Rants and Weekly Raves #65 (RAWR)

JoAnne: Hello, Face That Launched a Thousand Ships

Seems like another fairly quiet RAWR this week. I know I'm not watching nearly as much as I wish I were watching, that's for sure. At least this week I did catch up on one non-Chinese drama, despite Kakashi's subbing episodes at the speed of light.
kakashi: I don't know how I do it, seriously. I'm challenging some serious Hu Ge awesomeness or something. 
Jaehyus: Hu Ge is awesome! But I don't think I'm watching that much either. That's probably a good thing, since TV should be an accent to life, not one's life.
Wittisms: My husband has done it again!! Stay single for just a few more months Ji-sub-a uh? I'm working hard to get back to Seoul and then we'll meet at the local 7-11. You'll be dazzled by my cute butchering of your language, i'll pretend not to know who you are and offer an language exchange. We'll fall in love, I'll conspire with your stylist to get you to dress better, you'll convince me of the merits of hiking by offering piggybacks when I get tired (which will be often). Your mom will love the fact that I can cook your fav foods and bless our union!! *sigh* So just hang in there ok! Don't be swayed by those women (hajima!), I'll show you a real S line!! 

Achiara

Jaehyus: Continues to fail to get me feeling any sympathy for the murder victim.  Maybe if she hadn't been a manipulative cheat, I'd say, sure everyone was horrible to her, and gosh wasn't that awful? But, instead, I rather think what went around came around in terms of people being hostile even after she died. Why did I give in to watching this? Oh, right, because a recap promised less Yoona. But she's back, Urgh.  Why did I watch this? I was in the mood for a murder mystery, but this was just annoying.
I figure I'll just marathon this after it ends. Along with D-Day. And I guess Awl, although I do want to at least check out one episode for here.

Oh My Venus

I love how gentlemanly all three MMA guys are. And I suspect SoJiSub's character fell in love at first sight with our heroine, but he's such a courtly lover, he doesn't even realize it!

Oh, I like this so much! SoGanzi has never, ever, ever looked better. But honestly, there's so much more than that! Shin Min Ah's Kang Joo Eun is no sad sack frump. She's still her, inside, even though her outsides have changed a bit since her glory days in school. She's got spirit and sass, but in a very real way - just as Young Ho is blunt - not cruel, not cold hearted, just..real. Wry. Acerbic. Careful. And his crew, the lovely, lovely Sung Hoon, and the adorable Henry - they're both so much yes I can't stand myself. Joo Eun's ex, the much-loathed Fuck Ears from Birth of a Beauty - I cannot wait to see him get stomped. And his new girlfriend, Soo Jin. Wow...such a bitch. I've heard some people say this is slow and weird but not for me, not at all. There's so much sly, snarky humor in this that I'm already in love, two episodes in.
I have to agree, it's really good. I'm probably going to re-watch ep 2, because some scenes need savouring. Also, I think Soo Jin may have a legitimate gripe. It can be really patronizing to have someone constantly stand up for you as was implied regarding the original friendship between Joo Eun and SooJin.  And perhaps SooJin felt used since Joo Eun doesn't seem to have got into law school right away.  Then there was the conflict over the handsome radio DJ.Not that I'm saying SooJin is right to act as she does in stealing Jooeun's boyfriend, but there may be legitimate beef on her side.  After all have a friend had a boyfriend already yet was taking a telephone number from the guy that she liked. That's being a bad friend, JooEun!
*wriggles with happiness and nods head in agreement with Jo* Yes, the layers! The layers. This is totally a mature drama a la IOTL and MS (even though the tropes are there they're like...trope light). First 15 minutes had me sitting up straight, mouth wide open and eyes glassed. I'm not ashamed to admit it...I rewatched that bit several times. Uri Ji-sub doesnot disappoint!! Henry! hmm he needs to tone it down just a smidge, sometimes it felt like he got acting tips from siwon (probably did) but he's adorable. And the korean snake is just all silent and mysterious. Yes, I'd tap that. I hope he gets a love interest too.  The first episode was so weird and confusing. and I was disappointed thinking it was going to fail but episode 2 explained so much so I forgive writer-nim (for now). I'm giving this a Ganzi sized thumbs up and keeping my fingers crossed. My #1 disappointment is that dramafever got the license :( Listen, Viki if you hire me for content acquisition i'll be all over that ish. I'd be so dedicated coz my viewing pleasure would be on the line too. so vote BCOOK for content acquisition!! 

Reply 1988

Well, Show, you've done it again. Everyone loves you.  And is it possible that we're all in agreement on who the husband is this, this time? Jung Hwan seems to have won everyone's hearts from out of nowhere.  No one gives any thought at all to Sun Woo, even less than that (if possible) to the other two - even though one of them is Park Freaking Bo Gum, who everyone always loves.  I did hear that he throws his hat in the ring in these next episodes - the ones I can't watch until Monday because DF is ridiculous. I suppose we could be getting punked, but if so - I like it.  This way the writers could be truthful (no triangle) and yet STILL screw with us.  It would be novel, and they are certainly unique in the drama world.
I'm laughing at you all. I've never seen any of the Reply series and will not watch any, but it's so nice to see how everybody went from "I'm not watching this! They're doing it again!" to "We've got this! We know this time!" The mean part of me is just waiting for the howling and the gnashing of teeth. 

Six Flying Dragons

My bias in this show, Gil Tae Mi, went back to his kooky, fabulous ways:

"You want shade?" [Kidding, but it would've been a meme forever!]

It took 4 tries just to get this, so apologies for the DF caption, but I'm not able to do this again.

One of the things I love about GilTaeMi is that he's such a fanboy.
Out of the two love stories, I'm so taken with the one between DdangSae and YeonHee. That scene where they confronted each other over the dangerous lives each lead and how YeonHee tried to hide her caring about DdangSae was touching. Plus, I like how YeonHee got her personal power and autonomy back after her horrific experiences back in Ep 4.

The gisaeng assassins/spies got me thinking: I see such women in Goryeo-based shows, but not Joseon. I then remembered from some of the Iron Empress eps, in fact, that women had a lot more autonomy under Goryeo and could work and remarry after divorce or their husband's death. I suppose it's because Joseon became way more conservative in response to the danger Goryeo was in.

Finally, out of all the six dragons, Boonyi is the one without any basis in history. And I can't help think, how is she a dragon? If anyone would be a female dragon, it would be some mother or sister of one of the noble characters. And out of the non-nobles, YeonHee is a female version of Ddangsae, so she seems more a dragon, in that, if he's one, she should be one too. Anyway, she seems headed to the Chief Court Lady position later on what with her determination never to have a family.  

Next week I'm catching up with this one.

Bubblegum

I caught up on something! And cried a lot, poor babies. I feel sorry for all 4 in the love quadrangle, honestly. They're all so sad right now. Fortunately, we have the DJ and her (much) younger lover as well as Tae Hee's pursuit of dirt-broke Chief (my lovely, lovely King of the Cheekbones, Mr. Two from Last.) These four definitely cheer things up when the OTP and their seconds are too sad.

The Flatterer

I just tried this during my lunch hour and it was funny!  And it has that big lug from Chuno, who was also a Reaper in Arang and the Magistrate. Most of the others I don't recognize, but they're still funny. I'm a bit swamped with other work, so I'll do a one time recap for the first two eps over the next week. 

WuXin The Monster Killer

Main character is the second lead - or maybe third lead? - in Good Times. It's a cool show, well-made and acted as Chinese dramas seem to be (ahem, Hong Kong, step up your production game!) and there's loads of monsters all in the same town and, it looks like it's set between the two world wars. Costumes, colours, set designs are all stunning. @MarieGossip_ and I have been watching and tweeting about this show, we agreed, the other day, we'd love our own "manors" in the middle of busy towns! Seriously, these rich Chinese families have style!

Other Stuff

Jane the Virgin remains very entertaining and funny - they have yet to mess up an episode (*evil side-eye over at Sleepy Hollow)

Why is she a virgin in this day, age and society?  Is it for religious reasons?
Isn't that totally the new trend? Keeping pure for marriage? 
Xiomara, her mother, got pregnant at 16.  Jane has had both her mother and her grandmother stressing the importance of not getting sidetracked since she was a little girl.  She swore she'd stay a virgin, and she's kept her vow.
Good for her!
The hashtags! 😂😂😂
#TeamRafael !
#TeamNobody! (both men are annoying) (pffft!)

Sleepy Hollow goes on hiatus... time to drop it, I guess! You won't fool me with your stupid cliffhanger, show.

The Last Kingdom. The gratuitous violence was not as bad as Game of Thrones or as extensive, but in being realer, it was scarier. 
Also, the T-ara web dramas. Not sure why they all have to have such sad endings, except, maybe, Soyeon and Eunjung's so far, but on the plus side, everyone looks good.