Rants and Weekly Raves #80 (RAWR)

Kakashi: We had a bit of trouble this week with Disqus or Blogger or both, but now we're back in operation and you should all be able to see the comments again! Anyway, not sure what happened, but I find myself without Kdrama again. Maybe the new ones will keep me hooked?
JoAnne: You worked very hard to fix that!  If it were me I'd be like, oh well, no comments, and go sulk in a corner. Thank you very kamsa because we love comments!
You know what's really hard work too? Watching television. There's just TOO MUCH STUFF. Very overwhelmed right now.
Eh. Watch what you want when you can, and the rest of it isn't going anywhere. It's just TV. Refuse to let it be a bully! By the way, I just heard about another show adapted from a comic: Preacher. Sounds interesting...
Jaehyus: I'm going to have to drop shows soon enough. Block B is coming back!  

Asian Shows

Six Flying Dragons(Finale)

Beuller? Beuller? Beuller? I think I need to deliberately make a place for this in my schedule so I can marathon now that it's over. And then straight on to TWDR while I still remember the young versions of the ones that are left alive.
Be prepared to fall into a deep depression when it's over. One of our DB friends is quite distraught that she can't watch it any more, and judging from most comments, she's not alone.
Around episode 37 or so, it felt like homework, so I dropped it then, but kept up with recaps over at DB.

Pied Piper

Oh, I like this. I'm only just about to start episode 4 but we have good backstories on our cool, mercenary negotiator and our earnest newbie cop/crisis negotiator, who turns out to have some genuine skills. They partner up with the up-and-coming anchor to go after the Pied Piper, and at this point we have no idea who THAT is, but he has something against the first two (who are connected in the past, don't ya know) and will probably have against the third. He probably was a seat mate of the son of the hairdresser who gave PP a bad haircut or something. You know how it goes with these connections. Anyway, PP has a forum online where people can vent, and he just scrolls through, looking for poor saps to manipulate into doing his dirty work. "I'll help you with this, and in return, you do me one favor." I like this a lot, so far.
Still didn't get around to it. I hope I will soon, because if I don't, I usually end up not watching

Mr Sex and Nothing Else (DotS)

Oooooooh, the cute is fully in effect, but so is the 'yeah, right' factor. Whatever. I'm not watching this to pick up military tactics or procedures. Nor medical, for that matter. I don't need to know why the native girl speaks such perfectly unaccented English. I don't need to know why David Lee McInnis sounds like someone forcefed him the air from a balloon while squeezing his balls in a vise. I don't even need to know who thought it was a good idea to make me watch a hateful character eat shitty diamonds while they were still warm from his colon - it was gross, but thank you. He deserves it. All I need is for Shi Jin and Mo Yeon to continue to be puppy-eyed fools for love. That's it. Nothing else.
I'm trying so very, very hard to overlook these nonsensical things. I'm trying very, very hard to stop questioning where the writer is trying to go with all this stuff, and I'm trying very, very hard just to concentrate on the fab 4 leads. Maybe I need more wine before watching.

Come Back Ahjussi

This, on the other hand? I need every single second of every single thing that every single character does. I need the airing version, the directors cut, all the film left on the editing room floor, every thought the writer had, all the BTS videos, and the OST on iTunes, on YT, and on regular old CD. I love them. I love them all. I love them I love them I love them. How are they going to resolve this? Our ahjussis have to leave! Sure, they'll leave those they love in a better position (we think) but they still have to leave. This ends in gutwrenching sobs, my friends. There's no other way. I wouldn't miss it for the world.
I really want to know what neighbourhood they are in that has that lovely old Joseon wall. And it has turned an incredibly good show! So thrillled Yi Yeon is now a Girl Crush magnet and rising up from her ashes. And Oh Yeon Seo makes me laugh and squee each episode: I didn't know she could do that!
I'm just surprised you two agree on a drama :) 

Goodbye Mr Black 

There's lots of opinions about her haircut out there, aren't there? Well, I'm not watching, but I think I like it.
I just heard that the other day, I had no idea it was such a brouhaha!  I mentioned to someone how cute I thought it was, and how well it suits her.  I think this is much more flattering than previous looks, in fact.  I've thought her rather plain before and now she looks adorable.

Refresh Man

This is my second favorite Aaron Yan - Woman Who is Not Me pairing (butting in to say how much I love this title, Love Trotwood), beat only by Aaron and Puff. This drama is hitting lots of 'just right' points. He's not-so-secretly in love with her and always has been; most of his toughness simply mimics things she's done to him in the past, things that helped make him the success he is today whether or directly or indirectly. She's struggling to figure out how to be good at something new, but isn't stupid or annoyingly slow to pick up on things. His assistant may be into him or may just be puzzled by her boss's behavior, but so far she's not trying to sabotage anything and in fact has been helpful. (I'm not sure how long that will last.) Aaron's charm and sex appeal is on 'leave no survivors' mode, of course.

Memory 

Saw the first episode so far.  I was a bit distracted and it felt a bit disjointed, so I need to pay closer attention to episode 2. 
And? I'm not going to watch
Haven't gotten to it yet. I feel like I want to watch it because it will be worth watching, but I'm not terribly interested in it on a personal level.

Vampire Detective (New!)

I'm pissed off at this show for not being Vampire Prosecutor and will boycott it. Yes, I can be that petty. 
I'm very excited to see it but with the holiday weekend am way behind.
Told you TV-watching is hard work.

Marriage Contract

Oddly, it seems like he went from 'you're a useful tool for me' to 'giddy crush' to 'hey, wait..this can't happen' in about two hours. However, he's about to discover she's ill, I think - so the stakes go up considerably. I enjoyed the tiny brat's switch to adorable tot and hope she and her ahjussi continue their friendship development. I really wish we didn't have the whole brother/first love issue - and especially now that we see the brother is kind of a jerk - but overall, I do really like this drama, Even if I saw a hint of stepmom/half brother turning evil on us.
I continue to like this a lot, too. The giddy crush thing did throw me off, but it was a good set up for the sad feels that came when she returned the clothes. And she really did have a point about not hurting her daughter, because of course she didn't know he was feeling all smushy about her now. I'm a little afraid that there will be a lot of time crying as this progress (by me!)
Dropping it.  Got bored this past week. 

Ms Temper and Nam Jung Gi

This picture makes me less interested. Way less interested.
Really?  But there is a reason for that screenshot as explained in the caption. And I don't mind being the only one watching. 😊

This is the money the male lead does owe her after his brother damages her car.  He's such a wuss, he's visualizing her like this, when, in fact, she finds ways to cut his debt down.

I'm enjoying it, and am excited for new episodes. The main character is a bit of a wuss, and, while before he made excuses, saying he was just protecting himself, he finally just admitted it and decided to go with it, ha! Female lead is actually a really decent person, she just doesn't suffer fools lightly. But, because she's a woman, everyone views her as the Dom pictured below. She also gets called a man-eater, which led to a hilarious scene where our hero visits her to talk about the product, except he misinterprets things and starts undressing
In reality, she's very kind-hearted, just no-nonsense and a go-getter. She, in fact, saves our male lead from his own stupidities behind the scenes, like his paying compensation to a worker long after that worker recovered, but never tells him or demands his gratitude. And when the hero's kid writes misspelled graffiti on her door (they are neighbours), she gets the kid a Korean language book, ha!
She just does what's right. Plus, one thing that got me totally on her side was that, when her boss hit her, she hit back. Not your regular drama heroine at all

PageTurner (New! With Ji Soo and Kim Soo Hyun (the girl!))

I heard this is only 3 episodes...I wonder how it will be aired? All at once or once a week...have to look into that.
It says "Release Date: March 26 - April 9, 2016" AsianWiki. I think it's one episode for three Saturdays. There was a lot of fuss about this one for only three episodes, I'd say! But I saw many people liking it on Twitter!
The leads are very, very well-liked. Another I didn't manage to get to this weekend.

Click Your Heart

Trotwood: This show is a short webtoon drama that mirrors all those "choose Your Own ending books." You watch a brief background story where it, of course, sets up a love triangle and you choose which guy the heroine responds to. You could watch all options--there are four really-- in about two hours (should be less, but Dramafever hates me and I hate it and I have to suffer through the same pediasure commercial in spanish a gazillion times and suffer through frozen screens). Other than that, it was a delight. I call it the No Sinking Ships Here! show because I'm the person who 'always" picks the wrong guy in dramas, but here I get to see the story all the way through. There is the repressed really need a true friend athlete guy, best friend from childhood who has always loved her guy, mystery bad boy motorcycle heart of gold guy, and the goofy make-you laugh with a tragic undercurrent guy.  Bonus is that Moony was in one of the options for about 2 minutes as one of the baseball coaches. Also hilarious actress who played a lawyer in the firm in Let's Eat plays homeroom teacher.
I've seen most of the first episode so far.  Seems cute. Fast.  Like you, I'm interested in seeing all the options.  My immediate thought was oooooooooooooh for the motorcycle boy, of course, but I am also drawn to the baseball player. That dancer kid in the storage room was adorable, though, and of course her longtime friend is a sweetheart.  Not sure you can really go wrong here.

Western Shows

Lucifer

I'm bored with this. I think I'll drop it. Or is it almost done?
I don't have the handicap of knowing the awesome source material, thus I don't feel the disappointment you do - still enjoying. In the original, from what I understand, Lucifer leaves Hell to create his own reality. Here, he leaves Hell because he doesn't like being shoehorned into the role 'Daddy' gave him. His pained railing to the sky over the death of Father Frank last night is beginner level angst, really. His point appeared to be that since everyone dies, regardless, no one can 'win.' But that would presuppose that 'winning' means being alive on Earth forever, right? Very juvenile argument, and one I'd figure Lucifer would have skipped over eons ago. I'm much more interested in the hints he gives that we might not be as aware of Daddy's bigger plan as we think we are, and I'm curious about the lengths to which his brother will go to return things to the way they were. That being said, I find the show humorous very often, and I like him struggling with his humanization.
I have stopped comparing this to the comics long ago. No, I'm getting bored with what I'm shown. I feel there is no real character development. There are some glimpses, but it's going nowhere.
Two more episodes, and it's up in the air whether it will be renewed or not.  It's the #3 show for Fox right now but is not doing all that well compared to other channels, so they may still want to replace it.

Jane the Virgin

My vote is the brother is lying, and we are reminded forcibly this week that Jaime Camil is a very good actor. #TeamRogelio
Yeah, well.... I don't like him at all, this new person, even though he's "kind of a hottie". I wasn't as much in love with the show overall this week, but that could really be me.
He's not ugly, but I don't find him particularly appealing. And I didn't like his personality at all.

The Magicians

Penny goes travelling to the Neitherlands, which is pretty cool. I always like to have Penny around but the whole idea of the place is interesting, and now we finally meet Alice's majorly weird parents, and Elliot is disintegrating and Margo and the Margolem...ewww, plus we have Julia genuinely trying to make amends but these FreeBaseBeowulf people or whoever they are...I dunno. What I do know: I love this show more every week. Hands down, the absolute most interesting and entertaining show I'm watching. But man...it's hard to watch at work at lunch. I keep having to turn it off to finish at home because I can't risk offending anyone who happens by!
This was a deliciously funny and naughty episode. Hahahahaaaaaaa. Everybody gets 10 points! *Claps enthusiastically*

11.22.63

Caught up! So. Lately, I've been thinking about what makes good television. And I've figured something out. What makes good television for me is a show centered on human beings. Not necessarily ones I can fully relate to, but human beings that show conflict and have faults and are intriguing to watch. This show may be about someone going back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination, but it's so much more. And then, there's wonderful storytelling. Stephen King is a genius.
I kept falling asleep during this episode so I really have to watch the whole thing.  I saw the very beginning, and I saw him in the car with George from about half way through, and that's about it.

Shadowy Tools

Here comes the fauxcest. Yawn. Where is the gay love? I think I'll instead ship brother and sister for a bit, because they're so beautiful.