KDRAMA
Big Issue (20/32): Set within the frenzy world of the paparazzi media. Due to a photograph, Han Seok Joo loses everything, including his job as a photographer for a top newspaper and his family. Ji Soo Hyun is the notorious chief editor of a paparazzi group. She hires the man to become a paparazzi photographer.
To my surprise, I actually missed this show when it didn't air last week cause sometimes you just need your unique shows in a vast pool of similar shows out there. I've tried and dropped so many dramas cause they have the same boring plot of a rich cold lead who feels like a wooden board rather than cold on the outside and warm on the inside and a poor spunky girl with one specific quality that makes her look/feel insane instead of quirky. That's why this one is such a breath of fresh air cause everyone in this show is a shade of terrible with some being less and some being more. I love the cases of the week and watching our Sunday crew try to work and I was really curious about the turn this week with the prosecutors seemingly hunting down Sunday cause it makes me wonder what their stance is on the whole. As I expected Sunday made a deal with the prosecutors in that they wouldn't publish or target any of them as long as they protected Sunday in turn which makes what's happening so confusing tbh. This prosecutor is going rogue not because he's good and refuses to be bought or that after what happened two weeks ago with that one prosecutor, the prosecutors have turned on Sunday but because it seems like he's pissed that he's about to be fired with the new regime change now that Nam is in jail. It seems as though he wants to know who Sunday can buy and then possibly use that to stay in power? Either way he makes my skin crawl and I'm furious that he's targeting our people and I can't wait until he's taken down! It is also an interesting twist to shine more light on CEO Cha cause it seemed like he might be the real big bad behind the curtain with how he puppeteers Soo Hyun and Seok Joo in turn but after this week there feels like there's a person behind him too who wants to toss Soo Hyun aside and dudes that's such a terrible idea that even CEO Cha can see. I also liked how much Soo Hyun and Seok Joo are warming to each other but I'm a little afraid Seok Joo is going to run off half-cocked and ruin something in his anger/fear.
FINISHED Cheese In The Trap (16/16): Having returned to college after a year long break, due to her family's poor background, Hong Sul, a hard-working over-achiever, inadvertently got on the wrong side of Yoo Jung, her senior who is athletic, good looking, gets good grades and has a kind personality, but also a hidden dark side. From then on her life took a turn for the worse and Sul was almost certain it was all Yoo Jung's doing. So why is he suddenly acting so friendly a year later?
What an emotionally exhausting show to watch. I had heard vague murmurs across the internet that this show had a terrible romance and that pretty much everyone had second lead syndrome but that was all I heard so I went in with pretty much no expectations and found myself enjoying myself a lot at the start only for the show to fall apart as it went on. There's a funny line that dramas have to walk where leads in a lot of these shows aren't good people who you'd want to date or even meet in real life but the fact that they're dramas makes it okay cause the more morally corrupt a lead is, the more interesting he/she is. Because of that I fell and fell hard for Yoo Jung and his crazy manipulative dark character. He reminded me a lot of Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl who to this day is one of my favorite characters and I was living for every scheme Jung concocted. I sympathized with him so much as a character and I understood where his anger towards the Baek siblings came from and part of this might have been my bias towards him but also can you even imagine finding out the two people you thought were your best friends actually pitied you and were just using you? Maybe I'm just a terrible person myself. So because of this love for Jung, I was so exhausted by the amount of In Ho we got and how around midway through the drama it started to feel like the writers preferred him to Jung and he got so much more screen time. It also didn't help that I never felt the romance between Jung and Seol was well done cause though I thought they were cute and loved all their couple moments, they just had problem after problem in their relationship and I hated how the show ended with them in limbo. Jung was wrong with continuing his manipulations despite knowing Seol hated them but Seol was just as judgmental as he was and it was exhausting to see them go through the same fights over and over again. In Ha was an insane gold digger and it infuriates me that she got such a happy ending cause despite her circumstances, she never once showed any good qualities. Overall I'd give this show a 8.5 / 10 cause it did interest me though it infuriated me just as much.
Eulachacha Waikiki 2 (6/16): Lee Joon Ki is an unpopular actor who runs the Waikiki guesthouse. However, business is bad and the guesthouse is facing bankruptcy. In order to revive the guesthouse, Lee Joon Ki asks his friends Cha Woo Shik and Kook Ki Bong to invest their savings in it. Cha Woo Shik is a picky person who dreams of becoming a singer. Kook Ki Bong used to be a promising baseball player, but instead is now stuck playing in the minor leagues. After Lee Joon Ki's request, they all put their money into Waikiki Guesthouse and start living there together.
Ugh I don't know what it is about this show that just isn't working for me! It's the struggle cause based on reviews and comments I've read, I seem to be the only one. I do think the show needs to dial back the romance between Woo Shik and Soo Yeon a bit cause I'm getting a little tired of every episode being about them cause they remind me a bit of Doo Shik and Soo Ah in the way that Soo Yeon is kind of a hot mess in everything and think she's amazing and Woo Shik is trying to help her but struggles with her insanity. This kind of couple is fun but more on a lowkey side while this show is pumping them up to be the main couple. Part of this might also be that Woo Shik realized his feelings too quickly and now we're going through episode after episode of watching him try to hide them while also being jealous cause I prefer the leading up to romance stages like with Ki Bong and Yoo Ri who I'm really starting to warm up to. I thought Ki Bong was really annoying at first but now I find him kinda sweet and I love that Yoo Ri clearly has a soft spot for him and I can't wait to see this build. I still don't love Joon Ki and Jung Eun as a couple but I like them as friends and I'm glad we're getting a little more from her as a character though she really does feel like a female version of Jung Eun which is why when I keep getting hints of their possible romance, I'm not about it. It was really funny when Joon Ki thought that Woo Shik was into him and I did love Woo Shik struggling to teach Soo Yeon how to sing.
He Is Psychometric (10/16): A boy who is able to read the secrets of those whose skin comes into contact with him, and a girl who does everything she can to hide her pain. In the drama, the boy and girl will meet and try to fix, heal, grow, and love from the small and big occurrences that happen in their lives.
What an intense two episodes that had my emotions all over the place! I was so excited to see Ahn and Jae In's relationship grow after last week that I completely forgot about the elephant in the room that is Jae In's dad being the culprit of the apartment fire Ahn's parents died in. Of course we know that it's not actually him who did it but Ahn doesn't and that was the main thrust of the heartbreak of this week. I totally and completely understood the pain and panic Ahn went through cause on an intellectual level he knows that Jae In isn't to blame for her father's crimes whether he did them or not but emotionally it's hard to separate the two. I cried right alongside him when he was screaming at that bridge about why this happens to him and then later when he got drunk at his parents' grave. It's so hard for him to find someone who accepts his psychometric powers and the one woman who did and still wanted to be around him ended up hurting him and I also loved that despite this, he also couldn't destroy his love for Jae In and that he took a moment amongst all his pain to think about the pain she must be going through as well. Of course now that Jae In has been kidnapped Ahn will probably accept what's happening faster but I think regardless of that like Ji Soo said, he would have come back to her eventually after taking some time to think. I thought this week played this heartbreak better than it did in Come And Hug Me even if in that the murderer actually was the main lead's father so props to that. Speaking of, I would have been perfectly content if these episodes were all about Ahn and Jae In and their heartbreak but we did learn more about the case that we're following. That creepy dude is definitely for sure Seung Mo's dad cause the show has all but announced it with the clues we've been getting and as it turns out, Seung Mo's mom is alive as well though apparently she never reached out to her son which is strange cause it's not like the creepy dude doesn't know where Seung Mo is. She clearly cares more about her own safety than anything else.
Her Private Life (2/16): A romantic comedy about a talented gallery curator named Sung Duk Mi, who is an idol fangirl underneath her professional veneer. Meanwhile, her boss Ryan becomes a passionate fanboy of her. Sung Duk Mi lives a double life as both a gallery curator and a home master for a fansite about Si An, an idol group member. She’s a pro in both aspects of her life, and because of her fangirl dedication, Duk Mi has had to break up with several boyfriends, deciding instead to go all in for her fangirl activities instead of dating. Ryan is a new director at the gallery where Duk Mi works. Once a painter, Ryan was a sensation in the art world from his debut to his retirement, and is now seeing career success as a director. An individualist through and through, Ryan comes to find out about Duk Mi’s double life.
Talk about love at first sight! I adore when I start a new show and fall head over heels for it and that's what happened to me with this show. I loved Park Min Young in What's Wrong With Secretary Kim even if I didn't love that show as much as everyone else did and she was fine in Healer and so far I'm loving her character here. I love when female leads are competent at their jobs cause it's so rare to find one that isn't bumbling around and doesn't know what she's doing until her male lead swoops in to help. I also love that this show revolves around art and art galleries and I love the abrupt difference between Duk Mi as this hurricane at work and her crazy fangirl life on the side. Despite how funny the fangirl moments are, honestly I prefer the art gallery stuff but that's mostly cause I've never been a fangirl like that before so most of the stuff the show portrays that fangirls do is a still much for me to wrap my head around personally. I also love Ryan so far as this mysterious ex-artist and my goodness but how I fell in love with Kim Jae Wook's cheekbones. I also really like their dynamic and I'm glad we're throwing the enemies trope out the window by the end of episode 2 (or at least I hope so) cause I want to see them be a badass team. I wonder if Duk Mi will end up painting again at some point cause the show mentioned that she was an artist but her family couldn't afford it anymore so she stopped. I really thought for a while that the mysterious artist Ryan was looking for would end up being Duk Mi but she's see the art he's into so many times that it can't be. I also wonder why this one specific art piece destroyed Ryan's ability to create art and I hope he gets back to it at some point too. The side characters all seem fun and I kind of find it hilarious that Ryan thinks that Duk Mi is dating Seon Joo but I really thought Eun Gi was Duk Mi's brother (cause why else would he be living in her house with her parents) only for the cast list to tell me that they're just friends.
FINISHED Sweet Stranger And Me/The Man Living In Our House (16/16): Hong Na Ri is a proud flight attendant who suffers a series of misfortunes after her mother passes away and then she discovers that her longtime fiancee, Jo Dong Jin, is cheating on her with fellow flight attendant Do Yeo Joo. To get her mind off her troubles, Na Ri returns to her mother’s home, only to find a handsome young man, Go Nan Gil, living in Na Ri’s mother’s house and running her mother’s dumpling restaurant. Incredulously, Nan Gil tells Na Ri that he is her father, having married Na Ri’s mother before she passed away! Meanwhile, Kwon Duk Bong is a wealthy businessman who wants to help Na Ri reclaim her mother’s property so that he can develop the land. Can he help Na Ri prove that Nan Gil is a lying swindler?
This was such a strange show to watch and honestly I expected that going in cause how many shows do you think are out there were the male lead is married to the female lead's mom? I'm usually not a fan of stories like this where someone dies causing the leads to fall for each other when the person who died was a relative cause it's super cheesy but I figured that there was some sort of secret behind the marriage here so it didn't bother me too much. I really enjoyed the start of this drama cause the humor was so spot on and I loved Na Ri as a character cause she was so straightforward and refused to feel sorry for herself like so many female leads who got cheated on. I adored that she would say whatever she felt and actually was willing to apologize when she was wrong and think things through before acting on them. I also adored Nan Gil for being the sweetest little puppy and it was so romantic knowing how much he loved Na Ri and how he spent his whole life loving her without wanting anything in return. I loved their back-and-forth dynamic and the bickering/teasing they would do and their first kiss was one of the best I've seen in a drama though the rest weren't so great. Despite all this, I don't think this drama was all that well written cause I really could give no shits about the whole land debate and thought it was kind of silly reason for our leads to break up. There were too many villains and none of them were really well developed though I loved Wan Shik and where the show ended with him. Overall I'd give this show a 8 / 10.
FINISHED That Winter, The Wind Blows (16/16): "The Winter, The Wind Blows" is a story about a man who is known to be the best gambler in Cheongdam neighborhood. He lives a meaningless life after being abandoned by his parents and failed to protect his first love . In order to repay his debt to a gangster, he plans to scam a blind girl who is the heir to a large corporation by acting as her long lost brother. However, he falls in love with the girl, who is also as lonely as him with no one to trust and being surrounded by people who wants a piece of her wealth.
This was such a heartbreaking show for me to watch cause I started out super in love with it but then the writing went all over the place and fizzled to a terrible end! I did love the set up of this show with a blind lead and a con man and a love story where one or both of the leads think they're siblings cause it adds such delicious angst. The cinematography was absolute stunning and I loved Soo as a character cause I thought he played the confident con man and the brokenhearted lover perfectly. Watching him struggle with his love for Young was everything and the two had this insane chemistry which made everything they did so cute. I loved that she was the one to help him move on from Hee Joo's death and it was so interesting to watch a male lead who actually felt like an adult and reacted to situations like he should. I was also super into Young at first cause though she was blind, she was smart as a whip and refused to be pushed around making her very distrustful of everyone around her (for good reason) and I enjoyed watching her slowly open up to Soo but as the show went on, the writing for her started to make no sense. I couldn't decide if she was suicidal or not (and neither could she tbh) and I really assumed that a part of her knew that Soo wasn't really her brother and that she was just in denial but to everyone's shock, she literally had to have it spelled out for her in neon lights. I also really hated what the show did with Secretary Wang cause I understand that dramas usually like to redeem their villains but straight up Wang caused Young to go blind, murdered her father and paid people to spy on her and somehow the show wanted us to believe that Wang did it all out of love and that she was the best person to take care of Young? Gag me with a spoon. And don't even get me started on that terrible ending! Soo got stabbed by his best friend for no real reason and then disappeared for like 6 months cause suddenly he was insecure about Young's love even though before the stabbing he had planned on being by her side for the surgery? Ugh. Overall I'd give this show a 7.5 / 10 cause it started out great but ended poorly.
CDRAMA
The Brightest Star In The Sky (10/44): As singer-songwriter C-POP star, Huang Zitao plays a role of a recalcitrant idol who debuted and become famous since he was young. He deeply likes music and keeps persistent, that is similar with Huang Zi Tao. This time Yang Zhen Zhen is a newbie manager who just starts the work. Being a newbie staff, she faces various obstacles but she never gives up her music dreams.
I saw this drama pop up on my drama feed and I was kinda meh about the description but the second I turned it on, I was shocked to find that Z. Tao and Janice Wu were the leads cause I adore both actors and I was like dude if I'd known who was in this drama, I would have jumped all over it episodes ago! Dramas set around music are some of my favorites and I especially love when they're set in the entertainment industry and after watching 10 episodes of this show, I'm fascinated! I love the way this show is filmed and how much time is spent on music cause it feels so unique compared to a lot of kdramas set around music. I love love love Baixu as a character because he's this fun mix of arrogant but kind and Z. Tao plays him so perfectly that you can feel the charm oozing from his every pore. It's fascinating cause Baixu is written to be the kind of character that would normally be the second lead or even the villain of a show cause while I personally think everything Baixu sang and did in the drama was great, the show wants me to believe that he's not very good at singing and all he has is a pretty face and money to back him. Meanwhile the second lead is the guy with all the singing talents but no luck in getting signed and that's fascinating. I do think the whole point is that Baixu is a good performer but he's not being directed correctly by the company cause they're making him sing terrible songs and not allowing him to do CPop like he wants to and I feel like that'll probs be the arc for the show and that eventually he'll be able to do it and become number 1 for real. It also helps that Baixu doesn't seem to have any sort of real complex the way a second lead or villain would cause he believes in himself more than anyone else tbh. I also really like Janice Wu's character of Zhenzhen cause she's no doormat and can stand up for herself when needed but also knows when she's wrong and to back off. I don't know if I see much romantic chemistry between our leads yet but we also haven't had any romantic moments so I'm holding off judgement on that.
xoxo Allie
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