What Dramas Am I Watching This Week?

So 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 on 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 (10/16): 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.

Man is Jung Shik one of the most annoying second leads I've seen in a while. He's constantly hovering around Seung Ah and San Hae and ruining their cute building romance. It doesn't help that he hasn't told Seung Ah how he feels and she hasn't told him that she's interested in his brother because if either of those came out it would be so easy to nip in the bud so of course no one is going to say anything until the very last second. We only have two episodes left of this show and by now the second lead is usually out of the way but we still haven't gotten a real romance between our mains which is driving me crazy. I did love that the boss and that other guy who apparently liked Seung Ah though I had no idea overheard them talking and thought they had slept together the night before. It was amazing. I also really loved Jin Mi and Min Hyuk this week cause it was adorable seeing Min Hyuk all jealous but I was really happy that the friend realized after spending two seconds with those two that they were basically dating without knowing it cause it's always so silly when other people don't realize a couple is a couple or close to it based on how obvious they are. The confession was precious and I can't wait to see them together.

Memories of the Alhambra (6/16): Strong spirited Yoo Jin Woo is the CEO of an investment company with a degree in engineering and a knack for developing video games. He has an adventurous and competitive spirit. Suffering after his best friend betrays him, he takes a business trip to Granada, Spain in search of the mysterious inventor of an innovative augmented-reality video game. He ends up at a hostel that Jung Hee Joo owns. Hee Joo is a former classical guitarist who came to Spain to further her studies. After the death of her parents, she takes on various jobs to support herself, including running the old hostel. They are both drawn into a series of strange and unexpected events.

I still love this show cause of it's high concept but I'm starting to wonder about how everything is going down. I know Jin Woo is a bit of a grey character with how much of an asshole he was at first but watching him down spiral from being a powerful CEO to a man fighting for his life against something others can't see is heartbreaking! I hate that everyone thinks he's crazy and that he actually murdered Cha cause though he technically did, it was supposed to be a video game. It's honestly a bit ridiculous that everyone thinks he did it just cause of some fingerprints on the body. Like it's obvious that there were no external injuries so if he was planning on like poisoning Cha or something why touch him? We also met his asshole ex and she's really just as terrible as she was made out to be and I could not believe the way she was talking to Professor Cha who I really hope stays on Jin Woo's side even if I feel like he's kinda sketch just based on how he treated his own son. I'm still waiting for Hee Joo to find out about the game and the truth in general but also what happened back then that led to Cha leaving J One and taking Jin Woo's wife with him. Did they really fall in love or was it something else? I'm really hoping that this whole show isn't just about Jin Woo's spiral into madness cause I don't know if I'll be able to handle that emotionally. It does look like there might be a time skip next week so that'll be fun to see! Also is Hee Joo and their family just straight up giving up on the brother? Like they moved to Korea and were like meh the brother will call eventually.

DROPPED Sky Castle (8/16): The satirical comedy takes place in a four-story apartment building in the suburbs of Seoul inhabited by a number of professionals: doctors, judges, prosecutors, professors, and their wives. The wives are from prestigious and highly educated backgrounds, and part of the plot will feature their efforts to get their children admitted into universities. Some grew up in families with multiple generations of doctors or lawyers, and their ambitions will be depicted with realism and comedy.

So we're about halfway through this drama but unfortunately I've decided to drop this one cause though I was having a bit of fun hate watching this drama, there's only so far you can go with that. I still can't stand the parents in this show and though I understand why they are the way they are, emotionally I can't handle it cause I had parents like that and I struggle to separate reality from fantasy in this show. What I can say is that Coach Kim is getting more and more freaky and I started the show thinking that she was probs mostly innocent in what happened with Young Jae but now I'm pretty sure she exasperated the situation and I go back and forth over whether I fear for poor Ye Seo who I'm afraid will snap cause she's wound up so tight and taught by so many people that failing isn't okay or if I really want her to suffer cause of the kind of person she is. Honestly I'm leaning towards the first option cause more than her I really want her parents to suffer and I feel a thrill every time something doesn't go their way. It sucks that Hye Na was blackmailed out of being president and her mom died on top of everything and yet that Coach and Ye Seo's mom are still plotting. We also learned that she's actually Ye Seo's half sister too which will be a fun thorn in the Sky Castle's side. I still love Woo Joo's crush on Hye Na but I'm pretty sure she doesn't feel the say way which is a little sad cause I don't want his heart to break either. The mom of the single son started to move away from the head mom and I was hoping that it would happen only for her to turn around and reattach herself to the head mom even more intensely and it disgusted me how smug she was about it. And her husband is just as bad! He started the show looking like the sane parent but now that he's feeling pressure, he's folding just like them. Like how does it make you feel better if your daughter beat your rival's son in something? Ugh.

FINISHED The Best Hit (32/32): Lee Ji Hoon and Choi Woo Seung are two childhood friends who also happen to be preparatory students for the civil service exam, although Ji Hoon has a secret dream to be a singer and songwriter. One day they meet Yoo Hyun Jae, a 90s popular but problematic member of a popular idol group, who accidentally travel through time to the year 2017 from the year 1993. Thus, begin the story of passion, love, and friendship among 20s youth in the entertainment industry.

I started this show for multiple reasons but the main two were that I love shows set around music and I loved Yoon Shi Yoon in Mirror of the Witch/Secret Healer so I was interested in seeing something from him that was set in the modern day (even if there were some time travel shenanigans.) At first I wasn't sure how much I liked this show cause I'm not usually a fan of fish out of water antics cause I always feel so much second-hand embarrassment but it only took Hyun Jae a few episodes to get used to the world and I found myself loving the world. I loved the found family feel of the group and the mystery behind what happened back in 1994 but as per usual the romance between Hyun Jae and Woo Seung was what kept me around. I loved them going from frenemies to lovers and it was so much fun to see her think of him as an annoyance only to end up falling for him after everything he did and for him to try to fight his feelings cause he thinks it's wrong only to fall harder and faster. I was so happy they ended up together cause Hyun Jae started the show being super selfish only to end up giving up everything so that everyone around him would be happy and he deserved a little bit of that happiness himself. The time travel weirdness of there being two Hyun Jaes was strange af but since it led us to a happy ending I can ignore it. I loved that Hyun Jae was so competent and brave and maybe it was the fact that he was from the 90s so he didn't fear taking risks but I loved that he showed everyone how to go for their dreams and not to hold back. It was kind of funny how problems that felt never-ending for everyone else were solved by him in two seconds. And sidebar but Yoon Shi Yoon performing that rap was one of the sexiest things (sue me I have a thing for musicians who can dance) and he looked so hot once he started to dress like a modern day celebrity though I was weirdly also attracted to his crazy 90s look too. I may or may not have found a new crush. Overall I adored this show and I had a ton of fun so I'd give it a 9 / 10 and definitely recommend that you all check it out too!

CDRAMA

DROPPED Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms/Eternal Love (30/58): After a devastating war, the immortal tribe paid a heavy price to seal the demon lord. 70000 years later, in an attempt to re-seal the demon lord who broke free, Bai Qian was sent to the mortal realm. In the mortal world, she meets Ye Hua and falls in love with him after forgetting about her life as a goddess. Ye Hua gifts her the name of Su Su. Su Jin, who is jealous of Ye Hua's love for Bai Qian, intentionally creates a series of misunderstanding between them and causes Bai Qian to lose her eyes. Thinking that Ye Hua has betrayed her, the devastated Bai Qian jumps off from the Zhu Xian Terrace. At her request, all her memories have been erased and she forgets Ye Hua. Hundred years later, the two meets again as deities. Another lifetime another world, Ye Hua recognizes Bai Qian but the latter remains indifferent. Three lives three worlds, her and him, are they fated to bear an entangling love?

So I really wanted to like this drama cause I kept hearing over and over about how this show was the best cdrama ever and that the main couple was the cutest and that is pretty much the only reason that I lasted so long. Well that and the cuteness that was Dilraba playing Fengjiu. I really enjoyed the world and I was super into the idea that both the male and female lead would be royalty cause I'm a sucker for arranged marriages that turn into love or rich people falling in love cause then we avoid the nonsense of the family disapproving of the poor girl/guy their rich son/daughter chose. To my displeasure most of what fascinated me at first was whisked away by an evil spell/trial for ascension and the romance occurred when Bai Qian was mortal and forgot who she was. Not only was this annoying to me personally but her Su Su personality was so different than her Bai Qian one and the fact that Ye Hua fell for that version makes me wonder if he would have liked her real personality or if he would have found it just as annoying as any of his other suitors. What followed was one of the worst and most irritating love stories I've experienced with lies and misunderstandings all tied up with multiple insane women who decided once again to forget all their dignity and pride and force some guy who has zero interest in them to be attached to them against his will cause that's love amirite? I thought if only I could push past this arc to when Bai Qian became a goddess again I could maybe like their third go around only to find that Ye Hua was acting like a creepy stalker (I know he knows that she's the same person he loved but she doesn't know him and his intensity is too much) and their annoying child was in so many scenes. If some kid came up to me and started calling me mom I would run for the hills no matter how cute (and I really don't find Ye Hua that cute) his dad was. The only saving grace of this drama was my love for Fengjiu and Donghua and I really didn't mind their slow burn but then they went down to the mortal plane too and suddenly it was a repeat of the same thing Fengjiu went through in Heaven Palace and I was a little over Donghua being an asshole to her. Plus I don't like the idea of a different version of Donghua being into Fengjiu cause no matter what a show tries to tell me, I don't think they're the same people cause a person's life experiences make them who they are. It also didn't help that these two are a side couple so the fact that they were barely in this show didn't keep me around...Wow this rant got long but I felt like you deserved to really know how I felt if I was going to drop a drama darling!! Sorry not sorry friends.

xoxo Allie