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

Doctor John (12/32): In a refreshing take on the genre, “Doctor John” will portray the doctors’ search for the cause of their patients’ mysterious pain as a thrilling chase, almost like a detective hunting down the perpetrator behind an unsolved crime. Cha Yo Han is a genius anesthesiologist, who is also the youngest professor at his medical school. The brilliant doctor goes by the nickname “10 Seconds,” referring to his ability to figure out his patients in the 10 seconds that it takes for them to enter an examination room and walk to their seat. Kang Shi Young is a legendary anesthesiologist, who was always at the top of her class throughout medical school. The talented doctor inherited her skills from her cool-headed, rational mother, while she inherited her empathy, listening skills, and warm bedside manner from her father.

I love this show so much and it's hard to tell if it's just cause it allows me to stare at Ji Sung's beautiful face for 2 hours a week or if it's cause I enjoy the storylines or if it's cause I love the connection that Yo Han and Shi Young have. Maybe it's all three. Probably it's all three. The way this show uses medicine and diagnoses is just so different than any other show I've watched. It's a little unrealistic that almost every single case they get is one that is rare but like this is a tv show so of course I'm cool with it cause it makes for good watching. I knew from almost the second that the CIPA patient showed up that Yo Han had the same problem and for a second I wondered if it was too much but then as I thought about it more, it actually fits really well with the kind of person Yo Han is and why he cares so much about pain management. I also kind of like that Shi Young found out about it but girl was way out of line looking through her boss's computer the way she did. They already know so much about each other and I adore what a team they are which is probs the only reason I don't mind her snooping. I'm also glad that we finally saw what happened with Shi Young and her dad and honestly it feels less like she tried to euthanize her dad and more like she just panicked and gave up towards the end. It's why I can't stand her sister who has this constant holier-than-thou attitude all the time and I hate the way she takes it all out on Shi Young who's always too good to say anything back. When she attacked Yo Han at that celebration dinner, I was like stunned cause what kind of overprivileged snob attacks her direct boss like that? I also want to know more about Prosecutor Son cause it really feels like he's got this hatred towards Yo Han that feels extremely personal especially with how he and that nurse are like so focused on him and whether he is working again. It's weird cause on the one hand I don't care for his machinations cause I'm more interested in the day-to-day hospital cases but on the other I'm just happy that we're not going through another medical drama with hospital politics as a focus.

Hotel de Luna (8/16): Jang Man Wol is the CEO of Hotel del Luna. The hotel is situated in downtown in Seoul and has a very old appearance. She made a big error many years ago and, because of this, she has been stuck at Hotel del Luna. She is beautiful, but she is fickle, suspicious and greedy. Goo Chan Sung worked as the youngest assistant manager ever at a multinational hotel corporation. He is a sincere perfectionist. He looks level-headed, but he actually has a soft disposition. Due to an unexpected case, he begins to work as a manager at Hotel del Luna. The hotel's clientele consists of ghosts.

Wow what a plot twist. I knew that Man Wol was defs being punished and I assumed that somehow the man she loved and her best friend were killed by the princess so she killed the princess in revenge but I never thought that the man she loved would have betrayed her like that. A part of me thinks based on the way the man acted that he probs was meant to seduce her and get information of her and her clan and ended up falling in love along the way but either way he ended up allowing everyone to be killed except for her so the fact that he may or may not have been in love does not change anything and both he and the princess deserved what they got. I don't agree though with Man Wol punishing Mi Ra cause even though Mi Ra was a reincarnation, she already got punished for what she did as the princess and this reincarnation wasn't a bad person especially given how Man Wol wanted to hurt her in this life. I'm glad that Chan Sung was able to stop him in the sweetest way and I kind of love how Chan Sung isn't hiding his interest in her though until this week I don't know if I entirely believed that he liked her romantically or if he was just interested in her as a person. It's bittersweet that Man Wol wanted to protect him by leaving him behind but I have a feeling that the Goddesses will lead him back next week cause they want him to help Man Wol move on. I'm also starting to wonder if maybe Chan Sung is just a new reincarnation or something cause if Mi Ra looks the same as her previous life, wouldn't the men in Man Wol's past look the same too?

I Wanna Hear Your Song (4/32): A murder takes place. Hong Yi Young, who is a timpanist, does not remember what happened on the day of the murder. She is simple-minded and suffers from insomnia. Hong Yi Young looks for a job. She happens to meet Jang Yoon. He is bad at singing but is a pianist in an orchestra. To help with Hong Yi Young's insomnia, Jang Yoon calls her every night. They try to find the truth about the murder. Meanwhile, Nam Joo Wan is an orchestra conductor. He has charisma and showmanship. Ha Eun Joo is a violinist in the orchestra. She is arrogant.

What a totally strange show that I really didn't expect to be what it ended up being! I went into this excited to see Kim Se Jung in something new after I loved her in School 2017 and I know the synopsis says that this show is about a murder but I didn't really know that going into the show and was surprised to find it was a murder mystery after all. So far I'm really enjoying this and how confused I am with all the characters and how I can't tell who's good or bad. I think Jang Yoon's brother and Yi Young were either friends or dating a year ago and somehow he ended up dead and Yi Young with amnesia and now Jang Yoon is back to figure out what happened to him and he thinks that Yi Young was the killer. I knew from almost the start that Jang Yoon was up to something cause there was no way that he was that friendly and helpful to a random stranger and for a while I wondered if maybe he was the killer and was here to check if Yi Young remembered him but that was kind of out there anyway cause he's the male lead so there's no way he's the bad guy. I think that it might be Joo Wan who did it out of jealously for Yi Young dating someone else or maybe Eun Joo who was jealous that Joo Wan liked another girl but like part of me is low key pissed that I might be getting SLS cause I'm already more into Joo Wan than Jang Yoon and I hate SLS since I actually like my ships to sail!

Justice (16/32): Lee Tae Kyung is a star lawyer with the best win rate. He is able to win cases by using his sharp logic and intelligent speeches. He amasses power and wealth by dealing with clients who are part of the elite class. His cases are usually referred from Song Woo Yong who is the owner of a construction company. Lee Tae Kyung gets these high class criminals acquitted or at minimum receive probation. He first became a lawyer to get revenge for his younger sister, but has since become focused on money. He changes when he deals with a series of cases involving missing actresses. Meanwhile, Song Woo Yong has grown his construction company by funneling criminal cases involving wealthy people to Lee Tae Kyung. For his family, he desires even more power. He comes into conflict with Lee Tae Kyung over the cases involving missing actresses.

Ugh the countdown to getting Young Mi back alive is so real and I really really hope that they can get her back alive but I have a feeling she's going to die next week cause our heroes are so out of their league. I don't understand what Woo Yong's original plan was cause he told Hyun Woo not to hurt Young Mi so like were they wanting to keep her locked up forever? It seems as though maybe the girls were being murdered by accident rather than command and that just brings up more questions! I thought last week that Vice Chairman Tak might be killing the girls but after this week it seems like he knows about the deaths but isn't a part of it which makes me wonder if Woo Yong is literally under his foot just for money. The murdered people obviously all saw or were a part of whatever was on that USB so the question is what was on that video and is it related to Woo Yong or Tak? I do like that all of this has led to Tae Kyung trusting and working with Yeon Ah more cause they're both so intelligent that the way to win is together. I do wish that he was a bit more open with her about Woo Yong cause he all but has proof that Woo Yong killed his brother and if that's true, it's about time for Tae Kyung to step away though at the same time it does feel like he's reaching the end of his patience and I did love the way he had been playing Woo Yong before the whole stabbing thing. I'm also still thinking that Woo Yong's son has a part to play in all of this and the theory that he was in the USB video doing something is still out there. 

CDRAMA

FINISHED Hello Debate Opponent (30/30): Freshman Bai Yu studies Culture Industry Management at Yingli University. He mistakenly attends the new member selection meeting of the debate club and ends up joining the club together with Yi Xiao Xi and others. Final-year student Gao Ting Ting, who dreams of winning the national University Debate Championship, now puts all her hopes on the new team. But the teacher in charge wants to give their practice room away, and in order to keep the room, Ting Ting’s team has to place first in the university’s own debate contest. Will their team of rookies with clashing personalities be able to achieve it?

I'm feeling kinda mixed about this finale cause I felt like it might have focused a bit too much on the debate competition and not enough on our characters as people. I mean I was just as happy as the next person that our team won the final debate but like we didn't really even get to see them celebrate their win before we had to wrap up the show. I did like the twist in the end that Ting and Qingbei couldn't get up on stage so it was our younger team that had to win but at the same time I felt like we built up to this win for 30 episodes and idk it felt anticlimactic. I also love that Sun Qing and Yaoshan ended up together but I lowkey hate that we didn't even get a cheek kiss in the end. And let's not even go into Bai Yu and Xiaoxi who spent these last few episodes either arguing, barely spending time together and then all of a sudden being together with only a cheek kiss to cement their relationship. I sat through 30 episodes just to see my couples get together and I still feel unsatisfied. The best part of this chunk of episodes was surprisingly watching Bai Yu and his father reconcile and I imagine that Bai Yu will end up joining the law program but that does suck in terms of him not being able to be on the Literature debate team anymore. Overall this mixed feeling I had about the finale was pretty much how I felt about this show on a whole. I did think the idea of adding debate into a chinese college show was unique but I wish it had balanced it better with the romance and friendships it portrayed as well. I'd give this show a 7.5 / 10.

FINISHED Judo High (24/24): A story about a student who starts a judo club for the wrong reasons and has to keep it going when it blows up. There are only three important things in Yuan Fei's life - chasing the stars, chasing the stars and chasing the stars. Having devoted all his time to his hobbies, his studies bear the brunt of the damage. He tricks his childhood friend Yu Jia into organizing a judo club because holding fake competitions can help him earn enough points for graduation. Unexpectedly, the club draws the attention of interesting personalities who sign up. Furthermore, everyone's most hated and revered top-tier student Yun Qing also signs up for the club. With no choice, Yuan Fei can only welcome Yung Qing who is Yu Jia's biggest crush into the team. With the many challenges that come with running a school club, will they be able to keep it open?

I didn't particularly have a reason for wanting to check this drama out other than the fact that it popped up on my drama feed and was fully subbed so I was like well why not check it out especially since it was a 24 episode show instead of the normal 50 and ironically it sucks cause I tend to find that most 24-episode shows should have gotten the 50 while most 50-episode shows probs should have stopped at 24. This one was of those in which I definitely felt like the story needed more episodes cause it was so rushed. I'm always super down for sports dramas and I love an underdog story but with our whole cast except for Yu Jia having no experience in judo, it was a little too unrealistic for us to believe that after 24 episodes they became the best in the world. I also really shipped Yu Jia and Yuan Fei but like I was cool with Yu Jia liking Yung Qing at first cause a lot of dramas do that but I didn't love that she actually dated him and that it was Yung Qing who actually dumped her (despite her bringing it up cause it was obvious he wasn't that into her) since it makes Yuan Fei feel like too much of a rebound or second best. She took him for granted so many times and my heart broke to watch him watch Yu Jia and Yung Qing together and I feel the show should have broken them up earlier if they wanted us to really connect to Yuan Fei and Yu Jia cause we literally got like two or three episodes of them really liking each other and then we didn't even get a kiss to signify them getting together. Despite this I did enjoy this drama and the judo group and the bromance though I thought it got a bit more time than it needed. I'd give this show a 7.5 / 10!

Love Better Than Immortality (20/40): A woman from the future arrives at a fantasy-like universe to experience love for the first time. She goes by the name Chun Hua and falls into a complicated romance with two young men who are opposites like black and white.

I will never not be anything but sufficiently amused at how in pretty much every show that tackles good and evil sects it always ends up being that the good sects are nothing more than hypocrites that like to pretend that they're upright but end up being just as terrible if not more so than the so-called evil sects. At least the evil sects will out-and-out admit that they are selfish or amused when things go wrong while the good ones will do things to satisfy themselves and then pretend like it's for the greater good. I have a feeling that Qiu Yue did set up the auction just to prove that the righteous sects aren't as righteous as they say they are but everything that happened afterwards had nothing to do with him. It was the masters themselves who went around and murdered one another and even poisoned Miss Feng. I was worried that Chun Hua might actually believe Master Leng but it seems like she mostly understands what happened with the only exception being that she thinks the dandelion poison was Qiu Yue's doing. It was heartbreaking this week watching how much Qiu Yue loves Chun Hua and I think at this point he might be done trying to convince himself that it's nothing more than platonic love. He was so earnest when he talked to her and it was awful seeing him tell her that she's never truly honest with him. Can you imagine if the stuff Chun Hua did was done by a guy? We'd all be up in arms being like what a horrid guy! It's extra weird cause Qiu Yue always tends to do whatever Chun Hua wants even if he teases her at first so like why not go there with the truth and be like Miss Feng was poisoned and I'm worried? Despite all that and my affection for him, the way he interrupted the wedding was absolutely the worst and I was cringing so hard. He straight rolled up in there and ruined Chun Hua's reputation by telling everyone he hit it first. She literally cannot leave Qianyue Cavity anymore without being shamed and I'm honestly horrified. I would have been cool with him kidnapping her but man oh man.

The King's Avatar (14/40): In the multiplayer online game Glory, Ye Xiu is well known as the textbook level expert and a top-tier player. Due to a series of circumstances he was forcefully expelled out of his professional team. After leaving the pro gaming scene he resides at an Internet Café employed as one of the managers. When Glory launches the tenth server he throws himself into the game once more equipped with ten years of gaming experience, memories of the past, and an incomplete self-made weapon. His journey back to the top begins.

It's kind of hilarious how every couple of episodes we meet the captain for one of the professional leagues cause it's honestly just so sweet to see how close Ye Xiu was with all of them. It also feels like every single team other than Jiashu cares about Glory as a game and wants to have fun with it while somehow Jiashu managed to get two bosses who are all about the money. I really didn't understand their plan in terms of why they would fire the best Glory player out there but they messed up so sucks for them. It was sweet seeing that Ye Xiu realized that he's got a new team forming and I think his deal with the Jiashu bosses were for him to retire for a year so he's got that long to train the newbies and to build the umbrella weapon he wants before he can come back and win. The best though was watching Jiashu get spanked multiple times and then also prove that Ye Qiu isn't gone yet. I am a little confused about Guo's role in this show cause I really thought she would join Ye Xiu's team but like we've spent episodes in which I feel so sorry for her and how everyone she cares about is ignoring her and like most of me is still wondering why if she feels FOMO why can't she join the others? She clearly likes Glory enough to have a favorite player but not enough to play herself? She did finally figure out that Ye Xiu is Ye Qiu so at least there's that but I do have to say that her running around being all flustered around him was everything. I also know there's no romance to be had in this show but I can't help but ship Ye Xiu with pretty much every woman in his life but more than that it feels like Tang Rou might be getting a crush.

Unexpected (14/23): A manga artist, He Jie has entered into his own manga “Crystal Love” and he must complete the mission of saving the evil second female lead, turning her into a better person before he can return back to the real world. He ended up having to keep on filling up the loopholes of his own manga again and again, forming a funny love story.

Viki picked up this show and now is subbing it on a bit of a regular basis which is super exciting cause I adored this show back when I first tried to watch it and the only reason I stopped was cause the subs weren't there. 6 episodes later and I feel like we've flown through storyline after storyline and it's honestly crazy cause we're just past halfway through this drama and I feel like it's been so much longer than it has been and I just don't want the story to end. I loved watching Zi Xing and He Jie finally admit that they love each other and their kiss was everything which is why I was honestly shocked that Zi Xing found out about being in a manga in like the next episode only to then solve the problem and accept what happened after another two episodes. It makes sense cause the biggest problem with Zi Xing being in a manga isn't the fact that she is in a manga but the fact that He Jie is terrified to love Zi Xing cause he thinks that he will leave the manga as soon as Encai and Gong Cheng get together and it was such a struggle to watch cause I just want my couple to be happy. I also don't know the rules of this world cause is it possible to just refuse to leave after finishing a mission? It's a good thing that Bi Lan finished her task first cause if she manages to refuse to leave and nothing happens, then He Jie can do the same. Like he said, the real world has nothing in it for him except his fame and fortune and even then he's about to be fired while this world has friends and love for him. If he really misses the fame, he can just make a new manga for this world to adore!

xoxo Allie