Rants and Weekly Raves #219 (RAWR)

JoAnne: Finally! Got myself together to get this up semi-on-time.
kakashi: She is talking about the draft, people, so that we can all give our mustard to it (a German expression, don't mind me). Anyway, it's almost Christmas, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! Yes but now I want sausages and mustard.
Trotwood: I had an extremely bad Korean lesson today, so once again my Korean teacher has put on a ban--if I have time to watch shows, then i should be studying instead--at least until the placement test. I really had no time for anything last week with work crises, so there won't be anything from me here. Not even God's Quiz. Is anyone else watching that but me?
I've been hearing about it, and even though I've never seen ANY of the previous series I would like to check it out.
Panda: LOOOOOOOL at myself and my drought. Sigh.
SakiVI: oups, I'm late!

Chen is looking a bit thin this week

KOREA

The Woodcutter and the Fairy

I'm caught up now and the mystery of who was who in the past is resolved, though we don't know what happened yet. We do know that the lady in red liked Fairy Soen then, so it makes sense she likes her now, too. There are still a lot of questions, though, and I'll be impressed if they can wrap this up cleanly.
I guess in Fairy Land, it was all Free Love.  

Less than Evil (New) 

I guess I'm expected to watch this?
You are, and I will be watching also. Update: These episodes go by FAST and I do think I will enjoy watching Tae Suk pair off against Sun Jae the psychopath.
I thought about watching it, and decided not to because it's too violent for me.  Sorry, Shin Ha Kyun, I'll wait for something light.

Matrimonial Chaos (Finale - late)

Ah! Finished! For a meandering show that had me liking, then disliking, then liking again all 4 main characters, it finished up pretty tightly. Resolutions seemed pretty plausible and (important to me) pretty happy. I particularly liked the development of friendship between the two men and the two women, and the growth shown in some of his family relationships - father reconciling with that awesome halmeoni, for example. Another big plus for me was the frank acknowledgment relationships have an ebb and flow and that some just aren't meant to last, and that's absolutely as okay as fighting to work it out.

Encounter

What happens when the prettiest, loneliest, best lipstick color-havingest woman in Korea pairs up with the shiniest, most uncomplicated, best hair-havingest man in Korea? This show, and we are alllll here for it. I don't know anyone who wouldn't gladly burn her parents and ex-mother-in-law at the stake, including her ex-husband, and we are all so thankful that Bogummy's character refuses to leave her alone in her ivory tower.

Well, on that last one, you can leave the ex out. I'm increasingly convinced that he actually loved her but staged an affair and caused the divorce because he thought it would set her free from his mother. Surprise, that didn't work. Can't wait for next week!

The Last Empress

Dis mine. MINE.

Oh look, there's another prince, and he seems like he might have a heart. You know, like an actual human. Meanwhile, the Emperor continues to smile like a maniac and be a huge dick, while his grandmother figures out that this time, her bitch of a daughter-in-law might not have been wrong. Speaking of bitches, Min Yoo Ra is about as rotten a person as they come, huh? She can't have a soul, to do the things she does. And then smile at the poor Empress like sweetness and light? I hope Na Wang Sik destroys her completely, her AND her probably a little insane Emperor.

Here's the thing though...Na Wang Sik has now committed a murder, and intends to commit two more. I'd assumed there might be a happy ending for Oh Sun Ni and that it might involve him, but I don't see how that can be true anymore. At this point, I'm assuming the younger prince eventually takes the throne, and that maybe Sun Ni's sister is going to be his romantic pairing. I figured Oh Sun Ni would go back to musical theater and live happily ever after with her freaking gorgeous body guard Na Wang Sik and his cutie pie little brother Bong Sik...but now Wang Sik is a murderer and we know Bong Sik is Yoo Ra's son, so...

I'm so okay with Na Wang Shik murdering Yoora and the Emperor, though.  I hope he does it painfully.

Another show I very much look forward to...and I love our friend Ori's new term 'mockjang' - it fits perfectly!

Children of Nobody

By episode 11, I was (perhaps belatedly) coming to the conclusion that the little girl in green was our lead as a child, but after 12, I'm willing to consider that it's her sister.

Fates and Furies (New)

Oh, I like. Lee Min Jung and Joo Sang Wook are a great pairing, as we know from Cunning Single Lady days. The set up is pretty standard but it's one I like - plucky and talented but down on her luck woman ends up captivating the heart of a rich guy who's fighting his family to make his mark on the business. The added twist here is that she's targeting him directly - not out of animosity toward him but at the behest of another guy who actually just wants to destroy the rich guy's fiancee (because she used to be his and abandoned him and (I think) fatally ill daughter?), and will pay her to help him do it. I foresee SO MUCH ANGST. I cannot wait!
What I can't figure out is, did the daughter die and is that why that tall cute guy is out for revenge?

Memories of the Alhambra

The game is amazing, but there's no way it can exist in the world.  And if it ever does exist in the world, it must be destroyed.  Nothing good can come of a game like that.  Nothing.   Other than that - Granada is gorgeous, the stars are gorgeous, the cat and mouse corporate intrigue is, well...interesting enough to keep you going, and the whole thing is actually almost kind of scary, too.  First because his dead ex-friend keeps showing up in the game - which is also just starting up by itself ALREADY -  but mostly, really, if that game doesn't send chills up your spine at the thought of what havoc it could wreak on the world, I don't know what you're thinking about.

CHINA/TAIWAN

Rise of Phoenixes

What do you think Kakashi will do next?
Cry? Because they're so sweet and so doomed :(