is a matter of one performance, anyone can be not on some day n if that day is semifinal - oh ho

I hope everyone is well and enjoying their watchings.
TWINKLING WATERMELON (13/14)—it continues to hit all the right notes for me, and I cannot wait to rewatch this from end to start in one gulp. This week’s episodes contained the sweetest confession sene—has to be in the top 5 of all Kdramas. And also easy, breezy skinship, such as holding hands and hugging without the usual Kdrama dramatics (which are heart-fluttering when well-done but are, sadly, often over-done). One for the reasons why this drama has been so refreshing for me is that I am kept guessing AND there is a fresh take for the old rom-com tropes. Plus, this father-son duo is probably only second to the father-son dynamic in Sword Snow Stride in my opinion.
My one nitpick is that the motivations of the supernatural are kept too mysterious and a bit over the top for my taste. These scenes just feel shoehorned in.

GO AHEAD (CH) (7/40)—what a delightful story of found family! I have only begun and the family tugs my heartstrings. Best Dad award goes to our Ba, who loves all three of his kids—and would take in more, I think, if presented with children who needed a safe place.
I am aware of the divided opinions about the forthcoming romance, but honestly it is clear form the very beginning that at least on his part, he has a tendre for her, and while her feelings are not romantic yet they are certainly more than sisterly love. But I do not look forward to Steven Zhang’s character getting hurt—if that is where the story goes.

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY FAMILY? (15/53)—old drama that definitely shows its age ( for example, most of the male characters start off as vile, man-children. It is worth watching for the father and a young Park Hyung Shik, and the love-turned friendship triangle between his character and Seo Wool (Nam Ji Hyun) and Eun Ho (Seo Kang Joon).

ALCHEMY OF SOULS PT. 1 (10/30)—I am rewatching this with my sister (her first time) one episode a week (yes, it will take MANY sister dates). I am happy to find the magic is present in a re-watch and was not simply the effect of the giddy joy I experienced live watching with Beanies here. It is still swoony, fun, and thrilling, and knowing that heartbreak is coming up only seems to make the earlier episodes sweeter.
I do wish that Wook’s mother had received justice. it still irks me to no end.

CAST AWAY DIVA (3/16)—I am not going to be able to live watch this because I am already keenly invested in the characters. And not knowing who Ki Ho is in the present timeline is stressful. The writing and performance made me care too much for him and I don’t want to see him hurting until I know how this all comes out. So, I will set this aside until all the episodes are released and keep an eye on the recaps.

PARALLEL WORLD (29/36)—Chang Dong found out what happened to the Camilla. It is still very good, but the angst coming on has me paralyzed.

OTHERWISE:

DOG SHOW (stole this nickname because it is perfect)—what...

If The Real Has Come suffered from too much focus on the main couple, then Live Your Own Life has the opposite problem and I would gladly exchange Mom pretending-to-be-depressed-on-the-sofa for more Hyoshim and Taeho scenes. (Also, more of Uri Awesome Aspiring Actress, please.) I hope that with the fake funeral of Grandma the setup phase is finished and the show gets a grip and direction because I'm starting losing patience (and interest).

Perfect Marriage Revenge
What a ride! I'm having so much fun (and I think the actors as well 🙂).
The show is full of memorable lines and scenes (sofa shuffle, brownies)... and also fulll of strong women, great.
Can't wait for today's episode. 🍿😎

If Perfect Marriage Revenge has a great sense of humour and a firm direction, Moon Day, sadly, doesn't have either. Or more precisely, it can be occasionally very funny and there may be glimpses of some ingenious directing... but as a whole it's a terrible mess. I'm still watching (and enjoying parts of the show), but don't know for how long yet.

I'm also watching and still enjoying Unpredictable Family, catching up with Watermelon and planning to start Diva after Watermelon finishes. I also want to check Kunning Palace which has suddenly dropped and Wonderland of Love, both cdramas.

@reply1988
Webtoon The Crown Princess Scandal is on again!

Finished:
The Kidnapping Day: It was very good, but I didn't love it. The interplay between a prickly, world-weary 11 year old genius, a good-hearted, bumbling would-be kidnapper, and a patient, methodical cop, were the heart and soul of the drama, and what I loved most about it. Their dynamic was highlighted in episode 11, the best episode of the drama. Unfortunately, the narrative sometimes lost focus on them to tease out a mystery that wasn't as deep as it was made out to be, and that ultimately rested on the dubious motivations of the perpetrator, who wasn't as interesting as the drama hoped. (*Mild Spoilers for Soft-Hearted Beanies: not scary, but three jump-scares that really, truly surprised me; the little girl is often in peril; a few spurts of graphic violence, but you can cover the screen in time; our main peeps are alive and ok at the end, with as happy an ending as can be expected!*). ⬅️**Things I wondered about before I started watching**

Watching:
Perfect Marriage Revenge: Gold. Pure gold. So far, it goes from strength to strength, and is the show I look forward to each week. P.S. It also has the swooniest ML. GIMME MORE DRAAAAMA!! 🔥❤️🔥

True Beauty: (through ep ) It's teen-drama overdramatic, and sometimes annoying (all the bullies, the "She's a DIFFERENT PERSON with makeup," the crummy mom, and the FL's baby voice can just go fly a kite), but I also kind of love the drama in the drama... and I love that the directorial influence from Extra-Ordinary You is so clear, along with cameos and references to it - it's a metaverse!!! Also, how swoony is Hwang In-yeop as the stereotypical bad boy (나쁜남자!)? **I may put this one on hold to watch Twinkling Watermelon when it finishes next week.**

Miscellaneous:
--Watched the short, 6 ep. C-drama Supervisor Husband, which was silly, had good chemistry, and wonky editing between scenes. To find it most satisfying, skip the credits - when they reunite and the screen goes black, stop.
--I finished the excellent and fabulous season 2 of Loki. HIGHLY recommend. It was SO GOOD.
--I learned not to read the webtoon The Sound of Your Heart in public when I almost burst out into explosive laughter at a chiropractor office 🤣 (*ep. 167*). Also recommend!

I didn’t think I’d ever say this but there’s actually too many shows on at the moment so I’ve had to park a few to binge later when it finishes.

Actually Watching:

Castaway Diva probably my favourite show on air at the moment and if it keeps on the same trajectory it’ll become one of my favourites for the year for sure

Perfect Marriage Revenge Feels a bit like a condensed weekender which is a great for makjang goodies without the length. Also ML is absolutely swoon-worthy 😍

Wonderland of Love (C-drama) Xu Kai 💕 Chemistry between ML and FL is sizzling and story looks like it’s exciting, if only C-dramas would drip feed their episodes because yesterday I only had 2 to catch up on and now I have like 6 🥴

Love is Panacea (C-drama) LYX 😍 feels like I’ve won in life when I’ve got three of my favourite C-drama actors on my screens in different dramas right now. Just started this though, so let’s see how it goes (also why are there already 4 episodes out, SLOW DOWN 😭)

Only For Love (C-drama) Bai Lu AND Dylan Wang?! 😍 Highkey though Dylan isn’t super convincing as a CEO and this drama has a bit of a low budget feel to it but for these two I’d watch anything

We Go Fast On Trust (C-drama) Zhai Zi Lu become a surprise favourite for me after watching him in Oath of Love so had this show on the radar for a while

A Good Day To Be A Dog if there weren’t other shows to keep me occupied, I’d pausing this one to binge watch later thanks the inane airing schedule

Twinkling Watermelon can’t believe this ends next week 😭 😭😭

Watching On FF/double speed:

Shopping King Louis contrary to my whole spiel about not having time, I was compelled to watch this after posting about the red umbrella sighting in the Treasure Hunt post. Watching on FF because I’m only here to rewatch the cute OTP moments!

Strong Girl Nam-soon not ashamed to admit that I’m only really watching for the OTP and also Shi-oh and Nam-soon moments so everything else I’m breezing through

Live Your Own Life my short attention span is rearing its head and I’m loosing interest in a few of the subplots (a me problem, not the show’s problem) so watching episodes on double speed

Paused

The Matchmakers nothing is inherently wrong with this drama, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit but relative to everything else I’m watching, this isn’t holding my interest as much so I’m parking it for the moment and will keep an eye on recaps before doing a big binge watch when things are quieter

Moon In The Day same as above, though I’m having a bit more trouble connecting to the story so pausing it for a quieter day

My Dearest the best and worst thing about this show is how good it is as a whole, because it means I’ve not been able to drop it even when the writing had gotten a little frustrating for me -...

Castaway Diva: 8.0 I knew better than to expect them to stay at the level of the first week.

Strong Girl Nam-soon: 6.5

My Dear🥱💤t, pt 2: 6.5

Daily Dose of Sunshine: __ ⏸, possible 💧

Matchmakers: 7.5

Vigilante: 7.9

Good Day to Be a Dog Actually Broadcast the Fooking Show: 0.0

Moon in the Day: 6.6 I keep thinking the Moon/Day show should air on, you know, Monday.

Killing Vote: 6.5

Two supporting actresses from All of Us Are Dead are leads in shows I'm currently watching, but I haven't seen the official FL in anything lately. Hmmm... Kinda reminds me of the negative user comments about her performance back then.

CAST AWAY (ep. 3-4) There is a shifting premise and expectation with this show. Less island survival and more Mok-ha's unknown ability to be business savvy and reading people after 15 years in pure isolation. The mystery of Ki-Ho is going to be a twisted plot mess lacking common sense, but after that hurdle the series seems to fall back on the standard evil dad revenge and dirty CEO business man.

The Matchmakers There are so many things happening in this drama! Five futur love relationship, palace intrigues because sageuk, great and strong characters, a lot of humor and incredible production between the costumes, sets, camera work, etc.

Twinkling Watermelon I loved Chung-Ah's scenes this week! They were super cute with Yi-Chan. It was very satisfying to see her slap her stepmother.

Moon in the Day Is there PD ghost in Korea entertainment? I'm really surprised that the PD who did The Third Charm, Producer, Ho Goo's Love or You've Fallen for Me is the same . The writing is weak and the acting is worse...

A Good Day to Be a Dog I don't really miss it when it's not airing.

The Goryeo-Khitan War I'm curious about it.

My Dearest So he said to 2 different women that he will come back to her in one month... So she was right, he's a player!

Perfect Marriage Revenge Will she be a better cook at the end?

Castaway Diva I need more of Potato Boy! Give him something to do.

Vigilante The first 2 episodes were very disapointing.

Doona! (Finished) : this is like Nevertheless 2.0 with milder case of toxicity. FL is a selfish narcissistic that got her way most of the time only because she is pretty and the ML is a naive pushover who is not yet old/ mature enough to resist her beauty nor to walk away to avoid the danger of the noxiousness of her personality. But hey, good news were the ML eventually could see why they shouldn’t be together at the end and though it’s to her pity, the FL turned out to be the one who apparently loves him more and seriously willing to fight for their relationship. The real winner in this drama is Doona’s handsome manager, he managed to not romantically involved with the attractive drama queen and even succeed on capitalizing her.

Strong Girl Nam Gang Soon (6,5) : Dropped. I’d came far enough (solely for OSW) and couldn’t take anymore of the story. I really dislike the childish way of talking of the FL, the comedy isn’t my cup of tea, their power are exagerated way too much and not supported with proper CGI and why all the male character except the ML potrayed as evil, spoiled, stupid and sick. It seems like the writer just purposely elevate women by making them physically super strong and independent and slander men by making them appear exceptionally weak. See you OSW on another project with the same haircut and a better story.

Evillive (2) : Okay, this feels quite heavy for my current mood that I haven’t yet past episode 2. But, interesting. Did KYK wear lense for this role? His eyes seems way darker and … evil. It’s definitely not the same as Han Dong Jin’ eyes. Maybe it’s the lighting or the filter, but I do think his eyes are different.

What I'm watching:

_ Twinkling Watermelon (14/16). This is such a beautiful drama... I don't want it to end so soon. I'll miss them a lot. A new classic, imo.

_ My Dearest (17/21). In this case, I'm looking forward to watching the last episodes. I hope the drama gives us a great finale.

_ Call it love (7/16). I'm enjoying this drama. It's true it's very... very... slow, but it's not boring. I'm not a fan of the pink filter, but I love everything else. The framing is awesome sometimes. And that animated dream scene in the fifth episode... just wonderful.

_ Perfect Marriage Revenge (4/12). Ehm... nothing more to say for now 😅.

_ C-drama New Life Begins (4/40): I didn't know this was a comedy and sometimes I don't get the crazy humor, but the visuals are really pretty and the main characters are nice so far.

Finished this week:

_ Kidnapping Day: a very good show. Great actings, touching moments (episode 11 broke my heart), action (but too many violent scenes) and a good pace. Highly recommended.

My Dearest - I thought Gil-chae would return to Simyang. She would build a better life there than she will in Joseon, make a family even, be it with Jang-hyun or not. But I liked that she's building a community for the woman she saved at the cliff. I look forward to how the woman gets to stand up for herself.
That kiss...and confession...it's perfect.

Perfect Marriage Revenge - An applause to the show that managed to unseat my favorite show of the moment. It's no easy feat. Do-guk's breakdown at the line separating land from water was mmuah! - just how I like my broken heroes with the dramatic drama. The stakes have been raised high.
And to the best chaebol women-in-laws reigning in dramabeans for the year, another applause to PMR.
PMR is my current absolute delight.

Live Up to Your Name Ep 4 - They are back in the modern world. And it seems like both worlds are aware of the time travel thingy.
But, it funny that a tragic event or an injury to Ga-Im is what transports them each time.

Live Your Own Life - Of all persons to call out Hyo-shim, it is bratty Rubi.

Evilive - I'm carefully loving this, without the evil old men.

Live watches:

Twinkling Watermelon
Looking forward to the evil headmistress and her children being dismissed from the household and the dad accepting that he messed up big time and ensuring that his daughter receives the finances even if they can no longer have the kind of relationship she was entitled to as father and daughter. I want to know what happened to her mum and how the return to 2023 works out well for Eungyeol and his family. I will miss this show it’s been a fun watch.

A good day to be a dog
I am so looking forward to this weeks episode I missed my laugh out loud moments normally connected with the nephew who is just on point every time.

Castaway diva
I hope we can get rid of the unnecessary dad on a mission to find his son storyline. I am not interested unless he has a few days to live and is on a mission to make sure his son receives his life insurance as a way of compensating him for the years of abuse. I am hoping we don’t get any more drunk scenes.

The Matchmakers
As the palace politics kicked in I checked out and have only just finished watching this week’s episodes. I am hopeful that after seeing the sneaking way the mistress situation was resolved that they will keep things light. I plan to fast forward through the palace politics after watching the maid be killed off not knowing what she had signed up to. I look forward to seeing the matchmaking continue. It would be great if the need for the merchant outfit is explained so he can start to see her true self in all its complications.

Binge watch corner - aka filling the empty mid week slots

The Producers
Rewatch prompted by the brilliantly written ‘Why you should watch’ post. It is still as funny as the first time I watched it.

Mr Bride - Japanese
Continues to be very average.

Riding a unicorn - Japanese
I just started this one about a start up

Ishiko and Haneo- Japanese
Just started this one about a newly appointed partner and paralegal who don’t get on but have to work together on cases.

Webtoon corner
Second Lead Syndrome
Secret Playlist

Book corner
Girl in translation - Jean Kwok
A story about a young Chinese girl coming from an affluent life in Hong Kong prior to the handover of the city and fleeing to the US. The girl and her mother experience the harsh reality of being fully dependent on a naturalised relative. The sister paid for their move and holds them hostage through forced labour in a factory to repay their debt and providing them with accommodation in a derelict building with no heating, broken windows and infested with insects and rats. The child excels in education despite her initial difficulties learning to speak English fluently and understand her lessons. Her one friend is unaware of the horrific home conditions and the need to work in the factory after school to help her mum to complete the required numbers of items before the delivery deadlines.
It is a very good observation of the different...

Castaway Diva (Episode 3-4) - Mood: C
So on top of Ki Ho’s dad causing trouble in the background, we also have to contend with the CEO’s greediness? Why can’t we just have a simple story about Mok Ha readjusting to society and regaining her friendship (yes, not romance) with Ki Ho together with Ran Joo getting out of her post-surgery slump and realistically pivoting away from singing? But of course, we just get the most uninspired mystery which would only work if neither of the brothers are Ki Ho. I’ll laugh at all the fan wars!

Twinkling Watermelon (Episode 13-14) - Mood: C
Yes, the confession was glorious, but it’s really too little too late at this point, not to mention the writer totally did a bait and switch with the whole accident thing to artificially raise the stakes for the finale. I also spy some makjang nonsense coming from evil stepmom in the preview which I’m really not looking forward to. On another note, there couldn’t have been a worst time for that medication swap moment after another drama had just championed the destigmatisation of mental disorders.

Perfect Marriage Revenge (Episode 3-4) - Mood: C-
Hmm, even in just its 2nd week, I’m already seeing narrative repetition in the evil actions by the villains, ranging from trash-talking Yi Joo (Yoo Ra, Yoo Ra’s mom, Se Hyuk’s sis) to fabrication of situations (Se Hyuk’s mom, Se Hyuk). And while there is a need for a plot device like Jung Wook so that the villains can gain a foothold, it is unfortunately boring and skippable. If only the show focused on the badass ladies in Do Kook’s family! But I guess we really required that childhood trauma trope.

Vigilante (Episode 1-2) - Mood: C-
Huh, why hasn’t Lee Joon Hyuk been seen even once when the show is only 8 episodes long? Otherwise, it’s pretty generic for a vigilante story in terms of setup and it’ll be make or break next week. I do find it ironic that the main pursuer is treating the criminals just as our protagonist would minus the actual murder but I guess motivations also matter. I wonder if Seon Wook is aware of Ji Yong’s secret identity: he was noticeably silent after that night in the club with Ji Yong being high.

The Killing Vote (Episode 11) - Mood: D-
Finally, there’s only one episode left! All the developments within this episode came from a makjang textbook: Ji Young kills her own son, Jin Soo revealed as a double agent, reporter gets kidnapped, Seok Joo and Jail Warden decide to use suicide in order to make a statement, Ji Hoon get bludgeoned for the cliffhanger, and cue the dream sequence where everyone did achieve pure blissfulness. Oh well, I’ll tell myself they filmed the final scene to prevent spoilers. That will make it interesting!

Just a heads up I’ll be posting the bookclub discussion for KIM JIYOUNG, BORN 1982 BY CHO NAM-JOO on my fanwall soon. It’s quite late for me atm I’ll post first thing in morning. Happy weekend!

Perfect Marriage Revenge: Continues to be so much fun! I’m all-in on this elevated makjang. Also, the zingy one-liners and sharp dialogue are proof it’s a smartly written show.

The Matchmakers: I love the show's female-centric viewpoint. The sisterhood of all kinds is great to see. Scary as our FL's MIL is, the way she uses her intellect to wield power in a patriarchal society is impressive. If only she were a force for good. Rowoon the love detector is even more charming here than in DWY. Can't wait to see how our OTP's dynamic changes as they start to really see each other.

Moon in the Day: Sticking with it because I want to know what the deal is with the second 1500-year-old ghost. Wouldn’t mind if the show leaned into the supernatural more.

Strong Woman Nam Soon: Thanks to PMR becoming my weekend fave, I’ve been struggling to keep up. I do want to see Nam-sin get both an antidote and the family love he deserves.

Live Your Own Life: Going to be using FF until the conclusion of what feels like an overly long buildup period. The faked death has to put things in motion, doesn't it?

Inextricable Destiny: Just when it felt like "inextricable destiny" might refer to the FL's predicted early death from disease, the drama found its way to a happy ending that I have mixed emotions about. On one hand, if any couple deserved to wind up as a happy family unit, this one did. On the other, both their separation and reunion happened too quickly. The FL’s character arc was epic, though.

We Go Fast on Trust: A gem of a sports romance drama. Actually, a better term might be “relationship drama” because it’s a slow but exquisite burn as the ML and FL progress from colleagues to friends to … we’ll see. If they can work things out they’ll be the definition of complementary partners.

The Weekend Glut Edition

Watching K current K dramas

My Dearest In for the bean at this point
Castaway Diva Less Serial Killer Dad 😵‍💫 More singing , less side plots please show. Enough lip synch . Do writers think that lip synch would fly in Korea of all places ? 🙄
Matchmakers I’m enjoying this more than I thought I would.
Perfect Marriage Revenge A fun romp.
Live Your Own Life I wish there was a non-chaebol option for out FL. Story should shift in to a higher gear .
My Life as a Dog Missing Dog Poster meme needed
Shame on network for abusing this show 😟
Will check out The GK War
Took a look at High Cookie Subs on Dark side where whack😟
Rewatch Corner
Nokdu Flower 😢 & Go Princess Go 🤣

Tale of the 9 Tailed 1938

Still slowly watching this. One of the rare shows that I can't binge watch quickly.
Which brings me to:

I'll Go to You Ehen the Weather is Fine
Also watching this very slowly. The Beanies were right, this show is lovely.

Weird that I could never watch shows slowly, or simultaneously, and now suddenly I'm doing it with 2 shows.

Blind

I'm also rewatching this to I don't know balance the too much camp and too much softness? 😂 I was never like this so I don't exactly know what I'm doing.
I'm ff'ing the violence in Blind this time. The acting is fantastic but I'm not going through that again.

Rewatched a few drama specials and movies this week too, The Naked Fireman, Ditto, Mission Possible... Sounds like I needed a lot of distraction this week.

The madness continues with 7 live series + DDS... I'm pretty sure this is the most I've ever live watched at once. Good thing some of these are ending soon. I cannot keep up the pace!

CURRENTLY WATCHING

Twinkling Watermelon -- Truly thrilled with how consistently excellent this series has been. This is 💯 my sentimental fave for 2023. Now they just need to stick the landing [prays to drama gods]. 😍
The Matchmakers -- Aigoo, we need a character map for this series! Good thing it's going at a somewhat leisurely pace, otherwise it would be near impossible to keep up with the vast cast. This week I loved: Characters still talking to the camera. The king continuing to be unserious. And Rowoon declaring that he is “not a man who will disappoint you.” Please don't, dear. 😉
Castaway Diva -- Idk, some of the sparkle is gone after a strong start. There are so many improbabilities and not enough "fantasy" to overlook them. And as much as I love romances, it would be SO nice to not have that here and just focus on Mokha pursuing her dream against all odds. 🧐
Moon in the Day -- This week's episodes were better but there's still something off for me. The cast just doesn't feel like a cohesive team. The instrumental score is really good though. Kind of weird that that's what stands out for me at the moment, lol. 🤔
Strong Girl Namsoon -- Still enjoying the antics and our OTP. Still cool with the hot villain. I'm also digging the mil/sil investigative duo. Best part of this week's eps was the conversation about "real" light vs. "fake" light. I love it when writers slip metaphysics into scripts. 🙃
Perfect Marriage Revenge -- How is this so good? How?!! I am GLUED to the screen. 😀
My Dearest 2 -- MD is undoubtedly the finest production this year and the acting is sublime. But the violence and torture in every episode is way too much for me. My heart and chest literally ache after every episode. I'm this close to setting it aside and coming back in a few weeks to watch the last few eps. 🤨 Side note that the actor playing the Crown Prince is doing an amazing job. I was holding my breath during his plea to the King. Even if our leads have an HE, the history here is truly tragic.
Daily Dose of Sunshine -- Watching this in "daily doses" and really appreciating the different storyline. It's thoughtful, compassionate, and has me feeling the feels without sinking into a pit. Plus the colors, lighting, imagery, and CGI are stunning. Currently up to episode 7. 😊

RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED FOR...
Park's Marriage Contract
My Demon
Welcome to Samdalri
Death's Game

Castaway Diva ep 01-04 - Dropped like a sack of hot potatoes. The title character is of no importance, everything is just a plot device and it's insulting that this writer made such a nice heroic teenage character become a jerk just to create some absurd mystery. What begun as heartfelt melo became cheesy cheap makjang.

Perfect Deal ep 01-02 - What a nice little surprise! This is the kind of thriller they should do. Forget serial killers! Regular people turning criminal is always so much better.

Good Day to be a Dog - Sweet but very slow paced because of schedule. It is hard to keep interested and the fantasy rules keep changing for no reason.

Perfect Marriage Revenge - A recipe for modern makjang. Let's just agree to always have at least one of those going on?

Moon in a Day ep 01-04 - Very trashy! The crazy ghost is still amusing though so I can't make up my mind and decide if it's surreal in a nice way.

WATCHING

PERFECT MARRIAGE REVENGE:. This is my favorite drama right now, even more than My Dearest. There I said it, and I will not be ashamed. It is so refreshing to see the villains get foiled or called out so early and often in a drama. This is the best chemistry of any OTP right now—how nice it is to have both the ML and FL have courage, spunk and smarts and having them like each other for that instead of one or both being naïve, cold or passive. After so many characters this year having to be filial to a fault (or at least to the penultimate episode), this show is serving up some just deserts, or maybe it is just a yummy dessert. No matter—as the lady said in When Harry Met Sally, I’ll have what she’s having.

CASTAWAY DIVA: Nice singing, not enough focus on how hard and maybe funny her transition to society should have been, and too much depiction of child abuse.

MOON IN THE DAY. Unless PMR, this show doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. Pick a lane, any lane, and don’t keep being hit by the truck of doom. Also, if you want us to root for the main couple to get together, could you please keep both of them conscious and interacting for some period of time? It’s hard to develop feelings for them when one or the other is unconscious every episode.

MY DEAREST: Oh Dearest, so much great acting and great production, but it almost feels like it is self-consciously flexing these things.in a very slow drawn out way now by giving us very few but quality minutes of the couple and then separating them time and time again. My desire to ff is increasing every episode, which I didn’t think would happen.

WE GO FAST ON TRUST (CDrama): I have not really venture into cdramas but watched Someday or One Day recently in lieu or A Time Called You. I started We Go Fast because of Alice Ke. This drama, in which the love story is a subtle, slow simmer beneath the action of Formula One racing, is turning out to be a little gem.

Live watching:
Strong Girl NS. Now that grandma has returned to her home we get to go back to proper watching in Korean and English subs. Even if the translation may have been more thorough with the English dubs it was just too jarring/odd even for this show. Overall brainless fun that my kid seems to like so sticking around.

Dog Show. Lucky for me we are slow watching this so just finished episode 4 which is just in time for upcoming 5. Hopefully no more preemptions left. The tone is light and fluffy just like the webtoon. Annoyed at the repetitive flashbacks given how little they have aired. At this rate this could have been a 10 episode show over 5 weeks and we would be done if they had done the broadcasting better.

Oldies but Goldie’s:
King’s Affection. 12/20. Destined with You peaked my interest in Rowoon so started this. I find myself using the FF through long drawn out looks/moments of flustering or perhaps just admiration for the beauty of the cast. I do enjoy PEB’s acting but sometimes have trouble seriously considering her a strong crown prince in contrast to the last Maine coon CP I saw in Our Blooming Youth. Such a dainty fellow he must have seemed to those who still thought she was a boy- a flower prince.

Rewatching Joy of Life. One kid who hates watching would only watch something fantasy with fighting. This one came to mind and I thought also a good time to refresh the memory now that season 2 is at least done filming so hopefully somewhere on the horizon. I totally forgot that the beginning was so confusing with the present day and other alternative past world without surgical gloves but had seriously fancy wheelchairs. Totally didn’t make sense.

C-drama "Fearless." Talk about down the rabbit hole, and down, and down. Stuck in hubby's debts, never again to breathe free. I guess they mean for you to just wait it out -- someday she'll act like the lawyer she's supposed to be.

"Perfect Marriage Revenge." Don't know yet, just watching. Can you go blind from an excess of ultra-HD cinematography, mostly in pastels?

Perfect Marriage Revenge:
This show is perfect, except ML’s pants. This is the career best performance of Sung Hoon and I think he really is upping his game. Yes, he has a long way to go in emotional scenes but I feel he is still better than before.
FL is amazing. All characters are interesting. Even the villains aren’t boring.
I love the trio of ladies, such a fun bunch. Can’t wait for today’s episodes.
Ready to swoon!! 🥰🥰🥰

Fast We go on trust(cdrama)
I am loving this slow burn romance a lot. I binged 13 episodes! Loving the leads. The ML is really amazing in how he is making an effort to get to know the FL. he isn’t pushy when she says she doesn’t want a ride home or wants to be alone. FL is so nerdy I love her. But I also like that she is slowly but surely drawn to him. She was even disappointed he didn’t kiss her!! I hear you girl. After that move he owed you a damn good kiss.
All characters are just normal nice people. Love the 2FL too so far.

1. BEAUTIFUL GONG SHIM - It was very entertaining... until the final episode.

2. GUARDIAN: THE LONELY AND GREAT GOD (aka GOBLIN) - It was pretty good. I know many K-Drama fans (including Beanies) adore it but I'm kinda stuck on the fact that he's over 900 years old and she was still a teenager (granted, she was 19) when they met.

3. DAILY DOSE OF SUNSHINE - Park Bo-Young was excellent as usual even though the topic was not the cheeriest. The series made some very important points about mental health and mental illness.

4. HEALER - Still in the middle of watching this. The cast makes it work. Any other cast might have flubbed it.

5. WEIGHTLIFTING FAIRY KIM BOK JOO - 2 more episodes left. This is such a great series that handles a number of issues such as eating disorders, the pressure on athletes etc very well. The humour is spot-on as well and Joon-Hyung is a wonderful example of a great partner and boyfriend.

6. SELL YOUR HAUNTED HOUSE - It's still keeping my attention more or less but REVENANT does the whole possession/haunt thing better, methinks.

A Good Day to be a Dog: The network is killing us all with the delays. I will start watching again once all episodes are released…beyond ridiculous.

Perfect Marriage Revenge: I am enjoying this drama so much…waiting for new episodes is painful. Writers, please do not mess this up!

Moon in the Day: I don’t get the hate this show has generated so far and I am quite enjoying it.

Strong Girl Nam-soon: so I dropped this after about 3 episodes cause frankly it’s a hot mess but I confess that I fast forward through new episodes to Byeon Woo-seok’s scenes. How does a casting director choose the most handsome and enigmatic villain and then a bland ML? Practically every reel on social media with respect to this drama is about the villain…

This is going to be my third post today, so after that … no more for today.

Since I saw an announcement on Netflix last weekend that they would take off Encounter on November 29 from their site, I hurried to rewatch it. After watching EP 2 on Netflix, I realised viki had it too and it was not taken off the site, so I relaxed and continued to watch in on viki (the streaming site I prefer, because I think their subtitling is often way better than Netflix’s).

This is such a good contemporary K-drama ! I really love it. If I wasn’t a fan of the lead actor and actress before, I would be now. Also, the ensemble was really good. Supporting roles were well played, I loved the «simple beauty« of his family, his father’s almost Sokratian wisdom, his mother’s quiet and deep love. The scenes in Havanna were beautiful, and the music … !

Also it reminded me of this other utterly beautiful story of Brief Encounter, Noël Coward’s story in the film version by David Lean from 1945 with Coward’s script. (I rewatched that too.)

I am still in for My Dearest, first and foremost. For now, it looks like we will be closing with an additional episode, so 21 episodes instead of 20. But nothing has been announced yet as definite ; maybe after tonight’s episode, so an announcement on Monday. Tonight (Saturday, November 11) is the showing of EP 19. It really is a heavy hitter in terms of emotional and historically accurate sageuk, not awfully pretty and fluffy as The Matchmakers (at least that’s how they started off the first couple of episodes, I have not seen 3 and 4 yet).

I am using this viewing also to really delve deep into Korean history, both factual as well as ideological. The latter refers to a more profound understanding of Neoconfucianism. It is, of course, as @sicarius had written somewhere, a bit like Alice’s journey down the rabbit hole … But I am enjoying this immensely.

Tonight it’s also the first episode of the Goryeo Khitan War. But I have no idea, where this can be viewed for people outside South Korea. So I will do a little bit of digging on that one …

And yes, I also watched episodes 3 and 4 of Moon in the Day. I’ll continue to watch it for now.