Rants and Weekly Raves #38 (RAWR)

kakashi: Jang Bori seems to be airing in Singapore! Every day, we get about 2500 additional hits on Bori Bori posts. I hope you're enjoying the crazy ride, people. I know we did. But no, Kim Ji-hoon... it's fine that you don't have a new drama. Do NOT SIGN for ANY WEEKENDERS.
JoAnne: It's been long enough though that I'm actually anxious for him to be in another crappy drama that will I will hate for a long time, but eventually grow to love. Or at least not hate.
Yes :( Poor baby. Give him work! Okay, if it's to be another family drama, so be it. Apart from that ... lots of new stuff starting these days! Which means lots of old stuff ending.
Hello, everyone!  S@ki6 here, soon to be switching to Jaehyus, because a fangirl's love never ends. 

Moonie! And the clone!

Falling for Innocence

Just NO. That whole "I'm the evil you now"-stuff is SO DUMB. I can't even. Go away, drama ... why did you take these great actors and force them to speak those terrible lines?!
Every time Min Ho says some random line in English it erases the effect of one of the terrible lines.
I must agree. He is so adorable, he makes my snarky heart melt. I can't stay mad. Still, at this point in time, I'm completely off the KDrama-wagon. And this is ending pretty soon, too.

Unkind Women

Yes, yes, I know we're all not watching this, but HOW BAD WAS THAT ENDING! Even not watching made that abundantly clear. Good riddance, drama. But nice to see you in a drama, Rim. I hope you get a better role next time, though. 
He's so adorable. Mary chose well.

School 2015 - Who Are You

This is playing out nicely, I think. Everyone in the universe wants to be the one lucky enough to kill that bitch, So Young, and we're about evenly divided between Team Big and Team Blondie. (Team Blondie will win, but I love both boys equally.) So many questions! Is Soo In really dead or just socially dead? Does Saem bear responsibility because he didn't step in soon enough, or is it something more sinister? (The memory of Director Oh is still fresh with us.) Who was stalking Eun Byul? Why IS So Young such an unmitigated bitch? How come Eun Bi and Eun Byul were separated? Who are their parents? How will they resolve the love triangle, given that our preferred solution - Eun Byul magically appears and reunites with Big so that Blondie can have Eun Bi - is impossible? Remember, they found her body. Does that really smart boy like Soo Jin or is he feeling guilty about his mother's tactics? There's more, but I'll wait.
becca: I finally caught up to this one, and I'm very much in love with it. Also, I would like to echo everything JoAnne just said. So many questions! Is it Monday yet? No? *sigh* I love our three main kids. Kim So-hyun and the boys are all doing well, and Yook Sung-jae in particular is breathing life into his character with all his little mannerisms. I find myself rewinding a lot.
Didn't appeal, skipping this. 
You are the cutest puppy, aren't you? Let's scritch him under his chin, ladies.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine

How is it possible that I hate these parents even more than I did last week? I think I still need to watch the second episode, though. I should wait.
...................... I waited. Nothing changed. I loathe them, and I'm poised to be disappointed in In Sang.

Let's Eat 2

Doo Joon angst-ing over his love for Writer Baek is adorable.  I LOVED that he and Admin Officer got it right out in the open and acknowledged everything, but I do see a bit of a question around the AO right now - he likes her, yes, but there's a strong argument to make that the GROWTH of that is spurred on by a competitive nature, at least in part. What's up with Rooftop Boy anyway? Who did he kill? I figure it will turn out to be a mistaken assumption on his part, but where'd all that money come from?
I love this show!!!  It's so good and my theory on Rooftop Boy is that he's a N. Korean refugee, his money is part of his spy deal from which he ran away, and he's got one nasty temper, so I'd really like him to go away. 

Ex-Girlfriend Club

This is going to be fun, I think. If they don't make it all weepy and difficult. I like Song Ji Hyo and Byun Yo Han together, definitely. The ex-girlfriends are funny, too.
Song Ji-hyo is one of those actresses that I always want to like because I like her as person, but I always have trouble connecting to her as an actress. Thankfully that is not the case in Ex-Girlfriend Club - she's delightful! Byun Yo-han is also delightful, of course, but I'm still on the fence about his character. It's hard to make a judgment when we know so little about what goes on in his head. I do know, however, that it could be a lot of fun watching the girls gang up on him.
The fights sometimes go on too long. I find it painful to watch The Best Princess Ever be crazy.
Mixed feelings on this, mainly because the main guy is just ew and I don't understand what everyone likes so much about him.  In another drama, one with Girl's Day's Yura, he was another ladykiller and I really didn't get it.  If they fixed his hair, maybe.  In real life, a guy with his style would stink like he's hip-hop and always borrow money from the women in his life. 

Warm and Cozy

Laugh out loud funny with some of the meta, as expected. I have to go back to where I heard the first borrowed OST, but by the the second time, when Yoon Mirae was crooning in the background during the So Ji Sub cameo... and then he did the hand/get lost! thing... yep. I was hooting. I also thought it was funny how they opened with the long-lost twins trope and then smashed it to bits while giving us two OTHER birth secret mysteries to replace it. Otherwise... it's a little weird, can't quite put my finger on it, but we'll see how it goes. I do like Yoo Yeon Seok and Kang Sora together.
It's interesting to see people's reactions to this. It's very mixed right now. So far, nothing convinces me to start watching - maybe with different leads, but those two mean nothing to me.
becca: I liked the first two episodes. It's not as flashy or zany as some of their dramas, but it has it's charm. Warm and cozy, indeed - as long as the second lead doesn't turn out to be the catty witch that I suspect her to be. This is still a Hong sisters drama after all, and their second female leads can be awful.
Shuk: I enjoyed the first two episodes, but I don't know yet if it has enough staying power to keep my interest. The meta bits were like a trail of jelly beans, to the extent that I didn't notice the plot as I moved from one to another. Was there one? [shrug] Also, I guess I'm shallow, but I found a rich kid who is actually nice to be... odd.

I love that the rich kid is nice.  Finally! He's got his issues, but he's not forcing them on some poor hapless woman.  This is an excellent show.  Love the shaman from that dragon/ghost/plague-jinns sageuk we watched earlier be an undercover underwear model. 

Producer

I thought about watching, but then decided against it. I'm not ready for Kdrama just yet. What I saw of it (I peeked) looked fully alright though. No idea why netizens hated on it so much.
So, Kitteh thinks this is pap, but when does he not? The episodes are long, yes, but I don't find it boring at all. The 'documentary' style lets them bring out the pettiness of people really well, and I find myself laughing out loud at the cameos and jokes. I think all 4 leads are doing fine, although Gong Hyo Jin is pretty much just playing herself all over again, and IU's been directed to be bored and resentful so she's a bit flat yet. We saw her wake up a little, at the end of the 2nd episode. She'll be fine.
Netz hated it because the humour is pretty sophisticated for a k-comedy.  Those are usually very slapstick and toilet oriented.  This has a lot of in-jokes, and general life-jokes.  One of the funniest moments was when the younger brother kept telling Gong HyoJin's character to hit on one guy after another. 

Orange Marmalade 

I hear necks are nibbled.
Really rather disconcertingly steamy, considering the boy is not yet legal. And Jonghyun from CNBlue makes a PERFECT rebel vampire. Ahn Kil Kang is vampire dad for the girl!  He pretends to eat chicken and drink beer while watching soccer, I love him. Oh, that girl can SING, too. What a lovely voice - so clear and unforced. I know she's an idol, I don't know who though.
That's Kim Seol-hyun of AOA. So far I like this drama, though I'm a little wary of some of the deviations from the webtoon - particularly their decision to give (metaphorical) fangs to the Jo Ara character instead of keeping her as the jealous but hilariously ineffectual comic relief. I really don't want this to turn into another high school bullies drama. Otherwise… cautious thumbs up?
The AOA girls are all actual musicians.  They were going to be a band concept, but ended up like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEYOyZVWlzs.

Other Stuff

kakashi: Oh my! Jane the Virgin's finale was quite the ending, wasn't it? I enjoyed the last two episodes (the birth was so emotional! I cried), much more than the other 5 or so that came before them. However, I think the very ending is a joke. I'm not gonna spoil, but it was over the top. And Michael is such a cutie ... I'm Team Michael in case you don't know yet.
I got misty at the birth, too. Plus I keep thinking how in real life Rafael's wife is just about to have a baby, and he probably spends a lot of time at work thinking about how in a few weeks he'll be feeling this way for real, and then I get misty about THAT, and then I remember when Tori was born, and then I think about how fast all the years have gone by, and then I think about how far away she is and how much I miss her, and then I just cry. As for Michael, he has certainly stepped up to the plate... but if KDrama has taught me nothing else, it has taught me to recognize a second lead. The rules are international, Kakashi. Team Michael is not the winning team.
I refuse to believe this!!! 
I lost interest after Sin Rostro's identity was revealed, and I still haven't garnered enough energy to marathon to the end. 
And then, I need to rant about Outlander again. I wonder whether it is me other whether it's the drama? It's just ... I don't feel it anymore. I'm sorry, Jamie.
Confession: I watched half the first season and lost interest.
Yes, even though you look like this and generally have your shirt off.

Justified! I'm still watching, still loving it. Season 3 (with which I'm done now) took a while to get my heart, but then, the writing picked up as did the stakes. Not my favorite season (that would be 2) but still very good. Apart from loving the characters, I love the dialogues in this show. And, as somebody mentioned in the comments section the other day: I love the way they talk. (As mentioned on twitter, one of my neighbors looks distinclty like Boyd Crowder. I still smile at him, but I'm also watching him closely)
I should start again then so we can compare notes! That's about where I stopped, several years ago.
You better hurry, I'm already well advanced into Season 4! Which is different from the others. 
I watched Wayward Pines! Did you? It was weird. It felt very Twin Peaks-ish. Definitely going to check out the next episode, though. PS. I can't believe Shannon Sossamyn is getting older.
Haven't watched yet, but plan to. I heard about the Twin Peakishness. I'm a bit reluctant to get into it because everything I hear about it screams carbon copy of other shows I have enjoyed in the past

In terms of Lakorn Land, I'm currently watching "Mai Sin Rai Fai Sawat / Unending Passion", which is only subbed to episode 8. Male lead forces the daughter of a perceived enemy into becoming his mistress, while she schemes to get back her family's estate stolen by him.  If you think this is NOT light and fluffy, you would be right. But it is still an good story, especially with a crazy fiancee, a greedy mother-in-law, a whole slew of chippies waiting to crawl into bed with him, and some mafia guys who want to destroy him. The counterpoint is "Rak Tong Om / Embraced By Love". Two lifelong friends raise a foundling baby and fall in love while searching for the biological parents. Lots of great shots of a man cooing with a baby, and how could that be a bad thing?

Hwajung!!!  So, so good.  It ought be 5 eps a week for 10 weeks. Love Cha Seung Won as Jeonha but am also excited to see Kim Jae Won as Injo, one of the worst kings ever, because, yunno, good looking people in sageuk clothes. Lee Yeon Hee is doing well.  And she's the most acceptable crossdresser I've seen in a kdrama ever. 
 

Upcoming

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Sorry.
Shit.