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 (16/24): 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.
I'm high key so proud of myself for having guessed everything last week. Everyone was dead in the original timeline but Lee Shin saved them in her last reset in order to use them for the current one and this is all connected to her daughter who's sick. The thing I don't get is how the deaths relate to her daughter. She claims she wants to see if these people can fight fate but she's already proved that she can stop their deaths so what can she figure out in this current timeline? And how does that help her daughter? None of them are connected to her daughter's illness and something like an illness can't be fixed with fate. We lost Se Rin and Jung Tae this week and I'm low key worried that it was Sun Ho who did both. Like what if he's on Jae Young's father's payroll (killing two people who messed with the ministry appointment) and the reason he died in the timeline before our current reset was Lee Shin's way of saving Se Rin and Jung Tae and even Hyung Joo cause maybe after losing his mentor, Hyung Joo became a recluse and avoided the situation that would have killed him. It's also possible that I'm totally wrong and he's only just on Lee Shin's payroll cause as Ga Hyun figured out this week, the only way for Lee Shin to have known how each of the resetters died is if someone had an in at the police station. Either way he's sending up red flags for me! I'm also really curious how Jung Tae had the files of Min Ho being bullied and whether what he sent to Hyung Joo had to do with Jae Young and the other kids he bullied (as Jung Tae threatened to do) or if it has something to do with Lee Shin. We've got two weeks left of this show and I can't wait to see what this show throws at me next!
A Piece Of Your Mind (8/12): 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.
Things are starting to move a little faster between Seo Woo and Ha Won though if you're asking me, it's still not fast enough! Having said that I'm feeling all the butterflies Seo Woo is when Ha Won holds her hand or asks her to stay around him! He's just so smooth for a man who's never dated before! But seriously guys I love the way they are together and how happy they are even just looking at each other. It's also so cute that they only sleep well when they're near each other but neither of the two blockheads realized for almost 2 whole episodes that it was each other that helped them feel safe not the house or the blankets. He's helped her be able to move past her parents' death and she's helped him move on from Ji Soo. I do have to say that I awkwardly keep waiting for the other shoe to drop just like Seo Woo but rather than with Ha Won, I'm sure it'll happen with In Wook. I thought that after Ha Won deleted Ji Soo's voice files from his computer that would be the end of the Ji Soo AI but as it turns out, he still kept a copy in his house next to the Ha Won copy and I'm just waiting for Seo Woo to accidentally turn it on around In Wook and have him have a meltdown cause the man is like one step away from one constantly. I'm hoping that Seo Woo accidentally grabbed the Ha Won one but in order for the drama to happen, it'll probs be Ji Soo. I'm also really not a fan of anything that's been happening with Soon Ho tbh and I really don't care about her crush on In Wook. In other news the breakup with Eun Joo and Chang Sup was actually a good thing cause I do think that he treated her terribly and she deserved better. What I was surprised about was the fact that the woman I thought was Chang Sup's mom actually was just some random woman who knew Eun Joo in the past so thankfully we don't have any in-law problems! Her story is absolutely heartbreaking of course but it's crazy how intertwined everyone's lives are cause she's a patient of Ha Won's basically but living with Seo Woo.
Find Me In Your Memory (18/32): 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. Jung Hoon is an anchor of a news show which has the highest ratings. Jung 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 Jung 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?
We only got two episodes this week instead of the normal four because of scheduling conflicts in Korea which high key sucks cause you all know that this is one of the three shows this season (alongside 365: Repeat The Year and A Piece Of Your Mind) that I'm constantly looking forward to especially since the cliffhanger this week was absolutely crazy! Ha Jin finally reported the stalker to the police this week and Reporter Park turned himself in for getting paid to send Ha Jin's photos to her stalker though they left out the threatening letters to Jung Hoon cause it would have been useless in terms of evidence anyway. The show is still focusing on either Chul or Director Ji as the best candidates for the stalker but I can't decide if it'll end up being one of them or if they're just red herrings. We do know that the stalker is someone who knew Ha Jin before her debut which makes me think that it might not be either of them and actually someone from Ha Jin's past that she's forgotten and now that she's slowly remembering it that she'll remember who the stalker is too. Some people think it might end up being Tae Eun but honestly I super doubt that cause he's never actually sent up red flags for me cause he's just so sweet of a friend to Jung Hoon. I did like that this week Jung Hoon finally made the decision to try to be happy and let go of Seo Yeon cause despite what Seo Yeon's stalker thought Seo Yeon, if she was looking down on them, would want Jung Hoon to be happy and if it was with her best friend that would be even better. His mother's letter almost made me cry and it was exactly the push he needed to call Ha Jin. I'm totally excited to see where this show goes next cause I have a feeling that now that Jung Hoon is ready to be with Ha Jin, she's going to remember Seo Yeon and push Jung Hoon away and it's going to be totally heartbreaking!
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.
We're now halfway through the first season of this show and this whole slice of life thing is really working for me. I'm not exactly emotionally attached to this show like some of the others this season but I do love how lighthearted it feels and how it's like we're actually popping in and out of other people's lives rather than believing that nothing happens unless we're watching. There were so many great moments this week that I don't know which to pick. When Song Hwa told the others about her lump, I loved seeing how worried all the friends were and how much they love her. It was super sweet that Ik Jun went with her to get the results and that all the friends showed up as soon as they got to the hospital to find out how she was. Honestly though it was a little surprising cause I totally did expect all of them to be in the waiting room with her but the fact that it was only Ik Jun alongside the flashback that showed that he was into Song Hwa back then too brings me back to wondering if the show wants to pair up Song Hwa and Ik Jun. This low key sucks cause last week I was finally moving past the idea that one of the four guys would end up with her like in the Reply series and I'm honestly not thrilled with the idea of this pair cause I've been adoring Ik Jun and Ah Ra together. The other amazing moment was when Ik Sun finally agreed to date Jun Wan and it was absolutely adorable how much he freaked out in excitement. I am worried about that golfing trip he took with that sketchy doctor though and the preview for next week really makes me think that it might be bad. I also low key didn't realize that Min Ha and Gyeo Wool became best friends after all those meetings to learn about their bosses but it was super sweet when Min Ha stayed up all night watching over Gyeo Wool when she got sick.
FINISHED Mary Stayed Out All Night/Marry Me Mary (16/16): Wi Mae Ri is the cheerful, pragmatic daughter of a failed businessman who had grown used to being constantly on the move to escape from debtors. She becomes fast friends with the free-spirited indie singer, Kang Moo Kyul, when she nearly ran him over in a car. Meanwhile, her father, Wi Dae Han, is saved from his debtors by his old friend, Jung Suk, who had just returned from considerable success in the Japanese entertainment industry. Jung Suk, who had harboured a secret love for Mae Ri's mother, sets up a deal with Dae Han to have Mae Ri marry his son, Jung In. In a desperate attempt to escape this predicament, Mae Ri begs Moo Kyul to pose as her husband, and finds herself in even more trouble than before when her father proposes a 100-day period in which she has to divide her time equally between Moo Kyul and Jung In, after which she has to decide who to marry.
This has been on my to be watched list ever since I got into dramas cause I've heard that it's one of the few that are is a staple if you watch kdramas and I finally got around to it but I'm so mixed about what I feel. I absolutely loved the first half of this drama and if it had ended there I would have been screaming about this is one of my fav dramas of all time but as the show went on, I started to get more and more tired. It wasn't even the parents that bugged me cause I sort of expected backlash from them since that was the show's concept. It was Mae Ri herself that started to drive me crazy. Look here's the thing. I did adore her overall character and I think she was absolutely cute as a button and her chemistry with Moo Kyul was off the charts but there's a point where you've gotta grow a damn backbone and put your foot down. I'm serious. I understand the whole filial piety thing to a degree but forging marriage licenses without your permission, and kidnapping your boyfriend is too far not to mention how much slack she gave Jung In even after she and Moo Kyul started dating. I mean can you even imagine if the roles were reversed and Moo Kyul was the one to tell Mae Ri that he'd be spending half his nights with another woman? Ugh. Moo Kyul was a saint for not having run for the hills ages ago! Having said that every single moment that Moo Kyul and Mae Ri were together more than made up for any struggles I had. I loved that she picked the poor guy over the rich one. I loved that they had so much in common with missing one parent and having a crazy one for their living parent but that it shaped them in different ways. Moo Kyul was able to finally have a family with her and he gave her the freedom and ability to dream that she craved. I loved that they didn't shy away from touching each other (and I don't mean kisses but simple things like holding hands or putting an arm around the other) and it was so romantic that they wrote a song together! I really struggled to rate this cause like I said Mae Ri and Moo Kyul were much too good together to not want to rate this show high but I also can't ignore how pissed I was with Mae Ri in the final third of this show so in the end I guess I'd give it a 7.5 / 10!
Memorist (12/16): 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.
For some odd reason this show is obsessed with the idea that Baek might not be the good guy that he claims he is. For so many episodes at the start of the show we had to watch Sun Mi be suspicious of Baek and now we're really supposed to believe that Baek might have been the Eraser all along? Oh please. It's totally possible that Baek was in the warehouse with Deputy Chief Lee as another one of The Eraser's victims but I highly doubt that he's been the one murdering people especially since we actually saw him fight the guy who shot Jae Gyu and we saw someone kidnap the firefighter while Baek was elsewhere. I knew from almost the start that Lee was not the Eraser though cause his body build wasn't the same as the Eraser's and the more I watch of this show the more I wonder if maybe the Eraser is a woman after all. The person on the roof was thin and the voice modulator they were using seemed to be going back and forth between a woman's and a man's and if The Eraser was a man, why bother throwing in a female voice to confuse the others? It's not like Baek or Sun Mi think that a woman is the Eraser so who cares? I also don't love that we're two weeks from the finale and we still don't know anything about what's going on since the theory that we came up with this week might not even make sense anymore with Moon not being the Eraser. It's totally possible that he's pretending to throw Baek and Sun Mi off cause I do like the idea that The Eraser is after everyone who hurt his brother. The seven kids that beat him to death, the cop and medical examiner that covered it up not to mention everyone in the police force or politicians or reporters that hid the big murder spree.
Meow, The Secret Boy/Welcome (16/24): 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?
This week's episodes made me all itchy with anticipation cause all I wanted was for Hong Jo to tell Sol Ah the truth about who he was! I don't mind that he's a cat and she's a human. I don't like the lying and just when he was about to, he gets terrible news about why he shouldn't and then Jae Sun is adding onto that and so he's still lying! That's why I'm super looking forward to next week cause it looks like the truth finally comes out! What's super sucky though is how Jae Sun is starting to go from a sweet guy to the second male lead who tries to control the female lead and forbids the male lead from being around her. It's none of his business whether Hong Jo tells Sol Ah about who he is or if she chooses to be with him despite that or if she turns him away! Despite that his exasperation with Hong Jo was everything this week like when he was annoyed that Hong Jo wasn't working only to lure in female customers with his cuteness to when he was annoyed that Hong Jo was treating his whole house as a cat tower. Jae Sun is honestly such a tsundere though in the cutest way cause he talks all about how he doesn't like Hong Jo but he was the one to run around looking for him when Hong Jo was catnapped and then tried to build him a cat tower for fun. I am worried though about this idea that Hong Jo is going to age faster than Sol Ah and it's especially weird that the show is making it seem like cats live for 1 year when they live for around 16 so it's not like Hong Jo is going to turn into a grandfather in the next few months! I thought that maybe there would be some sort of "true love's first kiss" magic that would change Hong Jo into a human but Sol Ah and Hong Jo already had their first kiss and nothing happened. I can't imagine this show is going to end tragically based on the tone of this show so far so there's gotta be a magical deus ex machina incoming!
FINISHED My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho (16/16): Cha Dae Woong is a carefree university student who dreams of becoming a famous actor. He is an orphan whose wealthy grandfather Cha Poong and aunt Cha Min Sook take care of him. However, Dae Woong and his grandfather always bicker because of Dae Woong's careless spending and career choice. One day, while running away from his angry grandfather, Dae Woong visits a temple and accidentally sets free a Gumiho, nine-tailed fox, who was trapped in a painting for about 500 years. Dae Woong, who was frightened and trying to run away, severely injured himself, but the Gumiho, who took the form of a beautiful woman, saved him. In exchange, the Gumiho then asked him to help her become human and teach her how to act like one. As time goes by, their mutual relationship grew deeper as they start to fall for each other.
I started this drama cause I adore both Lee Seung Gi and Shin Min Ah so I was interested to see a show with the two of them together. It reminded me a lot of Legend Of The Blue Sea cause they had a lot of similarities especially with the overall story of a magical creature falling in love with a human so they follow the human around and then they fall in love. If I'm being honest though, I do think Legend Of The Blue Sea was a lot better done because something about this show I just couldn't connect to. Maybe it's cause everything was so lighthearted and played for laughs that I just watched this lightly without attaching myself to it. I did love Dae Woong as a character though he played tsundere for a lot longer than I expected him to but he was of course the kind of cold male lead I adored where he said something mean but not only did he never actually do anything mean but actually he did sweet things for the female lead behind her back and was very kind. Mi Ho was absolutely adorable as the female lead and Min Ah played her to perfection. I could totally believe that people were falling for her left and right. I think the two had tons of chemistry together but I think my struggle was that I low key wished that she would have gotten with the second male lead cause their story interested me more despite him not being the nicest guy. The more I watch older kdramas the more I find myself struggling to not only enjoy them but not to have SLS and it makes me wonder what it is about them that does that for me. The other struggle with this show was the fact that other than the male and female lead and perhaps sometimes the second male lead, none of the other characters were anything to write home about. They were either there as comedic extras or bitchy girls and it was like does every girl in this show need to be a bad person?? On another note, the happy ending with Dae Woong and Mi Ho being together after she became human was great though part of me thought a tragic ending would have been totally interesting and would have reinforced the whole Little Mermaid parallels. Overall I'd give this show a 8 / 10 cause like I said up top, it's fun when you want something that you don't really have to think about.
Rugal (6/16): 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 think what's the weirdest thing about this show is that I have no idea what Argos wants and they're supposed to be our Big Bad. In most shows an evil corporation has some sort of endgame but in this show other than gaining power then what? What does Ye Won want and what does Deuk Goo want? Between the two of them, almost every Argos head is dead and now there's only 1 left besides them and after Mi Joo threatened Ye Won, I'm sure she's not long for this world. On that note, I don't know why Ye Won or Deuk Goo haven't killed each other yet. They keep acting like it's oh so hard to get rid of each other but it's like dude one bullet to the brain will be enough. In that same vein I also don't love the idea that Deuk Goo was shot and poisoned with a deadly concoction but next week he's going to be up and running like nothing happened. I would feel a little less annoyed if we knew that Deuk Goo's scientist was even half as good as our Chief Oh but at least we learned that they're both on the same path cause they both worked on the same project back in the day which is how Deuk Goo is after the same tech that Rugal has. I'm curious though about what Deuk Goo did to Min Joon cause he didn't turn him into a super soldier but is there tech out there that can mind control people? We also a learned a little more about Tae Woong's backstory which was super sad and I'm low key impressed that he doesn't hold Ki Beom responsible for his sister too. On that note, we also found out that Ki Beom's eyes have a sentience of their own which is what I was worried about last week but as long as the eyes aren't like somehow connected to Argos, I'm sure that Ki Beom can handle it. As a sidebar I also want to shout out Bradley who is the best! The way he fanboys over Ki Beom is everything!
xoxo Allie
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