Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #206
kakashi: *waves from South Korea*
JoAnne: I KNEW I was forgetting something! Thank you for opening the post. How was your flight? Mark is looking good with a little scruff, as usual.
He looks SO GOOOOOOOOOD. *Fangirls*. The flight was LONG and we flew over Siberia/Russia, which I thought was so cool. It also made me realize that Beijing is closer than Seoul from where I live. Which I could have known, had I ever paid attention to the map before.
SakiVI: OMG, that's so cool that you are there! I need to plan some trips. And find some money to go.
Panda: Enjoy SK and all my love to E! My drama watching has been a bit slow cos I have guests, and can only block off time during down hours at work. We however spent the weekend rewatching 4 seasons of Great British Bake-Off on Netflix - so good. Oh, can't wait till friday to watch the first 15 episodes of boring RoTP! Gimme, gimme.
Trotwood: So excited that you are visiting, but will you be able to do anything else but work? I love how you said your business contact was too busy to watch any dramas, but that when he did he watched Romantic Comedies. The Korean-American student I helped this summer said the same thing. He said he wanted to be the stereotypical drama boyfriend--showing up with umbrellas when it rains, giving piggybacks, blocking the water spray from passing cars, protecting from bikes/scooters on sidewalk, picking books that are too high on shelf. He went on and on. He was so adorable, but the more he talked the more I realized he was 2nd lead material. Ouch. I didn't tell him that though.
There were some interesting twists here. I think these episodes confirm that his Chae-A really does love him (in her way)and behaves the way she does about her arranged marriage as a way of protecting her pride. Could not agree more. She can't show that she actually cares when he's never cared about anything. She is still in self preservation mode, but now she is also about saving him as well. She is sincerely devastated when she finds out about his illness. The lawyer boyfriend is super desperate because he has been charged with killing Ji-Hyun, and I don't he's ever stopped loving her either. Everyone is at such a desperate place. Now that I mention it, I'm not sure how much more desperation is not going to be too much even if Soo Ho is gone. They really need to start having more fun with Ji-Hyun's revenge.
I don't want him to be dead I don't want him to die. There's only two more weeks! Come on! Can't he just appear in the final episode, healthy and happy, married to Ji Hyun and with the children he so dearly wants? God, I can't even say that without crying. It only has to be that one scene, 8 episodes from now. Please?
JoAnne: I KNEW I was forgetting something! Thank you for opening the post. How was your flight? Mark is looking good with a little scruff, as usual.
He looks SO GOOOOOOOOOD. *Fangirls*. The flight was LONG and we flew over Siberia/Russia, which I thought was so cool. It also made me realize that Beijing is closer than Seoul from where I live. Which I could have known, had I ever paid attention to the map before.
SakiVI: OMG, that's so cool that you are there! I need to plan some trips. And find some money to go.
Panda: Enjoy SK and all my love to E! My drama watching has been a bit slow cos I have guests, and can only block off time during down hours at work. We however spent the weekend rewatching 4 seasons of Great British Bake-Off on Netflix - so good. Oh, can't wait till friday to watch the first 15 episodes of boring RoTP! Gimme, gimme.
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| not in South Korea |
KOREA
17 Again
Aren't we nearly to the end? Is she NEVER going to connect with her old school friend, the doctor? I can't complain too much, though - the giddy, joyfully stunned expressions on the faces of Seori and Mr. Gong these days are giving me so much happiness.
These 2 cuties do make up for the fact that at this stage so. much. stuff is still left in the air. The good thing is it's not 16 episodes as I previously thought, so there is still ample time for her to meet the Doctor and that angst to kick in. I love their confession scene to each other so much. No shocked face at the declaration, just a simple reply too. *googly eyes*
BTW, are they trying to hurt Chan? Please don't, you can't make him not get the girl AND then be physically incapable of doing the sport he loves so much!
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| Paeng is the real star |
BTW, are they trying to hurt Chan? Please don't, you can't make him not get the girl AND then be physically incapable of doing the sport he loves so much!
Lovely Horribly
Okay, okay, it finally starts to come together for me. I still can't seem to remember anyone's names, but at least I think I have the basic plot line down now. I don't know why I can't concentrate on this show, because it's actually kind of fun. Boy actor ends up being lucky at the expense (mostly) of girl writer but also, in a general way, at the expense of anyone near him. He realizes this now and tries to push her away so she won't be hurt (because they're in loooove now) but she poo-poos the idea of that necklace talisman entirely. Her old writer friend and his old idol friend had ganged up together to kill him and discredit her, but that ends up driving the old idol friend nuts. The producer was a childhood friend of hers that she doesn't recognize after so many years, and even when it seems he's working against her, he's trying to protect her. The girl that the actor guy dates 'in public' seems to somehow have a connection to the plan of the bad writer/bad idol pair, but I'm not sure how yet.
Voice 2
I cringe every time she does a voice over when she's 'thinking.' Something about her manner of speaking just irritates me. Despite that, I like the cases of the week/overarching case/mystery of whether the detective is a good guy with a problem or a psychopath.
This series makes my heart pound every week in every episode. I have conflicting feelings all the time because I want o rush through it to see if anyone dies, but it is also a smart show where you don't want to miss anything because so many items/issues/relationships/comments become clues for things later. Each week I check again to see how many episodes there are left because I think while I'm watching that I don't know if my heart can take it. I really really want to know the history between our true villain and our good guy/psychopath(?) cop. This show really knows how to do cliffhangers well. They don't seem to be cliffhangers until you realize the show is ending.
This series makes my heart pound every week in every episode. I have conflicting feelings all the time because I want o rush through it to see if anyone dies, but it is also a smart show where you don't want to miss anything because so many items/issues/relationships/comments become clues for things later. Each week I check again to see how many episodes there are left because I think while I'm watching that I don't know if my heart can take it. I really really want to know the history between our true villain and our good guy/psychopath(?) cop. This show really knows how to do cliffhangers well. They don't seem to be cliffhangers until you realize the show is ending.
Devilish Joy (New)
Loving this. Choi Jin Hyuk is his sexy, playful, stern, HOT AS BLAZES namja self and looking especially fine this time around. Ha Yoon is luminously pretty and a happy combination of plucky and charming. Add the excellent casting to the story of a couple who fall for each other immediately, are broken apart by tragedy, and then find each other 3 years later with him unable to remember her from the past but mysteriously ONLY able to remember her, her alone, from day to day? I'm IN. They don't even need that plot line of her having been ruined by suspicion of murder, honestly, but if they handle it well I'm okay with it. PS I really want to watch Panda and Hedgehog again.
I don't know why the tragedy here sickened me in ways that all the others did not, but it put me off a show with Gummihot! I may come back later when we are more in the thick of it.
Because it is a crime against NATURE to subject that fine, fine man to physical trauma.
I don't know why the tragedy here sickened me in ways that all the others did not, but it put me off a show with Gummihot! I may come back later when we are more in the thick of it.
Because it is a crime against NATURE to subject that fine, fine man to physical trauma.
Time
I almost hope that the ending of this week's episodes signal the death of Soo Ho because it is becoming so painful to watch him in pain and dying. I was in tears when he so desperately wanted to take her hand in the hospital but didn't think he should/could or even had the right.
There were some interesting twists here. I think these episodes confirm that his Chae-A really does love him (in her way)and behaves the way she does about her arranged marriage as a way of protecting her pride. Could not agree more. She can't show that she actually cares when he's never cared about anything. She is still in self preservation mode, but now she is also about saving him as well. She is sincerely devastated when she finds out about his illness. The lawyer boyfriend is super desperate because he has been charged with killing Ji-Hyun, and I don't he's ever stopped loving her either. Everyone is at such a desperate place. Now that I mention it, I'm not sure how much more desperation is not going to be too much even if Soo Ho is gone. They really need to start having more fun with Ji-Hyun's revenge.
I don't want him to be dead I don't want him to die. There's only two more weeks! Come on! Can't he just appear in the final episode, healthy and happy, married to Ji Hyun and with the children he so dearly wants? God, I can't even say that without crying. It only has to be that one scene, 8 episodes from now. Please?
Familiar Wife
This show is so GOOD. For those not watching, her mom recognized him because she's from that other timeline TOO. I think. She knows about the magic tollbooth, anyway, for sure. I think she was going to try and go back so she could see her husband again? Not sure, but she gives it up for Woo Jin to have a chance to fix the mess Joo Hyuk has made. So now they're BOTH back in the other timeline with knowledge of the timeline where they aren't together. It'll be interesting to see what choices each makes to keep them from the point of misery they'd reached previously.
My crack drama. Love, Love, Love. Gosh so many points in the last 2 episodes that I had to pause and like catch my breath. When she asked him so simply "Why did you do that, Why did you throw me away?" her face filled with hurt, my heart ached sooo much. His breakdown in the cafe was so powerful, gosh. Like those two feed so beautifully off each other. My bromance took such a palpable hit but rose from the ashes.I just need Elf ears to have a happy life no matter the timeline, he is too precious. Omma is a MVP! I love that show explained reason she knew he who he was was because she also had knowledge of the time travel thing. That was a nice twist. And now they are back in college, I can't wait to see what happens next.
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| Hwan got his girl! |
The Ghost Detective (New)
Oooh, Choi Daniel is looking so FINE. By the end of episode 4 we learn (with him) that he's dead, so now we're all trying to figure out the last thing we saw him touch and when he died, because he was NOT dead when the story started. I mean, she flipped him at the beginning of the episode, but he had to have been dead by then...how was that possible? Is she dead too?
I LOVE this!! I nearly shouted at that twist at the end of this week's episodes, but despite being surprised (and not trying to fall off the treadmill as I watched), I really liked it because it really did make sense. I think he died in the basement or when he was buried alive. Other people saw him and talked to him before that. But after . . . I think she can see ghosts. She can't be dead because otherwise how would that girl or the cops see her? And yes, Choi Daniel has always been a love of mine (since Baby-Faced Beauty), but he's looking especially scrumptious here.
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| General consensus here is that if we approved this look any harder we'd break something |
I LOVE this!! I nearly shouted at that twist at the end of this week's episodes, but despite being surprised (and not trying to fall off the treadmill as I watched), I really liked it because it really did make sense. I think he died in the basement or when he was buried alive. Other people saw him and talked to him before that. But after . . . I think she can see ghosts. She can't be dead because otherwise how would that girl or the cops see her? And yes, Choi Daniel has always been a love of mine (since Baby-Faced Beauty), but he's looking especially scrumptious here.
Mr. Sunshine
Last week we thought we lost Gu Dong Mae and happily did not; this week it looked like Hui Seong was going to die with all the rest of Ae Sin's family - at a TEMPLE, no less - but Ae Sin and the Rightious Army showed up and absolutely kicked Japanese ass. It was glorious, and capped off by that long slow shot of tiny Ae Sin silhouetted against the sky, up on the roof of the temple with Hui Seong looking up at her, stunned. She is mighty indeed, our Ae Sin.
We did lose someone though, our lovely and brave Haman-daek, and that terrible loss sparks a whole string of events I won't spoil for you here because I really, really, REALLY want you to watch this drama. As the action picks up, the small moments of humor are replaced by scenes that show the terrible price people are willing to pay for their loved ones and for freedom. It changed gradually, such that you almost don't notice - but we're slipping from one terrible event to another so quickly now you almost feel out of breath watching.
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| Why yes I do have a sentimental favorite |
Gangnam Beauty
Thank goodness for the OTP here because they made my Friday since Accidentally in Love is gone. I needed their cuteness. And I'm glad that Mi Rae sees through Soo-A just like Kyun-Seok does and directly confronts her, but I can see how her worry about what people will say when everyone finds out that they are dating is going to be the thing that hurts her relationship, which is exactly what Soo-A wants. Kyung-Seok is still as in her face as ever, and when he says out loud how pitiful she is, she still just blazes right through it. He actually tells her to her face that he has never hated anyone as much as he hates her. Her reply?: "Why are you so cold to me?" The writers are trying to make her more sympathetic by giving her an eating disorder and setting up a potential stalker (I was right, Jo--I just hope that the other guy who everyone knows liked her and hates Kyung-Seok doesn't get blamed for what stalker guy is going to do), but the writers are going to have to do a LOT more to make me forgive her trifling behavior. I also wish the TA guy would eventually accept the confession of the stoic student, but I don't think that pairing is meant to be. Also, what are we to think of the dad and that plot? Where is that going? It seems completely unnecessary now.
I do really enjoy this show - it's written with much more nuance than we normally get for a campus show. Soo-A is messed up. She's as messed up as Mi Rae is, but on the other side. The thing is, I don't think Mi Rae chooses to be a nice person - she just IS a nice person. In the same vein, I don't think Soo-A chooses to be a bitch. She just IS a bitch - but a person like that doesn't know that's what they are, they think that's what anyone would do in their situation. If you can show them that's not the case, then they can make a choice. So until that point, my personal choice is always enjoy despising them for their behavior, and then be willing to accept them as re-made if that's what the show wants me to do. They're still so young. I believe that people can change. I won't necessarily wait around for them to do it, but if they do, I accept it.
I do really enjoy this show - it's written with much more nuance than we normally get for a campus show. Soo-A is messed up. She's as messed up as Mi Rae is, but on the other side. The thing is, I don't think Mi Rae chooses to be a nice person - she just IS a nice person. In the same vein, I don't think Soo-A chooses to be a bitch. She just IS a bitch - but a person like that doesn't know that's what they are, they think that's what anyone would do in their situation. If you can show them that's not the case, then they can make a choice. So until that point, my personal choice is always enjoy despising them for their behavior, and then be willing to accept them as re-made if that's what the show wants me to do. They're still so young. I believe that people can change. I won't necessarily wait around for them to do it, but if they do, I accept it.
Let Me Introduce Her
It took me twice as long as usual to get through this show because I kept replaying the opening of this week's episodes where Eun Han slaps Secretary Jung. It was sooooo completely satisfying, like that first drink of water after a long hike or the feeling of your bed sheets after a long day of work. I woke up this morning to Skype with my daughter who is oversees and went to watch that slap again. Eun Han is so done with everyone. She remembers everything. I hope she also remembers that there are cameras all over that house. She is NOT the same Eun Han who was cowed by her husband's physical abuse. She has Secretary Jung on the ropes. But now that her husband knows that she has remembered everything . . . It's crazy to me that Secretary Jung believes that he won't hit her if they got married. I also wonder how much of his violence his mom knows about and whether that is why they kept her away from her family so much.
Wouldn't she have been bruised by his violence or injured in other ways? No way his mum wouldn't have known. I am so annoyed by her shaking at the end. I want to know if that means she is going to beat him back because she is so angry, or if she is going back to scared.
Wouldn't she have been bruised by his violence or injured in other ways? No way his mum wouldn't have known. I am so annoyed by her shaking at the end. I want to know if that means she is going to beat him back because she is so angry, or if she is going back to scared.
Hide and Seek (New)
Ohhh, I like it. It feels very nostalgic - reminds me of melos from the early 2000's. Horrible chaebol grandma basically buys a kid to absorb the bad luck her precious granddaughter seems to have, but then the granddaughter is kidnapped anyway. Mom goes nuts, they keep the kid around for some twisted reason, she grows up to be Lee Yoo Ri which is always, always, always a good thing. They marry her off to another horrible family, the driver of which realizes she's not what she's been presented to be. He also happens to be living with the kidnapped daughter, though of course that's not known quite yet. She's a happy soul, well-loved by her mom and completely unaware that they're not biological. I think. Mom knows, of course, but I don't think she knows she's THAT girl. Of course she works for the company her true family owns and she comes into contact with them all the time, which makes the shaman's insistance that she's 'just around the corner' very funny.
Meanwhile Yoo Ri is trying to navigate the two horrible families. She sincerely loves her adopted mother and father and has always tried hard to be someone that they would be proud of, but she's also a scrappy thing and determined that her hard work is going to pay off, too. I'm not sure how she'll respond when she figures out who the daughter is now - especially because there's a budding thing between her and the driver, and the driver is engaged to that other one. He definitely doesn't love her, though. I don't know if he did once and just not now, or if he never did, but that's going to complicate things for sure.
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| Our Queen |
There's little to no screeching and people don't dress too horribly and so far no slapping, but we have had someone committed to a mental hospital until they fell into line and we do have a husband who isn't above a bit of brutality...not to mention grandparents who look at family members as pawns or property as well as family retainers with questionable behavior, so it's quite traditional without being too over the top. I'll stick watching even if it means I end up with two weekenders, because Ue's new drama is coming up soon too.
I was cheering at the vows our actual OTP took and their kiss. Sorry annoying bride, but He's Just Not That Into You, and if you weren't so incredibly self-centered, you would've noticed already.
I was cheering at the vows our actual OTP took and their kiss. Sorry annoying bride, but He's Just Not That Into You, and if you weren't so incredibly self-centered, you would've noticed already.
Sunny Again Tomorrow
Still loving the OTP of this show. I actually use them to satisfy my fluff needs after getting through eps of Voice and the other dark forces that I'm watching. He's completely adorkable with his dimples and ears and is going to be that kind of boyfriend that I'm starting to get used to in dailies that I'd wish we see more of in dramas--the kind of hero that we see in Gangnam Beauty who is not going to easily believe anyone else besides his girlfriend and his believe in his girlfriend. She's going to need it because people are increasingly becoming afraid that she is going to remember whose daughter she really is.
Still loving the OTP of this show. I actually use them to satisfy my fluff needs after getting through eps of Voice and the other dark forces that I'm watching. He's completely adorkable with his dimples and ears and is going to be that kind of boyfriend that I'm starting to get used to in dailies that I'd wish we see more of in dramas--the kind of hero that we see in Gangnam Beauty who is not going to easily believe anyone else besides his girlfriend and his believe in his girlfriend. She's going to need it because people are increasingly becoming afraid that she is going to remember whose daughter she really is.
I'm wondering what they are going to do with Ji Eun, the Wretched in this show, because she too is desperate for the truth not to come out because she feels to blame, but her mother's actions to keep the truth from coming out are starting to freak her out--as they should. She is also so in love with her now cousin by marriage and is correct in saying that he is the first person who ever loved her unconditionally. I was cheering when she said that to her mother's face.
CHINA/TAIWAN
Bloody Romance
I'm waiting for better subs. Everyone says the words matter in this, and the subs on Youtube do not exactly convey any depth of meaning.
Accidentally in Love
I got spoiled and didn't watch all the available episodes before the subs were taken away, but I did get to see the episode where her grandfather, to see if that silly idol boy really likes his granddaughter, pretends to be poor and literally rents out a whole really old farm when he comes to visit as a test. He even asks one of her friends to flirt with our hero. He, of course, passes. He is even able to fix their electricity problem. Qing Qing is no slouch either because she helps facilitate the reconciliation between him and his friend who was still trying to sabotage him because of his responsibility for their friend's death AND help our hero get over his trauma-based fear of water. I was just getting to the part where I think he's going to find out that she isn't who he thinks she is and was planning to treat myself with those two eps on Friday, but they are all gone again. Sigh. I do love her to pieces. Doesn't she look like a baby bird wanting to be fed in this pic?
Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace
This show is mesmerizingly good, and I go into withdrawal without it. I can't get over how beautiful it all is, and how in deep I am in the plot. Next week, Ruyi makes it out of the Cold Palace and that witch, Aruo, gets far too little humiliation and punishment, but at least she gets something.
WESTERN
Fear the Walking Dead
The individual stories of our storm-separated troop are beginning to mesh, and the overlying message of the need for community and the strength of people helping one another is becoming much louder. Will our guys all make it back together before that crazy zombie-making lady kills everyone to 'make Morgan strong?'
Castle Rock
So, way back when Henry Deaver the kid disappeared for several days? He was locked in a cage in a basement. The basement of the father of the guy that grown up Henry Deaver is beginning to think might really be the devil. Except that for THAT guy, in his world HE was Henry Deaver and THIS Henry Deaver was the devil. Yep. Two worlds, somehow crossed. In one, a grown up white guy Henry Deaver with a crazy preacher father who locked a black kid in a cage in his basement, and then went off and killed himself. In the other, a grown up black guy Henry Deaver with a crazy preacher father who tried to kill him years before. Now both in one place. My brain struggles a bit to keep up.
This picture has nothing to do with Castle Rock, but I appreciate it anyway.
