Rants and Weekly Raves #297 (RAWR)

Panda: I finally finished Crash Landing on You and feel like I deserve a prize. LOL. I was determined not to start another kdrama till I finished that and it was a loong struggle but VICTORY! Next step is Joy of Life
kakashi: Hahahaaaaa. I'm only reading historical romance, Bridgertons and such. It's giving me the necessary shades of pink.
JoAnne: Since last we met, I have watched 3 seasons of Homeland.  Claire Danes is amazing, but I really do not like the character she plays. I don't much like any of them, actually.  Well, Peter Quinn.  So far.  But I started out being very suspicious of him. I also finished Hospital Playlist and the next two episodes of King. I decided that little boy is the human manifestation of the manpasikjeok.
Trotwood: I did watch some things early in the week, but as the week wore on I just wrapped myself up in Chinese drama fluff. I'm still reeling from the Ancient Detective reveal and proud of everyone who has finished it weeks ago who did not spoil it for me. How did you manage to talk about it without talking about that? Such skill in by our commentators.

KOREA

Dinner Mate/Will You Have Dinner With Me

Have you ever wished two main characters were in a different show? That's the feeling I'm getting with Do-hee and Hae-kyung. I really like them separately and love them together, but I want to hit so many other people who seem to not want to let them live their own lives. We have the traditional ex-loves who were the people who dumped these two treasures and now insist on coming back into their lives, playing the victims even though they are the ones who broke up with our leads. However, we not only have them, tearing up in nearly every scene (will I ever see Lee Ji Hoon in any other type of role?), but we also have Hae-kyung's mom who abandoned him as a child and now is pushing her way back into his life as well as Do-hee's boss who insists that she work with her ex so she can have closure. What? This coupled with the fact that our two leads still don't know the other's identity, which is making me bored and anxious. Can we have them as real allies already? They both really need it.

Mystic Pop-Up Bar

This show is still my favorite show even though it has decided that I need to cry each week. I am really enjoying how we learn more about the main characters and are getting more about the background of Wol-Ju. I was pretty sure that she had started to have feelings for the prince, but I didn't necessarily expect the depth of his feelings for her. Does anyone but me think that Manager Gwi might be the prince? But then Kang Bae had the ring! I mean he did promise to look for her and be the one that she needed in the future. I hope our darling boy stops taking advice from his equally clueless colleagues although it was hilarious, but I'm also liking how the show reveals how he and Yeo Rin actually make a good team. They're all going to need to work together since those evil things keeps escaping from the dead world. 

Where Your Eyes Linger

Maybe it was because I was feeling so emotional last week, but here was another show that made me tear up. I can't decide if was more painful to watch Tae Joo come to admit his feelings and openly confess to Kang Kook only to have him reject him or to watch Kang Gook beg Tae Joo not to speak what they are feeling out loud because they can never be what he hopes. I hope this show isn't heading for a tragedy, but even though I hate such types of endings, I have to admit that it would make sense. As cruel as the statement was, I agree with Kang Gook. Tae Joo really can't survive in the same way without him. And it doesn't appear that Tae Joo really has anything else he cares about or who really cares about him at this point.

CHINA/TAIWAN

Amensalism

This show continues to make me like it because the characters aren't dumb, so I'm now completely ignoring the slo-mo sequences by thinking of other things while they are happening. It's like the show is buidling in mental breaks for me, and I needed them in this episode because the closer that our group of good guys gets to the truth all those years ago, the more nasty Zhao De is revealed to be. However, I'm not sure he realizes that his own daughter has now remembered everything. I just hope they can come up with more proof before Zhao De completely convinces the world that You Kuan need to be permanently put in a mental institution.

Ancient Detective (Final)

I applaud all of you for not spoiling the ending for me. I also can't believe that I didn't even get a hint of anyone talking about a plot twist. Maybe, I had been lulled by the traditional Hercule Poirot set up for each three episodes where we get the reveal of the "weekly" mystery by our detective and then the connection to the overall quest that it never occurred to me that I was going to have to rethink everything I saw on the way to this point in the last quarter of the last episode. Or maybe I was till mourning with Wo Huan over his broken heart or maybe I was distracted for being so relieved that our detective didn't die, or so happy then sad than full of melancholy over the relationship between our fav doc and the historian (more tears), that made me gobsmacked at the turn of events. I highly recommend this show. It's not the best show ever, but it was solid all around, and if they have a second season, I'd be up for a rewatch to make sure I was fresh on all the possible clues I will need. 

Girlfriend (Final)

I watched all the final episodes in one full swoop, and it was the perfect antidote for the dark feelings of all last week. Yes, we did get ridiculous noble idiocy and an even more ridiculous terminal illness recovery. I mean how come no one is talking about how the hospital just called to say, "sorry we made a mistake, you don't have cancer" and everyone just moved on. Fei Mo was sick with something. What was it? But we got great closure with all the couples. Even our selfish ex loves were able to learn about themselves and recognize that they needed to give up and move on. I liked how the director swooped in to claim his love, and I loved how our heroine proposed first. Really, if you need a traditional rom-com that actually makes you want to keep watching, watch this show. It was a soothing treat.

My Dear Lady

I was looking for something that would replace the fluff gap that Girlfriend is leaving behind, and I think I found it in this show. This show is about 29-year old Ling Xunxun who has hit rock bottom after finding out her husband cheated on her and in her hurt and rage not only divorced him but refused to take any money from him although she hasn't worked in over seven years because she stayed home to take care of their son. This means he also takes their son because she has no income to take care of herself let alone a kid. Fortunately, for her, she has an awesome friend who has an awesome apartment, so she has a place to stay. She ends up working as a personal assistant to a young man who is in some kind of corporate battle with his mother. Despite her crazy early choice, I like Xunxun a lot and am enjoying watching the ML fall for her. I watched four episodes in one fell swoop.