Rants and Weekly Raves #157 (RAWR)
Trotwood: There are some new shows coming out this week, correct? I feel like Jo's doing all the heavy lifting here, but I'm so not interested in most of the things on. I think I will check out Temperature of Love, despite the fact that Kim Jae Wook is not (once again) the lead. I think he will be wearing vests sometimes, and this shows that he will not play a villain all the time. What else is coming up this fall?
kakashi: What gave it away, Trot? (That Jo is doing the heavy lifting)
JoAnne: Yes, ToL starts tonight, so it'll be on next week's RAWR because you know I'm not missing out on Lee Jae Wook in a vest, out of a vest, second lead, third walk on, dressed as a woman, killing people with kettle balls, you name it. I'm there for the handsomest professional second lead in Korea.
Man Who Sets the Table
Rakshasa Street
Episode 1 is at 92%. That's good enough for me!!!!! Update: Actually, it dipped back to 62% and I started watching the first episode but didn't get too far. She met her guardian and went to look for Jiro on Rakshasa street, but that's about it.
kakashi: What gave it away, Trot? (That Jo is doing the heavy lifting)
JoAnne: Yes, ToL starts tonight, so it'll be on next week's RAWR because you know I'm not missing out on Lee Jae Wook in a vest, out of a vest, second lead, third walk on, dressed as a woman, killing people with kettle balls, you name it. I'm there for the handsomest professional second lead in Korea.
KOREA
The King Loves
Son of a bitch.
Girls Generation 1979 (New)
This is a show that I assumed was about SNSD going back in time and didn't really intend to watch - not that I have anything against the ladies but I wasn't interested. Then I checked it out - I was wrong on all counts. Not SNSD, not time travel, not uninterested. I've only seen one episode but this is a real charmer full of fabulous set detail and very evocative of that age in my own life, since I was 17 that year. Some things are the same the world over, after all! A group of girlfriends go about their very normal lives, and then a mystery gets their attention. It hasn't happened yet - but I can't wait! Update: Episode 2 done and I love this even more. Still no mystery though, unless you count nailing down exactly how some people are related to each other - and whether Young Choon was the bad kind of gangster or just a rough kid.
Manhole
Bong Pil is the best, and that Hot Pharmacist is just baaaaaad news. I wish all y'all were watching this because it's just a love of a show, but oh well. I get JaeJoong all to myself, I guess.
Save Me
Man, the brakes are definitely off this train. So much going on in and out of Goseunwon, but I just have to ask one question: how come Jo doesn't try harder to figure out what Dong Cheol's deal is, when the boy just somehow happens to be at the center of every thing that happens nowadays?
 |
| It looks like she's patting that sweet face with a glove full of ketchup. This show is dark and twisted, but it's not THAT dark and twisted. |
Strongest Deliveryman
Jung Family Restaurants come hard for our little Restaurant Row family, but at the end of this week they're facing off over an account that means survival for one or the other, but not both. Jin Kyu is working for Strongest Deliveryman, thanks to the encouragement of Ji Yoon. She literally rescued that boy off the streets - they better end up falling in love, because their scenes together are gold - especially at night when she torments him as he's trying to fall asleep. Likewise, Dan Ah has accepted that she loves Kang Soo and feels that seeing him succeed would erase her bad feelings about Korea. Our Lucky Noodle couple is a tiny bit friendlier these days, too, and Dan Ah's roommate the karaoke girl has become much closer with Min Chan, the sweetheart. Things are winding up for the wind down, I guess!
Age of Youth 2
I watched unsubbed because this just isn't a priority for anyone but us, I guess. Can't really give details, therefore, but I do know that Asgard has been broken up and Heimdall is taking it hard, Eun Jae is fully into winning back Sunbae (who is feeling a little traumatized, I think), we're really moving toward the inescapable conclusion that Song either was molested as a child but insisted it was her friend Moon, or that it really was Moon and somehow that traumatized Song to the point of amnesia about it. I go with the former, personally. Oh, and it LOOKS like Go Doo Young is back, but my money is on that one friend with the bald patch terrorizing Ye Eun so she can feel superior to her, somehow, and the other friend seems to be suspicious of that. Ye Eun and her new little friend are making strides together, and they are so sweet to watch. Another sweet couple: Jo Eun and Landlord Pup are adorable, completely adorable. Her dad comes for a visit and somehow doesn't understand why the abandoned daughter might be distressed at the sight of him clutching new daughter's hand. I'm sure there's more to it than that but there's a special place in hell for men who don't do right by one family, and think they have 'another chance' by having a second. Or the men who live wives and children because the girlfriend gets pregnant and 'they will need him.' But anyway. Maybe he fully intended to have a good relationship with her, but Mom interfered. Or Jo Eun is mad and disgusted that he cheated, and has avoided him. Still shouldn't have brought the new daughter, Dad. Bad Form.
Argon
Man Who Sets the Table
Too much take out, this weekend. No one set the table.
Teacher Oh Soo Nam
I'm still watching and Elf Ears is getting meaner and more evil in his path of destructive revenge. I think they needed him to go down this route so a)we can be safe and not have him get back with his ex-wife (a bad drama trend if you ask me), b)the show can redeem Mad-who really shouldn't be since she's responsible for the murder of a child & heartlessly uses the child she abandoned, but whatever, c)show can redeem Chairwoman Yong--even though she is being punished by making her blind, d)and hopefully, we can break all ties with E'f's horrible mother. I think our heroine will find out who she really is this week (about time since we've completed 104 episodes), and hopefully the rest is about the machinations for the real fallout from truth, but you never know.
NOT-KOREA
Mark Your Territory
Fatefully Yours
This is a drama that was released probably 5-6 years ago. A single make-up artist and a single photographer are each looking for someone to settle down with and are both living with a parent in order to take care of them. They keep running into each other under unfavorable circumstances, but neither of them are unlikable people to anyone except each other. The only thing that's truly ridiculous about the show so far is the man's father's 'night blindness'. That doesn't mean you literally go blind every night, Show. Oh well, it's good for a laugh.
CIT: The Weasel's Grave
Poopsy!Attention, Love!
I know, I know, I said I would wait. I couldn't wait! And it was worth breaking my word because...Li Zheng definitely knows what his feelings are for Shao Xi and if she hadn't cock-blocked her own damn self he'd have kissed her and we'd be watching cute courting. Instead, we'll watch cute friendship and semi-hidden pining, together with very obvious jealousy of Dimple. Uh, why was I complaining? There is nothing to complain about except the fact that we don't get more for a whole WEEK.
I keep watching this show even though while I'm watching it I say to myself that I don't like it because the only person I really like in it is Shao Xi, our heroine. I could like Dimple, but I hate his backstory and the fact that they are so obviously setting him up with a female character I cannot stand. And our lead is so painfully . . . What? He is handsome and it's so obvious to us and Dimple that he adores her, but his pushing her to study 24-7 is agonizing to watch and her complete compliance to him--even though she has been set up to be a strong character (literally) is painful to watch. Still, I keep coming back. I hope I get some other dramas to watch soon.
I keep watching this show even though while I'm watching it I say to myself that I don't like it because the only person I really like in it is Shao Xi, our heroine. I could like Dimple, but I hate his backstory and the fact that they are so obviously setting him up with a female character I cannot stand. And our lead is so painfully . . . What? He is handsome and it's so obvious to us and Dimple that he adores her, but his pushing her to study 24-7 is agonizing to watch and her complete compliance to him--even though she has been set up to be a strong character (literally) is painful to watch. Still, I keep coming back. I hope I get some other dramas to watch soon.
Rakshasa Street
Episode 1 is at 92%. That's good enough for me!!!!! Update: Actually, it dipped back to 62% and I started watching the first episode but didn't get too far. She met her guardian and went to look for Jiro on Rakshasa street, but that's about it.Fear the Walking Dead
So the Indians move into the compound and things do NOT get off to a very friendly start, thanks to the ranchers. Then we find out that the acquifer is drying up, which really sets off tempers. Troy ends up doing what we've always expected his psycho ass to do and he ends up getting exiled from the ranch. His last few minutes talking to Madison actually made me feel a little sorry for him, but I'm sure we'll see him again. Madison and Taka head off for some rumored market place where you can buy anything, hoping to find more water. They find Victor, who has pissed off yet ANOTHER group of people, and Madison does her Madison thing and goes rogue to save him. Back at the ranch, Alicia is doing her level best to keep people from killing each other, and we see just how disillusioned she's becoming with her mother. We barely saw zombies this time out, sigh.Midnight, Texas
Everybody wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, supernaturals and humans alike. It's the the Veil affecting the supernaturals, but for the humans, some of them, there's a demon out there looking for a death sacrifice, capitalizing on sadness and depression to gather more souls to him. Manny had tried to leave town because things aren't right with Creek - she blames him for not seeing the terrible secret in her family and warning her - but Dead Granny explains that Midnight has always been his destiny, so he turns back. Just in time! The Veil is cracking! Fiji does black magic and Manny does a gypsy curse and together, they get an answer on how to defeat the demon. However, it LOOKS like Manny is dead, and Fiji loses her shit and decides to go to the demon since he promised not to hurt her friends if she did. We know he's lying, cuz duh - and Manny's not actually dead, that was just how the magic worked. Season finale next week, and I really wish this would come back. No word on that, yet.
The Eternal Love
Ahhh, 8th Prince Cheng is just the cutest thing ever AND he manages to be pretty sexy, too, with his ardent love for Xiao Tan. How can you not give it up for a man who refuses to spend his wedding night with the second consort foisted on him by family, and instead chooses to use that time to reiterate to the first that she will be the only woman ever in his heart or in his bed? Of course, that pretty much guarantees she's going to be the target of jealous plots by concubines and family members who don't like her influence, but oh well. Thirty-minute episodes full of color and action, pretty people...this is a potato-chip drama and very nice for a little snack!
 |
| This is not the adorable 8th Prince, Cheng. This is the very sucky Crown Prince. Is he cosplaying Ice Fantasy? That just makes him even suckier. He wants to be Shi!!! |