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 (12/24): 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.
We're about halfway through this drama already and I seriously wish people would stop sleeping on it cause I need more people to understand what an incredible thriller this show is! Every week I find myself thinking one thing only to be disproved only to return back to that thought in the next second! The cliffhanger we ended on this week has got me in a tailspin cause I have literally no idea what that means! Here's my theory based on what I know so far. Lee Shin's daughter is sick and dies around the same time as the reset in January of 2020 so after it happens Lee Shin goes back in time to January 2019 in order to relive this final year with her daughter repeatedly. If the daughter dies in an accident maybe the resets are there to save her. In the original timeline all of our main characters have died in various ways but because of Lee Shin's reset she might have interfered in their accidents so as to keep them alive until January 2020 at which time she could reset with them. That's why all these deaths though predictable are still accidents and not murders but what I don't understand is why Lee Shin took all of them with her. Is the reset dangerous if it's only one person? And who's the one collecting trophies? Where did this technology come from? Why can we only go back one year? It's now October of 2019 in our show and I can't imagine where this show goes now! Lee Shin obviously picked the crew she did cause she knew that they would all die without interference and therefore take the secret of the reset to their literal graves but like if she explains everything now and warns them of what's going on, the remaining few wouldn't do anything other than try to prevent their accidents. It's not like Lee Shin can be arrested for anything and no one would believe the idea of time travel!
A Piece Of Your Mind (6/12): 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.
Before I start the review this week, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that this show is getting four episodes cut from it's season due to poor ratings so instead of 16 episodes, we'll only be getting 12 which makes this week the halfway point. I'm low key pissed about this cause I have really been enjoying this show and the fact that the show has just started to get interesting and now I'm worried everything will be rushed in order to wrap up the story. I do suppose this episode cut might play a role in why this will be the last week Ha Won pines for Ji Soo cause as interesting as that storyline was, it was starting to get the slightest bit tedious so in the end I'm not annoyed about that. It's funny though cause I really thought last week that Ha Won was the stalker-y one but it was In Wook that took the cake this week with his possessiveness over Ji Soo. Like I understood when he was worried that Ji Soo was contacting Ha Won but when he realized that it was Seo Woo whose number Ji Soo had, he was still furious. Like dude what Ji Soo can't make any new friends?? Can she only spend time with you? I also want to add that I'm not loving the way Soon Ho has been chasing him around and at first I thought it might be a crush but as we learned more about her and her trauma it does feel like it's just as simple as wanting the studio to do well but if that's the case, it's still too much. I also don't know why In Wook won't tell people that his wife died cause then they'd give him a lot more slack but I have a feeling that he feels like the minute he says that she'll really be gone in his mind. I did love the beautiful send off Ha Won gave her and how he deleted all his files on her cause like I said it was time for him to move on and I love that he's realizing that Seo Woo might be exactly what he needs to do so cause he's already thinking about her so much. When she didn't call him, and when she wasn't around, he was worried. It's also interesting to note that I think we met the second male lead this week too with that medical student who's living in the house cause he seemed to know Seo Woo.
Find Me In Your Memory (16/32): 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?
This week hit the halfway mark for this show and I'm honestly so amped to figure out what's going on. There's something strange about this stalker cause it's like one thing to be in love with a celebrity and be pissed that the celeb is dating someone and send them threatening letters but it's straight up a whole different thing to pay a reporter to take pics, sneak into their house like a damn ninja, do a background check on the boyfriend and contact a previous stalker. I mean what kind of stalker does that?? I really hope that Jeong Hoon follows through on his threat and gets Reporter Park fired cause damn if he wasn't breaking so many rules! It's one thing to be an entertainer reporter or a paparazzi but it's a completely different thing to sell celeb photos to someone you know is a stalker! It's also really weird that Ha Jin won't contact the police about this cause once again it might not have been a big deal when threatening letters were sent but now this person is sneaking into Ha Jin's house and attempting to attack her. I also wonder why Ha Jin's stalker contacted Seo Yeon's stalker like they did cause it's obvious that Ha Jin's stalker is hoping that he'll help get rid of Jeong Hoon but it's not like Seo Yeon's stalker will ever get out of prison to do so. In fact calling Jeong Hoon to warn him sees counterproductive! In other news everything with Jeong Hoon's mom was totally heartbreaking but I love that it ended with Tae Eun deciding to just be Jeong Hoon's friend from now on and not also his doctor. His father is all sorts of messed up though and he makes my blood boil every time he's on screen. I'm also super into this romance that's being set up between Ha Kyung and Il Kwon.
Hospital Playlist Season 1 (5/12): 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 guess we're actually done moving from doctor to doctor and from department to department since we spent the same amount of time with all our main characters this week though I don't think we actually got a Jun-Wan centric episode so I'm wondering if maybe the show wants to change up the show's recipe and wait a bit before doing him. Honestly though I do think that we got a lot of his backstory across all the past five episodes but I still think it would be fair to give him the full airtime too. We sort of settled into the world this week though I do think it was a bit of a more boring episode than the previous weeks though my favorite part of the episode is definitely the Mafia game that the older generation played. It was super sweet that Seuk Hyung's mom enjoyed herself so much and was like I think I'll spend more time with them cause I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I kinda wish we had seen Seuk Hyung tearing up as he talked to his mom on the phone cause I've had a feeling like she's been depressed for a bit so the fact that she could enjoy herself really was a milestone. Of course that all was ruined when the mistress showed up and was like can your mother divorce your father already cause I'm pregnant dudes. At least it was with Seuk Hyung and not his mom and low key I would be like reap what you sowed cause you're the one who decided to date a married man so the fact that you're about to have a kid outside of marriage is your own fault not Seuk Hyung's mom's. We also saw that one of Seuk Hyung's residents has a crush on him and that feels like it straight up came out of nowhere but I'm down. Ik Jun also might be getting a new love interest too out of Go Ah Ra who's playing his ex and I'm over here like yes please and Jun Wan and Ik Sun are chugging along nicely. Chi Yong also confessed his feelings for Song Hwa but she didn't seem all that receptive cause as we found out later one, she found a lump which is totally scary.
Memorist (10/16): 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.
Some of my questions were answered this week and I'm so relieved that we slowed the plot down a little in order to figure them out cause I was so confused at the end of last week! A mystery is only so fun if we get little pieces of info as we chug along otherwise it feels like our leads are just treading water! There were in fact two serial killers out there, one being Jae Gyu who was the Executioner and killed Sun Mi's dad, and this new guy who's the Eraser someone who is probs at least 40 cause he was first active 20 years ago. The reason that Baek's memories were messed with when he touched Jae Gyu was because The Eraser was in the drain under them so he was able to touch Baek and mess him up. I still don't know why he's so interested in Baek and Sun Mi and why he was inactive for almost 20 years and now suddenly feels the need to go on a murder spree or whether he was the one to kill Baek's mom. I do know the show wants us to think that the Deputy Chief is the sketchiest and I totally agree with that cause he is but it also just feels a little too obvious for it to be him. I wondered for a second if it could be Kyung Tan cause he's the one who didn't want to search the drain of Jae Gyu's house when they had that search warrant and it would just be lame if the answer to that was just that Kyung Tan is a bad cop. There's no way he could make it to Team Leader if he wasn't good at his job but at the same time I just love him so much and he was The Eraser, I would be heartbroken. I also really don't understand the point of having so much focus on the media and why we're following that reporter around unless The Eraser is a reporter but if that was the case, then how would he know info that only the police do? It's also not like we need another antagonist when we have plenty!
Meow, The Secret Boy/Welcome (12/24): 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?
Like A Piece Of Your Mind, it turns out that this show too is going to have a shortened season with 24 episodes instead of 32 so we're now halfway through this show but unlike A Piece Of Your Mind, I don't mind this episode cut. I don't think that this show will have any problems with pacing or anything because with the show being a slice-of-life, there's no rush to get anywhere. I also think I've decided what's freaking me out about the romance between our leads. I was thinking about it for a while cause it's like I watch plenty of anime and half the romances in those types of shows are between some sort of magical creature and a human so it's not the whole changing species thing that bothers me. I don't like that Sol Ah has no idea that Hong Jo is both a cat and the guy she's falling for especially after this week when Jae Sun found out the truth and seemed honestly pretty chill about the whole thing. It was absolutely hilarious seeing him struggle to decide how to feel about Hong Jo and their dynamic was everything cause they're both such surly people. I also really expected the real Bang Gook Bong to play a bigger role in this show or to be the reason that Sol Ah found out the truth but Gook Bong left pretty quickly and tbh I'd prefer if Hong Jo was the one to tell her himself. It does feel a bit like Hong Jo has learned to control how and when to change between a cat and a human especially since he's now wearing Sol Ah's ring all the time so that should help a bit. We also met that guy who takes care of abandoned cats again and it feels like he's like Hong Jo in that he's a cat who turns into a human but I wonder if he'll actually end up being an antagonist by kidnapping Hong Jo cause he thinks that Sol Ah is a bad cat owner. In other news I was thrilled when Sol Ah not only found out everything that happened in the past but also that she read Jae Sun for filth cause it was totally true that he was looking for excuses for the relationship not to work. He wanted to abandon Sol Ah before she abandoned him and that's why he's the second male lead cause the male lead would have fought more. It's always better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all right?
FINISHED Obstetrics and Gynecology Doctors (16/16): The drama depicts the difficult decisions and moving human stories that take place daily in the OB-GYN department, focusing in particular on Seo Hye Young, a talented and determined obstetrician who has just transferred from the prestigious Seoul base to the branch hospital. Her straightforward manner of handling her professional life is in contrast with her love life, which is marred by her relationship with a married man. This becomes even more entangled when she meets Lee Sang Shik, the chief of NICU, and her long-time friend Wang Jae Suk also shows his interest.
Well you know the drill by now about how much I love medical dramas so it's not much of a surprise that I decided to watch this drama but I was pretty excited about the fact that this drama was following OBGYNs and pediatricians cause most medical dramas focus on trauma surgeons and ER doctors so when there's a different take on medicine, I'm down. Unfortunately I found myself fairly meh about the whole show in that there's nothing wrong with it or that I hated per say but there was nothing that captured my attention either. It's a good popcorn show in that you can have it on in the background as you do something or when you want to chill without getting too emotionally attached. The best part of this show was ironically the weekly cases rather than the characters themselves which is totally crazy cause usually the cases aren't much more than background stuff in most dramas but in this drama, the show would not feel the same without the cases which made you cry and cheer! I loved that there was no hospital politics in this show and that there was no love triangles or evil characters which made the show feel so refreshing. Snag Shik was the best character in this show cause he was so kind and empathetic though I didn't love how much he meddled in the life of Hye Young cause it was like dude it's not your baby and you're not dating this woman so stop trying to control her life! I suppose it was a little need though cause Hye Young seemed to really just want to pretend like her whole pregnancy didn't exist which bothered me cause it was like girl you need to make a decision at some point about whether or not you want to keep this baby cause it's not something you can keep putting off! The supporting characters were fun too though I really didn't care for the secondary couple. Overall I'd give this drama a 7 / 10.
Rugal (4/16): 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.
We learned so much this week but I'm also so confused about so much! I'm low key worried about whatever is happening with Ki Beom's eyes cause at first I was excited about how it looked like he was able to override the programming that Rugal set up cause it meant that he would no longer be able to be controlled by Choi but as the show went on, I'm starting to worry that it's more like something connected to Deuk Soo cause we don't actually know anything about this tech or why we keep seeing Deuk Soo's watch beep. Deuk Soo seems to want to build super soldiers just like the ones at Rugal and he's getting closer but the fact that he even knows about it and has someone with the ability to do so makes me think he knows more about Rugal and everything than we think. I mean afterall Argos is supposed to have spies everywhere and with Rugal being overseen by the Korean government, is it any surprise if there was a mole? We also learned that Seol Min Joon who was one of the main heads of Argos is actually a Rugal plant but I'm more curious about his relationship with Jang Mi Joo and Ye Won cause he told Ye Won that she always had a home with them and it sounded like she used to be one of his performers. To be honest I don't understand the politics in Argos. Why in the hell does Deuk Soo control everything when he's supposed to be nothing more than a secretary. I mean okay he murders the boss and joins hands with the boss's wife but that doesn't explain why he can threaten the other heads of Argos and why no one can stop him including Ye Won who wants to think that she's in charge but actually has no power even if Seol Min Joon claimed that Ye Won is much scarier than Deuk Soo would know.
FINISHED Stars Falling From The Sky (20/20): The drama draws a love story between two co-workers at an insurance company, with Kim Ji Hoon playing the company's smart as a whip lawyer. Because he carries the hurt of having been abandoned by his birth mother, he doesn't easily open his heart to others. Jin Pal gang is a 25-year-old employee of the company who becomes responsible for her five younger adopted siblings after her parents meet with sudden deaths.
I decided to check this drama out cause I was in the mood for a rom com and though this show started out pretty strong and I was really into it, halfway through it became a mess and then stayed that way until it limped to an end. Seriously I'm not even joking. I only ended up finishing this show just to see how it would end! I loved Pal Gang's character at the start and how she went from this selfish kid who only cared about herself into a woman who would do literally anything to keep her family safe. The family dynamic between the Jin family was definitely the best part of this drama and I loved that though none of them were blood related that they truly saw each other as family and would do anything for each other. I actually cried several times at the start because of this. What didn't work for me though was how as the show went on Pal Gang became this meek wallflower who couldn't stand up for herself and was pulled from one guy to another and all she could do was softly talk about how she wasn't on par with the others. The love triangle was the worst cause it dragged on for way too long and we didn't even get to enjoy Kang Ha and Pal Gang being cute cause they both hid from their feelings from start to finish. Joon Ha was super annoying and seriously felt like he faked all his niceness to the degree that even when Pal Gang was clearly uncomfortable with him, he still kept pushing as though her opinion didn't matter. Actually tbh Kang Ha did this too and it got to a point where I was like Pal Gang is not a toy for the brothers to fight over and she should have an actual say in all this! Jae Young was one of the worst second female leads I've seen with all her blackmail and manipulations and I totally didn't believe her sudden change of heart at the end. Overall this show was a hot mess and I really wouldn't recommend it but I'd give it a 6 / 10.
xoxo Allie
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