E2. I realize that you do need to keep a slightly blurry lens on, with this show. It's a little rough around the edges, and sometimes logic gets stretched. But, if you're able to do that, there's a cracky feel about this one that feels quite delicious.
First, the things that make me feel like this show leans a touch low rent. Sometimes the color grading leans a little stark, I feel, and s...
2020-12-15 08:21:19 +0000 UTC View PostE2. I know it's technically still very early days - this only being episode 2 and all - but I seriously, seriously really like this show.
This is still set-up, so we're still getting to know our characters, and So Mun is still learning the ropes and getting the hang of things, which means that the general flow is somewhat unsurprising. But, just because it leans a touch predictable, doesn...
2020-12-12 06:09:09 +0000 UTC View PostE1. I must be in the mood for some intense, makjang-laced melo, because I am sucked in, and right away too.
With makjang, it's a little bit tricky, for me, because I like my makjang levels just so. Too makjang, and it becomes too much to deal with (this is why I'm not likely to watch Penthouse; it looks too intense and shouty). Not makjang enough, and I start to feel bored (like ...
2020-12-10 00:37:52 +0000 UTC View PostE1. Oh my. From what I can tell from just one episode, this show feels like OCN and JTBC got together and made a mystical X-Man baby - and I mean that in the best way.
There's action, danger, death and blood, all of which I consider OCN staples, but there's a great deal more in the way of relationship dynamics and heart, served up in a manner that I feel leans sophisticated, and which I a...
2020-12-07 00:08:47 +0000 UTC View PostE2. Just like how we followed that flower petal's long journey to Do San's head at the end of our last episode, I feel like we're doing a slow pan of our drama world this episode, to shift our focus from Ji Pyeong to Do San. It's not instantaneous, but I can feel our focus slowly changing to be more Do San-centric. I currently still feel more connected to Ji Pyeong, because we've spent a lot mo...
2020-11-26 04:00:21 +0000 UTC View PostE1. If I had to summarize my feelings about episode 1 in a single sentence, it would be: I like it, but I wish it were shorter. I don't know why, exactly, but even though I've quite easily powered through long episodes of drama before, I really felt the length of this introductory episode. The 1 hr 22 mins felt long, and in spite of Show's many positives, I found myself feeling tired a...
2020-11-20 23:26:15 +0000 UTC View PostE2. Two episodes in, I am having mixed feelings about this show.
On the upside, it's prettily filmed, and episode 2 is mostly on Jeju Island, so it's extra pretty. It feels laidback and uncomplicated, and unoffensive and simple.
On the downside, there's nothing that really makes this one stand out, so far. It feels simple to the extent that right now it leans predictable and tropey,...
2020-11-18 03:40:28 +0000 UTC View PostE1. What is this feeling? I think I'm reluctantly sucked in..?
We spend most of episode 1 in a flashback detailing how Woo Yeon and Lee Soo became friends, and I'm having mixed feelings.
On the one hand, the way he is so flippant towards her, even though he does show a reasonable measure of care and concern, is rather perplexing. His self-aggrandizing one-liners are also not very fu...
2020-11-13 01:15:28 +0000 UTC View PostE2. This is the drama that I didn't know I wanted, for Lee Do Hyun. Boy is SO GOOD in this. I mean, I'd been impressed with him in Hotel Del Luna, but I'd kept in mind that he only debuted in 2017, and so might need more time to gain more acting experience and work his way up to a meaty lead role. But here he is, blowing my socks off in just the first 2 episodes with acting skill and range that...
2020-10-30 08:35:30 +0000 UTC View PostE1. Okay, I like this one, a lot, and right away too. Dare I hope for Show to continue being this engaging, all the way through to the end?
The set-up is efficiently done, and pretty relatable, I think. I'm guessing that many of us have regrets in life, and wonder what we would do differently, if we had the chance. And here, Dae Young has that chance. We don't understand the magic of it, ...
2020-10-25 02:28:11 +0000 UTC View PostE2. Well, I needn't have worried; it looks like I like this one, and very well, too. Woot! I don't love it to pieces yet, but it's still early days, so it's still a possibility?
As others before me have said, there is a lot of subtext in this drama that tells us more about what our characters are feeling, beyond the dialogue in a scene. The awkward shifting of a gaze; a nervous pause; a t...
2020-10-01 03:44:04 +0000 UTC View PostE1. There's an underdog quality to this story that appeals to me.
Song Ah is a latecomer to violin compared to her schoolmates, and that already puts the odds against her, before we even get to family pressure for her to do something successful with her life already. The way people view Song Ah seems to be a mix of curiosity and pity, because she's older than the rest of her course mates ...
2020-10-01 03:43:02 +0000 UTC View PostE2. My second date with Show feels like a success. Huzzah!
I don't know if it's because stuff is actually working better overall, or if I've just gotten used to it. I find that I enjoyed episode 2 significantly more than episode 1. My guess is that it's a bit of both.
It bodes well for me that my favorite thing in this show is when Park Bo Gum and Park So Dam are sharing the screen....
2020-09-28 06:03:59 +0000 UTC View PostE1. Not gonna lie; I was almost afraid to start this one, in case I hated it. Now that I've finished the first episode, I'd say that this wasn't love at first sight. In fact, it kinda felt like an awkward blind date, where you're trying to make conversation and everything feels kind of scattered. But, at the end of the date, you feel like there's enough there, to try a second date, to see if th...
2020-09-23 09:11:21 +0000 UTC View PostE2. Lee Jun Ki is absolutely showing us a different side to himself that I don't think he's shown us before. Hee Seong can look absolutely soulless at times, and it's quite disconcerting. The fact that he has to practice smiling in the mirror while watching a lecture on it, indicates that he has trouble understanding human emotion. Is this the year of sociopaths or something? Between It's Okay ...
2020-09-12 07:21:12 +0000 UTC View PostE1. Well, color me intrigued. I have no idea what the truth is, but this show feels interesting and complicated, like there are many layers of truths and half-truths that are waiting to be revealed, and I feel ready for the ride.
Lee Jun Ki is playing Hee Seong with an undercurrent that feels half deadened soul and half amoral genius. Even in Hee Seong's happy moments, when he's with Ji W...
2020-09-07 03:49:13 +0000 UTC View PostE2. I can see why people have been calling this show a breath of fresh air. There isn't a predictable bone in this show, so far. From the fisheye lens which makes me feel like this story world is just weird and off-kilter, to the often unexpected narrative turns, I literally don't know what to expect next, from this show. Given that we exist in a drama landscape where most longtime drama fans c...
2020-09-04 06:55:45 +0000 UTC View PostE1. Ha. I like this more than I thought I would. Let me count the reasons why.
First, this is turning out to be an underdog story, and I do enjoy a good underdog story. Nobody expects Se Ra to succeed at her bid for the district representative seat, not because they actually understand what she's about and don't think she fits the bill; rather, it all seems to be dismissive prejudice, and...
2020-08-30 02:37:32 +0000 UTC View PostE2. In broad strokes, this kinda-sorta reminds me of Crash Landing On You, but with the genders switched. Instead of a rich girl landing in an unfamiliar place, and who quickly gloms onto the first familiar face that she finds, we have a king from a parallel universe landing in Korea, quickly glomming onto the first familiar face he finds. We even have the similar repeated phone calls, where he...
2020-08-16 08:53:26 +0000 UTC View PostE1. I find myself surprisingly entertained by episode 1; way more than I’d expected to be. This is quite possibly due to the extremely low expectations I had, going into this show.
Show is expensively produced, polished and shiny to look at, and feels glossy and carefully finished. The music is well-handled, in that I don’t find it intrusive, and at key moments, the music chosen does ...
2020-08-12 10:59:42 +0000 UTC View PostHello my dear friends,
I just wanted to let you know why the Patreon posts have slowed a little bit, in the last week.
I had a bit of a freak mishap with a broken glass on Sunday, and had to get 4 stitches to my right wrist. Basically I was washing a glass, when it slipped out of my hands, and then it hit the side of the sink and broke on its way down to the basin. But it land...
2020-07-31 03:30:45 +0000 UTC View PostE2. This drama feels familiar and yet fresh at the same time, and that is a pretty exciting feeling. I like this a lot, so far.
At first glance, this feels approachable because there are elements that I recognize as hallmarks of the typical family drama, even though this show's handling of them are more restrained (which I count a good thing): there's friction and familiarity baked into t...
2020-07-24 10:24:27 +0000 UTC View PostE2. I hadn't thought of this in episode 1, but.. besides the opening animation looking like a goth fairytale, is this story supposed to be a goth fairytale?
I'm undecided at the moment, but right now, I'm leaning towards yes, particularly because our female lead is styled as a beautiful, damaged, probably-good-at-heart-but-otherwise-easily-casually-cruel witch, who's thrilled tha...
2020-07-22 16:19:15 +0000 UTC View PostE1. So far, I find this very promising. It feels like a lot of the things I like in family dramas, condensed into a more efficient 16 episodes rather than a sprawling 54 episodes, presented with more polish, and sprinkled with a harder dash of reality, than the average family drama. It feels.. kinda spicy, so far, in that it tastes interesting and it has my attention, and it also feels...
2020-07-22 01:19:18 +0000 UTC View PostE1. I was wondering where I'd land, with the apparent controversy surrounding the extreme mean behavior of our female lead, and as it turns out, context really is everything, after all.
I can see how seeing snippets of her scenes could turn someone away from wanting to watch this show, because it would feel like buying into or supporting dysfunctional behavior that is cruel or unsympathet...
2020-07-19 13:31:20 +0000 UTC View PostE2. Usually with most dramas, you can kinda figure out the general trajectory of the story, ie, will it be a happy ending, will the couple end up together, etc, but with this one, I have to confess, I'm not really sure where we're going with this. I'm not sure whether Yu Ri is going to be able to complete her mission, of regaining her place in the world within the allotted 49 days, or whether s...
2020-07-09 16:06:38 +0000 UTC View PostE1. Woah. Show's got my heart, and right away, too.
I felt my heart get sucked in within Show's first 5 minutes, with the flashbacks to Yu Ri's budding romance with Kang Hwa, to the highs, lows and bickering cute of their relationship, to the proposal, to the wedding. It's such adorable feel-good stuff, and I love them as a couple right away.
And then, without warning, we cut to the...
2020-07-07 07:48:38 +0000 UTC View PostE2. This episode, Show feels more like Hotel Del Luna than in E1, in the sense that the person helped this episode is dead. And, I gotta say, I think Mystic does it better. The CGI and overall visuals may be a hair less polished than Hotel, but the richness of heart wins hands down. I felt myself choking up a few times this episode, and that's not something I felt much in Hotel - at least, not ...
2020-07-05 16:19:51 +0000 UTC View PostE1. This was quite an efficient first episode, I'd say. In just this first hour, I feel like I understand our female lead Ha Ri's biggest desire, what it means to her, and just how impossible it seems right now, for her to realize her dream of getting married and having a child.
We are also introduced, at varying length, to the various potential love interests and baby-daddies. Even thoug...
2020-07-03 03:36:50 +0000 UTC View PostE1. I'm pleasantly surprised by how engaged I feel, after just one episode. Usually, it takes me a couple of episodes at least, to feel drawn in by a show, but I feel quite optimistic about this one, pretty much right away.
I can see why people say that this show has some Hotel Del Luna vibes. It kinda does, but I prefer this show's vibes. Let me explain. Hotel Del Luna has a sadder, more...
2020-07-01 07:23:21 +0000 UTC View Post