Beanie level: Chaebol’s poor doppelganger

…guilty.
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Anyone else just… tired of the current crop of rom-coms? None of them make sense and I don’t feel motivated to keep watching. The only thing I look forward to is Once Upon a Small Town. (TT_TT)
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    Good job is ending this week! I’ve started Golden Spoon. And watching Actor’s retreat. So I think I’m in a different mood right now. Im not interested in any of the rom-coma eitherS

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    Yep! I can’t even keep them straight.

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    Yep. I have no kdramas on my plate.

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    The Package if you haven’t seen it is a mix of slice of life and comedy. I think the older stuff is showing the current material is lacking. I wonder if the pandemic impact on energy and creativity may be a factor and we have higher expectations as we need more to lift the spirits these days.

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    If you want sweet rather than comedy then Seasons of blossom is adorable they have kept the essence of the webtoon.

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    Romcoms? I don’t even care about genre anymore. Every single kdrama lately seems stupid. I know I don’t have the patience of years ago, instead of 4 eps, the most I can give to stupidity is 30 minutes, or 60 if I like the cast.
    The last nice kdrama was Yumi but season 2 was nowhere as good as season 1 and Attorney Woo. Where is this year’s Mad for each Other or World of the Married? I’ll take even a Squid Game or a Move to Heaven!

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      Have you watched Through the Darkness?

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        No, I read some positive comments about it. I don’t usually like korean thriller dramas. Squid Game and Extracurricular were the exceptions, all others seemed boring. The characters are superficial and the plot has no logic, most of what I can ignore in a romcom becomes too absurd in these thrillers. I also read about Hunting Wild Boar being nice.

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          TtD isn’t a thriller. It is a kind of slice of life drama about the first criminal profilers in Korea, based on real life profiler’s career Kwon Il-yong.

          It is extremely well acted, to the point that I LOVED it, but won’t be able to watch those criminals a second time.

          Kim Nam Gil was top notch as always. The story goes through his exceptional ability in understanding people, making a new profession in Korean police force, and his inner struggles and fears.

          Do give it a try if you can stomach some gore. Nothing too over the top. But the criminals are all very violent.

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    we need a rom com where a human tries to fit in on a planet of aliens. Intergalactic romance, alien in-laws, a strange culture but on another planet. and then a social outcast, yet a third race stealing the heart.

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The day after he’s been stabbed in the stomach? Yeah right.
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    No kidding! 🙄 I just wrote some notes for later posting in the recap about that. That scene occurred after my ability to suspend disbelief was broken, so I decided they’re dead and all of the playing-house-in-the-countryside action is some kind of afterlife dream.

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      Hahahahaha now I’m going to watch it because of your comments

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Law Café = guilty pleasure.
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    And this guy’s now bad guy 2 instead of bad guy 3 (Vincenzo). #promotion

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And the award for the best shut-down of a ML being a jerk goes to… Yu-ri!
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You seriously want me to believe she didn’t see him hiding there?
Otherwise, cautiously optimistic about Law Cafe!
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    😂 it’s like when I hide from my 3 year old. She can’t find me either 🙈

    I thought it was a reasonable first episode, looking forward to episode 2.

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Everyone suffering PTSD from AoS:
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But… doesn\’t that make Naksu irredeemable now?
Seriously?!
– Again, someone edit this down to a proper drama for me.

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    @Jance: I agree but also potentially Buyeon. How is she supposed to live with that patricidal knowledge even if he was a terrible human being? And, Uk’s resurrection is a signifier of his omnipotence? I understand cliffhangers but how is all of this supposed to play out?

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      Exactly my thoughts. Not sure this was thought through. Bu-yeon was the biggest mistake. Looks like we’re going full out tragedy.

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I wanted something light to watch and started You Are My Spring. Got scared and started Da-li instead.
Best decision ever. I\’m over her weird hair and loving everything.

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    Dali is delightful.

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    Allow me to also recommend the recent Welcome to Wedding H3ll starring Lee Jin-wook & Lee Yeon-hee. It is also a light watch and I found it surprisingly entertaining.

    Apologies for my mispelling ‘H3ll’, but it was necessary to get around the DB banned word filter (which definitely could be improved).

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I’m enjoying AoS – honestly! But sometimes I’m watching it like this:
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    That’s me every week reading the recaps🤣 I am not really into the whole magic realm so avoided watching it but seeing the comments sections blowing up every week drew me in. It’s even got people signing up just to join the discussion so I read the recaps and comments most weeks.

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      Ah so you too noticed all the new “candy” beanies😂😂. This always happens whenever there is a trending drama.

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    LOL😂😂😂😂
    Same here, I enjoyed the chit chat scenes between Jin Cho Yeon/Mu Deok, Dang Gu/Yul/Uk, CP/Uk and Park Jin/Maid Kim but the plot is getting supper messy.

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      And unnecessarily slow! So-i was in that secret room for about 4 weeks… why didn’t they “discover” her before?!

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        Then how are they supposed to fill the 20 episodes+ a 10 episode extension? :p

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How to watch Alchemy of Souls:
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Reeling in a CGI golden fish cuts out 10 years of epic training? I’m not convinced.
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    You see, people were already criticizing on Jang Uk’s shortcut to acquiring new skills, so the show came up with a brilliant explanation to put full stop to it all. He is a genius and all the incredible skills he was born with are latent talent that needs a little nudge🙄🙄 At least you aren’t disappointed with the fight scene like me.

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      Maybe I’d swallow the genius story if he actually did some genius stuff. But he doesn’t. Ever.
      I was tired of Uk’s endless shortcuts, but the golden fish takes the biscuit. What on earth?!

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      I almost bought that genius explanation but i’ve decided not to think too hard on this show 😬 i may change my mind depending on how the last quarter performs.

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        It makes more sense to me that he’s improving because he’s fighting for his life – Mu-deok keeps putting him in serious danger so he has to succeed or die trying. But genius? Pfft. Nah.
        I wish we got to see more of Naksu’s genius 🙁

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          Me too! I want to see both them doing some proper training stuff, instead of him learning stuff by accident cos that would at least shut the ones who said he got lucky. And the fight scenes are so short. Don’t they know how hot both Yul and Uk looks clashing swords?? We need more of that n less of slimy stoned people.

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            I want more of Uk’s masked fighting and taking down soul shifters in the city. That was awesome – but fizzled out. 🙁

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    Birth of a new Fish Cult.

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      This isn’t just any fish, it’s a gold energy fish made of…water.

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Favourite moment of the weekend? It comes close…
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It was worth getting to ep 8 of Alchemy for two reasons:
1. Mu-deok changed her hair.
2. Wook actually achieved cool something by himself.

(Also aren’t these guys the cutest?)
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What a great support groups! This girl is onto a win. (Despite the tropes)
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Still loving Link. These guys are so cute!

I realise I don’t mind rom coms with stalkers because it means the angst is coming from something other than a bratty ex / love rival. ^^
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    Exactly! That is what I have always said! I like rom-coms with a side of thriller, or even better, thrillers with a side of rom-com, because there is less reason and time to invent forced lovers angst!

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Yet more great Link laughs (and tears). This drama’s still perfectly walking the line between comedy, romance and mystery. I’m loving it!
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@reply1988 are you going to be trying Alchemy of Souls this weekend?

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    No it’s not really my style of drama. Will you be watching?
    I started Jinxed and so far that level of fantasy works for me.

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      Not sure. I’ve got Netflix so it’s tempting, but I’ve been burned by Hong sisters dramas before…

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        I keep hearing the Hong sister’s being mentioned with a negative statement afterwards. I just looked them up and I haven’t watched any of their dramas but I thought Hotel Del Luna and My girlfriend is a Gumiho got good reviews.

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          I enjoyed Hotel del Luna – but I also watched Warm and Cozy…

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          Imho it’s mostly a case of much much too high expectations, turning into severe negativity instead of lower expectations.

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            Ok sounds like going in not expecting much is the best approach and if it turns out well it’s a bonus. Maybe there are a couple of good ones that leads to the high expectations for the others which are not in the same league.

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            Idk man I went into HDLL with super low expectations and it still ended up like THAT for me hahs

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            My problem is usually the editing – big budget dramas are given free reign to make story arcs unnecessarily long, usually at the expense of intelligent characters…

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          I have watched 9 out of their 12 dramas. In my opinion their shows are always new and different, with a ridiculous sense of humour, and unusaul characters played by very charismatic actors. I watch them for the fun and ridiculousness I know they will provide. I don’t get upset when their shows don’t end spectacularly well. I never expect that of any drama no matter which writer. I have learned my lesson a long time ago. If I don’t like the show then so be it. Next time, lower expectations.

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          It’s clearly the hype. The Hong Sisters were extremely popular on Dramabeans about 5 years ago. It’s only recently that there’s so much negativity around them. If I remember correctly, Javabean and Girlfriday were big fans.

          Honestly, I never understood the hype because the Hong Sisters were always hit or miss for me.

          I liked only 3 of their dramas: MGiaG, A Korean Odyssey, and Hotel del Luna.

          I absolutely hated the other dramas of theirs I’ve seen: Delightful Girl, Warm&Cozy, Master’s Sun, My Girl, and You’re Beautiful.

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            True. JB and GF being great fans definitely contributed to the high expectations on db. The fact is they were native Korean speakers and understood every single pun and joke and reference that the writers used, so they definitely enjoyed their shows much more than the average foreign kdrama fan does.

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            It’s true if you get the translations without the subtleties then you lose the meaning, like the translator spoke about in Run on. I didn’t like that drama but I knew exactly what she meant.

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I wish I had someone to hang out with when I can’t sleep!
I know it’s annoying for him, but that’s a pretty cool superpower.
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Yes to dramas that finish strong!
The middle angst was completely unnecessary (and wasted lots of potential as @radily said), but I loved the last couple of episodes. Friendship group goals!
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    Middle angst being people with random vendettas against Tae-sung. I didn’t mind his mother’s arc so much.

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    Agreed the drama with his mum could have been a good enough side plot. That would have left plenty of time for focusing on the humour like jealousy over the lattes and other elements of bromance and the side couples.

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