Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #387

Anne: Don't you hate it when your boss sends a meeting invite and the title is "Very Important Meeting" with NO details. And then cancels on you because there was some misalignment with our global director. It turns out to be half of what I guessed. It's mostly a reorganization talk, and technically good news for me. I am just not a fan of cryptic messages. Being an over-thinking person, it cost me quite a bit second guessing and scenario planning. I had half a dozen plans already detailed inside my head. With a few anxious days, at least I had some interesting shows to redirect my thoughts.

Bad and Crazy

This show constantly twists my brain just trying to image how in the world does the above scene happen. How in the world does the original host act as a passive person on the outside looking in, while his alter ego takes control? And the transitions gives absolutely NO clue as to how this happens. How does K get a bike when the original host was in control of the body just before he got on the back of the bike? Even though these interactions are truly mind bending and illogical, the scenes between K and Soo Yeol are some of the best scenes, from comedy to fights, in the show.

I was so excited on Saturday to being able to watch 2 episodes. Unfortunately, episode 10 never dropped. It got bumped from airing due to a soccer match. I'm hoping they will drop 3 episodes in one of these weeks, otherwise, it will leave the very last episode hanging to be aired 1 week later than originally planned. Ugh....

The show itself, however, continues to unravel more and more of Soo Yeol back story. And he finally realizes what the hallway of doors was all about.

They hold all his memories. And at the very end of the hallway, he finally opened the door. What he saw made him suspect that he may have murder his father, but the truth might be worse. The newest case led him down the path of abused children having their parental figure mysteriously murdered, while the child of the murdered guardian has a perfect alibi. As season drama watchers, we all know what is going on of course. It is exactly like that old classic, Strangers on a Train. And K's first memory of his own existence was him with a strong desire to kill someone, while holding a knife in his hand. And that is the end of episode 9. So I have wait painstakingly for another week to pass before we can find out if K really did it, what does the drug being sold by the gang has to do with any of this, what about Soo Yeol's mother and his brother, is Soo Yeol ever getting back with his ex, and will K finally have to disappear at the end? 

Reset

This was my surprised find of the week. I actually saw this on Viki when it first aired, I marked it to put it on my list, but I didn't immediately start it. The main reason is that this is basically Groundhog's Day or the dark comedy Happy Death Day. I generally do like this type of genre, but it has been done so often, that I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. And besides, it was about a bus explosion, so even less intriguing. However, with Bad and Crazy dropping only two episodes, and having finished Luoyang and My Heart, I really didn't have anything else to watch. So I went ahead and started this without knowing ANYTHING about who was acting in it. And to my delight, Bai Jing Ting is the ML.

This show is SO good. The pace is fast, no "flashbacks" to drag out the emotional trauma, and it keeps showing a different outcome and plot depending on what is changed by the main ML and FL. When the first episode ended, it didn't even feel like >40 minutes had passed. I LOVE every minute of this...unfortunately, this is airing one episode a week! I really want to say I can hold off and bank enough episodes so I don't develop anxiety waiting, but my patience probably won't allow it.

The drama starts with Li Shi Qing taking a bus to go a bookstore from her college campus. She falls asleep on the bus, and she is awakened by a ring tone. Before she completely wakes up, the bus explodes. Next second, she awakes with a start on the bus again. She thinks it was a dream, until it happens again. Then for the next few times, she tries her best to get off the bus, but it doesn't happen. And she only managed to succeed when she accuses the man sitting next to her, Xiao He Yun, of molesting her while she was sleeping. Now, it makes little sense why this worked where nothing else did, but let's just go with it. But not only does she gets off, she drags He Yun off with her.  While He Yun goes off on his way, she calls the police, to report a bus explosion. She thinks that everything should be fine, but as she is about to cross a street, the bus explodes. She gets distracted and gets hit by a scooter. It causes her to knock her head hard enough to give her a concussion and she ends up in the hospital. Of course, the police wants to talk to her. While she tells this incredible story of how she knew the bus was going to explode, she sees He Yun, with first degree burns being rushed to the burn unit (this is my interpretation, but it makes no sense why he would be in surgery). Even though the police doesn't believe her, she manages to get information about how the bus exploded. It ran into a gasoline tanker at an intersection. He Yun doesn't survive his wounds and he dies.

Next thing we see He Yun jerking awake, and thinking that everything that he just went through was a dream. And we see what happens to him after getting off the bus. While He Yun basically does the exact same things that Shi Qing did to get off the bus, Shi Qing, knowing that it wouldn't work, started to notice how the bus hit the gasoline tanker. A delivery scooter runs a red light, the bus driver clips the scooter as he tries to avoid the collision, which in turn causes the bus to run into the gasoline tanker. So they decided that all they need to do is avoid the accident. And they managed it. For a good 10 seconds, we all breathe a sigh of relief. As the bus goes over a bridge, Shi Qing hears the ring tone again, and the bus explodes. This time, they know there is a bomb. Using the only method that worked before, they get off the bus. Shi Qing immediately calls the police to tell them about the bomb. But there wasn't enough time, and the bus explodes at the interaction again by running into the gasoline tanker. Of course now, they become suspects number 1 and 2. Of course the police doesn't believe a word they are saying. As He Yun is basically going to be charged with the crime, Shi Qing falls asleep in the interrogation room, and so does He Yun. And the next second, they are back on the bus again. It turns out that as long as they lose consciousness, either by death or falling asleep, they go right back into the loop.

This time, they know there is a bomb. So they tried to stop the bus by saying that there is a bomb on board. But as soon as they warn the bus driver, the bus explodes. So now they know that the bomber is also on board. In the latest reset, they woke up early enough to get off on a stop. Again Shi Qing calls the police. He Yun doesn't want to be involved. He doesn't want to go through interrogation again. Because of the timing, the police was able to get to the bus on the bridge. (Don't ask me why it didn't explode in the intersection. The only thing I can think of was that they caused a delay in the bus schedule with all their trying to get off the bus. But since this time, both got off, the bus was right on schedule.) However, the bus of course still explodes, this time killing one of the police officers.

What will happen in episode 5? I cannot wait!!!

Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities

No one should be surprised that I started this as soon as it was aired. I did hesitate, since the fantasy dramas have been a bit blah lately. But it has Zheng Ye Cheng, and I really like him. Although it looks like he's the 2nd ML...sigh...

While the overall plot is familiar, I do like all the lead characters. Which is quite different from Luoyang, where I didn't like 3 out of the 4. Su Mo and Zhen Lan are two very, very reluctant heirs to their respective thrones. And Bai Ying is the princess of an off shoot of the royal family, who is destined to be the Crown Princess to Zhen Lan. I'm only on episode 4 and it's only in the introduction of everyone and setting the stage for the "bad" guy, the romance between So Mo and Bai Ying. It is 43 episodes, so I guess they have time.

Let's see how this develops, and at least I'll have something to watch while both Bad and Crazy and Reset stays on their slow, slow airing schedule.

Have a great week everyone!