Rants and Weekly Raves #201 (RAWR)

It's pretty quiet this week, I dunno...I think all Trot is watching is Guardian and Panda's been hibernating and Saki is watching something with her dad - SakiVI: 2 with him, 2 on my own - and who knows what Cookie does (we miss you!) and we ALL know Kakashi Sensei watches nothing except Fuyao with little miss.
Trotwood: (running in, hair askew, out of breath) What?! Where. Whew! I didn't miss this week's RAWR. I'm a little tired because I had to get up extra early to fit in another ep of Guardian by 4 AM this morning before working on projects. I am watching other stuff . . .I think.
Panda: I watched Nothing this last week :((( I took these next 2 days off so apart from back to school clothes shopping etc, I should be able to catch up on some stuff. Mmmwah to everyone. Ciao.
kakashi: I'm on holidays! Have a long work-related to-do list, but MAN, it's hard to get started... I plan to catch up on some recaps and maybe start Life? I also wrote about 5 FF chapters, hehe.   
I love the Mark disreputable photoshoot below.

KOREA

Are You Human Too? 

Ooooh, RoboSin over-rode his manual control by hacking himself somehow. He could do it because Shitty Shin was making him hurt people and he has a prime directive not to hurt people. The brand new Scooby Gang of Bo Song, Manager Ji, and RoboShin are working together to save the company from the evil clutches of evil Manager Seo and the dastardly Shitty Shin, and it's all very exciting. Can Seo Agasshi, Mom, and David be far from joining them? WHO CAN TELL AT THIS POINT.

PS. I don't hate Shitty Shin. He's wrong, he must be stopped, but goddamn that kid got treated like shit and just found out his whole world was a lie and he's got self-esteem issues deep down you just know it, especially since he thinks everyone in his life likes the robot better than they like him - not to mention serious mental and emotional health issues that were caused by Grandpa Douchebag. I can see them working to bring him around and I'm all for that because who wants to destroy a person who's been treated like crap his whole life?  Not me.  

Seo needs to go to jail. He's a murderer. I did enjoy seeing the actual steps of his slip down that slope - he didn't start out bad. I don't think Shitty Shin needs jail, and what has he done that broke a law? Attempted murder, elder abuse, corporate fluffle with the share turnover? Okay, right. Maybe a little jail.  

I don't see that happening, though. Mayyyyyybe RoboShin runs the company and Shitty Shin goes back to Czech Republic with his mom and just enjoys the riches and lives a quiet, pampered, convalescent life? Wait, that's not punishment...I mean, he wants the company, but it's not good for him and he was just going to sell it anyway. I figure they end up working side by side but I'm already tired thinking about the shrieks of rage on my TList.

Hmm. Am I tired from all the Gaurdian watching that I'm not as mad as I should be or used to be? I do hate Shitty Shin. I don't think having a messed up childhood is an excuse for attempted murder several times over unless you are fighting your abuser. So I get the whole grandpa thing, but his hatred of Bo Song really rubs me the wrong way, partly because it's dumb. If he really wanted to never see RoboShin, he should've just told him to go away with her and given her some money for their expenses. I have no patience with the mom and want David to fall in love with a better woman, but I am excited to see what the Scooby Gang plan to do now that they purposely exposed RoboShin.

I never said I was excusing him from any of it, did I?

Let's Eat 3 

Her stepsister is a BITCH.

30 But 17 / 17 Again 

This show is such a love. Everyone is adorable and just trying to live their life and nobody wants to hurt anybody and it's all just moving along so smoothly. I look forward to the mental health break each week.

Life 

Coming to Netflix in September, I hear.

I got to watch the first two eps. I got to watch first two EPISODES!!! SO excited. But after the first five minutes of the first episode which had me crying already, I began to doubt my reasoning and the seduction of all the Jo Seung Woo pics people have been posting to seduce me to watch this show. So. Much. Pain. But then I kept watching and there are so many good actors in this. It's like she got them all practically. I could see a young actor begging to be in this show--even a small part--just to bask in the glow of all this greatness.The battle here is going to be epic.

Dear Judge 

I don't think I'm going to watch this, based on my consistent decision to choose something else to catch up on all week.

Time 

Okay, how would I NOT fall for Grumpy in this when he's secretly a marshmallow and also dying of a brain tumor and just wants to get himself right with the Lord before he goes? Well, maybe not entirely right, but at least with the two women in his life. He doesn't want to hurt the fiancee, and he wants to know whether he killed ol' girl's sister or not. He's praying he didn't. We're pretty sure he didn't, right? Meanwhile I do like both female leads but I'm with Trot, I kinda wish they were reversed.
I want to keep watching this, but I'm too emotionally exhausted by Life.

Witch's Love 

So we have 3 witches, 1 fan boy, and 1 suspicious tenant/landlord. Apparently, if a witch falls in love and is betrayed, she loses her magic - so the young one who loved the bank teller is now losing hers, but I have a feeling that won't last forever. FanBoy is adorable and clearly likes her, and our 12-year-old chaebol with the voice of a 12-year-old's father is CLEARLY smitten but has no idea. Right now he's in that stage I really like where he's just jealous ALL the time and can't understand why he's doing the things he's doing. That never lasts long enough for me.
This is cute, but I wish we didn't have the fanboy. He's nice, but I know he's going to get his heartbroken because he is SO 2nd lead. I don't know why they need to do this at all in narrative. I don't know if the cute is going to make up for this and keep me watching when I've got Guardian to watch.
Dad loves this show. He doesn't analyze it or anything,  but he doesn't want it to stop. I'm enjoying it as a cute story. Also assuming manga artist will end up dating the idol so he will be all right 

Familiar Wife

So...Come Back Couple? Couldn't they at least have given us a YEAR before ...well, really it's not exactly the same since presumably it's only really him that went back to That Fateful Day, and he has been bopping back and forth between times, which I don't recall from the other show. But his travels clearly have an impact on the original present, so...I guess we're still learning the rules.

So far Ji Sung is an ass. Sure, his wife is a scary bitch - but she's exhausted from her full time job, two little ones including a baby, AND a husband who seems to think that when he comes home he should just be 'off duty.' They're both at the end of their rope, clearly, but only Ji Sung is acting like he deserves sympathy. Well, I suppose if she did speak up he might be more aware of her plight? At least he has a friend who tries to talk sense into him.

I really hope he's in a miserable marriage with Hye Won, his princess, and that the alternate universe wife is living her best life.

I was disappointed that they made his wife this harpy when really she is completely exhausted. They are both exhausted. I was frustrated that he didn't just tell her that he was in an accident and no one from his job thought to call his family when they found out he was in an accident. I'm pretty sure they have that information, so she just thinks he has forgotten yet again and was pushed over the edge. But my including her over the top shrieking, playstation murdering, and physical abuse, it makes it seem as though he is this browbeaten innocent victim. Pfft. I worried for her that she fell so hard for him so young, and she became that stalker girl we always wonder about--you know the heroine that finally gets the guy through persistently believing in her own love. She bugged me as a teen and though I admired her defending herself on the bus, I didn't like the way she followed him around and demanded that he like her. I don't like this in male leads either. I worried that she had no dream but to be his wife. Well she got what she asked for and it sucks. I think she is living her best life in this new universe. Did you see how happy she was jogging in the morning on the morning he woke up with his new wife? I think his life with Hye Won will be good, but that he's going to miss Woo Jin, especially when he sees how much better off she is without him.
Just finished the second episode and wow, Ji Sung is an ass. But ass-ey as he is, she also has her faults. I am firmly in her corner though, she is at the end of her rope. I am actually surprised he woke up with another wife seeing as its a kdrama.  Will he be happier this time around? (I'm guessing Not as his actions have to have consequences); Will they actually show them having sexy times and then want us to root for the original couple as the OTP? Questions I am curious in having answered.

Mr. Sunshine 

I sound like a broken record but this show is just so gorgeous! I especially love the scenes where they make the snow fall look like a snow globe.

At this point in the story, all 3 of Ae Shin's fans are working together to protect her secret. Because they all dislike each other so much, it's particularly funny at times - but we got a lot of sadness this week, too. Eugene has revealed his slave beginnings, and that class divide is just not something Ae Shin can bridge even when it breaks her heart. I'm sure it will change, but probably not permanently. Honestly I see Eugene going back to the US eventually and keeping all this as a secret in his heart. I think Deong Mae is going to die, and I'm particularly sad about that because he's just one big raw emotion - he wears his true heart on his sleeve in a way the other two don't. I wonder if Ae Shin and Hee Sung will end up married after all, perhaps after he ends up joining her in the resistance? I do think that's what he's headed for, anyway - finding a purpose by joining her in her efforts. Do you?

Kuda Hino is a more active player in the politics than I really thought, too. That is a woman with a lot of anger in her heart. Maybe not toward anyone specifically at this point, since her husband is dead - probably killed by her - but in general, she's out for herself and who could blame her? Makes things interesting, that's for sure.

My ID is Gangnam_Beauty 

I really like this. I thought it would be a pretty light touch once we got past Mean Kids in Childhood, but no - this girl has real emotional issues and they did not go away when she got her pretty new face. Don't get me wrong - she seems nice and all, and I like and sympathize with her - but years of being rejected have made her fearful and a little bit paranoid and I appreciate the show giving us that, just like I appreciate that she's realizing people can be pretty harsh no matter WHO you are, and I especially like when the tables turned and her reluctant hero calls her on her own discriminatory and unfair behavior.

I like the pairing of the leads - he seems to have been interested in her as a kid and unfazed by her appearance, too.  Maybe he wasn't thinking of her romantically, but come on, no one would even be FRIENDS with this girl (except Min Do Hee, who we love.)  I hope the whole mother connection thing isn't going to make this too too complicated for our OTP.

Let Me Introduce Her 

Lots of people on my tlist are watching this in groups, and I can understand why. You sort need someone sitting next to you so you can ask them questions while watching and to reaffirm what you've just seen. Now everyone knows that our heroine is really Eun Han with a new face. Her husband seems genuinely happy to have her back, but he's also creepy, too. It was clear that he did love her at one point, but she also has some secret that she knew about that he doesn't want her to remember. His mother is fit to be tied because she wants him to divorce and finally finally get a better wife. Their personal assistant doesn't know what to do, caught between the two of them and clearly in love with him though she has to know he's only keeping her around because she knows the secret. And then we have the doc that helped her who is clearly in love with her and is still trying to help her because someone is trying to kill her. And his spoiled ex that has come back tot the country determined to get him back--even getting his estranged father on her side because of her wealth? Turns out she has a child, too! And the dad knows now. This week's cliffhanger was great. Who is that little girl in the video? Why is her husband trying to hide that from her. Could it be a daughter that the MIL sneaked away to get her out of their lives?
Dad and I are fascinated and eagerly awaiting the next eps. He wants to stay longer to finish the show with me, I think, and is secretly hoping the doctor will tell him he can't travel so he will have an excuse for work. We both agree the husband and personal assistant are creepy and we wonder what they are hiding. Like why would they hide a child? What is that about?  And we think that MIL is weirdly obsessed with her son, more than normal for mothers with sons who married women they don't like. 
I've only seen the first four episodes and I was only sort of watching, at that...so it wasn't until just now that I realized the newscaster is her husband and the Fine Cosmetics CEO was her mother in law. Things are starting to make a little sense, now.  I like it but of everything I'm watching, this would be the first to go.

Sunny Again Tomorrow

I said I wasn't going to watch this anymore until maybe episode 80 and we are only on ep 63, but this week had lots of funny bits of the Jo favorite kind: guy jealous without even knowing that he is jealous and acting all kinds of weird. It's like everyone else in this show is in a daily while his character is playing in a rom-com. The accidental on purpose double date was classic of both. Wretched gives the guy who likes her two tickets to the movies, so he can take her rival out. Her rival doesn't realize she is a rival because she likes the guy who likes Wretched and has no idea that the rom-com guy likes her. The 2nd lead does this so she can have the male lead to herself. However, they end up going to the same movie (partly because she is also jealous of the other guy, too without realizing it--sigh). They sit behind the other two and the guy she supposedly likes spends most of the time interrupting the other two on their "date." We also get the missing material and the possible move to Busan resolved really quickly. But the lies. I feel sorry for Wretched and the life of misery she has lead because of her guilt, but she has had so many opportunities to turn things around.

CHINA/TAIWAN

Legend of Fuyao

Made it to episode 28 tonight! Still lots of begging going on. "Mommy, my biggest wish today would be to watch two episodes!" Who can say no to such a cute little 9-year old. Not me.

Sand Sea 

Subs are slow. So, I'm still at episode 6, and everyone is still on their second attempt at scouring the tomb for a jewel for their own ends. We have pretty Zhang Mingen up top in Beijing, and a room full of human of faces. We need explanations.

Meteor Garden 2018

So I guess now episodes are posting daily on Netflix USA (well, during the week anyway) and so of course I'm getting my Dao Ming Se fix the MINUTE I get home.  We moved through arranged marriage girl really fast and the happiness Dao Ming Se is feeling right now is just making his face glow like the sun.  You just want to sit there and bask in it, that precious boy.

Guardian

In last week's RAWR, I said I hadn't started it, but had only seen clips on YT. Then I saw fanvids, some of which were posted by our readers (thanks guys!-waving), and I became really interested despite knowing that the production team changed the romantic relationship from the original to a bromantic relationship. I have watched 22 episodes as of this writing. 22 regular length (circa 45 minutes) episodes because this drama has become my crack because of these people. 

Now I am not going to argue that this show is going to win awards. I can recognize the weaknesses (you want to find angry people, look at the discussions of the early villain's purple streaked hair). The special effects in many/most places are circa 1990s. But I've been drawn into the world. Where there has been a brokered peace between the Daixing people and humans, but which is now breaking down after 10,00 years, a span of time that has separated our two heroes from each other. In novel, they were the OTP, in the show, they are best friends . . . except one of them doesn't remember the other and the one who remembers has been waiting for him for all that time. It's fun and crackstastic with the sly innuendos and hints at their real relationship. But I also really like the team and the bond that the team has and that the woman on the team who is in love with one of the leads doesn't (or at least she hasn't yet) become that crazed , "I've loved him, so I must be the only one who has him." But then again, can you beat a 10,000 year old love? Oh, and I'm going to post another pic because I like vests and glasses.

Sweet Combat

Quite a nice, well-done story about how friendships and romance develop in a sports university that has a rivalry with another uni. There was an amusing scene between two elderly uni presidents fighting with tai chi energy. I'm quite hooked.

JAPAN

Parfait Tic

I don't really like any of the leads, and it made me question why I was even watching when I could be either watching another episode of Guardian or even reading the novel translation of Guardian. Nothing much happens beside confessions abound with rejections in equal measure. I can't find anything original which is too bad since the manga is apparently really popular, and it is the only Japanese drama I'm watching. I think, however, that I will be dropping this.

WESTERN

Younger 

They're together, they're together, Charles and Liza are together!  But his ex-wife is going to be horrible about it, of course, I can see it coming.  Meanwhile, is Jake revealing himself to be a bit of an asshole?  Me thinks the answer is yes.

Reverie 

Things are moving at breakneck speed!  We learn that Mara's visions aren't really 'caused' by the system but are manifestations of something she's been hiding subconsciously.  And then we learn that after her brother-in-law killed her sister and niece, she actually talked him into killing himself.  She had no memory of that at all, but her old boss Charlie was to convince her (it was on his voicemail accidentally.)  So now for the season ender she's gone into the comatose brother-in-law's mind... I thought to apologize, but she had a weird smile on her face so I'm not sure.

Castle Rock 

Things get creepier by the minute.  The prison guard who was so helpful ends up killing a bunch of other prison guards - that vision he had was of himself, apparently, not the Nameless Kid.  Harry comes face to face with the guy who probably kidnapped him when he was a kid, and it's starting to look like maybe his dad was not a nice guy.  Otherwise why would his mom be looking that way to see his body being returned to the church cemetary?  And why would the neighbor girl have felt like she needed to kill him?  It's tied to what she felt from Harry, of course.

Sharp Objects

Another show that's ramping up the confusion.  Now I'm wondering if maybe Adora's husband is the one doing the killing.  He's certainly got plenty of resentment stored up. And that girl Amma?  I think she's more fucked up than Camille ever was, but that remains to be seen.  As for Adora, well...she's got  Tennessee Williams level poison running in HER veins.  I swear I don't understand how she could even bring a child to term - just circulating her blood through should have killed the poor things.

Succession 

Oh man, this is building up to a real fireworks show.  Everyone is at Shiv's wedding in the UK and not only is her mother a bitch on wheels but her father shows up unexpectedly, her brother is proposing to a random woman that her fiance had sex with at his bachelor party, her boss AND her lover are there (aka Dad's mortal enemies) and now, NOW Ken's plans to steal the company with another of his dad's mortal enemies has been moved up to the very wedding day!  Can't wait to see what happens in the final episode of the season.  Update:  OMG.  I was not expecting that.  There were literal fireworks at the wedding, of course, but the whole hostile takeover is sidelined when Kendall fucking drives his car off a BRIDGE and kills a caterer, and Daddy covers it up in exchange for Ken's backing down.  It completely derails my idea of where next season was going.  It could still be a hostile takeover, of course, but it would look completely different without Ken.  Hmm.

Kim's Convenience

What have you been doing this week?  I watched some more of this show and oh, no big deal, but Appa follows me on Twitter now.  I figure in a couple weeks I'll be close enough to all of them that I can ask Jung to show me his abs in person.