Rants and Weekly Raves #182 (RAWR)

Trotwood: This week sees a bunch of finales, for which I am grateful because I don't think I could keep up with this rate of drama watching. From what I'm hearing and feeling there is a wide range of feelings about these endings: love, bewilderment, detachment, and rage. But we are talking about dramas here. There's always a lot of rage at endings. "God's Gift: 14 Days," anyone?
SakiVI: As I was saying last night on social media, one reason I have been feeling reluctant to start kdramas this new cycle is because of the annoying way the characters never speak up.  They just let whoever else rant at them and I feel so frustrated. Also, I am still sick. So annoying for me.  But a lot of tv does get watched!
kakashi: Hey, wazzup! Can't believe a week has passed?! Anyhow, darlings, we're fast approaching 12 Million page views! 
Woooohooooo!!!
Panda: woooooot! I'm off sightseeing my soon-to-be new home (hi Neighbor Kynkari!). I dropped Misty and I second everything Trot said about Repeat and Unnatural. I soo want s2 of Unnatural where Nakkado-san can start healing in a certain person's way 😁😁❤
JoAnne: Please, Drama Gods, will I be allowed to sleep in April?

KOREA

Radio Romance (Finale) 

Despite some weirdness (that Jason character was alllllllll over the place, and more than one side character just *poof* disappeared)  this was a solid little story about a strong woman going about her life and a guy growing himself up so he could be worthy of her. I really, really liked both Geu Rim and Soo Ho, both together and apart...but especially together!

I loved Soo Ho, and I'm glad he is happy. I will try not to think about the fact that, once again, we have a wonderful best friend of the/a lead paired up with a spoiled woman-child that does not deserve him (cue My Secret Romance and Temperature of Love--both of which made me want to flip tables) at least in this (as opposed to the other ones) Tae Ri seemed to at least be a bit sorry for her behavior.

Laughter in Waikiki 

This show just consistently makes me giggle, hard. There's warmth in the humor, which is a necessary thing, and I appreciate the actors willingness to make fools of themselves in new situations every week. Some of it was gross initially but they seem to moved away from that and now it's just silly - a welcome bright spot in the week. They're the kind of people you see and mutter 'fools' but you're grinning as you shake your head. I'm interested to see what Handsome Stranger will do now that Dong Gu has stirred his competitive spirit.

This show is funny and makes me laugh, but I LIVE to see Sol.  Why does she always have on a hat, though? 

Should We Kiss First? 

Moo han's secret is starting to get around, it won't be long before Soon Jin finds out that he's only got a little while left - even if it weren't just a few weeks left, I mean. He's even collapsed on their honeymoon, though I'm betting this isn't the thing that prompts him to come clean. It does seem like she now remembers their actual first meeting, and oof - he did the ads for the bakery that somehow caused her daughter to die...he's not responsible and doesn't want to meet with her, and that may be true but he was very mean about it. This will be difficult to get through.

In other news, his bratty daughter is starting to learn some important lessons about how we are supposed to treat other people, and I really like that tall puppy she's crushing on a LOT. Much sadder is the situation with Moo Han's and Soon Jin's married friends, who got all excited that she might be having a baby only to find out that she's entering menopause. I like them, and I'm hoping that this is the thing that finally makes her stop TRYING so hard to be a match to her husband - he adores her exactly as she is, and she needs to just relax and enjoy it. 

The Great Seducer 

It feels like maybe Kwon Shi Hyun is NOWHERE near the level of manipulator Soo Ji is.  He's a big ol' softie and he started caving pretty much immediately. I wonder if this means that the majority of the show is going to be a battle between him and Soo Ji?

Return (Finale)

Satisfying.  Very, very sad.

And yes, I feel like we have to start from the beginning. This show started out with crazy both on and off the screen, but despite it all it maintained a consistent tone throughout until the end. WIth all the drama going on, there was obviously a clear need to redirect, but the redirection though jarring did not seem completely inconsistent with what went on before. There was no way this was going to be happy when the set up was based on the hit and run of a small child who was then dumped off the side of a cliff and another child falsely accused for this. We had such vile people in this show but so many people scarred and sad. I enjoyed it; I'm not ashamed to say that I admired the revenge. I'm glad that Na Ra and Tae Suk's wife got out of those marriages even before the end. As Jo said, this end was very very satisfying.

Mystery Queen 

I really love our two leads and wish that we just spent time with them. I don't understand why we spend so much time with the friend and on her time in class pretending to laugh at the lame jokes of the genius pathologist. It was a funny gag, but wears out its welcome because they stay on it too long. Frankly, I'd rather spend more time on Wan Seung and his brother--such an adorable relationship, by the way (because Kim Tae Woo is adorable)--than on that, especially since there is something shady about his arrest and I bet it has to do with our creepy blackmailing baker who may have a stalker-like interest in our cop.  I am glad that we've worked in two side characters from her study world into this new story, but I hate the way the solve a mystery in the middle of an episode rather than at the end or have a genuine cliffhanger; the pacing seems off. But then I could watch Wan Seung try to figure out ways to be with Seol Ok all day.

That is weird - the crime solving pacing - but I'm enjoying the actual crimes and mostly Wan Seung and Seol Ok, so it's not the end of the world for me. That weird baker lady, I just assume she's Secretary Kim and like you, I think she's after Wan Seung in a stalker-y way. The pace of the little reveals of her weirdness is picking up so maybe soon they'll pay some real attention to it.

My Ahjussi (New) 

Feels very indie, in the way that Misaeng and Grapevine did. I was sort of half-watching, not really engaged, liking it but not loving it - and then something happened that showed me that IU's character is not at all what I assumed she was, and now I'm interested. There is, as always, the potential for great disappointment - but let's hope she continues to be the subversive little fighter she shows herself to be right now.

Misty (Finale) 

What the ever-loving fuck.  You just couldn't let Hye Ran go peacefully, eh?  Fine, it's Tae Wook.  We sort of half-suspected all along.  But then he fucking KILLS himself?  After Prison Oppa voluntarily gets himself sentenced to death for Hye Ran's happiness once AGAIN?  I loved her, don't get me wrong - but I don't see what it is about her that made her worth throwing away one's OWN life so she could have hers.

This is just cruel, Kakashi

Well, let's be clear - Tae Wook kills himself because he's no longer perfect in her eyes.  I feel a lot less sympathy for him than I thought I might, although he certainly suffered plenty in the years with Hye Ran, but he should have done differently.  He didn't intend to kill the asshole, and keeping silent was his real crime.  Ha Myung Woo, though - our sweet, murderous Prison Oppa - he broke my heart.  He threw away his life at 18, spent the next 19 years not regretting one minute of it, and then threw away the REST of his life without a moment's hesitation, because he loved Hye Ran and wanted her to have a good life.  With no expectation to be loved in return, I might add.  That broke my heart, honestly. 

And what do we end up with, in the end? Not what Myung Woo wanted, for sure.  Hye Ran, who committed the great sin of being ambitious and inspiring men to love her, ends up miserable and alone, suffering probably MORE for the crimes she did not commit because she feels the weight of guilt for those crimes AND the ruined lives of the men who committed them for her. 

And for WHAT?  Fucking Kevin LEE?  I would have happily killed that asshole myself just because he existed, that walking anal wart of a man. (That delicious skin was SO DECEITFUL.)  They should have gotten medals for that.  Eun Joo should have taken out billboards thanking Tae Wook for his service.  Goddammit, I'm pissed. 

Don't get me wrong, the ending is as stylish and watchable as every other bit of the show and it has a direct connection to behavior shown through-out, but I DO NOT LIKE IT and I am unhappy.  It makes the story into 'Go Hye Ran was fucked from the day she was born and no matter how hard she worked, she stayed fucked.  No matter who loved her and what they sacrificed for her, no matter what she herself sacrificed, Go Hye Ran was born to be unhappy, so unhappy she will be.'  I don't want stories like that.  *shakes fist at drama sky and curses*

Okay, I was laughing at all the rage tweets about this finale. I'm on episode 8 and might continue for a bit, but I don't think I will finish it. It's draggy already. I'm not saying I don't like it, but I'm saying my time is precious and I don't want to spend precious time on something that will make me rage in the end.  

Children of a Lesser God 

Are there more subs? I've only seen the one episode still.

I haven't been looking...I'll just leave this off until we start hearing about it again.

Grand Prince 

Clearly none of us are watching this, even for a jacked Yoon Si Yoon.  Pick better leading ladies, baby boy.  We love you but it can only go so far.

Marry Me Now? 

Urgh, our female lead is such a victim. I hate her, and she's the heroine. I'll give episode 4 a chance, but if she doesn't expose her husband as a liar and the one who is infertile and who insisted she get artificial insemination in the first place, I'm dropping the show. It's horrible enough watching her deer-in-the-headlights face without seeing her character's character assassinated for some man's ego.
Update on Ep4: Yes, she took being called an adulteress. She is an idiot. I want to punch her in the face. I also want to punch her unni in the face because that unni was all verbally abusive to her too, telling the heroine she shouldn't have come home and made their dad sad about her bad marriage but the unni was all scared in front of the heroine's evil chaebol sister-in-law same as the heroine was.  Unni even begged on her knees. So, scared people all around with no sense of dignity or self-respect. Urgh.  

I've only seen the first two episodes, so I saw her living the consequences of the choice she made when she married him and her decision to go along with him to hide his infertility, and then I saw her reaching the point where she could no longer comply with his (horrible) family's rules, and then leave. I don't know why she's not opening her mouth to her family but it's probably her pride. I don't see her as a victim at all, in other words.  In any event, her husband and his family are my least favorite parts of the show (are in fact not any kind of favorite) but there are plenty of other people to watch and I'm entertained by them, so I'll keep on at least for a bit. It does seem like Kakashi's Kim Ji Hoon might have a better weekender going, so if it comes to having to make a choice, I'll go with that one.

Happy Sisters 

Our favorite Shoujo manga loving ex-con with a heart of gold revealed that HoeJo was faking her pregnancy and thus faked her miscarriage story (she threw herself down the stairs). He did this completely out of love and hoping that he can save her from herself despite knowing that she was behind the hit and run that put him in the hospital. Sheesh.This guy deserves a happy ending. The MIL's finally realize that YE's mom is working as our hero's live in housekeeper but our OTP don't know this. We have another great head butt by YE's mom (this will never get old), and hopefully this is the last we will see of the songwriter's rat-faced manager. We really don't need another manipulative woman in this. She was a gnat compared to HoeJo, so her machinations were not interesting at all. 

What Trot said.  

109 Things (Complete)

This is a little webcast that popped up on DramaFever; 6 10-minute episodes starrting Choi Tae Joon as a robot come from the future to save a college student.  I will admit that even with these short episodes I was frequently distracted so it might be *my* fault that an awful lot is just assumed and never addressed, but I don't think so.  Basically, robots in the future have organs and blood and all that in case a human needs a transplant, so even though this robot SAYS he has no emotions, he  falls in love with her immediately.  And she with him.  There are some comical bad guys that get nowhere fast, and the girl and her family all go on to great success and happiness because of the robot, but it's bittersweet because he has a 3-year life expectancy only.  And that's...all of it, so you do what you think is best.

The New Kim Ji Hoon Drama

Yes, I'm on it! 4 eps (à 30 minutes) have aired and it's much better than I thought it would be. I'm not saying GOOD, but at least not horribly bad like his last two. Recaps to follow very soon.

Only saw episode 1 so far and it's tolerable! And I guess I like it because Viki locked me out of the first episode, and, because I wanted to comment as I watched, I paid for the Viki Plus membership, which I really did not plan or want before. 

CHINA & TAIWAN

Do We Really Have to Do This Right Chao? 

No, you don't.

Darlings, stop it with the Chao dislike. He's just a nice dude, he bothers nobody. 

I do not dislike him at all. I just need some variety.

Old Boy 

I get that this being a dad thing has been dropped in Wu Zheng's lap but he's very casually cruel to someone who - let's not forget - is only 16, lost his mother suddenly without a chance to say goodbye, and was then abandoned by a man he loved and had always thought was his father. He lost his parents, his home, his dog, and yes, his pampered life - but if he was pampered and is now unprepared for taking care of himself, whose fault is that?  Certainly not his own.  This kid is is desperate despite his bravado, and it pains me to see him treated so impersonally.  He's not being abused, but he's not really being considered, either, and he needs some love.  I do like seeing them all out hunting for him now, and I love that Wu Zheng's friend is willing to take the boy in permanently if Wu Zheng can't do it - but I'm confused about the paternity test.  Didn't the sub say .99XXX something percent?  Everyone is saying it's not a match but that's a match, folks.  PS.  I'm going to punch that interfering hussy of a flight attendant in the mouth if she doesn't back the fuck OFF.

I'm so glad I dropped this.  That flight attendant sounds way too much for my wheezy, asthmatic self.

See You in Time 

Okay.  2018 Feng Ying is now communicating back and forth with 2020 Zi Qi.  Anyone who watches time travel dramas see any problems with this scenario?  Yeah, me too.  (As it turns out, we don't even have to wait for next week to see the bad results!) As if I wasn't anxious enough already with Mr. Twisted's latest maneuvers. Now that he realizes Zi Qi's in love with the man he hates most in the world, he goes full bastard on Team Shadow.  But that's okay, my friends, because he has finally irritated Feng Ying enough to fight back.  'I have Feng blood too, don't forget.  Anything you have, I should have too.'  Cannot wait.

Untouchable Lovers

This week, I fell for the pretty pugilist Hua Cuo. Hero Rong Zhi broke his heart.  They even hinted it was physical, which may not have been that unusual in those days.  Anyway, have some tragic Hua Cuo.

Seriously, so pretty! He's like the vampire who could.

It took less than 10 minutes of episode 1 for me to say yes to this show and I haven't even MET this dude yet.

Iron Ladies 

I was right, that handsome young man from the cafe isn't a young lover, he's a son. I am looking forward to Li Sha getting together with David (still can't believe this handsome guy is Leo from Fall in Love with Me !) and I am past ready for the cuteness to explode with Kai Ting and Tse Chan.  I wonder what they'll do about Qing Qing's situation with the husband and his girlfriend, too.  I don't think that girl's as dim and friendly as she appears, either - so I hope Qing Qing kicks her to the curb and then drags the husband out there, too.

My Dear Boy

This was just a lovely episode and not just because it is filmed with such care. I love the details and the use of the theme song by Weibird Wei that is played in variations in different parts of the show. What I like so much about it is that we finally get a reversal and allow for Quing Hi to take care of Xaoi Fei which forces him to confront the real nature of his feelings for her. Xaoi Lei already gave him a heads up in the last episode, and he gets more information here. Look at his face when it finally hits him:

Tha is stunned disbelief if there ever was. The best part about the episode was his conversations with Xaoi Fei's ex, the incredibly delicious Xiao Ye Shi--who clearly has a deep love for her despite marrying someone else. His conversation over dinner was great but also his very generous offer to help Quing Hi with some connections so that he can catch up to Xaoi Fei was a beautifully selfless act that I was not expecting.

But his hair is sooooo bad, Trot. I am guilty of hair prejudice on this one. Plus, as we all know from his time with the wolves, he's not really much of an actor. Should I really check it out?

Meet Me @ 1006 (new)

I started watching this show because the premise is intriguing and because it reteamed Lego Lee and Nikki Hsieh, which I am hoping will wash the bitterness from the Love @ Seventeen experience. Oh, and did I mention Lego Lee? I did? Okay. Anyway, the premise is still interesting, but I think it could have taken one episode instead of two to set everything up the way they have it. We don't really get enough information I think for two episodes. We learn that our hero, Chen Jia Le is an excellent defense who attorney who hardly every loses except for the case that opens the show and costs him ruination. We learn that he was defending his childhood friend. We learn that our heroine, Ke Zhen Yu, is a champion Judo player but just wants to be a journalist. Her father was a Judo coach who owned a gym before he passed away and there are some who are supporting her new life and others who want her back at the gym. Both of them rent the same apartment but 5 months apart but meet each other when the apartment the time melds into one another at 10:06 PM so it seems they are sharing the same apartment. The teaser for next week's episodes look good partly because they finally figure this out and may start working together. Thus, it's a cohabitation through time travel show. I'm going to watch at least two more episodes before deciding if I have time to keep it.

Ohhh, I loved The Lake House (even the US version!) so...I should....I'm going to have quit my job.

William's Thing!!!! (New)

It still hasn't started as of the time of my typing this, which is Sunday morning EST.  I'm annoyed. If I like this show, then I'm only watching this, Untouchable Lovers, the Kim Ji Hoon thing, and my daily drama.

It was supposed to start this weekend. Oh well. It's not like there's nothing to watch right now.

JAPAN

Repeat (Finale)

How can a conclusion that involved multiple deaths (of main characters, too), time travel, and amnesia (sort of) still fall flat? I should be angrier than I am about what happened to our couple. I should be angrier at what happened to our hero (depending on whom you ask, the hero in Tendo not the male lead in the couple). I should be. When Ayumi suffered her personal tragedy to rescue a child, I should have been in tears, but I wasn't. Everyone was good in it, but I still felt not as much as I should have. I would watch a second season though because there was not much closure here. Look at them trying to figure out here how they should feel. I am, too.

Angry Chicken in a Rare Moment of Contemplation

Unnatural (Finale)

Now this is how you do a finale correctly. We conclude the main mystery here and establish all sorts of relationships as well as have character development, family development, and team development.  I knew they would feel incredibly betrayed when they found out that Kube had been leaking information to the press. But I liked how the show allowed him to have a redemptive arc and for us to see him work his way back into their good graces, partly because he was never actually kicked out of their family. I didn't care as much about the serial killer story as much as the effect that it had on the characters and the personal moral dilemmas it made everyone face. I'm going to miss this show. The conclusion was set up that we could easily have another season but also with enough closure that  it won't matter if there isn't one. I'd want another season to understand Repeat, but for this show, I'd want another season because I just want to spend more time with them all.

This is a pic from their last day of filming!

Shaggy Boy Good Lips

Haha. I know that you mean Himura Hideo no Suiri here because that description can only mean Saito. There are no more comments about this show because I marathoned the whole thing for last week's RAWR. There are two specials that function as a prequel and a sequel, but I have yet to find them with subs, so . . . here are some Saito hair pics to make up for my lack and to prove that his hair had its own lighting designer in this show.
I knew you would know what I meant!

WESTERN

The Walking Dead

So last week, Neegan got himself nearly killed by Rick, and then he got himself kidnapped by a REALLY pissed off Jadis, but not before he realized that his guy Simon did some shady, against-direction shit.  THIS week, Simon attacks the hilltop and tries to slaughter everyone with that diabolical 'infect them all' plan.  It worked, really well.  Maggie's little tribe is even smaller now, and it was pretty horrific - they came through the actual fight quite well, but then everyone who got so much as a scratch ended up dying in the middle of the night next to their friends and family and well, the slaughter was pretty graphic.  I get freaked out by a clap of thunder - imagine waking up to a room full of brand new zombies!  Morgan is losing his mind again, and the Last Little Boy, Henry, is missing.  We're winding up for a season finale, I can feel it.

The Magicians

I've been catching up on the last few episodes and really enjoying myself.  When we left off, Elliot and Margo had been captured in a Fillorian uprising, and the rest of them were questing in various worlds - looking for keys, magic, and a way to bring Penny back from the astral plane.  (This last made exponentially more difficult by the fact that his body has been destroyed.)

So far in my catch-up viewing I've learned that Harriet, the deaf woman who works as resistance of sorts against the library, is actually the Head Librarian's daughter.  Turns out the Library uses its rules to control who has access to magical knowledge, and in a post-magic world, who has access to magic. I also learned that woman, Irene McAllister, part of the family that founded Brakebills?  They enslaved fairies and use them as both manual labor and a source of magic.  Literally a source: they grind up their bones and snort the powder.  Another interesting tidbit:  when Julia uses her magic to help another, she gains power.  Enough, now, that it appears she's leveling up and can do magic just with her mind.  I guess that's what God magic will do for you!  So she brings the Fairy Queen to Earth and together they free all the fairies and then the Queen kills all the McAllisters except Irene, who escaped. Oooh - and Tick, the obsequious assistant to Elliot and Margo on Fillory?  Turns out he was ALL FAKE and hated them and wanted Fillory for himself all along.  Good stuff.  Love this show.

In the most recent episode, Scooby Gang members from various timelines come together using bits of knowledge from those timelines and move forward to find the 7th key, skipping the 6th (and I think the 5th?  it's a little confusing.) So in this episode:  Marina is not dead, there are two Joshes, Penny's soulmate is Julia (but not THIS Julia), Alice is on a ship working for rabbit radish smugglers, and Quentin...Quentin is the Beast, but he only lasts long enough to kill Alice, tell Julia that the reason he became the Beast was to prevent her from bringing a monster worse than him into the world, and then kill himself out of grief that he killed Alice.  There are only 2 more episodes in this season and I think waiting for season 4 will be very hard.