So here's what I'm watching this week! Of course the list is split by country and the amount of 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
KDRAMA
Arthdal Chronicles Season 3 (4/6): Following Part I & II, Ta Gon has gotten what he wants as he sits atop his throne. However, now his life and throne are threatened when Eun Seom begins to gather power among the slaves and peasants of Arth as he starts to fight back against the elite. Although Ta Gon has so far kept his half-Neanthal heritage a secret from the world, his eyes shine purple, preparing to go all out in fighting Eun Seom. Meanwhile, Kim Ok Bin faces the threat of assassination from an unknown adversary, while Kim Ji Won struggles to adjust to her newfound power in Arthdal.
I really like how this week showed us how Eunseom and Tagon are really are two sides of the same coin. Both are Igutus but where one finds love wherever he goes, the other only finds fear. That fear is exactly what's going to ruin Tagon cause fear is never enough to get people to follow you. I also high key love that despite Tanya and Eunseom being apart for this whole show, everything they do will help the other when they finally do meet. I was so damn proud of Tanya for using what Tagon and Taealha commanded her to do but twisting it so that it benefited her instead and now the people think that she's the merciful priestess to Tagon's cruelty. I also loved that now the Daekhan Forces are scared of her now cause they think she caused Mugwang's death since he constantly disrespected her and that makes me really curious to know who's side they'll end up picking when Eunseom shows up. Is their loyalty to Tagon or fear of death stronger? The Momo tribe is still hardcore my favorite but now Eunseom will also have the Ago tribe behind him and I assume that he'll lead them into a sort of coup next week. The plus side of Tagon's civil war is that now no one is left to oppose Eunseom except Tagon and the Daekhan themselves cause everyone who had a voice is dead and the survivors are just too scared to care one way or the other so the fact that Tagon's all but become a dictator in their eyes means that they will probably flock to Eunseom especially when Tanya stands by his side. I am still super curious about what Saya's role will end up being cause I do think he's more loyal to Tagon than Tanya and I'm sure he'll be pissed when Tanya runs to Eunseom's side and leaves him. Speaking of, I really really really need the reunion between Tanya and Eunseom to not only be emotional but also give us the time it needs cause we deserve it after being punished to wait until literally the finale to see our leads reunite!!! Speaking of timing, I am a little worried that the finale may be too rushed trying to shove everything into two episodes but here's hoping.
Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency (2/16): Before Lee Soo became a king, he was an ordinary blacksmith in the countryside. He life suddenly changed at the age of 23. This was when Lee Soo became the King of Joseon. Meanwhile, Lee Soo’s first love is Gae Ddong. He loved her before he took the throne. King Lee Soo wants to marry Gae Ddong, but, because of her humble background, it is virtually impossible. To marry Gae Ddong, Lee Soo hires the Flower Crew Matchmaking Agency. The agency consists of 3 handsome men: Ma Hoon, Do Joon and Go Young Soo and they are the best matchmaking agency in Joseon. King Lee Soo asks the Flower Crew to make Gae Ddong a noblewoman.
I was actually pretty excited for this drama to come out cause I adore Gong Seung Yeon to pieces so I was happy to find out that she would be in another period drama (since I first saw her in My Only Love Song) but I was nervous cause I haven't been into any of the recent korean period dramas. So far I'm mostly meh about this drama but I don't hate anything about it so that's good right? So far I do love the premise of having our main characters be matchmakers and I low key hope that this show has a bit of a procedural feel to it in that we get a matchmaking couple every couple of episodes cause I want to see more of our crew's antics. I already love Gae Ddong as a character and I'm so glad that the show isn't pretending that Seung Yeon with or without makeup isn't gorgeous regardless! I also already low key ship her with Hoon which is interesting cause I totally went into this show thinking that Soo was the male lead only to be surprised to find out that he was the second lead. It's hilarious cause there are so many secrets appearing already and though I don't love palace politics, I'm curious about this world. Who's side is Hoon's father really on? What happened to Hoon's brother and why does Hoon blame his father? Why does he not believe in love? Is Gae Ddong also a royal? Or at least a noble? Is her brother maybe the assassin guy? I definitely think she's got a bit of a birth secret on her part too cause that flashback showed her being hunted and definitely dressing better than a commoner. It'll also help when Hoon wants to marry her later cause nobles usually don't marry commoners.
FINISHED I Remember You/Hello Monster (16/16): Genius profiler Lee Hyun, returns home to Korea after something from a case he’s been sent triggers a memory he thought he’d lost forever. Unbeknownst to him, one of his team members, Detective Cha Ji-an, has been investigating him for some time. She is aware that his father was murdered and his brother disappeared under mysterious circumstances involving a criminal named Lee Joon Young -- whom they both want found and incarcerated. Each seeks to unravel the other, unaware that they’ve been drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse by a master player and that both truth and evil are closer and far more twisted than they think.
I love dramas like this that have a mix of investigation and romance as you all know so this one had been on my radar for a while especially since it had Seo In Guk and Jang Nara who are two actors I adore. I was finally able to get to it this week (my to-be-watched list is miles long tbh) and as I assumed, I absolutely adored it. The best part of this drama hands down was the way it wrote the villains cause the best villains are the ones that think they're the hero of their own story. Joon Young was the absolute worst in the best possible way. He was so messed up that he couldn't even tell when the supposed good deeds he did were actually the most harmful. More than that though I fell in love with Min and 100% it was because Park Bo Gum played him and he was pretty much this giant puppy who just wanted to be loved by his brother but because he grew up with Joon Young, he was never taught right from wrong. Part of me wanted him and Hyun to get away scotch free but the other part of me knew that wouldn't work cause he killed nine people! I admit I held onto the hope that maybe Min didn't do the murdering for longer than I probs should have but seriously the moments when he and Hyun were being brothers were some of the best in this drama. Speaking of, I adored Hyun as a character and I loved his relationship with Ji An. I thought their romance was well paced and though we only got one or two kisses (if you count that weird fish one) I thought that there was plenty in the drama to show us how much they loved one another so I didn't mind the lack of touching. Every case we were given was fun to watch and though at the beginning I thought the show made the investigation team a little too dumb in order to make Hyun look smarter, I really warmed up to them as the show went on. I do have to admit the ending was a bit mixed for me cause while I loved that Min decided to turn himself in so that he could keep being Hyun's brother (tears guys tears), it was weird that Joon Young got away. I wonder if the show had been hoping for a second season? Anyway despite that I'd definitely give this show a 10 / 10 cause I absolutely loved this drama!
I Wanna Hear Your Song (28/32): 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.
The finale is going to air next week and we pretty much have everything we need in terms of pieces of the puzzle. I am a little annoyed that we saw almost all of Yi Young's memories this week but it stopped just before Ian died so we basically saw the same scene for the third damn time with just a smidge of new info. As it turned out Ian and Yi Young weren't dating (I was right!) but Ian had a crush on her and both Ian and Yi Young realized that it was Joo Wan in the warehouse with them. Once they freed themselves, they ran out and someone tried to run over Yi Young for some reason so Ian pushed her out of the way and he accidentally fell into the knife she was holding. The flashback stops there but at some point Young Gil must get out of the car and chase after Yi Young leaving Ian to stumble onto the road and get run over by Joo Wan or Kang. As of now I'm thinking it'll have to be Joo Wan cause we also know he stood over Ian's dying body at some point. It also turned out that Joo Wan killed Young Gil too like I guessed last week and fortunately someone recorded it so Yoon will be able to get Joo Wan arrested. I'm also guessing that Yi Young's CD will have evidence of Kang's wrongdoings as well so we'll be able to get him too. I would be worried about another round of amnesia for Yi Young but honestly it's the finale and I can't imagine the show would do that again! I also am curious about how Yi Young apparently had a major crush on Yoon from when he was her TA for years but like at the same time she can't remember having him in school now. Like did she meet him right before she met Ian a year ago and that was part of the 3 month memory she lost? I'm also getting tired of Yi Young's aunt and cousin cause it's like would you back off of Yoon cause he's just as much of a victim as she is and like if he hadn't stuck around, she'd still be in danger only worse cause no one would be protecting her from Joo Wan's hovering!
Melo Is My Nature (12/16): Im Jin Joo, Lee Eun Jung, and Hwang Han Joo are best friends who are 30-years-old. Hwang Han Joo is the head of a marketing team for a drama production company. She is a single mother who struggles to balance her work and personal life as she is raising a kid. Im Jin Joo is a drama writer with a lot of emotional ups and downs. Her personality is unique, talking to a luxurious purse at times. Even though she is a drama writer, she tries to write her scripts in a literary style. Lee Eun Jung is a documentary director. She runs her own production company, although she's the only employee. One of her documentaries surprisingly becomes popular overnight.
I think I've figured out why some episodes of this show work for me and why other episodes bore me to tears. It's cause though this show pretended as though all three girls are the leads in fact this show is extremely imbalanced and that sucks cause when you don't love the main lead/the main couple then you are bored through large chunks of the episode. In case you couldn't tell from my vagueness, it's Jin Joo and Beom Soo that I could not give less of a shit about. Jin Joo was funny at first but now I feel like she doesn't act like a real human anymore and everything she does is meant to have the audience express a certain emotion. I do still like the awkwardness and snappy back-and-forth Jin Joo and Beom Soo have but I think she has more chemistry with her ex and I high key wanted them back together. Han Joo was barely in these two episodes and I'm still waiting for her and Jae Hoon to get together cause I still want Han Joo's ex to show up so she can show him she's killing it in life. Eun Jung got a lot to do this week but I still wish there was more! I'm still loving how the show is portraying her grief and I can't help but cry every time it comes up cause I'm a giant baby about stuff like this. It was so beautifully done when her brother asked her to see a therapist but my heart really broke when she realized that by seeing this therapist and trying to move on from her grief she would have to say goodbye to her boyfriend for the second time. The imagery of him walking ahead of her and her running to try to catch up to him was everything. I wasn't surprised at all when the director from last week came back but I was surprised to find out that he not only couldn't remember who Eun Jung was but that he didn't like her yelling at him like I thought he did. Guess I read that totally wrong!
The Great Show (8/16): Wie Dae Han is an ex-lawmaker and is a materialistic kind of politician. He wants to get elected as lawmaker again. One day, 18-year-old girl Da Jung comes to him. She tells him that he is her real father. Her mother raised four children, including Da Jung, alone, but she died in a hit-and-run accident. Da Jung is the only one now taking care of her 3 younger siblings. Wie Dae Han accepts Da Jung and her 3 younger siblings. He carries out “The Great Show” to become a lawmaker again.
You know what's fascinating about Dae Han as a character? I can't tell when he's being real for the life of me! I was so sure last week that he was about to turn the page on his asshole shtick and become the dad that Da Jung and the kids need but then it was revealed that Da Jung threatened him into what he said but my heart still wants to believe in Dae Han and every time he gets all protective of the kids I really do feel like it's coming from the bottom of his heart! It's making me hardcore sad that Dae Han really isn't Da Jung's biological father cause the poor kids have been through hell and back and I want them to be happy with Dae Han who's a little rough around the edges but has his heart in the right place not to mention the fact that he's leagues better than the younger twins' father. I mean what a complete asshole. Not only does he seem to really not care about any of his three children but he's about to start blackmailing Dae Han about it and I'm low key worried cause Dae Han's not even making any money right now but he's got so many damn expenses! It seems though that the stepfather might know who Da Jung's real biological father is and I'm really curious as to when that'll come out. I feel like it'll be closer to the end of the drama cause it'll come out in public and the kids will have to pick between Dae Han and whoever the biological father is. It was also interesting to see Dae Han and Soo Hyun's backstory too and it was totally heartbreaking to find out that the sister we've been seeing with Soo Hyun is actually dead and Soo Hyun low key blames the fact that she was on a date with Dae Han when it happened so she feels like she doesn't deserve love let alone being with Dae Han.
The Running Mates: Human Rights Volunteer Team (2/16): "Running Investigator" shines light on the lives of those who have their human rights infringed upon from the perspective of an inspector for the Human Rights Commission, who has neither the right to investigate nor prosecute.
I'm sure this isn't a show on anyone's radar and I'm probs going to be like the only one watching it but you know how much I love investigation dramas and when I saw this one pop up on my drama feed, I decided to check it out. So far it's a pretty standard investigation style drama but that's not a bad thing cause I defs want one every batch of new shows! OCN is always touch and go about whether I end up thinking their out-of-the-box thinking is fun or just plain weird and this one sits right in the middle. The characters all feel fairly one-note so far but I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to get to know them. I also think this is one of those shows where we'll be looking up close and personal with corruption at every level from the police to the prosecution and I'm not entirely sure if we've set up a season long villain yet or if the strange government company is just a one-off but I have a feeling it's the first option since we never saw the face of the head of the evil company so the show is defs saving it for a big reveal later. I do have to admit what a crazy first case we got cause like no matter how pissed the chaebol company was, why in the hell did they go through all that trouble just for a video game? It's not like he was spilling trade secrets or trying to sue the company or even whistleblow! Also anyone else low key worried that Yoon Seo might be targeted now after pissing off the spy company? Whether there's more to Yoon Seo's daughter's death was also a cause for questioning cause whatever happened was clearly bad enough to make Yoon Seo not trust the police and I can't imagine it was just as simple as the police not getting there on time.
CDRAMA
Mountains And Ocean (7/24): A story about history and art is told through a school romance. Her love has led him to see verdant hills and clear streams and paint the scrolls of mountains and oceans.
The headstrong and upright Xia Rui enters the Cultural Institute of Xiling University as a student. She encounters Ye Lin and Ye Miao, two brothers whose family has an abundant collection of ancient scrolls and paintings that have been passed on for generations. She also meets with the Cinderella-like Shen Zhen who is the nanny's daughter and the form develops a complicated relationship all while partaking in the task to restore ancient paintings.
I decided to check out this show for no real reason other than I had a few hours to kill and I didn't want to start a show with too many episodes out but to my surprise I ended up really enjoying myself! I thought at first that I might end up having SLS cause Huang Sheng Chi plays the second lead and I adored him in My Mr Mermaid but to my surprise I fell in love with the lead almost immediately! I'm not into enemies to lovers but I adore when the main couple bickers a lot cause it's sort of similar to that trope but in a fun rather than an irritating way. I adore the way the show focuses on art and restoration but more than that I love the college antics and how much chemistry Ye Miao and Xia Rui have! Xia Rui is an amazing female lead with how she's smart and kind but totally cunning and manipulative in a hilarious way and I love how exasperated and totally confused Ye Miao is around her. I don't love that the love triangle is between two brothers but I hope that they're kind about it instead of competitive like most leads and second leads are. I also really liked that pretty quickly on there were no more misunderstandings between the leads cause I really thought that Ye Miao might be misled by Shen Zhen but luckily he knew what kind of person Xia Rui was. It's always interesting when a female lead is actually the rich one and the second lead is the poor girl because it gets tiring watching drama after drama about a Candy (poor girl who the world is against but she stays strong and cheerful) but at the same time Shen Zhen is the exact kind of antagonist that I really love to hate. She's got an inferiority complex and it's fascinating cause Xia Rui has never been mean to her so it's Shen Zhen's own jealously that is going to be her downfall!
Nine Kilometers Of Love (12/24): Nine Kilometers of Love focuses on the story of six people in their early twenties and their journey in the aviation industry. Lin Shu comes from an aviation family. His father influenced him to become a professional pilot at a really young age.
I was actually pretty excited to check this drama out when it popped up on my news feed cause you know how interested I get when a show takes place in a unique job setting and I don't think I've ever watched an American tv show let alone an asian drama set around pilots so I was all about this one! At first I did struggle a bit cause the female lead was just irritating enough for me to want to drop it but I decided to stick around cause I was just so into the world the show was building not to mention the fact that Riley Wang's dimple was doing things to me! I'm now about halfway through the drama and though Cheng Cheng is still just as much of a moron as she was at the start, she's moronic in a cute way rather than the nails on a chalkboard way she was at the start. First of all I know that she was rushing to get to her mom's funeral but seriously there is no need to scream at airport employees! I hate people like that so it was already a terrible start and then after that we barely spent any time with Cheng Cheng caring about anything other than money and the way she treated Lin Shu as if he was her personal enemy even though it was her who was living in his house was ridiculous. Once they calmed down though I really enjoyed watching them together. I really enjoy the flying stuff and the cast is fun as well!
Walk Into Your Memory (16/24): An Ning is a cook who can see other people's memories. When her boss Long Haoqian mysteriously loses memories from one year of his life, she starts to help him find the missing pieces. Initially at odds with each other, a series of amusing events bring them closer together.
This week's episodes ended up being pretty happy in terms of plot which makes me worried cause I still feel like Haoqian's memory loss has something to do with An Ning especially since we didn't actually finish with what happened back then. After what we learned this week I think it has to do with An Ning's older sister who committed suicide but I'm just hoping that once it all comes out that we don't have another noble idiot moment though with how this show flies through plot I'm sure that it won't last too long if it even happens. I was really surprised though that Haoqian and An Ning are engaged now cause we're closer to halfway than the end of this drama which brings me back to something big and bad must be happening soon. Even Haoqian's mom though she disagrees is pretty much giving up on trying to split the two up but like once again I want to shout out Haoqian's dad for being the best and like showing up at An Ning's house to propose marriage and telling Haoqian that he should pick his own marriage partner! Isn't it sad when that's pretty much the only criteria for me to love a drama parent? I was also really surprised that the second lead siblings that were introduced last week were totally pointless cause they didn't even act as a thorn in our main couple's sides! It's like they appeared and disappeared without leaving any impact other than a funny moment for the guys to be jealous!
xoxo Allie
