KDRAMA
FINISHED D-Day (20/20): An unprecedented 6.5-magnitude earthquake has struck Seoul, destroying roads and buildings, and preventing ambulances from reaching victims. Woefully unprepared for such a massive disaster, Korea can only watch the desperate situation and listen to the pleading cries for help. Hae Sung, a competent surgeon, can’t resist doing everything he can to help the injured people during the emergency. This upsets his hospital and they put him on a blacklist, as his benevolent help is against the hospital's profit. Ddol Mi, beautiful and ambitious, chased money and fame as a doctor, but now wants to become a truly compassionate doctor after meeting Hae Sung. Woo Jin has been building a successful career as Korea’s rising doctor, but secretly, he truly cares about being a genuine doctor, saving the lives of the sick. These three characters team up to rush into emergencies, holding onto hope in the most desperate situations, and taking all sorts of risks for the sake of saving lives.
Jung So Min and Kim Young Kwang starring in a medical drama with romance? Sign me the hell up! That was pretty much my entire thought process as I went into the drama and I wasn't disappointed even once! I loved this drama from start to finish and I thought that the show balanced the medical stuff with the political and the romantic perfectly! Often times in a show like this, one thing gets more focus than the other but the way this show handled all the storylines, I was never once bored. I loved that the show felt so expansive so we followed doctors, firefighters, civilians and politicians cause when a disaster strikes like the earthquake in this show, everyone is involved. Hae Sung was of course the badass doctor that we pretty much always expect our lead to be and Ddol Mi was just as awesome though she wasn't as skilled as he was being a resident and not a full doctor yet. Their relationship was everything and I loved how they slowly fell for each other not only by seeing how badass they were but how caring as well. I do wish we had gotten a few more kisses but I'd like to imagine that Hae Sung came to Busan at the end to bring Ddol Mi back to Seoul to work in the new trauma center that they built. Beyond them I loved all the side characters too and the romances between Woo Jin and Ji Na as well as Joo Ran and Ja Hyuk. I hated Woo Jin so much at the start of the drama but I slowly found myself caring for him more while on the other hand Ja Hyuk seemed like he might be sketchy and though in the end ended up killing Hae Sung's younger brother, overall he seemed pretty solid for a politician and he was the only one out there trying to at least help whether that help was altruistic or not. I was glad that Joo Ran forgave him and they ended up getting married. Overall I had a blast with this drama and I'd give it a 10 / 10!
Extraordinary You (8/32): What would you do if you found out that you were, in fact, a character in a comic? And an extra character on top of that? Change the course of the story, obviously! Eun Dan Oh is a 17-year-old high-school student from a wealthy family who suffers from a lifelong heart condition that inevitably means she will not live past her teenage years. However, when Dan Oh realizes she is experiencing long gaps in her memory as well, she comes into the unhappy inheritance of another fact in her life: she is a character in a Korean webtoon and all of her actions are predetermined by the artist who draws her. To make matters worse, she discovers she is only a supporting character in the cast. With her newfound understanding of the world she inhabits, she is determined to find true love in her own plot-line and circumvent the author’s plans for her character by utilizing the flashes of storyboard she alone is able to see.
Second week in and I definitely still love this show. It was a bit of a beautiful present that four episodes aired in one day (thank you World Cup) so that I could binge them all. This is definitely a show that I think is best watched in one whole piece cause every week when it ends I'm like no please keep going! We finally met our male lead Ha Ru and I was wondering if giving him a name would make him a character in the story last week and that kind of happened but also kind of didn't. He was enough of an annoyance for Kyung to punch him for flirting with Dan Oh but like not enough for Kyung to remember his name. As I expected I don't think we'll ever really learn the rules of this world so why Ha Ru can suddenly remember everything doesn't really make sense or how he's got a copy of Secret. I'd imagine it has something to do with the fact that since he's not even an extra with lines in the book, the writer truly pays no attention to him so he can do whatever he wants whether it's the stage or the shadow. I'm sure I'm going to love him now that he's acting like his own person. I already think it's sweet how much he looks out for Dan Oh but obviously he's enamored cause she's the only one who pays attention to him. Kyung is also an interesting character cause it's pretty obvious that he likes Dan Oh but because his father is a monster that he puts all the blame on her when it's not her fault. I'm not excusing his asshole-ish behavior but it's fun to see him jealous. He's been in background of many scenes watching Dan Oh and Ha Ru make eyes at each other and I hope that he'll wake up soon so that he can remember those shadow moments! Do Hwa did wake up and not only am I really curious as to what is waking these characters up but does he have a Ha Ru too? Also what are the chances that the Squid Fairy is actually the author??
Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency (8/16): 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.
It's kind of ironic that we're halfway through this drama and yet we're only now reaching the same place as the synopsis told us we would reach. I still find it ridiculous on Soo's part that he still isn't understanding what's going on. If Gae Ddong is ever revealed as a commoner, she could be murdered and even if she is convincing as a noble, she doesn't exactly fit the Queen criteria with no real political backing and a supposed dead mother so the best she can be is a concubine not the Queen! It's part of the main reason why I can't ship her with Soo; he never thinks about what she wants. This whole time he's only been worried about what he wants that he's never once bothered to think about Gae Ddong and whether she'd even want to marry into the palace! Soo needs to tell her the truth cause marrying a nobleman is leagues different than marrying the King! On the same vein of lying, I don't understand why Gae Ddong is suddenly unable to tell Hoon about why she wants him to make her into a noblewoman. He's over here thinking that she wants to marry Soo while he's falling in love but like if he knew the truth, he'd jump all over the chance to help! It feels like a contrived plot in order to up the drama in the show since in-character Hoon already knows about Gae Ddong looking for her brother so why not be honest? I still think that Lord Yun will end up adopting Gae Ddong by the end cause otherwise I can't see why they keep having scenes together and like I wish I remembered why Hoon's dad is looking for him. I have a feeling that after he finds out that Gae Ddong is Lady Yun (cause that's the lie going around) that he'll want Hoon to marry her in order to get Lord Yun in his political camp. One another note, I just really cannot get behind the second couple! Joon is so awesome and we learned a lot about his backstory this week but Ji Hwa is just so selfish and mean that I can't understand what Joon sees in her. She's got like no redeeming qualities other than maybe she's the first woman not to fall at his feet.
I don't know where to start this review if I'm being honest cause I still can't place my feelings into the correct boxes. Last week when this show premiered, I was trying to be positive cause I wanted this show to be good but I think I've decided this week that this show is just a hot mess starting with it's extremely awkward tonal shifts. I'm hoping that from next week on we'll be a little more constant cause I imagine that since this week was when Dong Chan and Mi Ran woke up that they would go through a vast cycle of emotions leading to one minute things being funny and the next heartbreaking. Things started to click a little more at the end when Dong Chan confronted Hyun Gi about how he knew everything about what happened but decided to hide things rather than expose them to protect himself and the company. I think I'd been feeling weird about Dong Chan's reaction to everything up to this point cause it felt like he was trying to pretend like nothing happened while also trying to fix things like with the Professor and Mi Ran that he didn't have time to grieve. It super sucks cause Mi Ran is out there trying to both get a job but also go back to school and honestly it's drama-land logic that let her even attend school again when in real life no one would believe who she is. I can't help but wonder what the plan is cause the only thing that'd make sense is if they exposed the truth or got new identities. Beyond that I think my struggle is that I'm not sure what the plot of this show is. Is it figuring out who's trying to kill Hwang and why? Is it learning to exist in current day? I also need Mi Ran and Dong Chan to spend more time together cause like they're the only ones who know how the other feels so they don't have to hide anything and tbh I think this will be their way of falling for one another.
For a while I had heard that this drama was super cute but I was a little hesitant a week or so ago to check it out cause I was really not in the mood for a high school drama (which I do love usually but like sometimes they're just a bit too childish for me and I need a second) but after I watched Extraordinary You, it reminded me how much I love them so I jumped into this one and I had a pretty fun time. I really liked the fact that it followed a cheerleading club cause you know I'm a sucker for singing/dancing and Hellcats was defs one of my favorite American dramas of all time but unfortunately the cheerleading aspect of this show was probably the least well done for a drama about a cheerleading club. Don't get me wrong, there was cheering in this but like bare bones which is why I sort of high key adored that the whole club came in last place at the competition cause we spent all our time having the team become friends that the cheering was super basic. Despite that I really enjoyed the building romance between Yeon Doo and Yeol and I loved Yeol for being such a confident male lead. Soo Ah was great as the villain because part of me understood why she acted the way she did cause her mother was insane but the rest of me was like you made yourself miserable. She had friends and everything before she decided to throw it all away and her actions weren't right. Ha Joon had a similar family life (maybe even worse cause he was actually being physically abused) but he stayed a good person. I loved the teachers in this drama too and I hardcore shipped Yang and Nam. Overall I'd give this show a 9 / 10!
Soo Hyun found out about Dae Han's lie this week but it ended up not meaning as much as I expected it to because she was much calmer than I expected her to be so much so that her first thought wasn't to scream it out or turn against him but to take a minute, think back on how he acted and then talk to him about it. This makes me want to give her all the love in the world cause this is how a normal person should react rather than deciding that the liar is the devil! I suppose part of it is that his lie doesn't affect her personally unlike dramas where the male lead is dating the female due to a bet or something but I'd like to imagine it's Soo Hyun's personality shining through. It does make me really curious about whether it'll end up coming out at all to the public cause the finale is next week and with only two episodes left that means the public reveal will end in nothing really changing in terms of Dae Han's political credibility or it'll only come out to Da Jung and the family in which case Dae Han can convince them that he loves them and wants to be a father regardless of what's happening. I was surprised to find out that the actual biological father isn't anyone we've met and even worse that he raped Da Jung's mom but it makes sense why she told Da Jung that her father is her childhood crush rather than the truth. I also want to give a shoutout to how much of a badass Dae Han was in terms of killing it politically. He went from not even being nominated to tied for first place with his genius and charm! Next week I assume that he'll end up winning and Da Jung has to give birth of course but also I expect that he'll end up adopting all the kids officially.
We're halfway through this drama and I still think it's fascinating that there's no overarching case or villain to defeat except for maybe the idea of Yoon Seo's father being missing and possibly what really happened to Yoon Seo's sister cause I can't imagine they keep seeding in random scenes and moments when we're supposed to already know what happened back then. I think I also realized that despite this show having an ensemble cast, we're only really supposed to be following Yoon Seo cause I keep waiting for storylines for the others or to learn their backstories but instead we keep going back to Yoon Seo though to be fair Hong Tae did get a few episodes here and there. This week's case was actually really interesting though sad as well cause I like many others would like to believe the military is a good place that protects us but in fact there is a never-ending stream of information and testimonials that it is not. I don't know why I never suspected that Jung committed suicide from bullying as the real reason he died and I totally didn't except for him to be closer friends with Lee than Choi but I think I totally got wrapped up in the story that the others were telling. I do think it was kind of sweet of the military to want to provide for Jung's wife and son by lying cause I definitely assumed it would a much worse reason for the coverup. Choi got what he deserved tbh even if it's mean to say but like he's alive isn't he despite losing his eyesight when he could be dead like Jung.
I think it's interesting how early on Nok Du and Dong Joo are into each other cause like we're only in week 2 and we're already playing around with jealously and longing. I figured that because Dong Joo figured out the truth that she would be more furious with Nok Du but honestly it was just hilarious to see how Dong Joo was trying to be angry but Nok Du kept charming her. I mean props to Jang Dong Yoon for being able to be all awkward girly one minute and then manly the second. Even when he was doing that gisaeng dance half naked he looked manlier then he should have despite also being so graceful but I think it was the smirk on his face that did it. I low key love the misunderstanding that Dong Joo thinks that Nok Du has a lover cause it leads to some awesome jealously but more than that I was surprised to find out that Dong Joo is actually a noble (though I probs shouldn't have been cause duh) which makes me curious about not only what happened to her family but why she's hiding. I mean logically I assume that her family was killed for political reasons but like does that mean that the King called for it since she's afraid to reveal who she is? That would explain why she wants to kill the King so badly! I still think Nok Du is royalty and now I think he's actually the son of the King cause we met the Queen who was lamenting the loss of her son with the King though he seemed annoyed that she would bring it up which I think makes Nok Du the Crown Prince. I do wish the show wasn't so steeped in political drama though cause it makes the show feel like two different shows with one being the funny adventures of Nok Du and Dong Joo and the other this weird mystical widow assassin village that are going around killing for the government.
Last week I was all wrapped up in conspiracy theories cause I assumed it was way too early to know the truth about what really went down and I'm a drama veteran at this point so I know how these shows work. That's why I was completely surprised at first to find out that everything that has happened was exactly what we were told and other than a few threads here and there, the story had been laid out for us but then the final moments of the episode happened and now I'm back on my conspiracy train. Here's my thought. I really do think Jessica did everything from paying the terrorists and the copilot to stage a plane crash in order to make Dynamic look bad and now she's trying to clean house but I also think that Edward has a role in all of this. I'm not sure if he knew it was happening or what but I definitely think he's shifting pieces to his benefit like leading the NIS and Dal Gun the way he wants. With the reveal that the reporter who died is still alive and the fact that Jessica didn't order the hit makes me feel like Edward faked it to get Dal Gun onto Jessica's scent. Other than that thread we've learned everything else. Min was the mole as I guessed early in episode 5 due to the body type of Shadow but even more surprising was the fact that the NIS found Jessica's link to the copilot and his wife and who's out to kill Dal Gun. I'm assuming that now they have motive and just need to find evidence of Jessica's link. It's interesting how competent the NIS is on this show when they don't have a mole messing things up for them. I am glad that we found out that Tae Woong is a good guy after all cause I did want to root for him but of course I still ship Hae Ri with Dal Gun who we saw is officially into her this week and though it looks like she's starting to fall for Dal Gun as well, Tae Woong still is ahead. Their kiss was honestly hilarious but mostly cause of how shocked Dal Gun was cause he clearly thinks she thought he was Tae Woong.
I started this drama cause I'm a sucker for medical dramas with romance in them but I really didn't expect what we ended up getting! I really enjoyed the first half but then around episode 12 it felt like the whole story had been told and then we switched from a medical drama with hints of chaebol intrigue to entirely chaebol intrigue. If I'm being honest I didn't actually mind it cause I am not a particularly forgiving person so I was totally on Yeo Jin's side and for once the heroine didn't just bend over and forget everything but instead decided to give back what she took and yeah maybe some of it was a bit too far but overall I thought she was a badass. The problem was that the show clearly wanted me to be on Tae Hyeon's side and think that Yeo Jin was becoming a monster but more than that I couldn't believe that he just left her like that after knowing that she lived in an alligator pond so like what did he think would happen? Without his protection, she literally was almost poisoned to death. I'm almost curious about this message the show was sending cause while every other drama out there is all about a rich guy saving a poor girl, suddenly cause the rich one is the girl, having money is a bad thing? Despite all this I thought the show was really well written and I loved Yeo Jin and Tae Hyeon's romance. I don't think the show needed a cancer story but it led to a bunch of cuteness so I didn't mind entirely. The side characters were all amazing too from Tae Hyeon's friends in the hospital to the gangster boss to the low level cops that were always chasing Yong Pal all the way to the steward in Yeo Jin's home! I think I'd give this drama a 8.5 / 10 cause though there were things I didn't love, overall I had a fun time.
CDRAMA
FINISHED Mountains And Ocean (24/24): 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.
Wow this show went from really fun to completely insane this week and I have to admit that it may have ruined this drama for me! The best part of this drama was definitely Xia Rui and Ye Miao's cute romance and I was loving everything about their college life which is why the last few episodes hit me like a truck! Okay so Xia Rui's father being sick is fine as was Shen Zhen being evil and convincing Xia Rui to leave Ye Miao or else she'd reveal those photos of Xia Rui's mom and Ye Miao's dad but then everyone started dying and I was like what the hell is this show anymore? I mean seriously all of a sudden Xia Rui's mom was killed by Ye Miao's mom out of spite and jealously even though it was a one-sided love on the dad's part, Ye Lin died saving Xia Rui and then Xia Rui's dad died of cancer. We skipped around so many years that it just felt lazy! First it was the two years after Xia Rui left school and then it was the three years after everyone died! Even weirder was how Ye Miao stayed away this whole time when up to this point we know that he always trusted and believed in Xia Rui and yeah she left him during college but after he found out that her father was sick you would think that all would be forgiven. I hate the idea that Xia Rui and Ye Miao could only be together at the very end after every obstacle in their path was killed or destroyed. Ye Miao's mom was no longer sane enough to be against Xia Rui, Ye Lin was dead so no second male lead as was the romance between the parents since Xia Rui's mom died. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and honestly what the hell. I'd give this show a 6 / 10 and only cause I liked the first half so much.
FINISHED Nine Kilometers Of Love (24/24): 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.
What a strange ending you guys. I can't decide if I think it's creative and I like it or if it was a cheap-out and I hate it. I had a feeling last week that the show would not have enough episodes for the story they wanted to tell but my feelings tend to go toward the idea that the show wasn't paced well rather than the idea that the show needed more episodes to tell the story. We could have skipped all the antagonism at the start and began with our main couple being friends that way we could play in this angst better. As I thought the show did go the route of Lin Shu and Cheng Cheng being afraid they were siblings after all though it only lasted one episode which made the story feel a bit pointless. Their breakup was a little underwhelming as well and tbh I thought Cheng Cheng was mostly overreacting but at the same time I liked that she wanted to put herself first and chose to build her career. I mean if there was ever a good time for a breakup it would be before she had to leave for pilot academy. I have a feeling the ending was so strange cause the show wanted a second season which I would be down for cause I want to see Cheng Cheng as a pilot but even if we don't get one, my head-canon is that she comes back as a pilot and eventually gets back together with Lin Shu cause 2 or 3 years feels like enough time to accept the fact of who his father was. If there is a second season I hope the storyline of her father could be dealt with cause that was a thread left dangling. The Meng Ran and Yi Ming wrap up was also terrible cause before the episode where they finally kissed, there was no indication that Meng Ran cared for Yi Ming beyond a colleague literally at all and it felt like the show was just like well how can we conclude this story as fast as possible. If I was Yi Ming I would still be worried that she was using me! On the other hand the Yu Hang and Jing Yan romance was cute and I liked the way it ended. Overall I'd give this show a 7 / 10.
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