What Dramas Did I Finish This Week?

Hello and welcome back! These are the dramas I finished this week. 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

FINISHED Lost (16/16): Lee Boo Jung has hit rock bottom. She has a thankless job, her marriage is in shambles, and now she has a possible criminal record hanging over her head. At forty years old, she feels like she has reached the end of her potential and has amounted to absolutely nothing. Her elderly father is the very last thing she cares about in the world. Lee Kang Jae is only twenty-seven and has his own successful stand-in escort business but he is so ashamed of the person he has become and is so far beyond caring about himself or life that he wears apathy as a second skin to the point that he becomes unrecognizable even to himself. The two of them have lived at the threshold of each other's lives without ever truly intercepting the other. Then one faithful day, both moved by personal loss and grief, Kang Jae sees Boo Jung and recognizes a familiar lost soul in her. "Lost" is the story of these ordinary people struggling to find their footing in life.

Wow talk about an intense show that's also super depressing you guys. This is a show that I would never have watched normally cause I like my tv and movies to lift me up rather than put me down cause life is hard enough sometimes that tv and movies are my escape but something about this show kept dragging me back week after week. I think a major part of it has to do with how this show managed to deconstruct the typical drama tropes. I mean I totally expected Boo Jung's ex to be a cheating abusive monster only to find out that he actually tries his hardest to be what she needs despite there not being any love between them. And truly this was the case for the entire cast of this show. They were all painfully human and the mistakes they made really were just mistakes. I also adored the intense chemistry between the leads and my inability to figure out if the show wanted them to be lovers or mother/son or friends. A lot of people compared this to My Mister which was another show in this vein that I never watched but I had heard that there was no romance or even any hint of it so that's why I was low key shocked to find the leads find love with each other but once I wrapped my brain around it, everything fit perfectly. I could see exactly what they saw in each other and though I wish that the ending hadn't been so vague, I'd like to imagine that they found the courage to be together in the end. 8.5 / 10

FINISHED Yumi's Cells (14/14): Controlled by a complex network of cells, each and every human on the planet is kept running by an unseen operating system that is, for the most part, completely ignored. Though humans never give much thought to how they manage to function, day in and day out, the cells within the human body are constantly at work, doing their part to keep their human alive and well. Which is why on the outside, Kim Yoo Mi may appear to be just like every other single working woman in the world, but underneath that ordinary exterior lies something truly extraordinary. Having recently suffered a painful breakup, Yoo Mi’s love cells have fallen into a deep coma. While the surrounding cells work hard to revive their fallen compatriots, Yoo Mi spends her days stuck in the grind of everyday life. With a heart still broken and no romantic prospects, Yoo Mi’s love cells might have been in serious trouble had it not been for the sudden appearance of Goo Woong. An emotionally stunted game developer, Goo Woong has no idea how to express his true feelings, but after meeting Yoo Mi, he finds himself wanting to try. With his own love cells unexpectedly sparking Yoo Mi’s back to life, things between the two start to get interesting. With both Yoo Mi and Goo Woong’s cells working overtime, the two find themselves drawing ever closer. But will the efforts of this small collection of cells really be enough to bring two hearts together forever?

When I say that I've never seen such a unique kdrama before I'm totally serious on so many fronts. Not only is the whole internal animated cell concept something I haven't seen before I also really adored the way this show depicted relationships. Like sometimes I need the cutesy soulmate dramas but other times I get a little exasperated by the idea that one person defines your whole love life which is why I'm not entirely sure that I can make a fully informed decision on what I thought of the show yet. Like okay so this show was based on a webtoon right in which Yu Mi is our main character and her love interests come and go but I'm worried that like a lot of other webtoon adaptations this show will take it's liberties on the plot and make Yu Mi stick with Woong cause kdramas need a male lead rather than having Yu Mi be the star and everyone else be there to make her look good. I do have a little hope based on the one scene this show had where Yu Mi was told that Woong wasn't her leading man. Now don't get me wrong, Woong isn't the worst male lead I've seen but because this show was so good at depicting characters with real flaws I find myself loving the moments when he's sweet especially at the start (and of course he's handsome) but then hating him for always putting his pride first and wanting better for Yu Mi. On the whole I'd give this season a 8 / 10!

xoxo Allie