Rants and Weekly Raves #140 (RAWR)
Trotwood: Where is everyone? All I see is Jo's red, and I know you guys are watching more than I am. I'm even behind on Sung Swoon because there was too much going on in RL and I needed something crazy instead of Swoonworthy (see below).
JoAnne: I had an advantage - I set up the post this time (it's usually me or Kakashi) but I did it really late this week. Saturday, I think. So others might not have had a chance to make entries yet. I was thinking I hadn't done much but once I started making notes I realized I did pretty well this week.
kakashi: If by "you guys" you, Trotwood, mean me, you are very much mistaken, for I am still not watching anything. Actually, it feels like less than anything. Real life has taken the definition of "totally swamped" to the next level.
I like that actor, he's good looking (I prefer him beardless) and his voice is nice. I was wondering if God would ever show up so I liked the episode, especially because I thought it gave Lucy some peace - but then in the end it made things worse. For the sake of the plot I suppose that's probably the best thing but I was a little sad.
JoAnne: I had an advantage - I set up the post this time (it's usually me or Kakashi) but I did it really late this week. Saturday, I think. So others might not have had a chance to make entries yet. I was thinking I hadn't done much but once I started making notes I realized I did pretty well this week.
kakashi: If by "you guys" you, Trotwood, mean me, you are very much mistaken, for I am still not watching anything. Actually, it feels like less than anything. Real life has taken the definition of "totally swamped" to the next level.
Ah, but before I forget: CONGRATS DR. Panda!!!!!!
KOREA
My Secret Romance
We must be headed into The Angsty Portion, based on previews for next week. I hope it isn't too painful - this show isn't really built for angst.
I'll be back to you Swoony. It's a long weekend next weekend.
I'll be back to you Swoony. It's a long weekend next weekend.
Tunnel
Poor Kwang Ho, tossed back and forth across decades time and again. What is it about the Murdering Medical Examiner and that tunnel that makes this happen?
Whisper
Evil Juliet is going to choose her mom and throw Dad under the bus. Only fair, since she's realized that Dad was perfectly fine about saving his business at Mom's expense - and if she doesn't do it, she'll have to be married to man even worse than Dear Old Dad. I just keep wondering why one of them doesn't just kill the other one.
This is the BEST show to watch when you are super angry. I was extremely angry last Friday and this was exactly the therapy I needed. There is so much nasty snark coolly delivered that I laugh out loud. In fact, I think I laugh more during this show than any of the comedies I've watched during the last year. I know there are some people who are tired of the back and forth machinations of the show, which I find an interesting response since so often we complain about nothing happening or plot twists that don't move anything forward. I had been worried in the beginning that the writers would run out of things because so many things happened so early on, but that has not happened. I like the fact that we are really getting into how deep and wide the corruption goes. I can't believe that anyone who has paid attention to politics in the United States or South Korea over the past year would be able to say that the shenanigans in this show are unrealistic.
Two other things: 1) I read somewhere that people are bothered by the romance between our two leads. I actually find their coming together very natural considering the situation they are in. There has been slow warmth and admiration throughout. They are not going to have an all-consuming grand passion--who has time when they have to watch their backs 24/7? 2) Song Tae Gon--I'm loving his character a lot. He is not a good person or an innocent victim, but I'm enjoying watching him use his knowledge to get back at all those people who ignored and used him over the years. I giggle every time he offers someone some of his watermelon.
This is the BEST show to watch when you are super angry. I was extremely angry last Friday and this was exactly the therapy I needed. There is so much nasty snark coolly delivered that I laugh out loud. In fact, I think I laugh more during this show than any of the comedies I've watched during the last year. I know there are some people who are tired of the back and forth machinations of the show, which I find an interesting response since so often we complain about nothing happening or plot twists that don't move anything forward. I had been worried in the beginning that the writers would run out of things because so many things happened so early on, but that has not happened. I like the fact that we are really getting into how deep and wide the corruption goes. I can't believe that anyone who has paid attention to politics in the United States or South Korea over the past year would be able to say that the shenanigans in this show are unrealistic.
Two other things: 1) I read somewhere that people are bothered by the romance between our two leads. I actually find their coming together very natural considering the situation they are in. There has been slow warmth and admiration throughout. They are not going to have an all-consuming grand passion--who has time when they have to watch their backs 24/7? 2) Song Tae Gon--I'm loving his character a lot. He is not a good person or an innocent victim, but I'm enjoying watching him use his knowledge to get back at all those people who ignored and used him over the years. I giggle every time he offers someone some of his watermelon.
Queen of Mystery
Jerk. JERK. I fully expect there to be some sort of twist to that plot line but right now all I can think is JERK JERK JERK JERK. He really seems to love her so why would he cheat? And a part of my heart has always had a tiny little rowboat of a ship for Drug Dog and the Lady, while also just loving the friendship that they have, so I sort of feel guilty, like I brought this on. We don't need this plot line! Plus starting last week I was shipping the team lead with the lunchbox lady, and now this week I have added the puppy and the sister in law to my growing flotilla, so I don't 'need' any other romances.
I never liked the husband or her situation or her desperation to have a family that she put up being treated like crap, especially when she is so smart otherwise. Thus, I have been impatient and only watching off and on because I kept saying to myself that I the show was putting me on a sinking cheater ship. However, I just want to know what is the deal with Wang-Seung's dad. It seems his desire to have his song work for him goes beyond the normal "I want my boy in my business" business. Also Ji-Won needs to be gone.
I never liked the husband or her situation or her desperation to have a family that she put up being treated like crap, especially when she is so smart otherwise. Thus, I have been impatient and only watching off and on because I kept saying to myself that I the show was putting me on a sinking cheater ship. However, I just want to know what is the deal with Wang-Seung's dad. It seems his desire to have his song work for him goes beyond the normal "I want my boy in my business" business. Also Ji-Won needs to be gone.
Suspicious Partner
Oh man, Ji Wook has it bad for Bong Hee. I can't wait until he really gets that through his head. And Bong Hee, suddenly afraid that to him, her love was like having a stalker. That is so sad...and her struggle to get over her feelings for him because she doesn't know he's falling for her. I like her so much. I am so afraid of what the introduction of the second lead will do to all of this, but I remain convinced that she never actually cheated on him and just made it look like she did, for some reason - and I remain convinced that the other man is his ex-friend.
I started watching this week, and I'm enjoying this quite a bit. I liked the stalker subplot and her recognition of what it might look like to him even though it was sad because too often in dramas we get this stalker behavior characterized as romantic. We see this all the time and often the people get rewarded--they kidnap, manipulate, and control--which is only romantic when the person is actually attracted to the other but is just creepy otherwise (again see below). I love how he can finally sleep when he is around her--which shows a deeper connection and reaction than just finding her cute.
I started watching this week, and I'm enjoying this quite a bit. I liked the stalker subplot and her recognition of what it might look like to him even though it was sad because too often in dramas we get this stalker behavior characterized as romantic. We see this all the time and often the people get rewarded--they kidnap, manipulate, and control--which is only romantic when the person is actually attracted to the other but is just creepy otherwise (again see below). I love how he can finally sleep when he is around her--which shows a deeper connection and reaction than just finding her cute.
Ruler: Master of the Mask
This is shaping up to be a pretty emotional watch. No shit, Sherlock, right? I mean, Yoo Seung Ho is in this, and if you have Yoo Seung Ho you find reasons to make him cry. That's a K-Drama given, right? I know I've been rhapsodizing about Cutie Sunbae in this for looking hot AF in sageuk hair/clothes when in contemporary attire he's cute but sort of froggy. His behavior and voice can be pretty hot but I wouldn't have said he LOOKED hot in Age of Youth. Now though? Sih-ZUL. The one who is surprising me though is MyungSoo. He's doing pretty well, it seems to me. Not really stiff at all, and that's been my previous observation, that he is always the same level of subdued. Not here, though.
Band of Sisters/Unni is Alive
I dropped this shit. Trauma is fine. I can deal with trauma. Dead kid? Dead groom on his wedding day? Nice guy betrayed by his bitch of a greedy girlfriend? Some other girl I don't even remember having some kind of shit happen to her? I'm fiiiiine with all that. But the mom agreeing with the dad that it's her fault the daughter died, when HE's the one who left the kid alone in a house with a candle burning (to go off with his fucking MISTRESS no less) - no. And a bride who allows her in-laws to scream at her that it's her fault that their son is dead, simply because he chose her as his bride? Threw her out of her own husband's hospital room? And then his funeral? Was going to let them kick her out of the house SHE paid for, until her little sister stepped up and said she wasn't having that shit? No. Melodrama is fine. Stupid is not. Bye-bye, show. I haven't got enough blood pressure medication left on my prescription for your brand of dumbass.
Individualist Ms Ji Yong
I like the actors and I think it's just me but I kept losing interest in episode 1. I will try again sometime, though, because I have to be in a mood for certain shows and maybe this is one of them.
Father is Strange
I so enjoy this show - for the most part, the situations and how people behave in them have some relationship to reality, whether your reality has an Eastern OR a Western slant. From the child 'left behind' to a career woman who's frank about chafing at the constrictions and expectations placed on women, from the daughter in law trying to navigate job expectations and pregnancy to the mother who alienates her family with her snobbish and uninformed behavior - these are real people portrayed with more sensitivity than you might generally see in a weekender, and the stories have heart.
Chicago Typewriter
Ah, this show breaks my heart in all the right ways. I love our fated couple but man, do I love poor Shin Yool, who always loses out. He loves them so much, too, and I think that's why. He's just so sweet, and so loyal. It kills me - and I don't appreciate the show trying to give us hints (for now) that he's not to be trusted in the end. Please don't let it be that, Show.
Man to Man
This show is the best. I love our leads to bits - they're all such good people and they're smart and competent, too, while at the same time being ridiculously silly idiots. The only thing I want that I think I won't get is Un Gwang getting together with Madame Song...and lately I'm not even sure if I want that. I thought she married Evil Song to protect Un Gwang and that she's trapped by her husband into doing things she doesn't want so that she can protect her son - who I assumed was actually going to be Un Gwang's...but now I'm not so sure.
Bad Thief, Good Thief
Caught a brief glimpse of Kim Ji-hoon at the very end of episode 4! There is hope! (that the childhood portion is over sooner than we thought, but I know they sometimes do that to tease the viewers!!).NOT-KOREA
Peach Blossom Hall, A Home for the Hysterical
And still, comment counts are insane. I've fallen behind on writing fanfic because of an insane workload and the incompetence of stupid people, but soon, soooooon my friends, there will be more.
Lucifer
I only skipped through this one. Stunning eyes there, God.I like that actor, he's good looking (I prefer him beardless) and his voice is nice. I was wondering if God would ever show up so I liked the episode, especially because I thought it gave Lucy some peace - but then in the end it made things worse. For the sake of the plot I suppose that's probably the best thing but I was a little sad.
Dr. Qin
I picked this back up and watched a few episodes, so there were two or three cases solved. If they had anything in common, it was family pushed to the breaking point, with tragic results. It seemed fitting, as they're starting to hone in a bit on Dr. Qin's past and the deaths of his parents. We're also seeing our threesome's friendships solidify, and while it's always interesting watching their team work, it's more interesting to me when they have their chats during down time or after solving a case. I like them all, very much.
Sense8
I watched the first two episodes of Season 1. I think the editing probably works pretty well with the premise but it doesn't make it very easy to watch casually. I'll probably continue but it doesn't feel like a must-binge.
Dear White People
This on the other hand, I binged. All 10 episodes of the first season, yesterday. I wasn't that impressed with the first episode but after that I was into it, hook line and sinker. My favorite character is probably Coco, with Lionel a close second and Troy a respectable third. Sam doesn't really impress me at all. Reggie is okay...I like Joelle and respect her choices thus far. The dialogue is forced, at times, but then there are scenes where it is just flowing like water and so enjoyable to watch. Some of the 'types' it skewers, too - 100% on point and also, hilarious. It's a show to think about, at least.
I Love My President Even Though He is a Psycho
I don't know why I started this show. No one I know is watching it, thus it's not like it was recommended to me. It's not even good. Perhaps, I was still too mad on Saturday to really enjoy the dessert I had saved for myself (this week's episodes of Sung Hoon) and I was looking for something I wouldn't be emotionally invested in. In any case, I started and couldn't stop until the subs ran out. I watched 8 episodes of this crazy show which is as crazy as the title suggests! It is a Chinese drama that thinks it's a lakorn. Show opens with a girl who gets kidnapped by a rich guy who thinks three years ago she drugged him, slept with him, and had his child. he wants the kid back. He does have a disorder that has been diagnosed. Somehow though, she ends up falling for him because he actually--despite his horrible treatment of her--is still nicer to her than anyone else in this show. Really, you have to watch to believe it. There are multiple kidnappings, drugging, switched identities, crazy second leads, even crazier parents, birth secrets, bride switching, and guns and through it all the heroine has the most perfect hair and perfect manicure I have ever seen in drama land. If you were missing Cubic and don't want to watch it again, watch this show. But then again, no one but me misses Cubic. I think I kept watching out of curiosity trying to figure out the shows concept but it really doesn't have one.
I thought this was about Trump before I googled it.
I thought this was about Trump before I googled it.
