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 (12/16): 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.
Okay so low key this is what we should have had from this show at the start! Like I get the idea of Dae Hyun and Saet Byul having a more slow burn romance but in actuality it felt this show made the fatal mistake that Melting Me Softly did and that was spend more time away from our main leads than needed! I mean seriously if we're watching a rom com especially a slice-of-life like this one, the main leads bickering and fighting and acting cute should be the main focus not the second leads! By having Dae Hyun spend most of his time worrying after Yeon Joo, it feels like all of a sudden he's interested in Saet Byul to the degree where they're flirting and he's jealous of her spending time with Ji Wook. When Ji Wook was like don't use Saet Byul to make Yeon Joo jealous, a part of me was like low key that's what it feels like. Just cause Saet Byul drank with him after his breakup he sees her as a woman and not a girl? Having said all that I did enjoy every moment the two spent together and honestly I did feel like they felt really natural together. I was also really surprised that Saet Byul and Ji Wook's photos hadn't been leaked yet but now I think it'll be a scandal for the sister more cause they'll say that Ji Wook and Eun Byul are dating and that's why she debuted which is totally going to suck. It doesn't help that Eun Byul's bullies are running around with terrible photos of her but I can imagine that Saet Byul will end up helping out and saving the day. I also high key loved when Dae Hyun's mom called out Yeon Joo for feeling superior cause after how she and her mom treated Dae Hyun and his family, it was well deserved.
Chip In/United Effort To Accomplish One Thing (4/8): A painter gets diagnosed terminally ill. On his 58th birthday, he plans to share his last will and testament. His great legacy and immense fortune slowly draw out his family's inner greed, causing a fierce mental battle amongst them. There are too many people around him who are only after his legacy; including his ex-wife, Ji Sul Young, who has taken care of him, Kim Ji Hye, a former mistress and mother to his daughter, and Dokko Chul, a son from a different father. They face different outcomes by the different choices they make as their greed overwhelms them. What are the limits of human greed?
I feel like no one's watching this show and that's unfortunate cause I do think it's a really fun murder mystery! I think I've put together the puzzle pieces as best I could though I'm not sure if I'm right or just falling for this show's trap. As it turned out In Ho died cause Ji Hye, Go Cheol, Hae Joon, Jeong Wook, and Park all gave him sleeping pills which he was allergic to and the only one to know that about him was Seol Young which is why I can't decide if it was or wasn't her who sent the letters. Go Cheol ended up being the one to steal the will and I have a feeling that it was Seol Young who found it and allowed Bit Na to find it. I can't imagine that it was Hae Joon who stole it cause he's too smart to have not destroyed it especially after we found out that he was adopted by In Ho so if the will wasn't found he would have gotten 50% of the inheritance. That's probs why he left Bit Na for dead instead of calling the cops cause then he'd get all 100%. At first it looked like it was a man who hit Bit Na but I think it makes more sense if it was Seol Young who did it cause even in Bit Na's nightmare flashbacks it looks like Seol Young was standing over her drowning and if anyone would be pissed about Bit Na's birth it'd be the wife that was cheated on. I also still wonder if she's having an affair with Jeong Wook but I also wonder if she did all this to not only get a larger cut of the will (since now the money can only be split 3 ways instead of 8) but also to write a book based on this murder mystery and make more bank. In the end though my theory is that In Ho wrote those letters thinking that he could find out who was only around him for the money and didn't expect the others to give him sleeping pills. Maybe that's why Bit Na was the only one to not get a letter? He might have trusted her not to be around him for the inheritance like the others.
FINISHED Come! Jang Bo Ri (52/52): “Can a long-lost daughter find happiness when she is reunited with her parents after 20 years?” In a complicated twist, a young woman from a wealthy family goes missing and is raised by a foster mom instead of her own parents. Meanwhile, her wealthy family adopts a girl to overcome the loss of their daughter. The tensions that arise when the daughter finds her real family results in a journey of understanding and forgiveness.
If you've followed me for a while you should know by now that Because Of Meeting You is one of my favorite cdramas of all time which is why I had this drama on my watch list for a while as it's the original version of the story I adored in Because Of Meeting You but I was a little worried going in that my love and clear preference for the cdrama would mar my appreciation for the kdrama. After watching this whole show I do have to admit that yes the cdrama is still my preferred version of the story no matter how much I adore Oh Yeon Seo but I enjoyed the kdrama telling of this story well enough. Not only was the cinematography and the design element more beautiful in the cdrama but I also thought the romance between Guo Guo and Yun Kai was much better done than Bo Ri and Jae Hwa mostly cause the cdrama focused on it a lot more while the kdrama seemed to want to spend more time with the villains. I also preferred the cdrama version of at what point Guo Guo was discovered to be Yi Bai cause it gave us more time too see her happy with her family and happily married before the final confrontation happened. The extra added characters in this kdrama such as Ga Eul and Secretary Kang felt pointless as well though I think the romance between the aunt and the gangster was better in this version. On that note there was a lot that I actually did end up preferring in this version! I liked the emphasis on Bo Ri being a country girl with the whole accent situation and inability to have finished school as well as the fact that we didn't have an arc where her childhood friend came back and pretended to be Eun Bi like in the cdrama. I also think that Min Jung on the whole was the better villain even if she did the same things as Yu Xin only cause Lee Yoo Ri was able to play her like such a psychopath! Overall I'd give this drama a 8.5 / 10 and honestly I'd recommend the cdrama version if you're into this story!
It's Okay To Not Be Okay (12/16): 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.
After last week's traumatic episodes, this week felt like a bit of fresh air cause not only did we see Kang Tae and Moon Young reconcile but we also saw Kang Tae, Moon Young, and Sang Tae become a real family. I spent most of the week grinning from ear to ear cause this was everything I wanted from this show and honestly it makes this review kind of hard to do cause I'm just so content that I don't know if I have anything to say other than excited squealing all over the place. Kang Tae and Moon Young are just so cute together and I love the way they bring out new sides to each other but I adore how Moon Young and Sang Tae are together too. One of my favorite moments this week was when Kang Tae woke up on his day off and was confused as all hell when Moon Young and Sang Tae were off in their own world without him! The kiss Kang Tae and Moon Young shared was leagues better than their first peck cause it was loving and passionate all-in-one!! I was a little worried about where the show might take us in terms of the murder story cause I really didn't want to see another noble idiocy sacrifice breakup but I have a feeling that both Kang Tae and Moon Young are too possessive to ever give up their love for something like that. As it turned out I was right all those weeks ago in guessing that Moon Young's mom killed Kang Tae's mom out of what I'm assuming was a sense of possessiveness though why she would kill the mom and not Kang Tae himself in order to keep Moon Young to herself is up for debate. I still don't know if I believe that Park is the mom or if she's just an obsessive fan but I really just want to see the trio close ranks and be all protective of each other if that woman tries to bother Moon Young or Sang Tae!
We're about halfway through this drama now but I think I'm going to drop it which makes me feel totally bad cause I'm used to watching at least 6 or so dramas at a time and by dropping this drama I'll only really be watching 3! This chunk of dramas really haven't been for me so here's hoping the next cycle of dramas will work better for me! The main reason I'm dropping this drama is cause I'm shipping the wrong couple and I find myself being bored during the actual main couple's romance which I hate in a drama. We're also nowhere closer to finding out the truth about who Ha Nee's father is though I still think it's Dae Oh which is going to be crazy cause it'll make Ae Jung look truly horrible cause if all that stood between them being a happy family was misunderstandings, wow. I already hate in dramas when the women hide the fact that they're pregnant from the boyfriends cause the men deserve to know and if they then back off or run away then it's like well the women did all they could and it's not on them anymore. It was super strange how shocked Ae Jung was that Ha Nee might be looking for her father though cause it's like no matter how happy you are, a part of you will always be wondering! I do have a feeling that Jin knows too and is maybe trying to keep Dae Oh and Ha Nee from finding out cause the way he looked at Dae Oh and Ha Nee together was super sketch. Speaking of Jin, he was going around thinking about how he has the right to ask Dae Oh to back off of Ae Jung just cause he liked her first. I always hate that kind of thinking cause it's like if you couldn't manage to grow a pair and confess, then don't blame someone else from swooping in! I had this thought in Love Alarm and I had it here.
Here's the thing with this drama. I adore family dramas but it's been forever since I watched one cause they're just such a big commitment but after watching My Unfamiliar Family, it got me in the mood again so I dived right in. This one has been on my watch list for a while now cause Park Hyungsik might be my bias and I adore Nam Ji Hyun so I was pretty excited for this one. At first it started exactly the way I wanted it to be with a cute main romance and a fun family dynamic even if some of the characters were problematic but as the show went on, I started to enjoy it less and less. Maybe it's cause I was totally biased in favor of Dal Bong but I seriously hated the way he was treated by the entire family and even Seo Wool. It seemed ridiculous to me that in this family, of all the kids he was the one who cared the most about his dad and other than being a little bratty here and there, he never attacked or made the dad feel horrible like the others but when push came to shove, suddenly everyone was better than him and he was an idiotic troublemaker and nothing more? I could not stand Kang Jae from top to bottom and it really pushed my buttons when he told Dal Bong to grow up and treat the dad better only after he found out about the cancer cause like where was this righteous anger when you decided to dissolve your father/son bond after getting married? Even Seo Wool who I did think was mostly super cute with Dal Bong spent so much of this show managing him and trying to make him into a person she wanted like that's not how relationships work! I hated that she kept the father's cancer secret for so long cause it was totally in Dal Bong's right to know! While I loved Dal Bong and hated Kang Jae, Kang Shim on the other hand was kinda just there as a character but I low key hated her romance cause Tae Joo was a giant whiny baby for this whole show and I did not understand why she fell for him. Kang Jae and Hyo Jin ended up being fairly cute too which really surprised me cause I expected Hyo Jin to be more of a villain or a cause for Kang Jae to regret his choices more. Overall this isn't going to end up being one of my favorite family dramas but it is a fairly good watch so I'd give it a 8.5 / 10.
xoxo Allie
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