Beanie level: Errand boy

#2020 Round Up
Day 3 – PPL a drama feels empty without
(I’m doing Day 3 before Day 2, because I have more to say about female leads than PPL lol).

I feel like the Subway, Coffee, and Samsung jokes write themselves, so I’ll leave that aside.
This question is kind of meaningless to me, because the truth is I would much prefer that PPL never be featured in dramas, or at least not as overtly as it does. It’s almost a character in itself.
Someone mentioned soju and I have to agree with that! It’s the one thing that never seems contrived, and maybe because of the prevalence of drinking culture, I tend to not even think of it as PPL!

But if I had to really stretch my imagination for this PPL round, I will pick CARS. I especially love how they’re used in thrillers. You’ll see cops driving around sleek Hyundais, while the show implies the scarcity of money LOL. But it doesn’t always have to be this way. I think thrillers use cars in a particular way, because we see them getting around quite a lot and it’s vital to the plot. 40% of Forest of Secrets is spent in cars (hahaha) but who can complain when they are such gorgeous ones? And will we ever forget how Shimok’s car saved him when he was reeling after *that* traumatic event in S1? Or who can forget Jung-hoon driving a better car than his boss in MOA, or PBG rightfully gushing over SHK’s beautiful red sedan?

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    agree about FoS , it made me laugh how many people had the exact same car (oh let’s just change the color x) )
    back then City Hunter was basically an add drama for the latest Hyundai car haha

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    I loved this scene (well, is there a scene I didn’t like in this drama?), and how the car was almost ShiMok’s home, and he watching from inside how the outside world was.

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    I watched that episode quite a few times, pretty recently too, and yet it took me a while to remember which scene it was!
    It’s funny that, despite it being a serious one, I always find myself rolling my eyes a bit at the obvious ppl! xD
    ..it still fits quite well with the plot though!

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#2020Roundup
Day 1 -That male lead you will never forget
For this, I’m really trying to make a distinction between *characters* and *performances.* Yes, they’re related, because a character that is supposed to be likeable but poorly acted does nothing for me. But there are also superbly acted roles, with characters that are not on their own distinctive enough in the whole dramascape.
So this is a list of well-written characters that are superbly acted, who I very much like AND find memorable.

– Top Pick: MOON SANGTAE 😭💖
A cinnamonroll of the highest order! The best oppa in the world, warm & kind. I could write essays (plural) about Oh Jung-se’s performance here. I’m still in AWE. The range! He brought so much passion & vulnerability to this role. Hands down the best performance of the year.

– #2: Hwang Shimok
It was nice to see him again after 3 years. I LOVED the growth he went through since. He was still Shimok but somewhat softer, wiser, with a slice of existential anxiety. His deadpan unintended hilary? Delicious. And those CSW microexpressions? The stuff of dreams.

– #3: Lee Ikjun
Damn did this character make me laugh with all his antics! The life of the party. The party itself, actually! Ikjun felt so real, like he could jump out of the screen. He is over the top, but not sensationalist. I can’t wait to see his trajectory in s2.

**Characters who I liked, but loved the performance more than the actual character: Ri JeongHyuk, Lim Eunseop, Hong Inpyo ( NJH in School Nurse Files).



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Ooh I shall hop on the #2020roundup later today!

I\’m still hurrying to add Hyena & Into the Ring to my bean count… I\’ll start with Hyena this week since Nine Tailed Fox is ending!

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It’s that time of the year again!
And CLOY ost is on my top everything, not surprised.

It was on loop non-stop for the first 6 months of 2020. And spotify tells me I played Sunsetfor the 100th on Jan 3rd, two days after I first played it on Jan 1st.😂 I’m convinced it was even more than that bc those are only the times i played it on spotify (i must’ve played it just as much on youtube before it got released on spotify lol).

CLOY has become one of my favorite OST of all time & both the music and drama really held me down this year. 💖
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The Call (2020): 3.5/5 starts

“A movie where I can get behind Park Shin-hye’s crying.” – Me

Connected through a phone call in different timelines, Soo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) and Young-sook (Jun Jong-seo) help each other out, until a series of events leads them to become rivals. Armed with the power of foresight in the future, and the power to change the future from the past, the two young women face off to save their lives.

I enjoyed this movie both stylistically and content-wise. I absolutely loved the concept of communicating from different timelines and being able to influence the events, it made this movie unpredictable and thrilling to watch. The performances were good, though I must say Jun Jong-seo (Burning, 2018) steals the show and seems to be building quite the impressive track record. And may add that I was pleasantly surprised to see Oh Jung-se in this even though his role was more like a cameo, but it’s always a pleasure to watch him. lastly, I found the ending a bit too conniving and self-serving, and will for all intents and purposes consider that the movie ended 1-2 minutes before the actual ending.

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This is going to be my next K-movie watch. Quite a lot of those coming up on netflix! A female-led thriller is very up my alley! And can PSH just keep doing movies? She’s much better in them (but i can’t stand her in dramas, nothing personal).

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    I just started this but the creepy vibe makes me wanna watch it at night with the lights off, so I’m saving it for a few hours when my parents go to bed, haha!

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LOL whatever tf is going down in DDSSLLS, i\’m so glad i didn\’t partake in it & i\’d like to offer my condolences to the Beanies who watched it.
I know the feeling- I watched Melting Me Softly last year 😭

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“Let’s walk together[…] I’m small and powerless. The weight of my destiny is too much to bear. I feel like I’ll sink to the bottom of that ocean, but (Yeon) you push me like a buoy. You make me float, you make sure I don’t sink.”

This sequence right here was the most beautiful and heartfelt scene in this show. It brought all intended emotions to the surface, was brilliantly narrated, and achingly poetic. Kind of made me wish this was the subtle, slowburn tragic-fated-lovers fantasy melodrama I’ve always wanted!
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    Yes, this was very beautiful scene. I love how much they care for each other and how honest they are with each other. Really feel how they just want to do normal thing living peacefully together.

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    So nice! The build-up made me fear a noble idiocy move, which only made it even better when she decided to stay and fight together 💚

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I’m so out of touch with dramaland lately, mainly because the current crop of shows is very uninteresting to me. Which hasn’t happened in a while. I’m only watching Nine Tailed Fox. I guess this drama-year might end on a low note for me, but I want at least one good show to end this year! I’ve been spending my time reading and (re)watching cartoons (very healing! and very wholesome!)

That being said, I’ve saved some dramas for exactly this situation and I’ll probably start watching Hyena and Into the Ring some time soon. I’m also intrigued by Birthcare Center

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So Nine Tailed Fox ended up being the only drama I was watching in this new season.
And surprisingly I stuck with it. Such a campy show! I don’t really care what goes on, but I’m in love with Lee Yeon! 💖💖💖
(and I’m curious about how it’s gonna end)
It’s like my stress-relief show and I miss it this week

*Also* I love it when men wear jewelry. It’s so fucking hot (I can’t believe he makes a ring look that good)


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The trippiest thing about k-pop besides it being an exploitative industry, is the blatant antiblackness. It\’s literally built on copying Black US musicians style, yet the industry is ripe with racism. From the obsession with black \”urban\” aesthetic, where we\’ve seen many acts put on black hairstyles like cornrows and dreadlocks, the adoption of similar fashion, down right to musical styles. And then there are the outright racist comments by idols, the many instances of blackface… There would be no k-pop as we now it without the influence African-American culture. And I say this as someone who likes k-pop, these are my kindest words. I\’ve disengaged a lot from k-pop for this reason.
I also realize this isn\’t only an issue in k-pop but a problem of racism in the wider Korean society.

Anyways this rant was sparked by me finding out that Lee Gikwang of Highlight (formerly Beast) also did blackface on fucking TV in 2012 (?). I really liked his music since getting into it last year but i\’m cancelling him now. Does anyone know if he had commented on his actions? I couldn\’t find much.

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    Excuse the typos.

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    NOOOOOO not him too! It’s always the ones that are so deep into black culture and exude sexiness from it that are problematic. Ugh, I hope he learned from his mistake but I highly doubt it. Anti-blackness is worldwide and it is exhausting.

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    Forgot to add that it’s not just the music industry in Korea that’s anti-black.

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      It’s not just anti-black that the Korean entertainment industry (not just the Kpop world) has— it’s anti anything and anyone that isn’t purely Korean, because of the very backwards thinking that their society has, just like how it is with the Japanese, too— they are also anti anything and anyone that isn’t purely Japanese.

      But going back to the Korean entertainment industry— it’s because of their anti culture for anyone and anything not remotely purely Korean, that Daniel Henney didn’t go onto receive mainstream success that the rest of the “My Love, Sam Soon” cast got. It’s because of their anti culture that EXO was torn apart and 3/4 of their Chinese members left on bed terms and the reason why it’s so hard for Lay to promote with EXO nowadays (I’m pree sure the abuse and neglect the 3 Chinese former members of EXO received was deeply rooted from racist sentiments), it’s the reason why it’s so hard for many members of many Kpop groups are having such difficult times promoting in S.Korea. I’m pretty sure it’s the reason why f(X) was neglected so the members decided to just wait out the expiration of their contacts rather than continue to try to push for promotions and new music because it felt like pulling teeth….. the list of things that have happened and that continue to happen to a lot of Kpop artists and many actors/actresses due to them not being Korean or because they’re only half Korean has its reasons deeply rooted in racism— people just either don’t see it or don’t WANT to see it, otherwise they’d have to admit to it and admit that it’s wrong and it’s not in our human nature to admit that something is wrong or to raise conflict because something is wrong, but rather, we either feign ignorance or block it out completely 🤷🏻‍♀️

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        I agree about anti anything not Korean but I thought Lay was having problems promoting because of the China Korea conflict. Prolly a little of both.

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I miss Seo In-guk on my screen!

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Can we talk about the SCORE of Nine Tailed Fox? Sublime.
😭😭😍😍

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    The OST is great!

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    Yes! The only fail so far for me was that weird breathy ballad they played in episode 4 (or 5?) when they were at the Korean village and Yeon kissed Ji-ah-as-Ah-eum on that bridge when she was in the hanbok. Otherwise, they are nailing it with score and song.

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    The main theme songs starting sound like ‘reflection’ from Mulan

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The fact that Gong Yoo & Park Bo-gum can\’t promote together for \”Seobok\” is the biggest SCAM of all! 😭
I really looked forward to that since the movie was announced

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    I hope they at least have some recorded interviews. Dont even know when I’ll get to watch it with the cinemas closed and cases rising.

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Today’s episode of Nine Tailed Fox was pretty cool (even tho i skipped through some boring Jia moments).
LDW was really cool in those last few moments with the creepy Juice Lady!
But the way it switched to the actual ending of the ep was wild bc that was such a weird change of tone

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\”Comedian Park Ji-sun and her mother pass away\” WHAAAAAAAT
This is so sad and I\’m so shocked rn. I really liked Park Jisun.
I\’ve been taking some time away from the internet & any sort of news, I didn\’t really expect to come back to such sad news. My heart goes out to their famliy and friends.

https://www.soompi.com/article/1435341wpp/comedian-park-ji-sun-and-her-mother-pass-away

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Thank you so much to the beanies who replied to my post about considering watching Start Up.
I think eventually I will watch it, maybe when it\’s completed or in its second half. Rn I\’m gonna enjoy Mr. Dimples on 2D1N

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My weekends are so boring since FOS ended, and I\’m really considering picking up Start-Up based on Mr. Dimple\’s charms alone. It\’s been so long since I last saw him on screen. I do like the rest of the cast (minus Suzy and Kang Hana bc tbh I find them dull), but I\’m also not *that* interested in the plot.

It\’s kind of that time of the year where I want a slow, warm melo type of show but there\’s none of that right now 😭

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    the real question though is, do I want to let the love triangle break my heart?

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    Dimples is adorable and in a role perfect for him. I’m so happy I started watching and I had a few of the same misgivings as you (one of the two actresses but she’s also in a role that suits her – eccentric but dull imo).

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    I think the relationship between the characters is really heart warming – worth a shot! Kim Seon-Ho’s relationship with the other characters should be moving enough to feel less hurt about the love triangle. Hehe.. but that’s just my opinion.

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    I feel you!! I haven’t watched anything since FoS2 and can’t seem to pick anything up 😭. I’m loving Dimples on 2N1D, but it might not be enough for me right now to pick up Start-Up. I kind of want to watch something like I’ll Find You When The Weather Is Nice, or whatever title it had. I might just put Kyu’s song on repeat. Hope you fInd something to watch soon!!😊

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      Watch DDSSLLS which is like a technicolor and light hearted version of ‘Weather’. A breezy small town and its folks and its new immigrants – I wish to visit the city (Mokpo) where it’s shot one day.

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    I wish Mr. Dimples was not the second lead. >.<

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    If you haven’t watched Do You Like Brahms, it’s got a very warm melo vibe.. the show was beautiful from beginning to end. Like a nice warm cup of tea on a cold day.

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    Sorry for spamming! I suddenly thought of a perfect healing drama. Mystic Pop Up Bar – BTOB’s Yook Sungjae is in it.. And Hwang Jum Eum stars in it too but she’s not screechy here. I really enjoyed this drama.

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      Yes, yes and yes.
      Probably one of the best dramas of this year.
      Not a single minute wasted. Sweet, funny, heartfelt, a beautiful story and perfect chemistry among the three leads.
      I began watching because it was only 12 episodes and I cried when it ended.

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        Agree! The family they formed between the three of them was just <3 and the stories each episode brought was just such a good feeling!

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    I started Startup but found Dimples and grandma to be the only thing I like….. sigh. Not sure if I should stay or drop.

    On the other hand, DDSSLLS might be the year-end warmer you look for. These are the two dramas I took on after the FoS slump. DD was the one I never intended to watch (because of Go Ara) but when you get to the point of rather rewatching DD than starting a new episode of Startup, I know where my heart belongs.

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      It is also funny – or schizo – to watch these two dramas in parallel when Suzy’s dad plays a suitor of Go Ara. And Lee Jae-wook’s horrible mum is the wise entrepreneur who set up the sandbox!!!

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        exactly, i have to stop and rethink which drama i’m watching…

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If it weren\’t for hierarchies in award shows, Oh Jung-se would eat everyone up as Best Actor this year. Sometimes i think about his performance as Sang-tae & it just takes my breath away. The range!
Can \”supporting actors\” also win a daesang?

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I\’m really curious to see these Apple TV-produced K-dramas.
I hope these streaming-platforms-produced shows get longer in the future though? I don\’t think we would\’ve gotten a wacky show like The School Nurse Files for example if it weren\’t for netflix, but 6 episodes really AIN\’T it & the seasons format for such short dramas is just torture.
My main appeal for k-dramas is their classic one season-16 episode format (unless you\’re Forest of Secrets or Hospital Playlist)!!

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    Yeah, I hate this movement towards seasons. One of the best things about k-dramas is that they are self-contained, relatively short, and you don’t have to wait exorbitant periods of time to watch the show from beginning-to-end.

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