Rants and Weekly Raves #160 (RAWR)

Trotwood: It's the quiet before the storm. (HA) I'm hoping that Jo gets Monday off for the holiday because she is going to need it since NINE new shows are popping up next week. I'm already resigned that I will barely be able to watch any of them and will enjoy the relative calmness of this week's RAWR. 
JoAnne: That would be a resounding 'nope.' I'll be at work on Monday, missing the Columbus Day Parade in Westerly, stressing over my viewing schedule to come.  
SakiVI: I've been busy with mom and her obsession with Baba Candir, the Turkish version of What Happens to My Family, and catching up on work post-flu. But, I still made time for my dailies and one or two regular shows.

KOREA

Age of Youth 2

Well, now we understand why Ji Won is Ji Won, I guess. I hope she avenges Hyo Jin, her lost friend. And yay for Tall/Small getting together! I have loved General Jo throughout this season and I ship her and the Tiniest Puppy to the moon and back. I cringed watching Eun Jae plead with Sunbae, but I have to admit that I was surprised by the resolution of this - I honestly thought we'd find out there'd been a misunderstanding and that he was only being standoffish because she hurt him when they broke up. But no, sadly...he really did lose interest in her. Sigh.

 

Temperature of Love 

I can't recall a show where I have had such love for one group and such complete let's get out the slapping suits for another that did not involve some sort of corporate intrigue/birth secret/false imprisonment/revenge plot. It's almost like some writers are in charge of some characters and other writers are in charge of others. Any time you can make it so I feel no sympathy at all for a woman that was physically abused by her husband in the past should be a warning. I hate Jung Sun's mother. I want to cut her out of my screen, and the only saving grace is that I hate fake friend/everything should be about me Hong-Ah even more. It makes me sad that I can't like more women in this show when there are so many male characters that I like--especially all the puppies (cough) staff at Good Soup.   
I can't understand how Jung Sun's mother could go from that downtrodden mouse to THIS. It's not just that she's gaudy and flashy, not just that she treats herself as a commodity and men as a market - it's the fits of temper with her son and her complete disregard for his feelings; it feels like this is who she always was, somehow. Was there more to the story of her and her husband? There had to be. And Hong Ah...she still puzzles me because she is open about her behavior, many people close to her recognize her faults - and yet they still care about her. Not in a blind way, either. So what aren't we seeing there? God help me, next week's awful behavior had better be her worst and immediately followed by a climb out of that pit because I will hold her down while Trot beats her to death with a cake pan, otherwise. But yeah - apart from those two, I love everyone else to bits and this show has a feel and a tone that I thoroughly enjoy.
Okay. But with a cheap cake pan. She's not worth the good stuff.
I'm worried a cheap pan won't be heavy enough to get the job done, though.

 

Girls Generation 1979 (finale) 

On almost every count, I give this an A plus. I'm just not sure about the resolution of Hye Joo and Young Choon's love story - not sure how I feel about her going off with him like that. I hope it works out, but my middle-aged self doesn't have much hope for that.

While You Were Sleeping

This show was a winner for me right out of the gate. I like the way it looks, the way it sounds, the way it feels. I am charmed by our leads and their loved ones and I like the idea of similar but not identical dreams. A LOT. Please let them not pay dearly for preventing atrocities, our three adorable dreaming dragons: Hong Joo, Jae Chan, and Woo Tak, the cutest cop in existence. May their friendship bloom and their families prosper, and may they bring down the hateful Yeo Bum permanently. Amen.
I'm almost ready to make a glitter poster for Cute Cop Woo Tak. I was really nervous during this week's eps. What's with the differing dreams? Since Hong Joo and Jae chan are connected by that rogue soldier who killed both their dads, do you think Woo Tak is connected to that incident, too? Yeo Bum needs to punishment or at least switch dramas and date Hong Ah from Temperature of Love.

Teacher Oh Soo Nam

Evil Elf gets more and more evil--really rubbing in the death of Mad's long lost mom into her face by not only forcing her to see the dead body but also giving her the diary where her mom repeatedly wrote her name over and over. It could be seen as allowing her to get over her resentment of being abandoned, but we all know he's just doing this to take over company and get her fugitive dad's money. I know that he was just acting when he was trying to convince Soo Nam to get back with him because he wants the property, but I also wonder if there is a part of him that truly wants her back and is bothered that she is getting remarried. Fav character is main lead's best friend even though I know she will not get the guy. Comic relief people never get love in these shows. Note: I didn't mention about cliffhanger of dad falling off building. Just don't care if he's alive or dead so not really a cliffhanger. What Trot said. And, I've always felt sorry for Mad -she's an incompetent villain - but I have to say, I'm now a fan of the actress, Han Sooyeon. She acts beautifully, and she runs in heels (I can barely wobble) on linoleum floor and generally has to work far harder than anyone else in this show with all her screaming and falling down and running et cetera. 

Geum Bora, on the other hand, can take a hike.  I am absolutely sick of her and that annoying voice of hers.  Get the whine out of it, and maybe I'll reconsider. 

Sweet Enemy

We have more reveals which worries me since there are still so many episodes left. Everyone finds out about Madame Cha's part in Dal Nim's dad's death and finally our cute Chef has enough with Ruby's snobbery and nastiness to Dal Nim that he tells her that her husband was Dal Nim's fiance first. She's shocked, but I'm rubbing my hand with glee because this means that she will find out soon that Dal Nim had been pregnant with their baby before she went to prison, especially since he's been putting off her seduction schemes so she can get pregnant. Still, what I'm not understanding is how no matter how bad Se Na gets, Sun Ho's mother accepts that this illegal and immoral behavior is okay because it just proves how much she is devoted to her son. Crazy.
I see it this way: apparently, butchers are the lowest professionals in Korean society, so it's a case of anything to keep their precious nephew and son away from a butcher who they think killed his first fiancee.  It's such a good show, this one. Every episode is interesting. Also, these lines from today were hilarious:

NOT-KOREA

Marking Time

Hubba, Hubba

Attention, Love!

Every week I laugh harder than I should because now I watch this with the view that Li Zheng will eventually go rogue and kill a bunch of people. I know he won't, and I think the psycho tint to his behavior is entirely unintentional, but once you see it...you can't unsee it. Thank God Dimple is just purely joyful and open and direct with his love!

Lucifer Season 3 

Oooooh, Lucy is back! And so are his WINGS, but now his devil face is gone? Does this mean his good deeds of the earlier seasons have restored this fallen angel to his former grace? Who is the Sinner Man? Is he the new guardian of hell?
I'm so "should I really?" with this show! But I quite liked the first episode, well, all things considering, which include bad cases and not always good dialogue. But I chuckled at least 4 times, so I'll keep watching.

The Gifted (new)

XMen universe but a Heros kind of a feel, I suppose mostly because the cop Dad who rounds up the mutants turns out to have two mutant kids and thus has to change his alliance. I liked the opening episode - good conflict, likable family, plus that whole underground railroad organization for the mutants was pretty cool. Against the backdrop of the increasingly intolerant and combative society I find my country revealing, maybe it will end up being too depressing, this struggle - but for now I'm in.

Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (new) 

Jason Ritter is reliably charming and I like this mash up. It's basically Joan of Arcadia Gets Touched by an Angel. I never really watched the latter, an episode here or there - but I loved Joan of Arcadia, I like Jason Ritter, and it's good to feast my eyes on Central Texas again, so I'm in.

Ten Days in the Valley (new) 

I always enjoy watching Kyra Sedgewick but I'm not sure about this one. If I don't watch it won't be a fault of the show, which is a quality production through and through - it will that the anxiety of watching a mother search for her child will be too stressful for me, especially when it is clear from the beginning that it's several of Mom's decisions to blame. So for me it would the anxiety of a missing child, my anger at the poor mothering, and my guilt for wanting to shame the mom for a couple of those decisions which any one of us, including me, might have made.

Fear of the Walking Dead 

Wow. There is basically no one left of the ranch now, except for Troy. Nick has kept the truth of that zombie horde (and Jake's death) from everyone. Madison's plan is for them all to head off to the Reservoir, but Alicia makes a break with her mother's way of thinking and intends to go off alone to that cabin that Jake told her about and try her own way of surviving. She leaves, and Madison sends Nick and Troy to follow at a distance and keep an eye out for Alicia while she, Ofelia, Taka, and Victor head to the Reservoir - where, I presume, Madison will once again convince herself that it's in everyone's best interests for her to barge in and take over. I mean...I get her, and in the moment she seems reasonable, but when you step back and look? She is a destructive woman.

The Exorcist

This is a standalone story from last year's, but the thread of last year's Church infiltration is still playing a part so I think I need to finish Season 1. Season 2 isn't wasting any time at all, though. Something is targeting John Cho's foster kids already, and I'm terrified for what that blind kid's eyes are going to look like if he ever takes off his shades.

Limitless

I finished Season 1, the only season that exists or may ever exist, and I enjoyed it a lot. I liked how the writers kept making me think one thing would happen, within various relationships, but then every time, they'd veer away. I thought Brian and Jennifer would fall for each other, but no - they're genuinely friends. I thought Sands would gradually become a frenemy and that eventually they'd unite against Morro but no, Sands goes darker and Morro might be semi-okay. I thought Piper would die, but she's still alive. I liked the cases and the McGyverish-ness of it, I liked when they did homages to things like Ferris Beuller's Day Off. It was an enjoyable show, and I wish there would be more of it.

Outlander

I'm not sure what got into me, but I started watching this show. I skip a lot of it, and I don't like the heroine, and the hero is a bit meh, and, I think I'm just curious about the black doctor in S3 now.  Also, I really liked Geillis from season 1, and was sad that they didn't get into how she was saved from being burned as a witch and didn't bring her in as a villainess at all later. And in S3, Geillis reappears prior to her own time travel. Yes, I think I would like a show about Geillis.
Ah, Outlander. I did watch and enjoy Season 1, but after that, I quickly lost interest.