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
After this week I'm of several minds about this show! The first theory is the simplest in that we're getting exactly what we're seeing. This is actually a story of someone doing terrible things in order to stop more terrible things from happening á la the American show Dexter. Jung Woo really is the culprit and he doesn't care what he has to do or what happens to him as long as he takes down White Village Foundation and prevents them from harming others. The second is that Jung Woo isn't the guy doing the killings and that it's actually Jamie but she doesn't know it so he's trying to protect her and send her back to the States away from all this which is triggering her. The third is that Jung Woo isn't actually killing and this whole thing is based on misdirection as this show keeps reminding us over and over again. He's playing the long con in order to get to the foundation which is why he didn't kill Son Min Ho in the woods but the thing with this theory is that it leaves the question who then is causing the lucid dreams? We also found out this week that Hye Won's father really is a doctor in the foundation like I guessed and I'm starting to wonder if maybe he's the actual head of the whole organization too. He claims that the kids they created at the village are basically mutants. Whether or not Jung Woo can cause lucid dreams, Jamie could calculate the exact distance to prevent herself from being hit by the truck and I'm still thinking Jae Woong could predict the future of a sort. We also found out that of the 7 survivors, 6 of them commited suicide so Jung Woo, Jamie, and Jae Woong must have escaped before a headcount leaving only one behind who's working with the foundation out of hope they can cure him of an illness. I'm thinking the experiments they underwent left scars like Jung Woo being terminally ill and Jamie having a brain lesion that Jung Woo got removed cause he saw the trend.
What a premiere guys! Talk about intense! I went into this show wondering if we would get something similar to Pinocchio minus the romance and after leaving it, I'm not entirely sure what we're getting. The rumors around this show were that the script had to be incredible due to Hwang Jung Min being a film actor who doesn't usually do tv and so far I can totally understand why he chose this project. From the synopsis it sounded like the usual mentor/mentee show with a gruff and seasoned male lead and a young innocent female lead and I was all ready to roll my eyes at this show but to my surprise that's not at all what we got here. It feels so tragic and dark and real and not just cause of the intern who killed herself. The media company we're following is called Daily Korea and it's a hotbed of dangerous chaebol politics to the degree that the CEO has a whole floor to himself that no one can reach unless they have a special key card. Articles are heavily influenced by who's got power and the money to back it and it's exactly everything I hate in a drama but somehow I can't look away! Our main story starts 6 years ago when Ji Soo's father was framed for taking bribes and the article that supposedly exposed him was under Jun Hyeok's name though it was the current Chief who wrote it so I'll be curious to know why the fake byline. Since then Jun Hyeok has been relegated to working the digital desk as a reprimand for being upset about all this (which is hilarious in it's own right cause who even reads real newspapers anymore so if anything it should be the printed papers that are going out of style rather than the digital) while Ji Soo dropped out of medical school in order to become a reporter and get her revenge on Jun Hyeok or so I'm assuming.
Family dramas have always been a favorite of mine but I always struggle with getting into them when they're not bingeable cause I hate not being able to finish the whole thing at once which is why I tend to wait until airing family dramas finish before checking them out. Of course as you can tell, I ended up checking this one out cause I kept seeing super cute images of this show and I was shocked as all hell that Jin Ki Joo was starring in this one cause I would have assumed that most actresses would prefer family dramas when they're starting out rather than in the middle of their rising career. In the end I jumped in and I have to say that this drama really is the perfect mix of everything I adore. The tone is warm, everyone is good minus a few (hello Seo Ah and Chae Woon's grandma), and the main romance is cute. I also really love that all of the Lee siblings though adopted all love each other like blood siblings. I was worried for a bit that the younger two seemed a little too close but I think that the brother is going to be paired up with the stalker and the sister with Na Ro so that's kinda relieving even if I high key think the stalker is waaaaay too creepy and she doesn't deserve the sweetheart that is Ra Hoon. Honestly it's the main romance between Jae Hee and Chae Woon that's keeping me attached more than anything though I really dislike the whole thing with Seo Ah and her mom cause it's like you can't force someone to love you and if you do then you'll end up exactly like Jae Hee's parents! The thing that I'm most surprised about though is the fact that we're not even halfway through this drama yet and already Jae Hee and Chae Woon kissed and everyone found out that Chae Woon is actually Jung Won's daughter which worries me a little that the show will end up going off the rails to fill screen time!
I had a lot of fun watching this week's episodes and dancing back and forth between the future and the past though every time we took a step forward it was like we took two steps back right after. I think the thing was that the past caught up with the original future so that's why past Seo Jin started to remember how he used to contact Ae Ri for help meanwhile future Seo Jin got his wife and daughter back though I'm not sure if he'll end up staying with Hyun Chae after what he knows. I feel like a part of him feels bad for her especially after being kidnapped but he needs to remember that this woman was insane enough to blackmail Chairman Yoo, convince him that Da Bin was murdered, and even tried to kill him. She once again tried to act smarter than she was and got Do Gyun killed and the way she reacted made me think for once that she did actually love him despite all the games she played. Ae Ri however remained dead but that's probs cause she poked Chairman Yoo in the past so he definitely won't let her go. The chase is definitely on for the recording and I'm fairly certain that what's on it is Chairman Yoo's order to set up explosives at the construction site. After a game of round robin, in the end the recording looks like it's still hidden somewhere in the past by Kim Jin Ho despite him having been whacked into a coma. Do Gyun had it for a while as did Ae Ri's mom but now it's back where Jin Ho left it. The finale is next week and all we've got left to do is stop Chairman Yoo and I guess we're supposed to think that once they have the recording then the police will arrest him allowing Ae Ri and Seo Jin to be okay.
This week we've pretty much gotten the whole story about Ho Rang and what happened on her birthday but it's left me confused as to why Ho Rang thinks that it will ruin her image. Jin Hui only has a photo of the karaoke room and in it it's hard to tell who's the bully and who's the victim but as we found out later in the episode, Ho Rang was the one being bullied. The thing is I'm sitting here like how will the public finding out that she was bullied affect her badly? It can't be worse than right now when people are talking about what a monster she was. I also really need an explanation as to who Jin Hui is cause Ho Rang doesn't even think twice about her so she couldn't be one of Ho Rang's bullies but she also shouldn't have been bullied by Ho Rang either like I first thought when the broadcasting messages appeared over the intercom. People are truly so horrible cause they just are so jealous of Ho Rang and they'd do anything to make her look bad including that girl who made that fake account to pretend to be Ho Rang on Face. I do like that all of Ho Rang's real friends closed ranks and are trying to protect her and believe that she was wronged along with So Hyun who's figured out that something is sketchy and that Ho Rang didn't dump her for stupid reasons. If anyone can dig out the truth, it'll be her. I also really loved all the romantic moments shared between Eun Taek and Ho Rang and I loved how nonchalantly he told his friends that he liked her.
I was mostly just curious about this drama when I first heard about it cause while I adore both Shin Hye Sun and Kim Jung Hyun, I wasn't entirely sure about the whole body swap thing. Body swap shows are usually fun but the fact that this one has a male character go into a female character's body made me think of Please Come Back Mister. On the one hand, I loved that drama and I was really curious to see whether Shin Hye Sun would kill the acting like Oh Yeon Seo did but on the other hand I was kinda disappointed cause unless Cheol Jong was also possessed by a woman from the future or So Yong was gay, there was no way that Shin Hye Sun and Kim Jung Hyun would be doing a romance together which is the thing that excited me the most about this casting. So far I'm not entirely sure where the ball is going to fall yet cause So Yong is possessed by a straight man and Cheol Jong isn't possessed at all but I also can't see Cheol Jong ending up with Hwa Jin the second female lead either cause I don't think she's the sweet girl she's presenting herself as. It's honestly hilarious how this show keeps wanting to be a full on saeguk with how we're seeing Cheol Jung plot with his best friend and older brother in order to rid the palace of all the corrupt officials but with all the craziness that is So Yong, I can't focus on any of it! I'm assuming that based on what we got, original So Yong was in love with Cheol Jung who hates her not only cause she's so entitled but also because he and Hwa Jin are in love. I think So Yong was supposed to meet Cheol Jung at the lake the night she fell in but after Cheol Jung left her, Hwa Jin appeared and was the one who pushed So Yong in possibly out of jealousy. It's also possible that the more time that Bong Hwan spends in So Yong's body, the more her feelings will begin to take him over which is how we get romance in this show but it's also possible that the two become bros instead and he helps Cheol Jung take back the palace. Honestly I'm game for anything.
Now that we've hit the halfway mark of this show we're finally starting to get an explanation on why Gook Hee hates phones and social media so much. When he was younger I'm thinking that something like bullying happened to him and cause of that he was constantly made fun of through photos and videos so now he hates technology but the bigger question it left me with is whether or not Gook Hee has a temper issue. He lost it on that kid in the flashback and he snapped at Ji Sung for taking a photo of him and though he apologized to Ji Sung, I can't help but feel like it's a bit of a red flag if she wants to date him. Since this is a drama, it's possible that it all dials back to him needing to talk about his past and that once he faces it, everything will be fine. Having said all that I do like that Ji Sung and Gook Hee have basically embraced their feelings this week and I was so glad that Ji Sung came back to see him at the end. Ye Seul meanwhile was also hunting for red flags cause she usually has such terrible taste in men that she assumed that something had to be wrong with Yoo Jin but so far he seems pretty perfect other than his choice of friends (though Ye Seul doesn't know that.) I wonder if he just told Ye Seul that he's a bad guy in order to peak her interest? I also want to note that I wondered about Gi Hyun and her possible storyline with Gook Hee's firefighting partner while she was married but it looks like her husband is up to something sketchy and that might be what breaks them up. He's not taking any of the vitamins she's giving him and he's not going to work either when he says he is so something is up.
I was kinda seriously worried about checking this show out cause I'm not usually a fan of Shin Se Kyung and her acting ability but Choi Soo Young was also in it and I've adored her in everything I've seen so I wanted to give this show a shot anyway. Having watched these first two episodes, I have to say that my worry hasn't entirely gone away yet cause the show is seriously giving me Record Of Youth vibes and you know what a hot mess that turned into. There's something about the tone of the show and the snappy way our characters speak to each other that I like despite being similar to Record Of Youth but it also feels sort of pretentious as if the show's trying to be like look how different we are to normal kdramas that are full of tropes and it worries me. Hopefully there's a good script here to backup the money that Netflix is clearly throwing at them! Having said all that, I do think that Shin Se Kyung wasn't half bad in here and I do think it's really amazing that there will be two couples here rather than a love square though high key I probs will be more interested in Dan Ah and Young Hwa and heartbroken when they inevitably get less screen time. I'm also fascinated by the characters themselves. Dan Ah and Sun Gyeom both seem like they struggle with emotions though Dan Ah has sharpened it into being indifferent while Sun Gyeom seems to be completely ignorant of this fact. There's also parallels with how they are rich while their love interests are poor and I wonder if the two couples will end up being complementary to one another.
We're halfway through this drama now and while I'm still mostly adoring it, I am also getting a little tired of Min Joon's misunderstanding about Hae Ra. We the audience know that she has nothing to do with Mi Yeon's disappearance cause Mi Yeon left Ga On with her and that's not something you'd do with someone who stabbed you in the back so I just wish that Min Joon would actually talk to Hae Ra for once. He's clearly falling for her and she's falling for him and though I can see her forgiving him for lying about why he first reached out to her, I still think he needs to tell the truth earlier rather than later. What I'm also curious about is why Dong Joon hates Hae Ra so much too cause she actually had zero connection to his father's death and the ferry sinking but he seems to despise her more than Min Joon does who thinks he's got a connection. On that note I do have to say that it does look like what I guessed last week is ending up being the truth! Mi Yeon caught the attention of Chairman Kim and had Ga On only to have to give him up to Hae Ra though I'm not sure at what point the opening scene of this show fits in with the rest cause are we supposed to think that Hae Ra exposing Mi Yeon as a prostitute was part of their bigger plan? Those small scenes we've been seeing at the top of every episode are slowly showing us what happened to Mi Yeon in the past. She was captured by the Happy Credit thugs, framed for being a prostitute, and thrown into a truck before she escaped and attempted to leave the country on a ferry only to survive cause she ended up not getting on the boat. After this she sent a package to Kim letting him know about his son probs in an attempt to be saved from his daughter but the asshole didn't open the package for 10 years like a complete weirdo. Tae On definitely was behind everything in order to keep her father from having a son to replace her and she's the one who called the hit on Hae Ra too though I'm not entirely sure what Hae Ra has done recently to bother her.
I totally didn't realize last week that the hitman for the politicians that we were following was the same evil spirit that our Counters had been hunting in episode 1 but it makes sense cause duh they'll need a reason that they can give to the Afterlife about why they're getting so involved in human affairs. You can't call it revenge if it was an evil spirit that murdered your parents! So I'm starting to put together the original investigation. I'm fairly certain that Kim Young Nim was the mistress of Chairman Jeon when he was running for the Assembly and she got pregnant so he killed her and then used the Noh brothers to get rid of her body but Mun's parents and Mo Tak caught a sniff of their trail and were murdered for it by Chung Shin. I can't entirely pick apart who every person is but I'm assuming it's par the usual for motive: power and money. On the plus side it doesn't look like any of the others have evil spirits in them so other than our main guy, our Counters will outmatch them. What's crazy though is that Chung Shin has been killing for at least seven years so it makes sense that the evil spirit is practically invincible. I mean somehow it could even sense Counters reading an old memory and have enough power to hurt them through a memory! In other news we saw more of Ha Na's backstory and how she and her entire family was poisoned though I'm not sure if it was a murder/suicide situation yet and I wonder if it's possible that Ha Na's sister is still alive or tied to this case. She would be too young to be Young Nim though.... Do we know if Counters even age? Like how long ago did Ha Na fall into a coma? It's also important to note that I think we figured out Mun's special powers and that is that he can control the Yung Territory though he doesn't have any sort of mastery over it yet.
The romantic in me is honestly living for the fact that the promo from last week was wrong and that it wasn't Seo Jun that found out about Joo Gyung but actually Su Ho. It feels silly even saying that Joo Gyung has a secret when all it is is makeup covering up some acne and redness but yeah let's play in the world they gave us. Secrets are an excellent way for two people to bond and the fact that Su Ho not only knows about the whole makeup thing but also about how Joo Gyung tried to commit suicide, makes them closer than anyone else. I have a feeling that if she does end up meeting with her bullies next week then she'll tell Su Ho what happened to her and in return he might open up about his friend who died. It seems that Seo Jun and Se Yeon were idols under Su Ho's dad's company (that Joo Gyun's sister works at now) and the trio were friends which is why after Se Yeon was framed as a bully he went to Su Ho only for Su Ho's dad to not believe Su Ho or ignore it. Se Yeon ended up killing himself leaving Seo Jun and Su Ho both blaming Su Ho for what happened. It super sucks cause it looks like Su Ho has grown up alone and the only people he probably got any affection from are either dead or hate him now which is why he's latching onto Joo Gyung so hard. Part of me thinks it's cute how much he adores her but the rest of me wishes that he wasn't so much of a tsundere about it. Also I want to shout out the fact that Dan Oh and Kyung appeared this week and we even heard the jingle that showcased them going from stage to shadow and that is hysterical to me cause that must mean this story is taking place in the same manhwa!
CDRAMA
Pretty much everything we were waiting for happened this week. Ranran found out that Su Mo and Mingzhe dated in the past and Peng Ning was arrested for attempted murder and possibly switching Ranran's dad's medicine. The thing is though I'm kinda underwhelmed by it all. The show held back on Su Mo and Mingzhe for so long that now it doesn't even matter that Ranran found out cause we've only got 5 episodes remaining and it makes Ranran out to be a little too wishy washy. As these chunks of episodes went on, I was really pissed at Mingzhe cause he was really getting to a horrible level of lying and I hated that he kept waffling between Su Mo and Ranran and yet was so possessive of Ranran. I should be happy that Ranran quickly forgave him for lying but instead I'm feeling like she's a pushover. I also hated that she knew Chun Luo loved her and yet still refused to stay away from him or tell her dad that he's making her uncomfortable so she can demote or fire him. I also really hated the weird way the show played Su Mo. She was so adamant about being the villain and ruining Ranran's life whether or not she got Mingzhe back out of insecurity and jealousy only to do an abrupt switch halfway through and be good. I totally thought that she was playing the long con and pretending like she was good only to do something with the architectural project but that didn't happen and all she amounted to was to film herself in a locked shed with Mingzhe and get hurt. I couldn't even pity Xiang'an in the end cause when she tried to break up with him, he locked her in the house and held her down to the degree that she had bruises. Like damn dude no thank you.
Dudes I'm so on board with this show! I adore these types of wuxia dramas cause they're filled with all sorts of fun martial arts and low levels of politics which I'm all about. I was actually even more interested in this one cause my girl Zanilia Zhao was in it and I will try almost anything that she is at least once! To my utmost relief and pleasure, this isn't the type of story that I despise with a female lead that's no more than a petulant child and it low key leaves me wondering why the synopsis for this show feels so wrong. I mean yes Fei wanted to go out into the world but only cause her father was out there and in fact it was her cousin Sheng who's the one who constantly wanted to leave. Fei is fairly level headed and probs the best martial artist in her group of trainees and I kind of adore how straight her moral compass is. Sheng on the other hand is too strict and clearly jealous of Fei's abilities to the degree I'm worried that he's going to become evil as the show goes on. No one can break into the fortress unless there's an inside man. I'm also really into Xie Yun as a character so far and I'm curious about his whole thing cause we know that he's actually a Prince (thanks Dramalist for spoiling that) but I hope he's not the Crown Prince since I want him and Fei to end up together and they can't if Fei is in the Fortress and he's in the Palace. I'm not entirely sure what the overall plot of this show will end up being but the best thing about these wuxia dramas is that the fun is in the traveling around and helping others. I do think based on how these shows usually go, at some point the Demons will destroy the fortress and eventually Fei will have to step up and become the leader and rebuild like her grandfather did.
You know I should be all upset about how angsty this week got but honestly I'm just over here revelling in the chaos which is funny cause I'm not usually a fan of noble sacrifice. After Dong Yue and Feng Xi reconciled we got to experience so many cute moments between them including him proposing, building a new wing of the mansion for her, and even learning the truth of who she is and believing it without needing proof. Of course all that then led to the previously mentioned angst! Last week I said that I expected Dong Yue to lose the ability to love as her punishment for failing to stop the Rebellion the first go around but instead this week we find out that the punishment is actually inflicted on Feng Xi instead. He's lost all his memories of Dong Yue and while at first Dong Yue and the others tried to get him to remember her, in the end Dong Yue decided that maybe it's for the best cause now Feng Xi is back to being invincible like before he met her so no one can use her against him. It's kinda funny though that despite having made the decision to cut herself off from him permanently, she can't stay away and he can't help but fall for her all over again only this time he's competing against himself to win her love. I almost thought I skipped something because Feng Xi went from who are you suspicious yet attractive woman to I will win your love but I think that we're really just seeing Feng Xi repeat the same motions as before cause no matter how many times he forgets her, Dong Yue is the love of his life in any life. Having said all that I do have a feeling that this show is going to end with Dong Yue stopping the rebellion and disappearing cause she's not actually human. We'd then flashforward a few years until Wen Xin was an adult and then she would get her memories of being Dong Yue back and then she and Feng Xi would be able to live happily ever after.
JDRAMA
Okay so I was pumped to check this show out cause I adore death game animes and this sounded pretty much like the live action version of one of those! After having checked out these 8 episodes of what I think is only the first season of what probably will end up being multiple seasons, I have to say it was exactly what I expected it to be and exactly what I wanted! I mean yeah maybe I would have liked if Arisu was a little more ruthless but other than that aspect, I enjoyed every single minute of this show. In concept the show is simple. A bunch of people were transported into this new world in which they had to solve games in order to survive and through it we got to experience all sorts of horrible moments and ask ourselves all sorts of questions the main one being is survival worth killing your soul? By the end of this season we didn't actually figure out where we are or how we got here but we did find out who one of the people who are running this world is and that there were people in this world called dealers who were in charge of setting up the games and then sometimes rigging them to allow the house to win like a casino. I really enjoyed all the main characters we got in Arisa, and Usagi, as well as Chishiya and Hikari despite the fact that they sometimes made moves against our main duo. The acting in this show was incredible as was the storyline. I cried so hard when Arisa lost his friends but then got all excited for his new badass squad too made of the foursome I just named. Part of me expected all of the Beach members to take Arisa as their new leader cause he clearly cares about all of them but also is smart enough to win games so I was surprised when they all split though I think I like it better when we have a small crew of characters we really care about compared to a vast number of faceless drones. I'd recommend this show to anyone who's into death game anime (Darwin's Game is one that comes to mind cause it's the most recent one I watched) or isekai anime (Sword Art Online and all of the like) or even if you enjoyed a drama like Liar Game! I'd definitely give this show a 10 / 10!
The finale for this show aired this week and it was sweet as hell. Since there are so few episodes in this show, everything that happens is pretty low key and fixable so I might just have overreacted a bit last week cause I got in my feels too much! Narita actually ran out of the apartment to go after Ayumu and not Mizuki cause I totally forgot that he left first like an idiot. Meanwhile Kanata confessed to Hana but Hana turned him down quickly cause not only is Kanata still a baby but she loves Narita. Narita was super precious when he was jealous but he was an idiot later when he told Hana about what his ex said about him being too outspoken and while I think Hana did overreact a bit when she was like do you want to get back with your ex, in the end I was right when I said that he really shouldn't have assumed that every woman wants the same thing cause Hana's made it clear that she likes his blunt side. They did reconcile and ended up having to be in a long distance relationship cause of his job but I liked that the show didn't make a huge fuss of it like it would be in most shows. Narita asked Hana to come with him but Hana said she likes her current job and the two decided to be happy and wait only for him to come back a year later and propose. Mizuki and Ayumu on the other hand officially started dating cause they realized after a pregnancy scare that they really do like each other and it was all very sweet in it's own right. I think I'd give this show a 5.5 / 10 cause it was fine but a little empty too.
This week felt like more of a transitory episode than anything else cause most of it was spent by Momoko and Manato telling the people they loved that they decided to date. Fortunately every reaction was happy for them including Momoko's brothers and boss who knew the truth about Manato having been in jail. I don't know why but I totally expected more of a reaction from Momoko's brothers but then again I shouldn't have cause like I've said at the top of this show, her brothers aren't fully developed characters. Maybe it's unfair of me to want that cause I'm so used to family dramas coloring in the lines of siblings and this is still only a 9 episode show but I feel like some of the time that was spent elsewhere could have been better devoted! As I also suspected Momoko didn't react too badly to the thought that her baby brother and best friend were dating but I did like that the show gave her a moment to realize that her brother wasn't a baby anymore and that she also took the time to protect Miyuki too by telling Kazuki to be serious about the relationship. Meanwhile Satoshi also realized how much he was into Honoka which was sweet but the thing that really excited me this week was the fact that Manato ran into his ex girlfriend. I'm not worried about Manato's feelings wavering but I am really curious to find out whether she feels guilty after all this time and whether he'll be able to get some closure.
TWDRAMA
I'm a little sad with the way that this show has decided to tackle the romance between our main leads cause it was honestly so heavy-handed that now I'm wondering if I even ship the two anymore?? Daqi is kinda such an ass and the more I get to know him the more I think he's arrogant as hell. Like I mean yeah he's clearly suffering from some sort of mental break in which he thinks that his parents and fiancee are still alive but more than that I don't understand the way he treats this case and Yu Xin and Lawyer Bai. Like yes I still think Bai is an idiot and yes Yu Xin is a little too erratic but like what kind of a lawyer does all his work secretly? He disappears for days on end and doesn't even tell the others what he's planning and I can't help but wonder how much of it is done for the audience shock value. If that is the case, we really should just skip to the trials cause why not just reveal our cards on stage and then show flashbacks to our heroes hunting the information down? In other news we found out that Wan Ting was actually the daughter of the murderer Yu Xin's dad freed and she lived with them for a while before the dad died and she left thinking that his death was her fault. It was really sweet seeing Wan Ting and Yu Xin reunite and it totally explains why she's always been so sweet to Yu Xin and why she trusted her so much!
xoxo Allie
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