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 (13/15): 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 here's the thing with this week. I don't entirely think that Seung Yoo is this monster but at the same time he's no prize either. Like there's nothing wrong with his dating mentality of being casual and never really saying no but where he messed up was with not breaking up with Hye Ryeong when he started to flirt with Ji Won and definitely with not telling Ji Won about Hye Ryeong before things got started. Like there's no way that he can control Hye Ryeong's crazy actions but at least if he had played things right then Ji Won wouldn't have broken up with him. I really do think this show is going to bring them back together by the end but all I want is for Ji Won to pick sweet Do Hoon who's unproblematic and just generally a good guy. I loved their moment last week and I love their casual friendship this week and I do have to say that part of me started to hope needlessly that the two might end up together just cause of Ji Won's narration about having moved on but I'm sure that's just her hope rather than the truth.

Navillera (6/12): Shim Deok Chool has had a life long dreaming of performing ballet. He is 70-years-old and retired from his job as a post office employee. Due to life situations, he put aside his dream of becoming a ballet dancer and worked a normal job to support his family. Now, Shim Deok Chool makes the decision to pursue his dream again. His family, including his wife and adult children, are not happy with his decision, but Shim Deok Chool does not waver in pursuing his life long dream. He joins a ballet company to learn ballet. There, he meets Lee Chae Rok. Lee Chae Rok is a 23-year-old man. While growing up, he played different sports like baseball, swimming, and soccer, but he wasn't talented in any of those activities. He then became interested in ballet. His mother was a ballet dancer, but she died from a disease when Lee Chae Rok was young. His father later went bankrupt. Lee Chae Rok learned that he has a talent for ballet, but, after pursuing ballet, he barely has contact with his father and he has a hard time supporting himself financially. Going through hard times, his desire for ballet fades away. At this time, Sim Deok Chool appears in front of him.

I want to know what gave this show the right to make me cry so hard like this???? It's so very clear that we're about to see Deok Chool lose his memory through dementia or Alzheimer's and I'm terrified that we're going to see him die by the end of this drama too just to really nail us into our coffins! I just wanted a soft story in which a grandpa and a kid learn to be better people from each other with a little bit of sweaty Song Kang thrown in but instead I'm practically crying every week. It was truly horrifying to see Chae Rok fall down those stairs this week and ruin his chances of performing in the competition but I have a feeling that more than anything his teacher said, it will be Deok Chool's now limited time to learn ballet that will remind Chae Rok that he has plenty of moments to enjoy ballet and that he should focus on teaching for now. I also have to say that we're halfway through this drama and I can't decide if the show wants us to see Eun Oh and Chae Rok as possible love interests or siblings cause everyone around them seems to ship them but the two seem mostly indifferent. I did mention last week that I had no idea where Eun Oh would be going cause we haven't seen her with a dream yet but it looks like maybe writing for a radio show might be her thing based on what we got with her by the end. 

DROPPED Oh My Ladylord (6/16): In one corner we have a drama screenwriter and in the other, a rom-com actress. While the writer chooses not to date, the actress cannot seem to date. The story unfolds as they find themselves sharing the same living quarters. Oh Joo In, is a top rom-com actress who is a favorite with all audiences, young and old, male and female. In real life, however, it’s not that she chooses not to date but that she can’t date. Although she appears to live a flashy life on the outside, she is a down-to-earth woman with her own secret depths. Han Bi Soo, a man with a prickly side who shows a different side of himself when he’s in love. He has a scar that no one else knows, so he stimulates maternal instinct that makes it unable for anyone to look away from him.

I really went back and forth over whether I should continue this drama or not cause of many reasons. I've been really busy lately so I can't watch as many dramas as I would have like so I kinda have to pick and choose the ones I'm watching but the problem with this drama is that though there's nothing exactly wrong with it and I should like the concept on paper, I just couldn't ship the main couple. Idk if it's cause I don't like Bi Soo's character but I find myself skipping all the romantic scenes between Bi Soo and Joo In which is a dumb thing to do since this is a rom com and romance is the main point. It does suck cause this is one of the only rom coms airing right now but kdramas have been in a bit of a drought recently so I debated keeping this one just to have something to watch. The crazy thing is that I don't even know if I feel SLS in this one but I think I would have preferred if this show was like Navillera where the romance was the secondary plot point or not even focused on. I've never really been a fan of male leads who are possessive from even before he's dating the female lead cause it's honestly creepy that Bi Soo was so mean to her best friend (out of jealousy before he even knew that the friend liked Joo In too) and that he told her that she couldn't stay with her mom by gaslighting her into thinking that she was just worrying her sick mom. 

FINISHED Sisyphus: The Myth (14/16): 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.

With the show coming to an end this week, I have to say that I'm definitely going to miss it. Like by no means is this show a masterclass in writing or plot but the chemistry between our leads sold this show for me and got me so much more attached than I ever thought I would be at the start. I mean yes there were plotholes and yes there was a lack of villain motivation that made sense but on the whole I had a fun enough time with this show and it's concept if you don't think about it too closely. I mean we're basically told that we're living in a closed time loop in a sense given that mostly everything that happened was pre-planned so even in the original timeline it was Sigma that sent the first missile but it leaves me wondering what's so different in this go around. Wouldn't Tae Sul have made the same choices in every timeline? Maybe it would have been better if we stuck to the idea that this was the first time that Seo Hae tried to go back in time so everyone's future predictions were based on what happened originally. I also can't be the only one who didn't understand the ending right cause Tae Sul killed himself knowing that if he didn't then someone would always be after him to build the uploader and all the future people vanished given that the uploader never existed but like where did Seo Hae and Tae Sul end up? Is that supposed to be the afterlife? I did like the idea of Tae Sul and Seo Hae going back a day and being the reason they defeated Sigma but the sudden heel turn for Eddy was super out of left field cause yes he's been jealous of Tae Sul all along but even as late as last week was he worried for Tae Sul's life but now he's ready to kill for the chance to take over Tae Sul's life? Overall though like I said up top I can mostly let all these questions go cause this show was never meant to be analyzed as more than a popcorn flick so I'm going to give it a 9 / 10 but keep that in mind that it's all biased and based on if you can turn your brain off while watching it!

Vincenzo (14/20): 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.

I almost forgot that there were 20 episodes in this series rather than the normal 16 so I went into this week thinking oh it's totally going to be the penultimate week only to remember later that nah we still have 3 weeks left of this show! I actually wasn't surprised in the slightest that Paolo came back cause I had a feeling that Babel reaching the end of their rope would contact him given the whole enemy of my enemy thing especially since Vincenzo burned his last bridge there before he came to Korea. I bet Chairman Wang's money will end up saving him tbh cause I can't imagine that Paolo who came all the way here out of revenge would back off for anything less. It was a surprise though to find out that Vincenzo's friend was also a NIS member and that he had been undercover with Wang for a while in order to steal back the Guillotine file and while at first it looked like we were screwed, our heroes got a boon in the appearance of the dancer girl who ended up being not only a hacker but the hacker that created Wang's security system. I imagine that soon enough they'll be able to get in and give the gold to Paolo while they grab the Guillotine file and give it to the Prosecutor like he wants. I also should note that Vincenzo and Cha Young kissed this week and they both clearly felt sparks which was totally sweet. I also adored every single moment this week of them acting betrayed with the other tenants and it will never cease to amuse me how no one in the building is the average civilian they seemed to be.

CDRAMA

FINISHED The Sword And The Brocade (45/45): 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.

So the finale for this show aired this week and honestly it's kinda sad how far this show dropped on my interest list. Like when it first started I had fairly high hopes but I was so detached from this finale that I was like fast forwarding through the mess to get to the end. Shiyi was arrested and framed for treason but Lingyi was able to get her out by proving that she was framed. Qingdong and General Fu got together but it was sad that the younger Ou ended up exiled cause of his family's nonsense though it was sweet that Amber followed him. I'd imagine that the two end up together. Even the grandmother admitted that she had been hating Shiyi for no reason though it felt a little too late for me to forgive this late in the show though in real life it's only been 3 years so maybe I'd let it go. I was surprised though that there wasn't a pregnancy reveal in the midst of the happily ever after montage we got but I guess that Shiyi and Lingyi never did follow societal norms anyway? Honestly I don't even know what to rank this show due to my extreme disinterest which means that the show wasn't horrible enough to be rated poorly but no where near good enough to rank high... In the end I'd give it a 5 / 10.

xoxo Allie