Rants and Weekly Raves #291 (RAWR)
JoAnne: I feel like I'm watching tv all the time, but I think I'm not really watching, watching - it's running in the background while I do other things. I'm not really 'watching' many shows but am up to season 5 of Supernatural binge, and liking an Aussie crime solving medical show called Harrow (Ioan Gruffud!)
kakashi: I had such good intentions! I meant to watch more Maggshimush and start on the Marriage disaster but alas! It's Tuesdays already and I haven't watched anything. But you know what! It's raining and I'm so happy about it, we didn't have rain for 6 weeks. I also went on a walk with two of my work colleagues this afternoon, it was lovely to see them (I will have to stay in Home Office until the end of August)
Trotwood: I am in the middle of a huge and morbid project at work while trying to figure out if our institution is going to survive this crisis. I've been watching here and there and then binged over two days all 12 episodes of Girlfriend because of the comments (Thanks, Annh!). This show and 2Gether are exactly what I need to counter the rather somber period that I'm in right now. But it's clear that people don't know how to do these kind of shows well, which is why they are rare.
kakashi: I had such good intentions! I meant to watch more Maggshimush and start on the Marriage disaster but alas! It's Tuesdays already and I haven't watched anything. But you know what! It's raining and I'm so happy about it, we didn't have rain for 6 weeks. I also went on a walk with two of my work colleagues this afternoon, it was lovely to see them (I will have to stay in Home Office until the end of August)
Trotwood: I am in the middle of a huge and morbid project at work while trying to figure out if our institution is going to survive this crisis. I've been watching here and there and then binged over two days all 12 episodes of Girlfriend because of the comments (Thanks, Annh!). This show and 2Gether are exactly what I need to counter the rather somber period that I'm in right now. But it's clear that people don't know how to do these kind of shows well, which is why they are rare.
KOREA
I'll Find You on a Beautiful Day/I'll Go to You When the Weather is Fine (Finale)
Everyone has been talking about how lovely the whole ending
was, and I’m not going to disagree. I did like the couple here and all the
hugging and snuggling in their impossibly long list of wonderful cozy sweaters
and coats. I’m glad that finally, FINALLY, JangWoo is adored for who he is.
Yes, he went to SNU but that doesn’t mean that he can’t be happy just living in
his own town with girl of his dreams. The secret of the past—though
traumatizing and tragic—is just that and it seems that people will not move on
but keep that a part of their baggage without letting it drag them down anymore
because their loved ones are going to pull them up. I still don’t get the
function of Bo-young’s character. She needs more help than anyone can giver
her. But I’m going to end my notes on Hwi. Oh how I loved love love her
character. She loves with her whole heart, but she loves herself as well. I
feel like if I had known someone like her when I was in high school, I would’ve
been a stronger person. Kim Hwan Hee was an absolute delight in this role. I
saw her as the best friend in Sweet Revenge and really liked her there. She is
a real talent. I see her being the young version of Kim Seul Gi. She is that
good.
365: Repeat the Year
You know a show is going to turn your mind around if the
person when the gangster, loser, gambling addict, abuser ends up being the
person with the biggest heart and the person who you thought had stepped out of
a live action Disney movie turns out to be a serial killer, but I don’t want to
speak too soon. Last week’s episodes no sooner made you relieved at being
trolled from the previous week to only spin everything on its head and make us
not only believe that everyone will die, but the reason is so painful to our
lead that I wouldn’t blame him if he just gave up. Still, Shin’s roll in this
doesn’t make sense. Why is she involved with any of them at all? Why isn’t she
just focusing on ways to cure her daughter?
The King: Eternal Monarch
I am quite enjoying this but then, the early episodes tend to be pretty good in these fantasy dramas. All the puppies look good, there's some handsome ahjussis, I don't want to throw rocks at our heroine, and I'm very curious about the time differences between the two worlds, and whether everyone has a double and if they don't, why? Also, we know when the histories divurged but I don't think they explained why yet, right? Also: Lee Min Ho on a horse is very satisfying.
The World of the Married/ A Couple's World
Not watching anymore, but the ratings are still through the roof. I guess this is another show where viewers are feeling betrayed by the one buoy of goodness. Thoughts?
When My Love Blooms
One of the most beautiful looking shows I’ve seen in a long
time and the soundtrack is absolutely fantastic. I only watched the first
episode, and I wept so much from the nostalgia and the longing and the regret
and the lost potential that even though I said in a tweet that if if I were
still married and Yoo Ji Tae asked me to leave my husband I would, I don’t know
if I have the mental wherewithal to face him and Lee Bo Young suffer before they
can get back together. I really just want to watch them snuggling and drinking
hot chocolate together in the mountains. I know that is too much to ask.
CHINA/TAIWAN
Amensalism
Even though his mom is presented as this scary tough
overbearing woman, I have to agree with her that You Kwan could’ve have asked
the other people to the follow up work with Bi Kei Wei, but then of course we
wouldn’t have had that bonding scene in the mountains would we? Also, I love
finding out why Yao Qing is so stuck on her even though it seems their
personalities and values would not have made them this close. She rescued him
from doing something nightmarish and brought him back into the warmth of the
living. SO they both see her as their source of warmth. But I don’t see why he
expects Yo Kwan to swear to keep her safe when no one can do that. I do like
their friendship, and hope that they all start working together soon because
that evil twin of the CEO is a fright.
Girlfriend
So glad that I read through all the comments in RAWR because
otherwise I would have missed this show which is just what the doctor ordered.
This show has a fairly standard set up. Spunky heroine who is in charge of
getting her family out of debt ends up in a contract relationship with mega
rich/uber successful ML. She has a beautiful and kind best friend, and he has a
best friend who works with him who is also very kind. The FL & ML have some
mysterious connection from their past. But we get twists in this story. The ML’s
relationship with his ex-girlfriend reminds me of the ML’s relationship with
the horrid 2nd FL in My Name is Gangnam Beauty. I relish in how he
ignores her. His mother is not a tyrant but really wants to see him happy &
hates his ex even more than he does. I love her. Her right hand woman is also a treat.Our
heroine is not a doormat and can give as good as she gets. I watched all subbed
episodes over a span of three days. 12 half hour episodes subbed so far, and I
want more.
JAPAN
Rental nan mo shinai hito
This is a show with a seemingly slow burning premise. A guy really
just wants to to spend his life doing nothing, so he rents himself out to
people to do random things with them that they don’t want to do alone. It seems
like he will get to meet all sorts of people and in his calm quiet way deeply
affect their lives just by being present and not demanding anything of them. Like
the man who’s wanted to drink ice cream floats without being judged or the
woman leaving Tokyo and wants to spend her last day touring but not alone or
with friends because either would be too sad. I can think of lots of times, I
would have wanted to utilize such a service.
THAILAND
WHYRU (Finale)
Once again. It was pretty. The main obstacle—Fighter’s dad’s
disapproval—was inexplicably resolved by his dad just changing his mind, but
know some of this must be because of the problems with shooting because we just
see him saying he changed his mind over the phone. Nothing much happens the
entire episode other than the two couples being together, sleeping together,
and hanging out on an extended double date at yet another beach house that no
college students I know could ever afford.
2Gether: the Series
I thought we were going to be trolled for a bit there when
the confession at the end of last episode was turned into a publicity ploy
because Tine’s performance was so bad. However, the emotional confrontation and
Tine’s tears at having messed up so badly when all he wanted was to have the opportunity
to be the one helping Sarawat this time probably pushed him over the edge into
accepting.It was awkward how their relationship gets exposed to his friends,
but not as awkward as his own brother showing up to stay at their new
apartment. Who carries tape around? He had to have known the real story. This
show makes me feel so good that I rewatch each episode at least twice before
even writing RAWR posts.
My Engineer
The boxing match is over and everyone is being silly about
who is a top and who is a bottom. Sigh. The best part of this episode wasn’t
about the main pair but the other couples. We get Frong finally looking
like he’s succumbing to his attraction to Thara. And poor Mek gets completely
friendzoned immediately after Boss says he loves him in his drunken stupor,
but that look that Boss gives him when he wakes up gives me hope.
