Rants and Weekly Raves #45 (RAWR)
Ladies, I made a new page: "Our Top 5". If you're so inclined, would you please select your 5 all time favorite KDramas and write a few sentences as to why it's in your Top 5? (Damn, it's tough to just go for 5!!!) Some of us already chose.
Nabi: Haha, dangerous request! Back in my pre-PotUp days I may have written extensively about a lot more than just my top five...
Just five! I'll enforce it! :D
Ho. Ly. Sh*t. This show is fracking awesome!!!! Is it Saturday night in Korea yet? Is it? Is it? Is it????!!!
So... this show is good eh?
Eh. It's okay. Ha! No, it's so good that we have an entry for it here even though we're recapping it!
It's so good I put it in my Top 5, even though it's not even finished yet!
I like it, but I can't really continue with it. Too dark for me. I do love Lee Si Young and Lee El, though. And I think Lee El is that gangster's noona, because only noonas in kdrama act equal with a guy in their generation.
I liked it too. Jo Jeong Suk IS someone on my radar, and he consistently turns in memorable performances. Kim Seul Gi is a cutie, but watching Park Bo Young DO Kim Seul Gi is a revelation. I had forgotten Hyung (from PGHR) was in this - he plays Cordon (oh yes, fine specimen) - but I'm happy to see him and prepared for much squeeing from Cass. I like the bits that the previews didn't give us - that the ghost is STUCK in her body, and that they don't coexist or take turns. At least not so far. Also, that there is a bit of a murder mystery developing. My vote, like that of many probably, is that Im Ju Hwan will not be the nice guy he appears to be.
Funny, I didn't catch onto murder mystery at all! Was that in the preview? Or did I maybe fall asleep or something?! I won't be happy if they add that tired plot device ... but hey, there's always a ffward button.
becca: There is a very good chance that I may become obsessed with this drama.
Oh, I think we laid pretty strong groundwork this week for that. Min Woo and Ji Sook clearly know that they love the other, but you're right, don't know that they are loved in return. Well, Ji Sook would have to be stupid not to know, but I think she isn't fully aware. Min Woo, my poor sweetie, he got told 'I can never love you' so he has an excuse. I love that she's giving EBiL shit, and I love how she spends her money on others. Especially because it pisses off Min Woo's awful family. What's up with Crazy Sis? Do you think she's really pregnant? I am ALL for her teaming up with Min Woo and Ji Sook, though, even if she's crazy. If she had something real in her life she wouldn't be so obsessed with Seok Hoon, and she'd feel better knowing her suspicions were real so that she could just kick his ass to the curb and find someone decent. I don't think she's a bad person. I'm so happy Min Woo knows he's not crazy, and the over-the-top continues with everything, so I still love this just as much as I did. Min Woo gets many hearts.
Oooooh, thank you, JoAnne! I forgot about Mi-Yeon! No, I don't think she's really pregnant. I think her insistence on the 5-tiered pregnancy congratulations cake at her sister-in-law's semi-public birthday party was a pretty big hint that it's not real, and her casual mention a few scenes later that she hasn't actually been to the doctor yet made it all but guaranteed to be a fake. Maybe once she accepts that truth she can finally join Team Min/Sook like I've been hoping, but I'm not totally sure how she will react to the revelation that she actually killed Eun-Ha.
I'm all over Mask. So happy my kdrama mojo is back. and with such a messed up plot!! I wonder if Seok Hoon feels something for crazy sis under all his ambivalence and bitterness.... yeeaaaah probably not. It's not like him and Eunha (sp) hid their love affair (Min Woo found a picture of them pretty easy on the kinterwebs) so why is crazy sis jealous NOW??! Anyone else not anticipating MinWoo's devastation when he finds out eunwhatsit is dead? he does still think he attempted to kill her. Also....how has everybody forgotten about the cameras in their bedroom? I'm really happy ji-sook has found what little backbone she has and is (trying) to fight back. Screaming "omg why so stupid" at the screen was going getting bad for my health (throat) and I'm pretty sure my downstairs neighbour thinks i'm abusing somebody.
I only read recaps for this, and I noticed Miyeon's earrings are getting bigger again, lol.
*scrambles to fall in line behind JoAnne* I'm second! And nobody try to cut in before me!
Continuing a fine tradition...
I haven't watched past episode 2 yet, but I will.
UPDATE: We actually had some significant forward motion in the plot this week (finally!) and may even have a reasonably satisfying finale next week. But nothing that is going to elevate this above the realm of largely unrealized potential, sprinkled with a few moments of awesomeness.
I managed to see Mr. Robot and the next episode of The Whispers. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just isn't, at all. One of these things is not like the other, and one of these things I can put off 'til Fall. I leave you to figure out which is which.
While out sick for a few days, I watched a jdorama called Crazy for You. It has G-Dragon's girlfriend as one of the female leads. She's rather annoying, but that is the crazy sort of character she's playing, so can't judge Kiko (GD's GF) on that. The whole drama is pretty good, very focused on people who are broken emotionally in some way getting back to full and complete lives where they accept their ups and downs. The main guy had a complete breakdown, got divorced and became homeless, and then was picked up by second lead male who is such a nice person, he causes trouble for others. As in, brings all the strays home to live there, and that includes Kiko and the main guy. Oddly, the whole thing is a really good comedy!
Nabi: Haha, dangerous request! Back in my pre-PotUp days I may have written extensively about a lot more than just my top five...
Just five! I'll enforce it! :D
My Beautiful Bride
IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! (over and out)Ho. Ly. Sh*t. This show is fracking awesome!!!! Is it Saturday night in Korea yet? Is it? Is it? Is it????!!!
So... this show is good eh?
Eh. It's okay. Ha! No, it's so good that we have an entry for it here even though we're recapping it!
It's so good I put it in my Top 5, even though it's not even finished yet!
I like it, but I can't really continue with it. Too dark for me. I do love Lee Si Young and Lee El, though. And I think Lee El is that gangster's noona, because only noonas in kdrama act equal with a guy in their generation.
Oh My Ghostess
Hey, I like this! And yes, I say that with a surprised voice, because I have gotten so used to not liking romancy KDrama. The script is hardly original (Master's Sun / Arang and the Magistrate, a bit of those in there and they already borrowed from other stuff) and there are enough of the same-same template characters around to vex me. But: Kim Seul-Gi is to die for, I want to adopt her. Yes, I am glad she exists! Funny, awesome women are so rare in K-Ent. Cho Jung-Seok has never been on my radar, really (I didn't watch K2H but only saw a few episodes), but I quite enjoy him as the grumpy, priggish chef. I like chef-characters in general, and this one seems grsadorable (gruff & secretly adorable). And the tiny little female lead Park Bo-Young is doing really well (even though she irritated me just as much as she irriated Chefeunim before the possession) - she can act! Here's to hoping they keep their story straight (I mean: no sudden melo-crime-makjang fits) and this could be much fun!I liked it too. Jo Jeong Suk IS someone on my radar, and he consistently turns in memorable performances. Kim Seul Gi is a cutie, but watching Park Bo Young DO Kim Seul Gi is a revelation. I had forgotten Hyung (from PGHR) was in this - he plays Cordon (oh yes, fine specimen) - but I'm happy to see him and prepared for much squeeing from Cass. I like the bits that the previews didn't give us - that the ghost is STUCK in her body, and that they don't coexist or take turns. At least not so far. Also, that there is a bit of a murder mystery developing. My vote, like that of many probably, is that Im Ju Hwan will not be the nice guy he appears to be.
Funny, I didn't catch onto murder mystery at all! Was that in the preview? Or did I maybe fall asleep or something?! I won't be happy if they add that tired plot device ... but hey, there's always a ffward button.
becca: There is a very good chance that I may become obsessed with this drama.
High Society
I still really don't want to spend any time on that ugly family, although the intrafamilial war going on is actually a bit interesting. Why do I suspect that Mom and Dad might have started out a bit like Chang Soo and Yi Ji? It's just that I'm SO much more interested in what's going on between the 4 young people. There is subtlety here, and there are many opportunities to examine a situation from different vantage points. It's too easy to dismiss Sung Joon as a mere opportunist, Yoon Ha as poor little rich girl, Chang Soo as spoiled party boy, Yi Ji as the voice of reason. They all have more layers, and how they look will depend on where you're looking from.
Dropped it. I am limiting what I watch these days, and this wasn't worth keeping. Maybe if Sung Joon's machinations had been emphasized, I would've been more interested. Instead, it's all about the coupley stuff.
Dropped it. I am limiting what I watch these days, and this wasn't worth keeping. Maybe if Sung Joon's machinations had been emphasized, I would've been more interested. Instead, it's all about the coupley stuff.
Warm & Cozy (Finale)
Everybody ends up exactly as you expect them to end up. Geun Woo's dad continues to say it was him behind the wheel of the car, and I was only half paying attention, but I think he's lying. The best thing that happened was that Son Ho Joon showed up. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. It was okay, mostly because of my love for the actors.
Judging by what people tweeted about this, it sounds more like a failure than anything else. It makes you wonder about writers something, doesn't it.
Judging by what people tweeted about this, it sounds more like a failure than anything else. It makes you wonder about writers something, doesn't it.
Mask
So, I watched all four episodes that have been released so far of My Beautiful Bride this week, mostly during a very long, sleepless night after the barista gave me a full-caff latte in the middle of the afternoon instead of the decaf I actually ordered. After I finished #4 and realized there were no more left (yet!!) I looked at the rest of my queue, and was genuinely surprised to be reminded of Mask. MBB was so good I had literally forgotten about everything else! For, say, Masked Prosecutor, that's not such an indictment, since I've recognized it was fairly forgettable all along, more or less. But for Mask it's pretty lethal. Clearly, this show lost my true devotion a couple weeks back, and has yet to regain it. It's not that anything has gone so terribly wrong, but we've obviously entered the "stretch out the middle to fill the episode quota" phase of the drama, and for one that was originally so compelling that's a pretty big bummer. The good news is, I think both Ji-Sook and Min-Woo know now (finally!) that they love each other, even if they don't know yet that they are also loved in return. (Or, in Min-Woo's case, his love's real name and identity. But I digress.) Also this week, Ji-Sook finally put the gloves on with Phampire BiL and started to take some assertive steps in the rest of her life too, which was pretty awesome to witness. So I guess my only major complaint at this point is that it seems everybody else will learn the truth of Ji-Sook's identity before Min-Woo does, and since that's the next big turning point in the plot, I guess the episodes will keep feeling more like filler than real forward movement for a while yet. :-(((Oh, I think we laid pretty strong groundwork this week for that. Min Woo and Ji Sook clearly know that they love the other, but you're right, don't know that they are loved in return. Well, Ji Sook would have to be stupid not to know, but I think she isn't fully aware. Min Woo, my poor sweetie, he got told 'I can never love you' so he has an excuse. I love that she's giving EBiL shit, and I love how she spends her money on others. Especially because it pisses off Min Woo's awful family. What's up with Crazy Sis? Do you think she's really pregnant? I am ALL for her teaming up with Min Woo and Ji Sook, though, even if she's crazy. If she had something real in her life she wouldn't be so obsessed with Seok Hoon, and she'd feel better knowing her suspicions were real so that she could just kick his ass to the curb and find someone decent. I don't think she's a bad person. I'm so happy Min Woo knows he's not crazy, and the over-the-top continues with everything, so I still love this just as much as I did. Min Woo gets many hearts.
I'm all over Mask. So happy my kdrama mojo is back. and with such a messed up plot!! I wonder if Seok Hoon feels something for crazy sis under all his ambivalence and bitterness.... yeeaaaah probably not. It's not like him and Eunha (sp) hid their love affair (Min Woo found a picture of them pretty easy on the kinterwebs) so why is crazy sis jealous NOW??! Anyone else not anticipating MinWoo's devastation when he finds out eunwhatsit is dead? he does still think he attempted to kill her. Also....how has everybody forgotten about the cameras in their bedroom? I'm really happy ji-sook has found what little backbone she has and is (trying) to fight back. Screaming "omg why so stupid" at the screen was going getting bad for my health (throat) and I'm pretty sure my downstairs neighbour thinks i'm abusing somebody.
I only read recaps for this, and I noticed Miyeon's earrings are getting bigger again, lol.
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| I learned this week that the style of earring favored by Mi-Yeon, which features design elements attached on both front and back sides, is called "jacket" earrings. |
Orange Marmalade
Except for a few seconds of flash-forward near the end of the episode -- which served only to highlight how much more handsome Yeo Jin-Goo is in a hanbok and topknot than in a high school boy's uniform -- we were still in the Joseon part of the story this week. It gave us some fairly huge plot developments, and shed a lot of light on the characters in both their modern and Joseon incarnations. Since I was never terribly invested in having this show adhere to any preconceived expectations, it remains both entertaining and satisfying for me. But I still think it would have been better served by the standard two-episodes-per week format of most KDramas. The unusual choice to jump back several hundred years into its original characters' pre-incarnations (as is now abundantly clear) and stay there for five full episodes would have been a lot easier for all of us to get through in three weeks instead of six.
I Remember You
Another enjoyable show - one of many right now! I keep changing my mind about who is who. Right now it's clear that Park Bo Gum is a wild card, but I definitely feel that way about medical examiner - Baby Daddy - too. I almost wish they hadn't done that bit with him the knife and the tags, because that wasn't the thing for me, and makes it too obvious one way or the other. The kid who did the murders in Ep 4 wasn't either of them, though, and seems too young to be Min. The other two could be Min, though. Now. Who wants to get locked in a closet with Seo In Guk? Line forms behind me.*scrambles to fall in line behind JoAnne* I'm second! And nobody try to cut in before me!
The Time We Were Not in Love
This title is so stupid!Continuing a fine tradition...
I haven't watched past episode 2 yet, but I will.
Masked Prosecutor
This poor show. It's like the forgotten step-child, right? So at the bottom of my list right now... All I can even say is: "I love kimchi." And soju. I may have had some soju.UPDATE: We actually had some significant forward motion in the plot this week (finally!) and may even have a reasonably satisfying finale next week. But nothing that is going to elevate this above the realm of largely unrealized potential, sprinkled with a few moments of awesomeness.
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| Preach it, Min-Hui! (Credit to Viki for the captions.) |
Other
I was busy recapping 4 episodes of My Beautiful Bride and forget all else. Honestly, MBB is a problem. I tried to look into other stuff, but ... as Nabi says above, the difference is so vast, it takes quite a lot to overlook all that's wrong with a "normal" KDrama.I managed to see Mr. Robot and the next episode of The Whispers. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just isn't, at all. One of these things is not like the other, and one of these things I can put off 'til Fall. I leave you to figure out which is which.
While out sick for a few days, I watched a jdorama called Crazy for You. It has G-Dragon's girlfriend as one of the female leads. She's rather annoying, but that is the crazy sort of character she's playing, so can't judge Kiko (GD's GF) on that. The whole drama is pretty good, very focused on people who are broken emotionally in some way getting back to full and complete lives where they accept their ups and downs. The main guy had a complete breakdown, got divorced and became homeless, and then was picked up by second lead male who is such a nice person, he causes trouble for others. As in, brings all the strays home to live there, and that includes Kiko and the main guy. Oddly, the whole thing is a really good comedy!
Looking Forward to…
Remember how I said I wasn't feeling that excited for Scholar Who Walks the Night? Yes! Yeah, must have been a fluke of some kind. I have since seen some stills and a couple of character posters and BAM. I'm there. I'm ready. Because it suddenly hit me… the teaser looks kinda like Arang and the Magistrate 2.0, the stills and character posters look kinda like Arang and the Magistrate 2.0, and while my first thought was, "Really? Why not do something new?" my second thought was, "But I loved that! More please!" So, yes. I'll be counting the days. Me too!
It feels that it is very necessary for me to point out, where ever possible, that Lee Soo Hyuk is sporting a Ron Jeremy wig. Google that name if you need to, and tamper your excitement. This has been a public service announcement, because those previews are beyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyond cheesy.
I'm actually really distracted this week, and not just by My Beautiful Bride. It has been hard to focus on my KDramas. Mostly, I'm looking forward to pushing through this slump ASAP!
I really want to see Scholar Who Walks the Night.
It feels that it is very necessary for me to point out, where ever possible, that Lee Soo Hyuk is sporting a Ron Jeremy wig. Google that name if you need to, and tamper your excitement. This has been a public service announcement, because those previews are beyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyond cheesy.
I'm actually really distracted this week, and not just by My Beautiful Bride. It has been hard to focus on my KDramas. Mostly, I'm looking forward to pushing through this slump ASAP!
I really want to see Scholar Who Walks the Night.