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
Do You Like Brahms? (8/16): “Do You Like Brahms?” is a drama about students at a prestigious music school and the people in their lives. It will tell the stories of the students experiencing lessons, practicing, performing, and competitions since a very young age along with their parents and teachers who obsess over these processes. Park Joon Young, started playing piano when he was six years old. He won prominent competitions in the country before going on to win competitions across the world. Chae Song Ah, a college senior majoring in violin performance. After graduating previously as a business major, she entered the same university again to go to the music school after four attempts and is seven years older than her classmates.
We're about halfway through this drama now and I have to say between this show and Record Of Youth, I feel like I've really hit my quota of watching quiet/melancholy shows about trying to follow your dreams but falling short!! It's much too much sadness on the same day no matter how much these shows also make my heart melt at the same time!! And melt my heart this show definitely does! I read back my review from last week and despite it low key sounding like I don't approve of their relationship, I do want to make it clear that I really do ship Song Ah and Joon Young! Yes they have problems: Song Ah is a little insecure cause Joon Young is a famous musician while she's barely scraping by and Joon Young really needs to learn to communicate cause he really struggles to allow others in but I think that could be a problem for later. For now I want to bask in how happy I am that the two are finally dating! I love that they're able to be super cute like during their ice cream date but also hot and heavy like when they made-out on the piano. I love that Joon Young only smiles so widely when he's around Song Ah and that they communicate so that misunderstandings don't stand for too long on the whole. I still don't understand what Song Ah's teacher wants from her but I hate that she's taking Song Ah's precious time and not even helping her play better. Meanwhile Joon Young's teacher seems to be jealous of him for being a genius and going to a famous school. All-in-all both teachers seem bitter as hell and it leaves me wondering whether they even bother to love music. We saw a little of Dong Yoon again but the whole scene cut out so abruptly that I'm left wondering what happened. He confessed cause he realized that Song Ah was into Joon Young now but all he did was cause her to cry and I wonder if she was like if only you came to me before Min Seong or if she was just like I had a terrible day sorry. Jung Kyung meanwhile continues to be the absolute worst cause not only did she rip out poor Hyeon Ho's heart but she also managed to seriously destroy the one other friend that Joon Young had. Every time we see flashbacks of Hyeon Ho and Jung Kyung all I can think is that he deserved better. I also want to note that I actually might have been wrong about Jung Kyung's grandma being a bad person cause as it turned out she really was trying to do good even if that meant that she would look like the bad guy.
FINISHED Flower Of Evil (16/16): Baek Hee Sung seems the ideal husband. A hard-working craftsman, his metal-working studio has met with its fair share of success. Able to provide a good life for his wife and daughter, he’s a good example of what a husband should be. But this perfect façade hides some very dark secrets that even his wife, Cha Ji Won remains unaware of. Unfortunately, secrets have a way of coming out and as a hard-hitting homicide detective, it’s Cha Ji Won’s job to uncover as many as she can, in her never-ending quest for the truth. While investigating a particularly cruel case, she finds herself on a dark path that could crumble the very foundations of her happy life. But she is determined to bring this psychopath to justice. Delving deeper into the case, she realizes that he may have been close by all along.
Wow I'm of two minds about the finale for this show cause on the one hand I'm like this is the perfect bittersweet end to this tragically dark show but the on the other, I'm actually high key pissed about the sudden bout of amnesia. It's so unfair that after everything that Hyun Soo and Ji Won went through that they have to deal with him losing all his memories of her and their child and their life together after his name was finally cleared. On the other hand it makes sense that he would have to start over cause 15 years ago is when his life first fell apart and he had to start living as another person. Either way I'm happy that he managed to fall in love with Ji Won all over again and he figured out that the Hyun Woo that he was all these years also really loved Ji Won despite his lies. I loved that he was able to clear his name of all the murders that the public thought he committed and that Hae Soo also was able to get away with the murder she committed by it being self defense. It highlighted once again how truly horrible that village that they grew up in was cause what kind of monster causes all this to happen just to skim some money from them??? Eun Ha also broke my heart cause she was being such a good girl by not talking about her dad in front of her mom cause she saw how her mom would break down after it but then when she reunited with him, I almost started crying with how happy she was and how happy he was when he got flashes of his complete love for her. I'm also low key thrilled that Moo Jin and Hae Soo didn't end up together cause though I warmed up to him as the show went on, I still can't entirely forgive him for how he treated Hae Soo in the past and how he wanted her back in the present without ever really apologizing for it. Overall I did really love this show and I'd give it a 8.5 / 10.
Lonely Enough To Love (7/10): A story of young people residing at a co-living house. They do want to date, but they don't want to be serious. They prefer being free, but they also don't want to be lonely. Cha Kang Woo is a single man in his 30's and he works as a psychiatrist. He is full of curiosity about human beings. Even though he is an attractive man, he is afraid of having a romantic relationships due to trauma from his past. A woman appears in front of him and he begins to have feelings for her. Lee Na Eun is a freelancer copy editor. She is generous to good people, but she does not tolerate injustice. She hopes to become a novelist one day. Due to her situation, she has not had a boyfriend in 4 years. She begins to stay at the co-living house and develops romantic feelings.
Normally I would have been annoyed with the whole Na Eun walks in on Kang Woo receiving a confession from Kyung Won but I think it's the kick in the ass Na Eun needs. She and Kang Woo clearly like each other and he's all but confessed to her so it's not a matter of her having no idea about his feelings but that she's afraid to take the plunge. Maybe by seeing that Kang Woo is a great man and that someone else likes him she'll be able to gather up her courage and try to date him. I am seriously tired of Hyeon Jin though cause you know I hate second male leads who try to act all possessive of the female lead just cause he's known her longer cause it's like if you're such a big man then confess to the female lead instead of playing games and see how quickly she turns you down. The thing is that Hyeon Jin knows that Na Eun is falling for Kang Woo so it's especially annoying. At least Kyung Won deserves props for actually confessing and not worrying about whether he'll turn her down cause I'm sure like Hyeon Jin she too knows that Kang Woo likes Na Eun. It was also interesting to learn more about Ji Ah and why she's so afraid to say yes to marrying David when he's clearly head over heels for her and that's cause she was already married once and it didn't go well. I do hope that she manages to also find the courage to give marriage another shot. Meanwhile Ah Reum and Dong Seok are super flirting and it's real cute.
I adore that Hye Joon and Jung Ha are already dating and I really want to praise the screenwriter for writing such snappy dialogue between the two. It reminds me so much of something like The West Wing or Gilmore Girls and it's such an unexpected surprise in this show alongside the great chemistry I think the two have. Having said that, I am really disappointed that Jung Ha has pretty much been relegated to love interest in that we only really see her when it's in relation to Hye Joon or Hae Hyo and any backstory we need we get through exposition. Can't we give some of the time that Hye Joon's awful family gets to her? What about her dreams? What about her family? And seriously if I have to sit through another scene where Hye Joon's family is talking down to Hye Joon and his career I will scream. When his dad slapped him this week, I almost threw my laptop! On that same note, I do have to say that I am almost completely sure that his brother was conned this week cause he really seems to think that he's the smartest in the room but something about the way he signed his new lease was sketchy to me not to mention the fact that we keep hearing about how the brother is so much like the grandpa who was conned. I'm also really disappointed at the hints that we got this week about how we're going to be dealing with a time skip soon enough. If you follow me you know I think time skips are nothing more than a sign of lazy writing on the most part cause it takes all the character development they want their characters to go through and makes it happen offscreen so the writers don't have to write it. I'm worried that cause Hye Joon and Jung Ha got together so early in the show that now it just means that we'll be watching them go through a horrible breakup. One of these days I'll watch a drama in which the main couple gets together really early on and then stays together cause of communication and I'll be shocked out of my mind.
CDRAMA
I was pretty excited to check this drama out despite the fact that our male lead was old enough to be our female lead's father cause after I adored Zhao Lu Si to pieces in The Romance Of Tiger And Rose, I was curious to see what her next role would be and though I've never actually seen Lin Yushen in anything, I know a lot of people adore him so I expected him to be a good character too! Now having seen the first 8 or so episodes, I have to say this show left me with mixed feelings. Personally I didn't have a problem with the age gap in this show cause the characters themselves had amazing chemistry and when they were together, everything about this show shone. I loved how quickly the two went from enemies to lovers and I kind of adored how both thought that they were seducing the other only to be seduced themselves. I like that Lu Jin is so calm and cool at all times without being the typical cold male lead with a poker face and though Sheng Nan is the typical bubbly lead that Zhao Lu Si is known for, there's a bit more maturity to this role than her previous ones (due to the actress growing up a little too.) I also really love the way cooking and food is portrayed but what bothers me is how Lu Jin has been treating Sheng Nan especially once his secretary comes around. Like I get that she's in love with Lu Jin and she's protective and all that but why in the world is he letting her dictate his life from where he goes to who he sees. I hate when male leads don't stick up for their girls and it leaves me feeling like Sheng Nan deserves more than him though the second male lead hasn't had much development yet so I'm not sure I would choose him.
What a crazy rollercoaster of a week! So many secrets were exposed though some were only for the audience and some were for the cast! Firstly though we should talk about how the case from last week resolved. The Princess was cured and the engagement was broken in one of the most hilarious moments in this show. We then moved on to the main meat of this week which was the reinvestigation of the Bai Liang clan's extermination. It's still really funny that no one in this show suspects Prince Yun of being sketchy when it's not as though he's ever acted nice. I mentioned last week that I hate that we never learned his real motives behind all the evil he did but I guess I didn't realize that he was a Prince too and not just as royal Uncle so maybe his evil plan is to kill the King at some point, blame it on Prince Qi and then take the throne since the King is clearly too young to have heirs. Either way the biggest shock of the episode was the reveal that Beiming was actually the adopted son of Prince Yun and his letters to his father actually were the reason that Yun was able to constantly hunt down Prince Qi and his group at all times. I like the idea that Beiming is struggling to reconcile the man who loved him and helped raise him as a child with the Prince who's out to murder Qi and may be pulling the strings behind every bad thing he's seen recently but I wonder if I would have liked it more if Beiming had been purposefully spying and just felt guilty after falling in love cause it would make Yun a bigger threat. I am glad though that he's not a purposeful spy cause he kept Su Ci's real identity as a daughter of the Bai Liang clan a secret. In terms of the Bai Liang clan investigation, we did find evidence of the letter being forged and a written confession from the forger that explained what he did and we figured out that Princess Yun was the one to give the tonic that was the catalyst to the chronic poison in the King's system but none of that serves as enough evidence to get rid of him and I'm left wondering what magical Deus ex machina will. I also really didn't mind that Su Ci and Qi fell out this week though I know a lot of others did cause I though that if there would be one time that Su Ci acted emotionally and forgot her logic, it would be in facing her family's death. At the very least the misunderstanding didn't go on for too long!
This is seriously making me say yikes like every five minutes! The Li family are just so kind and good and loving and it's making me cringe more and more as Xi Ruo keeps lying to them over and over again. I can already see the complete and utter heartbreak that's going to be coming when Xi Ruo reveals that she's not pregnant cause I can't see a female lead pretending to miscarry instead of telling the truth as that's more of a second lead or villain action even though I kind of wish that would be the correct path to prevent the pain. At the very least Xi Ruo NEEDS to tell Hong Bin the truth cause he clearly loves her so even if he finds out the truth, he won't force her to leave and maybe that'd help with the guilt a little. It's extra awkward cause the Third Uncle is the only one who can see what's going on though part of me wonders if Hong Bin's parents can tell that Xi Ruo isn't a noble girl and are just won over by her and the fact that they're excited to be grandparents more. I mean seriously of course this show would give me everything I wanted from a contract marriage to a mother-in-law who is loving only to crush my soul with this fake pregnancy nonsense!! What's interesting is that of the two other women who were trying to seduce Hong Bin, Lady Song actually seems like a sweetheart though easily led astray and I wonder if she does end up marrying Hong Yu whether she and Xi Ruo will become friends.
It's been a hot minute since I watched a cdrama that has more than around 20ish episodes so I'm casually sitting here feeling like wow we're only just halfway past this drama so we've still got a lot of story to tell even though I partially can't help but feel like we've wrapped up every major storyline. Qiuchi and Ah Jun broke up twice after Qiuchi thought that her father attempted to kill him and after Ah Jun thought that Qiuchi hurt her father only to get back together in the end after both those misunderstandings were cleared. Qiuchi found out that Gong had a solid alibi for the day that he would have supposedly written the letter to have him killed and so someone must be framing him. Everyone seemed to brush this off really quickly and I'm left sitting here like duh someone must be grabbing the stamps and using them and I still vote on the uncle. We also seemingly wrapped up the romance with Yuanzi and Qinghe cause now the two are together and in love even though Yuanzi does have to leave the college to do his duty now that he's been reinstated as the Commander. Even Prince Kang no longer seems to believe that Qiuchi is the Bandit. On the other hand I suppose we still need to find who tried to kill Qiuchi and why and I'm sure that Ruxue will use Shu somehow to either spy on Qiuchi and Ah Jun or plant evidence against Qiuchi cause the man has no chill whatsoever. On the plus side everything with Qiuchi and Ah Jun was adorable again after they reconciled and I loved the way he won what basically amounted to Pictionary because he knew her.
JDRAMA
This show is so totally the definition of an old jdrama with it's twists and turns in plot and very soap opera element which is funny cause I usually am not a fan of soap operas but the thing I don't like about them isn't a factor here and that's the long drawn out story beats. Like give me all the crazy twists and turns that you want but don't drag out plot points for episodes on end! Tsubaki found out that Nao was actually Sakura and Nao found out that Tsubaki's mom was the one who killed the Master and blamed it on her mom in order to punish them for having an affair. In the end Nao lost her baby out of grief and decided to leave Kogetusan cause she was too heartbroken over everything she went through and the thought that Tsubaki chose the shop over her. What she doesn't know is that Tsubaki was knocked out the whole time so he couldn't have gone for the tools and I have a feeling it was actually the mom who grabbed it and then told the employees that Tsubaki grabbed him as a way to force Nao to leave and she got her way. Fortunately for us all, she doesn't have the real will so when and if Nao shows up and is like I'm Sakura, the mom will lose. I do wonder at what point Tsubaki will find out that Nao was pregnant and lost their child cause I really feel like there should have been more to that loss.
TWDRAMA
Lost Romance (16/20): Zheng Xiao En works as an editor of romance novels at a publishing company, and secretly dreams about falling in love with a CEO. When she isn’t working, she spends her days daydreaming about He Tian Xing, the handsome chief executive of the company that occupies the building opposite her company’s offices. One day, Zheng Xiao En magically finds herself transported into the pages of a romance novel – and comes face-to-face with her crush He Tian Xing. However, she soon discovers that in this fictional universe, his name is Si Tu Ao Ran – and his personality is very different. She hopes to use all the tips and tricks she has learned from the romance novels she has edited to help snare his heart. But she soon discovers that in this fictional world, she isn’t the heroic female lead – and instead is an evil side character! Can she flip the story on its head – and end up with the man of her dreams?
This week was closer to what I wanted to see and that was Xiao'en being angsty but not creepy. I loved the conversation she had with Tianxing about why she watched him and why she ran away and honestly it's not as bad as the word "spying" makes it out to be! All she did was sneak a peek at him every once in a while the way fans do to their favorite celebs or how you stalk someone on social media. It's funny though cause Xiao'en thinks that she means nothing to him and that she should just bow out but what she doesn't realize is that she's exactly the type of warmth a man like Tianxing needs in his life. Like I said last week, Tianxing is much more human than Aoran and it will never cease to amaze me at how soft he's played but Tianxing much more than Aoran had so little kindness and genuine care in his life that someone who just wants good for him is someone Tianxing won't be able to look away from. I was super cringing though when he went out and bought all the books Xiao'en published cause I'm assuming they're the Taiwanese version of something like Fifty Shades or those dime-a-dozen period romances that fill up the shelves of adult erotica sections and you don't want a guy you like to think that you're obsessed with CEO romances! I also wonder if the author of Qingfeng's original story is going to be played by Qingfeng's actor cause it would make sense that a first time author would write a lot of himself into his main character and maybe he couldn't end the book cause he lost the woman he loved in real life.
xoxo Allie
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