rambles & mumbles...

Sweet Stranger and Me Epi 1 & 2

Lee Soo Hyuk brought me into this drama and he still looks pretty much like Gwi in modern times (OK, Gwi didn't die after that fight with Yeon Seol, he lives for another thousand years, that makes a perfect sense). The phase is not bad and the story itself is not 100% new (the concept is kind of similar to Yan Papa but off course Yan Papa is a more family focused drama, not a romance one. There's at least another one in Jdorama realm but I can't think of the title at the moment). But regardless, I got to say that this drama is hella entertaining, a stress relief from that harem drama but only to realize that Queen Hwangbo is in here as well as Duk Bong's secretary (who basically rolls eyes at her employer almost all the time LOL). We'll probably see a number of angst in the latter episodes (but hey, what's angst after watching that harem drama LOL). In the meantime, there're lots of funny scenes from each episode eg. when NanGil lifted up NaRi with Whitney Houston's BGM queue (and I will alwayyyss loooveee youuuuu, OMG, that's just hillarious), or the doctor was concerned with Duk Bong's 'paleness', or any bickering scenes of the 'father' and daughter. They're enough to make you smile. So unless the annoying girl gets too annoying (yes, there's this shameless girl whose goal is to just wreck other people's relationship aka a boyfriend thief), I don't think I'll fast forward the episode with the current phase. And lastly, when LSH going to get the girl? This is for the x number of times he ain't get the girl LOL.

Nigeru wa Hajida ga Yaku ni Tatsu Epi 2

I'm happy with this drama. It's fun to watch and it injects social opinion enough to trigger discussion on marriage & employment. In this episode, the focus is on meet the family and the pressure from society to have that wedding party. Arguments are thrown such as it's a waste of money, it's a way to tell the society 'hey, we're married now', or just simply it's the things in life that you do. Each options are explored and weighed by our main couple. What I like here, they discussed things together, and both gave opinions and not holding back at it, but I'm not sure whether this will continue when they add on jealousy into equation LOL. There's also the snippets of discussion between marriage and carrier between Mikuri and her mom, which I found it makes perfect sense. After all, the marriage itself is very sudden, and it's natural that the mother questions what Mikuri wants to do with her carrier. But from this episode, what I like the most is when Tsuzaki & Mikuri had dinner and Tsuzaki was concerned that Mikuri couldn't sleep, and he said this: A workplace is not made with the employees' effort alone. The employers also have to put in effort. I completely agree on this. This is something that lots of companies seem to neglect, they put in tons of KPI, expectations on employee but turn sideways on what the employee actually needs and this reflects on the company culture and office environment. So relatable that I applaud the script writer for this. Can't wait for the next episode, we're going to see that how the 3rd party will affect this marriage contract XD.

Doctor X Season 4 Epi 1

We're at the 4th season already and as expected with any Doctor X series, Daimon Michiko kicks ass, again, and Himura is the director now after was almost relieved from his position, wait, he even moved up because of the last minute dirty game LOL. And why Ebina was not in Doctor X this time? It's because he's staring in the other drama with Amami Yuki LOL! Now, when are we going to get Hanzawa Naoki season 2 or Legal High season 3? It's a bit long overdue, don't you think? Oh I almost forgot, we have to wait until Sakai Masato finished the taiga haha...

And tomorrow... epi 19... it'll be angst, angst, angst, and more angst... gah!!!

Fantastic Epi 16

Well, that's another good balance drama. I skipped a lot for this drama especially the superbly evil family scene, and I cheered when Baek Seol finally yelled at the a$$hole husband over the phone, and yey for Attorney Kim to get his happy end. I feel content watching this ending alone. And against all odds, our main cancer patient survived the ordeal, I'm a bit contemplated on this, yes, I'm happy with the happy end and it gives hope and all the good stuffs, but at the same time, not all cancer patients survive and thrive against all odds. However, that might be, the journey is fun and delightful to watch. They put all emotions in all together in every episodes and deliver it with a much lighter way (well, if you compare it with the harem drama.... so... yeah). I'm a bit worried about JiSoo though, yes, it's good that he's everywhere now, but I kind of feel that his roles are about the same, from angry mom, harem drama, and now this. Only a slight difference, but at the end of the day the delivery is about the same, the awkwardness, the charging ahead, well, the look and feel is the same. Is it maybe because they're all side characters that there's not much room to really grow the character or it's just the roles personalities that he took in are about the same in a way. I look forward for something different, the kid is eye candy with potential <3.

Career Epi 2

As we move on to episode 2, I kind of warm up to Tamaki's character, sort of let go the annoyance of 'try too hard to be friendly and lowkey' vibes on his character, and I surely hope they put a stop of the shining light effect everytime Chief Toyama flashed out his police badge, the aweing plus LOL effect kind of fast turned into annoyance. I guess, we'll keep having the situation whereby there're multiple (maybe more than 2) completely unrelated minor case which will end up linked together and Chief Toyama has the eye of details to connect all those things together. In this episode, it's quite interesting and I'd hope the quality of the case will go up as we progress further. I like what the subordinate said about Chief Toyama and Minami combi, 'the perfect combination of great insight and intimidation', what a perfect description! I hope Minami will soon lighten up towards Chief Toyama because clearly Chief Toyama has a lot of cards under his sleeves, but if by Epi 4 he's still the same, I'll be majorly sighteyeing the writers!

Nigeru wa Hajida ga Yaku ni Tatsu Epi 1

Damn, the title sure is long! I watched this to get away from that harem drama withdrawal syndrome, and this is sure a great relief. Light and non-damaging at all. Well, at least this is the life action from a josei manga, not some shoujo manga (we have too many of those already). The story is about exploring the idea of marriage as an employment contract, meaning the husband employs the wife as a housewife, and gives her the salary she's entitled from all the housework done. I like the approach of this drama, they make it look like Jonetsu Tairiku style to introduce the characters' background. While it's all fun and all that, I do wonder what's the message from this drama. The main character, Mikuri, though a university graduate, couldn't find a proper full time job and ended up with a temp job and just got laid off. Having nowhere to go, she accepted the part time job as a cleaner for Tsuzaki, our main dude. The proposal for the marriage contract looks like the runaway ticket for Mikuri against reality. So what this drama is trying to tell the audience, get married if cannot find a job? I haven't read the manga yet, kind of tired if I have to read the manga for all the live action drama. But, I do hope that they're going to have Mikuri's character grow to have more backbone and face the tough job hunting field.

That harem drama Epi 16-17

Ah, the drama which has consumed me for the past few weeks, and I'll have a major withdrawal syndrome once this drama ends next week. Gosh, it's only left with 3 more episodes and there's only angst, angst, and angst, well, with carrot dressed in diamonds for epi 16, if I should say. The drama is telling us that we, audience, should be greatful for any hint of cuteness of our main OTP SoxSoo while butcher our hearts by eg. killing off the most innocent characters of them all and to make it worse made the precious pup did the dirty job. To add to our list of angst, we have the break out, the wait, and rejection coming our way before the carrot dressed in diamonds is presented in like... 6 minutes screen time, and yes, we, audience, will still eat it up and crave for somemore angst. Epi 17 is just brewing more angst for Epi 18 (kind of dread of what's coming, esp with the preview of precious pup crying, he's been through A LOT, apparently not enough for the sadist writers to torture this character). Well, in the meantime, I'll just fill myself with lots of fluff fanfic of SoxSoo, if they don't get the happy end, there're tons of fanfic ready to be unleashed to satisfy the thirst for the happy end LOL. And after all these, by now all the snakes in the palace are still alive and well and are out to eat up our precious OTP, noooo!!! I'm still clinging on the 'the journey will be painful but it'll have a happy end', but Gwanjong with eyeliner kinds of make me waver, damn!

While I don't always watch historical drama, I realize that I do have some share of both Taiga and Saeguk (more saeguk though). Though both are featuring historical figures, the approach taken by both Taiga and Saeguk are very different, which makes it very interesting.

( Taiga drama <3 )

( Saeguk drama <3 )( Now the fun stuff )

My list of saeguk drama: Dae Jang Geum, Dong Yi, Jung Yi, Hwang Jin Yi, Empress Ki
Contemporer saeguk drama: Hong Gil Dong, Iljimae, Arang & Magistrate, Joseon Gunman, Scholar who Walks The Night, Queen Inhyeon's Man, Warrior Baek Dong Soo, The Legend, and the current harem drama.
... HELL, I watched a lot of historical stuff, never really thought about it until now... Thanks to the harem drama.


Ah, and we still have weekend for Monday to come... no matter heartbreaking it'll be... sigh....
Nevertheless, history is fascinating and maybe I should pick up Shinsengumi (another history portion that I'm interested in).

Might as well make this list before I forgot what I've been watching. I should have done this a long time ago before I stopped on K-drama so that I know where I left off, not that it matters but it could make my watching routine/binge more structured and more efficient because right now I'm just jumping around on any drama that I thought would be interesting, though some ending up in the dumping bin. I won't mention those that have gone to the dumping bin, only those that I managed to finish, whether with tons of fast forward or not. It'll be still a long list, but I'd think still be lesser than the J-dorama. And since it'll be a lesser list, I'll just put a short thought on what I like or whatever.

Again, emphasizing of my criteria of a drama. Visual is the utmost importance. There's no point watching a drama unless the story is really good and appealing to me if there's no visual. I'm dealing with lots of shit and excels everyday, so I need to see something pretty and think less at the end of the day. Another habit of mine is going through actors' resume if I want to do a binge watching. I like to see how an actor grow (or not) and the type of works that he'd chosen.

( Here we go... )

I shouldn't have watched this when it's still on air. This is not healthy and it's painful to wait for each week for new episodes and especially when we have the possible cancellation due to Olympic. Very painful.

The OTP is so adorable. The flirting is too much for the heart (or rather, basically Kang Chul flirts with any human beings he encounters). The kissing scenes are funny or sweet. No wasted characters so far and I like the Yeon Joo and Professor Park's scenes. Hillarious and get you back to the ground from too much day dreaming.

Don't forget to throw any details out of the window. Nevermind that the rain always pours during Kang Chul's angst moments, but his hair and suit are in perfect and prestine condition. Nevermind how many handphones that Yeon Joo has lost so far 2? 3? 4?... I lost count tbh. Nevermind not washing hair very often means it's not even oily but perfectly soft and fluffy.

( Some screencap, basically tribute to Prof Park snarky comments... )