Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #463

Anne: Hello Drama Lovers! I have not posted for a few weeks. The time is slipping really quickly from week to week. Last Monday, I was with 3 other adults and 1 seven year old as we stared at a cloud covered sky, hoping for a peek if and when the clouds would part a little.

This was the last peak of the eclipse before the cloud completely obscured the little bit of sun we could see. At least the light was still visible through the clouds, so we saw the darkness fall. We didn't go very far and was prepared for the cloud cover, so it wasn't unexpected. The experience was still pretty ok.

Now, let's take a quick look at the dramas...

In Blossom

The saddest thing about this whole entire drama was the death of our 2nd ML, who ended up finding someone who loved him as much as he loved Cai Wei. Even at the end, I am still not convinced that Zhou Lan Jiang loved Bai Xiao Sheng. I'm pretty sure he liked her enough. I'm thinking that if he did live, he would have spent his life trying to make it up to Bai Xiao Sheng, but never being able to love her the way he loved Cai Wei. At least our 3rd CP, A Ze and Ling Er ended together. So it wasn't all a bust.

The cases and the reveal of the secret organization was actually done quite well. While nothing, with a handful of exceptions, was too stunning, most of the plot flowed with enough rationality to the end. The death of Bai Xiao Sheng's father, and that whole scene with Pan Yue, was a bit overdone, but sure... I'll buy it. 

One last look at these two men who absolutely did not care that the room was burning around them (which you can't see if right now since the fire has just started, apparently it takes a while for all that wood to catch fire...). 

My favorite character is A Ze, who is full of advice for his master when Pan Yue runs into issues with Cai Wei/Shangguan Zhi. 

A Ze who is always full of confidence when dispensing his advice... Like below where  he giving advice to Pan Yue to help him figure out the meaning behind Shangguan Zhi's "actions"...

A Ze always ends up giving the worst advice...as he tell his master that Cai Wei obviously doesn't like him...

...and this ends up with with Pan Yue kicking him for not saying the things that Pan Yue wants to hear. 

But if I were to tell the truth, I love A Ze's advice though...just to see Pan Yue get his panties up in a twist....hahahaha....

Now... what is with the ending?

Are we heading for season 2? And what else are we going to do with a season 2? They can't spent that much time to find out who is number 1.

I have seen a handful of discussion threads online. Does that hand LOOK like it belonged to someone who is even OLD enough to have started this when Pan Yue was a child?! Um... I don't need a second season, I just need one episode to close this loop!

Now, if anyone have any guesses, let me know. 

Unknown

Episode 9 was just aired...and it's a bit lackluster... Why in the world did Wei Zhi Yuan think that he was capable of "handling" his brother's gang members when he can't even fight! Seriously?! For a second, I thought Zhi Yuan had some technique to "handle" the gang, but all he did was put himself into danger, causing Wei Qian having to go "save" him. Sigh...

I'm glad Xiao Bao and San Pang got together. Wei Qian isn't thrilled about it, which is understandable, but I think he was upset for not being told directly instead of seeing the hickeys. Not a good way to get this news if you are the older brother.

So...this started my week long binge watching of the Korean BL dramas on iQiyi... In case anyone has not watch any of these...

Jazz for Two (2024) 

This story is about Han Tae Yi, who is suffering from depression after the suicide of his older brother, and Se Heon, who is from a classical piano family who is overshadowed by a more accomplished older brother and a demanding father. Tae Yi and Se Heon get off to a rough start because Se Heon reminds Tae Yi of his dead brother when he plays the piano. The love of jazz brought them together. But they ended realizing that Se Heon's older brother was indirectly the reason why Tae Yi's brother committed suicide. And the show did have at least one good kissing scene at the end..it was an interesting story and I do like the soundtrack. The one thing I do not like, that weird thing with Do Yoon acting as a punching bag for Joo Ha. The domestic violence acceptance is just odd.

A Breeze of Love (2023)

This next drama is another BL romance in a school setting, college in this case. Do Hyun is a boy obsessed with basketball. When their team is short one player, his team mate, Hye In, drags in a high school friend of hers, Dong Wook, to join the team. Unfortunately, Do Hyun, who confessed to Dong Wook during their high school years, was not happy that the person who rejected him 3 years ago, is back in his life. For Dong Wook, who stuck so close to Do Hyun in their high school years, only did so partly due to the strange effect Do Hyun had on his sleeping habits.

After some cohabitation hijinks, some basketball challenges, some more misunderstandings, they cleared the air, and Dong Wook finally confessed that his previous rejection was due to his own personal issues. The story is quite good, and the ending has a great tease.

Love for Love's Sake (2024)

The next show is a game transport drama plot. Tae Myung Ha is reviewing a story that his friend has written, and he doesn't like it. He says that the character of Cha Yeo Woon is the saddest person in the novel, because he was the most miserable. His friend asks if he will change Yeo Woon fate. And the next thing he knows, Myung Ha is in the "game" of the novel. He gets all these prompts. And he realizes that he has to raise Yeo Woon's favorability towards him. And if he enters the "Love Supremacy Zone", which is a radius of a certain distance (I forgot what it was) around Yeo Woon, when Yeo Woon has a negative rating against him, something bad happens to Yeo Woon. When Myung Han "saves" Yeo Woon from committing suicide, his immediate next mission is to "make Yeo Woon happy".  

As the game progresses, there are side missions all related to Yeo Woon. Towards the end, the system puts a penalty and a deadline for Myung Ha to make Yeo Woon "Happy", and if he doesn't accomplish this goal within the time, the penalty is death. When he had to make a choice between his grandma or Yeo Woon, he caused an error in the system, and Myung Ha gets "erased" from the world. For Yeo Woon, the next few days was confusing because everything else remained the same, including the additional friends he has made during his time with Myung Ha. 

When Yeo Woon remembers, he finds the pen that would allow him to make the changes he want in his life, and now it is Yeo Woon who sees the game "prompts". And then we see Myung Ha and what really happened in his life. As he is dying (after drowning himself), he regretted the choice he made. The "game" was a way to teach Myung Ha to love himself, which would make him happy. Then everything moves back into the game world, and brings him back to Yeo Woon.

I LOVED this show. The "game" world was a visual demonstration of the events that would make one happy.  

I did watch a few more Korean BLs, but let's end on the up note of the last show, which is probably one of best drama plots of this genre recently. 

I want to leave everyone with one last recommendation. This is a one of those YouTube short dramas, and this is one of the best plots that I've seen. It's along the same lines as Faithful, but it is much more condensed so the "revenge" part happens a lot faster. I've copied the YouTube link below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16BjUHqVOM

The only problem I have with these dramas is the subtitles are often machine generated. I watch a lot of these, but this is probably, hands down, one of the best revenge plots for this platform. Simply, it is the story of a girl who designed her life to get herself married into a particular house in order to revenge her sister. The depiction of life in the harem, the lives of the woman and girls within this environment, will hit the audience on a lot of different levels. There is no romance. The ML, as in Faithful, is the villain hiding behind a mask of respectability. The FL is smart, has no illusions of the people she's dealing with, and she is smart with her plan. LOVE this show.

Here's hoping everyone has a great week. And did anyone start Blossoms in Adversity? I've got this on my list but I have been easily side tracked lately. Best Choice Ever, I really want to watch this because it has my favorite actors as leads...but the plot just sounds SOOOOOO boring. (Was that too many Os?) So... I haven't been able to start it yet. And how many Sword and Fairy dramas are there this year?! It seems like at least 3 aired within the last month!  I can't keep up anymore apparently.