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

Devilish Joy (4/16): Gong Ma Sung is a successor to the Sunwoo company. Life seems to be going well until he gets into a car accident while trying to help a woman. Since then, he suffers from memory loss where his memory lasts only a day. Every night before bed, he writes notes about what happened to him that day and the next morning he memorizes everything that happened. Gong Ma Sung then meets Joo Gi Beum, a formerly well-known actress, and falls in love.

I really am loving this show and how Ma Sung as much as he wouldn't like to admit it is more of an adorable puppy than a guard dog and though I don't entirely understand why he was so much more of an ass to Gi Beum this time around, I love how she's melting him into a confused little puddle. I'm not a huge fan of the idea that he's remembering her cause he loves her (cause that's not how science works) but I always assumed the reason that he was starting to remember her was cause she was his trigger since he got hurt trying to help her so I guess it's close enough. Also of course he's got so much more trauma than just his amnesia. I do hope that all this CEO stuff with his aunt doesn't lead to rich people struggles cause man oh man do I not care about or want that but seeing the smirk on her face after finding out that he can't be under bright lights does not bode well. Also I don't know why he's hiding so much. Like it's one thing to not tell Gi Beum the truth but it's another to not even tell your cousin. But speaking of, I don't know why he won't just spit it out that the reason he didn't show up/forgot her is cause he got into an accident not cause she wasn't memorable. It would warm her to him significantly but I guess if the show did that then there wouldn't be drama. I'm glad that Gi Beum decided to stage a comeback but I was hoping that she would try to solve what happened to that guy first cause trying to be an idol is really not going to work if everyone thinks she's a murderer. Also sidebar but the fact that the show is trying to convince us that Gi Beum isn't still gorgeous just cause she wears ratty clothes is hilarious.

FINISHED Life (15/16): This series examines the hospital as a breeding ground for misuse of power. It is a place of conflicting interests and clashing egos. The doctors have the power to save lives, but the board has the power to kill doctors. In a building supposedly dedicated to the public’s health, it’s the personal vendettas that fuel people to get up in the morning.

It's finale week for Life and because I actually binged it over two weeks rather than the normal 8 weeks, I'm not too sorry to say goodbye. Part of this is because the show turned out to be much different than I expected (or wanted tbh) it to be and part of this is because I didn't have the time to get attached to these characters and this world. I could understand objectively how well rounded these characters were but none of them charmed me or made me love them which led to a bit of a disconnect. I did cheer out loud though for Director Oh who swept in like a badass and smacked those gangster like Reconstruction Team around. Honestly most of the stuff that happens in this show doesn't feel legal but perhaps it is and it's just morally reprehensible which it why it feels so wrong? Either way the lesson of this show is once again rich people are the goddamn worst and really should learn how not to be monsters. Even the poor president got used and used until he wasn't of use to the chairman anymore and then tossed him out. I liked that not all the problems in the hospital got solved by the end of this show cause that might have felt a bit too unreal but the hospital was able to keep from being privatized so that was a win and tbh having a doctor as president might be a good thing! Overall this show was fine though a bit lighter on the medical side than I wanted so I'd give it a 7.5 / 10.

My ID Is Gangnam Beauty (14/16): 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.

Mi Rae is FINALLY growing a backbone and it's so beyond time cause if I had to listen to one more episode of her being like "pretty people deserve to be with other pretty people and what would people say" I was going to lose it. Like I get it. Everyone is shallow but that doesn't mean that Mi Rae should never do anything ever in fear of people thinking one way or another about her! I was thrilled that she finally owned up to her feelings and now Kyung Suk and she are dating though even before that I enjoyed that both knew how the other felt and they didn't really stress about misunderstandings. It was a bit annoying watching them run around hiding their relationship cause they could have just been like yeah we're hanging out what of it cause like we've seen over the course of the season, everyone assumes Soo Ah and Kyung Suk are a couple anytime they even look at each other but Mi Rae and Kyung Suk can literally be together 24/7 and everyone's like oh Kyung Suk just doesn't have any other friends. Like seriously what is this double standard even? The Soo Ah smackdown was also everything. I'm starting to understand her crazy a little bit better but it doesn't mean I pity her anymore than I did. She's still the worst and I'm glad that not only did Kyung Suk and Mi Rae read the room with her but that Eun and the other senior girls are figuring it out as well. Soo Ah's been juggling too many balls in her attempt to have every boy like her while trying to be nice to all the girls and it was about time she started to see those consequences. Next week is the finale and I'm curious to see how this show ends though I don't know if I'll miss it or not....

The Ghost Detective (8/32): Lee Da Il is a private investigator. Jung Yeo Wool becomes his assistant to solve a mystery related to her younger sibling’s death. They work together to solve other mysterious crimes.

I may or may not be in love with this show after this week. I didn't even realize how much I enjoyed not only the acting but the writing cause at the end of every episode I'm like damn what happens next! I was shocked to know that both Da Il and Yeo Wool knew that Da Il was a ghost basically from the first moment they met again but looking back at the way it was filmed and the way they acted, it makes sense and I love it! I also love that they have an even stronger reason to work together now that they know that the woman in red threatened their loved ones into killing themselves to protect each other. We also learned that apparently people in comas can be ghosts too so now I'm fairly certain that Da Il isn't dead dead but probs in a coma especially after not finding his body. I'm sure the woman in red is saving that reveal for the final battle. I wonder if only people in comas can be ghosts cause otherwise we'd see so many of them on the streets like in Goblin or A Korean Odyssey no? Mr Han finding out and believing was awesome and I hope he stays okay cause I love having him on the team. We also met the ME who can sort of sense when a ghost is around and she'll be a great help I'm sure. Also do we think killing the body of the woman will kill the ghost? I suppose it all depends on the idea of whether only coma patients can be ghosts or not. If that's not the case, then the only way to stop her is to wake her up and that's not really something they could do. 

Thirty But Seventeen/Still Seventeen (28/32): 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.

My god guys why is this one of the best dramas I've watched in a while? I love how problems that you always think are going to last for a while are solved through talking it out which is so rare in a drama! Woo Jin found out that the girl he was crushing on when he was younger was actually Seo Ri and not Su Mi. Seo Ri found out that Su Mi actually died in that bus accident and that not only was Woo Jin crushing on her when they were young but that he was the guy that she liked too. Chan found out that Woo Jin and Seo Ri are dating and Seo Ri's doctor friend found her and found the guy who had been paying for her hospital fees. I was also thrilled with Woo Jin's reaction to Seo Ri's doctor friend cause rather than get all possessive and jealous, he calmly accepted his presence and even when the friend tried to get all alpha male on him, Woo Jin didn't rise to the bait and I was melting cause it's one of the only times I've ever seen the male lead act this way in the face of "competition!" I was worried that he would freak out over Seo Ri being who she was cause I thought that in his mind he would still blame himself for her losing so much time and unfortunately I was right but thankfully the show took the airport troupe and flipped that on his head. Woo Jin did try to leave but ultimately decided not to! I was sobbing my little heart out during the third and fourth episode mostly cause of how Chan was worried and upset and I swear Woo Jin better make it up to him! We also learned that the reason Jennifer is the way she is now is that she lost her husband in that accident and the stress from that caused her to lose her baby too! I think that the man paying for Seo Ri's bills is actually going to be the bus driver (who I thought might have been Jennifer's husband but nope) and that Seo Ri is going to tell Woo Jin that she actually didn't need to get off on the stop she asked him about and only did that so she would have an excuse to talk to him cause why else would she be meeting her friend on the next stop?

Time (28/32): 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?

This week had four amazing episodes that not only looked at the aftermath of Soo Ho's death but allowed for weird team-ups and some of the truth to finally come out. I loved that Soo Ho left letters for everyone in his life and even in his letters, he's such a cinnamon roll that attempted to see everyone else's perspectives. I was a little disappointed that he didn't tell Ji Hyun that he loved her and I kept waiting and waiting cause it was obvious how he felt about her but maybe it's more powerful seeing the love they have for each other? Like I actually burst into tears seeing Soo Ho's bucket list and how everything on there was stuff he wanted to with Ji Hyun. Meanwhile I loved how Ji Hyun talked about him being in her heart and lost it at Lawyer Shin when he touched the turtle bowl and the police for going in his room cause that was Soo Ho's and how dare they. I also loved that Ji Hyun teamed up with Chae Ah cause the chairman really is the worst cause even when his son died, he continues to lie. It was poetic seeing Chae Ah in the same position that Ji Hyun was at the start of this show. Also straight up someone needs to kill that swarmy cop who makes my blood boil every time he opens his mouth. I don't think Ji Hyun is dead cause Shin shot her in the shoulder but I do think it was a plan Shin came up with on the fly and that perhaps he recorded the chairman telling him to kill her. If she really is dead that would be insane and I would honestly clap for the writers for making this show a true tragedy though it would be unfortunate that only the bad guys lived to see another day.

CDRAMA

Bloody Romance (32/36): In the turbulent interregnum following the collapse of the Tang dynasty, a young daughter of a herbalist was tricked and sold into a brothel. After a harrowing escape from death, she eventually found herself in a city of female assassins. Assuming the new name of Wan Mei, she began to learn from ropes of being an assassin from Chang An, a young man who acted as her guide and warder. Over time, Wan Mei and Chang An began to develop genuine affection for each other. But Cha Luo, the leader of the assassins took a dislike to Wan Mei and plotted against the couple with her cohorts. Wan Mei's personality and gifts caused Gong Zi, the hidden owner of Gui Hua City to take a interest on her. Burdened by his hidden identity, Chang An began to distance himself from Wan Mei. The protagonists found themselves embroiled in escalating conspiracies involving deadly betrayals and struggles for power.

The problem with a lot of cdramas as I find is that their episode count is so high that sometimes I find myself falling out of love with shows that I previously adored. I'm not entirely sure what doesn't work for me anymore but I have a feeling it all started going downhill from the moment we realized Chang An's true identity and then it kept spiraling with how indecisive Wan Mei was. One minute she loves him, the next she doesn't. One minute she wants to leave Guihua, the next she wants to be chief. It's honestly exhausting and I'm kind of over this show. There wasn't anywhere near as many assassinations as I had hoped for when the show started and even the Chang An and Wan Mei relationship built up too quickly so we were left watching them will they/won't they for episodes upon episodes which is the least fun part of a relationship! I also don't love how Wan Mei treats Gong Zi in general but it's also kind of annoying that everyone keeps telling her how she should love him cause he did this or that for like as if love works like that. Chang An the weirdo was supposed to leave Guihua City but instead he got involved in more drama and honestly there's like four episodes left and I don't understand at what point he's supposed to take the throne. Also I'm sure Gong Zi is going to be fine. Honestly I never really thought he would die.

DROPPED Candle In The Tomb (8/21): Hu Ba Yi is well versed in Feng Shui with specialization in tomb configuration, which he learned from an antique book he inherited from his family. The knowledge saved him when he fell into a ditch in a snow avalanche in Tibet. And again when he and his friends joined an archaeology team to explore the "ghost cave" located in Taklamakan Desert. As he helped the team navigate through the dangers, he couldn't help feeling that someone had predicted their every move and designed the traps and hidden passages accordingly.

I really wanted to like this show cause it sounded similar to The Mystic Nine with it's plot being about tomb raiders but from almost the first episode I was bored out of my mind which makes me wonder what went wrong in this show for me when this show is so highly rated! I think my problem stems from the fact that I didn't connect to any of the characters and neither was I charmed by any of them unlike in Mystic Nine where from the start I fell in love with so many of them. Ba Yi seemed bored by everything and his best friend was a moron as was pretty much all the archaeologists except for Shirley who just was awful with her secrets and lying and disregard for pretty much everyone. Now I could have gotten past a lot of this but 8 and a half episodes in and we didn't spend as much time in tombs as I would have liked and the time we did was mostly to character build but when I didn't enjoy the characters, there was no fun in seeing them be themselves. I tried three separate times to get through  episode 1 and then I kept pushing forward hoping that something in the show would catch my attention only to be repeatedly let down. Honestly if you're looking for a tomb raiding show, I would say skip this and watch The Mystic Nine instead.

Fights Break Sphere (12/45): Xiao Yan is a genius child who suddenly loses all his powers.In a world governed by strength and power, Xiao Yan’s lack of talent is an embarrassment to his family. At the age of 15, Xiao Yan accidentally summons Yao Chen from his mother’s ring. With the elder’s help, Xiao Yan’s skills improve by leaps and bounds. After his entire family is assassinated, Xiao Yan embarks on a journey to find his family’s killer and return peace to the Jianghu (martial world.)

This show has turned out to be a lot sillier than I expected it to be but I'm not complaining cause I think it's pretty fun! The bullies were a little intense especially since most of the teachers at this school are prejudiced against Xiao Yan so they took the side of the bullies but of course two of the three bullies ended up joining the Blood Sect so they're pretty much gone from the show. The last bully was trounced so badly that apparently he spent a whole night sobbing outside of a teacher's room and the visual the description described was everything! I love how strong and badass Xiao Yan is and just how much he loves Xun Er though I can't decide if it's more than sibling love for him cause we know she loves him. I think we need some jealously to flare up before I can really tell but I doubt that'll happen since when the main character is a guy, no one else likes his leading lady unlike when the lead is a female then every person she meets is into her. We did get a moment where they were on top of each other and faces pressed together and I think Xiao Yan felt some feels but it was hard to tell cause he was pretty stone-faced. I also love how slowly but surely Xiao Yan is making as many friends as enemies. This week he got the leader of the Medicine Sect who I adore now. I also liked the switch up at the end of the week where we left the school and went monster hunting cause the school duels were getting a little repetitive. Episode 12 was a little boring cause I didn't really care for that Cloud Mist girl but I guess he does need to make allies with other clans.

Martial Universe (36/40): This is a drama adapted from the novel of the same name by Tian Can Tu Dou. It is a story that talks about Lin Dong, a child from a small village who isn't favored by his family. By chance, Lin Dong obtains a mysterious artifact that is coveted by many clans in the martial world. Because of this artifact, Lin Dong is approached by many people of different clans and is forcibly involved in various events of the martial universe.

So I'm looking at the episode count and wondering if maybe this show will have two seasons cause I cannot imagine Lin Dong getting all 8 emblems, fighting for Huan Huan not to be forever incased in that bubble and defeat the Yimo in 4 more episodes.... I know I do this every week but let's count emblems! We have 3, Ling Tian has 1 but that still leaves 4. Lin Dong is focused on getting to Huan Huan and saving her so there's no chance that he cares enough to travel to other realms to get the emblems anyway which is why I'm thinking there must be a season 2 planned especially since we met new people this week that makes me feel as though new main characters are being introduced and with it being so late in the game, that doesn't make sense. For some reason I also didn't realize that each emblem needs it's own successor and mostly assumed that Lin Dong was supposed to get them all but after this week I'm guessing that each of our main characters will become one. At the very least Lin Dong's sister is in the Dark Palace so she can grab the emblem from there. Over on the romance side, Lin Dong finally realized that he loves Huan Huan and they had some super cute moments (and one super awkward kiss) but overall I was disappointed with how the angst happened cause I was so looking forward to Huan Huan having to leave and Lin Dong going after her but instead we got multiple episodes of weirdness and then Huan Huan left cause she was "too ugly" now. I do hope that she heals herself by cultivating or whatever cause I really don't like this storyline. 

DROPPED Princess Agents (15/67): The story takes place during the chaotic times of Wei, where innocent citizens are often kidnapped and turned into slaves. Slave girl, Chu Qiao was thrown into a forest along with other slaves and becomes the next hunting target for the rich lords. She is saved by the Prince of Yanbei, Yan Xun. Afterward, she is brought into a powerful family of Yu Wen and witnesses their bloody power struggle. Seeing this, she swears to take her younger sister and flee from the situation. However, she catches the attention of Yu Wen Yue and undergoes strict training while building a sense of companionship with Yan Xun. Drama focuses on Chu Qiao's life beliefs and her struggle to survive in a cruel and unfair world.

Honestly guys I don't think I'm a fan of this show. Like Candle Tomb it took me two tries to attempt to start this show and eventually I started to enjoy it but as the episodes go on, I'm less and less interested again. The pacing of this show is so slow and the one and only thing I enjoy about this is Chu Qiao and Zanilia Zhao's portrayal of her. Honestly that's what made me stick around at the start of this show cause I adored her in Mystic Nine and I was stunned to see how different Chu Qiao was compared to her previous character and it fascinated me enough to want to watch more. Unfortunately I accidentally got spoiled about this show and how despite me wanting to enjoy the spy aspect of the show (which seemed the most interesting to me), I found out that there is barely any spying in most of this show and that Chu Qiao runs off with the second lead which is annoying cause I find the second lead overbearing. Though then again the main lead is the same so I'm not really in this show for the romance but the idea of what happens sounds so boring. I really struggled to decide if I wanted to keep watching this just to see Zanilia Zhao kill it or if I'd rather my attention go somewhere where I actually have fun or fall in love with a show and I decided that with so many amazing dramas out there, why struggle through one that just didn't click for me?

xoxo Allie