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 reviews, click here and if you want to see a list of my Favorite Asian OTPs and Ships, click here!
KDRAMA
Itaewon Class (4/16): On the first day of attending his new high school, Park Sae Ro Yi punches his classmate Jang Geun Won, who was bullying another classmate. The bully is the son of CEO Jang Dae Hee. The bully's father runs restaurant business Jangga where Park Sae Ro Yi’s own father works. CEO Jang Dae Hee demands to Park Sae Ro Yi that he apologizes to his son, but Park Sae Ro Yi refuses. Because of his refusal, Park Sae Ro Yi gets expelled from school and his father gets fired from his job. Soon, an accident takes place. Park Sae Ro Yi’s father dies in a motorcycle accident caused by his ex-classmate Jang Geun Won. Burning with anger, Park Sae Ro Yi viciously beats Jang Geun Won. He is soon arrested and receives prison time for violent assault. Park Sae Ro Yi decides to destroy the Jangga company and take revenge upon CEO Jang Dae Hee and his son Jang Geun Won. Once Park Sae Ro Yi is released from prison, he opens a restaurant in Itaewon, Seoul. Jo Yi Seo, who is popular on social media, joins Park Sae Ro Yi’s restaurant and works there as a manager. She has feelings for Park Sae Ro Yi.
This show is absolutely stellar in every way and I can't help but feel like this show is so much more like a high budget movie than a drama! Every shot is so beautiful, the dialogue is incredible and the pacing is perfect. I was wondering last week why both episodes were all about the second female lead rather than the female lead but we got plenty of her this week and I'm in love with Yi Seo. She's not the typical female lead you find in these kinds of shows cause she's oddly cold but at the same time she's loyal and will fight anyone who gets in her way and honestly she fits in perfectly with Sae Ro Yi's band of crazies! I love found families and I'm so down to fall in love with this one. We've got Seung Kwon who's an ex-convict and Hyun Yi who's clearly a girl but acting like a guy and I'm sure that Geun Soo will join at some point just based on the hero worship look he gave Sae Ro Yi in the police station. I had been wondering last week why Jang was so interested in Sae Ro Yi cause it's like move on dude but I didn't realize that since Geun Won never got charged with Sae Ro Yi's father's death that there was still a statue of limitations so they might be afraid that he might come at them with another arrest. On another note Soo Ah might be a horrible person after all cause when push comes to shove she picks herself over anyone else and I'm a little disappointed in Sae Ro Yi for being like I'll put up with everything and you do you cause he does deserve better than someone who would put Jangga first.
FINISHED Pride And Prejudice (21/21): A group of passionate prosecutors join forces to bring lawbreakers who spread corruption to justice. This is a story about prosecutors who wield law and principles to fight the bad and protect the disenfranchised innocent victims who have no money or power in society.
I suppose I could have skipped the whole reasoning why I started this drama this time around cause I'm sure if you're a loyal reader that you know the deal by now. Lover of investigation dramas blah blah obsessed with dark messages recently blah blah. Also Choi Jin Hyuk is the lead in this and I adore him so let's jump right into how I felt about this drama! Honestly this drama was a lot better than I expected it to be and I was fascinated with the premise that not all the characters in this show were all good or all bad cause I went in expecting it to be similar to most other investigation teams where the team was all close and trusted one another and worked to take down weekly bad guys. Instead I found a grey world in which we struggled to do good with the message that you couldn't do good unless you had the backing of someone bad. Yeol Moo our female lead would toss aside victims if it helped our team or our people while Chief Moon and Lawyer Jeong did some horrible things in their past and it was fun to struggle to figure out whether we could trust them or not. The overall mystery was amazing and it totally worked for the amount of episodes this show had so I was never sitting here thinking that the show was dragging or characters were acting out-of-character so the plot could move. I also really loved the romance between Yeol Moo and Dong Chi and I thought it was paced perfectly and I didn't have any problems with believing that they liked each other from 5 years ago and still did at the start of the show but were trying to act like they moved on. I was also really into the fact that there were no chaebols in the main cast and the only one percenters in this show were portrayed as these looming offscreen villains. The ending was totally heartbreaking but totally believable cause of course even if our heroes took down one bad guy there were plenty more. Overall I had a blast with this show and I'd give it a 8 / 10!
Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim Season 2 (12/16): “Romantic Doctor Kim” is a “real doctor” story set in a small, humble hospital called Doldam Hospital. It is a story about people who meet Kim Sa Bu (Han Suk Kyu), a genius doctor, and discover “real romance.” Kim Sa Bu once gained fame as a top surgeon at a huge hospital. One day, he left the industry, and now he is a chief surgeon at Doldam Hospital in the countryside. After he conducted a successful operation on Chairman Shin, he gets to improve the hospital under reliable support. But then Chairman Shin passes away. New people appear and his students had to leave the hospital. Furthermore, his wrist, which was injured three years ago, starts to act weird. After all, he goes to a huge hospital himself to solve the manpower shortage at Doldam Hospital, where he finds two people who resemble his former students but who seem much more lacking. Seo Woo Jin would do anything for money, and Cha Eun Jae runs out every time she goes into a surgery room. Will Kim Sa Bu be able to run Doldam Hospital with these two?
Like I thought last week that talk between Kim and Park didn't magically turn Park into a good guy but in fact it looks like the fight is just ramping up. This felt a lot like a setup episode for what's to come cause Kim spent most of the episode hanging back and seeing what the chessboard looked like before making his moves. Part of this was cause of his collapse from last week which we find out was basically nothing other than a slight fever and I'm assuming blood loss from which the result was that Eun Tak and Nurse Oh thought that maybe they were burdening him too much. In the end though Kim stepped up and pushed back by ignoring pretty much all the rules Park set up including a firing and it makes me really curious cause though I'm obviously on Kim's side, Park is the President after all and like why can't Park just fire Kim and the rest and make the hospital his like he wants? If Kim refuses to leave then he can just call the cops or something. On the other side Woo Jin met his old mentor again that he whistle-blowed on and struggled to decide whether he should whistleblow again even if it was the right thing cause it was Eun Jae's brother. Eun Jae super stepped up and I was cheering for her so hard after she stood up to her mom and gave Woo Jin the okay to do the right thing. It does look like Woo Jin's old mentor riled up his loan sharks to kidnap him and I guess next week will be the moment when Eun Jae calls in her favor with the local gang so that they can save Woo Jin and maybe take his loan sharks down a peg. We didn't get too much from Ah Reum and Eun Tak though this week and I'm still waiting for Im Bum to show up cause that'll definitely throw some drama in their relationship.
Stove League (15/16): Baek Seung Soo is the newly appointed general manager of professional baseball team Dreams. The team ranks bottom of the league. Lee Se Young is the operations manager of the team and also a big fan of the baseball team. She has so much love for Dreams and she never gives up on the team. Han Jae Hee, an energetic man, who is the grandson of a furniture maker. Kim Young Chae, who is a softball player turned sports announcer. Yoo Min Ho, a pitcher, who is crazy about baseball.
I'm once again furious with the release schedule for this show cause I can't wait a whole week to see the conclusion to this story! So much happened this week from Dong Gyu returning to Dreams to Doo Gi being traded to the Tigers along with so many betrayals. I adore this show and the way it's been portraying office politics and I'm so relieved that by this point everyone on the team from the management to the players and coaches know what's what and they all trust Seung Soo. One of the best moments this week was during the management meeting where they all discussed going from broke and destroying everything just to get the truth out. I also know we're supposed to feel kinda bad for Kwon with the whole being bullied by the Chairman's son but I just can't get past what a smarmy guy he is regardless so I was low key all for him getting beaten up but also I can't wait to see how Seung Soo and the Dreams team are able to outwit him. I do have a feeling that Dreams will end up being owned by the players or the fans somehow but it's also possible that Kangsung will take control cause with them taking over Jaesung's shopping district, it'll be them who need to be held accountable for the displeasure of the common folk and if Seung Soo and the others reveal what they know about Dreams only being disbanded once Jaesung doesn't need the people anymore the anger will be turned to Kangsung.
Tell Me What You Saw (4/16): "Tell Me What You Saw" is a suspense thriller about a genius profiler named Oh Hyun Jae who has lost everything, and a detective with photographic memory named Cha Soo Young who work together to track down a serial killer. Other members include, team leader Hwang Ha Young who sets the plan, ambitious investigation team member Choi Hyung Pil, and veteran detective Yang Man Soo.
I don't understand why all Korean shows have this need to have every investigation show set around a team of hard workers who are constantly pushed down by their higher ups who have money to toss around and influence and secrets they want to hide. Maybe it gives their heroes a sense of being an underdog but to be it's just annoying to watch the same formula over and over. Having said that I love everything else about this show other than that fact. We don't know what reason the higher ups have for wanting nothing more than for the Peppermint Candy Guy to be dead but it can't be as simple as wanting the police to look competent cause the dudes are having secret restaurant meetings and if I've learned anything from watching as many kdramas as I have, there's nothing good happening there. It was a great moment when Soo Young was transferred into the RIU cause that's all she wanted and I almost completely forgot that Soo Young is hunting for her mother's killer alongside the Guy but I hope that they're two separate people cause that'll be more drama but I have a feeling that the Guy was the kid in the backseat of the car that killed Soo Young's mom. Also I know I wasn't exactly supposed to be happy about it but I was low key thrilled when Jung Seok was killed cause now the higher ups should know that the Guy is alive and be scared for their secret though I'm afraid that they'll just toss all the blame to Ha Young and claim that she's an accomplice or something cause how else would she have known to go to his taping.
The Game: Towards Zero (16/32): It tells the story of a prophet who sees the moments right before the death of someone and a homicide detective who got dragged into a series of mysterious murders and end up digging up hidden secrets. Kim Tae Pyung, a prophet who can see death, 27 years old. He has the special ability to see the moments right before the death of someone by looking into their eyes. Instead of suffering from this mysterious ability linked to the death of people, he thinks that it is a special ability of his own. He is rich, handsome and has a sexy brain. However, he cannot see the death of Joon Young and that started to scare him. Joon Young, a homicide detective who is working with Tae Pyung to solve cases. 30 years old. She has good insight and intuition. Her father who was a police officer was her hero and her whole life, however, he passed away 20 years ago. That was a huge shock for her. She was only depending on herself and no one else. However, when Tae Pyung appeared, she started to change. She wants to heal his and her wounds. Ku Do Kyung, a forensic expert, 33 years old. Tae Pyung gave him the nickname of “4 weeks left” because he gives the result 4 weeks later. He is a smart and talented employee of the National Forensic Service. He always seems relaxed. In front of Joon Young, he acts differently. He can’t stop laughing when he is with her and lets his image of a cool and cold man away.
I can't decide what it is about this show that doesn't work for me cause when I first started it I was super excited but now I'm just feeling off. I mean we're like halfway through this drama and yet I feel like we've done nothing but tread water. Maybe it's the fact that we already know everything about what's going on so there's no mystery to be solved cause the only reason that Do Kyung isn't in jail already is cause the police don't have evidence and tbh I still don't understand how Mi Jin scratched Do Kyung's face and Pil Doo's DNA came off. Are we supposed to believe that he cleaned her fingernails after she died and then placed some of his father's in the place? On that note, why oh why is he still working at the NFS when he's a suspect in this murder? I know the saying is that you're innocent until proven guilty but like seriously the cops couldn't request that he stay away from certain cases just in case he is the culprit? At least if he had to sneak around and mess with cases like any other villain it'd be one thing but he's literally assigned Pil Doo's case! It feels like everyone is forgetting that he's literally a murderer with how guilty they feel about his father but like at the same time I was pretty impressed with Nam coming clean and not trying to hide his misdoings like I expected him too. I'm also not a huge fan of the insta-love between Tae Pyung and Joon Young cause it straight up feels like they had no buildup to their romance but then suddenly one day he was in love with her and now she's the same.
Touch (12/16): A popular make-up artist, known for his never-ending quest for perfection, Cha Jung Hyeok was at the top of his game. But destiny, it seemed, wouldn’t let him stay there for long. Now unemployed and drowning in debt, Jung Hyeok is desperate to find a way out of this most miserable of slumps; but he’s not the only one. An idol trainee for the past ten years, Han Soo Yeon is desperate to finally get her big break. Deciding it’s now or never, she agrees to participate in an idol audition program, but fails to make the cut. Booted from the program, Soo Yeon finds herself wondering if this is really the path she’s meant to take in life. Desperation and destiny come together in unexpected ways when Jung Hyeok and Soo Yeon cross paths. After finally landing a much-needed job as a make-up artist, Jung Hyeok agrees to take Soo Yeon under his wing. Noticing that his new assistant shows an incredible aptitude for the art, Jung Hyeok is happy to teach her everything he knows. As the two grow closer, they slowly learn to let go of the broken dreams of the past as they steadily walk towards a future full of bright new dreams, together.
My heart broke for my poor baby Do Jin this week and it's probs low key ridiculous for me to feel this way cause he's not even a main character but I can't help that he's one of my favorite characters on this show! He finally found out about how Soo Yeon was thrown to the wolves cause of him and was given a choice to either sign another contract with Window or have the truth come out and destroy not only his image but Soo Yeon's heart all over again. I didn't have any doubt in my mind that he would pick the second option cause Do Jin is many things but he's not a bad guy but seeing his tears killed me anyway. On another note I'm loving that everyone returned to Jung Hyeok's tiny makeup shop and I'm loving everything they're doing cause you know I'm all about an underdog story! I love all the ideas they came up with to get customers into the shop including reducing prices and offering makeup classes and promoting on popular social media channels and it just makes me wish more that the show would focus on the makeup rather than the romance which I'm not going to regurgitate here cause you all know my thoughts on the main couple by now. It was also interesting to see how suddenly I felt a little sorry for Min this week and I had to awkwardly check myself cause he's not a good dude no matter how sorry I felt for him.
XX (6/10): It tells the story of the best bartender of the industry who is working in a speakeasy bar. She solves the problems of the couples and is overcoming her past love wounds.
For all my bluster about how I didn't know if I could forgive Roo Mi even after knowing that she's been cheated on by Gyu Min, I found myself cheering for Roo Mi and Na Na teaming up at the end. It was good to see what happened back in college from Roo Mi's POV too cause it shaded in the picture a little more and we find out that Tae Hyun convinced Roo Mi that he and Na Na broke up and it wasn't until the next morning that Roo Mi found out that she had just helped him cheat on Na Na. I still don't think Roo Mi is entirely blameless cause what kind of asshole friend dates another friend's ex and breaks girl code like that especially on the same day they broke up too but more of my blame goes to the Tae Hyun who to really took the cake when he told Na Na that it was her fault that he was cheating in what I'm assuming meant that Na Na wasn't putting out so he had to look elsewhere. It was the same bullshit Gyu Min said after Roo Mi refused to believe his lies and it's honestly such a cheater thing to say cause no matter what it's always the cheater's fault cause if there's ever a problem in a relationship breaking up is the right move not cheating! I high key can't wait to see how Roo Mi and Na Na team up to take down their exes cause it looks like Tae Hyun is also coming back to be a thorn in Na Na's side. Luckily she'll have Dan Hee with her who's literally such an angel and I know I say that every week but it's true! I loved that Na Na figured out that Dan Hee was into her this week and how much it flustered her but also I loved that Roo Mi and Jung Deun low key know something's up too.
CDRAMA
Eternal Love Of Dreams/Three Lives, Three Worlds, The Pillow Book (24/56): Two thousand years of enduring love and obsession between the female monarch of Qing Qiu and the ancient god of the Heavenly Kingdom.When Feng Jiu was practicing immortal cultivation alone in the wilderness, she was attacked by a beast and rescued by Dong Hua Di Jun of the Heavenly Kingdom. The encounter becomes deeply ingrained in Feng Jiu's heart and to repay her debts, she decides to follow Dong Hua into battle. She soon realizes that her good feelings towards him have evolved into love, but Dong Hua is a god who has forgotten what love means. In order to protect Feng Jiu, Dong Hua sends her to the human realm which results in the death of a friend. Feng Jiu enters the Winged Tribe Princess Ah Lan Ruo's dream sequence in search of a sacred fruit that can bring the dead back to life but gets trapped to relive Ah Lan Ruo's life for eternity. Dong Hua finds a way to save Feng Jiu and realizes that he already reciprocates her love for him, but another hurdle crosses their path.
Last week I mentioned that the human life must be the second of the three lives that the title mentions but after watching it I'm wondering if maybe that was supposed to be the first life instead. From everything I've heard about the book that this drama is based off of, the drama wasn't supposed to start until Bai Qian's wedding which is happening this week and everything before this was supposed to be a flashback in the book so it makes me question if I guessed the three lives correctly but we're also almost halfway through this drama so I don't know if there's enough time for another life. Since Dong Hua and Fengjiu went through their mortal trials I'd like to imagine that right now is their third life so the rest of the show will be taking place in the Heavens without any more amnesia or different lives. I was also a little worried that after falling in love with Qingti in the mortal realm that I might not ship Dong Hua and Fengjiu anymore but I was worried for nothing cause as soon as the two starting interacting this week, it was everything. Dong Hua is oddly charmed by Fengjiu already and that's everything I wanted cause I'm such a sucker for the grumpy one falls for the bubbly one. I feel like he enjoys her mischievousness but I also wonder if he's recognized her as his fox cause I know in Ten Miles he could read Fengjiu's mind in fox form. It was also interesting to see Bai Qian this week cause I totally didn't expect Yang Mi to want to take up her role from Ten Miles again especially since she'd only be a side character to Fengjiu's main character but I'm glad she did cause it makes the world feel bigger than the small piece we're watching though ironically it doesn't look like Mark Chao came back.
Under The Power (42/55): In the final years of the reign of Jiajing Emperor during the Ming Dynasty, Lu Yi of the Jing Yi Wei is commissioned to investigate the disappearance of funds that have been set aside for river repairs in Yangzhou. He is assisted by Yuan Jin Xia of the Liushanmen. The two accidentally become involved in a conspiracy. The talented female constable Yuan Jin Xia gets into a disagreement with the hot-tempered Jin Yi Wei Lu Yi over a case that they are both involved in. Jin Xia thought that she'd never encounter Lu Yi again in this lifetime, yet fate has its way of bringing two people back together. Government funds have been stolen and Jin Xia receives orders to assist Lu Yi in his investigation. They are unable to get along at first but learn to work together through the hardships. Eventually, they develop feelings for each other to become lovers. However, things go awry when the truth about the past comes to light. Jin Xia is the orphan of the Xia Yan case from many years ago and she bears the burdens of the bloodshed that destroyed her family.
This week's episodes were are about war and overall it seemed to me that the Japanese pirates are only being held off by General Yu so Mao got people who he's actually working with to kick up a fuss about Yu being on the same side as the Japanese in order to get Yu removed from the army's leadership and therefore allow the Japanese to progress so Lu Yi was sent there to discover what's really going on. In the end everyone other than Yang Yue and Jin Xia ended up at the warfront and managed to destroy the Japanese army at the port though Mao got away. I also have absolutely no doubt that Lu Yi and Xie Xiao are perfectly fine cause duh they're main characters. The more interesting part of this war arc is the fact that the Japanese second-in-command after Mao was sent to take Hangzhou City cause all the women and children of the fighting army live there so they thought that by taking the city, they'll be able to leverage the families of the army to get them to surrender but of course with Jin Xia and Yang Yue there I'm excited to see how they hold the city especially since Madam Qi is pretty badass herself. In other news Lu Yi basically proposed to Jin Xia though Master Yang is still really against it and I truly don't understand cause at this point we've only got like 13 episodes left and when Jin Xia's really identity comes out I don't know if she'll care at all about Lu Yi's father having been the one to kill her family back then or if she does if it'll have any real effect. Yang Yue and Shangguan Xi are also basically engaged and unlike the other two actually got Master Yang's permission so I'm really happy for them.
xoxo Allie
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