The Problematic of the Unproblematic

Hello, hello! ^____^ Hello, Hello! I see I am not alone in not knowing what to rant or rave about this week. I am down to one drama as I have just finished Date. Which was a crazy, enjoyable marathon. Otherwise, not much to contribute at this point.  Hi! What DID I watch this week? I watched nothing . You had 4711 birthday parties to coordinate for Tiny Cute. I watched waaay too much, and now my brain is full of plot twists and kissing scenes. And with the end of HJM, I've got nothing active on the SK dramalist. And heroes to come to save the day! At the last minute, of course.

Shuk:  I just found out from becca that this show is only 15 episodes instead of 20 like I thought. Why, Show?? Three episodes to (a) get our canon couple together; (b) get their siblings hooked up; (c) explain Flower Mom's fainting spells; (d) resolve the Citrus Farm takeover; (e) jail Evil Goon and Chard; (f) wake up Watit; (g) deal with the consequences of the lies surrounding the Watit Situation; (g) do something with Greed Dad; (h) give Tippy to Wat; (i) give Boobs to the next guy she sees; (j) get Uncle and Veggie Mom to date; (k) keep Maitree out of jail for good [there must be criminal charges, even if the civil ones are fixed]; (l) see Maitree graduate; (m) see Naree realize what an idiot she is; (n) have a big Citrus / Veggie / Flower Farm barbecue with everyone. Ack!!! becca: It's taken us a while to get this recap out, which is largely (read: completely) my fault. I've been busy and exhausted. I'm very sorry for the delay, and I'm determined to do bette...

Eric Nam appeared in the last episode! I hope he has another guest appearance in this one. Yes, a girl can hope! I'm very sorry, but this is a Namless episode. Rim looks like he'd appreciate a visit from the Namster, as well

In Episode 8, SJR and Mary fell on top of each other. They almost kissed, too, while showing little talents at doing knots. We're in that awkward phase where they like each other but neither wants to appear TOO into it, in case the other one isn't equally so. It appears that Rim is losing that battle... he's totally into Mary and it shows. He found the blog!

kakashi:  I know for a fact that JoAnne slept through half of this episode (Twitter is my witness!). Let's see how we will manage this fake-truth game then :D JoAnne:  Ah, but I was an unreliable narrator:  I actually slept through ALL of this episode.  It had nothing to do with the episode, though, which I enjoyed very much.  Yes, I mean that.  Although I do have a lot of snark about it, at least I did when watching - I kept imagining how I would caption various screen shots, a la Unkind Women. (Which, by the way, is now my favorite thing to do - relieved of the burden of providing the screen shots, which I HATE doing - as we discovered during the short and ill-fated run of Night Watchman.) Shuk: I don't even watch it before I comment; its so much easier on my blood pressure.

Things go quite wrong in this episode. Wang So is still not King. In fact, far from it. Oh well, maybe in the next episode. Quite unfortunately, Wang So has a very bad hair day that continues for large parts of this episode. I had a look: doesn't get better in the next episode. But there is hope! There always is! Well, he looks good right here.  A bit worried, maybe - and if you've seen the episode, Squeeglets, that is TOTALLY justified - but he does still look good. Yes, that is a picture BEFORE his bad hair day . Episode 19 verdict: This episode is baaaaaaad. There's too much bad writing stuff that really bugs me. It's also draggy as hell.  Next! So it wasn't just me being tired and cranky, then.

In this episode, the conflict between the King's men and the greedy noblemen comes to a head, but it is absolutely unclear who will win. Damn that one secret that can bring Wang So down! It really, really, really wants out, doesn't it? Part of me really wants it out so that we can start dealing with the consequences, the other part is enjoying the suspense much too much though :D. By the way, here is the link to the novel this drama is based on. (And no, Saki and other history buffs: it does not at all follow history) And that is where this show completely disappoints me.  Ahhhh, Saki! It's not the shows fault! It's the novel! The novel! The noooovveeeel!   Yeah, I don't get that logic. How can you be disappointed in a show that does exactly what it says it would do? If you aren't interested in the premise, why would you waste your time watching? (ehem, psssst, JoAnne ...... Heirs. Or Birth of a Beauty.) yeah, and I'm watching it with a drama clu...

This episode is not for those who are watching this for the romance. It is packed full with quite awesome intrigue-development and two major aha-moments for Wang So and his wife, Yeo-won. While the first finally gets ready to change the fate of the nation, the second decides it's time to trust in the power of the one who should be king. Episode 17 verdict: Get ready for impact, people. Intense and foreboding. I liked this episode. Oh, me toooooooooo. Very much.

kakashi: I am still not watching anything but SoGC, which I recap and still love, even though we're in that slightly annoying phase where everything is grave and sad and Wang So STILL isn't the king. I am glad I'm caught up with the Blood Fakecaps and I must say, I really enjoy writing them. The trick is to just let the video roll and write, without pausing once. That saves time and makes for quite impulsive writing. Rim on Unkind Women is very very nice. I love looking at his face.   Penguin! Been busy planning a top top secret operation with lafer and Enz and Enz's friend Patty.

This episode is all about tying things up. Yes, Rim.  THAT kind of tying up.

Yeah, alright, this continues and so do we. By the way, how's the soundtrack for this thing? Fakecapping with the sound off has clear disadvantages... JoAnne: They use a lot of moody old fashioned vampire movie background music, which is always funny. I haven't really noticed the OST though, to tell you the truth. Shuk: The music keeps jumping out at me, more for the mood whiplash than anything. But there have been some interesting choices.

In Episode 6, Song Jae-rim pissed off his future father-in-law. How will he get out of that?! Maybe by being a very very very cute namja? JoAnne: He certainly is cute...and in these photos, she matches him for cuteness picture by picture. Shot captured right before someone punched them for arguing over who was cuter

This is getting better and better. The tension is unreal. It's probably the surprise of the year! I'm tired of the band aid. There better be a tattoo under there. Shuk: It's a tattoo of a pair of lips, two punctures, and script that reads "I Love You Mom"

Another super-exciting episode. Yes, I'm not kidding you! It is! It really is! JoAnne: Ok well we know I'm liking this little doofus of a drama, but I don't trust you. Shuk: [gulping back a couple of soju shots]

So I might have fallen behind on this. A bit. A BIT. Hence my decision to simply Fakecap 3 episodes in one go. It has never been done before, but I'm all about breaking records. So, here we go. I also discovered the "Float on top" option on VLC player. I heart you, VLC developers! Cause that means I can "watch" this, write this recap and do other things next to it. Life is good. Shuk: For some reason, my normal video player wasn't working, so I used VLC as my backup as well. It's didn't help improve the plot any, though. ((So that decision to Fakecap 3 episodes in one go? I failed :D)) I now am fond of Pampire, tolerating Ri Ta, and enjoying the story less ironically and more geekily. Of course, that isn't really true back here at Episode 6, but it's starting.  Go ahead and laugh.   Hey, I'm having fun with this too. I'm laughing .  

((psssst, I (=kakashi) have nothing to say. Hi there! I all love you though)) We know, you're a bit distracted by real life at the moment.  I will be in those shoes in a couple of months! (((ah, no, not because I'm so busy - but because I don't watch anything properly except Shine or Go Crazy)))   ((((And then, I had stuff to say anyway. But where is everybody else??!))))   Hello!!!! Did you miss me? Did ya? Did ya? Lafer: I'm here in spirit and when I can escape with my computer from my never ending flow of company. Cookie! Yes, you're missed! Lo too! Shuk: [sneaking under yet again]

becca: FakeWatit and May seem to be making a home for themselves among the village people -- *breaks to sing a chorus of "YMCA"* -- but reality is always lurking just at the edge of their happiness. A small, or okay, actually pretty big, part of me wishes that they could just stay here, but their families are waiting for them at home. And I'm thinking that Mai and Rin could use some elder-sibling guidance about now… or maybe that would just make things worse? Shuk: The elder pair definitely have their own problems to work out. And I think the kids can fix things on their own. Come, FlowerBoy, VeggieGirl, you know all about electronic communication. KaoTalk and LINE some communication and a few hearts!

Oh dear. This was an edge-of-my-seat episode (well, at least the latter half). We're back on track, I'm so glad! this episode comes with a few very strong (and unexpected) character moments for Wang Wook and Yeo-won and things just got 100 times more interesting. When will Wang So stop being reluctant and realize that this nation needs him? He's trying! Are you suggesting he should let his brother die and then fight to be the successor? Yes. And since my kdrama club hasn't convened to watch this yet, I'm going to comment with songs from underappreciated boy group, 100%.  https://www.youtube.com/user/Top100percent Episode 16 verdict: Much better than 15, much better! But still, the live-shoot is showing. A bit too much for excellence, but such is KDrama.

In this episode, he knows that she knows that she knows that he knows. Or something like that. In other words, secrets are dragged out into the open and everybody wants that antidote. And then, there's Se-won's backstory. Which means: lots of Se-won pictures. Enjoy! S@ki6: Se-won is always good.  In fact, he may be the redeeming factor for me at this point. Also, neither I nor my drama club had much to say on this episode, so I will comment with SPEED song titles.   Jang Hyuk and I clearly feel the same about that. Episode 15 verdict: Very badly edited. And clumsily written. Take it easy, guys. Less life-shoot, more sleep! It was a Zombie Party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tXdPuQTBls They need to be slapped for it, yes . 

In this episode, Mari, I mean MARY and Rim continue to sniff each other out, more or less carefully. Do they realize their lives are already entwined so much that de-entwining will hurt? On another note, I hope some of the "funny faces" (or are they supposed to be cute?) on some of the ladies will go away soon. Shoooo! This face: Not funny, but very cute. We do not want it to go away.

becca: We have another good episode! Everyone's favorite secondary couple gets some screen time, we have a minimum of Goon-ish antics, and we spend the majority of our time with our OTP. Bickering, blossoming awareness, skinship, teasing - this episode has it all. Shuk: Yes, one of the cutest and best so far!

Song Jae-rim clearly likes mary, but unfortunately, the 2nd Lead gets a chance at liking her too. This cannot happen! JoAnne, do something!!! *to make this gif-game more interesting to you, I will no longer include the time. That'll make you madly search for these scenes, right? Hehe. Me? You must mean Mary. I never, ever chase down scenes in dramas. I get distracted way before I get there.

Poison, poison, much more poison! I'll never be able to drink tea offered to me again without wondering whether ... perhaps ... *______* JoAnne: Nice story, Yeo Won. Everyone, kill that bish with fire! S@ki6: Or everyone can just die.   Episode 14 verdict: Things are getting really intense. I bet somebody will die soon. But who?  I vote for Yeo Won. Okay, before her I'd rather Uncle Hairline, but then her, definitely. No, her first. Yes. Her first, definitely. Oh I know, arguments about 'product of her environment, no choice, forced to behave this way by the men in her life...' No. She can frame it however she wants, but she's pissed she didn't get her way and it's all an evil temper tantrum. I had an idea about this, that maybe Yeowon does die, but that Jang Bori takes over her name and role. 

Shuk: Rut finds out that wish fulfillment isn't everything it's cracked up to be. And Citrus Farm, despite it's beauty, holds a rotten core that only our intrepid twin can discover and dig out. And hopefully, we leave some of the tears behind as our younger couple gain some maturity and understanding. becca: For those of you have been worried, fear no more! This is a very fun episode, and we're headed into good viewing times. So gather 'round and prepare to squee your heart out and laugh your head off.

Shuk: Since everyone is busy, I'm going to take the bull(sh$) by the horns, and recap / gif this episode. Call it my Lenten penance or something. kakashi: So I might have felt a bit, a tiny, atomic bit interested while watching this. I'm glad the atrocious acting (his, mainly) cured me immediately of any sentiments I might be starting to develop. That's what I wrote a week ago and then, RL sucked me in. And Blood was forgotten. Or rather, put on a loooooooong To-Do list, where it started to rot, until Shuk kindly unrotted it. I'm not doing this one. The floor is yours, JoAnne and Shuk!  Shuk: How I feel about even trying to recap this thing.  

JoAnne: It's Saturday, we should be FINISHING this post, not starting it...but it was that kind of week everywhere, I think?  I don't even think I watched that much KDrama. I think I'm behind on everything now, pretty much. Lafer: The hotel is once again open here in Florida so I have very little time for watching things. But I will be looking for a new show to fill the void of Heart to Heart. I think I'll try I Heard it Through the Grapevine. Shuk: It's been a busy week in RL, thanks to all the recent bad weather.  But I still manage to squeeze in some drama-watching time! kakashi: I'm slightly panicked. I have a pre-birthday brunch today but should write two texts. And yesterday, I spent 4 hours getting the garden in order. And I am still 3 recaps behind the 6 !!!! I now have to do every week. JoAnne: Should we, perhaps, discuss this? Do you want me to do this coming week's SoGC? I know you don't want to switch on Blood because then you'd hav...

Shuk: The tension between our main couple is almost to the breaking point, as Rut still firmly believes May to be a thoroughly rotten woman, and she just tries to make everyone happy. But at some point and time, you need to show a clear side, and May, I'm ready for you to be firmly in Camp Rut.  Or Camp FakeWatit. But really, Camp Rut. Stay away from Gully Goon! becca: Yep. It's time we get this ship out to sea and leave Goon crying on the shore! Our second set of siblings also has some communication problems, but as they are younger and closer to cosmic forces, I think they will have a much faster resolution than the older, more stubborn ones. They are adorable. I love them, and I'm so happy that they're not as frustrating as their siblings. Give me the cuteness!

In Episode 3, SJR officially met his lady. Several times. Y'all know what that means, right? Much of the same in this episode. Drinking coffee, running into each other, that stuff. Sadly, there is not a lot of Rim. The Universe probably thought Mary had quite enough this week. My plan is to catch up on this show this weekend. Perhaps tonight.   I love how devoted you are to KDrama . I have now seen all episodes of the drama to date and I love these women. The mom and the mistress (there's WAY more to that story, I think) are an especially interesting watch, and the sad-sack sister who can't take a step without somehow putting her foot in a steaming pile of cow dung - you feel for her without being annoyed by her sad-sackness. At least not yet. Still trying to figure out the daughter, assuming that I will grow to like the older sister although I don't especially, yet... and the men! Every time I turn around they're introducing a new character and it's played b...

Shuk:  This episode was mostly about our main couple, which is good, but I want to beat Rut senseless in order to beat some sense into him. Stop picking on May, and behave like a real man! becca: Okay, setting aside the part where he's a terrible impostor (not to mention really mean to his not-wife), you'd think Rut would've come into this with more of a plan. Didn't he originally set out to find little bro's would-be murderer and not to bully his new bride? Hate her if you must, Rut, but be clever. Keep your head down and try to understand what's really going on here before you start butting heads with everyone. BeccaNote: Shuk gave me free reign to put in ALLLL the gifs that I want this episode. She'll probably regret it, but I don't care because I'VE GONE MAD WITH POWER. Uh-oh.

To consummate or not to consummate, that is the question. What is consummate en masse is TEA and not only does it make me thirsty, it also makes me edgy cause why would you drink tea from your dangerous enemy! Stop drinking tea, people! POISON!!! S@ki6: gulping tea down right now. Nooooooooo! Episode 13 verdict: A quiet, sad episode. But don't be fooled, there's lots of poison.

In Episode 2 of Unkind Women, Song Jae-rim took an extended, though not undisturbed shower, was a gentleman and showed us he has a good heart. In Episode 3, fanservice continues. What country did Mary save in her previous life?! (Captions by JoAnne!) Even Rim isn't entirely sure if this is a lead role... 

Remember when I threatened to joked about making a mute feature for dramabeans comments? I wasn't really expecting you twitterbeans and chingus to jump on the idea, but once we started talking, it became obvious that we NEEDED this. Or at least, we needed a way to collapse long comments and make beanut gallery readable again.

kakashi: Ah, what an adventure! JoAnne managed to completely obliterate Episode 3's FakeCap, but we restored it, like a vampire's life is restored when somebody kills him. Well, in other vampire stories. In this one, blue light can hurt a vampire and weird glitter stuff in syringes kills them. In this episode, Blood continues with its perfect mix of drugs, sex, and rock'n'roll. JoAnne: It's growing on you, isn't it. You'll say you're being sarcastic, but I know. Shuk: I almost cried last episode. But that was only because I had to rewatch it. RIP Leonard Nimoy ......... *sadness*

JoAnne: All I really want to talk about right now are the two things we ARE recapping, Kakashi... Blood and Shine or Go Crazy. What kind of drama has characters theoretially discussing how to discipline someone for going to the bathroom on an operating room floor? Instant WTF. I am so in love with the crazy. kakashi: I refuse to watch this shit with sound and/or subs. So I will never even know what level of WTFuckery it has reached. I want to kick it and stick needles into it. I think I hate it a little. As for SoGC craziness: Jjang Hyuk. Oh my GOD so in love with him. This tops Chuno, it tops Gun, it tops EVERYTHING EVER.  Happily, I adore this drama and every single thing that goes into the making of it. Again, much like Healer, probably not perfect. But perfect for ME. Yes. Shuk: Skidding in at the last moment to sneak some comments... Shine or Go Crazy  .... I am so completely in love with Jang Hyuk this drama it's actually started to affect my life. I dread the mome...

becca: Before we get into this episode, I do want to make something clear. I enjoy this show! Actually, I'm pretty hooked on it - sometimes the only reason I stop watching is because I've caught up with the subs. When I stop to think about what's happening onscreen, there's a lot of snarling and gnashing of teeth, yes. But if the show isn't exactly  good  in terms of character consistency or any semblance to reality, it is at least highly entertaining. And our main couple is extremely messed up, but somehow… I'm still rooting for them. Especially when our hero isn't being a jerk and our heroine isn't being an idiot. Shuk:  I agree. With many lakorns, the characters behave in ways that, in my culture, stand an excellent chance of arrest. Still, even for the canon couple, karma bites them in the end, and that is always satisfying.

Welcome to the heartbreak episode. But first, some cute! *wipes tears* Episode 12 verdict: An extremely strong hour of KDrama. On top of the world and in the depths of despair.  S@ki6: I still don't know what this drama is supposed to be or what it wants from me as a viewer. So, I'm going with "Yeowon is awesome" and "SeWon is hot." Now that my biases are declared, I can comment solely based on biasing them. I read a VERY interesting theory elsewhere involving SeWon, which would, if the drama would depart from history entirely, allow SeWon and YeoWon to be together, assuming she could end things with Wang So. Which we know can't happen, so whatever. The theory was that Se Won is the missing brother of Shin Yool. Which makes him, yes, a prince. A hot, hot, HOT prince. WHAT THE .... ohhhhhhhhh! Make this happen! Make this happen!!!!  

(Un)fortunately (?), more than 900 people have read our previous posts. Much more. So we'll continue this (ad)venture here (for the time being). I'm almost hoping for this to be as bad or worse as last week's episodes. I also realized I need to step up on the fakeness, because we were really not even close to being fake enough. So this is what I'll do ... I'll watch without sound and subs this time round, but take into consideration "spoilers" I have seen on twitter. I'M SO EXCITED. Nothing you can come up with is going to match the WTFness of some of the dialogue from this episode. (Also, Cass said we could put her awesome video in a BloodCap !) Shuk: [whimpering] Lee Jae Wook has a bad reaction to a new face lotion sample

It took me a while to gather my wits to continue recapping, not because I don't like this drama anymore, no, the opposite is true! But because the NEXT episode broke my heart. It really did. It took me 3 days to recover from it, but now I'm ready. I think? And this is the episode in which shit starts gathering, waiting for the fan to start turning. JoAnne: They're so happy, Kakashi. Isn't it the sweetest thing ever? They're just so delighted with themselves, you can't help but smile. I think I'll go skip my way through a meadow of butterflies and wild flowers and sing a song with the birds - everything will be fine here. S@ki6: What is show trying to be?  A sageuk, a melo or a rom-com?  So far, it seems rom-com with a bit of melo (because what Korean show doesn't have melo?) in Goryeo clothing.  But then it gets sageuk-y and frankly, it's leaving me confused.  If we're rom-com/melo in Goryeo clothing, then I get all this first and second lead ...