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

How To Be Thirty/Not Yet Thirty (7/15): Follows the lives of three friends in their thirties. Seo Ji Won is a budding web-based cartoon author who decides to devote her undivided attention to her craft – forsaking love in favor of her career. And her decision pays off. By the time she is 25, she is a published author. Now, aged 30, she has become a well-recognized writer with scores of devoted readers. But turning her back on romance turns out to be harder than she first thought when Lee Seung Yoo, her first love from her middle school days, returns to the scene to turn her world upside down. And things get more complicated when the film director Cha Do Hoon – who has been charged with adapting Seo Ji Won’s web-based series for the screen – confides in her and appears keen to strike up a close friendship. At the same time, her friends Lee Ran Joo, who works as a radio announcer, and Hong Ah Young, who runs a cafe, are also facing hard times. One day, Hong Ah Young's ex-boyfriend who hurt her in the past appears in front of her once again. Meanwhile, Hyeong Joon Young, who had a one-night stand with Lee Ran Joo and now has feelings for her, works part-time at Hong Ah Young's cafe.

So I really doubt that Hye Ryeong is a girlfriend or even an ex based on how Seung Yoo greeted her this week but it really sucks that he's not telling Ji Won about it or even drawing a better line in the sand with Hye Ryeong. I will never not think back to Temperature Of Love where the male lead clearly told the second female lead that no one would be as important to him as the female lead and want other male leads to follow that trend. Ji Won meanwhile is struggling on her own over how to act in a relationship cause her ex treated her so poorly that she's trying to do the opposite here without even thinking about the fact that Seung Yoo is a different person. I'm still really curious about the second male lead though cause it's already kinda clear that he's interested in her but she is still uncomfortable so what's the point of him existing in a show with such a short episode length and count? Ran Joo on the other hand we're finding out is being pushed out of her job cause she's no longer young anymore and that sucks super hardcore but I wonder if this is the point where the whole office job part of the synopsis kicks in for her. I do think that she's accepted her feelings for the younger guy now and I like that her friends are totally for it.

DROPPED Mouse (6/20): A suspenseful story that asks the key question, “What if we could identify psychopaths in advance?” A crazed serial killer’s ruthless murders have left the entire nation gripped with fear, and chaos reigns. Justice-seeking rookie police officer, Jung Ba Reum, comes face to face with the killer. While he survives his dangerous encounter with the psychopath, Jung Ba Reum finds his life completely changing before his eyes.

The irony of all ironies is the fact that we really all went off last week on our theories due to what looked like Ba Reum having kidnapped Han Kook but this week we find out that the whole thing was an act that Ba Reum put on with Moo Chi in order to trick the killer and we all look like clowns. The thing is that I can't help but feel like though Ba Reum is technically supposed to be the male lead, it's actually Moo Chi that gets all the screen time and meaty storylines. It isn't even like The Good Detective where both the the older and younger detectives work together to solve cases cause Ba Reum mostly just does what Moo Chi tells him to do and yet I keep waiting to either see the two actually work together or for Ba Reum to go evil and for Moo Chi to have to hunt him down. Every week we're left on a cliffhanger that's like teasing us that maybe Ba Reum is the bad guy after all but this week I'm left wondering if we're supposed to believe that the beating Ba Reum got was what "turned on" his psychopath genes (which isn't a thing seriously!!) or if we're finally seeing that the fake persona Ba Reum created has cracks in it. I also really don't get the deal with Yo Han cause it's like way too early in the season for things to line up so easily. I'm starting to wonder if Ba Reum really is Han Seo Joon's kid and that the mom switched him with Yo Han which is why Yo Han is stalking Ba Reum and why she seemed horrified to meet Ba Reum this week. I kinda regret watching this show week to week cause I really don't know if I want to watch this show if Ba Reum is the killer which is why in the end I'm going to drop this show and maybe I'll come back and finish it once I know how it ends.

DROPPED River Where The Moon Rises (10/20): Born a princess and raised a soldier, Pyeong Gang is a woman with big dreams and limitless ambition. Determined to become the first Empress of Goguryeo, Pyeong Gang will stop at nothing to make her dream come true. Clever and level-headed, Pyeong Gang is well aware of the obstacles that stand in her way, but she’s more than capable of taking them on. However, things take an unexpected turn, the day she meets On Dal, a peace-loving man, whose sole goal in life is to live in harmony with those around him. On Dal is the exact opposite of the ambitious princess. He is a oasis of calm amid the turbulent storms in Pyeong Gang’s life. The warrior princess soon finds herself falling for gentle On Dal. He's equally in love with the princess, whose heart he now possesses. He finds himself forsaking his principles in order to keep her safe, an endeavor proving to be increasingly difficult, as warring factions lethally vie for the throne. Forced to match both wits and strength against some of the most powerful people in Goguryeo, Pyeong Gang’s quest for power could very well cost her everything. Does she have what it takes to realize her goals, or will the price prove to be too much to pay?

Yikes guys so this week marks the halfway point of this show and was also the official debut of Na In Woo as On Dal cause last week he had like three scenes so I didn't count it towards my feelings but this week we got a prolonged look at him and it wasn't good. I can't help but compare him to Ji Soo who I thought this role was made for (even though ironically it was actually made for the actor who played his dad) and I stand by my criticism from last week that Na In Woo cannot do comedy. You can imagine that if I one of the few people who enjoyed Na In Woo in Mr Queen and went into this recast with an open mind feel this way then imagine what those who hated this change feel like! He and Kim Soo Hyun have like no chemistry and it really feels like he's overacting and I don't know if there's a way to fix it. I wanna keep watching this show just cause I like the world and the politics and I'm curious to see how it all ends but I don't know if I can which is why in the end I'm going to drop this drama.

Sisyphus: The Myth (10/16): Han Tae Sul, a co-founder of Quantum and Time, is a genius engineer with the highest level of coding skills and outstanding looks that outweighs his engineer fashion sense. Due to his innovative achievements, Quantum and Time is a world-class company, dubbed as "The Miracle of South Korea's Engineering Industry". In reality, Tae Sul has caused his company's stocks to constantly fluctuate after the death of his brother ten years ago. One day, after witnessing the unbelievable truth of his brother's death, he sets off on a dangerous journey. Kang Seo Hae is a soldier who could zipline from building to building, fight big built men with her bare hands, shoot guns, and install explosives. With the survival skills that she's learned from living amongst gangsters and warlords, she sets off a dangerous path of finding Han Tae Sul.

The one thing that I'll be most curious about when this show ends is whether or not the timeline works for me. Last week we had a bombshell dropped on us with the reveal that a Seo Hae from another timeline sent our Seo Hae to the current timeline we're watching and it feels as though we are in a time loop. Seo Hae's dad knew about the nuclear war and the shelter and Seo Hae and Tae Sul cause our Tae Sul told him. I do have to say that he's quietly such a badass though cause while we were following our leads in this time travel mess, he was figuring out what's going in the background and hunted down the Control Bureau all on his own. Meanwhile Seo Hae was captured by the Control Bureau and once again I'm confused over why they're even in this show. Like our big bad is clearly Sigma and there's also something happening with missiles and nuclear war but instead we're spending all this time with the Bureau who's both completely in the dark and also really knowledgeable. I'm also still waiting to find out who the brokers are working for but the bigger question is Sigma's motives and I really hope we get answers next week when Tae Sul and him finally meet face to face. In terms of the romance I'm more and more on board this ship cause there's just something so fun about how ride or die Seo Hae and Tae Sul are. I love that he chose her over the world and his brother and that she was so utterly calm when the power went out knowing without a doubt that he came for her. 

Times (8/12): A passionate reporter with exceptional talent, Lee Jin Woo has dedicated his entire career to pursuing nothing but the truth. Committed to telling the whole story, Jin Woo will do whatever it takes to find and report the hard facts. A hard-working man with a nose for news, Jin Woo’s life takes an unexpected turn when a mysterious phone call connects him with Seo Jung In, a woman who claims to be living five years in the future. A hard-nosed reporter with a burning passion for her work, Seo Jung In has a knack for finding the best stories. But sometimes digging deep uncovers some nasty truths. Following a string of leads, Jung In uncovers a dark plot that could shake the very foundations of the country. With the life of her father, South Korea’s President, Seo Ki Tae on the line, Jung In finds herself in a deadly race against time. But she’s not in this race alone. Mysteriously connected by phone to Lee Jin Woo, the two agree to join forces to save the president. Living and working in two completely different times, Jin Woo and Jung In set out on a dangerous quest for the truth. But will they be able to stop the villainous masterminds plotting this heinous crime before it’s too late?

I spent most of this week continuously being surprised at how this show went from a Kairos/Signal style to Chief Of Staff with it's abrupt shift into the political sphere. Look I know politics was the backbone of this show from the start but it was always taking a backseat to the detective work that Jin Woo and Jung In did. It was honestly sad seeing what kind of monster Jin Woo had become in these five years, the kind of monster that he and more importantly Geon Woo would have despised. We still have no evidence that Ki Tae killed Geon Woo but it does look like everyone and their mother took bribes from CEO Park and like maybe it's cause I've watched so many of these shows that I'm like oh bribes that's nothing. Watching Jung In be torn between her father and Jin Woo the man that she's trusted and respected was fun to watch too cause it really does feel like both sides don't trust her and want to lie to her before telling her the truth out of either a belief that she can't handle it or arrogance. I also really liked the idea that it was Jin Woo himself that stole Jung In's phone cause duh who else would have known that she could ruin things than Jin Woo? I'm wondering where the rest of this season will go tbh but I assume that at some point somehow Jung In has to steal her phone back and contact Jin Woo of the past and fix all this or maybe she'll need to find evidence of who really killed Geon Woo. Either way President Jin Woo cannot be the ending of this story!

Vincenzo (8/20): At the age of 8, Park Joo Hyeong went to Italy after he was adopted. He is now an adult and has the name of Vincenzo Cassano. He is a lawyer, who works for the Mafia as a consigliere. Because of a war between mafia groups, he flees to South Korea. In South Korea, he gets involved with Lawyer Hong Cha Young. She is the type of attorney who will do anything to win a case.

Good god this show is giving me everything I could ever want from a show with Song Joong Ki in it. It's like the writers of this show were like well shit of course every person in Korea will fall for his charm so let's not even pretend otherwise. I'm living for how much fun every person in this show is having as they act and though part of me agrees with the criticism that Jun Woo isn't the best villain cause he's not really scary, the rest of me feels like this show has more of a comic book or anime feel so his over-the-top insanity just works. I do wonder at what point Vincenzo and Cha Young will pick up on the fact that Jun Woo is more than he seems and part of me still thinks that the nail in Babel's coffin will end up being Han Seo. In other news I'm still not into all of the Plaza residents as more than Vincenzo's lackeys and I wish that Cha Young got to do a bit more besides being Vincenzo's underling but I had a ton of fun watching the two beat Babel twice in a row which is why I was kinda thrilled when they lost the third round cause it keeps us from constantly losing but also not constantly winning either. I also want to shout the fact that the show had the most natural gay character appear this week and the show neither ridiculed him or made him the butt of the joke beyond the fact that he was a villain. Watching Vincenzo seduce him (and Cha Young on the side) was everything and I can't wait to see where this show goes next.

CDRAMA

The Sword And The Brocade (30/45): Set during the Ming Dynasty, the story revolves around the romance between General Xu Lingyi and the concubine's daughter Shiyiniang that starts from an arranged marriage. Despite being born with a low status, Luo Shiyiniang is extremely assertive and believes that a woman's vision should not be limited to the household. She hopes to rely on her embroidery skills as a ticket to freedom. However, the once esteemed Luo family is in a state of decline. Hoping to save the clan through a marriage alliance, Shiyiniang is selected to become the wife of Yongping Duke and great general Xu Lingyi. Things were not easy for Shiyiniang due to the Xu family's biases towards her. Nonetheless, she manages to win over their trust through her optimism and sincerity. Xu Lingyi also becomes attracted to Shiyiniang's various beautiful qualities such that husband and wife manage to find love after marriage.Through Xu Lingyi's support, Shiyiniang opens Xian Ling Pavilion to have her own embroidery workshop. Meanwhile, Xu Lingyi experiences many setbacks as he tries to protect his homeland and improve the livelihood of the people by supporting the lifting of a maritime ban. As they face a crisis that could spell the end for the Xu family, Xu Lingyi and Shiyiniang continue to support each other through thick and thin.

I kinda really hate how in shows like this how different the response to anything the female lead and the second female leads do wrong is so vastly skewed. Shiyi was thought to be ruining the Xu family reputation and was about to be divorced and sent back home while when it came out that Concubine Xiao was a monster she was sent to the country and told to become a nun. No divorce? No shaving of the hair? No prison? No death? How utterly lame. It was satisfying to watch her finally be taken down a peg though and I have to admit that I never once doubted that Lingyi believed Shiyi cause as much as I don't think of him as a ride-or-die like someone like Tingye from Story Of Ming Lan, I knew that there was no way that he would think Shiyi full of so much evil so I kinda felt like the deep fake the show tried to pull actually took away from my enjoyment. I'd rather see the two plot together! It was also nice to see the whole mother's death bomb explode this week with Shiyi suspecting Lingyi and him finding out the truth in like 2 episodes cause besides the delicious angst now we don't have to worry about that knife falling on our heads every time something cute happens like their first kiss! I really can't imagine what will bring the two together again cause unlike in fantasy cdramas Shiyi can't go out and save Lingyi from danger cause she's not supposed to be in public but in my mind really only a sweeping romantic gesture would be enough for Lingyi to trust her again! 

JDRAMA

FINISHED 3B no Koibito (10/10): Kobayashi Haruka fell in love before finding out that her boyfriend was actually a married man. At that time, a regular customer predicts that she will wind up meeting 3 different men. She begins encountering them just as predicted. There's the hairdresser Shintaro, the band vocalist Yu, and the bartender Yoshi. What will come of these fateful encounters?

I'm honestly disappointed in this ending cause it did the thing that every other reverse harem anime likes to do and that's not have our heroine pick a guy at the end in order to keep anyone from being upset though all it ends up doing is making every person watching the show pissed rather than just the part of the audience that was cheering for her to pick someone else in the reverse harem! I'd like to imagine that in the future it still will be Yu that Haruka chooses cause she was still the one to run to him at the end and his song clearly moved her but at the same time she never really pulled away from Yoshi either. Poor Shintaro was the only one that she full and clear turned down. As I suspected Yu did end up getting another shot at debuting and as it turned out the President of the music company was the same woman that comes to Haruka's pet grooming shop all the time which I'd imagine is a part of the reason why they got another shot. Yoshi's bar seemed popular enough after it changed to his hands, Shintaro started to gain loyal customers and Haruka's grandmother ended up extending her trip so the foursome doesn't have to separate for now. 6.5 / 10

TWDRAMA

FINISHED Wacko At Law (15/15): Mai Daqi is a genius in the legal profession, but because of his dissatisfaction with the profitism of the law firm, he shelved his lawyer's license. It wasn't until an air crash that suddenly took the lives of his parents and his fiancee four years ago. In order to get justice for his family, Daqi regained his legal profession and overthrew American Airlines' first-class lawyers.

The finale for this show aired this week and it was a solid wrap up for the season on the whole. Da Qi ended up figuring out that Dr Liao was the one who created L365 in the first place and warned the doctor against trusting him so the two alongside Prosecutor Xu laid a trap to catch Dr Liao and subsequently Ji Ping. We learned that back then Mr Mo was actually hit by Ji Ping in a rage but when Ji Ping went to help him, Mrs Mo stopped him realizing that they would benefit more without Mr Mo. She then got rid of all the evidence and framed Wan Ting's dad as well as killing him and Yu Xin's dad later to cover it up. Luckily the truth can't be hidden forever and we were able to catch Ji Ping, Mrs Mo turned herself in and we even grabbed Chairman Luo with the help of Yun Yun. Ji Ping pissed that Chairman Luo cut him off gave Da Qi the evidence he needed to nail the rich men and the show ended on a bit of an open ending though there's no doubt in my mind that they will win. I'd also like to imagine that Jing Tao ends up joining our law firm cause I can't imagine that many other firms would accept him after seeing how he screwed his own client no matter the morality of it. All in all this show was fun with a cute romance and solid law practices so I'd give it a 7 / 10.

xoxo Allie