Beanie level: Errand boy

Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episode 2.

I wasn’t expecting lesbians in this drama. Good for them! I hope they live happily ever after. What a nice send-off to Pride month for my eternally-starved-for-content sapphic self. I’ll take any little bits of representation I can get from dramaland – as long as it’s positive, that is.

P.S. Just realized while writing this that the plaintiff’s online alias was ‘Sally Ride’. Now that’s the sort of hint I wish I’d noticed right off the bat.
Also, congratulations to that psychiatrist for probably being dramaland’s first medical professional who actually cared about patient confidentiality. He obviously refused to testify during the trial in order to not force his patient out of the closet. Not the level of competence I typically expect from a drama doctor so that was a job well done.

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My Liberation Notes Episode 16. I can’t speak for others, but I found the ending fulfilling and satisfying. If the drama is about the characters finding liberation, then it has succeeded beautifully. The only thing missing was a Gu and Chang-hee reunion. No need to stingy on that front, Park Hae-young. That’s what the people wanted.

This is my favourite drama of 2022 for now, and honestly speaking, I doubt that will change. Watching it week to week has been a liberating experience for me. I usually end of watching dozens of drama each year, but few leave a lasting impact on me. My Liberation Notes is, without a doubt, part of that esteemed company. Farewell, you beautiful, beautiful show – you’re gone but certainly not forgotten.

BTW, was anyone else terrified at the end when the coin started rolling? My mind couldn’t help but think if Gu was about to be truck-of-doomed. I got all tense and started begging in my mind to please not do this. Because I would be devastated beyond measure for this fictional character. Looking back, it’s insane how scared I was.

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    I thought about truck of doom at that moment and at the moment when Chang Hee was saying bye to HyunA. I even thought about it when Tae Hoon was crossing the street. For some reason, I was convinced that someone would die this episode

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    Every time they’re in the street — crossing, walking, whatever. Every time.

    Also, I thought it was Chang-hee’s store when Gu went inside a convenience store.

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    Definitely my favorite of 2022 (so far). I predict multiple Baeksang awards for it, but we will have to wait and see. I’m wondering how many A-list actors/actresses are now clamoring for their agents to get a Park Hae-yeong script?

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    you described it perfectly!
    and omg I was also terrified at the coin scene for some reason. I felt like at that moment everything was going to break down but thankfully we were ok lol.

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    I did think of something might happen to Gu when, in episode 15, he was talking to Mi-jeong in past tense.

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*Tries desperately to not get excited… fails miserably*

I realized while posting this that I updated to Errand Boy. Guess this’ll be my last beanie update in years. I’m joining y’all in purgatory.
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    I love that you are logging the change in beanie status too. I just discovered it and the various levels and it seems so random it’s hard to know when the next leap will come but reading up on it it does seem hard to get to the higher echelons so well done for making it this far and looking forward to hearing you celebrate getting Rooftop room dweller☺️Fighting

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      All the rooftop beanies seem to have over 6k comments so not sure whether it’s the 6k that’s the tipping point or they got there at a much lower number but need that many and then some to get to Loan shark with a heart of gold. I saw you’re on one of the hardest levels to graduate from which makes sense if it is 6k comments. You can do it! How long did it take to get to where you are now?

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      I found a loan shark with 4k comments so other factors must apply. It’s a mystery to be solved! I will be following closely. I can see why Sicarius the queen of Melonia is on a mission to solve the mystery. I am a newbie to the site and climbed a few levels in a less than a month so I am now hooked on getting as high as I can. It’s a great community and such a joy to find recaps and suggestions on what to watch and avoid. I can’t believe I was missing out on all of this by just reading the recaps for the last year or so.

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    Congrats!

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    🛵 enjoy the ride!

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    Congratulations! May your stay be a short one (like less than a year). 👟🛵🏍

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    Welcome to the purgatory of errands My Lady! I hope your stay here is short. I will be here for 48 years since I am not that active 😅 🙃

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    Welcome to purgatory! I have been an Errand boy for years now!

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    Congratulations! Posting every day on the fanwall helps too. When I’ve leveled up (and Ive been here since the revamp), it was when I was prolifically posting everyday and annoying everyone. 😂

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    Congrats! It’s gonna be a looooong run but you can do it!

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    @ladynightshade: Hurray for that casting!
    And, you probably have already seen this but if not, wanted you to see this: https://youtu.be/Tya03l9WAjo

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I decide to check out drama news outside dramabeans for the first time in days and the first headline I see is Kim Sae-ron, of all people, being investigated for a DUI. Man, you really can’t have faith in any of these celebrities. You see someone for years as a talented child star, then you blink and they’re an adult drunk driving through the streets of Seoul. I’m disappointed to say the least.

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    Why would you “have faith” in someone you know nothing about? Instead of being disappointed in a person you never knew perhaps you should consider the illusions of celebrity culture.

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      Maybe not the best wording on my part. I simply meant that it’s disappointing to see certain celebrities turn out to be, well, literal criminals. It’s less me being parasocially attached to someone I don’t know and more just expecting better. Idk if that made sense.

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      Unrelated to the comments but just the general topic, i feel international fans have even higher standards of korean celebrities than koreans themselves. At least they would be familiar with their environment and crimes happening better to keep their expectations realistic for humans in general.

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        Yeah for sure. There are a lot of international fans who hold these celebrities on a pedestal thinking they’re the golden standard of human behaviour, when the reality is that they’re just people. People with immense fame and riches, but people nonetheless. Many Koreans do have high expectations for their celebrities, but I don’t see them considering these celebrities to be the embodiment of purity just because they have public personas.

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    i heard saeron had controversy over smoking and cursing too before so yeah it’s really disappointing but for some reason, it’s not surprising that this happened to her..but yeah still disappointing because she’s so young and just about to do many dramas again

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      I mean, smoking and cursing are normal, legal actions, and ones that most people partake in to some extend (especially the latter). The jump from saying maybe saying f-ck one too many times to drunk driving at 8 in the morning is a zero to a hundred. It’s a shame. She had quite the promising career ahead of her and she decided to ruin in for the stupidest reason imaginable.

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A VERY JOYOUS EID MUBARAK TO MY FELLOW MUSLIM BEANIES!

I hope this year’s celebrations are happy and prosperous after these trying times. May the blessings of Allah be with you and all your loved ones.

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    Happy Eid to you too!

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      We had a surprise celebration cos everyone thought it was gonna be on Tuesday, but they announced on Sunday 8pm that Eid is on Monday. Sent the country into a frenzy of cooking and rushing to hometowns 😂

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        A lot of people where I’m from were also convinced it’d be on Tuesday, but I just had this gut feeling that Eid would be on a Monday. As you can imagine, I’m feeling a little smug with my family now 😂. Hope you had fun times, surprise celebrations or not!

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          Definitely! We’ve had travel restrictions the past two years but not anymore so it’s nice to go visiting again.

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Wow, Grid sure was…something. I honestly don’t even know what to say.

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Seriously, what is going on with the scheduling? What were these broadcasters thinking? Come on, switch it up! This is ridiculous.
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Me: *whines incessantly about watching too many ongoing dramas despite lack of time*

Also me: *plays start on 50-episode weekend family drama because of one actor*

Worst part is that I enjoyed the second episode enough to actually look forward to the upcoming episodes. Looks like I will never escape my worst habits.

Desperately hoping this is more in the veins of a Father is Strange or an Ojakgyo Brothers than the horror stories I heard about more recent weekenders.

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The overlords at dramabeans has falsely accused me of a heinous crime and therefore I am now on the run as a ‘Wrongly accused fugitive’. This upgrade comes with great angst and suffering, but fear not, I shall be back after many mysterious, unexplained years (when I may or may not have had amnesia) to finally get my righteous vengeance! …All while saving the love of my life from her current fiancé, who is *gasp*, the real murderer all along.

Okay, idk why I made up that whole makjang to announce my beanie level update, but I felt like spicing it up.

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Twenty Five Twenty One. I AM IN DEEP PAINNNNNNNNNNN.

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Fellow beanies, this was my comment from the article announcing the kdrama adaptation of Business Proposal and Ahn Hyo-seop’s casting as Kang Tae-mu. A mixed reaction, if there ever was one, but I tried to be optimistic.

Now we’re 6 episodes in, and suffice to say, my comment has aged extremely well. I couldn’t be happier! I love my unexpected, sleeper hits.
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    Excellent foresight by you! It’s so true that something can sound really generic or just weird on paper but the execution is way better/different than expected. I can remember everyone being very negative about Zombie Detective when it was first announced and it turned out great.

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      Honestly, at this point, I should just stick to watching dramas with generic or bizarre premises instead of eye-catching or unique ones. The past few years have seen many a drama with interesting synopses fall into mediocrity and irrelevance, while some of more basic and standard-fare ones catapulted to high ratings and/or critical and audience acclaim. Interesting how that happens. Good writing and execution really is everything

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        There’s probably an argument for generic premises having to try harder to actually be good and stand out, where eye-catching premises might just lean on concept and get a bit lazy.

        That said there are plenty of generic stories that are just phoning it in too.

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        @ladynightshade: ok, so I will give this a try when I have some time. But these kinds of relationships as you stated are replete with “icky power dynamics” to say the least. There is a deeply conflicted angle to the depiction of chaebols and their heirs in KDrama. Some of the artistic impulses clearly wanted to or actually examined the hierarchical dimensions of the Sk’n society much better than others but if the starting premise is that he is a chaebol heir, he is good looking, and powerful so let’s make him a protagonist without analysing – I might add with humour and biting wit – how these individuals and their families got to where they are and how much privilege they enjoyed in shoring up their immense wealth and status, it seems a lost opportunity. I know the (un)happy union of creativity and commerce grinds the wheels of KDrama as well as other global artistic endeavours but wouldn’t it be nice if populist KDrama could also be subversive, destabilising as provocative art should be and contribute to the shaking up of these dubious hierarchies? A fan can only dream.

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          @ladynightshade: Sorry if I came across as hectoring as that wasn’t my intention. I appreciate that people watch things like this for fun so I shouldn’t whine too much especially because you know all of this anyway! I just couldn’t help myself. Sorry!

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            @dncingemma: Hey, you didn’t come across as hectoring at all! Everything you said was entirely valid. This show is mostly just well-written comedy and fluff and most of us are enjoying it that way, especially during such hard times. I absolutely agree with you that it would be great if more kdramas can be subversive and destabilizing towards harmful, unequal social hierarchies. This just happens to not be that kdrama. Even if Business Proposal has been uniquely fun and devoid of (most, not necessarily all) the typical toxic tropes permeating this subgenre of office romcoms, criticism of chaebol/working class romances, where gratuitous wealth is romanticized and class disparities are hand-waived away, should be present in the discourse. You actually made a very good point. If you consider this hectoring (I do not), then hector away!

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            @ladynightshade: Thanks for taking the time to set my mind at ease. My commenting ‘radar’ felt a bit broken today. You are a gem!

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          @ladynightshade: This is my plot points for a Junho role as I know you like him a bit!😂

          I want Junho to be cast as an arrogant chaebol heir, then to undergo a fundamental change of worldview because of an event (have to think about what it should be but I am not going with amnesia!😂), get educated about the working class through meeting and falling in love with a fiery female union leader played by Esom -as inevitably there has to be a love story – and under her guidance, to deconstruct the entire enterprise by giving the shares away to the workers and setting up a transparent and merits based system with a foundation which is dedicated to educating the future generation of South Korean boys and girls who don’t come from wealth. Oh, and he should have a few scenes where he is at a costumes party where he chooses to wear a silk hanbok like he wore in the TRS. Preferably, the dark blue one. I had to shoehorn that into this plot!
          What do you think?

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            @dncingemma: You should be a kdrama screenwriter. I need this on my screen NOW. Junho and Esom are such an inspired choice for a romantic pairing. I love it. Radicalized Junho and his union leader girlfriend sounds so sexy. Although I do hope Esom doesn’t have to do excessive emotional labour in order for Junho to become class conscious. This is a love story between equals, not a woman carrying a man’s burden to become “good”, but I digress. I will now mourn the fact that no screenwriter – in the current social and political climate – could ever create (or even have the balls to create) this storyline into a kdrama. Maybe its got a better shot at Chungmuro?

            Special shout-out to the dark blue silk hanbok. You’re a real one for including that. I think you should create scenarios where he gets to wear pretty hanboks of every colour. It’ll make total sense in the plot, trust me.

            Please feel free to send me any and all Junho role ideas you have in your mind. This is the ultimate Junho fan-zone.

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            @ladynightshade: I am really happy that you like it. And, you already made this fantasy plot better by including what I should have. Esom’s character shouldn’t have to do the emotional heavy lifting to make him class conscious at all as Junho’s character should go through his own process of maturing with some well-placed and well-integrated humorous situations to get him there.
            And, the hanboks. The more the better. The green and navy one, the dark red one when he was running in slo mo, and that white silk get up! Yikes. Not every male actor can pull off Hanboks and look so good in them. I think he should also have his hair pulled back and put in an ornamental ring. His face is made for that, right?

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    I had a feeling about this one too. I’m loving it.

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It’s so good to have Through the Darkness back. I missed Kim Nam-gil and his gorgeous eyes and perfect curls. Easily the best show airing right now.

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Time flew by and I just realized I updated to the Goblin’s underpants (ummm sure…). One step closer to the elusive rooftop apartment.

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Soft supportive boyfriend Nam Joo-hyuk dating ambitious athlete girls is a truly superior genre.

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I was so excited to watch Jeon Mi-do and Lee Mu-saeng in Thirty-Nine. They were the pairing I was most anticipating about, which is saying a lot since I love the other two pairings as well. I love the actors and thought they matched really well. And then the writer pulls the rug out from under me by making Lee Mu-saeng’s character married. Not to Jeon Mi-do’s character, but another woman. Why was this necessary? Why couldn’t we have just had a normal romance between the two? The two already have incredible chemistry despite the limited screen-time; the way he looks at her as if she’s the most beautiful woman in the world…kill me. I want to like them together so badly, but infidelity just puts a bad taste to the whole affair (literally). And that’s before the reveal from episode 2. This is such a mess.

I should have known that the writer of Encounter would do something stupid like this. I was naive.

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    however, i think this happens alot to women of this age. the line about “you let him waste your 30s…” is very true — i believe a woman’s prime is her 30s decade.

    i know women who made their own choices to either stay in the non-marriage relationship (though usually the man is at least separated from the wife) and have either had a child out of wedlock or adopted a child.

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      Having children outside of marriage or adopting is very different from straight up infidelity. One is a perfectly understandable, normal choice many women make, the other is deceitful and a betrayal of trust and vows. It’s not comparable.

      As for being in one’s prime. I for one believe that one’s prime – regardless of gender – is when they are at their happiest and most stable in life, which isn’t necessarily correlated with age. It could be during ones 30s or much later. Chan-young’s life wasn’t wasted just because she was in her 30s during that relationship, it was because she was with a man who clearly didn’t respect her enough to be with her exclusively and openly. He didn’t value her worth nor did he value his wife, the mother of his child(ren).

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        Take it from someone in her early 40’s, that infidelity is not uncommon at this age. At. All. Mi-do’s character is all too common. I can name 5 couples this second I know are cheating or have cheated in the last 5 years. I can think one one right now (who I went to high school with) who broke up a marriage, married the cheating husband, had 2 step children, divorced him when he cheated on her, and is with another guy now, who is also previously divorced. She’s 44 and gorgeous, but definitely has some issues. And I feel for her, because she was so innocent and believing and in love. And all this happened in the last 5 years. Fantasy doesn’t have go far to mirror reality.

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          Unfortunately, I’m very well aware of that. From many people I know, close friends and family included. That’s why I have such clear distain for it. I know from actual experience that it rarely ends well for any parties involved. I just find the cheating route in this drama specifically to be unnecessary (for now, who knows how things will change later on?).

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            I think it was put in for the reason that is a familiar reality of people in that age group. So the writer just wanted to be a little realistic and add an angle that fits with the age she’s trying to target. That said, it definitely left a bad taste. Gosh these actors are so good, have such a sparking chemistry and then as a viewer I should believe that’s all wrong.

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            didn’t they say all they do is see movies and have a meal? no touching, nothing. but emotional cheating – this qualifies. i think the point they are trying to make is the fact that he “did the right thing” by marrying the woman who got pregnant, and is maybe “not really cheating” because their meetings are not physical? hmmm…

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          Ally, sadly, I agree. That’s been the hardest part of the late 30s/early 40s for me. So much marriage drama & trauma happening with people I love. And so much cheating. I think if you have a show about relationships at this age and someone isn’t dealing with this it would be too unrealistic. I am sad though. I just can’t root for this couple in this situation and I was really looking forward to seeing Lee Mu-saeng in a romantic role. I adore him and he doesn’t get enough roles.

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    So far I’m willing to stay with it even though I detest Encounter. I’d hoped it would be as well done as Matrimonial Chaos, but with this writer I know disappointment or a drop is in my future. I’m still interested in seeing where it goes even though I think it will be predictable.

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    The opening church/funeral and police station scene had me so invested but then i find out he’s married?? And she’s been stupidly hanging on from at least her 20’s?? What a turn off 😫 but I haven’t seen ep 2 yet so avoiding spoilers atm.

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    The JMD-LMS pairing is indeed the one I look forward to most but now I doubt if I should start the drama at all. What a bummer?!

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      I went into 39 not knowing that much esp the pairings, but just that the first few mins hooked me in & had my expectations high (also a tad excited since i only have one other drama on my plate). Sure I don’t like cheating as a trope but dramas do reflect reality once in a while..and having seen ep 2, I’m willing to see what next week brings. I’m just saying don’t let us put you off from trying the show.

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      I still think you should give Thirty-Nine a chance. As much as I complained about the cheating, I do agree with beanies that it’s a realistic touch for a show depicting 30s/40s-somethings. Besides, I’d argue the main draw of the show is the friendship between the main trio and the show hasn’t let me down on that part at all. It’s got only two episodes out now, this is the best time to give it a try. Drop it if you want to or continue if you like it.

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        Thanks. I’ll certainly wait for a few more episodes before starting and so will be the case for 2125.

        I want to start Grid too but it’s Disney+. I don’t want to have another subscription, in addition to Netflix, Viki and iQIYI. I haven’t watched anything on iQIYI since MRIAG…. But am still a subscriber

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What better time to use this than now?
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Guys, I am once again rewatching Chicago Typewriter. I just felt like it.

Do I have better things to do? Yes. Are there countless more dramas on my list still waiting to be watched? Yes. But what can I do? Seo Hwi-young calls me.


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This is just sad to see. And for it to continue on for three whole weeks too… why did it have to be my two favourite ongoing dramas? What will I do without Kim Nam-gil’s perfect, perfect hair and those gorgeously expressive eyes? I don’t think figure skating can compensate for my sadness at the lack of Song Ha-young content.

At least I can catch up to a gradually subbed Tracer during the break? Trying to find silver linings here.
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Just finished episode 4 of All of Us Are Dead and omg I am SO STRESSED for my favourite son Son Sang-yeon. He’s a supporting character too so there’s no way he’s not expendable. I don’t know if I can handle watching him die horribly *cries*.

This young ensemble cast is truly what makes this show work at its core. It doesn’t happen often but occasionally, I watch something and my mind immediately goes, “these actors are gonna be big names in the future.” All of Us Are Dead is one of these shows without a doubt. Park Solomon, especially, seems like a star in the making. The guy is just oozing screen-presence.

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    I’ve seen a lot of criticism of the acting, but I think the young actors have a lot of potential. I agree about Park Solomon.

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    Did you ever see Lookout??? I wrote a piece about Solomon Park who played the “villain” and yeah, he was good then and I expect he’ll continue to be.

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Just found out that Through the Darkness has a female writer and female director. No wonder it seem uniquely empathetic to female victims from the start in a manner I rarely see from male-directed crime shows. I don’t mean to say that male directors can’t ever be sensitive to (mostly female) victims; just that time after time, it’s something I’ve seen them ignore in favour of gratuitous displays of violence for shock value. Female directors in the crime genre – in my experience – tend hold back on displaying the violence inflicted upon the (mostly female) victims and more interested in the actual victims themselves. In this regard, Through the Darkness sort of reminds me of Beyond Evil – another crime drama with a female writer + director duo which showed an unusual degree of kindness towards its female victims.

Or maybe I’m just being a gender essentialist and comparing two things with no real correlation. I don’t know.

P.S. what happened to episode 4? Was there a pre-emption I wasn’t aware of? Why did they air a recap episode instead of the actual one?

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    I was wondering if that would be the case when I read about this drama! Haven’t watched, though, but that was the one thing that made me interested. The Lies Within wasn’t a great show on the whole but one thing I did really appreciate was the same thing, it had a female director and it never sensationalized female violence/pain/suffering.

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    @ladynightshade, great comment. I am a bit envious of you all as Viki hasn’t yet made this available in my region.

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    Episode 4 is now available on Kocowa. I will wait for the Viki subs. I watched the first two episodes on Kocowa and Iam rewatching the first two so as not to miss anything and savor Kim Nam-gil’s wonderful performance again. I find Viki’s subs for the most part superior than Kocowa’s for this drama.

    One little item Viki missed but might have added context was translating the sign on the door at the second prison interview. The one in the family visiting room. It might have helped the viewer. Ha-young was slowly upgrading the interview experience with Yong-chul: adding money to his prison account, nicer room to visit, food and cigarettes. Of course Yong-chul returns to form and tries to ‘play’ Ha-young.

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    There’s no pre-emption, the real ep4 aired after the special episode.

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