thefangirlverdict

Early Access: The Rational Life [China] E1-2

E1-2. I've had several people tell me that they think I'd like this show, and now that I've actually dipped my toes in, I do think everyone's right. Just two episodes in, I feel interested, invested and curious to see more.

This show does strike me as a more mature, more serious version of Find Yourself, where we get a female lead who's in her thirties and facing family and societal press...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E10

E10. Ahhh. We have confirmation and significant OTP progression, huzzah!!

But first, I'm glad to see that the ahjummas successfully intimidate Evil Mom into taking down the malicious post, and officially welcome Min Kyung into their midst. I feel like this must be affirming for Min Kyung on several levels.

Not only is she vindicated of the false accusations, at least in her neighbor...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E9

E9. Ahh. This was such an excellent episode. I love it, so much.

First of all, kudos to Oh Yeon Seo, who knocks it out of the park this episode, portraying Min Kyung's vulnerability so well. There's a distinct sense of fragility about her, whether she's quietly trying to process what other people are saying to her, or whether she's attempting to speak up for herself. I felt for her, so mu...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E8

E8. We get some significant developments this episode, and this pleases me.

For one thing, I'm happy to see that Min Kyung and Hwi Oh are getting over their hump of awkwardness, and being more at ease with each other again. The invitation to ramyeon turns out to be quite literal, even though Min Kyung clearly did mean for it to mess with Hwi Oh a little bit, and I'm glad that the two of t...

Announcement: Poll results!

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for voting on whether we should stick with our 5-day cycle, or switch to a 7-day cycle, and also, for weighing in on the pros and cons of both. I really appreciated reading your thoughts!

In the end, 57% of you voted to stick with the 5-day cycle, and I'm totally happy to do that. 😊 

At the same time, I was thinking about how to make things ...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E7

E7. I have to admit, I was a little thrown by how Hwi Oh and Min Kyung seem to be suddenly quite distant from each other, after the comparative closeness of the last episode.

I rationalize that Min Kyung's withdrawing into herself, from the anxiety that she's experiencing, and also, perhaps she's cutting off possible connections with other people, now that she's decided to move. And I est...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E6

E6. I've come to the conclusion that the more Hwi Oh and Min Kyung kinda-sorta get along, the more I enjoy this show. And this episode, they are getting along pretty well, all things considered.

I groan-chuckled when Helmet Dude turned out to be just a dad dressing up as a superhero for his kid's birthday party. That was a little silly, coz Dad dude certainly could have put on his helmet ...

Poll: Should I change our Patreon cycle?

Hi my dear friends,

Because Natalia (hi Natalia!!) just joined us and asked the question when Bossam posts come out, and how many eps we cover in a week, it just (literally just! 🙈) occurred to me that this 5-day cycle could be confusing for everyone, particularly for new members.

Therefore, I'm toying with the idea of switching to a weekly cycle, so tha...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E5

E5. Ooh. There's reluctant empathy happening on both sides this episode, and it feels like we're making progress! At the same time, the misunderstandings and hijinks still have me groaning in sympathy quite a bit, for Hwi Oh. Good times? 😅

Even though it takes a pretty huge misunderstanding and an unfortunate trip to the police station, it feels good to see Min Kyung start to see Hwi O...

Early Access: Hospital Playlist 2 E2

E2. It's official. I love this show. There's just something quite magical about it, in that despite the long episodes, I just don't want to say goodbye to the characters, when I get to the end of the episode. The warm feels are uplifting and aspirational, and so comforting and calming, that I just want to linger with Show, just a little bit more.

This episode, it feels like our main theme...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E4

E4. The road to mutual acceptance and respect is a long and rocky one, it seems, because even though we get glimmers of progress this episode, in the end, it still feels like Hwi Oh and Min Kyung aren't that much closer to understanding each other, after all.

Watching Min Kyung this episode, the old saying "attack is the best form of defense" seems to be her modus operandi. We've seen tha...

Early Access: Hospital Playlist 2 E1

E1. So here's the thing about Hospital Playlist 2. I'd been a little bit hesitant to start on this second season, because I'd loved Season 1 so much, that I was afraid that Season 2 wouldn't quite feel the same. Also, when I saw that this first episode was a whopping 1 hour 35 minutes long, I balked, and wondered why drama episodes were allowed to be this long.

But then.. I watched the ep...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E3

E3. Last episode, I was ready and eager to find out more about Min Kyung's backstory, and this episode, Show delivers.

It's quite startling to realize that Min Kyung had once been a perfectly normal, happy person, working in an office, and in what had appeared to be a steady relationship. It must have been devastating, for everything to come crumbling down in one fell swoop.

In term...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E2

E2. Hm.. I'm gonna say that I found this episode less funny than our first episode, but I think this was necessary, in order to give us a better sense of what Hwi Oh's been dealing with, all this time. I hafta say, I do feel rather sorry for him, and I do think he's a decent dude, at the heart of it.

I mean, like I mentioned last episode, Min Kyung is a sympathetic character too, but this...

Early Access: The Devil Judge E2

E2. This show is definitely giving me some Vincenzo vibes, only darker, because this time, our antihero actually seems to relish exerting punishment, and violence too, when he deems fit, on others. I am duly, morbidly, fascinated.

This episode, interestingly, I find myself gravitating more towards our devil judge than Ga On, who's our earnest good-guy judge. Given that I've traditionally,...

Early Access: Bossam E2

E2. This episode really solidified my enjoyment of this show, and that's pretty impressive, considering most dramas need about 4 episodes to get settled. To be fair, I do still feel like we're in set-up mode, but I already am full-on enjoying my watch, and that's definitely a solid achievement on Show's part.

I'd mentioned that I'm really enjoying Jung Il Woo in this show, and I feel like...

Early Access: Mad For Each Other E1

E1. Well, whaddya know. I actually find this show ridiculously entertaining, right away. This, considering that I wasn't planning on checking out this show despite liking both leads, because the premise did not sound at all like my kind of thing. I was especially wary of the part about our male lead having anger management issues. That is absolutely not my kind of thing, because the idea of a m...

Early Access: My Roommate is a Gumiho E2

E2. This show is turning out to be sweeter, and yet, at the same time, more comedic, than I'd expected. It's an interesting combination, but not one that I'm opposed to. I find that thinking of this as a webtoon works really well, because that takes care of the comedic parts quite nicely, and I'm quite surprised at how I'm chuckling at my screen, given that I don't typically jive with the funny...

Announcement: Technical issues with the blog

My dear friends,

A number of you have reached out to me to let me know that you're encountering some problems with the blog. I've managed to determine that there has indeed been an error on the blog.

I'm in the process of getting the site integrated with Ezoic, in a bid to improve user experience and ad revenue, at the same time. The integration process requires me to point the site...

Early Access: The Devil Judge E1

E1. Well, this certainly turned out to be a rollercoaster of a first episode. I had no idea what to expect, going into this, but I am definitely intrigued, by what Show is serving up.

First of all, this dystopian version of Seoul does open up a lot of narrative possibilities; things don't have to happen the way we'd expect in the present, because this story world is a completely different...

Poll: Thinking of dropping Doom At Your Service

Hi my dear patrons,

First, a heads-up that today's Early Access post for Doom At Your Service will be a little late, because, well, I'm still watching the episode. 😅 It might be a mood thing; this episode (E10) feels more of a drag than usual.

..Which is why I'm making this post. I'm undecided as to whether to keep on keeping on with Doom, or whether to bite the ...

Early Access: Bossam E1

E1. I'd been hearing good things about this show, and that's why it's on my list in the first place, but I'd been dragging my feet about clicking play, because sageuks do generally tend to be rather onerous, if they aren't fusion, and this show's posters make it look like quite a serious, heavy sort of drama. I guess I just didn't find the premise all that appealing either.

HOWEVER. After...

Early Access: My Roommate is a Gumiho E1

E1. I honestly hadn't been planning to check out this show, because I hadn't found the premise all that interesting, and also.. I don't think of Hye Ri as a strong actress, so that was a factor too. The positive reactions to this show finally got to me, however, and whaddya know, after just this one episode, I'm already having a good time. What a happy surprise!

First of all, I still don'...

Early Access: Racket Boys E2

E2. This show is definitely growing on me nicely. It's giving me slightly meandering, but ultimately feel-good community vibes that are very similar to the signature vibes of the team that gave us the Reply series, Prison Playbook and Hospital Playlist; the fact that writer-nim was a writer for Prison Playbook definitely shows.

I like that we're getting a sense of our characters, while ge...

Early Access: Move To Heaven E2

E2. I honestly wasn't super sure how things would unfold after where we'd left off last episode, but now, I feel like this show is likely to be equal parts poignant, moving, bittersweet, and even educational.

Of course, there is also a teething period, with Sang Gu stepping in as Geu Ru's reluctant guardian, and right now, that is rather uncomfortable to watch, for me.

We still don'...

Early Access: Racket Boys E1

E1. Show took a while to warm up, and I have to admit that I felt myself floundering a bit in trying to engage with this episode's first third, but by the end of the episode, I'm having a good time, and looking forward to more episodes. That's a pretty big achievement on Show's part, I'd say.

I think part of the struggle to get into Show's groove, is that I'm coming off a Vincenzo watch, ...

Early Access: Move To Heaven E1

E1. Show is really efficient, I have to say. Even before this first episode's 45 minutes are up, my heart's in my throat and I'm invested. That's impressive.

First of all, even though I knew that this show deals with death, I still wasn't prepared for our opening scene, where we see this episode's client Kim Seon U getting into that industrial accident. That was excruciating to watch, bec...

Early Access: Scripting Your Destiny E9

E9. We get some sudden leaps forward this episode, and I have to admit, it does feel rather rushed, and I'm still trying to figure out if the leaps make character sense. At the same time, I recognize that this is a short format mini series that doesn't have much more screen time to wrap up its story, so I'm already preparing myself for any possible lapses in logic. I'm still hopeful that Show w...

Early Access: Doom At Your Service E2

E2. As Show tells us more about this drama world, I feel like I'm finding out more, and yet, have more questions than ever? I'm intrigued though, that's for sure.

Usually, when the phrase "take my hand" or "join hands with me" is used in dramas, it's meant metaphorically, like when Myul Mang says it to Dong Kyung at the crosswalk, but then immediately after, and through the rest of the ep...

Early Access: Scripting Your Destiny E8

E8. We get quite a bit of backstory this episode, and I find it really interesting to see things from Ho Yoon's perspective.

I mean, the way he just starts existing, as a god, with an innate understanding that he is a god of destiny, expected to fulfill his godly duties, with no childhood or even any kind of training, is intriguing to me. It's almost like trial and error, the way he immed...