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 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 here and if you want to see a list of my favorite asian OTPs and ships, click here!

KDRAMA

FINISHED Arthdal Chronicles Season 3 (6/6): 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 should start by talking about what happened in these final two episodes but honestly I just finished the episodes and I really want to start with the elephant in the room. On the one hand I'm not understanding why this show ended on a cliffhanger when there are no more seasons planned but on the other I like that it didn't try to rush everything in two episodes and went at believable pace. I'm assuming that the whole 3 season breakup was just a Netflix thing and this was supposed to be a 18 episode kdrama (like all kdramas are) with the hope that if the ratings would be high, another season could be shot. The problem with this though is that there is no news about a new season so the fact that the show left us high and dry is irritating and low key is ruining my overall experience with this drama. I sat through 18 episodes waiting for Tanya and Eunseom to find each other and ended with nothing. I'm sick and tired of Saya hovering around Tanya like a gnat and honestly props to Song Joong Ki for making me believe that Saya and Eunseom are two separate people. The break of love and trust between Taealha and Tagon was a little out of nowhere at first glance but if I look at it more closely it makes sense cause Taealha always feared losing power and she truly didn't understand what a King was so I can get that when Tagon tried to seize everything and claimed that he didn't have to tell her things anymore she would mistrust him. Saya also found out about Eunseom and how he's a twin and honestly I don't entirely know what that would change other than make Saya sad that Tanya loves another. Maybe this will make him want to assassinate Eunseom to get Tanya but Eunseom is leading all of the Ago Tribe now so like that'll be hard. I was wondering if Ago and Momo were part of Arthdal but it seems like they aren't which is weird to me cause why would Arthdal want to conquer Iark before Ago or Momo cause while it took like 20 years to build an elevator, Ago and Momo are just chilling right next door. I seriously don't know how to rate this season cause if there's more of this show to come I'm content with this season but if this is the end, I'm furious so I guess I'll give it a 9.5 / 10 cause that's how I feel if I just think of this as a season finale and not a series finale.

Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency (4/16): 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.

You know what's crazy about this show? I never realize how quickly it ends and yet I feel like nothing's really happened. I'm still enjoying this show for how silly and light it is but that is it's charm for sure not to mention how completely adorable Gae Ddong is. Surprisingly it doesn't look like there will be any sort of birth secret on Gae Ddong's part as far as I can see cause we met her brother this week and he's a slave as well which makes me think that both brother and sister were meant to be sold into the Kang home but got separated and Gae Ddong was found by Soo. This is a little unfortunate cause I want her to be able to marry Hoon in the future but because she's not nobility, his father will never approve! I'm pretty much ignoring all the politics but from what I gather it seems like Kang and Ma are on opposite sides of the political sphere with Soo stuck in the middle but I can't really tell who's good or bad in this case. Both might just be shades of awful cause we definitely know that Ma had something to do with the Crown Prince's death but like Kang seems to hate his daughter for some reason which isn't a good look either. Speaking of, Ji Hwa is supposed to be Joon's love interest but like she doesn't seem to be a good person either with the way she beats her slaves so I can't help but want better for him. We also learned how Hoon's brother died and it turned out it was pretty heavily his father's fault and I completely understand why Hoon is the way he is. It's also interesting that he was not surprised whatsoever that Soo is the King now and I wonder if he knew all the way back then when he and Gae Ddong followed Soo's trail to the palace or if he just figured it out after being kidnapped by the royal guards. 

FINISHED I Wanna Hear Your Song (32/32): 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.

Well the finale aired this week and honestly I'm a little annoyed by everything. I love murder mysteries so it really doesn't take much for me to adore a mystery drama like this one but when the writing can't back the mystery it ruins everything. A good murder mystery has the audience learning piece by piece what happened alongside the characters cause if everything's revealed to the audience and not the characters then we're sitting here screaming at the characters that they're looking under the wrong rocks! It also felt like there wasn't enough story in this show either which left the writers to fill up air time by forcing the characters to have the same conversation over and over. We had at least five or six conversations where Yoon or Yi Young told Joo Wan that they knew he killed Ian only for him to deny it. All the shady things Joo Wan did was just for no reason? I don't believe that for a second! Also low key but Ian's murder was still not explained. The pen went from Yi Young's hands to his jacket pocket to Yoon almost immediately which makes me question the timeline. Are we supposed to assume that Ian had the pen long ago and it fell out of his pocket in the locker room for Yi Young to bring back? The fact that Kang did all this just to hide embezzlement seems like an overreaction in my opinion as well but maybe that's cause I'm used to dramas having rich people murder for more intense reasons than money. I also seriously hated the fact that Yoon left Yi Young for a year cause I hate time skips like that but more than that I hate when characters make decisions for each other without talking to their significant other! What changed in a year that made Yoon want to come back in the end? Why couldn't we have a conversation where he laid out his fears and Yi Young was like I don't care about that. Overall I think this show was pretty disappointing in terms of being a murder mystery but I guess I'd give it a 8.5 / 10 cause I did love Kim Se Jung and the romance between Yoon and Yi Young.

Melo Is My Nature (14/16): 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 keep feeling like I somehow skipped an episode or two cause last we saw Jae Hoon break up with Ha Yoon and he and Han Joo talked about it but then all of a sudden she appeared in their house drunk and now they're dating again? It was super confusing cause I'm over here like where's the conversation about them getting back together? And honestly I'm low key disappointed in Jae Hoon cause it took so much courage for him to break up with Ha Yoon and he just backslid right back into the toxic relationship they were in. I assume the ex husband must come back next week cause it's the finale (and we haven't wrapped that story up yet) so maybe it'll be what Jae Hoon needs to realize his feelings? Jin Joo and Beom Seo are also dating now and they're doing a pretty good job about keeping work from private life and ironically I never realized how funny Jin Joo's parents were with telling Beom Seo that he should rethink his decision. It was a little weird of Jin Joo to introduce him to her family already cause like damn you've been dating for like a day! Eun Jung is continuing to work on her grief counseling but damn if she doesn't make me cry every time she has a moment with her boyfriend like when she was reading his notes to her on his phone! It's not fair cause he seems like the most perfect man ever and I wish she could be that happy. I can't decide if I like the director cause at first I thought he was kinda funny but now I think he's just plain weird the way this show thinks that characters should be. He practically lives at an orphanage for no reason and acts the weirdest but I guess maybe Eun Jung needs that in her life right now cause he's just so different than her old boyfriend so maybe he'll help her heal too? We also finally saw Hyo Bong and his boyfriend spend time together on screen and they had to deal with a homophobic restaurant owner which should be a bigger deal than it was but it was sort of just played off as a joke and I'm afraid we're never really going to go back to it.

The Great Show (10/16): 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.

Ugh you know for a while now I actually forgot how this is supposed to be a political comedy cause we spent so many episodes dealing with family drama that when these two episodes were so politics heavy I was saddened. I don't watch this show to watch Dae Han do politics! I want to see him struggle with 4 kids (now 5 with Da Jung's boyfriend) and watch family antics cause it's super cute to see how Dae Han is falling in love with those kids. The thing is that there always has been some sort of political thing happening each week but the show usually balances it with kid problems so I can mostly ignore the political stuff but this week we were too focused on the politics. I also really dislike Joon Ho more than words can say cause honestly it feels like he's trying to steal Dae Han's life. I mean he literally moved onto the same street as Dae Han, is trying to seduce the one woman in Dae Han's life and is trying to win in the same district for election. I know Dae Han is just as slimy as any other politician but at the same time part of him truly cares as seen when his anger comes out while Joon Ho feels like he's just doing things to compete with Dae Han since he can't get the girl. And I mean of course we're following Dae Han not Joon Ho so I can't help but pick sides! I'm worried about next week cause Dae Han might be pressured into doing what he doesn't want to do cause politics is a mud hole where you need to get dirty to do well so he might need to take the side of the Mayor just to get money from Woo Group. It'll destroy his credibility with the traditional market workers but if he takes their side, the party might back a different candidate and take Dae Han out of the running. For a while I actually wondered if Dae Han would end up leaving politics and doing something else cause it feels like he's just stretched too thin and not being able to help his kids plus the fact that I'm so sure that his lie about being Da Jung's dad is going to come out.

The Running Mates: Human Rights Volunteer Team (4/16): "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.

Wow you know I really expected the case from last week to have a bigger meaning than it ended up having. We didn't mention anything from that case once unless you count the fact that the HRC will be downsized cause Yoon Seo attacked Taewoon Group in public but I suppose that doesn't exactly mean that the creepy spy group won't come back. This week was interesting cause we really focused on how little power the HRC has cause though the two previous cases we saw ended up having an impact, it was this case that really showed us that even if HRC investigates and figures out the truth, all they can do is recommend changes and hope that the lawyers will step up. I still don't entirely understand why Attorney Oh took the case on and I kept waiting to find out that he was related to the case and at some point I thought he might be the murderer himself but to the end we got nothing except that he was shady and I think we're supposed to believe that he took the case due to the plaintiff being mentally disabled and hoping for a slam dunk win. I also liked learning more about Yoon Seo's backstory and I have to admit that I totally read her backstory wrong. I thought the girl who died was her daughter and the man she was with was her husband but it turns out that the girl was her younger sister and the man was her father. We also learned that a mentally disabled guy was ultimately the culprit even though the boyfriend was sketch and I have a feeling that the verdict was wrong but who knows. After everything that happened it seems like Yoon Seo's dad vanished and unlike what I thought last week with Yoon Seo not trusting the police, I wonder if her hesitation around police is that she trusts them too much cause of her dad.

CDRAMA

Mountains And Ocean (17/24): 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.

We had so much happen this week that I don't know where to start. I suppose let's go with Ye Miao and Xia Rui who are pretty much already dating without it being official. I love how much the two care for each other and how they always trust and believe in one another. When Ye Miao was restoring the picture he drew for her and she found out, it was super cute that she tried to find out as much info as she could to help him and when he got hurt, she rushed to his side to take care of him. Meanwhile when the whole school thought that Xia Rui purposefully hurt Shen Zhen, Ye Miao didn't hesitate once in saying that she didn't do it when even Ye Lin wondered if it was possible. He also rushed to find Xia Rui when she wasn't picking up her phone because he worried that she might be upset. Their first kiss was a little awkward but it moved their feelings along which was the main point! On the other hand Shen Zhen was the absolute worst but I'm kind of glad that Ye Miao and Ye Lin figured out what kind of a person she is and I am just worried that she would turn Ye Lin into the same type of person she is all jealous and stuff just cause Ye Miao and Xia Rui like each other and Uncle Yan thinks he's a prodigy. I do have to admit it was horrifying when that speaker went off because of Xia Rui's friend who literally had one job and that was not to push any buttons on the speakr and I'm high key worried that Xia Rui's mom might think that her daughter is the bad guy after all. Speaking of, I have a feeling that Ye Miao's mom hates Xia Rui's mom so much cause Ye Miao's dad loved her in the past but either Xia Rui's mom picked Xia Rui's dad or Ye Miao's mom played some sort of trick to get him cause it's obvious that the dad doesn't care for the mom pretty much at all while she's obsessively in love with him.

Nine Kilometers Of Love (16/24): 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.

We're finally starting to develop the romance a little more between Lin Shu and Cheng Cheng cause while it's been obvious that Lin Shu likes her for a while, it wasn't until this week that Cheng Cheng started to notice him back and that was even before he confessed to her. I really liked that she finally saw what it was like working in an airline but being in charge of calming passengers down cause despite all the growth she's gone through it was the only thing she didn't experience and I'm curious as to whether that was what led her to want to become a pilot. Ironically I expected her to want to attempt to be a flight attendant first but I loved that she was like nah I'm going all the way to the top but that Lin Shu also told her to do it only if she's serious. Flying has been his dream since he was a child and the idea that someone might be doing it for the wrong reasons didn't sit well. I was actually pretty surprised when he confessed that he liked her cause I really thought they would get into a fight again after the whole butt dial phone call mess but thankfully since we're more than halfway through this drama, there's no time for that and we went straight to both Lin Shu and Cheng Cheng being honest with each other which was lovely. On the other hand Meng Ran was dealing with all sorts of horrible things and it's weird cause her whole thing is actually making me feel a little worried for Yi Ming's sake cause it's obvious he actually really likes her despite acting like an asshole around her but I can't read if she cares about him or his money and if I were him, I would be worried.

FINISHED Walk Into Your Memory (24/24): 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.

Well the finale aired this week and I may or may not be cheating cause I decided to combine the episodes I had seen until Friday and also episodes I watched Saturday into one. Oops? Anyway so I was mostly meh about the finale cause I've honestly been meh about this show for a while. I was really into the start and I wanted to keep loving the main couple even though I slowly lost interest. This week went from super cute to angsty to an okay end. Honestly I should have been more annoyed cause I hate breakup episodes but I think I've been waiting for this specific shoe to drop for so long that it didn't entirely matter. The only thing I was annoyed about was An Ning deciding to break up with Haoqian before she knew the whole truth and making sure everyone knew. Like before you cause suffering to everyone around you, face the truth especially since you're supposed to love each other so much! I also wasn't a huge fan of the coma for two episodes story but I suppose it's better than Haoqian leaving for a year cause he felt guilty and coming back like I thought he would when the show said that he was going to the states. Despite that I really enjoyed everything else we got from An Ning finally getting Haoqian's mom's approval and setting his parents back up. I also surprisingly enjoyed the stuff with Meng Lu and An Ning's master when usually I ignore them cause I like the idea that Meng Lu was able to experience what she thought she always wanted but found that all the money in the world didn't matter if she didn't have love. It ended in them getting married and having a baby on the way which was sweet. Overall I think this show was a 8 / 10!

xoxo Allie