Rants and Weekly Raves #162 (RAWR)
kakashi: I wonder whether I am entering a less stressful time going forward? I would appreciate it.
JoAnne: It would be nice! Hope all is well?
Trotwood: I feel like I'm embroiled in a microcosm of the political and social strife on the planet at the moment. The plethora of dramas is a much needed respite. I'm struggling to keep up, but I'm not complaining. I'll take any distraction I can get.
I haven't quite finished the episode but this guy needs to be a regular. I like him a lot.
JoAnne: It would be nice! Hope all is well?
Trotwood: I feel like I'm embroiled in a microcosm of the political and social strife on the planet at the moment. The plethora of dramas is a much needed respite. I'm struggling to keep up, but I'm not complaining. I'll take any distraction I can get.
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| Seriously, how beautiful is this man? |
KOREA
Temperature of Love
No kettle balls for Kim Jae Wook this past week, but I can't help think he's building toward that. First of all, he knows the situation and not only is he still planning to propose to Hyun Soo but he's still going to have Jung Sun prepare the event? This guy is looking to set off a bomb. And then on top of that, I'm not sure what he has in mind with Hong Ah. The man has been the epitome of rational, calm thought*, and maybe this is just him doing smart business...but I don't know. In short, I'm anxious.
*possible exception: his idea that Hyun Soo will just magically agree to marry him, but then again, stranger things have happened in the world.
I'm pretty scared. On the one hand, he's so SEXY, and there is a part of me that wants the show to be about the torrid affair that he wants to have with Jung Sun not Hyun Soo. Because I hate Hong Ah, I want him to channel all his unhappiness and disappointment on crushing her arrogant self. I don't understand why he puts up with her. She won a writing prize. So what? He probably could get any number of people who won prizes and any number of people to write scripts for him. I'm also surprised that Jung Sun's mom was fine with Hyun Soo since she didn't like her before. That was too easy.
I'm pretty scared. On the one hand, he's so SEXY, and there is a part of me that wants the show to be about the torrid affair that he wants to have with Jung Sun not Hyun Soo. Because I hate Hong Ah, I want him to channel all his unhappiness and disappointment on crushing her arrogant self. I don't understand why he puts up with her. She won a writing prize. So what? He probably could get any number of people who won prizes and any number of people to write scripts for him. I'm also surprised that Jung Sun's mom was fine with Hyun Soo since she didn't like her before. That was too easy.
20th Century Boy and Girl
This makes me the opposite of anxious, even with the twist that Ji Won's stepbrother is the famed Anthony, Sa Jin Jin favorite celebrity. Gong Ji Won and Sa Jin Jin will be together, and families will still be fine, and friendships will still be fine, and all will be well, because this is that kind of show. The angst in this show, what there is of angst, is realistic in scale and very natural. I look forward to this very much.
I want to watch but have given up, so I just read recaps which are just like fanfiction and anti angst.
I want to watch but have given up, so I just read recaps which are just like fanfiction and anti angst.
Witch's Courtroom
Second week better than the first, for me. Our heroine has fewer bratty moments and Cutie Soo is just the most adorable thing ever anyway and I like that whole Girl Crime unit, and the actors playing those characters, very much.
I liked this week better than the first, and I'm glad that they didn't have her traumatic experience completely change her into a more traditional heroine (of which I was afraid). I think Cutie Soo is fairly adorable, too, and this almost makes up for the fact that they have made him too good to me. I, too, like the cast a lot, especially Min Ji Sook. I like this actress, and she's always good even in dramas I don't like.
Question: Is Jin-wook's apartment like the Tardis--bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? How is it possible that his apartment is remotely near hers? It's huge.
Yeah, that's crazy. Is hers like that too? How can she afford that? Why would you go up an extra floor to walk down a flight of stairs into your apartment?
I liked this week better than the first, and I'm glad that they didn't have her traumatic experience completely change her into a more traditional heroine (of which I was afraid). I think Cutie Soo is fairly adorable, too, and this almost makes up for the fact that they have made him too good to me. I, too, like the cast a lot, especially Min Ji Sook. I like this actress, and she's always good even in dramas I don't like.
Question: Is Jin-wook's apartment like the Tardis--bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? How is it possible that his apartment is remotely near hers? It's huge.
Yeah, that's crazy. Is hers like that too? How can she afford that? Why would you go up an extra floor to walk down a flight of stairs into your apartment?
This Life is Our First
It may sound weird, but this decision of theirs to get married makes such sense to me. It shouldn't, but it does. Consider their families. Her father is so hateful that I feel like the actor has to scrub himself every night to get the foul feeling off of him for playing such an awful person. She could keep be treated like crap by him and her co-workers (who just want her to "get over" an attempted rape), or she can live with a person who actually respects her, listens to her, and admires her habits and behavior not the other way round. What concerns me is that his parents will probably want a child very soon. Is his dad going to divorce his mom if he doesn't produce offspring?
It makes sense to me if we assume they're both just thinking of it as convenience and improving their current situations. I can see him assuming a life without sex would be fine, but I have a harder time on that with her simply because they don't make her as much of a reserved person as he is. I do like this very much, and I especially like how they connected with each other right from the start.
It makes sense to me if we assume they're both just thinking of it as convenience and improving their current situations. I can see him assuming a life without sex would be fine, but I have a harder time on that with her simply because they don't make her as much of a reserved person as he is. I do like this very much, and I especially like how they connected with each other right from the start.
Mad Dog
Feels like this is settling in. Min Joon IS angry with the Mad Dog group, but I think he's angry because there's a deeper crime than what they've been pursuing and he's frustrated that they hadn't picked up on that. Plus, he may think Kang Woo is covering a bit for Taeyang Insurance? THAT guy is crooked as they come, for sure. I'm not sure how much his daughter knows, but I think she knows something - enough that her guilt over Kang Woo's family being on that plane might be more than just 'oh dear.' Then again, HE was supposed to be on that plane too, and she's clearly in love, been in love, even before his family died. I'm enjoying Choi Won Young's portrayal of Hyun Ki - that man is hilariously awful, and far more dangerous than anyone realizes.
P.S. OMG Woo Do Hwan's body. Best shower scene in years.
Every time I watch this show, I fall in love with Yoo Ji Tae a little bit more--like "please marry me tomorrow" little bit more. I get that Min Joon is angry--he plays seething quite well--but I'm getting tired of his "guess why I hate you" bit. There is clearly much more going on than they think. If he is so smart, he should just keep doing what he's been doing. If he needs them to do some of the work, than he shouldn't be so smug about it. I don't find Hyun Ki hilarious at all. He's scary and dangerous. I don't get why Hong Joo doesn't rat out his creepy behavior to her to her father unless he has some secret against her.
Every time I watch this show, I fall in love with Yoo Ji Tae a little bit more--like "please marry me tomorrow" little bit more. I get that Min Joon is angry--he plays seething quite well--but I'm getting tired of his "guess why I hate you" bit. There is clearly much more going on than they think. If he is so smart, he should just keep doing what he's been doing. If he needs them to do some of the work, than he shouldn't be so smug about it. I don't find Hyun Ki hilarious at all. He's scary and dangerous. I don't get why Hong Joo doesn't rat out his creepy behavior to her to her father unless he has some secret against her.
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| There is a special place in heaven for Kakashi, simply because of this pic |
While You Were Sleeping
Woo Tak, please don't break our hearts. It couldn't possibly go that way. There's no way. Love this show - I like the mystery, I like the crime solving, I like the friendships and families and humor and romance and jealousy, all of it.
It's been established here and on my twitter feed that Woo Tak is everyone's favorite in the show. I want this team to find out this mystery together. My biggest fear isn't that Woo Tak is going to have an unredeemable dark side and this breaks up our mystery solving/crime solving/ trio. I want them all to keep working together, including side-kick cop, the brother, and the mother.
If that's not your biggest fear, what is?
Damn typo! It is my biggest fear. IT IS!
It's been established here and on my twitter feed that Woo Tak is everyone's favorite in the show. I want this team to find out this mystery together. My biggest fear isn't that Woo Tak is going to have an unredeemable dark side and this breaks up our mystery solving/crime solving/ trio. I want them all to keep working together, including side-kick cop, the brother, and the mother.
If that's not your biggest fear, what is?
Damn typo! It is my biggest fear. IT IS!
Buam Dong Revenge Club
Subs are sloooooooooooooooooow. I've only been able to watch two episodes. I liked the first one, and loved the 2nd. I'm liking the idea that the stepson wants revenge. I love the vulnerability of the women, especially Jyun Hae, who clearly has been starved for a real friend for years. Her drunken need for "unnie" was completel adorable.
Yes, subs are sloooooooooooooooow but damn, by the end of episode 2 I was thoroughly in love with all 3 women AND with the new son. This will be worth the wait, so I may complain a bit but I'll never give it up.
Yes, subs are sloooooooooooooooow but damn, by the end of episode 2 I was thoroughly in love with all 3 women AND with the new son. This will be worth the wait, so I may complain a bit but I'll never give it up.
Go Back Spouses
I am wondering if the show is making a misstep in these early episodes. These two were SO miserable together, and why, really? The writer tries to play it off like they got married so young while their friends were having fun and it's just the sheer drudgery and difficulty of struggling careers and being isolated at home with an infant, but come on - they are THIRTY-EIGHT. The only problem they have is that they didn't talk to each other and I don't have a lot of patience with that. Now that they're back in the past, my problem is this: I like them both so much better when they're not together! I'm also wondering when he's going to give more than a passing misty eye to the thought of his son, truthfully. That absence weighs far more heavily on Jang Na Ra, but it could just be a question of timing in the plot because it's not like he's not showing emotion/regret about other things. He's not a bad man at all. So I guess we'll see...but in the meantime, I really like the second leads and if the show spends much more time without showing why they're unsuitable, there's going to be a problem.
In my little bit of time I had to watch, I watched enough to agree with everything you said and decide to drop it. Cue show, but I already like them SO MUCh better single that the thought of them getting back together makes me unhappy for them and their now non-existent son. I also like the 2nd leads a lot. Don't have time for sinking ships.
In my little bit of time I had to watch, I watched enough to agree with everything you said and decide to drop it. Cue show, but I already like them SO MUCh better single that the thought of them getting back together makes me unhappy for them and their now non-existent son. I also like the 2nd leads a lot. Don't have time for sinking ships.
The Package
This is fine, really. The settings are great and the individual stories are okay and our leads are charming, and I liked the twist that Yoon Park is her brother, actually...but I absolutely do not have emotion invested in this, for some reason.
Black
Okay, now we're talking. Black throws a LOT at you and to be honest, Reaper World is confusing - why are they in an amusement park? And that's not the only thing - why is 'Joonie Oppa' also known as Han Moo Gang? He knew Lee El was the girl he saw as a kid all along, right? Or did he just figure that out? Did she always know they knew each other as kids? It's a little work keeping stories straight, but I'm in. (Reaper is looking for partner, but there's also the mystery of who randomly wanted someone as innocuous as Moo Gang dead, and then there's Royeol Insurance, too. Are they connected? Who knows.) I like this. I am quite happy with our handsome one's work here - Moo Gang is bumbling and lovable, Black is cold and hilariously out of step as a Reaper trying to pass for human, and yet...there are moments when he manages to pass. Give credit where it's due! Our Hand Towel is working it. My heart breaks for Hyeri's traumatized girl, too, afraid that anything she does will hurt people she loves, terrified of what she'll see around the corner. I'd be a drooling idiot in the corner, probably.
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| HE DOES NOT WEAR A FILMY CAPE |
Revolutionary Love
I suppose now that we're at the point where Hyuk is realizing how much his thoughtless 'accidents' hurt other people, ones with fewer resources than are available to him, this will grow on me? Because right now I'm just not really feeling it despite my love for our main three as actors. I don't dislike it, it just feels old. If it were in less capable or charming hands than Siwon, Gong Myung, and Kang So Ra, I'd probably walk away without a second look.
Sweet Enemy
I'm dropping this show for a bit because I am so angry at it. I was coming to some resignation that the 2nd lead was going to play noble idiocy concerning Dal Nim's mother and his feelings. They were setting her up to move slowly toward the lead emotionally. However, instead of building in the healing process, so the fans would be able to adjust, they have blatantly fed the pain of Chef's heartbreak. Look at this face!!! The keep giving him closeups and longing music and making us watch him watch her and be such a great support network! How could you that to such dimples?
If this weren't enough, they have now thrown in a rescue and more clarity of Dal Nim starting to fall for him, too, which all seems to merely be a ploy to force his stepmother to tell her that she is Dal Nim's birth mother. Pfft.
Teacher Oh Soo Nam
Finally, the Cheekos show is over, and I can't believe I made it through 129 episodes. okay. i didn't start at the beginning, but I did watch 100 episodes! Cheekos was cute until the end and a bunch of people got what they deserved, and some got more (I'm still not liking the Yuna/Ungil pairing). But I can't stand the white truck of doom in this that did not see Mad fight in the middle of the road despite the fact that no one and no other car was around for miles and thus couldn't brake in time. Please show, try something more realistic. And what is with keeping her death from Cheekos even up to a year later? when are they planning to tell him? Still, I got my minions at the wedding and got to see them help solve the crime. They deserve a shout out.
NOT-KOREA
Mark of Distinction
Let me be your chair, Mark.
Lucifer
Are they trying new things? This episode was different. I like the Maze focus, but it was a bit weird because quite unusual. I like the new guy she's going to fall in love with a lot though.I haven't quite finished the episode but this guy needs to be a regular. I like him a lot.
The Good Place
Sometimes I think Janet is my favorite character in this show. I love them all, though. It must be so much FUN to be those actors.
The Exorcist
Oh, wow. I did NOT expect that twist with Grace. Not at all. I thought they were headed toward her being possessed. Daaaaaaamn.
Fear the Walking Dead
Season ended with a big cliffhanger: will Nick survive? God, I hope so. Not sure I would want to watch without him. Besides, Troy died, and Ofelia is dead, and will Daniel survive? Nick needs to live.