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
365: Repeat The Year (8/24): A story where ten people get the chance to go back in time by one year, but unexpectedly mysterious situations start to arise when their fates are changed and twisted in the process. Ji Hyung Joo is a detective in the violent crimes division. He used to be part of the traffic police but was promoted when he arrested a wanted criminal. It's been seven years since the change, and he's a talented individual who always knows how to relax. Though he is happy at first to have the chance to go back in time by one year and "reset" his life, he begins to search for the truth when a series of mysterious events befall on the group of people he goes back in time with.
Though I think Rugal might be my favorite thriller airing right now due to it's whole Mission Impossible thing, this show has definitely got the better writing cause the story just feels so succinct as though the writers have written out the whole mystery from the start and there's no jumping around which you all know is my struggle with Memorist. I was so sure last week that Zian Clinic and Lee Shin might have been behind all the deaths that were occurring but after this week I have a feeling that Lee Shin is just as in the dark about what's going on as everyone else. Because of this I'm up to three theories about what's going on. The first is that it's someone above Lee Shin in Zian Clinic who's in charge and they're the one who's doing all this to keep the reset a secret from the public. The second is that it's someone who knew about the reset but was turned down from being a reset group member so they're looking for revenge. The third and what I think is the most likely is that it's one of our reset group and if I had to choose, I'd say Jae Young is looking sketchier and sketchier. The killer as we saw is clearly a guy and idk the gangster just feels too obvious and we know it's not Hyung Joo and No Sub just feels like he's too old so that leaves Jae Young who's meant to be the funny quirky young one I think but just comes off as creepy. I mean isn't it weird that he focused so hard on this reset being a Death Note game and before anything even happened he was going on about the rules not to mention the fact that even his gamer friends were freaked out when he turned to look at them. He seemed waaay too excited to be killing our reset group in his game and was the only one to react to the flowers that Ga Hyun showed them. It also seems strange that the killer's trophies are things that are important to the dead and I can't imagine that a random stranger knew the same small details about them that were shared with the group. Maybe he's gotten bored of killing games and wants to do the killing in the real world. On a lighter note I'm still super shipping Hyung Joo and Ga Hyun and I love that Hyung Joo's entire squad is shipping them also and it's very important to note that Hyung Joo has never once said no to any of their teasing which makes me think the man might have a crush!
A Piece Of Your Mind (4/16): An innovator in the world of artificial intelligence programming, Moon Ha Won has made quite a name for himself in the AI industry. The founder and brain behind the popular portal site, M&H, Ha Won is a man everyone knows. A man devoted to his work, everyone knows he doesn’t take what he does lightly and expects his employees to follow suit, but he’s also known as a kindhearted, rational thinker, who never gets angry and never loses his cool. An ideal man, with a soft heart, Ha Won believes that when it comes to love, having even a small fraction of his love’s heart is enough to sustain him. But that theory is put to the test when Han Seo Woo wanders into his world. A classical music recording engineer, Seo Woo hasn’t had the easiest life. With no family to support her, and no place to call home, Seo Woo has spent the majority of her life wandering and alone. Despite her difficulties, Seo Woo has managed to keep an open and optimistic mindset, believing that all things happen for a reason. Wandering down the path life has laid before her, Seo Woo soon finds herself crossing paths with Ha Won. As the two begin a journey together, they come to find that sometimes two different halves really can make a whole.
I'm starting to feel like Ha Won is getting a little creepy with his love towards Ji Soo this week. I want to compare everything he's doing to keeping an old photograph of a ex or like Seo Woo keeps the last voicemail her mom sent before she died but I just can't cause something about the way Ha Won thinks about Ji Soo is too much especially with it having been 10 years since they saw each other! I mean I don't entirely understand how his AI program works but either way Ha Won literally created an AI that thinks and acts like Ji Soo just to keep her around him. What's keeping me around though is Seo Woo and just what an angel she is. I know some people said that they can't see Ha Won and Seo Woo together until a time skip passes but I think that he has been fascinated by her for a while now and it's clear that every time he looks at her he's kinda in awe. I also think I was defs right about Ji Soo's husband having been related to Ha Won's mom's death though now it seems like he basically told a lie that caused the mom to die rather than being directly responsible but either way his insecurity about Ha Won and Ji Soo's relationship really came out this week when he was drunk. I do feel really bad for him cause if anyone deserves to be broken up by Ji Soo's death it's the man she spent 10 years married to but at the same time I have a feeling that he was the reason Ji Soo never contacted Ha Won cause he had a complex against their relationship and it's like dude Ji Soo married you and thought of Ha Won as a brother so who cares if he had a crush on her? We also learned more about Seo Woo's backstory and how Eun Joo was such an important part of her life after her parents died. I didn't understand why Soo Ji threw such a damn fit at the idea of Eun Joo and Chang Sup dating but I guess we're supposed to think that Soo Ji liked him and is pissed that he's dating Eun Joo. I wonder if the whole storyline is going towards Eun Joo having a makeover cause it's obvious that though Chang Sup likes her that he's also low key embarrassed of her and obviously his mom is against the whole thing.
Find Me In Your Memory (12/32): The story revolves around a man with hyperthymesia, a condition that gives people the ability to remember an abnormally vast amount of their life experiences in vivid detail, and a woman who has forgotten the most important moments of her life. The two people with similar scars fatefully cross paths one day and come to love each other. Jeong Hoon is an anchor of a news show which has the highest ratings. Jeong Hoon’s handsome face and perfect body figure make him look good in a suit. Unlike his gentle appearances, he becomes a tyrant all of a sudden and starts asking aggressive questions to whoever it is. Because of hyperthymesia, he remembers every single thing happening in 365 days a year ever since his childhood. He can’t forget the memory of the woman he loved, Seo Yeon, who disappeared 8 years ago. A rising star who attracts everyone’s attention, Ha Jin, appears in front of Jeong Hoon at that moment. Despite all the attention, Ha Jin doesn’t waver and keeps her confidence. However, she has a secret that her memory is fading away. The man who cannot forget and the woman whose memory is fading away. Will they be able to overcome their difficulties, understand each other, and fall in love at the end?
It's been such a long time since I've fallen in love with a couple like I have with Jung Hoon and Ha Jin. They just have this magic between them that makes me feel like "oh! of course these two belong together!" Part of it is how this drama feels so soft and cozy with low stakes so the focus can be on our main characters and seeing them interact and the other part is just how good the two are as people let alone together. Ha Jin just lights up a room and every time I see her and how she's breaking down Jung Hoon's walls I can't help but smile. Jung Hoon is a little harder to read cause he's a low key tsundere in that he'll say one thing and do the complete opposite so when he grouches around about how he doesn't like Ha Jin but then lights up when she smiles, it's everything. It really surprised me that Ha Jin found out about Jung Hoon's memory this week cause I really did think the show was going to drag it out but I suppose the bigger secret is Seo Yeon so there's still plenty of drama to be had. I'm of the thought that Jung Hoon is into Ha Jin already but he's fighting it cause he's worried about hurting Ha Jin and Tae Eun seemed to reinforce that but honestly I think the characters in this show should give Ha Jin a little more credit. Yes she couldn't handle Seo Yeon's death back then but she's grown since that time and I have a feeling that with Jung Hoon by her side, she'd be able to move on. I am also glad that Ha Jin's stalker isn't the same person that stalked Seo Yeon cause that would have been a step too far in terms of connivence but I keep going back and forth about whether the stalker is Ha Jin's manager cause it just feels too easy for the show to be like hey look at this dude being sketchy and then it ends up being him. The worst part about this episode was definitely what happened with Jung Hoon's mom cause the minute she appeared and was so sweet, my drama senses started tingling and I knew something was wrong.
FINISHED Heartstrings (15/15): Lee Shin is a university student majoring in modern music. He is the vocalist of band "The Stupid" and also plays the guitar. He is known for his good looks and his strong passion for music, but is in reality a cold person who is uninterested in non-music related things and has no dreams nor plans for the future. Shin initially likes a dance professor at his university, but this all changes when he meets Lee Kyu Won. Lee Kyu Won is a bright and outgoing student who was born into a prestigious family and is majoring in traditional Korean instruments, especially the gayageum. Kyu Won's grandfather, Lee Dong Gun, is one of the top 3 traditional musicians of his age, and his biggest wish is to have his grand-daughter trained to become a traditional music prodigy in 10 years' time. Trying to live up to her grandfather's expectations, Kyu Won immerses herself in training and becomes a university student who knows nothing besides traditional music. As Kyu Won's friends are fans of "The Stupid", she was forced to go to the band's concert with them. There she saw Lee Shin performing live, and is immediately captivated by him.
I was in the mood for a musical drama again so I decided to check this one out because it had Park Shin Hye in it and I adore her and seriously guys I fell in love in the first few minutes of this drama! Park Shin Hye shines whenever she gets to play a cheerful upbeat character and it's only when she plays shy and timid like in Flower Boy Next Door that I can't connect with her. Of course Jung Yong Hwa also shined and actually as the show went on he and his beautiful singing voice might have kept me watching! Speaking of, the OST in this show was absolutely incredible and I really loved that the show was set in college rather than high school though I have to admit that there really wasn't much of a difference in either the way the kids were treated or the way they went to school. It felt like the only difference was that they didn't have to wear uniforms and sometimes they drank legally. The whole 100th anniversary musical plot was fine but something about it was just meh to me as more than just the backdrop for this show. Shin and Kyu Won were absolutely adorable and I loved how they went from enemies to friends because of their mutual love of music and that once they started dating, they never once doubted each other and stayed together until the end. I think the fact that there was no real second leads worked in the show's favor though I do think their breakup at the end was kinda lame and felt like it was only there to get our couple to break up so that they could get back together after a time skip like a lot of these older dramas like to do. It was also a little sad that Kyu Won ended up giving up the gayageum when she had loved it so much cause it didn't feel like this show was building to her becoming an idol instead. Overall though I did really love this show and I'd give it a 9.5 / 10!
Hospital Playlist Season 1 (4/12): A drama depicting the stories of people going through their days that seemingly ordinary but actually special, at the hospital, a place known as the microcosm of life - where someone is being born and someone's life meets their ending. The five doctors are long time friends of 20 years who started their undergrad in 1999 in the same medical school, and now they are colleagues in the same hospital. The drama will also deal with a story of a band formed by the group of doctors.
I'm starting to realize this is one of those types of shows where nothing that happens is really that big of a deal so even if something crazy happens at the end of an episode, it's really just meant to be a cliffhanger rather than the beginning of something. I was worried about Ik Jun last week but we find out that not only is Ik Sun perfectly fine but his divorce proceedings have already happened and he's happy enough to be a single father. Shouldn't his marriage breaking apart have a bigger impact?? I do like the idea of Jun Wan and Ik Sun though and I suppose now I really should let go of the idea that two of the friends will end up together cause it's how I've been programed to see in a group like this but everyone is getting paired off except for Ik Jun and Seok Hyung. I still can't find myself caring about Gyeo Wool and part of me wonders if she'll actually end up with Ik Jun instead cause she's spending all her time with him rather than Jung Won. The focus this week was on Seok Hyung and I low key love that we're basically the medical students on their rotations through the hospital cause every time we switch to a new lead, we see them there too learning about the doctor in charge and the department in general. Anyway the focus on Seok Hyung was a mixed bag for me cause I don't actually care that much about him in particular as a character but I was really interested in the OBGYN department and the cases we saw there. I mean don't get me wrong his backstory was awful with his little sister dying and his father having an affair and his mother having a stroke but low key I kept expecting the big twist to be that the VIP upstairs was his father with his second family cause it was weird that he seemed to hate them so much and I suppose it's still possible but I think the big twist is the reveal that the VIP son isn't giving his liver away. In terms of the cases of the week, I really liked the one with the baby without a brain and how heartbreaking it was and how sweet Seok Hyung was about the whole thing.
Memorist (8/16): Dong Baek has an extraordinary ability. He can peer into the memories of whoever he touches. With his supernatural power, get it done attitude, and eye-pleasing looks, he is fervently revered worldwide as a superstar detective. However, when his punches meet with suspects before words, he can be a bit of a headache to his comrades. Starting from the age of twenty, Han Sun Mi is the youngest to have passed the bar exam, obtain a doctorate in criminal psychology, and become a senior superintendent in the police force. Having solved five cold cases that even a detective with supernatural powers couldn't do, she is a genius profiler. She has a secret that drives her to do what she does. These two highly-skilled professionals meet their match—a serial killer with abilities that transcend theirs combined. It's going to be a fight worth watching.
Raise your hand if you're also completely confused about what's happening! I had a feeling that things were going too easily for our crew because they managed to figure out who the killer was waaay too early in the season and so I high key loved the twist at the end. The thing is though that I can't decide if we're supposed to believe that there's two sets of killers out there with one team being Min Jae Gyu aka The Executioner and Sang Ha's husband who's the accomplice and the other being The Eraser aka the one who has the actual supernatural powers and wears the black mask or if we're supposed to believe that we had the wrong suspect from the start and the Eraser is the same as The Executioner. It's totally possible that Sun Mi's dad was one of the Executioner's victims while Baek's mom was killed by the Eraser which is why he can't remember anything about that time but killing the cult leader fits The Executioner's MO more than The Eraser's so that's why I can't help but lean towards the idea that there's only one killer. Jae Gyu became a totally different person at the end and once again I'm left to wonder if The Eraser was somehow controlling him and replacing memories so that he was the perfect red herring. I still think the Deputy Chief is sketchy but mostly cause though he does the right thing, he always does it in the weirdest way. In other news we did lose one of our major antagonists this week when Jo died but we also randomly met a NIS agent making me wonder if she'll become our trump card when we're the most desperate. As a sidebar, why do we think Baek never wanted to become a NIS agent when he could maybe help more as an agent rather than a cop?
Meow, The Secret Boy/Welcome (8/32): A graphic designer in her mid-twenties, Sol Ah harbors dreams of becoming a web-based comic author and has always had a love-hate relationship with cats. But Sol Ah’s life changes fast when she brings home a friendly feline. It turns out, however, that this is not any old cat. Named Hong Jo, he can take human form. Hong Jo becomes exceptionally fond of So Ah, and goes to great pains to hide his human identity from her. He soon proves that he will do anything that is required in order to stay near her. Will Hong Jo manage to keep his identity a secret? And what could be in store for this remarkable feline-human duo as their relationship deepens?
I can't help but feel like we're flying through so much plot and we're only just starting out which makes me wonder where this show will go. I am struggling a bit with the idea of this show and the romance that's supposed to form between them. Like I totally think they have chemistry and everything but like it's just weird that a cat is supposed to fall in love with a human. On top of that I really just loved the storyline this week where Sol Ah realized that she loved her cat and wanted to keep it and it's like I high key wish this show was about Sol Ah adopting a cat with her neighbor Hong Jo and they fall in love while taking care of the cat. On another note I called it right last week that Sol Ah would think that Hong Jo in his human form is Gook Bong but what I didn't see coming was that the real Gook Bong would come back to Korea so soon! I mean it's possible that Hong Jo tells Gook Bong the truth and Gook Bong allows Hong Jo to stay and pretends to be "Gook Bong's" friend for Sol Ah because if that doesn't happen then Hong Jo can't come around as a human anymore cause everyone will think that he's some random creeper. It also doesn't help that everyone around her knows that Hong Jo is Gook Bong so it's not even a case of Sol Ah could tell the others that he's a different friend when the truth comes out. In other news we also learned about what happened with Jae Sun and Sol Ah and as it turned out I blame Jae Sun for what happened completely. Like I get that he has abandonment issues but like what kind of person doesn't even bother asking the woman they like about whether or not she did what he thought she did. And to make it worse are we supposed to think that Sol Ah's red scarf is a one-of-a-kind that no one else in Korea has cause otherwise why would Jae Sun assume it had to have been Sol Ah and no one else who abandoned the cat?
FINISHED Riders: Catch Tomorrow (12/12): Cha Ki Joon is a well-educated young man who begins his career in an enviable entry-level job at a large corporation. But he is not happy with his life. On a whim, Ki Joon decides to quit his job and start up a new business with his two childhood friends, Kang Yoon Jae and Kim Joon Wook. So Dam has been working lots of different part-time jobs while trying to make it as an illustrator. Tae Ra is a former cycling athlete who decides to go in with Ki Joon on his new business idea – because it’s a company that will make rickshaws, of all things. As the three friends deal with the real world, changing friendships and budding relationships, can their crazy business possibly succeed?
I'm not exactly sure why I decided to check this drama out other than maybe I was in the mood for something light and that's exactly what this drama was! Ironically it felt the closest to A Gentleman's Dignity of all the shows I attempted to watch to find something similar but since this was a shorter show, I didn't attach myself to the characters as much as I could have not to mention the fact that the romance that I was most interested wasn't the one that got the most screen time! Having said that I did really like the friendship between the guys in this show and you know I'm always a sucker for cohabitation antics regardless of whether it's romantic or platonic. I did find myself uninterested in Ki Joon and So Dam's relationship though it was super funny to see Ki Joon think that So Dam might be interested in Yoon Jae and everything that followed. His mother was an absolute nightmare who had no problems destroying the lives of everyone around him just because she didn't think that Ki Joon was smart enough to make his own damn decisions and it irritated me how the show tried to fix that all in the end by her being impressed by his ride share app. Joon Wook and Eun Joo were also low key boring to watch cause Eun Joo spent her whole time going back and forth between two men and honestly I was glad that they ended the show broken up cause he deserved better than her materialistic ass! My favorite romance as I mentioned up top was the one between Yoon Jae and Tae Ra and I adored how adult they were about it! Tae Ra was just such a cutie and I loved watching Yoon Jae be jealous before he even knew what his feelings were! Overall I'd give this show a 8.5 / 10 cause it was a cute fluffy show!
Rugal (2/16): Kang Ki Beom is an elite police officer whose attempt to bring down Argos, a nationwide criminal organization, results in a group of masked assailants from Argos killing his beloved wife and child and cutting out both of his eyes. Kang wakes up in a hospital only to find himself accused of murdering his family members. The NIS then approaches him with an offer to become a member of Rugal, a special team organized by the NIS. He receives two artificial eyes with Rugal's biotechnology built into them and with them gains unique new abilities with which to take down criminal organizations. Kang Ki Beom and Rugal set out on a mission to wipe out Argos.
I obviously went into this drama for Choi Jin Hyuk and the fact that I do love crime dramas though I was a little worried that I might be burnt out on them after these past two drama seasons releasing so many but this show ended up being nothing like I expected it to be and I'm honestly so so relieved cause after so many cut-and-paste crime dramas recently, this one feels so fresh! It's all very Mission Impossible mixed with a little con artist flavor that I adore and honestly guys I can watch Choi Jin Hyuk be sexy as hell in training outfits all day. But seriously, I really do love the vibe of this show and how one of it's major highlights is the action and fight choreography. We started out the same as most crime dramas with the Big Bad murdering the main character's wife but we don't seem to be focusing on his emotional pain as much as other recent dramas like Tell Me What You Saw did. Ki Beom still feels like a fun guy to be around and finds joy in missions and in teasing his crew rather than brooding in a corner. Speaking of, one of the highlights of these types of revenge shows is the squad that works with the main character and I love that we didn't have to wait to find out what their beef with Argos was or how they were upgraded. Tae Woong's sister was killed and he got an artifical arm, Mi Na's colleagues were murdered and now she has a brain in her chip, and Gwang Cheol lost all his internal organs cause he targeted Argos by mistake so he has artificial ones. In terms of villains, Deuk Goo is totally terrifying already and in the span of one episode he basically took over Argos from the real leader and crowned himself but I'm not sure what to make of his relationship with Ye Won cause it feels like they truly hate each other to the depths of their souls and at first I thought maybe they had dated only for her to dump him for Argos's leader but that doesn't seem to be true so idk. It also high key sucks that Tae Woong already knows everything about Ki Beom being alive and Rugal having this high tech cause it feels like the good guys are one step behind already and we haven't even started the fight yet!
xoxo Allie
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