What Dramas Am I Watching This Week?

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

Backstreet Rookie (6/16): Jung Saet Byul is a 22-year-old four-dimensional girl with amazing fighting skills who loves her friends, family, and retro fashion. She has the boys lined up but only has one person who keeps her distracted, Choi Dae Hyun. He became imprinted on her as an unforgettable person after a cigarette errand three years ago. Three years later, Jung Saet Byul meets Choi Dae Hyun again at his convenience store that he now manages and becomes a part-time worker. Here, Saet Byul and Dae Hyun’s love story begins as they heal the wounds of the heart, gain love, and become adults dreaming of the future. Their stories unfold into a pleasant comedy within the familiar sensibility of a convenience store.

I really want to say that I'm totally on Saet Byul's side and that Yeon Joo isn't a great person but the fact that Saet Byul is clearly out to steal Dae Hyun away really takes the wind right out of my sails! Like don't get me wrong, there's plenty wrong with Yeon Joo and Dae Hyun's relationship aside from her but I just can't help but feel sorry for Yeon Joo who's a much better person than I first expected her to be. Like if she was out-and-out playing with Dae Hyun and Seung Joon then I'd get it but she seems to be really in love with Dae Hyun and definitely clear about her feelings with Seung Joon. I mean yeah she's embarrassed to be seen with Dae Hyun but I also sympathized with her about constantly seeing Dae Hyun piggyback with Saet Byul especially since she knows that Saet Byul wants him. It's low key fascinating cause in most stories, Saet Byul is usually the evil character who steals Yeon Joo's boyfriend before Yeon Joo finds true love with someone else so if you look at the story from another point of view, Seung Joon might be the male lead swooping in to save the woman he loves. As this show goes on I find myself less and less into Dae Hyun as a character to the degree that I'm even starting to wonder if I find Ji Chang Wook attractive anymore and it's the strangest experience cause I've seen even worse man-baby characters but something about Dae Hyun really rubs me the wrong way. It's possible that cause this show has very little overall plot that with this terrible low brow humor that I focus so hard on the characters and how Dae Hyun is not swoon-worthy or charming as a male lead.

It's Okay To Not Be Okay (6/16): The story of a community health worker at a psychiatric ward who lives on 1.8 million won (approximately $1,520) a month and a storybook writer suffering from an antisocial personality disorder. A man who denies love and a woman who doesn’t know love defy fate and fall in love, finding their souls and identities in the process. Moon Kang Tae is a community health worker at a psychiatric ward who was blessed with everything including a great body, smarts, ability to sympathize with others, patience, ability to react quickly, stamina, and more. Meanwhile, Ko Moon Young is a popular writer of children’s literature, but she is extremely selfish, arrogant, and rude.

I thought I read somewhere that this show wasn't doing all that great in Korea and I'm sitting here like this show is an absolute masterpiece so how is the entire world not obsessed with it?? I do have to admit that I thought there was a little too many hospital scenes in this week's episodes for my taste but, as we all know, this show's strength is with Moon Young and Kang Tae so since we had a bunch of fantastic moments between them, everything is forgiven! I loved the scene that we opened with in the motel cause everyone was that motel clerk eating popcorn and living for their cute banter. I do think Moon Young went a step too far if I'm being honest by basically forcing Kang Tae to live in her house with her when he said no so many times before especially since she manipulated Sang Tae to do so. The only thing that stops me from really being soured by it is the fact that Kang Tae clearly feels something for Moon Young himself and he really only seems to say no cause he thinks he has to in order to take care of Sang Tae. Like he said she makes him forget all about his pain and I'm high key saddened that his friend listened to that and basically told Kang Tae to stay miserable like he is by staying away from her. I'm also fascinated with how territorial Kang Tae got with her editor cause jealously speaks volumes and all that. In other news, I'm still so curious about Moon Young's relationship with her mom cause it really doesn't seem normal but I'm pretty sure that the mom died in some sort of car accident now and that everything we've seen about Moon Young watching her mom die is a metaphor. Maybe Moon Young ran away to see Kang Tae and her mom followed and got hit by a car causing her dad to despise her. It really irritated me when all the hospital employees were like there's no way her dad tried to hurt her as if they know everything and that sometimes parents aren't the good guys!

Men Are Men/To All The Guys Who Loved Me (4/32): This romantic comedy is about a woman who chooses to remain single after getting hurt from past relationships and a man who wants to change his relationship with this woman through love. The story will combine the theme of a past life with realistic topics such as marriage and remaining single.

I wasn't entirely sure how I would feel about this drama cause you all know that I'm not a Hwang Jung Eum acting fan but I love rom coms that have a simple story without a crazy trope attached to it so I jumped in. After checking out the first 4 episodes of this show, I'm not sure how I feel. The comedy is too over-the-top, Hyun Joo is too maniac, and I'm a little worried that I'm going to have SLS cause Seo Ji Hoon is just too cute but I love the concept of Hyun Joo and Ji Woo finding each other in every one of their reincarnated lives and that they've had 4 tragic love stories. It sucks though cause this was the one part of this premiere that really caught my attention so the fact that the show didn't exactly focus on that aspect is low key annoying. I'm also a little annoyed that we've got another rich chaebol and poor girl romance but so far it doesn't seem like the male lead has family so maybe we can skip the evil in-laws story beats. What is important to note is that Ji Woo seems to have something against Hyun Joo but I can't decide what it is. Does he think that she's the reason someone he loved died and is doing all this to get revenge on her or does he remember his past lives like Hyun Joo did when he was young and is doing all this to bring her to his side again? He definitely feels like he's a little jealous of Do Gyum's closeness with Hyun Joo and I feel like remembering his great love would be a good reason for him to not be into dating or other women. If the show wanted to go the getting revenge route I feel like it would have told us this week.

My Unfamiliar Family (10/16): Is blood thicker than water? Kim Eun Hee, is about to find out. She is the middle child in a family that is slowly starting to drift apart. Her older sister is a former patent attorney, and her younger brother is a sensitive soul. And although her father is hard-working, he is often distant – an attitude that has her mother poised to begin a new chapter in her life. While she pines for intimacy, Kim Eun Hee keeps her feelings hidden from her family. Instead, she prefers to confide in her close male college friend Park Chan Hyuk – a man who has become more like a brother to her than any of her real siblings. And it is to him that she turns for love advice as she looks to return to the dating scene after a long absence. But what happens when events take a turn? Could the family pull together in time to weather the storm? And when the going gets tough, will it be Kim Eun Hee’s family or her friends who step up to the plate?

One of these days I'm going to spontaneously combust because of Eun Hee and Chan Hyeok and their neverending slow burn! As I guessed last week, there was no actual kiss and in fact the two went through another break up cycle and I'm just sitting here like Eun Hee have you literally learned nothing from what happened to your parents?? She should have talked to Chan Hyeok about whether he told Seo Young about their texts and she should have said the reason that she jumped to conclusions is cause she doesn't trust herself. It's clear that Eun Hee doesn't believe that she's worth fighting for and it sucks cause Chan Hyeok is so head over heels but he's a coward too. He couldn't even manage to tell her that yeah he liked her too back in the day let alone that he still loves her. At least Eun Hee kept fighting for them this week when I was so afraid that both would back down. I'm also curious about what this big secret is about why he won't drive cause last I remember both his parents are still alive so it can't be that a car killed on of them. Eun Joo's story it feels is just circling the same drain. She refuses to really make a decision about divorcing her husband or telling the others but I did adore every moment of Eun Hee and Eun Joo's sleepover this week and it was high key sweet that she took her husband's side over his mother's. Ji Woo has been forgiven for his transgressions from two weeks ago and I still can't help but feel like he's got the shortest end of the family stick at all times. I have a feeling that the show is trying to set up Ji Woo and Seo Young but I'm still thinking that there's more to his whole girlfriend thing cause it's obvious something is up with that. In terms of the parents, I'm glad they finally cleared the air but I still can't help but feel it's a little too late even if it's cute watching them try to date like 20 year olds.

Was It Love? (2/16): Tells the story of Noh Ae Jung, a movie producer and single mom who has been living on her own for 14 years. Despite having already given up on romance, she suddenly finds herself embarking on an unexpected second chapter of her story when four men walk into her life at the same time. First up is Noh Ae Jung’s ex-boyfriend Oh Dae Oh, a bestselling novelist who is described as a “charming bad boy”. Oh Dae Oh is irresistibly tempting to women, even when they know they should stay away. Secondly is million-dollar smile A-list actor Ryu Jin, who is described as “pitiful” even though he’s “great on paper.” Despite being seemingly perfect in every way, Ryu Jin has a surprisingly different kind of appeal hiding behind his movie-star persona. Next is Oh Yeon Woo who looks cheerful and confident. A physical education teacher who “makes women’s hearts’ flutter” in spite of his young age. His endearingly pure-hearted desire to win Noh Ae Jung’s affection is certain to win viewers over. Last but not least, Koo Pa Do exudes a tough, manly aura as the “scary but sexy” former gangster who has turned over a new leaf and is now a CEO. The flower in his hand hints at the warm heart hiding behind his intimidating exterior. Finally, peeking out from behind Ryu Jin as a A-list actress, Joo Ah Rin, will add another layer of intrigue to this complicated “4-against-1 romance.”

After watching the first two episodes of this show I have to admit that I'm fairly interested in this world. I actually really like that there are 4 men in Ae Jung's life and they all are people who have met her at different points in her life cause it gives our world some depth. It actually reminds me a lot of the Reply shows in that we are introduced to a female lead and several men around her and we're supposed to guess who she ends up with only in this show it's more of a guess about who the baby daddy is. Having said that, of course it's super clear which of the four men Ae Jung is going to end up with and which one was her baby daddy and I'm low key pissed cause of course it had to be the man baby character. Nothing about Dae Oh's character is sexy or swoon-worthy and I'm hoping that I'm just seeing Son Ho Jun as a man baby here just cause the 2 dramas I've seen of him before have been where he played that type of character. What I am curious about is what happened in their past. Both Dae Oh and Ae Jung think that they were dumped and I'm wondering if maybe it's a situation where Ae Jung broke up with him for some reason and he dropped out of college cause he was sad so when she found out she was pregnant and went to look for him, he was gone. That way both could think that the other was the cold one. In terms of the other men in this show, I'm more interested in Pa Do and Yeon Woo cause Pa Do is just fascinating as a loan shark with this heart of gold and Yeon Woo is just an angel so that if this were real life, every girl would be picking him! Ah Rin we haven't seen much of but it does look like he was in college with Ae Jung and Dae Oh and had a crush on Ae Jung but couldn't make a move cause she was dating his friend.

 CDRAMA

FINISHED Fake Princess (27/27): So what if she loves money, don't all mountain bandits love money? For a chest full of gold, the mountain bandit offers herself up to the black-bellied prince thus marking the start to a beautiful romance. Chang Le was once a free and untamable female bandit. However, she becomes a fake bride in marriage to crown prince Li Che. Stepping into the confines of the palace, Chang Le finds it difficult to adjust after being repeatedly humiliated. Despite her situation, she learns to adapt like a feral cat showing her true stripes. Li Che who has traced every step vigilantly finds himself gradually attracted by Chang Le's liveliness. Each wearing a mask to hide their own motives, the two people find comfort in each other.

The finale for this show aired this week and it was a pretty fitting end to this story. The Emperor had made it clear that no matter what the others did, Li Che would be the next Emperor so Heng'er had to take drastic actions. He decided to poison the Emperor and his mom the Empress in order to frame Li Che as the killer so that he could both get rid of Li Che but also to take the throne. Ultimately he was thwarted with the help of Yu Yao's mom, Chang Le, and Chang Le's master and if that's isn't amazing then I don't know what is cause girlpower and all that. These last three episodes literally tossed out plot twists left and right. As it turned out Yu Yao and Chang Le were not only twin sisters but also daughters of the Duan family. Yu Yao's mom helped get Yu Yao out of the Duan home before they were attacked and decided to adopt her after she lost her own child while the master raised Chang Le. It was a little too late for it to matter honestly and in the end the Lius were imprisoned while Heng'er found out that it was his mom who caught him and the woman he loved not Li Che's men. Li Che was too kind by a half when he basically exiled him and his girl so that they could live happy lives as commoners. Chang Le was able to take the Duan name again as Empress and I have a feeling they're probably telling people that she was adopted into the Liu family to be protected but that she was a Duan all the time. Overall I'd give this show a 7 / 10 cause it was nothing to write home about tbh.

xoxo Allie