Rants and Weekly Raves #53 (RAWR)

JoAnne: Bye-bye, Sweetness. We'll be so happy when you come back! Do well and stay healthy!
kakashi: Military service of K-Ent people fills me with dread. Not because they're gone for two years (I hardly like any younglings anyway, so I don't care) but because it's one of those things that make you realize how quickly time passes (just like those things that happen every year, i.e. Xmas or national beauty peagants). They go in, you think "two years! Wow! Such a long time", and then, they're out and two years have passed like they're nothing.
Jaehyus: But, but I only just discovered him!

Last

I started it! And I like it. BUT. There's a big but and it keeps bugging me. Why does a stockmarket swindler end up completely broke? It makes no sense whatsoever. Do they really want to make us believe that this guy put however many millions into just ONE stock, including all of his own money? Excuse me, drama, but that makes no sense. Even the day-traders who take the highest risks and lose BIG if they lose do what everybody who trades does: diversify your risks. And any stockmarket swindler may have some bank accounts with money lying around that can be seized by the police - but come on, most of their money would not be cash but investments (low-risks one, for example). It makes no sense to have cash with no interest rates unless you're about to buy something like a house.
At first, he was on the run from Jang's plan to murder him immediately - he just took whatever cash he had in the bank (in his desk, I'd say ... because he went straight to the car from his office). I'd assume his other investments were tied up (how? you can almost always turn it into money, even if it means losing a lot in the process) and since he is on the run from the police, too, wouldn't it be difficult for him to get to anything? (Still absolutely loving this, by the way.)
I'm not convinced, sorry. Anybody who is a professional stock market swindler can go to an AT machine and withdraw money, even if you're a wanted fugitive, because you would most certainly have SEVERAL accounts, not all under your own name. They can freeze his assets, of course, but that does not happen within 1 or 2 hours. And they can only freeze those assets that are clearly associated with his name. So no, not buying it. But I vowed to let this go, even if I have great difficulties to be honest :) It's simply a non-trivial thing for this drama, because if he is not totally broke, why would he even have to squat with the hobos?! Them not even explaining why he is broke is part of the problem for me. Why should he be??! I'll continue though (sometime) (and pssst, I hope Yoon Kye-Sang improves. I'm absolutely not impressed with his acting).    

Yong Pal

Jaehyus: Crack drama.  
Extremely weird drama
Still loving it, though. I just see it as a fantasy, and that works for me. One of the coolest scenes was when the Princess came out of her coma, offered YongPal money, and then went back into her coma like she was diving into the sea.
Crack drama, yes, in the sense that it's a drug-fueled dream/nightmare. I'm just watching five now. I'm not entirely convinced she's really awake and talking to him half the time he thinks she is. And wowwwww, CreepNurse is unhinged. I hear it really goes off the rails this week, but who knows when I'll catch up.
Haha, I wonder how far Jaehyus watched! Because as of episode 7, this drama got TOO weird. It's like Dr. Jin-territory soon. If they don't quickly return to a realm of at least slightly believable medical practices, I'm dropping it.
Update: still laughing HARD after watching 8. DROPPED, oh so dropped. I actually wished the weird medical pratices were back, that's how much I dropped it.
Oh, I liked it! I admit in ep 7 an impossible amount of things happened in under 10 minutes, but I still love the show. Plus, they have to meet on a nonearthly plane to keep the romance going when they're both unconscious in hospital beds. It makes perfect sense, really!

Twenty Again 

I'm not sure I'm ready for Angry Unfulfilled Mom, especially if there's no JiSoo.
I am checking it out for Lee Sang Yoon. From what I've seen (short trailer) I have a feeling I won't like it though. I smell OTT comedy. I have no stomach for that unless it's done exactly right
Okay, it's not at all like what I expected. For one, it's not openly funny but quite sad. Well, the undertone is - I had a hard time watching her being emotionally mistreated by her husband (cheeater!) and son and fellow-students (WHAT's WRONG WITH THEM) and HOT PROF. So far, they're all humans though, and not black and white caricatures and we see that there is strength in this woman if she only reaches for it (her older self was a headstrong, independent young woman - but alas ... sex. Pregnant. Mom. Boom). And there IS humor, but it's as subtle as I like it and not at all slapsticky. There is a lot in this drama that could go horribly wrong (people have mentioned OhLala Couple :) but for the time being, I'm definitely watching. 
PS: I am very much surprised at how young Lee Sang-Yoon looks with longish, dishevelled hair
I like Lee Sang Yoon as much as the next breathing woman, but this did not give me the same enjoyment it did you. Her husband is a dick, yes, and her son is, too, but why is she just taking it? I dislike doormats intensely. We'll see.
It has clear faults, yes (the doormat thing is annoying - but she's taking it because she cannot even start to imagine a life without her husband at this point in time. Pregnant and married with 19 and housewife ever since), but it has a story involving people my age and it's set at a university. Oh, and Lee Sang-yoon as professor. It gives me ... ideas. Actually, I think I like it quite a lot.

The Scholar Who Walks at Night 

Getting a bit fed up, even with all the pretty clothes and the Schnozz. Just wish it would wrap up now. However, after caving (read: procrastinating on important things like sleeping), I did get some unintentionally hilarious moments from the odd-numbered episode this week:
 "Come on!  Why is it like this?" wonders Our Heroine regarding a reluctant horse with a Bloodsucking Vampire on its back.  Gosh, who knows why that horse might think, "If I move, and he wakes up, and he doesn't want to eat her instead..." 
 Schnozz & one of those puppies that Acts Just Like People, or, in this case, Just Like Bloodsucking Vampire. 
And the Queen wonders if that smell is Schnozz or Puppy...

Basically, Gwi spends the drama photobombing everyone.
I just wish for a Lee Jun-ki drama soon that I can take seriously. All that talent! For what? 
I dunno, what is Lee Junki for?  Oh, right, handsome to the left, handsome to the right, handsome straight in front...
Nabi: This is the only on-air drama I watched this week, and yeah, it was a little tedious. Honestly, I thought it was a 16-episode drama, so I was also kind of confused.

Mrs. Cop 

Life is short, and I'm just not gonna.
moo to that!

Hwajeong 

Catching up. Again, could have been much better written. I also watched some of an old saguek called Queen Insoo (absolute "classic"! Haven't seen it though) and no scene and dialogue repetitions like in Hwajeong. The bad writing makes it hard to stick to Hwajeong, to be honest, just because all that repetition and stiffness is so tiring!  And I really loved it at first... Still, the history is interesting. And now, I'm hoping for more subs for Queen Insoo, which is more my taste in sajeuk, anyway, since the subbers stopped with Eunjung's parts. And I want more of Deposed Lady Yoon, one of Queen Insoo's enemies, and mother of crazy king Yeonsangun in King and the Clown!

Assembly 

Dropping it. Can't do everything. 
I think this is a 'Someday, Maybe' for me. I just am not getting to it, and that has to mean something. 
Because it's a bit boring.

I Have a Lover 

The synopsis makes it seem like the couple split up because the wife was ambitious in her career. Unless someone can tell me that's not the case and it's okay for her to have a career and be married, then, I'm not interested.
I watched the first episode and I suspect that what we see happening is some time in the past, but not certain. It's implausible - there is a SPECTACULAR car crash from which no one should walk away alive, and yet someone does - and climbs up the side of a steep ravine, then staggers down the road, where she is mistaken for a ghost by a driver who conveniently recognizes her as an old school mate - which she is NOT, but the school mate he recognizes her as is actually the woman this woman was chasing because she stole her car. (Because she was being followed by someone, it's a long story.)   It's sort of Mask-y but not as fun. I am not all convinced that I need to see Episode 2.

Other 

The Scandalous Lady W.  Watched one half tonight and remembered why I love the 18th century.
Oh! It's WhatsHerName from Game of Thrones! Natalie Dormer.  Also played Anne Boleyn in the Tudors and, as you said, played Queen Marjorie Tyrell.  
Basically, the hair. So, it's a true story of an English aristocrat, Seymour Fleming, whose husband does some serious emotional manipulation to get her sleeping with other men for his own amusement. Basically, as sick as it sounds. Eventually, she and one of the men fall in love, and have a child, while she's living with that same husband, and the couple elope with zero preparation. She doesn't even have a change of clothes, which, as I recall from the book, was a big mistake because clothing in those days was expensive. Worse, though, they didn't leave with the baby. 

::SPOILER::Anyway, since Seymour was nothing more than her husband's property, he sued the lover, George Bisset, for criminal conversation, and demanded an exorbitant amount of 20,000 pounds. Not sure what that is in money now, but let's just say it would have landed Bisset in debtor's prison for his whole life. So, Seymour had the clever idea, and, had enough friends in the former lovers her husband had insisted she take, of telling the court how she was not worth anything precisely because of all those men. Interesting how the guys she was with preferred her to her awful husband, even though they participated in shenanigans at his request. So, the judge ruled a shilling's worth of damages to the husband because being a pervert doesn't pay. ::EndSpoiler::

Also watching one of the web dramas I mentioned before: Noble, My Love. I need to use Hola to watch, though. As noted before, it has Tales of New Gisaeng actor Sung Hoon, and Rainbow's Kim Jaekyung, but most importantly, it is the drama debut of Macaron:
From the blushing, the exposure, and the fact that Jaekyung's character is a vet, I think Macaron was about to get neutered. 

Up to Episode 22 on My Best Ex-Boyfriend, still in love with Jerry's dumb Bambi face. Still enjoying the drama. Bitchy Xiang Nan has lost her rich fiancee Li Tang AND her hunky first love Hao Ran, plus all her lucrative endorsement deals as a top model, PLUS her little bitchy sycophant Ou Wei Ya. When she tries to kill herself, the three people she's damaged most in the world (Li Tang, Hao Ran, Fang Si) all rush to save her, because they are good people. Since Li Tang and Fang Si were just about to thaw enough to maybe admit they still like each other (well, he's confessed a half dozen times in one way or another, including straight out to her face, twice, so really SHE just needs to get the stick out of her butt)...I guess what comes next is he'll see her with his meddling father, think he's being betrayed again, act like an ass again, and she'll end up dating Hao Ran for a while. I'll let you know.

I watched the premiere of Fear of the Walking Dead and I'm happy happy happy. Several actors I enjoy telling the story of the early early early days of the zombie apocalypse. It appears that perhaps the govt. and some of the medical establishment have an inkling that something is terribly wrong, but as a general rule, zombies aren't roaming free yet. Most of the time. There are some, but people who don't expect to see zombies just don't think 'zombies' when they see one. They think 'Wow, that dude is tripping balls,' or 'The flu is really making people act weird.' Then the dude with the flu eats them, and we're back to 'no one knows' until the next round. All hell's about to break loose, y'all.  

And oh look, a puppy:
Frank Dillane, for your viewing pleasure. You will view, oh yes. In fact, you will not be able to view anything else when he is on screen, and you will like it and ask for more, please. If he seems a tiny bit familiar, it's because he's appeared in a few things, one of them being Harry Potter. As young Tom Riddle, in fact. In FofWD, he is the heroin-addicted son of the central family, and one of the first to realize Something Is Not Right. But no one believes him, of course. It's a drug-induced hallucination, naturally. Yeah, that doesn't even last the whole first episode. Did I mention how much I liked the first episode? It was really good. It broke all kinds of records, even, so it's not just me thinking it.
I started My Daughter Seo Yeong. The reason? I'm sure I don't need to explain.... Let's call it a Lee Sang Yoon flavored craving that cannot be satisfied with a mere two hours of Twenty Again right now. This show is good! The script seems decent? Anyway, what a cast!
becca: *head pops up from behind a pile of textbooks* Did someone mention MDSY? I loved that show! And I was so addicted that I marathoned it during one of the craziest semesters of my college career. Have fun, Kakashi Sensei!
Hehe. I like it, but there's already a lot of WTFuckery (I'm at episode 10). Let's see how much ffwarding I need to do until the end.......but it's still very enjoyable! Maybe I should watch more weekenders.
I watched an episode of that, at some point in the past year. Maybe two. I do recall that people loooooooved it to begin with but didn't love it quite so much after about the middle, but there was a reason I wanted to watch it. I can't remember what it is, though.
Lee Sang-yoon looking VERY manly? Park Hae-jin being sexy as hell? Lee Bo-Young being a good actress? Park Jung-Ah being super cute?
Thank you. Your picture reminded me very clearly why I was interested. My Good Boy is in it, and Lee Bo Young is awesome in general all of a sudden.
Episode 13. And I think I'm already slowing down now :) Maybe my craving is satisfied? 
 OOOOOoookay. Maybe not
(this is the best hair for him imo)
((and no, I'm not going to watch all those crap shows he was in. I'm NOT!))

Looking Forward to...

Ummm... the next episode of Fear of the Walking Dead, of course.
So, can you explain to me why it is now called "Fear of the Walking Dead"? Is it a different set-up? 
It is a different show. Fear is a spin off of The Walking Dead. It's based in LA and the timeline is at the very beginning of the outbreak, so it's earlier in the universe, and farther west. From what I understand the focus will be a little different, too, although I'm not entirely clear how.