Rants and Weekly Raves #187 (RAWR)
kakashi: Fangirling over Rim is no fun without Mary TT____________TT
Trotwood: Well, he's in a show that was supposed to come out this summer, but has been pushed back to the fall because they're taking time off so Kim Yoo Jung to recover from her hyperthyroid condition. Still, I'm trying not to be excited because he isn't the lead (Ahn Hyo Seop is), and his role was written for the series; it's not in the original webtoon on which the show is based. The positive me thinks "great, this might be an interesting twist." The negative mean thinks "they just couldn't have a drama without a love triangle, could they?"
SakiVI: Did I watch anything? My mind is a blank.
Panda: I watched and rewatched a whole bunch of old and new Bollywood movies - Main Hoon Na, Dil Dakne Do, Padmavat, Secret Superstar amongst others. It felt quite nostalgic.
KOREA
Should We Kiss First (Finale)
It's over, and for those wondering, he's alive at the end. He's still dying, but for the first time in a very long time, maybe ever, Mu Han's actually LIVING, thanks to Soon Jin. And that's the message, basically...live each day, however it comes. Not a bad message, and one Korea likes to employ with illness/tragedy stories. Well, who doesn't really? There were some plot lines I wish we'd gotten more story on (the developing friendship between Coffee Puppy and I Deun, whether they wear down the mean shreaky lady in 401, how much jail time Apollo Confectionary gets, etc) but it's okay. I'm satisfied for the most part.
The Great Seducer
I feel like I watched this a million years ago. I had to go watch the last minute of the latest episode to remember which particular version of 'we can't be together' we're at, and then was reminded painfully that the one semi-sane member of the trio has his own special brand of crazy. Almost to the end of this tragedy. I wonder how closely the end will mimic Cruel Intentions?
A Poem A Day
Ye's a fool and he's realizing it, but I'm looking forward to this week because they introduce Ha Seok Jin as a patient interested in Bo Young. I guess having competition from the baby-faced intern isn't enough, but it's also nice because they spent so much time showing all the men who truly aren't interested in her.
That Man Oh Soo (Finale)
Just how fucking dumb do they think we ARE? We have a tree that embodies a curse that holds sway over a family and if the loved one of the unlucky 'successor' in each generation drinks anything with the tree pollen in it, their love is doomed because that loved one will die and there is NO. WAY. OUT. Tree has that shit buttoned up TIGHT.
So of course, we have poor Oh Soo and Yoo Ri who adore each other and are the cutest muffins ever and they break up so Yoo Ri won't die, but that's when Oh Soo (and we) learn this: YOO RI IS GOING TO DIE ANYWAY because see paragraph one. WHELP. We can't have that, it's our precious Kim So Eun, and honestly...watching her be all sad and weepy is killing ME. You should have just married Song Jae Rim when you had the chance, girlfriend. Then we would not be sitting here cursing our computers and burning up Twitter with justifiable rage. No. We'd probably be looking at baby pictures right now and life would be grand. Thanks for nothing, FAKER.
Anyway.
Oh Soo agrees with us (not about the Song Jae Rim part, though, I'm assuming) and takes some pollen from the sick tree because drinking that potion will make him forget everything. You can't love what you don't remember, right? It makes him really sick but then I guess he must wake up eventually because now he's 'back' from three years in Germany. He not only doesn't remember Yoo Ri, he doesn't remember anything at all about his life. I guess he knows his business partner and his grandfather and brother, but that's about it, and years have gone by and he wants to fill in the gaps so he comes back to Korea. He just knows they're not telling him something, by gosh, and he wants to find out.
Rich girl who's been boinking his brother tells him to look into a girl name Seo Yoo Ri, and turns out she's been having pity parties in the empty cafe and he runs into her there, and then other places, and eventually at that beach everyone goes to when they're in a drama and they want to reminisce about their lost loves. At the beach, they see each other and smile and then walk off together, and that's FUCKING IT.
Are you shitting me? I mean, for real. Is there going to be another episode next week? Because I have SO MANY QUESTIONS. Like, why did we wait three years for them to get back together when nothing has changed? The tree is still there, the curse is still there. Is he still the successor but just not doing his job? Is there no successor now? Does starting from scratch mean everything will be okay as long as girlfriend avoids drinking anything he might have come near? You know, like, she's not someone he loves right now; so when she DOES become someone he loves, does the old pollen kick in or does it have to be another batch of pollen? That doesn't seem right; I think the tree plays harder than that. But I'd buy it because I want them together. Or is the implication that love is all that matters and hey, we all die someday anyway so just fucking go for it? WE NEED TO KNOW.
No. You know what? I don't want to know. No one mention any goddamned cursed trees around me because I will ignore you. I'm blocking trees on Twitter. That's it. I'm done. Shit, I can't block trees on Twitter because that would block Lee Tae Hwan. Shit. Fine. I can deal with it. Really. I can.
No. You know what? I don't want to know. No one mention any goddamned cursed trees around me because I will ignore you. I'm blocking trees on Twitter. That's it. I'm done. Shit, I can't block trees on Twitter because that would block Lee Tae Hwan. Shit. Fine. I can deal with it. Really. I can.
The Miracle We Met
I started watching this in a dark corner of the internet and so far (early days) I like it. I can't help thinking of Come Back, Ahjussi, which I loved, though they are not the same at all - but at least it prepares me for the reality that no matter what, dead people are dead, and we aren't going to get a miraculous correction at the end.
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| He barely looks like himself here! |
My Ahjussi
By leaps and bounds, the best thing airing right now. LEAPS. And BOUNDS. There are moments that are so real you feel them down to your toes.
Suits (New)
I like it! And because I never watched a minute of the original, I decided to check that out and accidentally watched the entire first season... I'd say the basic similarities are solidly there, but there's a slight difference in almost everyone that in no way affects my enjoyment of the show, nor would I ever expect another complete set of people to have exactly the same take on characters they're portraying.
Ep 1 was fun. Very similar to the original yet with a little korean tweaking. Hyung Sik is a cutie but gosh Jang Dong Gun is sooo hot. The person cast in Jessica's role seems miscast though.
Ep 1 was fun. Very similar to the original yet with a little korean tweaking. Hyung Sik is a cutie but gosh Jang Dong Gun is sooo hot. The person cast in Jessica's role seems miscast though.
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| The King of Puppies is back on our screens with his adorable smushed up ears! |
My Husband Oh Jak Doo
Yes. Jak Doo and Seung Joo are on the same page again, thankfully. They just have to get through the documentary filming and they can go back to normal. Yeah, right. We all know it won't be that simple.Meanwhile I'm loving the way Se Mi and her husband are putting Seung Tae and Preggo (and MOM) in check.
Happy Sisters (Is it the Abs?)
I hope those abs hold up to their promise because Hyun Joo gets stabbed in this week end of week cliffhanger. Of course, this happens right after he proposes to Ye Eun (in what I thought would be awkward but turned out very romantic way) and charmed her mother into accepting their relation. They are literally going to meet the mom when this happens. Why he fell for HoeJo acting like a decoy, and didn't just call the cops I will not know. I'm just glad that crazy doc is actually pretty bad at trying to kill him. He stabs him and doesn't even bother pushing him into oncoming traffic. In fact, why even do it in such a public place when he has someone with his to call an ambulance? Stab him in an alley (he walks through one every time he walks YE home) and let him bleed out. Positive things are happening though; the horrible in-laws have had to move out of their house in a day. HoeJo sold it someone who's moving and redecorating. I'm pretending that I can ignore the redemption story arc of Se Ran because she could run an orphanage, give up organs for people, and house the homeless, and I will still hate her, think she belongs in prison, and never accept her relationship with our lovely Singer songwriter.
What Trot said. We have been watching together when we can because double the fun.
What Trot said. We have been watching together when we can because double the fun.
CHINA/TAIWAN
Meet Me at 1006
Catching up! Muffin is so cute but hey, now that Prosecutor is growing on me, too! I agree with everyone that there is something really strange about the siblings, but I was sad to learn that Cheng Hao is cheating on his fiancee. I was all set for him to be the second lead of the show, actually, based on his role, so everything from the girlfriend to second girlfriend is really a big surprise for me.
They sure left this week with a cliffhanger, didn't they? I know we guessed at this possibility but they are so cute together and now i wonder why the friend has such a hostile attitude like he had something to do with the death. At any rate, I was very excited about them not only working together but also starting to figure out that they like each other. I wonder what she meant about not seeing him again. Do you think she knew? But how when she is in the past? I also liked the guest appearance of Megan Lai. That was an interesting story arc with her and her husband, not something that I expected, but an interesting way to make both Muffin and cutie Prosecutor right. I am still holding out hope that they can become friends again.
Iron Ladies
Catching up here, too. At this point Kai Ting is with Ivan but their relative income is proving to be an issue - she's always making him feel incapable because she leaps to cover the costs of everything; Li Sha is with David but has gone on a date or two with a guy her son prefers; he's nice enough, feeding stray cats and all, but come on, it's David and we know it; Ching Ching has left her miserable bastard of a husband, who's beginning to realize he lost a good thing (and the mistress is pregnant, so that doesn't really help him in the 'less of a bastard now' dept), Love Shop has been sold, Ivan has been cheated by his skeezy friend, and they're all settling in under the new General Manager who's kind of a nightmare.
Untouchable Lovers
Barely touched it. Actually, the story is getting kind of repetitive. It's still very engaging when I do watch it, and it's still way better than most dramas, yet, I think they could've cut out several episodes.
JAPAN
Hana Noche Hari or Whatever
There's one ep subbed and the second ep has already been out for a week already so I'm waiting. I refuse to watch a second of this until I can feel safe that it's subbed.
Ossan's Love
I don't have time to do anything. Why did I start watching this show when I know the unreliability of subbing for Japanese shows? Let this be a warning. People on twitter are enablers! I watched the first episode, and I want more. It is more typical of the specific kind of comedy in Japanese dramas, so it may not be to everyone's liking. The basis of this story is that we have Soichi Haruta, 33, who lives with his mom and is the worst in sales at his real estate company. He act at home more like a kid to the point that his mom gets sick of it (he's not mean--just an incapable slob teen boy) and moves out. He knows how to do nothing basic--cooking, laundry, etc. He actually invites a co-worker to live with him when he finds out the guy, Ryota Maki, knows how to make fried chicken (ha). His boss, a 53-year-old man who celebrates his 30th anniversary with his wife, falls for himas does Ryota. The problem is that Haruta is not gay. He just hasn't had a real date in years because he's just embarrassingly bad with women. At first, I felt uncomfortable with yet another show where everyone falls for the main character when they really don't see why; however, it turns out that Haruta is actually really nice and very good at public relations. Everyone in the neighborhood knows him and he knows everyone well. He makes a lot of mistakes, but he also never complains or blames people. Unfortunately, his kindness and awkwardness is going to make for more hijinks as well as uncomfortable situations. I'm already feeling sorry for the two men in love with him. Both are adorable--like two 2nd male leads.
Monte Kuristo Haku
DEANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! Okay, so I hate watching just one ep of jdramas because one is never sure of the subs, but I couldn't resist this. It has Dean PLUS it is an adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo which is one of my fave ever books. This adaptation doesn't disappoint. It's miles ahead of that stupid Goodbye My Black which was just .... Anyway, back to this. It is faithful to the source material yet it's quintessentially japanese also. SO well done. Ep 1 broke my heart with how trusting Surime and Dan are and how their entire lives will get shattered. Yet a part of me can't wait for dark and broody Dean. BRING IT.
WEST
Fear the Walking Dead
They killed NICK? NICK? Are you shitting me? But is he really dead? Because they did that thing where the person stops breathing in one world and then wakes up in an impossibly pretty and colorful other world, and usually what happens there is they get pulled back into the world where they were alive. And since they made the whole episode really gray and dull except for the bluebonnets growing in the field he saw, I'm guessing they must bring him back. It's NICK. I need Nick. Someone else is dead and since we know it's not Lucy or Alicia and we didn't see Madison except in flashback and Nick was CRAZY determined to get to those blue car people and kill someone...I'm guessing it was Madison.
Siren
I think that doc Donna sang to is going to try and help, don't you? I'm kind of not interested in Donna and her lethal fish mentality. I like Ryn and her liking for her humans and her adoption of their customs, especially when she adopts them kind of wrong.
Nah, I think that doc is crazy and wants to study Donna more, even as he's obsessed with her. I'm also not too interested in Donna and her lethal fish mentality now that she is out of the facility. However, I'm all for it if she beats up and kills people who are trying to put her in a fishbowl. Plus, I'm a bit tired on Ryn and her human handlers. I want more mermaid action in the water or the Helen story.
One gripe: this show really needed to be given to us all at once Netflix-style. Maybe it's because I feel pressured with an upcoming family visit, or maybe it's because I want to know what's next already, but the withdrawal and feeling like time has to somehow pass until Thursday is very draining.
Nah, I think that doc is crazy and wants to study Donna more, even as he's obsessed with her. I'm also not too interested in Donna and her lethal fish mentality now that she is out of the facility. However, I'm all for it if she beats up and kills people who are trying to put her in a fishbowl. Plus, I'm a bit tired on Ryn and her human handlers. I want more mermaid action in the water or the Helen story.
One gripe: this show really needed to be given to us all at once Netflix-style. Maybe it's because I feel pressured with an upcoming family visit, or maybe it's because I want to know what's next already, but the withdrawal and feeling like time has to somehow pass until Thursday is very draining.
Westworld (New)
Picks up two weeks after the showdown. Delos doesn't realize Bernard is actually a host, and he's not telling them. Maeve and Hector are reunited and tagging along with them is that storyteller guy who's a pain in the ass, and Teddy's out there with Dolores, who is prone to making the cheesiest speeches EVER. Other than them and the Man in Black, it doesn't seem anyone survived that we know but we do see a glimpse of a whole lot of stuff we had no idea about last season and there are big hints that even this season, nothing is what we think it is. I have only seen the 1st episode though.