Rants and Weekly Raves #176 (RAWR)
JoAnne: It's Sunday night and I've been here, mostly alone, all week. Just me in my dark little cave of dramas, squeeing away like a little bat in the night.
kakashi: Are you missing the RED? Look how beautiful I am...
Trotwood: I'm here but barely.
SakiVI: I got sick again. I barely breathed this past weekend. Like literally at times. FYI, everyone, I probably won't be around for the next couple of Rawrs because I'm off to faraway lands. You are getting at least two Tientsin Mystic recaps while I'm away, though.
KOREA
Radio Romance
I do like how this is unfolding. Geu Rim is an optimist with a cheery disposition, not a flat 'Candy', and Soo Ho is clearly unhappy with the persona and life that he's forced to lead, yet wow, is his public smile genuine. Makes me wonder even more about all those idols we see everywhere and how real they can seem. Whatever his grudge or disappointment is about younger Geu Rim, he can't completely forget that he cares for her and it shows in lots of little unconscious ways he can't control. Lee Gang - I think he likes her, too, but I also think that if she demonstrates romantic interest in Soo Ho, Lee Gang will immediately give way. Right now he's just observing - he's probably the only person to actually realize that Soo Ho is interested in Geu Rim outside of Soo Ho himself.
I am enjoying this far more than I expected. She isn't the typical Candy because she does stand up for herself and she isn't angelically good but a fine person. It's bugging me that we do not get to see why Soo Ho resents her as much as he likes her, and I'm not sure how long my sympathy for him will last with him being mean to her. He needs decent people around him besides his one friend since his family and the 2nd lead are clearly vipers just using him and his dad is pretty useless.
I am enjoying this far more than I expected. She isn't the typical Candy because she does stand up for herself and she isn't angelically good but a fine person. It's bugging me that we do not get to see why Soo Ho resents her as much as he likes her, and I'm not sure how long my sympathy for him will last with him being mean to her. He needs decent people around him besides his one friend since his family and the 2nd lead are clearly vipers just using him and his dad is pretty useless.
Cross
I'm not even hearing anyone on TList talking about this...not going to bother.
Laughter in Waikiki (new)
This is the very broadest of comedies and I'm enjoying watching these actors throw themselves into such ridiculous and embarrassing situations so whole-heartedly. Clearly Dong Gu and Yoon Ah will end up a couple, and I think sister Seo Jin might find that Doo Sik is a good mate, too - he's always the most thoughtful when it comes to her. Does this mean Joon Ki ends up with Soo Ah? I can see that; he's rich but more importantly he's straightforward and she's probably nicer than she seems. Of course, it could turn out that none of them are end game, and that would be fine, too. Just keep making me laugh and showing me reaction shots of that adorable baby girl and I'm good.
There are so many actors in this that I like, and the baby is super adorable, but I don't think I can get past how dumb they are for comedy's sake. Has no one taken care of a baby before? I mean has no one even watched a movie with a baby in it?
I was going to watch this, but not now.
It could wear thin, but we'll see. I don't generally like slapstick and this comes very close, so I was surprised that I did enjoy the opening, but enjoy it I did.
Black Knight (finale)
Wow, okay...the ending of this was really sad for me. How about you? Don't get me wrong: I 'like' it from the perspective of storytelling because everything tallies up, but oof. I did say all the way through that hateful as Sharon was, crazy as she was - her life got screwed with, too, and at the bottom of all her actions she was a young woman who loved her husband and lost him to another. That he never should have been hers to begin with and that her reactions were out of proportion, those things would not be relevant for HER; her love was real and her pain was, too, and we have to acknowledge that. Because of it, for me it's somehow fitting that Hae Ra and Soo Ho paid a price for their happiness even to the end, but oh, my heart.
Mother
I have a feeling we'll be returning to more of a thriller-type story next week but I've really enjoyed getting to know our characters in a more leisurely, gentle way the last couple of weeks. It doesn't diminish the terrible things that were done to Yoon Bok but it gave us an opportunity to observe and reflect on all the many kinds of mothers we may meet, and how love doesn't come in a one-size-fits-all package. It also helps us understand why Soo Jin is the way she is, and why she does/will do what she does. I know there are a lot of people who stopped after the first week or didn't start at all for fear of the subject matter, but you may want to reconsider. I don't think this is about the horrors we can inflict, I think this is about the shapes that love takes.
Return
You know, it did seem odd to me that our show is named after a fictional show that we haven't even seen mentioned since the beginning episodes, and I have been wondering what the point of that was. Perhaps that mystery is slightly cleared up by the real life drama of the past couple days. I have no idea where the truth lies but when there's a huge publicity machine gunning for a lone woman, especially when they insist that 'everyone' says she's the villain when nothing in her past indicates bad behavior...well, I'm going to hold off on condemning that woman and assume that if she was being difficult, she had valid reasons to do so.
See, that they are all blacklisting Go Hyun-jung just makes me furious. There are two parties in every fight. Even if she did some wrong, I cannot believe it was all her when, just as Jo said, there's nothing in her past that indicates bad behavior.
As for the show - it's fabulously fun and I hope it doesn't suffer any more than it has already. I would rather they write out her character than replace it, but I suppose we'll have to see what happens. There is only one night's worth of episodes this week, but we cover a lot of ground. That mysterious doctor WAS the brother of the girl who was raped, and now I feel like it must be him screwing with the Freaky Four. The question is whether he was friendly with Mi Jung before she died or not...
I really really really like this show. It makes me sad that such a good show has all this back stage drama going on that distracts from the quality of the set up and the characters. I had to go back to look at the original discussion to remember what Jo was talking about, and there was a whole sense that she did a show because she had some major scandal in her past. That was completely dropped, but what they replaced it with is a whodunnit where I feel like I'm in the X-Files not because there might be aliens but because I literally trust no one. Okay, maybe the cop. So the girl from nine years ago is the doc's sister? "What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" (Scott not Shakespeare)
See, that they are all blacklisting Go Hyun-jung just makes me furious. There are two parties in every fight. Even if she did some wrong, I cannot believe it was all her when, just as Jo said, there's nothing in her past that indicates bad behavior.
I really really really like this show. It makes me sad that such a good show has all this back stage drama going on that distracts from the quality of the set up and the characters. I had to go back to look at the original discussion to remember what Jo was talking about, and there was a whole sense that she did a show because she had some major scandal in her past. That was completely dropped, but what they replaced it with is a whodunnit where I feel like I'm in the X-Files not because there might be aliens but because I literally trust no one. Okay, maybe the cop. So the girl from nine years ago is the doc's sister? "What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" (Scott not Shakespeare)
Hwayugi
Lee Se Young has the best role in this entire drama, I swear. Her transformation from scary zombie to adorable Bu Ja to wanna-punch-her-face Ah Sa Nyeo has been really impressive. See, I pay attention to more than just monkey loving. Son Oh Gong won't let anyone tell Sam Jang that the love bell is really a death bell, and we've got a ring and wedding plans and life should be great - but we've also got a really old shaman for a bitchy second lead and things are looking pretty dire for poor Sam Jang by the end of episode 14. I'd say hurry hurry next week it's more like a week and a half by the time they sub the episodes. I'm watching raw and then filling in with recaps, it's just too long a wait.
Master in the House
This show is a lot of fun - the guys are clearly having a great time with each other and have fantastic chemistry. I'm also enjoying 'meeting' and getting to know something about people who are important to folks in Korea that I might not otherwise hear about or come across on my own. I especially liked this week, with the master being a famous actor from the past. He's very in tune with the emotional resonance of things and our boys are pretty introspective in between contests to freeze their faces off.
Money Flower (complete)
I am just in awe watching Pil Joo's plans come to fruition. Grandpa knows about Boo Cheon and Pil Joo, Mal Ran knows about Pil Joo, Uncle and cousin know about Pil Joo AND Boo Cheon, etc etc. Turns out that quiet housemistress woman who answers to Mal Ran is secretly working for Pil Joo, too. Boo Cheon and Mo Hyun will get a divorce, which is good, but also sad - they really did love each other, and he loves her still.
So that's the result.
Well, no...there are still two more episodes before I finish - two and a half, really.
So that's the result.
Well, no...there are still two more episodes before I finish - two and a half, really.
Misty
Hot damn, this is the ticket. Give me more. I will support Hye Ran in everything she does except she can't keep hurting Tae Wook anymore. You guys love each other! Stop being so proud and FIX THIS. Also, maybe gang up and kill Kevin Lee, who is the asshole to end all assholes.
So wait. Do you think they all ganged up and killed Kevin Lee, because we know he is dead. (I would pay bonus money for that to be the case.) This is delicious but watching them in their happy times didn't make me happy at all because all I could think while watching was that they are so unhappy and estranged now when there was so much love before. The way he looks at her and smiles watching her or even thinking about her makes me want to reach into my screen and rip off his clothes.
He's mine, Trot. (Panda)
I'm busy downloading episodes to watch on the plane.
He's mine, Trot. (Panda)
I'm busy downloading episodes to watch on the plane.
The Unit
All done! Some of the final 9 for each group I felt like I was seeing for the first time ever, but they were all good and there were only a couple people who probably felt like they got robbed. *coughTimoteocough*
Happy Sisters
I love how the bad guys are so clueless about how they are responsible for what they are doing. HoeJo actually feels wronged that the woman she stole her husband from is actually not that unhappy about it, and now that she knows the guy who is clearly falling for this supposedly scorned women in a chaebol is making her really crazy. I'm starting to lose patience for our contract marriage couple. They clearly love each other, but he keeps pushing her away because he doesn't believe in love anymore (that why does he keep forgetting?). It's going to take the 2nd lead in that love story to up his game and make him jealous even though he knows that she loves her husband so much.
I've noticed this in real life too: people who do wrong rarely understand or appreciate that they do wrong. They only understand that what they want, and that their importance, is what is "right' and "moral" and "ethical". Actual ethics means nothing to them.
Also, I loved how in today's episode, Hwayoung notes how stupid Jisup is and that he should be obedient if he couldn't be clever. Pfft. She's an awesome villain.
Also, the actor playing the ex-husband likes to respond to comments on Instagram. Pretty soon he and Saki will be BFFs and he's spoken to me a couple times, too.
I've noticed this in real life too: people who do wrong rarely understand or appreciate that they do wrong. They only understand that what they want, and that their importance, is what is "right' and "moral" and "ethical". Actual ethics means nothing to them.
Also, I loved how in today's episode, Hwayoung notes how stupid Jisup is and that he should be obedient if he couldn't be clever. Pfft. She's an awesome villain.
Also, the actor playing the ex-husband likes to respond to comments on Instagram. Pretty soon he and Saki will be BFFs and he's spoken to me a couple times, too.
NOT-KOREA
See You in Time
I caught up to episode 8, hopefully 9 will be subbed in time for this RAWR (it wasn't) - so far we have minimal screen time with the Twisted and lots of both cute and heartbreaking with the Lovelies. It seems that Evil Bro's hate stems from jealousy - he watched his father kill someone (I think it's Zi Qi's dad?) and kept that secret, and yet Dad still treats foster brother Feng Ying like the better son. Speaking of which, that Dad is awful. He tries to kill Grandpa (who has dementia) because Grandpa knows he's a murderer, and as a result Feng Ying and Zi Qi take him from the nursing home and keep him with Zi Qi's mom. As a result of THAT, the future messages change...and now Feng Ying knows he's going to die and that this is the reason Zi Qi is so sad in all his visions. So...right on the verge of their first date, after 24 hours of them being swooningly happy...he goes cold, stands her up, rats her out to Mom for not working at Aster, and just in general breaks her heart. It doesn't matter that we see how this hurts him and makes him cry alone over and over again...she can't understand it at all, and it's so hard to see them both so sad. I want episode 9 to be the one where he comes clean with her, please. I miss their beautiful smiles.
I might tune in again for more of the Lovelies, but I've no patience for the undeveloped Twisted duo.
For readers not watching, the picture is of the Twisted, not our lovely leads.
Lion Pride
Ah, so it seems Qiang Da and Qiang Wei are connected by a painful incident in their childhood (naturally) - but also, the cram school head is involved in some way? Not necessarily as a bad guy, but he has a number of objects that Qiang Wei recognizes as belonging to her father in the past, and he died when she was a child. I really like Qiang Da's prosecutor friend, he serves as a good foil for Qiang Da's seriousness.
If I can ever have time to catch up, this may be the show that replaces See You in Time even though the guy is no Adonis like Hans Chung.
He for sure is not, but he's still a cutie.
If I can ever have time to catch up, this may be the show that replaces See You in Time even though the guy is no Adonis like Hans Chung.
He for sure is not, but he's still a cutie.
A Seven-Faced Man
The Chinese Kill Me, Heal Me. I thought I could watch this version since the female lead isn't screechy, just loud - but I must not be in the right mood.
It's fine. I watch it with lots of fastforwarding when I want to watch something but don't want to think. The main guy is not Ji Sung, but to be fair, who is? I think he is good in the role, but seems so small in comparison to everyone else except the heroine that I can't believe that he is supposed to ever be badass or to be seen as anything more than a troubled 12 year old.
It's fine. I watch it with lots of fastforwarding when I want to watch something but don't want to think. The main guy is not Ji Sung, but to be fair, who is? I think he is good in the role, but seems so small in comparison to everyone else except the heroine that I can't believe that he is supposed to ever be badass or to be seen as anything more than a troubled 12 year old.
Iron Ladies
Another slickly produced Taiwanese rom-com - this one about 3 successful professional women, long-time friends, who don't have their romantic lives as together as their work lives. First up we focus on Kai-Ting, who never lets anything get in the way of her plan. Until, of course, she has this one really horrible day at work and gets help from a random adorable puppy - Ah Tsan, an artistic young man from the country who suddenly finds himself tangled up in Kai Ting's work crisis. He is adorable beyond words, as is she, and all three women seem quite likable.
Final Cut
Don't know if I will be able to watch this ep 5 before you get this out.
I think I am watching this because main lead is, Kazuya Kamenashi, is mesmerizingly handsome. Police officer chingu is also cute. I don't think I care much about the story.
Ah, Kame. He was in my first Japanese drama (and my second and my third, and then I saw Miura and lost my way for a bit, but oh, what a glorious trip that was) and whenever I see him in anything I want to watch it. So adorable. Watch Nobuta wo Produce.
Episode 5 was excellent! I knew it was too easy blackmailing the members of the crew who had been part of villainizing his mother. He had to know that a major schemer and mass media manipulator like Momose wasn't going to go down so easily, right. I hate him, but I had to applaud his use of the fake news idea to control the way the public would see any of the real news. Do you think the person in hospital is his real wife? We did get trolled with the cliffhanger about the sisters finding him out with the older sister covering for him, but I don't think they are in on the plot. There is definitely something odd with the parents. I heard that this was only going to be 6 episodes, but can they really wrap up everything next week?
I think I am watching this because main lead is, Kazuya Kamenashi, is mesmerizingly handsome. Police officer chingu is also cute. I don't think I care much about the story.
Ah, Kame. He was in my first Japanese drama (and my second and my third, and then I saw Miura and lost my way for a bit, but oh, what a glorious trip that was) and whenever I see him in anything I want to watch it. So adorable. Watch Nobuta wo Produce.
BG: Personal Bodyguard
This is a new Japanese show with only 2 subs out that is making me wish that I had waited until it was completed subbed. There are so many good actors in this, and the guest stars (for what looks like is going to be a case of the week) are also people I love. Takuya Kimura plays a man who used to be a top bodyguard but who now works security because of one mistake. His company decides to start a bodyguard division, and his boss convinces him to try out, knowing how good he once was, but he doesn't tell anyone else. The main actors are Yosuke Eguichi, Takumi Saito (SAITOOOOOOO!!!), Nanao, Yuriko Ishida, and Takaya Kamikawa, and if none of these people excite you, I don't know about your taste in Japanese actors. Kimura is excellent as always. Love how he shows his injuries and age. Finally, someone in a show that actually shows how you really walk after being in a fight.
Saito....I'll wait for subs, but yes.
Saito....I'll wait for subs, but yes.
Memories of You (new)
Finally, the Wallace Chung/Aaron Yan drama! I love Aaron Yarn without reservation but don't really know Wallace Chung - although it's just that I haven't seen him in things. I know he's very popular.I'm a major Wallace Chung fan, and everyone here knows I love Aaron, but I haven't seen it subbed anywhere yet.
Viki had the first couple subbed and I think 7 total posted so far. I watched part of the first episode - it's going to be very pretty and probably quite painful.
Bollywood
kakashi: I've started my Bollywood education! Brought to you by Panda. My first movie: Veer Zaara. So, I basically cried buckets for 2.5 hours (which almost the entire movie). I really enjoyed it. What a touching story and so many lovely, real people. I'm giving it 5 out of 5 stars!Meh, I've always hated Bollywood. I think I only like Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt, and I would never sit through a whole movie with either of them.
I found this to watch, paid my 1.49 to rent it, and then completely forgot about it. I will be watching, though.