What Dramas Am I Watching This Week?

Here's what I'm watching this week! Of course the list is split by country and episodes I've seen so far are written below! There will be spoilers from now on so if you aren't caught to the episode number I list, you might want to go watch that episode and then come back! If you're interested in previous lists, click here and if you want to see a list of my favorite asian OTPs and ships, click here!

KDRAMA

Are You Human Too? (30/36): The drama tells of an android called Nam Shin III who must pretend to be the son of a rich family when the real Nam Shin falls into a coma. Nam Shin's mother, Oh Ro Ra is a genius on brain technology and artificial intelligence (AI) so when her son, the real Nam Shin, is taken away from her at a young age, in her grief she creates an android that looks exactly like her son and has it grow up in the place of Nam Shin. But when Nam Shin, who is a third generation heir to PK group, gets in an accident and is comatose, the android Nam Shin III must learn how to take his place.

I'm slowly losing interest in this show if I'm being honest cause the direction that we've decided to go isn't what I expected or wanted unfortunately. The creepy factor has been upped once again with the whole So Bong and Nam Shin III romance in my opinion cause now pretty much everyone knows that Nam Shin III is a robot and the idea of falling in love with a robot still freaks me out. I just can't and it's driving me crazy that she keeps saying things to Nam Shin III about how he's a better Shin and how he should not have to be someone else but like Shin is the real human so stop with that. The direction the show is taking Shin isn't something I'm a fan of either. I really do think that he is flawed and relatable but each week seems to be taking him further and further down this dark path and I'm not a fan cause if he goes too far, there's no way to redeem him. If that's the case then what is the point of this show? Everyone dies and the robot lives happily ever after? I just can't. I only watched two episodes this week and I physically could not get myself to watch the next two. I'll try to watch all of them next week when the finale airs.

My ID Is Gangnam Beauty (2/16): Adapted from a popular webtoon, this drama tells of Kang Mi Rae, a girl once bullied for her looks. As a result, she became insecure, cautious around people and withdrawn. However, Mi Rae decides she wants a fresh start away from bullying and gets plastic surgery to transform her face. When she begins university, she meets Do Kyung Suk from their middle school days, who sees people for what they are on the inside and not the outside; he then becomes attracted to Kang Mi Rae.As Mi Rae begins to get teased once more and labeled "Gangnam Beauty", the cold, aloof but kind inside Kyung Suk becomes the one person that stands up for her and in the process, Mi Rae begins to recover her lost confidence and discovers that true beauty is not on the outside.

I was really interested in the premise of this show cause it reminded me a bit of Diamond Lover with a major plot point being plastic surgery though after watching the first two episodes of this show, I feel like the idea of plastic surgery is going to be a much bigger deal than it was in Diamond Lover (which I dropped halfway through so maybe that'll be a good thing?) I think it's fascinating and very unique that the main character of this show literally chooses plastic surgery to change the way she looks cause that's not something you see in many shows. If surgery is involved, it's usually necessary after an accident so I'm interested in how this show is going to explore the idea and morality of surgery. It's also interesting that everyone pretty much knew that Mi Rae had surgery but Soo Ah was naturally pretty cause hardcore I would never have known that looking between the two!! Mi Rae is a bit too much of a door mouse for my personal taste but based on the synopsis of this show, I'm assuming that her major storyline will be to gain confidence in herself so I can let that slide. I also really like that Kyung Sik, though he's supposed to be a cold male lead, had a crush on her before her surgery and still likes her enough to want to protect her at the very least. Soo Ah is super fake and I can already tell that she's going to irritate me and I just hope that Mi Rae doesn't believe her for too long. I can't wait to see more!

Thirty But Seventeen/Still Seventeen (8/32): Woo Seo Ri, a violin prodigy at 17 who was about to study in Germany, got into a bus accident and fell into a coma waking up 13 years later. Mentally she is still only 17, while physically she is now 30. Gong Woo Jin is a 30 year old single man who works as a set designer. Due to a trauma he experienced 13 years before, he does not want to have a relationship with others. This series is about a man and a woman whose lives have been mangled due to a grisly accident. Together, they use all their might to try and open the door to happiness that they once thought had been closed to them.

The first two episodes this week were really sad cause poor Seo Ri just wants to play the violin again but to fix her old one she needs 2000 dollars and to get the money she needs a job but since she was in a coma for 13 years she has no life experience so no one wants to hire her. It's vicious and I feel so terribly for her!! I almost teared up watching her dream about the future she lost out on and it really makes me want Woo Jin to find out sooner rather than later about what happened cause it makes me sad that he is so mean to her right now. Despite this, I'm loving the hilarious antics in the house. It's kind of adorable though how he claims he doesn't care and doesn't want her to do what she wants but like with the plant, he whined for a bit and then just basically let her do what she wants. I loved that she was the one who convinced him to stop hiding his feelings and start living his life again. It was also sweet that she taught him to open the skylight and when he caught her after she fell from the desk I grinned cause they're both starting to feel some feels now. I like that he's starting to fall for her before he knows who she is and that now he's curious enough to want to know about her past. Chan knows about her coma but I was surprised that he didn't tell his uncle. I suppose he feels like it's a secret but honestly if Woo Jin asked, Seo Ri would tell him!

Time (8/32): This is the story of two polar opposite people that come together in tragedy. One remains stuck in time, whilst the other only has a limited amount of time left to live. Seol Ji Hyun is a woman who, although living a hard life, remains positive, upbeat and social. Cheon Soo Ho is the CEO of a restaurant and the son of a wealthy family with a terrible temper and no regard for other people. They both meet briefly under negative impressions of each other. However, their lives become entangled once more when Ji Hyun's sister dies unexpectedly in Soo Ho's residence. From there, Ji Hyun's time stops and she becomes a cold, miserable person who finds nothing to live for. But Soo Hoo, who carries heavy guilt and is drawn to her, promises to himself to use the 6 months he has left to live to help her, whose life was destroyed because of him. In the process, Soo Ho falls in love with Ji Hyun, but how far can love develop when you only have a limited time left to live?

I'm actually loving this show a lot more than I expected to! I originally decided to check out this show cause the male lead of this show was Kim Jung Hyun and I loved him in Welcome to Waikiki and School 2017 so I wanted to check this one out. So far I'm enjoying the premise of this show and I'm really very impressed with Jung Hyun as an actor cause this is the first time I'm seeing him play a more serious role and he's killing it! Honestly I'm always down for revenge plots and I like how the death of Ji Hyun's sister has brought out the real side of each character. Soo Hoo who on the outside seemed like the biggest ass was the most torn up and freaked out with her death while his fiancee who had a bigger role in the death than he did wasn't too upset with the whole thing and focused her attention on keeping her role a secret and even Ji Hyun's boyfriend turned out to be a monster who literally forged evidence to keep Ji Hyun in the dark. I still don't entirely understand why he kept Chae Ah's role a secret cause it's not like he should have cared much for her having only met her once especially since he was supposed to be working for Soo Hoo. He seems like a social climber so maybe he can feel that being on her side will get him further cause he's hardcore acting like either she's his client or he loves her with all the hoops he's jumping through to keep her safe. Wouldn't it have been much much easier for him to let the pool CCTV footage out and be like well my hands are clean in this mess cause he was paid by Soo Hoo's dad so it's not like a breech of contract or anything. I can't wait until Ji Hyun figures out the truth about him and rakes him over the coals especially now that he's gotten her mother killed. I like the idea that Soo Hoo has decided that since her sister died in his hotel room that he's going to spend the 6 months he has left protecting Ji Hyun. I really want to see Ji Hyun and Soo Hoo working together to figure out what happened but it's going to be really painful when she finds out that he was involved though truthfully all he did was invite her to his hotel and then get drunk and fall asleep. It's a weird case cause like is it considered an accident if Chae Ah hit her on the head making her dizzy but that the actual cause of death was drowning in the pool?

Witch's Love (2/12): In plain sight in bustling Seoul, three generations of witches have been living below the radar of everyone around them. Kang Cho Hong operates a restaurant with her fellow witches, Maeng Ye Soon and Jo Aeng Doo. They try to keep a low profile, but Cho Hong’s youthful good looks attract the attention of a neighborhood guy, Hwang Jae Wook, who is constantly trying to get close to her.Cho Hong and her fellow witches’ quiet lives become complicated when their building landlord, Ma Sung Tae, shows up one day. Sung Tae wants to face a traumatic incident that happened to him in that building when he was a little boy. With Sung Tae nosing around their business on a regular basis, can Cho Hong keep her true identity a secret from him?

So I started this drama just cause the description said that there was witches in this show and I was curious cause I love fantasy romances. After watching the first two episodes, the show seems a little silly and probably won't end up being one of my favorites. Despite this, I didn't mind what I saw and I do like the romance that the show is setting up. Cho Hong's character is fun and though Sung Tae seems to be just the normal run of the mill rich cold male lead, I'm hoping we get more from him as time goes on. It seems as though he was saved by one of those witches, maybe even Cho Hong's mom whoever that is cause we need to have a 20 year old and two grandmas and no middle generation. I want to learn more about the mythology of witches in this show cause every show does their own take. Are they immortal or do they age? Where do they get their powers from? It seems as though the witches need to make soup to recharge their powers and that they can't use it for fun or fall in love without losing it. I am a little disappointed in this cause then why even make our characters witches if they can't do magic every episode? Luckily there's not too many dramas on my watchlist right now so I might be able to keep watching this one.

Your House Helper (20/32): The daily life of an average working woman involves: a packed subway during the rush hours, a miserable old boss, juniors clawing their way up, mounting credit card debt, and a rusty and tired body... And above all, the worst is the endless housekeeping work that awaits her at home. But what if a handsome guy appears and takes care of all the housekeeping work for her? And not only that, what if he solves the problems in her complicated and confused life? In this drama, a male house helper does housekeeping works in different women's houses and tries to solve their issues.

I was surprised to notice this week at how many episodes we've gotten through cause I still feel like we're so early on in the show and maybe that's cause nothing too big has happened since this show is more of a slice of life than a fast pace plot. Sang Ah was starting to annoy me at the start of this week cause it was driving me crazy that she cared too much about saving face in front of others. She doesn't even like the lawyer but wanted to do everything she could to keep him from noticing anything wrong with her and even yelled at her friends when they were right about her needing to seek help. It was ironic that after yelling at them that she can solve the problem herself, she called up Ji Woon to help and it was weird cause he really didn't do anything to help her out so I feel like this set up was just to put Da Yeong in a weird spot. But eventually she did man up and tell the lawyer the truth and to the surprise of no one except maybe Sang Ah herself, he helped her without judgement and still likes her. Like I thought last week the Silverlight guy was trying to get all over Da Yeong and it was weird once again that Ji Woon shouting her name wasn't heard by anyone but hearing mom through the phone was crystal clear. I did like that Jin Hong punched that douche but it's sad cause everyone overheard her and that like in pretty much every situation ever, the woman got blamed instead of the creepy guy who needs to get a girl drunk to sleep with him. I also really liked that Ji Woon practically dropped everything when he heard that Da Yeong was in trouble and now that he knows what happened, we can move forward. He does seem to have softened towards her recently and it's noticeable to everyone around them! I'm glad we finally got his backstory and I can't wait until his ex shows up to mess everything up.

CDRAMA

Legend of Fu Yao (56/66): Meng Fu Yao, a woman born from a divine lotus petal. She journeys through the five continents towards the heavens in search of a secret order and to reveal a conspiracy originating from the heavens. In the process, she falls in love with the crown prince Zhangsun Wuji.

So we've got 11 episodes left and still so much plot to go which makes me sad cause I hope the show doesn't rush the ending cause not only does Fu Yao still not know about the spell she's under but also we haven't figured out her real identity yet. We spent way too many episodes dealing with Taiyuan and then Tiansha but it wasn't too bad cause I did enjoy watching Fu Yao and Wu Ji constantly trick everyone else. Their undying love is also very sweet cause relationship drama is always the least interesting drama to me so I love that their love isn't called into question in a really angsty way. Bei Ye did take the throne and we finally found out that he loves Lan Zhu and they will be getting married which is sweet even if it breaks Seven's heart a little. We finally are in Xuanji which I'm pretty sure is where Fu Yao is from originally and that she's Feng Mu Wing cause the way these shows go is pretty obvious. Her dad is still alive even if her mom isn't so at least she still has some family left. She also has three more tiers to break I think and maybe if the show needs to rush things, all three will be broken there cause it's where she was born. We also figured out that Fu Yao needs to be killed cause if she breaks all five spells, then the witch that's inside her will awaken and though that's a bad thing I kind of want to see Fu Yao go evil for a second so Wu Ji can bring her back! I wonder though if maybe this addition of a secret mystical spell might have been a step too far in this show cause I feel like there was plenty of plot without it and it's not like the show treats this aspect as much more of an afterthought!

Legend of Yun Xi (30/48): The story follows a lady doctor (Han Yun Xi) who marries into the royal family and gets caught in the political machinations in the palace whilst she falls into a romance with her husband. The story takes place during a chaotic time when the land has split into three kingdoms - Tian Ning, Western Zhou and Northern Li. The Emperor of Tian Ning is cunning and distrustful, and fears his own subordinate Long Feiye. To dampen his spirits, the King arranges for Long Feiye to be married to an "ugly" woman named Han Yun Xi. Han Yun Xi is a kind and talented woman who comes from a medical family and is adept with poisons. She is also forced into obeying the decree of the king and becomes a royal consort in name only. However, circumstances allow her to show off her skills time and again, winning the admiration of Long Feiye. At the same time, she also forms a friendship with Gu Qishao (Master of Yao Gui Valley).

Last week it looked like Fei Ye and Yun Xi would be on the outs for a while cause he was trying to protect her which is why I died of laughter when their conflict was solved in a hot second. Ning Jing showed up and was like let me spill all the tea and suddenly they were perfectly fine and the Duke was even sneaking into the Valley to see her making Qi Shao all sorts of jealous which I was living for cause I'm so over him. It will never cease to irritate me when the heroines are played by guys and refuse to believe that the guy could be wrong even when they're told and it's one thing when that guy is our hero but when it's the second lead I just get so annoyed. She keeps spilling all the Duke's secrets to Qi Shao and the only reason that the Duke is able to stay above it all is cause he's damn smart. I did love that Fei Ye and Yun Xi are so solidly in love now and that even Fei Ye's mom is on board with them. My heart melted when even after she found out that Fei Ye might not be her biological son, she still chose his side cause of all the love he's shown her over the years. It's interesting that Yun Xi's father is actually the Poison Master cause I would love for him to help us when we need it but also I'm enjoying the idea that the Crown Prince is poisoned. He woke up for a minute and overheard his father and grandmother plotting and it makes me wonder/kind of hope that he thinks the Emperor is the one who poisoned him and that they're using him to get the Duke so when Fei Ye and Yun Xi save him, he'll be on their side. He's slowly been accepting Fei Ye more and more as the season goes on but this would put him squarely in that corner.

Meteor Garden (25/48): An ordinary girl is admitted to the most prestigious school in the country where she encounters F4, an exclusive group comprised of the four wealthiest and handsomest boys in the school - Dao Ming Si, Hua Ze Lei, Xi Men and Mei Zuo.

Ugh we've gotten to the annoying rich mom part of this show and of course I'm "so excited" cause you know how much I love rich people thinking they're better than everyone else. Can you feel the sarcasm hitting you through the screen? It's real weird though cause Shan Cai has just kind of accepted her feelings for Si so having a huge obstacle like his mom seems to be too big too soon cause this is something that should be dealt with when their feelings are stronger though I suppose that for the mom this is the best time to strike cause everything's so new. Honestly I will never understand this trope cause I don't think any guy or girl is worth this annoyance. I did love seeing how excited Si was when Shan Cai gave him those cookies she baked for his birthday cause it was the most adorable and I was living for their kiss! It will also never cease to amuse me how down Shan Cai's parents are with her being out all hours of the day and night. Like my parents with throw fits if I just casually didn't come home one night. I'm also living for just how involved the F4 are in Si's love life. They're like give us all the gossip and we'll help you pretty much every step of the way. The new love interest for Si was really strange tbh. She knew that Si likes Shan Cai but decided to not only befriend Shan Cai but also go to her for love advice and stuff and I'm just glad it was over and now our main couple is officially together. I also really want Shan Cai's friend and Ximen to get together cause they're adorable and I loved the scene where they confronted her asshole ex.

Sweet Combat (16/38): As the eldest daughter of the Fang Conglomerate, Fang Yu was raised to become the sole successor of the company, yet she goes against her family's objections to pursue boxing and won the championship title at the young age of 18. On the other hand, Ming Tian comes from a poor family. He once stopped schooling for three years in order to work and he decided to apply for a sports scholarship despite not having any background whatsoever. Fang Yu was one of the first to see his talents and their relationship grows over time.

I'm so in love with this show and I'll keep saying it every week. I loved that this week Ming Tian finally accepted that he wants to train and get stronger so that he can stay in school and also protect his family. We met a bully of his and honestly I was living for every time someone protected him (especially Fang Yu cause I ship them so hard already) but I can't wait to see him kick that bully's ass in the competition later because if you've ever watched tv in your life, you know how this is all going to end! I really did expect him to be a better fighter tbh cause we were shown that he trained when he was young with his father but after watching him get beat up over and over, I guess it's not true. I do think that the more he trains the more it will come back to him though so I'm not too worried about that. I was confused with the whole spoiled food thing cause the rival school's boxing club took the bully's side and the bully kept being like there's no proof but I thought the proof was Ming Tian's friend who told him who sent the spoiled food so like that was weird but the saddest part was that everyone left Guan Yan who I adore. He should just come over to our school in that case. I'm also living for the building romance. Fang Yu is already head over heels for Ming Tian and he's the same based on how upset he was to overhear Fang Yu talking about not liking him. I'm fine with them attempting to be friends cause friends to lovers is still my favorite trope and with 38 episodes, the slower the burn, the less breakup nonsense we have to deal with! It was sad to see how downtrodden both Ming Tian and Fang Yu were when they both thought that the other was into someone else but I love how I was expecting that this would be a multiple episode long arc of pain but instead it was basically resolved in the next episode. That or everyone involved has pushed it to the backburner cause of the competition. It was great seeing Ming Tian win but I'm a little heartbroken that Guan Yan had to forfeit for Ming Tian to get his revenge.

TWDRAMA

FINISHED The Masked Lover (19/19): A phone call from Taiwan has disrupted Wu Ping Fan’s quiet life abroad. Her twin sister Ping An is in a coma due to a car accident. Suddenly, the simple, kind-hearted Ping Fan is forced to put on a new identity: a “mob boss.” To become someone entirely different is hard enough, let alone trying to manage Yi Ching group and deal with a rival group led by her sister's deceptive nemesis, Rong Fu Xiong, who will stop at nothing to see her dead. Just when it seems as if her charade cannot be maintained, Ping Fan meets a man who’s willing to lay down his life for her, Gu Le Jun, and he becomes her bodyguard. Slowly they grow closer and a bond of trust begins to form. However, what Ping Fan doesn't know is that Le Jun is an undercover cop seeking evidence to convict Ping An of her crimes. How will she overcome the obstacles in front of her? Can she trust the man she loves?

I loved this show so much from the moment it started to the moment it ended! I wanted to check out this show cause the synopsis sounded really interesting to me and after I fell in love with Behind Your Smile last week, I wanted to check out another TWDrama cause I do think they're fun as long as there's a plot behind them! This show was amazing from it's plot to it's main love story to all the side characters to the ending! Honestly like always, it was the romance that sold this show for me. Watching sweet Ping Fan completely disarm gruff Le Jun was amazing and the idea of an undercover cop falling for a fake mob boss was so much fun to watch. I loved that he found out the truth so early on cause it allowed him to fall for her without having to guard against her thinking that she was the one to kill his best friend. Their romance was played out so amazingly and I loved every single moment from his proposal to when he accepted going to hell if he could protect the woman he loved to their hilarious wedding. It's so crazy cause though the show is about a mob boss and family, it felt like no one but Ping An was actually all that bad and everyone else was just going with the flow. When it was revealed that Le Jun was a cop, everyone in the gang was just like you're a cop but you were our brother and now we're all confused and I adored it. I especially loved that even though the show started with telling us that the second-in-command might try to steal the command position, he was extremely loyal to a fault and never did anything that was against the good of the family which I loved. In fact no one really turned on our crew and everyone loved each other so much which was so refreshing to me cause politics is exhausting! It was sad that the show ended with Ping An's death but I liked how we go there and the ending overall so I didn't mind it too much! I'd definitely give this show a 9.5 / 10!

xoxo Allie