Rants and Weekly Raves #237 (RAWR)

JoAnne:  Kim Jae Wook.  That is all.
kakashi: You are lying to me. It's not true that another week has passed! 
Trotwood: Take it from me. Another week has passed. I helped host over 1,000 visitors to my campus over these past two weeks, and I'm feeling like half of them walked right over me. It is really exciting and heartwarming to see everyone, but it sure is exhausting.
Panda: Somehow didn't watch more than ep 31 of Priest last week. Counting down to days when I watch nothing BUT dramas.
SakiVI: what did I watch? I don't even know.
You know we do

KOREA 

Haechi 

I have to catch up!

He is Psychometric 

I've had the theme song playing in my head for days.  We knew this part had to come, but still, very sad as they realize how they were connected in childhood.  What broke me, really, was that I thought her sadness walking home was that he abandoned her, after everything he'd said and everything he knew about her sadness and pain - but all she could manage to say to herself was 'What have I done to him?'  and as angry and hurt and shocked as he was, as much as he struggled to process his feelings, what hurt him most was that he, who had promised to protect her, promised her that she was not responsible for anything her father had done, promised her he would help her find the truth - he ran from her the moment he saw what that 'truth' was. Even as he felt resentment toward her father and recognized that it colored his feelings for her, he knew it was wrong and regretted it immensely.

What's great about this drama is that we're ALREADY on to the next part, where he rushes to her the moment he realizes danger.  And no, I still don't think that Hyung is a bad guy.  Not even a little bit.

Welcome to Waikiki 2 

Should I catch up?

My Fellow Citizens 

Should I try this?  I mean, it's Siwon.  He's hilarious.  Also easy on the eyes.

Special Labor Inspector Jo 

Give me a reason why I should try this.
Because Kim Dong Wook is in it? Another one I want to try because of the actors, but I just don't want to have to think about watching dramas right now.

Possessed

I need to catch up!

Doctor Prisoner 

I want to catch up mostly because I want to see that kid get his ass kicked some more.

Big Issue 

Listen, is Ju Jin Mo going to kiss Han Ye Seul at some point?  Because if there's going to be smoochies I might catch up.

The Banker 

Is anyone watching?  It's Bad Daddy, I could be in the mood for him.  Besides, it would mean I could have a Banker series.  Beautiful Banker, now Bad Banker...there'll be another eventually.
I've been wanting to watch this as well but now is not the right mood at work to deal with it.

Her Private Life 

This is serviceable rom-com.  I didn't laugh til I cried, I didn't swoon.  But it's Kim Jae Wook and Park Min Young (and Kim Sun Young in probably her funniest role ever) and I'm willing to let it build.
I didn't like it as much as I wanted though I laughed more during this than most things this week. The fangirling is spot on, and I really like that she is also really good at what she does. Older fangirls with jobs unite. Kim Jae Wook is fiiiiiiiiiine. I also love Park Min Young here as well. But I'm more invested in her character's relationship with her best friend than I am in the OTP. It's early yet though. 
I only watched the first episode slowly and painfully because this is not my sort of show. The things one does for a handsome man...

The Fiery Priest 

Sooo behind, trying to catch up.
Seems Mr Hwang will be redeemed! Two hot men fighting on the same side finally! My kokoro is happy (basically, I am behind too but catching up via twitter screencaps and presently curled on the sofa watching ep 32).
Got caught up in a demon cat jdorama and didn't get to this. And no, I can't remember the jdorama's name.
How rude.

Beautiful World 

I am not sure I can watch this.  I'm not sure I have it in me right now to watch people struggle with such cruelty and pain.  I'm pretty sure there'll be some sort of come to Jesus for the rotten people and only slightly less sure that Nam Da Reum, the Nation's Child Version, will be okay at the end, or at least okay-ish, but maybe this is one I just read recaps.  Is DramaBeans doing recaps of this?
I can't do it, and yes, Dramabeans is recapping it. But i found even the recaps tough to get through, so I might not even read those, and I read a LOT of recaps.

Confession 

I can't even drum up enough interest to ask if I should bother.  But tell me if I'm wrong.

Kill It 

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WERE DOING TO THE NUMBERED KIDS.  Are doing?  Are there still numbered kids?  Was NaNa a numbered kid?  Is the woman working with the plant store guy the same woman who is sleeping with NaNa's FATHER?  I thought they just had similar hair cuts but now I wonder if they're the same person, just I haven't wondered enough to go back and figure it out.  And the adorable young prosecutor, the one from Age of Youth, is he good or is he bad?  I'm so confused.  Wait, is it Age of Youth?  The one with the girls in college living in the awesome little apartment.  He was an abusive boyfriend.

Mother of Mine

I do want to catch up but I thought she was supposed to DATE Puppy, and now I saw someone tweet that woman is her mother?  But isn't he HER mother?  Then how do they date?  Is he an adopted child?
He is. 

Re-Feel

The hero gets dragged on a date with his ex-crush and her boyfriend and helps her recover when she breaks up with said boyfriend. I knew he was going to confess. It's awkward. In the past she really really liked him, and he (as nicely as can be done) rejected her. Upon seeing her again . . . She seems different when she is with him now, and I wonder if the part of her I disliked is an act that she was putting on to fit with her boyfriend's personality. I can hope, since I think our hero deserves better than what she has been.

The Ordinary Life of Ms. O

I gobbled up season 2 of this show. Just everyday thoughts going on in her mind. She is really thinking about her job and her place in world. She is in a place where many of us are. She doesn't hate her job. She likes her colleagues, and she is good at her work. But still, she is wondering whether this is all there is to her life. The season ends with her packing- a regular sized suitcase, people--not a carryon that people use in dramas when they move from one place to another-- to go on a trip. Like I said, each ep is 3-5 minutes and though I'm fine with that, I wish there were more. 

THAILAND 

He's Coming to Me

I know I said that we were heading for angstville last week, but there is another twist that no one saw coming. Thun (I've been calling him Than because that is what the subbers have been saying but his shirt says Thun) confesses his feelings to Met and now has to deal with his realization that he is gay and that he's in love with a ghost. No wonder he's grumpy! (I mean, if you're going to pick someone that society is going to ding you for, you should at least get hot sex out of it! Poor guy...) He confesses to all his friends that he is gay and comes out to his mother in one of the most beautiful mother-son scenes I've seen in awhile. Are you wondering about Met's response to his confession? He disappears. Why? Not because he doesn't like Than but because Than's mother arrives and he recognizes her. She is the girl that he dated and then rejected because he realized he was gay! Yup. I was right about a love triangle, but not about all the players. Preview shows that Than tells his friends about the ghost. Thank goodness. We only have two more episodes to wrap this up.

JAPAN 

Naruto

We started to watch Naruto from episode 1 as a family! O M G, the memories! And how much I don't remember, hehehe, it's been so long. This will keep us busy for years, there are 720 episodes. If you did not know why my name is Kakashi, it's because Kakashi Sensei was my first Asian love. And I still love him, fervently!  

Kinou Nani Tabeta/What Did You Eat Yesterday?

If this show was just about Shiro Kakei, played by my beloved Hidetoshi Nishijima, cooking delicious and frugal meals for his partner, Kenji. I would be happy. Most of the things I see him in, he plays characters who rarely get to smile, and his crinkly smiling is really a gift to the universe. However, the first episode (and these are only 30 minutes) are packed full of nuggets of natural conflict. Lovers who disagree on how to spend and save money. Parents who want children to settle down. What you tell the people at work about your personal life. When your work life crosses paths with your personal life. The importance of paying attention to grocery store flyers. The show is comforting like a good meal but just like a good meal provides quite a bit on which to chew.
Seriously he is my spirit animal. This is my attitude at the grocery store, too. I feel like it's a battle over food prices!

WESTERN

One week later and I am now on Season 5 of The Wire, which explains how little there is of me above, and also perhaps why so much of that little is me confessing that I am confused.