The Flash Season 5 Episode 7 Review

I wasn't the hugest fan of tonight's episode because honestly it felt like a retread of previous episodes and the only difference was that Nora was angry at Barry instead of Iris this week. It also doesn't help that the Westallen family are not my favorite part of the show which I know I know makes me a horrible person but what can I say? It makes me laugh sometimes that everyone always complains that Arrow feels like a soap opera literally anytime Oliver is happy (especially around Felicity and recently William) when in fact it's The Flash that feels more like a soap opera. Anyway enough about that, let's jump into the episode.

The main plot of this episode had to do with Nora being angry/worried about Barry dying. Iris mentioned how Barry sacrificed himself so many times to save the world and it made Nora realize that her dad disappearing in the future wasn't a one-time thing and that it could happen anytime. It was an interesting storyline objectively cause it not only showed Nora what it really means to be a hero but also it should give her more perspective on her mom's decisions cause if she worried enough about her dad to ask him to give up being The Flash, then it makes sense why Iris would try to stop Nora from being a hero too. I wonder if we'll touch on this in future episodes. Despite this, I was super bored during most of this episode cause like I said, we've watched so many episodes of Nora being upset with her mom that it's kinda boring to watch her be mad at Barry now. I am a little glad that this ended tonight and won't be an ongoing story thread though.

Caitlin, Cisco and Sherloque had a real weird storyline this episode too. Caitlin barely spoke and Ralph wasn't even around though I could believe that he went home for Thanskgiving if they only dropped that line like they did for Cecile and Joe! Sherloque managed to convince Caitlin and Cisco that Thanksgiving was a lame holiday and that neither of them had any family or any cause to be thankful cause their last year sucked. Although I get where Sherloque was coming from and why Cisco and Caitlin would be sad, it was weird of them to decide to skip Thanksgiving only to decide to go afterall in the end. It was super not needed in this episode. I'm still not understanding why Cisco can't ever go home to his family or why they're barely ever mentioned.

I did really like the backstory we got for Cicada cause it made me sympathize with him and feel really bad for him but it honestly makes me feel so much worse for poor Grace who not only lost her parents and then got super hurt but now if she ever wakes up, she won't even have her uncle cause he'll be in prison for becoming a super villain! I understand to a degree why he and the doctor hate metas so much (very similarly to the anti-aliens over on Supergirl) but at the same time it seems weird of him to target heroes like The Flash and Vibe cause without them things would be a lot worse! I'm curious about where this show will go now cause we've already figured out Cicada's true identity already but I guess it doesn't really matter in the long run cause last season Team Flash figured out who the Thinker was really fast too so it's not like they can't be thwarted anyway. I do wonder if he'll have a harder time attacking Nora or Barry cause he has a soft spot for fathers/daughters.

The stuff with Weather Witch was pretty lame and let's be honest, none of us watch this show for the weekly villains anyway though I did like her origin story about being a dangerous weather fanatic.

Next week looks amazing cause it's going to be The Flash's 100th episode which means we'll be bringing back a bunch of old villains and hopefully some old heroes too! I'd love to see Ronnie again cause he was mentioned tonight and it always makes me grin when he pops up cause I forever will be bitter that the show killed him off so quickly.

I'll see you all Friday for my weekly dramas and then Sunday for my Supergirl midseason finale review!

xoxo Allie

Arrow Season 7 Episode 7 Review

You know this is a strange episode to review cause there was only one thing happening all episode and that was Diaz taking over the prison to try to kill Oliver! Overall I did enjoy the episode so let's jump in!

Honestly I should have assumed from the promo last week that of course Diaz would buy just enough guards for him to let free long enough to cause a prison riot. I was wondering why on Earth no one called for help so I am glad that Diaz thought ahead and blocked all incoming and outgoing calls though I'm surprised he didn't bring the Longbow Hunters with him. I also wonder if he had planned to be captured last week or if he's kinda working on the fly and doing things as they come up cause it seems like he was planning on letting Oliver rot in prison while he did his thing and only when he found out that Oliver was being released did he get angry. I feel like I need a bit of a refresher for last season cause I hardcore can't remember why Diaz is so pissed at Oliver. Last season he mostly just wanted to rule Star City and Oliver stopped him but so did the rest of Team Arrow so it seems strange that he would focus his hatred on Oliver.

I did wonder if maybe letting him live last season meant that he would die early on to set up the new villain for this season but then I ended up enjoying how this season was written so far with him being the villain and the characters doing things about him without him being the thing that pops up every week to give a villain monologue. The best villains in my opinion are the ones who do things behind the scenes and only pop up once in a while to remind us of their existence. How many of us actually think Diaz is dead after tonight? Usually a stab in the torso on tv means that the character is dead but at the same time this is Diaz and I may or may not have been screaming at the tv for Oliver to slit his throat so I could see him being perfectly fine and broken out of prison at some point in the next few episodes.

Stanley is still the worst and I'm a bit annoyed that he escaped prison to be a pain in our asses in the future. Unless he's much more badass or evil than we thought he was, he has to be a one-off villain maybe for next week. Ugh I hated the sniveling little toad from episode 1 where he cried for Oliver to save him and he was still that annoying wimp who has also seemed to lose his mind in tonight's episode. I laughed out loud at how he hid in the room and sedated Oliver only to be beaten in two seconds flat.

I'm really glad that we finally got that Bronze Tiger and Oliver team up that we were all hoping for and I'm really hoping that Oliver does keep his promise and get him out. I'd love for him to join ARGUS next to Diggle. We also got the deaths of Brick and Sampson who both went out pretty terribly with Brick being stabbed in the back by Stanley and Sampson being burned to death. I'm also amused watching this a day after Supergirl cause it's like over there Kara can't handle working with someone who's even a little rough and over here Oliver is like oh cool a criminal just got burned to death, moving on.

We did get a tiny reunion between Oliver and Felicity. Like I said before, I adore how much this season of Arrow has shifted our characters so that it really does feel like Oliver and Felicity are the core of this show and everyone else is here to support them. Sidebar but I did laugh a bit at how Diggle was there when Oliver walked out but when the camera panned out, he was suddenly missing.

The promo for next week shows us Oliver unmasked in the Green Arrow costume and I'm a little confused cause is this okay now? Like for Oliver to run around as a vigilante again? I assumed we'd first have to get the anti-vigilante law to be overturned and who even is Oliver out there fighting if Diaz is in prison or dead? I do hope we get more of a reunion between Oliver and Felicity next week but I have a weird feeling that things are not going to be okay between them (with him not telling her about the deal with Watson and her going all dark hunting Diaz) especially since she's like in none of the promos for any of the Elseworlds stuff though to be fair, no one from Arrow (or technically even Supergirl) has been in them except for Diggle. I'd like to believe she's not in the promo for next week cause they're trying to save the good stuff and hopefully the same is true for the crossover cause I can't imagine one without her! I also wonder if we'll be getting William back now that Diaz is out of the picture. I loved seeing the Queen family last season.

I'll see you all tomorrow for my Flash review!

xoxo Allie

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 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! The list this week is much shorter than normal cause it's Thanksgiving here in the states and cause of that I was a little too busy to watch my normal dramas!

KDRAMA

Fluttering Warning (6/16): A dermatologist, Cha Woo Hyun is extremely popular with women, but he doesn’t have much interest in dating. Yoon Yo Jung is a famous actress, who hasn’t been able to date another man since rumors started to spread 15 years ago. By mere coincidence, they decide to establish a contract in which they decide to “pretend” to others that they are dating and in love with each other.

These two are so precious! I love that this show feels so sweet and drama-free while also not being completely fluffy and boring though it is still pretty early on in the season and that could change later which I'm hoping is not the case! The show is funny without being over-the-top, romantic without being cheesy and I adore pretty much everyone in the cast! I loved watching Yo Jung try to figure out how Woo Hyun felt about her all episode and it was adorable seeing how jealous he got even if he tried to hide it (which props cause a little jealously is cute but too much is creepy.) There's something so sweet about the way Woo Hyun looks at Yo Jung and it really makes it seem like he adores her! I'm also super down with the slow build for their relationship cause if these two get together too early, then it's either too much angst or too much cheesy romance that doesn't work. As I expected now that the rich girl has backed off, Woo Hyun's dad is going full force and I'm more annoyed with Woo Hyun than his father in this case. He should tell Yo Jung and her company the truth about who he is cause they are being targeted for something that has nothing to do with them and I'm afraid they're going to take his dad's "investment offer" and lose the company! 

FINISHED The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (16/16): A TV series centered around the unfolding relationship between free and unpredictable yet dangerous Kim Moo Young, who is called a "monster". He is the first assistant in a Korean beer brewery who becomes a suspect when his girlfriend's suicide turns out to be murder. His life begins to change when he meets a kind, warm advertising designer named Yoo Jin Kang, who wishes to be Moo Young's safe haven. She bears as many emotional scars as him. Yoo Jin Kang also has a brother, a homicide detective named Yoo Jin Gook, with 27 years of job experience. He strives to "reveal" who Moo Young really is and attempts to keep his sister, Jin Kang, away from Moo Young, with whom she begins to know.

Oh my god guys. What a beautiful end to a beautiful show. I cried like a baby through half of it and the other half I was trying not to melt into my seat! The kdrama managed to keep everything that was beautiful about the jdrama while changing enough things to make everything I wasn't a fan of into something I was. Though a part of me wanted the kdrama to end on a happier note, most of me felt like the tragic ending was what made this drama so incredible. We finally got all our answers in that Jin Kang and Moo Young were childhood friends and that his dad killed her parents and his mom and then Jin Gook killed the dad. After hearing the whole story, I still don't understand why Jin Gook hated Moo Young so much during the show and I still can't help but feel like this was all Jin Gook's fault. Instead of keeping everything a secret he should have told Moo Young the truth one of the multiple times the poor guy came to him looking for answers. By not doing so, he left Moo Young open to be manipulated by the rich girl and was directly responsible for everything that happened afterwards (even if I still put a little blame on Moo Young too.) It was so poetic that the one time he actually killed someone was the one time he finally felt human. I loved seeing Moo Young grapple with his horror and pain after thinking Jin Kang was his sister and then his incredible breakdown when he found out that she wasn't his sister after all. I loved that Jin Kang learned everything and still loved him and wasn't manipulated into killing him like she was in the jdrama. Though the murder-suicide was poetic in the jdrama, I like that it was the secretary to actually killed them in this cause it felt more heartbreaking that Jin Kang and Moo Young had just decided to live together when he came in and destroyed everything. She protected him one last time and he was able to tell her that he loved her for the first and last time. This drama was definitely one of my favorites from this year and I'm heartbroken that it is over. I'd definitely give this show a 10 / 10 and say it's a must watch!!!

When Time Stopped (10/12): A man who can stop time meets a woman unaffected by time.
Moon Joon Woo is a seemingly-ordinary person, except for the fact that he can stop time. His special ability makes him lonely and he finds no meaning in life. When he needs somewhere to live, he moves into a basement owned by the building owner, Kim Sun Ah. Kim Sun Ah is a hard-working, financially struggling girl who appears to have much joy in her life, but in fact struggles to pay off her father's debt. Joon Woo finds that when he stops time, Sun Ah is not affected and continues to walk amongst a time-stopped world. With bubbly Sun Ah by his side, can the lonely Joon Woo begin to find the meaning of his existence?

Raise your hand if you're also confused about what's happening in this world. The problem with fantasy shows are though I love them, the rules are different in each one which makes understanding what's happening difficult especially since it's in a different language. I need a show like this to tell me the rules at the start so I can follow what's going on but fantasy shows like to keep everything hidden so they can surprise you later. The finale for this show is next week and I have so many questions. Does every powered human become a reaper? Is "God" just a moniker that gets passed around? Is the goal of "God" to make those powered people happy? Why are they hunting Joon Woo if he's a reaper? Do reapers get to keep their human powers? Why is Joon Woo running around acting like a human? I hope we get real answers next week cause I don't know if I can handle it if we don't! This week we spent most of the time learning that the main reaper we were following was Sun Ah's childhood friend's father and we learned that Joon Woo used to be a reaper and that Sun Ah is his fated love but what that means we don't know. I did like that these two finally kissed this week though I feel like based on the length and pacing of this show, we should have spent less time with the other building tenants and focused more on this reaper world since that's the most interesting and least-developed part.

xoxo Allie

The Flash Season 5 Episode 6 Review

Is it any wonder that I loved tonight's episode? You know my love for Caitlin and anytime an episode is centered around her, I'm happy as a clam!

The main storyline this week revolved around Caitlin and her dad. I figured pretty early on that Caitlin's dad was probs a villain and a meta (cause why else would he be alive and hiding) but I don't know why I never assumed that he would be like Caitlin with a dual personality! We learned that the reason Caitlin has these powers is cause of a lab experiment that her dad ran and honestly I was down with this explanation cause Caitlin being born with these powers (like that vibe seemed to hint at) didn't fit into the rules of this world! I loved meeting Icicle and I really do hope that he's around more in the future cause I do love ice powers. We also got Killer Frost back but it seems like it's only the one time. The explanation that DeVoe put a mind block in Caitlin's mind to separate Killer Frost from her is also an amazing explanation that makes a ton of sense cause it seemed silly that everyone else got their powers back except for her. Part of the reason I loved this episode so much was because not only did we get so many answers but they were good ones!

I also really loved the Barry/Cisco/Caitlin team up cause it's been a hot second since this trio did something on their own. Barry, Cisco and Caitlin have never been as OG as Oliver, Diggle and Felicity but it was a nice callback especially with the old photo Cisco had of them with Harrison "Eobard Thawne" Wells. I still low-key ship Catilin and Cisco cause they just care about each other so much but I can never decide if the show will pull that trigger or not. On the one hand they never seem to have overt romantic moments but on the other, they seem to put the other above all of their other friends. I liked that Cisco was the one to be suspicious of the whole situation and that he was the one who told Caitlin that she could find Killer Frost again while Barry was compromised while looking at the situation cause all he could think about was Nora! You know it's a little weird that we focus so much on Barry's family and a little on Caitlin's but we've pretty much never looked at Cisco's other than knowing his brother died. Is he close with his parents? Does he have any other family?

Sidebar one of the best moments of this episode was when Cisco saw the core of Sally the satellite and he was like a little dark matter never hurt anybody and Barry was like dude what.

The others spent the episode trying to figure out who Cicada was by splitting up into two teams with two different methods of finding him. Nora, Iris and Sherloque went off to find out what shrapnel hit Cicada while Ralph and Cecile went to find who might have gotten treated with their daughter. I liked that Nora was so excited to spend time with Iris and it warmed my heart to see how happy Iris was every time Nora was nice to her. It was everything and I liked that Sherloque low-key was helping them bond too. The Cecile and Ralph stuff was a little more boring but I did love how badass Cecile was in the end with threatening that insurance fraud guy. Both teams were able to get their jobs done with finding the core that hit Cicada and then finding who looks to be his daughter. If they found his daughter, then they probably found Cicada also right?

Cicada was also in this episode but I don't really understand what's happening to him. It seems like he's becoming a meta in the sense that whenever he gets attacked, he gets stronger or maybe it's the dark matter from that shrapnel that got lodged in him that's giving him the strength. Either way, unlike Spin (the meta with the phone), Cicada's powers don't just come from the shrapnel alone which is interesting cause he hates metas more than anything but if he's becoming one, what will he do? I also like that this season of Flash is low-key doing the same thing as Supergirl with humans hating what's different but in a quieter way cause I don't need another show to make me sad and hate humanity!

The promo for next week was a bit confusing to see what was happening but it looks like Barry might be hurt by Cicada but it's always kind of funny to see the show do this cause there's no chance that their main character would actually get hurt! It feels a bit like a Christmas episode but the midseason finale is the week after and normally acts like the Christmas episode so it'll be interesting to see. We've also seemed to have jumped forward in time at some point this season if we're already at Christmas cause it was supposed to be May when we started the season.

Anyway, I'll see you all Friday for my weekly drama thoughts and then Monday for Arrow!

xoxo Allie

Arrow Season 7 Episode 6 Review

Great Arrow episode tonight and we're finally getting somewhere on different plot threads!

As much as I'm enjoying Felicity's descent into evil, I would enjoy it a lot more if everyone and their mother wasn't lecturing Felicity about being good. It takes away from her journey cause we all know that she's going to be perfectly fine in the end and is probs not going to do anything truly bad enough so it's a little excessive to have someone tell Felicity not to cross the line every week. I was really glad that Anatoli made the parallel to 5 years away Oliver cause that's who I've been comparing her to and feeling as though everyone who says she's so annoying is clearly ignoring that Oliver acted the same way before. It was fun seeing her interact with Anatoli and how he was basically encouraging her bad side not just through words but with actually handing her a gun and being like go do the murdering. I'm thrilled that he didn't die this week and that Felicity made him a fake passport to go on vacation. A small part of me actually wanted Felicity to kill Diaz in the station but I think I'm glad she didn't do it after all cause it is a pretty great way to get Oliver out.

This teasing descent into darkness was also a main plot point in the flash forwards this week which I have officially decided I do not like unless somehow we end up changing the future this season cause I really don't like knowing that our heroes all end up either dead or miserable. I laughed out loud when Dinah mentioned that Felicity just died a few weeks ago cause it sucks for Felicity haters who hoped that meant that Felicity would die this season. I liked that William was the one leading the charge on figuring out what happened but again I don't like that everyone is so not about her anymore including Roy who should really have no reason to dislike Felicity when the last time he was with her was pretty positive! It's funny that she's calling herself the Calculator but it makes me wonder why everyone jumped to the idea that the bombs were her idea and not that she hacked someone else and found them which led them to kill her cause that was my first thought!

Laurel spent the episode trying to get Oliver out of prison and I'm still living for her and Felicity's friendship. My favorite scene this episode was the one where everyone was in ARGUS after finding Anatoli and everyone was revealing all these different truths and Curtis was upset that everyone forgot his birthday. I was living for everyone's reactions to Felicity and Laurel being friends and I love that Laurel cares enough about Felicity to listen to her and Felicity cares enough about Laurel to let her talk her down. I hope this friendship continues after Oliver gets out of prison. I liked her appeal but it made sense why she lost the case cause it was a bit of a silly reason to let someone go from jail which is why the actual deal where Oliver gives info on Diaz to get out was so much sweeter. Speaking of, I loved that Oliver still hates Black Siren and was warning her away from Felicity and trying to force her to leave his case alone but that in the end she told him what he should have known with people being shades of grey.

I'm so glad that we're going to finally get Oliver out of prison next week cause the storylines they give Oliver are boring half the time! I really enjoyed last week but this week was hella boring especially since everyone but Oliver thinks that Stanley is way sketch! I still don't know if he's on Diaz's side or if he's just generally a terrible person but at least Oliver knows now that something's off with him. He got poor Bronze Tiger thrown in solitary for not doing anything which is sad cause I really wanted him to bond with Oliver but also why didn't that throw up red flags for him since this was pretty much the first time Brick and his crew didn't take credit for something they did. I wonder if we'll get answers next week cause why bother setting up this Stanley thing over a long period if it didn't mean anything?

The promo for next week shows that Diaz escaped from police custody (which seriously is embarrassing for everyone involved) and that he broke into Slabside to play with Oliver. I guess that means that not only is Oliver not getting out of prison next week but maybe we'll get an answer as to whether Stanley was a plant or not. We also didn't have a prison riot episode yet so it was about time! I assume that they'll capture Diaz again by the end of next episode so Oliver can be released but hopefully this time they actually figure out how to catch him!

All new Flash tomorrow night!

xoxo Allie

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

Dae Jang Geum is Watching (5/12): This food-oriented drama imagines how the descendants of the famous Joseon woman doctor and alleged culinary genius Jang Geum (the subject of the famous sageuk Dae Jang Geum) might live today if they inherited some of her talents. San Hae has been gifted with an excellent sense of taste which has mad him a huge fan and connoisseur of food. His younger sister Jin Mi has been gifted with an exceptional sense of smell, and their younger brother Jung Shik has such excellent cooking skills he has his own Youtube vlog channel. The story follows San Hae at his work and his relationship with a rookie employee at his company, a woman named Bok Seung Ah.

This show is hardcore a cooking show with a mix of romance and it's so beyond hilarious to me cause I've never seen anything like it and I'm having fun. I do enjoy the food aspect but it's even more insane than Wok of Love in terms of cooking and sometimes I end up fast forwarding cause it's like I'm not here to learn new recipes. You also need to make sure you're not hungry while watching this cause everything looks amazing! Jin Mi is my favorite of the siblings and I enjoy her romance with Min Hyuk the best though it's unfortunate that it's the least shown cause I do think they're adorable. On the other hand I'm not super into the main romance with San Hae and Seung Ah and the love triangle they're forming with Jung Shik mostly cause I don't really love Seung Ah as a character but if I had to pick I'd want her with San Hae since their dynamic is better in my opinion. Overall this is a super light show that really has no stakes and I'm actually pretty down with that! I'm even enjoying the office antics from the crazy boss and her weekly costumes.

Fluttering Warning (5/16): A dermatologist, Cha Woo Hyun is extremely popular with women, but he doesn’t have much interest in dating. Yoon Yo Jung is a famous actress, who hasn’t been able to date another man since rumors started to spread 15 years ago. By mere coincidence, they decide to establish a contract in which they decide to “pretend” to others that they are dating and in love with each other.

I wasn't really interested in this show when I first heard of it but mostly that was cause the synopsis sounded like pretty much every other show out there but I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed this show. First of all despite the synopsis, the male lead turned out to not be as cold as I expected! He was actually really kind and felt very genuine and earnest. I have such a hard time with cold male leads cause they always feel so wooden but Woo Hyun is adorable (props to the actor!) I also loved that Woo Hyun and Yo Jung's relationship started out friendly and that there were no miscommunications to make one hate the other cause it's so rare to see that in a drama like this (and you all know my dislike for enemies to lovers!) It's interesting how quickly they fell for each other tbh which means that we're going to get so much angst later! All the characters in this show so far are great including the reporter who decided she hates Yo Jung's ex with such a passion that she will do anything to support Yo Jung. She's also falling for Yo Jung's brother and I'm super down with them having a reporter on their side especially since that rich girl who wants to marry Woo Hyun is making waves. Speaking of, Woo Hyun coming from a rich family is a bit annoying but not entirely unexpected cause rich family problems are pretty much a given in every drama though I like that Woo Hyun feels more independent than most rich guys who's families don't approve of the girl they're dating. I also loved how he pretty much solved the problem of getting the rich girl to back off of Yo Jung by threatening to take over the company on the condition he doesn't have to marry her which screws up everything she's been doing. I'm sure though now that she's been dealt with that we're going to turn the focus to Woo Hyun's dad and how he'll attempt to ruin Yo Jung, I don't know how I feel about his mom yet though cause she doesn't seem to be after money but at the same time she's trying to force him into a situation he doesn't want.

FINISHED The Player (14/14): A police redemption team consisting of a swindler, a fighter, an elite hacker and a talented driver is asked to take back property hidden away by criminals.

The finale for this show aired this week and I'm mostly just feeling meh about it. I don't know if I would have enjoyed this show more or less if I hadn't been expecting something totally different but the way it stands I was excited when this show began only to be less and less interested as it went on. The only thing that kept me around was the friendship/found family that our crew made but half the time Ha Ri wasn't even apart of it cause he was always off doing the solo adventure thing since he refused to tell the others the truth. The overarching plot was kinda boring and tbh the way we defeated That Person was a bit of a let down. The plan was solid but the only thing he screwed up which led to our team winning was his target of choice for corrupt prosecutor. The Chief should have known that Jang would be the worst person to blame all this on cause he's literally the most stand-up prosecutor in the office. Picking one of the sketchy ones that fought with him all the time would have worked better though it did lead to a few great moments when even they questioned the logic of Jang being corrupt and going so far as to help set the record straight. I did enjoy the ending though cause I'm really glad that the trio didn't end up going to jail and that the four of them will keep on being con artists on the down low (cause they are still wanted) and that they kept all the money they stole. The last few moments made them feel so much more like con artists and this show feel like the kind of show I was hoping for than most of the whole season did. Overall I'd give this show a 8 / 10 for making me indifferent about the whole thing but not enough to make me want to drop it. There were some fairly badass moments and the soundtrack definitely helped as did the hints of undercover fun we had and honestly I wouldn't mind another season but only if they double down on the actual spy/con artist stuff and dial back the police-work a bit.

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (14/16): A TV series centered around the unfolding relationship between free and unpredictable yet dangerous Kim Moo Young, who is called a "monster". He is the first assistant in a Korean beer brewery who becomes a suspect when his girlfriend's suicide turns out to be murder. His life begins to change when he meets a kind, warm advertising designer named Yoo Jin Kang, who wishes to be Moo Young's safe haven. She bears as many emotional scars as him. Yoo Jin Kang also has a brother, a homicide detective named Yoo Jin Gook, with 27 years of job experience. He strives to "reveal" who Moo Young really is and attempts to keep his sister, Jin Kang, away from Moo Young, with whom she begins to know.

We finally got some answers this week but I'm still anxious for more! Moo Young learned that Jin Gook was the man who killed his father and that Jin Gook was looking for him. It was a little heartbreaking watching him backslide from the good man he was for the past two weeks (even if part of me was like ooh get that gun and shoot Jin Gook for sure cause he's the worst!) and it was awful seeing Moo Young reach out to Woo Sang's sister cause that girl is not about to do any free favors and I'm not looking forward to what she's going to ask for in return. Seo In Guk really made me cry tonight cause his acting was incredible and when he said he wanted to be born again and then Jin Kang was like I love you anyway, all the tears!! It was also super ridiculous that freaking Jin Gook will STILL not tell the truth. He knows who Moo Young is and he knows that Moo Young knows who he is and what he did but heaven forbid Jin Gook take any action that isn't stabbing someone. It took Moo Young searching on his own to find out that his father was a murderer and killed his mother. We're also told that Jin Kang is actually his younger sister through Woo Sang and then Moo Young's memories which is on par for the jdrama but I still don't believe it entirely cause this show is all about how love redeems people and I seriously doubt Korea would go the jdrama route. I wonder if she was the child of the friend of Moo Young's mom who was in the cult and the two other people murdered by Moo Young's dad was her parents? I don't entirely mind if it's true cause this twist was epic in the jdrama but I also really want my couple to be happy in the end so it's like I kind of don't want it to be truth either!

FINISHED Terius Behind Me (32/32): Go Ae Rin is a single mother who after unexpectedly losing her husband, gets involved in a spy war. She lives in the apartment in front of Kim Bon. Kim Bon, who's code name is Terius, is a legendary black ops agent for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) who has gone into hiding after disappearing without a trace. 3 years ago in a failed secret operation, he lost the woman he loved. Since then, Kim Bon has hid away in his apartment, next to Go Ae Rin, isolated from the world around him and living in secrecy, trying to uncover the mystery behind what happened back then. When a mysterious incident arises in which Go Ae Rin's husband dies, they both team up to uncover a huge conspiracy which Go Ae Rin's husband had become involved in. Joining them is Jin Young Tae, a former con man who may hold the key to what Go Ae Rin and Kim Bon are searching for, and Yoo Ji Yeon, a fellow NIS agent who appears cold and unfeeling on the outside but harbors feelings towards Kim Bon, who she is kind towards.

The finale of this show aired this week and it was alright. My favorite part of this show was the spywork from the beginning and even though I complained here and there about how it was written (comedy took a precedent over good agents), I'm glad we spent the finale all wrapped up in NIS stuff. We finally got answers and though I wish that we had learned all this a bit sooner, it was nice because it gave us twist after twist. Like I expected it was actually Director Shim who was the CornerStone operative and Chief Kwon was just trying to do her job. I also laughed when we found out that she did in fact get that shirt with the gold clover buttons from him like I called last week. It was a bit surprising to find out that everyone made it out fine even if pretty much everyone was hurt during the finale at some point though I should have expected it since Bon got hurt so many times and was fine himself. I was sad for a second that Young Tae might have died cause he really grew on me with how precious he was so I'm glad he made it out okay. I also liked that Ae Rin was still working at King's Bag and that she's kinda an agent for the NIS cause she was pretty badass this season! It was interesting that the show ended with Ae Rin and Bon being together but also super weird cause we never got a kiss or any real romantic moments that weren't just hinted at. Either way I liked this show mostly cause of how weird it was and I'd give it a 8.5 / 10!

When Time Stopped (7/12): A man who can stop time meets a woman unaffected by time.
Moon Joon Woo is a seemingly-ordinary person, except for the fact that he can stop time. His special ability makes him lonely and he finds no meaning in life. When he needs somewhere to live, he moves into a basement owned by the building owner, Kim Sun Ah. Kim Sun Ah is a hard-working, financially struggling girl who appears to have much joy in her life, but in fact struggles to pay off her father's debt. Joon Woo finds that when he stops time, Sun Ah is not affected and continues to walk amongst a time-stopped world. With bubbly Sun Ah by his side, can the lonely Joon Woo begin to find the meaning of his existence?

I can't believe I didn't start watching this drama when it first aired a couple of weeks ago cause it's so much fun! It's exactly in my wheelbarrow of fantasy romance and though as of now the romance is pretty slow building, I'm having a ton of fun and I'm actually enjoying the slow build! I love the idea of being able to stop time and that the main lead is kind of an art thief in the sense that he's stealing art that others have stolen in order to repair it before returning it to the proper channels. I also love the main female lead and how she's so kind and hard working. It's super fun that they're the only two who can move when time is stopped and like I said before, I love their slow building romance and how she convinced him to use his powers to help others and how he saved her life a couple of times. I'm also fascinated with the idea that there are reapers in this world too that are around to stop people with powers though I feel like our main reaper kind of bends the rules so that he only catches people who use their powers to do bad things cause he found out about Joon Woo's time stopping but didn't do anything right away. I wonder if this show will have a super sad ending with Joon Woo dying but also living on through the story Sun Ah is writing or if they'll get a pass from God/Heaven cause they're using their powers for good. I also like that we spent the first couple of episodes focused on our main couple and then we spread out to get to know the tenants before I'm sure we'll refocus on the main couple!

CDRAMA

An Oriental Odyssey (24/50): In Tang Dynasty, the chivalrous eldest daughter of the Assistant Minister of Revenue, Ye Yuan An, saves Mu Le, an amnesiac young man of mysterious identity. Yuan An takes Mu Le in as a family servant, and the latter swears his loyalty to her. Along with Zhao Lan Zhi, a constable, the trio solve cases after cases together. But what is Mu Le's true identity?

We wrapped up the story with the puppeteer (with a shit ton of deaths and me feeling real sorry for the General's wife and daughter) but the more interesting plot this week had to do with Mu Le being sent to the army and seriously I was just as pissed as Mu Le that Yuan'an did that to him. Even if she had his best interests in mind, she's basically forcing him to do things he doesn't want to do just cause he's her slave and everyone in the army was pretty awful including Lan Zhi who I'm pretty sure was jealous of how much Yuan'an cared about Mu Le. I mean why else basically embarrass Mu Le by challenging him to a fight that Lan Zhi knows he will win and then talk about how Mu Le can never be with Yuan'an? I was thrilled he left to go with the bandits who ironically feel more like the good guys than the army does and I know Mu Le is going to eventually have to leave but I really hope he leaves to go figure out who he is rather than going back to Yuan'an as a slave or the army which I really can't seem him doing after he killed so many army men. I wasn't the hugest fan of the forced kiss Mu Le gave her but I still think they're endgame but if he stays as her slave I don't think they can be together. We got a bit more backstory on him in that he's definitely some sort of dragon monster thing and he definitely was living with someone who looks like Yuan'an (bringing credence to my whole kicked out of the magical dimension and sent to live as a human theory from a few weeks back) but also it looks like he's met someone he knows but she's being threatened into silence by some sort of spirit.

xoxo Allie

The Flash Season 5 Episode 5 Review

Yeah so this episode happened. We were off last week but now we're back and I'm feeling pretty meh about it.

I'm a little over this whole Nora/Iris thing so I guess I'm glad that we seem to have kinda resolved it tonight. I really don't like the idea of separating future Iris from past Iris the way literally everyone on the show is telling Nora to do cause regardless it's still Iris. I understand that it's not exactly fair to hold her to what she will do but for Nora, that's all in the past and it's really ignoring her feelings to be like you have to pretend all of that didn't happen. Parents aren't infallible beings and the idea that kids should never question them is wrong. We still don't have a clear picture of who Iris is going to be or why she became like that. We learned tonight that she also refuses to talk about herself and her reporting and that there are multiple issues that Nora can't ask about. The more we learn about stuff like this the more I want to see the future. I really want an episode that's set in the future (maybe to explain why Nora came back in the first place) so that we can get more answers.

The stuff with the meta was kinda boring though he had the most creepy powers. He mentioned that he was effected by the satellite but we didn't get to learn what tech gave him his powers unless he got them directly though in that case it would have made more sense for him to have gotten them from the particle accelerator since the satellite seems to be making more metatech than metahumans. Also Iris diving off that roof to unshackle Barry was extremely silly. Wouldn't it have made more sense for Ralph to stretch and grab him?

Caitlin, Ralph, Sherloque and Cisco went hunting for her dad and eventually found out that he not only knew about Killer Frost because he was there when she first appeared but that he's probably hiding at a black ops site that Caitlin's mom used to run. Am I missing or forgetting something but since when did Caitlin's mom work somewhere like ARGUS where she would even need black op sites? Did I forget when we learned that her mom actually owns and runs her own company? I did like the nod to Martin Stein and him being a friend of Caitlin's father though it seems a bit of a weird retcon since you would have thought that Stein would have mentioned something like that when he met Caitlin. I'm not a fan of how the episode ended though with Caitlin once again backing away from finding her father cause I thought we got past all this indecision episodes ago but we're back probably due to no other reason than the fact that this is probs all Caitlin is going to do all season so we need to drag it out. I also really hope that whenever we finally meet Caitlin's dad that we get an explanation as to what Caitlin is and how her powers work. Is it as simple as her being exposed to dark matter when she was young making her one of the first metas? I also want to know why her dad decided to hide for so many years and whether he's a villain too or not!

The final story was with Cisco and how he's losing his metapowers after Cicada stabbed him with his dagger. According to Caitlin some of that dark matter is inside his hands and they're causing him extreme discomfort when he uses his abilities. I was expecting Caitlin to tell him that she's going to try surgery to get the dark matter particles out or something cause it seems weird to permanently bench Vibe even if it led to a great moment between Cisco and Caitlin where she told him that Cisco was a great person without Vibe and that losing his powers didn't mean that Cisco was useless for Team Flash. I was getting such shippy vibes between the two and I know they're not going to go anywhere but I'm just saying, the chemistry was there!

The promo for next week looks to be all about Caitlin and her dad. It seems like maybe he does have ice powers like her afterall and maybe I wasn't all that off on him being Icicle Senior or some sort of villain especially with the title of next week's episode being Icicle!

Weekly Dramas this Friday and then Arrow again on Monday!

xoxo Allie

Arrow Season 7 Episode 5 Review

Tonight's episode was much better than last week's which made me happy cause I'm really enjoying this season's writing so far and I was hoping it wasn't just a oh Arrow is back yay kind of feeling on my part.

Before we talk about the episode, I read something earlier this week where someone was talking about the strengths of the writing this season and one thing the writer mentioned that stuck with me and I thought about as I watched this episode was how the focus of the show is now on OTA and everyone else acts as support to them. Last season we had so many different storylines going all over the place and to the degree where NTA seemed more important than Oliver himself. This season we're all spread out but we seem to have an Oliver story, a Felicity story and a Diggle one with all other characters acting as support to them. It's such a beautiful way to write this show and it allows us to have this huge cast yet give them all something to do while also reminding the audience what's most important.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's start with Oliver in prison. We finally got to level 2 and though I was kind of hoping that we'd get a bunch of old criminals like we did on level 1, I was shocked to see Talia. Last week I was talking about how I thought that either Parker or Stanley were the Demon cause they were both so sketchy and a lot of people were talking about how awesome it would be if it was an Al Ghul and I thought the same but really didn't expect anything out of it cause why in the world with a Al Ghul be in prison near Star City but low and behold, it really was an Al Ghul. We didn't really get a reason why Talia was here though she did drop a line about visiting an old friend in Gotham (cough Bruce Wayne cough) but I really seriously didn't care cause it led to a great team up between Oliver and Talia. I really did expect Oliver to escape with her tbh but it made more sense for him to stay back. Parker turned out not to be the Demon but just a super sketchy doctor who somehow convinced either the guards or the prison director to allow him to run an off the books experiment in a very Dr Hugo Strange manner. It's kind of funny though that after everything Oliver did he's back where he started without much punishment so good for him I guess! I'd like to imagine that Talia killed Parker at the end and I kind of hope she sticks around this season or comes back later now that she and Oliver have burying the hatchet. She would be helpful in taking down Diaz afterall.

The second major storyline this week had to do with Felicity, Dinah and Laurel. This might be the first week I actually liked Black Siren so I've decided to start calling her Laurel in my reviews as she's earned it. I loved that the crusade for Diaz took a backseat to Felicity's worry over Oliver cause of course he'd be the most important to her. It was really fun seeing the girls work together and how much Dinah cared for Felicity and how Laurel grew to care for her too. Felicity was much less desperate and manic this week and I kind of hope that this continues and that it was due to Laurel's talk last week about how Felicity needs to play the long game and use her brain and not because she was focusing on something other than Diaz. I kind of wanted to see Talia meet up with the girls but she ended up leaving the flashdrive anonymously instead. This week felt very Birds of Prey style and it was written much much better than most of the previous girls night out episodes (ugh looking at you Flash) even if we didn't really get any fighting. They were able to discover something wrong, research it and fix it in one episode cause my girls are amazing. I was living when Laurel asked Felicity to go out for pizza at the end of the episode. Can we get more of this please?? I kind of love their dynamic.

Also sidebar but Felicity met Stanley this week and did anyone else feel a weird vibe from him when she told him to tell Oliver that she has a lead on Diaz? I felt it again when he told Oliver at the end of the episode and I don't know why but I was expecting him to say something super creepy and threatening about her. I will die of laughter if it turns out that Stanley is just weird and has nothing to do with the plot cause the amount of screentime he's given is too much. I'd rather Oliver befriend antiheroes like Talia and Bronze Tiger!

The final storyline this week had to do with Diggle and Curtis going undercover. As much fun as I had a few weeks ago with Diggle going undercover with ARGUS, I was super bored this week with this story. It kind of feels like we're watching two different shows with Felicity and Oliver doing one thing and Diggle waaaay over there. I still think that whatever this thing that is happening at ARGUS is connected to Diaz cause it wouldn't make sense to spend so much time over at ARGUS running all these ops without it connecting back to the main storyline. I could even see Diaz being taken out halfway through the season and then whatever this threat happening at ARGUS taking over. Either way, I do hope that the connection comes out earlier rather than later cause if I'm zoning out a bit over here, so is most of the audience. Also I really hated the Curtis story in this with him suddenly being terrified of being out in the field. Like Dinah's anti-vigilante stance, it doesn't track cause he's been out in the field as a vigilante before so why be gun shy now.

We capped the episode by finding out that the Silencer was in Moscow (which props to their teleportation which took like a day to get from the States to Russia) and Diaz seemed to have killed a whole lot of Bratva in order to get to Anatoli. I do hope that he's okay cause I love Anatoli!

The preview for next week seems to show us that most of the episode will be about getting Oliver out of prison through an appeal which I'm sure will work out cause like I predicted last week, episode 9 is the crossover so if Oliver gets out in episode 6 or 7 (I think it'll be 7), he'll get some time to get himself back together before running off to have fun with Barry and Kara. We also see that Anatoli is fine and maybe back in Star City so that's a load off! Diaz probably sent him to threaten the others. Either way, it should be good.

I'll see you all tomorrow for my Flash review!

xoxo Allie

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

FINISHED Mood Of The Day (1/1): By chance, a man and a woman meet on the KTX train and spend 24 hours in the unfamiliar city of Busan, South Korea. Soo-Jung has been with her boyfriend for 10 years, but their romance is now nothing but a lukewarm relationship. The night before her business trip to Busan, she heard that her friend is getting married to her first love, and feels distracted. On the train to Busan, she sits next to Jae-Hyun, who’s claiming that he willingly jumps into bed with a woman for one night. Falling for her gorgeous hips, he keeps coming on to her during the journey. She tries to push him away, but ends up sharing the car ride to Busan with him due to the sudden breakdown of the train. She begins to slowly open up to him as he consistently tries to win her heart. And as the time passes on the road, she gets to see the true inside of Jae-Hyun hidden behind his featheriness and finds herself attracted to him.

I was hesitant to start this movie originally cause I always find movies where the main couple hang out for one day and fall in love so unbelievable but I ended up biting the bullet and thank god I did! This is one of those super romantic movies that seriously have you believing that true love exists! I was feeling the whole range of emotions from start to finish and the main couple's chemistry was out of this world! I could feel the attraction between the two like a palatable thing and it was written all over their faces the exact moment when they fell for each other which like all the props to the actors for! I loved that Jae Hyun tried to stop them from sleeping together in the hotel not only cause Soo Jung was clearly really nervous but cause he was starting to feel real feelings and they freaked him out. It was no longer just about sleeping with a random woman and he didn't know how to deal which is why I loved that when they did sleep together it was a much more natural thing and it really felt like they fell in love this time. I loved that Soo Jung broke up with her boyfriend immediately when she got back without the thought of having Jae Hyun instead cause she didn't think he'd love her like she did but she knew that after feeling the way she did with another guy, there was no way her lukewarm relationship with her boyfriend would make do. I wasn't down with the misunderstandings but I was so thrilled that Jae Hyun went to find her first cause it had to have been really hard for him and I loved the chase scene through the city and train station to find him. This was a magical movie and I cannot say enough that you have to watch it!! I'd give it a 10 / 10!

The Player (12/14): A police redemption team consisting of a swindler, a fighter, an elite hacker and a talented driver is asked to take back property hidden away by criminals.

I really enjoyed this show when it first started but now I'm feeling less and less interested as the show goes on. I think I was really let down by the premise of this show tbh cause I was expecting more undercover ops by our crew the way most con artist shows are done but it seems like this show prefers to just have our crew chase after criminals the way police do and that wasn't particularly what I hoped for. The cases are a little boring and I'm really not feeling the overarching story which I can't decide if would have been better if it was shown from episode one or if it was cut out entirely. Honestly it feels like episode 1 was so far off from what this show has become that they really should have done it differently. It was a surprise to find out that the mole for that person was the right hand man for Prosecutor Jang but I like I thought it was cause that person kidnapped his wife and his newborn to blackmail him into doing it cause I didn't see the investigator as a real villain based on how he tried to warn Jang off from going out there. I was also surprised to find out everyone in the crew had a connection to that person but I really shouldn't have cause honestly it's such a Ha Ri thing to get a bunch of people connected to his big case since personal stakes always makes someone fight harder. I really felt for Byung Min this week cause the poor guy felt so guilty and it wasn't really even his fault cause he had no idea what he was doing in the past. Jin Woong was a little less involved cause all he did was capture one guy and Ah Ryung was in the same place as Ha Ri really in that person killed her dad. I'm not really worried for Jang cause I'm sure he'll be fine but I'm looking forward to seeing how that person and this whole operation will be taken down in the finale by our crew.

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (12/16): A TV series centered around the unfolding relationship between free and unpredictable yet dangerous Kim Moo Young, who is called a "monster". He is the first assistant in a Korean beer brewery who becomes a suspect when his girlfriend's suicide turns out to be murder. His life begins to change when he meets a kind, warm advertising designer named Yoo Jin Kang, who wishes to be Moo Young's safe haven. She bears as many emotional scars as him. Yoo Jin Kang also has a brother, a homicide detective named Yoo Jin Gook, with 27 years of job experience. He strives to "reveal" who Moo Young really is and attempts to keep his sister, Jin Kang, away from Moo Young, with whom she begins to know.

If this show has taught me anything this week, it's that every single person excluding our main couple is the damn worst. Why is it so freaking hard for anyone to tell the truth? Jin Gook is clearly lying cause he's trying to cover up his misdoing/guilt but the doctor literally let a child leave a hospital just for shits and giggles and then refuses to tell Moo Young what his past is? Moo Young is a 30 year old man. He can handle the freaking truth. But let's circle back to Jin Gook who I just cannot with anymore! I've tried and tried to understand where he was coming from with the whole Moo Young is probs not a good person and he's probs not someone I'd want my sibling to date but he lost me this week. He's officially unhinged and every time he starts shouting instead of talking at a normal human pitch, my skin crawls. He's resorted to stalking and threatening and now even stabbing and I'm starting to wonder if maybe he's the real villain here with his obsession with his little sister and his need to control her every move. He literally told Jin Kang that he could straight up do anything to keep them apart and I can't believe that Jin Kang is STILL staying with him after that. I would be horrified and freaked out and move the hell out that very second! The police are just as terrible with the boss being like I'm covering all this up to save face and his idiotic female officer who's like lie lie lie about everything as long as you're happy! WHAT ABOUT THE POOR GUY HE TRIED TO KILL???? It's even worse cause we're getting bits of what happened and it doesn't paint Jin Gook in a good light at all. I'm thinking that Moo Young's criminal father was friends with Jin Kang's dad which makes our couple childhood friends and that Jin Gook was hunting Moo Young's dad to arrest him but he found Jin Kang's dad in Moo Young's house and accidentally shot him thinking it was Moo Young's dad which Moo Young and Jin Kang saw. The two ran to her father in a panic and accidentally knocked over that kettle burning both of them. Meanwhile Moo Young's dad was running from the cops or something and fell off a cliff. That would fit with what the doctor said but also with Moo Young's memories. The other option is that Jin Gook killed Moo Young's dad in revenge for killing Jin Kang's dad and the doctor is flat our lying to Moo Young for who knows what reason. Either way Jin Gook shouldn't despise Moo Young the way he does cause none of that was Moo Young's fault and it seems like according to that female cop, Jin Gook hates him cause he is a reminder of the horrible thing Jin Gook did. The second option would at least give Jin Gook a slight reason to worry about Jin Kang and Moo Young dating but still not enough to try to kill my baby! Deep breathes girl deep breathes. On a happier note, domestic Jin Kang and Moo Young was everything this week. I loved seeing how she forced him into buying a whole bunch of appliances and how he even tried to reach out to her brother cause he knew how much she loved him (only to be shut down cause Jin Gook is the worst.) There's just something so sweet in how he looks and touches her like she's the most precious thing in the world to him and how desperately he hugs her when he's worried she might leave him cause he's so used to rejection and I liked his foreshadowing to her about how if he ever says that he hates her he will be lying and to ignore it. It was also super sweet how he basically told her that if she wants to leave him that he'll let her go but he'll always wait for her to come back by talking to the cat cause it was so unlike the old selfish version of Moo Young who wouldn't care how much she was torn between her brother and him. Wow that was a long and rambly review but I had so many thoughts.

Terius Behind Me (28/32): Go Ae Rin is a single mother who after unexpectedly losing her husband, gets involved in a spy war. She lives in the apartment in front of Kim Bon. Kim Bon, who's code name is Terius, is a legendary black ops agent for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) who has gone into hiding after disappearing without a trace. 3 years ago in a failed secret operation, he lost the woman he loved. Since then, Kim Bon has hid away in his apartment, next to Go Ae Rin, isolated from the world around him and living in secrecy, trying to uncover the mystery behind what happened back then. When a mysterious incident arises in which Go Ae Rin's husband dies, they both team up to uncover a huge conspiracy which Go Ae Rin's husband had become involved in.Joining them is Jin Young Tae, a former con man who may hold the key to what Go Ae Rin and Kim Bon are searching for, and Yoo Ji Yeon, a fellow NIS agent who appears cold and unfeeling on the outside but harbors feelings towards Kim Bon, who she is kind towards.

One thing that's refreshing about this show cause there's a spy storyline added to the romance is that silly tropes are ignored or fixed within one or two episodes so we don't have to sit in the angst of characters doing dumb things. When Ae Rin found out that Bon and the NIS crew knew that her husband was murdered and that Bon approached her at first to find out if she knew anything about her husband's death, she accepted it without going into a tailspin about whether Bon actually cared about her or was using her all along and she didn't blame the NIS crew for lying. Like a smart human being she understood that everything Bon did recently was real and that the only reason they lied was to protect her like what she did with her friend's husband who died. I also loved that Jin was playing double agent (as I called last week) and his bromance with Bon really makes you forget how horrible he was at the start of this show. On the other hand, I don't understand how dumb Ji Yeon is honestly cause she constantly keeps throwing Ae Rin into terrible situations and even if she's not officially a NIS agent, she's so wrapped up in every step of the CornerStone operation whether she knew it or not at the time that of course her name would be a red flag and now the Voice knows it too and she's working at his house and I really didn't think it was going to go well but it looks like we're not going to tread down that path anyway since we've already infiltrated and escaped with what we wanted. The show seems to like us to believe that Bon gets shot or hurt pretty much every week but like every other week, I'm sure he's fine. I also kind of wish that we could find out which of the NIS agents are good cause I'm tired of being anxious around both and it would be super helpful to have a higher up on our side who we can actually trust!

CDRAMA

An Oriental Odyssey (18/50): In Tang Dynasty, the chivalrous eldest daughter of the Assistant Minister of Revenue, Ye Yuan An, saves Mu Le, an amnesiac young man of mysterious identity. Yuan An takes Mu Le in as a family servant, and the latter swears his loyalty to her. Along with Zhao Lan Zhi, a constable, the trio solve cases after cases together. But what is Mu Le's true identity?

This show is super silly and so good honestly and it's interesting cause I'm really enjoying this world we're in and how the show has mini arcs each week basically. I think it's a bit refreshing compared to other wuxia shows were the whole story is about a quest cause I always end up caring less about the quest than the characters interacting with each other and that's what this show feels like. I wasn't the biggest fan of the case with the skinchanger but I'm really enjoying the stuff with the bastard brother this week cause not only is he hilarious and seriously messing up everything in our world but it's leading to fun new dynamics. I'm still super in love with Mu Le and I adore how much he adores Yuan An and how she lights up around him too though she doesn't know it. The whole Lan Zhi thing is interesting cause he's clearly into her and she has a crush on him but like neither are saying anything and it's going to suck hardcore when he realizes she got away. They also seem to be setting up this thing with Lan Zhi and the Infanta but I don't really care for her so I'm meh about that. I also wonder if Mu Le is from another dimension or world or if he's straight up just from another kingdom cause we never did get told what this world is made up of besides the kingdom we're in. It's a little interesting how far we are diving into magic like for some reason I figured most of the magic would be in martial arts but now we're talking voodoo and skin changing. I do like the idea that it's all connected to the beads so most normal people can't do it.

FINISHED Martial Universe Season 2 (20/20): The story takes place after Lin Dong and Zhou Tong have joined hands to defeat the enemy. Evil lingers as Yi Mo Huang survives and the search for the two remaining talismans continue. After witnessing Ying Huan Huan sacrifice her love for him in order to assume her position as the Ice Master, Lin Dong realizes that he must take up his duty as the successor of the Zu talisman. He helps his younger sister Qing Tan become the Master of Darkness and heads to the Demon Realm to obtain the Life and Death Talisman. A final battle awaits Lin Dong and his former friend Lin Lang Tian who has been overcome by his greed for power.

Honestly I really liked the sad ending that this show had cause it just makes all the sense in the world that Lin Dong could only really get rid of all the Yimo by losing everything that ties him to the world and I loved that it was Huan Huan who was his last obstacle. I mean of course I would have loved it if they were able to live happily ever after but being a hero in this kind of story always needs a sacrifice and we should have all seen it coming after Lin Dong needing to lose his eyesight to defeat one Yimo King. My big problems with this show were the pacing and the amnesia Ice Master thing. There was literally no reason that the Ice Master was the only one who had to do what she did and if in the end Lin Dong had to choose the world over his love, why bother with the angst due to memory loss? It seems redundant. The show also had a problem with pacing cause we spent episodes upon episodes doing nothing in season 1 and then literally jumping from scene to scene with major changes happening offscreen this season to move the plot forward. I'm thrilled though that Lang Tian seemed to have died cause I would have been pissed if he was able to be redeemed and happy with Qing Tan when he ruined so many lives cause though she deserves to be happy, he did not. I super didn't expect the older fox girl not only to die but then be brought back to life. It was cute though that she and Xiao Yan ended up marrying each other in the end. I was also glad that Lin Dong didn't end up with Qing Zhu romantically cause that would have been spitting in Huan Huan's memory and poor Qing Zhu who would be a substitute! I'm not sure if that blurry image of Huan Huan at the end was supposed to be one coming from another plane or if that was the idea that he'd meet her again in another reincarnation but either way, I'd like to imagine that eventually these two will find each other again. I'd give this show a 9 / 10!

JDRAMA

FINISHED Daytime Shooting Star (1/1): Yosano Suzume is a naïve, country girl who transfers to a high school in Tokyo. When she gets lost on her first day in the big city, a man named Shishio comes to her rescue. He turns out to be her homeroom teacher. Suzume begins to develop feelings for Shishio that she has never felt before… “I’m in love with you.” Suzume’s straightforward confession of love places Shishio in an awkward situation as her teacher. While Shishio grapples with how to respond, Suzume’s classmate Mamura, who supposedly has an aversion to girls, tells her he’s in love with her. What will become of Suzume’s first love…?

I normally hate romances when there's a power dynamic like with a boss/employee or a teacher/student so I wasn't sure if I wanted to check this movie out at first but then I heard that Suzume chooses her classmate in the end so I decided why not and I ended up having a ton of fun. It was weird though cause I went in ready to hate the teacher but ended up being just as torn as Suzume as to which guy she would pick. It helped that Shishio was super handsome, looked really young and met Suzume as a customer at her uncle's cafe first. They also ended up having a lot more chemistry than Suzume and Mamura did and I loved that he was smart enough to realize though he loved her too, it wasn't right to be together while she was his student. On the other hand, Mamura was so preciously in love with her and would do anything for her that it won my heart over. I really forgot while watching this that I knew Mamura was the one she would pick in the end cause until the moment she told Shishio that she was in love with someone else, I was so involved in the love triangle which again isn't a trope I love cause I always end up having a favorite and then being annoyed when the other is showcased. I loved watching Mamura win Suzume over slowly and how her affection for him grew. I also loved the friendship between Suzume and Yuyuka Nekota who started out the mean girl but ended up being a really good friend of Suzume's! I'd give this movie a 10 / 10!

FINISHED Marmalade Boy (1/1): Koishikawa Miki, a high school student, is told by her parents that they are getting a divorce and swapping partners with another couple. The other couple have a son called Yuu, whom Miki becomes attracted to after moving in together.

Honestly I really don't know what I was expecting when I started this show except the main couple looked cute in some images I saw and I ended up really enjoying myself but mostly just cause of the main couple which was fine cause I don't really go into romantic movies for the plot lol! My brain told me that Miki was a bit of an airhead and it seemed kind of silly how quickly Yuu fell for her especially since we're told he doesn't really believe in love but my heart melted due to their great chemistry and the angst we went through when Miki and Yuu thought they were siblings. It's honestly kind of funny how much Japan likes their sibling incest and I was relieved that it was all a misunderstanding in the end cause I wanted this couple together! I loved their first kiss and how much pain he was in when he thought they were related but my favorite moments all took place after Miki went to visit Yuu from when he broke down and told her the truth about why they broke up to when they decided to spend one last day together to the way they clung together and the night they spent together being unable to sleep. You could really feel the desperation and angst and it was everything. The families were beyond hilarious cause who even swaps partners and then decides to live together like damn that's weird but it led to some funny moments so I didn't mind it too much. I had a lot of fun and cause of that I'd give this movie a 9.5 / 10!

FINISHED One Week Friends (1/1): Kaori Fujimiya is always alone because all of her happy memories, including time spent with her friends, disappear every Monday. Deciding that he wants to be friends with her anyway, Yuuki Hase tries to get close to Kaori each week, wishing that she would one day call him "a friend."

One of the oldest and possibly most used tropes in romance is the whole amnesia/memory loss story and honestly I'm such a loser cause no matter how many times I watch it, I will in fact cry every single time and unabashedly say that it's still one of my favorite tropes. I just find something so romantic about both sides of the story: the amnesiac falling in love all over again and/or remembering despite the memory loss cause the love is so strong and the other making the amnesiac fall in love with them over and over and/or not caring that the memory loss happened cause they love the amnesiac so much. All of this happened in this movie and I loved it so much. Yamazaki Kento who played Yuuki was such an absolute cutie (especially when he smiled) and it was so interesting seeing him play such a warm character after loving him in Todome no Kiss where he played such an asshole! I loved the building friendship between Yuuki and Kaori and how he came up with the adorable idea to exchange a diary with her (though I didn't understand why Kaori didn't do that in the first place to remember people/things.) I also loved that he was the one who reached out her before anyone else but that he was such a sweetheart and backed off when he though Kaori loved someone else. Honestly I cried when she looked through that flipbook comic and the only thing I think this movie could have done better was let our main couple kiss cause I thought they were precious! I also would have liked more of a solid ending cause like she seemed to remember everything before the accident but she still forgot every new thing every week which is strange cause the doctor made a point of telling us that she only had the memory loss to protect herself. I'd like to imagine that Kaori would remember Yuuki from now on but I have a feeling she won't though I don't mind it that much. I'd give this movie a 9 / 10 and definitely say you should check it out cause it's precious.

FINISHED Principal - Koi Suru Watashi wa Heroine Desu Ka? (1/1): After her parents divorced, Sumitomo Shima lived with her mother. She felt uncomfortable living with her stepfather and she was unable to hang out with people at her high school. Shima decides to move to Hokkaido where her father lives. At her new high school in Hokkaido, she meets classmate Tatebayashi Gen and Sakurai Wao. They are the two most popular boys at her school. A principle of her school is that"Gen and Wao are for everyone." If anyone breaks the rule, that person will be ostracized. Sumitomo Shima gets closer to Gen and Wao.

Being on the Japanese movie kick that I'm on, I decided to check this movie out for no particular reason and I ended up feeling pretty ehh about it cause though I enjoyed the main couple, their love story didn't exactly feel great to me. I liked the idea that Gen liked Shima who liked Wao who liked Gen's sister and that Shima decided to accept Wao as her brother after their parents got married and she found out who he really liked but after this the story went haywire. Gen seemed to not even know how he felt and dated Shima's friend who set her up on a date without another guy. Though I liked that Shima broke up with him as soon as she realized that she actually liked Gen, it was super weird that she was jumping from one guy to the next and it was no wonder that Gen was confused. I was glad that they made it clear that Shima was leaving for Tokyo at the end cause she wanted to pursue her dream and not cause she was running away but they never really told us what her dream was (ballet maybe but idk) so it really didn't feel all that real. The kiss Gen and Shima shared at the end was sweet but not enough to save this movie for me. I'd give it a 8.5 / 10!

xoxo Allie

Arrow Season 7 Episode 4 Review

This was a weird episode cause it was like I was only interested in about half of what was happening which was unfortunate cause I think this might be the first episode this season that I didn't love.

Let's start with the storylines I didn't love, one of which was Oliver in prison. I don't understand what was happening here for multiple reasons. First of all, since when do prisons torture their inmates and through psychiatrists at that? The man claimed that he was there to make sure that Oliver wouldn't be dangerous in level 2 but it seemed more like he was interested in breaking Oliver and unless this guy is the Demon or working for Diaz, why would he care? Straight up it was so nonsensical that I was waiting for the reveal until the episode ended. He literally attempted to torture Oliver through not only solitary confinement but through lack of food, water and even electrical pulses. Let's pretend for a second that he was trying to do good, why in the hell would he care to rehabilitate Oliver cause it's not like Oliver's up for parol so convincing him that he shouldn't be a vigilante seems pointless if he's just going back to jail.

My other problem with this storyline was more on a meta scale. Not only am I annoyed that we're going to try another arc where Oliver gives up the Green Arrow hood which we seem to do practically every season, but it makes no sense cause of course Oliver is going to be a vigilante again otherwise this wouldn't be Arrow! The only way I'd be okay with what happened here is if Oliver was either pretending to go along with what that man wanted so that he'd get to level 2 or if this was a way to parol Oliver cause I'm already a little over prison.

The other storyline that I didn't love was the Dinah/Rene one which seemed to be a repeat of the same thing we went through in episode 1 of this season. Dinah is still all no vigilantes and Rene is like yes vigilantes and when this storyline was shown in the first episode I was on Dinah's side cause everything she was saying made sense. They couldn't be seen being for vigilantes or being vigilantes or their FBI immunity would go through. In this episode though Dinah was like buckling down on this but in a more extreme manner in that she was not only basically ignoring criminals just to catch the new Green Arrow but she also arrested Rene for trying to help him. It would be a lot more believable if we didn't know that she was a vigilante at some point. I did like Diggle basically asking her why she was so adamant and I did like that she gave a bit of a better reason in that working in the shadows leads to heartbreak and though I disagree, this is very much in line with Dinah's character in that she will choose something to blame for her loss.

It was also a little weird that she ended the episode being like maybe sometimes we need vigilantes to work with the cops and I'm super confused cause that's pretty much what the show has been doing for like 6 seasons and it's pretty much against everything Dinah has been saying. At the same time if this storyline is a set up for the show to basically make vigilantes work for the police like a special vigilante squad, I would take back all my complaints cause again this feels like the only way that Oliver can get out of prison and be the Green Arrow again if everyone knows who he is.

Now let's talk the storylines I was into this week and start with Felicity and Black Siren. I loved this team up so much cause these two characters are so different which leads to a fun dynamic. I never thought that Felicity would reach out to Black Siren but it makes sense in hindsight cause who else would be so hyper-focused on catching Diaz like Felicity wants than her since they both have lost everything cause of him. I loved that Black Siren was the one to talk Felicity off the ledge cause I really wouldn't have been down for Felicity truly going dark and torturing someone and it was a great speech Black Siren gave that paralleled Felicity. I loved that they ended up with a solid plan but I feel like they're definitely going to need backup. Maybe ARGUS or the SCPD or even the new Green Arrow? I also liked the parallel of Felicity wanting to torture the Silencer and Rene warning her how it breaks a person to Oliver being tortured in prison which I've been noticing that the writing likes to do this season and makes me smile cause it makes Oliver and Felicity feel like a team even when they're apart.

The final storyline this season was the flashforwards and I know I said last week that I didn't miss them but that was before the show decided to do the thing I love and that's see characters I love in the future. I still have doubts about where this is going cause I don't love knowing that everyone I love ends up in a terrible place unless somehow things end up changing in the future but that's not usually an Arrow thing to do. If this was Flash or Legends, I'd be so much more down but I'm worried about the Arrow writers writing themselves into a corner. That said, it was fun seeing William and Roy go to Smoak Tech (this show needs to stop teasing us and give us this already!!) and meeting future Dinah and Zoe as the new Black Canary. It's really interesting that the reason Star City is a mess is cause the Glades rose up and walled off the city but it was super weird that neither William or Roy knew which okay I could wave off Roy if he was living on Lian Yu for long enough but even if William lived in another city, this seems like something that would be well known. It was also weird that Zoe was like Rene would never be here for this and that's seems out of character for him especially if his daughter and best friend were still here! I did like the reveal that Felicity died cause it makes me feel better about William running around telling Roy that his parents abandoned him (cause I still don't see a world in which either Oliver or Felicity would abandon him unless they died or were captured or in prison) but it does lead to the question of who's programming the coordinates in that case. Future Curtis maybe? Or a child of Oliver and Felicity? Or maybe even grown up JJ?

Okay the promo for next week seems to live up to my theory about that weird psychiatrist dude not being on the up and up. He's definitely the Demon but my question is do we think that this is the last episode that Oliver will spend in prison? We know the midseason finale should be episode 6 and then the crossover is episode 7 so he has to be out by episode 7 but I can see the show letting him out at the end of episode 5 or the top of episode 6 so we can see an episode of Oliver readjusting to the world before going off to fight again.

No Flash this week so I'll see you all Friday for my weekly drama reviews!

xoxo Allie