Rants and Weekly Raves #73 (RAWR)
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| Happy New Year from us and from Google! |
kakashi: A weird week. I have not yet found my footing in 2016. Lots happening on the job (hiring lots of new people, well, lots relative to the fact that I'm doubling the size of my research group), but I feel somewhat directionless ... I need a project to feel passionate about. Haven't quite found it yet.
JoAnne: I had about a week of downtime and now it's just as crazy as ever - my problem is deciding what to focus on because there's too much to choose from! I'm making lists...
Cheese in the Trap
JoAnne: Was anyone else a little weirded out when Jung just stood there and watched his girlfriend rolling around on the floor with Faux Seol? I mean, I get that they're on a break and I get that he thought this was a showdown Seol needed (and she didn't disagree) but it still felt weird. And then I feel weird that I think it's weird that the man didn't step in when the women were fighting.In other news, this was In Ho's week to shine, baby. He is a good kid. A really good kid. If I were a newer viewer, this would be my ship. Well, since they've told us the end will be a surprise and we shouldn't go by the webtoon direction (the webtoon has not finished at all though, right?), maybe he is the ship. Maybe there's NO ship, and Seol just continues on her worry-wart way, alone. Whatever happens, I do love this drama.
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| This was Baek In Ho's week. He earned his spot. |
Signal
Oh man...watching 1989 Jae Han sob like that in the theater was hard. To have tried so hard and yet fail, to have learned too late that she was as interested in him as he was in her...to wonder, even, if he 'made' it happen...gut wrenching.
So looking forward to watching this :)
So looking forward to watching this :)
Now that the serial killer mystery is solved in both timelines, I hope for two things: to know what happened to Jae Han, and for Hae Young to realize he can maybe use this connection to help save his brother.
Note: I wrote this before I watched episodes five and six. OH MY GOD.
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| We'll just call him Sajhussi because he's a sad man who needs a hug |
Madame Antoine
I actually like that Sung Joon's portrayal of Soo Hyun clearly shows the immature, stunted, emotional pettiness in all of his 'personal' dealings. He can cover it up and be the cool, smart doctor with his colleagues and patients (to them he just looks like a soulless monster, haha) - but to his brother and to Hye Rim, he's just a brat. And Hye Rim has been revealed as someone with some emotional maturity issues as well, although she's miles better than Soo Hyun. She was hurt badly by her ex, yes, but to have insisted for years that their child ignore the woman he chose to make a life with - to make that child feel guilty for wanting to spend time with her father - that's not the behavior a parent should display. I felt her pain intensely, but that doesn't make her any less wrong.
YES. Go get you some, Bae.
Sadly, it's really not smart enough for a show about very smart people.
Yeah, but I'm not really interested in the science of it, mostly because I know it's Kdrama therefore bullshit, but even if that weren't true, I simply don't care. I'm here to see a snotty boy brought down a peg or two and for a couple of women to feel loved by men they care about. That's it. Get me there with a little drama, a little humor, and a few good kisses, and I'm happy. I have other shows to make me think.
Yeah. You know me. I need a little extra. I'm a bit sad because I did hope one of the several rom-coms might rope me in.
Go Princess Go
This must be pretty terrible, judging from my Chinese friends on T-list.Here's the good news: the episodes are roughly 20 minutes long and the costumes, which don't even try to be representative, are beautiful. It's like they stole the outfits from some contemporary dance outfit, only more colorful. Also good: JUST as the first episode was about to end and I was thinking well, there's not even anyone hot to look at...someone hot appeared.
Here's the bad news: It's not very interesting. At all. Or funny, come to think of it. But it's only been 20 minutes, so we'll see. I need to know who Hotness is.
*Less than 20 minutes go by*
Annnnnnd this was written by and for 13-year-old boys. I'm done. Catch you somewhere else, Hotness.
It's funny in a dumb, slapstick way. Episode 3 onwards is where it really gets funny, such as where the Crown Princess and some random dude start cheering on the Crown Prince on his date with his sister-in-law while eating snacks.
Beautiful Secret
It's okay. Pretty standard Taiwanese drama (in my limited experience.) The quality is there, and I love Peter Ho and usually like his dramas, but I'm just slow getting into it, I guess. I do like the main girl, and so far no one is outright evil, but I'm only beginning episode 4. We'll see.
Moorim School
I KNOW, right? How did I end up here again? It was really easy for me to say 'you know what, I have a lot of good shows on my plate, and I don't need this.' What wasn't easy, you ask? Forgetting about the show. I kept wondering what The Muffins were up to, and what's the big deal with the 3 guys from the past - because you know Coma Dude, Dean Hwang, and Evil Bangs were all friends at one point. You just know it. I figure Idol Muffin and Seon Ah are brother and sister and must be the children of Coma Dude. You too, right? |
| When show returns, we lose this hair and keep this face - yay! |
This week they tried to mess with us a bit about some of the other pieces, though. We could probably assume Chi Ang's dad, Evil Bangs, was evil, and Seon Ah's 'dad' was good - but now there's been some doubt cast on whether EITHER of them are...and one of the teachers pulled a nifty one too - except that might be a double-play. And naturally, Soon Duk's dad will have a piece of this pie, but I don't know how big a piece yet. Oh and Coma Dude woke up! Finally a KDrama that acknowledges if you've been confined to a bed for 18 years it's going to be hard to walk.. Anyway - I enjoyed episodes 5 and 6 and I really enjoyed episodes 7 and 8, so I'm in this, I guess.
One More Happy Ending
This bores me. A lot. Dropped. *Sigh*I did enjoy the first three eps, but I'm feeling distracted by other things, so I guess I'm not continuing this until I get some mental space. Or need to kill time with something brainless like one does during menstrual cramps.
I don't feel 100% and I needed something I could watch without thinking and this filled the bill today, so I'm caught up again, even though I dropped it. I like the scenes with Jung Kyung Ho, mostly. His son is a looker, huh?
Western Shows
Shadowhunters
Some elements of this show are not bad. I.e. Jace, Alex, the Warlock. Simon too. The women on the other hand are so terrible I want to run away screaming.They really are. It's too bad, because I did enjoy the books - but there's enough stuff I'm really super enjoying right now that I will probably let this one wallow at the bottom of the list and either drop without noticing, or just linger pretty far behind.
Shannara Plammarah
Bleh, this show is stupid. I'm actually rooting for the demons. I think you are doing something wrong, show creators.Sigh. I find all the pointy ears very irritating. I wouldn't mind watching more of the druid and Wil, but there's always those damn ears hanging around.
X-Files
This episode was hilarious. Thank you, X-Files, for really not taking yourself seriously. I know you will go back to your conspiracy crap next week, but this week? You made me laugh a lot and I'm grateful for it!Well... I didn't think it was bust-a-gut funny like a lot of people seemed to, but I did laugh, and I very much enjoyed the 'monster' reveal.
Lots of meta.
Yeah, I noticed.
Fanservice, just like the entire Season 10.
Jane the Virgin
Yum, that's some dream :D And now, make it true! #TeamHotProfessor.Rafael who? #TakeMetoSchool
Lucifer
Hahahaaa, the therapist cracks me up. The recasting of the ex-husband was confusing. The cop-Lucy interactions are good. I still can't get over how much this is NOT Lucifer the comic, but it's entertaining, I give it that.Am I missing an episode? I still see the same husband, but I did know from Wiki that there was a change. The only problem is that the guy that they said was the husband after the pilot is the only husband I ever saw. Was the pilot not also episode 1? Is there more good stuff for me to watch somewhere? Because I am totally on board with this one. I guess it's easier because I don't have any other versions in my head, but now I'm really curious about the one you know.
I did a little research and I realized that we did not watch the exact same pilot. I watched the "leaked" version. You the official one. The scene at the hospital at the end was changed! In the leaked version, her ex-husband came into the room with their daughter, and there was snotty dialog between Lucifer and the Ex. In the official pilot though, the ex-husband isn’t there at all.
That makes me feel a lot better. I was very puzzled.
The Magicians
Oh wow and holymoly, this stuff is GOOD. Should have waited to marathon, really... Can it be next Tuesday, please!!! It's actually not the magic stuff that intrigues me the most (though it's super intriguing), it's actually the various characters. They're all fabulous.Yep. Me likey. Especially the building conflict between Quentin and his best friend, Julia.
Quentin is really well played.
Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow is back! Yay...? I'm asking myself why I am still watching. And the answer is: for nostalgia's sake. This was great in the first season, wonderful! And now it isn't, but in every episode, there are glimpses of that greatness, brief and fleeting, but there nonetheless.
Beowulf
Episode 5 was quite meh, so let's see what 6 brings us!