Beanie level: Noble idiot

Can we take a moment to appreciate Radiant? Ahhh work and other things made me take forever to finish ep10 in which I went from laughing to ugly crying in 1 ep. Can’t believe it ends this week!

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    That ending in ep10 hit me hard! I was not expecting that! I literally have no clue what direction ep 9 and 10 will take and this is a first in my almost decade of drama watching. This is such an underappreciated drama! Its a melo, so you need to like that category to watch it but oh my will it take you for a ride! and so worth it!
    I almost want to compare it to 1mil stars from last year meets slice of senior life.
    Keep your tissues ready!

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    *takes the whole week to appreciate Radiant*

    *seriously, I’ve had a really hard time focusing on anything else*

    It’s just. I just.

    Sigh. It leaves me without words. I’m just thankful it exists, even though it truly tears me up inside.

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Finallyyyyyy just finished Clean with passion for now.
Verdict: overall cute! but that last episode dragged on. And we had the typical noble idiocy breakup episode. still cute show.I need to clean now

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If Reach of Sincerity/ Touch your Heart is my awww/squeal gushing over romance drama of the week, Radiant is my hit-you-in-the-feels drama. I just bawled my eyes out on Ep 9! such a strong episode!

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    This is one of those dramas that really makes you think about life objectively. Where am I in life and where is my life going. It shows the sad part of turning older and all the complications that come with it. Including the burden left on the ones left behind.
    The actress Kim Hye Ja is a gem and she deserves all the love she gets for her amazing acting chops.
    Joon Ha has been portrayed really well too! The guy with the broken dream trying to make ends meet but is still good deep inside even though he is kind of a shell of a person now. Heartbreaking to watch!

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      Radiant’s just amazing. I cry so much every episode, but it’s.. beautiful? *squeezes your hand and hands you a tissue*

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Fellow beanies, what drama items have you bought? Here are some of mine:
The pig-rabbit doll from You are beautiful
The star backpack from Heirs (I study astrophysics, so I bought it ‘for science’)

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Radiant Thread: Is anyone else watching it? I’ve been dying to talk about it!
It is a very melo but nuanced show. A lot of talk about balance and consequences of life decisions etc. Kim Hye Ja is <3

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I know this has been mentioned several times by several of you before but the necklace gift by the male lead to the female lead is as common as the truck of doom these days!I wonder why?pretty though!

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    Product placement.

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      hahah true true! PPL of whichever jewelry brand is sponsoring the show!
      They are all so pretty though! I want to have some of my own now! (PPL you have succeeded)

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        I especially loved that single earring on RiaBB. I doubt I can afford it though. 😄😄😂

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    I reckon it probably would be the staple romcom PPL from now on.

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I finally finished watching SKY castle!
& I’m moving to SNU in 5months for a research position!
So many comments in the comments. This show kinda reminded me of my childhood, just not that intense!

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    The story is just so well paced!
    I was not expecting tragedy to hit SKY castle so early in the show! within the first 2 episodes!
    The introspective look into the educational system and the unrealistic expectations that some people have was fascinating to look at.
    I was happy that they showed a variety of student perspectives too.
    There was the smart girl who truly believes that as long as she studies she will get #1 and thus everything that follows.
    The sister who is smart but rebels due to lack of attention and care
    The twins, who are pressured by dictator dad and feel trapped
    The kid who is just getting by because he isn’t at a critical level (end of high school) yet and the parents are also kinda less pressury
    And the smart kid who just moved in who is what a student should look like. Supportive parents and he genuinely likes what he is doing.

    It is so easy for most shows to go with 1/2 kinds of kids, but it was refreshing to see the spectrum including the genius kid who completely burnt out (Kay) and the kid who became a pawn and lead to the downfall of the family.

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    Being Asian, I totally understand the stress, the importance on getting into a good univ and the emphasis on grades.
    I have had times in the past when coming 2nd in class was not an option.
    These kids are basically robbed of their childhoods by being forced into a square called studying (unless it is doing volunteer work that would help Ye Suh to get specs for college)

    The way most of the issues were tackled were wonderful!

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    As I said before, the pace of the show was remarkable.
    I am so used to 16 ep shows these days that I was getting worried when I reached ep15 and the other tragedy happened and it did not look like things would be resolved. But then i discovered this is a 20 ep show and breathed a sigh of relief!
    It was great to see Woo Joo’s parents being so supportive and to see the twins’ mother finally put her foot down towards the end.

    I was scared that Ye Suh’s mom would aid the test cheating but thankfully that was averted.

    Side note: a) The OST was absolutely perfect!
    b) Nice to see a song that was featured in It’s Okay It’s Love ‘s pop playlist here too!

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    RIP HyeNa. I was really growing to like her and her guts.
    I kept thinking that she must have survived some how . Maybe the coordi locked her up in a hospital wing somewhere, or there would be amnesia etc. but no!
    The show went straight for the death blow (death throw? I don’t know)
    But my heart ached for her at that moment.

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Did anyone watch ‘Coffee do me a favor’? Kinda fun to watch but got rather frustrating towards the end waiting for the female lead to make up her mind.

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    The amount of fat-shaming that they portrayed was painful to watch. The female lead took until almost the last episode to finally tell the male lead about the magical coffee that makes her into a thin ‘beautiful’ girl who he dates for a while

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    Me! This is a show which I’ve enjoyed but would not recommend to anyone because of its issues like what you’ve said.

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I am watching Romance is a Bonus book Ep 5 right now and had to stop to come here and say
They do a nice nod to LJS’s I can hear your voice capabilities!!! So cute!

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Final greetings from the MoA main actors. So happy to see Sec Seo Jeong Hoon again here!
can’t wait to see him in something else soon!

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    So nice to see everyone mention all the staff and crew and the CG team as well! Dramas like this require a very strong CG team to make everything believable.
    Also the main game OST was great! Made you feel the suspense of the game!

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Ok what is wrong with Se Ho\’s mom in My Strange Hero! She is literally the main reason he turned out like that! I mean yes what he did/does is wrong, but she is the worst!

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Shows I started this weekend:
1) The Good Place! Such a funny show! I\’m already through season 1 haha a very easy watch!
2) My Strange Hero/ Revenge returns: so far so good. I just finished ep 4!

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    There is a Good Place podcast from NBC that is a really great companion to the show. They go over each episode bringing in the creators from all the departments and is a fascinating look at how television production works as well as into the creative minds behind the the show.

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      Egads saying exactly what I was gonna say, haha.

      Glad you’re enjoying The Good Place! It’s a great show! But don’t start the podcast until you’re done with season 2!

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    The Good Place is awesome. Glad you like it. It only gets better:)

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Oh hey! I became a Noble Idiot! Just saw that! hahaha that is a nice promotion right as I finish a new Kdrama (MoA)!

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Final thoughts on MoA:
Overall it is a good show! The first half is really fast paced. The middle is a little show when the ‘drama’ kicks in but the end picks up the pace again.
The cinematography and the special effects are wonderfully done! I have no problem believing the in game effects! so seamlessly done!
Props to the actors as well to have worked with the CGI team for this!

The break out star of this show has to be our lovely Seo Jeong Hoon! Wonderful acting, made us really feel for the character!
(honorable mention to Hyeong Suk, who had to have the stoic NPC character for most of the show but the little of him we see in flashbacks was quite nuanced)

Could Hee Joo have been done a bit better? yes. Did I still enjoy it? Yes !
Emma’s NPC voice was quite well done. Half expected her to be a villian but did not expect the stabbing!

Min Joo was adorable. I wish we had more scenes with Jin Woo and her. They had such a good rapport and she was basically a little sister to him.

Oh and for once PPL made sense since they incorporated it into the game haha

Overall, I really enjoyed Memories of Alhambra. Everything that happened in-game had me hooked to the screen, wanting more. The Granada scenes were picture perfect!
Seo Jeong Hoon, you will be dearly missed! ^.^



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    The cons: open ending, release of the game in spite of the glitch (even though it was reset), Marco was not fully addressed i.e. his NPC/bug was not shown to have been erased, basically several loose ends that were not tidied up. What happens to the Granada set of the game? Do the deaths ever get a proper closure/ what were the autopsy results?
    Maybe if they have an epilogue in the works, that could answer some of these questions !

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      They didn’t explain anything. Besides the questions you posted above they at least could explain why JW needed to finish the quest in the first place? And where did Marco disappear? It’s driving me crazy!

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Thoughts while watching the last episode of Memories of Alhambra.
spoilers in the comments

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    Apparently it is time for operation extermination of bugs in the game.
    Reminds me of wreck it ralph!

    Ok we have all the bugs being killed one by one… but it is 30 mins in and I haven’t seen Marco’s NPC yet… is he going to appear?

    Also I thought only Emma can delete bugs, so why can Zinu do it? It is because Emma made him the new Master?

    Poor SeJoo, probably has PTSD (not unlike JinWoo) and the kid was literally stuck in the game (hiding in the game) for a year!

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    I knew it was coming but it punched me in the heart when we saw Seo Jeong Hoon being deleted. That was truly a spiderman infinity war moment and I might have shed a few tears…
    More than anything and anyone else, his was the most wrongful death. Poor guy was just being a loyal awesome friend!

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    I’m glad things are working out for SeJoo. All glitches aside, his game was brilliant and the least JOne can do is give him a position in the company. It’s awesome seeing all the developers in the company welcoming him with gusto, specially Yang Joo fawning over him! cute!

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    Alright, I’ll buy that. I guess since SeJoo came back from the instance dungeon, it was plausible that the new master Jin Woo would be able to do that too. That last frame with the palace and his silhouette was pretty pretty!

    So the instance dungeon is basically a pocket dimension! #Flashvibes

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Memories of Alhambra! Alrightey! Now that was a good episode! lots of action, lots of game, lots of development!
Spoilers in comments

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    As much as more real death should be prevented, Prof Cha really did bring it on himself. He set up Jin Woo to die in that hotel room and metaphorically and literally got himself killed in the process.
    Seeing Seo Jung Hoon die again (even as NPC) was very very heartbreaking! Why show why must you do this to me!

    I wonder where the dungeon that SeJoo was hiding in is! Hopefully he and Jin Woo meet soon and fix Emma’s error!
    The whole Emma needing to kill the new master to reset game thing is odd. I hope they answer it tomorrow!

    I loved that as soon as SeJoo was back Min Joo and grandma went into ‘ask questions late, lets feed the poor kid’ mode.
    Good observation by Min Joo that Se Joo looks the exact same as a year ago (having hidden in the game)
    Side question… does that mean he did not ‘age’ in normal standards?

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    Really? I actually hated this episode. It was so.so long. And I hoped that at least by the end Jin Woo would catch a break…
    Not that I am mad about this development (Emma trying to murder the master), I am just dissapointed that this is how the episode began and exactly how it ended.
    Also, did we REALLY need to see the same story from Jin Woo’s, Professor’s and Jin Woo’s friend’s perspective?
    You never know how important someone’s job is before they do it terribly. I am talking about the director now.

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      The one thing I have concluded from reading the rants on MoA: I am clearly the only person who is enjoying the non-linear story-telling.

      I didn’t see it as three times the same story. I saw it as seeing bits from three different views and piecing them together.

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      But apart from that, I agree that this drama isn’t for live-watching. Too little happens every episode to satiate viewers for a week. I binge-watched up to this episode and it was very enjoyable.

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Out of all the shows I watch, I always have 2 shows I default to if I need ‘white noise’ while I am doing chores etc:
1)Friends
2)Running Man
I’m glad I now know enough Korean that I’m kinda ok without subs!

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I\’m in the middle of rewatching Age of Youth and 1 thing I didn\’t quite get was why did Eun Jae and Jung Yeol break up? Did they just drift apart or something else?

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    You mean Age of Youth 2? They never quite made it clear. But if I remember correctly, they never really «loved» each other. They were each others’ sorta first loves and they were infatuated with each without having a proper basis of a relationship… so I guess they sorta drifted apart…

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      Yeah in 2. And that’s what I thought after rewatching it as well…They drifted apart after the so called ‘honeymoon phase’/’infatuation phase’ of their relationship was over.
      I mean in season 1, even though their relationship was sweet, it was more of him taking a liking to her and she liking him back after hearing a guy say ‘I like you’ for the first time even though she had a crush on that other senior guy.
      So I guess it was puppy love that ran its run and they drifted apart albeit at different paces (her taking a lot longer to accept it)

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        It also comforts me to believe that she, deep down, knew that she no longer loved him (I mean she wasn’t ready to sleep with him) but she had a hard time letting go. It definitely is hard when it’s your first relationship.

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Here\’s another random question: is there a list of currently airing dramas and which streaming service has a license to show it?Would be good to know!Though I am sure it\’ll be country specific.Me->USA

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    Not current but Netflix is going to have Romance Is a Bonus Book on February 2. https://www.netflix.com/search?q=Romance%20Is%20A%20Bonus%20&jbv=81045349&jbp=0&jbr=0

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      Thanks a lot! I was wondering where to watch that one! LJS here I come!

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      hmm I wonder if it is just offset by one week for new episodes?

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        Yeah, I thought with Mr. Sunshine and Memories of Alhambra Netflix was switching to a same-day model but I guess not.

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          sighhhh…I guess I was too optimistic with MoA being up on Netflix mere hours after airing! I love watching shows live (as in same day as it airs on Dramafever/Viki/Kocowa, well not Dramafever anymore)

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    I pretty much believe KOCOWA has license to all sbs kbs mbc current drama.

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      Thanks a lot! I just checked and they actually have all the drama specials from KBS as well! how did I miss that! (added to watch list)

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        Those are on Viki as well if that’s your preference. Haven’t had a chance to check them out yet.

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        Good for you. Here outside north america, we couldn’t watch them. As they licensed for international viewers, yet the app/web only works in north america.
        *randomly complaining and ranting. Please pardon me. 😅😅😂😂😂

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          Rant away. I’m often disappointed that shows are available on Viki but not actually in my region, ie Australia.

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            Exactly. Viki promotes heavily that they colaborate with kocowa, yet the only dramas (out of 3 tv) we, vikipass holder can watch are really limited and usually from sbs.

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Complete side note, I’m watching You right now and in ep 5 Joe gives Paco a copy of Count of Monte Cristo and the reader in me wonders if there was ever a copy that was that thin! That story is big
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    For some reason, it’s not easy to find the unabridged version of this book. And if I do find one, the font’s still practically illegible.

    Also, who would want to read a book that’s missing so much of the content?

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      haha I agree, I had the unabridged version growing up and it was both huge and tiny (font) at the same time! one of my fav classic books of all times though.
      I can’t really imagine reading an abridged version of that one. Even though it is a looong story, it is fairly action packed and every chapter packs a punch

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        It’s definitely one of those books I need to read. Just got to find the right edition.

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