Rants and Weekly Raves #245 (RAWR)

Trotwood: I was planning on watching WWW as well this weekend, but there were so many novel translations that came out, and I started watching Super Voice, a Chinese show where 36 male singers from operas and musicals compete for 6 principle positions. All are good, very tense. Eps 1-3 of season 1 are subbed. Each ep is 1.5 hours. I was riveted and anxious the entire time. It's like watching a sporting event. What has everyone been up to?
JoAnne: I spent my whole weekend wondering where you were and what you were doing.
Panda: Hope everyone has seen Always be my Maybe? Ali Wong you sly fox, snogging three prime men. I Approve heartily. Spent the week sleeping, shopping and reading. Bliss
Yes! Loved it! Very funny, very sweet.

KOREA 

The Secret Life of My Secretary 

Now everyone is unhappy.  It won't last long and our couples will get sorted out but oh, it hurts so good.  I'm shipping both pairs REALLY hard.  

Perfume (New) 

The preview was a mess, the first few watchers in my TList were incensed.  There's a LOT to watch these days so someone tell me if they liked this even a little bit?

Investigation Couple 2 (New) 

Very happy this is back!  We pick up a year later, and pretty much everyone is back for season 2.  No Stella (Stephanie Lee) but that provides opportunities for the lovelorn to be, well, lorn.  I very much look forward to another set of interesting and complicated cases, and Baek Beom is still investigating the 'death' of the big bad from last year, which makes me REALLY happy.

WWW: Search (New)

So far, so really good!  It's true I've only seen the first episode so who the hell knows how it will play out over time but SO FAR:  the acting is solid and we've got some interesting plot lines plus it is female-centric with multiple successful, talented women in leadership positions.  Our heroine, Bae Ta Mi, is portrayed as very smart and work-focused, but she remains like-able and friendly.  It's refreshing to have someone who can be both, you know, like in real life.  There are other women in power within her organization and they seem like they'll be equally complex and the work drama is going to be between them and their approach to work and getting ahead, just like if they were men! OMG!  I'm telling you, it makes me rub my hands together in anticipation.

And if that didn't...WELL.  Jang Ki Yong, who will henceforth be known as Jang Ki YUM in these pages...we're getting the lead role from him that we've wanted, I think.  Yes, I can squee over a drama that treats women like full human beings with brains AND do this.  He's grown, capable, and frankly interested in Bae Ta Mi, who returns that interest just as frankly.  (A noona romance, even!)  They meet cute and actually get BUSY that first evening, and LORD, I hope that continues and doesn't get bogged down too much in social considerations.  Yes, our career woman had sex the night she met a VERY cute man and you know what?  It didn't take away at all from the impression that her work was going to be an important part of the story and that she would be good at that work.  (Also, pay attention to what she does the morning after to distract from her two-days-in-a-row outfit.  I loved, loved, loved how that was handled.)

Can't wait to see episode 2 this evening!  UPDATE:  ohhhh, this is so good.  It's SO GOOD.  Please stay like this. Also:  the clothes are gorgeous and so are the settings.  This is just pure joy, through and through.  Love the actors, love the story laid out for us, love the way they're giving us people and relationships with layers.  Love all of it.

Everything Jo said. I am excited about this and I finally get the Jang Ki Yong thing. That line from the end of episode 1 is now an instant kdrama classic.

Save Me 2 

We're at the point in the story where things are starting to happen in earnest.  Poor Min Cheol feels like he's living in a nightmare - he's right about everything but even the folks who liked him are shunning him, and his poor mother is being harassed, too.  We learn more about his life - his temper and his violence always came out against people who 'deserved' it and what's more, it was usually to protect others - but to his complete bewilderment that isn't how people see his actions even though he was 'right' about the wrongness of the other person's behavior, and his intervention wasn't ever welcome.  Now Professor Choi is painting him as the devil and the townsfolk are eating it up, and he knows this guy is worse than he EVER was.

Meanwhile, his sister has been drugged and sold off to a hostess bar, his neigbhor's accidental death is being blamed on him, his friend ByungRul is near death in a basement somewhere, Byung Rul's conning wife has run off and left her baby, Byung Rul's mother has died from a fall and Choi has lied and said she wants all her money to go toward fighting the devil - leaving her handicapped son and and an abandoned infant with nothing.  They're feeding Chil Sung's wife drugs in her water so that she feels better temporarily and calling it a 'cure' - but she is still very much going to die, and soon. Choi has some 'religious community' he's going to steer all the villagers toward where they can live as a happy commune, but it's really just a way to take all their money once the village is sold off for the dam.  And on top of all this, Choi continues to make the impressionable minister believe he might have a gift from God and use him in their evil con.

There are some tiny pinpricks of light in this darkness. Min Cheol and his few friends continue to investigate as they are able.  The police chief has become a little suspicious of Choi because Min Cheol pointed out a couple things. The pastor, I think,  has concerns about some parts of what's happening.  And Byung Rul's wife is really angry that Choi conned her even though she spent years building the con with him.  She went so far as to marry BR, live with his family, have his CHILD...and then when Choi finally pays her, he immediately steals the money back.  Even horrible people can feel wronged, and she definitely is out for blood now.  That might just be the break Min Cheol needs.

Angel's Last Mission: Love 

There is no way I want Yeon Seo to fall for Kang Soo, none.  But Kim Dan is an angel, and forbidden to love anything but God.  And the poor thing is trying really hard to do what he should, but the fact is he does love her. Technically he's already committed that great sin even if he never acknowledges it or acts on it. Do we have a drama that flirts with romance and ultimately skirts the issue, or do we find a way to make Kim Dan human again?  He was clearly the little boy from the beach, though he doesn't know that yet.

I'm glad I was right to think that Auntie's husband isn't down for killing people, but that just makes me wonder if he knew/ignored her earlier murders or is just now coming to suspect.  He's been a willing participant in all the other horrible things she's done, but hey, at least murder is a bridge too far, right? 

I really want to see her pay.  Really, really want it. Kang Soo, on the other hand...he was an angel who fell.  Not for doing anything 'evil' but for loving one of his charges and choosing life with her over life as angel.  She dies immediately when she steps in front of the heavenly bullet meant for him and poor Kang Soo is a bit nuts after that. I'm not sure what his story is right now - he's clearly obsessed with Yeon Seo becoming a prima ballerina again, and since she looks like his dead love it must feel like 'revenge' against heaven but are his feelings for her also personal?  What's the basis of his anger toward Kim Dan?  Is it jealousy or is it fear of being interrupted?

Absolute Boyfriend 

The secret is finally out about Wang Joon's stalker, since Da Da is now being targeted directly.  I like Wang Joon.  Sure, he's got some 'top star' egotism and selfishness, but he truly loves Da Da, always has, and only wants to protect her.  The question is this:  is he ever going to put her first if he wins her back?  Da Da has rightly pointed out that she always came second even if her need was legitimate, and she never felt she could complain because his reasons for putting her second were always legitimate, too. But if she doesn't return to Wang Joon, can she really just be with Yeong Goo?

No matter how wonderful and lovely Yeong Goo is, he's a robot - but is he changing, somehow?  We learned this week that his request to be loved in return is not something programmed into him.  In fact, it shocked Bo Won when he learned of it.  If Yeong Goo is developing actual feelings, then what is he?

Arthdal Chronicles 

This week was much better.  Easier to see, easier to follow, a good amount of story laid out.  There's always going to be stuff to laugh about but to be fair, every time I saw those stupid dragons in a commercial or a meme I laughed, too.

So far, Tagon's dad is a complete bastard and Tagon kind of moves back and forth between bastard and not.  Taelha turns out to be more complicated than her sticky sweet first impression and when Tanya is done fucking around Tanya is DONE fucking around.  I very much look forward to more of her, and there's a third woman, Lady Chae Eun, who seems promising.  

Eun Seom has discovered his birth secret but he doesn't seem too upset about it at the moment, and I giggle every time he conveniently calls upon what can only be described as superhuman physical talents just out of NOwhere, not to mention his ancestral ability to put on appropriate warpaint.  Yang Cha is his brother, right?  Good looking boy.  Really good looking.

Speaking of good looking, a moment of silence for the departed:  Ragaz, played by a KDrama virgin named Yoo Teo:  may we see him again, soon.  And then, of course, there's Moo Gwang, unfortunately still very much alive despite being attractive.  I can't imagine they'll let him live til the end, though, he's too much of a bastard.

Ragaz!!!!!!!!!! He reminded me so much of Hot Dad and Mum from Tribes&Empires, only difference is they at least survived for 2 episodes(?) while my poor Ragaz was cut down so early. Grrrrr. I am still sort of ... about this. It is wayyyyy too long and I have forwarded scenes in every single episode. I however find myself enjoying most of it. I like that Taelha was a spy, was surprised her talkative maid could fight, and hmmm do I smell a potential love triangle with that Lady Merchant? Actually I think there might be 2 potential love triangles cos I got a vibe between Tagon-Taelha-Tanya. I loved that Tanya curse scene and it was the most powerful scene in episode 4. More of that please. I am quite enjoying that women here have agency.

Tagon is a bastard but I mean his dad tried to strangle him! That would sure fuck any person up. I also appreciate a smart villain so while I can never root for him- the genocide was unnecessary; I am intrigued by his future shennanigans. 

Is Yang Cha his brother? For some reason I thought we had not seen the second Igutu yet.

Dunno, really - I was speculating!  He seems like he might be more important than just Tagon's bodyguard, no?

The Nokdu Flower 

Remember when I wondered how the warring government soldiers and the rioting peasants would deal with the news of the Qing army and the impending arrival of the Japanese?  They formed a truce, of sorts.  Yi Hyun has taken a position in a new government office and is hopeful that a new world is coming.  It seems genuine.  He seems to really want to go back to being the pleasant young man he had been prior to the fighting, but I'm not sure he's all that stable, mentally.

There's a whole lot of political shadiness going on with the Japanese, and the Qing soldiers are animals who rape and pillage at will - for sure, more trouble is coming.

Meanwhile, Yi Kang and Lady Song are not moving forward due their worldview differences - what she wants to see would end up being bad for him and what he wants would be bad for the peddlers so they agreed not to pursue a relationship - but I also don't know that that will last.  They really love each other and they're really sad.

CHINA/TAIWAN 

Detective L (Finale)

So I raged through the first episode of the finale mystery, City in Crisis, because I couldn't believe that none of them thought of all of the targets the new villain would find, I bit my nails through the 2nd episode because I was so tense concerning who was and was not going to be saved. And then the 3rd ep gave me some relief to see the team bonding and back together only for the finale to literally end with an explosion and me saying WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?! I'm assuming that there will be a season 2 because that is the only thing that makes sense. If I were them and I had put so much work into all those costumes and sets, I'd be milking multiple seasons out of this, turning it into a franchise. 

HIStory3

We have a running joke that our favorite cop is the only cop in this police force that gets hurt, which would be fine since he gets hurt enough for the entire the division. Despite that bit, we had some surprises for our principle players with gunshots fired in ways that were less than expected and a whole history that went differently than people would have dreamed. In this week's episodes we saw some of the repercussions to the decisions in the past and the present. We get progression and more danger with our secondary couple. Is this really Jack and ZZ's last supper together? Can we have a finale week that is a week without Shao Fei in the hospital?  Viki already has the first two weeks up.

Before We Get Married

Everyone was excited that Puff Gao and Jasper Liu were reuniting for a new drama. Despite the lagging near the end, their former show, Pleasantly Surprised?Love Myself or You (2014), was an enjoyable show, and Puff and Jasper were delightful together. However, this show is a VERY different kettle of fish with people being wary before it even came out because these two are with other people not each other. Jasper plays a stereotypical shark businessman, a top trader in stocks about to be CEO at a young age. He has a typical meet/cute with Puff's character, and he's completely intrigued by her. She wants nothing to do with him initially because he seems dark and crazy. She is engaged to a very nice and boring boyfriend who is insisting on a rigid plan of saving and living in preparation for them buying a house before getting married. He has been dating a woman whom he clearly can't bare to be around even though she is nice and perfect wife material because of a promise he made to her mother. Two episodes are out and there are sparks galore. This is going to be ugly before it gets pretty if it ever does. I also ranted about the horrid best friend. I don't care that she sleeps around, but tricking a friend into a matchmaker party w/o her knowledge and leaving her alone with the highest bidder is not my idea of a friend.

THAILAND 

Theory of Love

I commented on twitter that the actor playing Third should have walked around with an IV of liquids/electrolytes while filming this drama because he has to cry so much (and I've read the book, so I know the crying will last for awhile). I usually don't have a lot of patience for such characters male or female who are seen pining so much for the lead, especially when lead is clearly not deserving. But Gun's Third is a person I could see myself being friends with. He is a good student and talented. He is a good friend--funny, loyal, and honest to a fault, well except about this.He really just breaks your heart every time the tears come out. But the cohabitation section is starting. But what's with these new characters not in book?

JAPAN 

Kinou Nani Tabeta/What Did You Eat Yesterday

How do you protect someone you love after you are gone when society doesn't acknowledge your connection? That is just one of the questions that things episode asks. Of course, the focus is on Shiro and Kenji's relationship, but what we see in their different responses to and behavior around couple in need reveals how much Kenji doesn't realize that he is really the glue in the relationship and that Shiro knows that Kenji is the one who would move on the fastest if the relationship ended despite Kenji seemingly being the (only) one desperately in love.