Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #353
Trotwood: I'm not going to be leading RAWR anymore after July, but the blog will still be here and Kakashi is working with some readers to turn the space over, so there is still somewhere for people to drop in and talk about dramas. I know some people were worried it was all going to disappear, but it doesn't look like it. Hurray!!!
"Interesting, but I know I am never going to watch":
Mysterious Love is exactly the kind of drama I should be gobbling up. Sixteen 30 minute-episodes with romance and mystery, but I just didn't have time. I watched the first episode, and it seemed clunky but also looks like the kind of show that might get better once they are done with setting up the complicated plot.
I had every intention of watching the first episode of Monthly Magazine Home because I really like Ji Suk and Jung So Min. It also has other actors that I like, but somehow it started and I didn't even know, and I'm not is space to "catch up" on a show if I miss the first week.
Personal PotUp Favorites:
Take a look at the variety of banners the blog has had over the years. I had forgotten many of them, and so many bring back fond memories. Actually, it's even more appropriate to look through them while humming The Way We Were.
Comfort Drama of the Week:
It's July, so it's probably time for me to rewatch Drunken to Love You. It's a show that hits every single one of my favorite things. I'm forever thankful for it bringing Joseph Chang to my attention. I love Rainie Yang and have followed her through all sorts of characters, but I think I like this one the best. I love the way they are friends first helping each other through real heartbreak that the show actually addresses and gives time for us to not only believe that they had really loved before but also that they had time to get through it and fall in love again. I like how they both are good at their jobs and respect each other so much. I even like the resolutions of the second leads. The premise is clunky slapstick to be sure, and I'm always annoyed at the last couple of eps (one of those shows that went longer than it needed to because it was popular). But still, these two are the people I vacation with every year.
KOREA
The Devil Judge
I posted on twitter that Ji Sung looks so good in this drama that I licked my lips when he came on the screen. Everyone keeps talking about how this show presents a dystopian world. I'm not going to disagree; however, I also want to point out that it doesn't seem that much different than what is going actually our real world. The very rich do live a different life than everyone else. Many people don't trust their governments to do the right thing. And with court cases often televised, it does make it harder to distinguish between real justice and a reality show. Ji Sung plays such a judge on in a real court that allows viewers to vote on people's guilt or innocence. It's sponsored by a group called the Social Responsibility Foundation. But who's to bet that they are really only about morals for other people? Our hero, played by Park Jin Young, initially is suspicious of the judge and his connections, but then he is confused. Is the Judge good or bad? I think they all need to worry more about what Jung Sun Ah (played by Kim Min Jung) is doing. SHe's the scariest of them all I think.
CHINA/TAIWAN
Be Together
Yes, Zhang Bin Bin is in this and is about as swoon worthy as I have ever seen him. It's like the writer knew what our fantasy Bin Bin character would be and was tired of seeing him cry and put him in very nice suits. HOWEVER, what I actually like about this show is the friendship between the four women friends. The show actually focuses on this and their loyalty to each other and their struggles with combining work with familial and societal expectations more than with the men, and their potential partners, at least so far (I've only seen the first week of four shows), are very secondary to their friendship. What I have seen of them, so far, also hits all the right spots. They are men who truly admire and like the women who they will end of with (and there is some switching around I see from the posters) before they fall in love.
JAPAN
Chef wa Meitantei/ Chef is a Detective
I know I mentioned this in my last post, but I really love the supporting staff at the restaurant. They only have a waiter, a sommelier and a sous-chef in addition to our hero, but that is all that is needed in this little place. It also allows the show to deal with the "story of the week" and build their characters. This episode really let them shine, and I laughed out loud several times because of them. We also got more of the background story or our grump sous-chef and his singer wife as well as who the mysterious owner actually is. I was surprised, but the way this show works, it all makes sense. I'm even starting to like Yuki's haikus.
Ichikei no Karasu/Inchikei's Crow
This looks like it is going to be the summer of (hot) judges for me. In this show about justice, we get the exact opposite kind of judge and social justice than in The Devil Judge above. I wouldn't say that Judge Iruma (played by Takenouchi Yutaka) is an angel compared to Ji Sung's Kang Yo Hang. They both are unconventional and believe in getting to the personal stories behind the cases brought before them. However, while you aren't quite sure whether Kang Yo Hang does this more for justice or for ratings, it's very clear that Iruma doesn't care about ratings but the real truth. The heroine is sent to be on his bench because his court runs incredibly behind other courts because he often investigates things himself, taking much longer than other courts to complete cases. Our heroine, Sakama Chizuri, played by Kuroki Haru (who we know here from posts on Nagi no Oitoma), is a by the books judge with a high efficiency rating. It's clear that her role in this show is to soften up and learn about real justice. I don't mind learning this lesson when Takenouchi Yutaka is teaching it.
THAILAND
I Need Romance
This show is the Thai version of the 2014 Korean drama I Need Romance 3, which starred Kim So Yeon and Sung Joon. I didn't know that when I started watching and then starting thinking, "Wow, this story is familiar" and looked it up. It is hitting all the right notes, especially since the actor playing the grown up version of the kid the heroine had to babysit when younger is played by New Thitipoom, and he, in this, had the same effect on me that he is supposed to have on her. I've always thought of him as a fairly adorable puppy, the kind of guy that you'd feel good about one of your kids dating. However, he showed up in this show, and I was like "When did he become a man?!?!?" No wonder, our heroine didn't recognize him at first. I also remember not liking the heroine that much in the beginning of the Korean version (although I came to like her later), but I like the heroine much more here. We get to see why she is so bitter about love and is so changed from the positive girl that our young hero remembers, and whom he has come back to show who he has become.
