stroppyse

I'm actually excited to watch this drama. I had forgotten that both of them had bee in 'The Heirs', probably because I really disliked that drama for soooo many reasons, including bad acting by most of the cast. However, Park Hyung Shik has developed a lot as an actor since those cringy days.  And, Park Shin Hye is actually pretty solid as an actress as long as there aren't any kissing scenes. LOL

Here is hoping for a good story line and some firm direction so that it doesn't go all pear-shaped and unwatchable.

It's New Year's Eve! Though in some places, it's already New Year's Day, so here are the final topics to wrap up out end of 2023 discussions!

I have to think about how many dramas I might have watched in 2023. I feel like it was much lower than usual, though. And, I'm not sure whether to count dramas that I finished? Because I started a lot more dramas than I finished this year. I think I mentioned this before, but I definitely felt that I was channeling @SilverMoonTea in the frequency of dramas left unfinished.

As for a gif, emoji, or photo, I suppose it has to be because I definitely spent more time fangirling over all things BTS than I did watching dramas! 

Topic 14 and 15

So, I felt these 2 topics were related (or perhaps could be related?), so anyway posting them together.

I mean, really, if you enjoy watching them this year, wouldn't you want to see them next year?  Anyway, feel free to answer either or both questions!

I think my picks for the first may be Choi Hyun Wook of 'Twinkling Watermelon' and Yiran Zhou of 'When I Fly Towards You'. Perhaps surprising that both of them are relative rookie actors, but really enjoyed their performances this year, and anticipating what else they might do next year.

However, I also really want to see Park Bo Gum in a new movie or drama next year. I loved him as an actor before he went off to the military, despite the mess that was 'Record of Youth', but he hasn't really made a move in an acting project since his charge in 2022. He's done some variety and a lot of CF's, but it's not the same, is it?

Topic 13

So confused as to what I watched and which scene was when. However, I rather loved the scene where Yeon shoots Rang's cigarette out of his mouth. True older brother vibes, gumiho style! LOL

Topic 12

So many characters, so many dramas, so little time! So, remember, this is your fave character and not an actor/actress.

Topic 11

The one you love to hate, whether it's the scheming ex or the one who wants to rule the world regardless of who gets hurt! However, can we all agree that without a good villain, most dramas would just be a nice, boring story?

Topic 10

You watch enough k-dramas or c-dramas or j-doramas, etc., you start noticing various tropes, like the ML grabbing the FL by her wrist to drag her around or fauxcest or the ML being totally mean to the FL before he falls in love with her, etc., etc., etc.  Which trope are you tired of and want to ban from all future dramas? 

Topic 9

Ugh. The heartbreak of this category!

Bizarrely enough, my pick for this category for this year was Strong Girl Nam Soon. The evil guy was the evil guy and NS ended up with the right relationship. However, everyone deserves to have someone to love and who loves them back without being betrayed, and it seemed as if everyone in Ryu Shi-oh's life had betrayed him. Kudos to Byun Woo Seok for playing RSO in such a charismatic way, even if RSO is also a psychopath, that I actually had moments where I wished that NS could really be with RSO and turn him from his path of evil destruction.

Also, my apologies for the original repeat of topic 8. I posted without really having the time to read it properly or even realize that it was a duplicate. Sorry!

Topic 8

"Regrets, I've had a few..."

Topic 7

Moving on from the Omma and Appa to the whole family, biological or makeshift. Because blood is not the only thing that makes a family.

Topic 6

Yes, yes, main leads are important, but so often, the parents are key drivers for both good and evil! Yep, I'm looking at you 'The Good Bad Mother.' Anyway, it seems that k-dramas and c-dramas seem to be leaning into the trope of having a good father and a mean mother, but there are still definitely gems of parenthood out there still. So, who is your daddy or mama?

Topic 5

Sorry, everyone. I was a bit under the weather, so I lost a few days. As for this question, unfortunately, there always seem to be some dramas which I wait for with a lot of anticipation which I end up dropping for different reasons, and there seemed to be a lot this year. Anyway.

Topic 4

We usually root for the romance, fated or doomed, but dramas show us so many different types of relationships, and we want to celebrate them all!

So, name of the drama, of course, but also your fave relationship and why it hit you the way that it did.

Topic 3

There is always a drama that you passed on initially, but watching later, you wished you had watched sooner. Perhaps because you would have found more people to discuss the drama with, watching in real time. Or just because it would have taken you that much sooner to your happy place.

Actually, there were 2 memorable dramas for me.

Hidden Love was an unexpected delight, especially given that I don't even remember how I started watching it. I don't watch too many c-dramas since I actually have to read subtitles for anything other than k-dramas, I'm not a huge fan of youth dramas, and the synopsis was not written in a way that appealed to me. However, I found that as I watched each episode, I couldn't wait to start the next episode. It didn't have any melodrama, just a story of a young crush which actualizes into a first love, then a forever love. But, I loved both actors, to the point where I've actually started a couple of other dramas with those actors in them. And when I was done, I found myself thinking about this drama, so it's a bit of a happy place for me. There you go @Tofu.

Tales of the Nine-Tailed 1938 was a drama that I was cautiously hopeful about. The original drama was a bit of a hit and miss for me, but my fave part was the bromance between Lee Yeon and Lee Rang. This follow up drama gave us a lot more of that, minimizing the romance except for brief touches here and there, which made for a stronger drama. It showed more relationships in all of their nuances, including failures and disappointments which still didn't serve as barriers to true love and friendship. I enjoyed this drama so much that I would rewatch episodes when other dramas failed me and had to be dropped.

If I think about it, perhaps there were more dramas that I enjoyed, but I feel as if I was in rewatch mode for older dramas rather than first run dramas this year.

Two honorable mentions. I actually ended up enjoying Revolutionary Sisters and Love in Your Eyes quite a bit, though there were episodes in both that made me gnash my teeth. Then again, what would a long drama be without angst and unbelievable coincidences, i.e. fate, both good and bad. And tagging @Nohamahmoud2002, my co-conspirator in long drama watching!

Drama Reflections for 2023

It's almost the end of 2023, and so it's time for us to reflect and discuss what we liked and didn't like in our drama watching for 2023. To be honest, I don't think I was terribly inspired by my drama watching this year. There was some nice c-dramas that I managed to catch, however, I won't lie. It was definitely not a year for watching in real time. Rather, I found myself binging after all episodes were dropped, assuming that I watched all the episodes anyway. I took from @SilverMoonTea's page this year, and dropped dramas that I didn't find myself thinking about.

Anyway, come with us as we ask ourselves those (maybe not so) important questions about our drama watching this past year. We'll post a new discussion topic per day, so come back and share your answers with us!

The first topic:

Thanks to @Tofu for the graphics and the questions!

Edit:

I'm adding links to the other additional topic questions here once I've taken it down from the recommended pin in case anyone joins us late and wants to know what the other topics were.

Topic 2: Recommendation free drama

Topic 3: Wishing you had watched it sooner

Topic 4: Fave relationship

Topic 5: Not quite up to snuff

Topic 6: Best Omma/Appa

Topic 7: Thicker than blood

Topic 8: Regretful watches

Topic 9: You're okay going down with the ship!

Topic 10: Ban that trope!

Topic 11: But evil can be so seductive...

Topic 12: Fave charactor

Arrgh! I'm not sure about this drama. I feel as if I hate every character so far, except perhaps TH and his grandmother?

They've really set up HS and her family to all be really annoying and impractical. I could go into reams of words to explain how I think they are all pretty thoughtless and stupid. Even HS who desperately doesn't want to be responsible for her family who willfully get into financial trouble, allows herself to be sucked in time and again. I guess this is meant to show that she is a "good" person, but she seems mostly to be enabling destructive behavior. And her entire family are all pretty loathesome, including her SIL.

Wait, I guess actually HS' nephew Philip seems to be a good kid, though how he managed that with the parents he has is a darn miracle.

Wonder if this drama will get better?

@ktcjdrama @Mizv, I finally watched the ending of this drama, and did they forget the drama was ending? Or was the episode count cut down? The wrap up was way too sudden and unsatisfying. And, actually, I had a lot of complaints about how KS was written.

Ugh, I hate these story lines where a main character is fine with hurting everyone that they "love" so that they can appease the jerks who kick them around.

Definitely not going to miss this drama, or even remember it after this.

So, just caught the first 4 episodes of this drama. Is it bad that my fave part has been the cameo by Bong Soon and Min Min? They were just so adorable still!

As for this version of the Strong Girl, I'm a bit confused at how rich NS' family seem to be. I thought that they couldn't use their strength for anything other than doing good? I guess there is some question of whether the Mom and Grandmom were just really hard working people who happen to be strong, so preserved their power by not using it and just made their wealth through hard work and effort? But given how they just used their strength to deal with annoyances, e.g. the grandmother and flipping the annoying person's car upside down into the corner parking space, it would be an interesting take. And, the wealth does seem to be from the women's side rather than marrying into it as BS did when she married Min.

This is my intro to OSW, so not sure how I feel about him yet. I like the character, but he hasn't really done that much as yet. I'm hoping that he and NS will have better scenes together.

I was happy to see that the fake NS story was dealt with quickly. Surprising that the mother was even taken in at all by the fake NS.

On 10/10/2023 at 8:49 AM, abs-oluteM said:

My faith in JCW has been restored. 

Wow, that is high praise! Okay, I'll try to figure out where to watch it.

Finally watched the ending episodes of this drama. As expected, a happy ending for everyone, either explicit or implicit.

The change of hearts of the bad characters weren't entirely believable, but it was time to bring the drama to a close. The babies and toddlers who played HaNeul and Won are very cute.

8 hours ago, Mizv said:

Nice ending wrap up.  It always amazes me how Kdramas can make something impossible resolved so nice and sweet.

Well, there are the creative uses of epiphanies that villains in kdramas seem to frequently have. LOL

Not to mention that everyone is so willing to let bygones be bygones, no matter how awful the villainy or treachery.

Haven't had time to watch the ending yet, but figured it would have a happy ending anyway. Curious about how DW and YM's story gets settled, so will make time to watch. At least the runaway mother in this drama seems to be a more decent human being than the runaway mother in It's Gold, It's Jade.

I am totally appalled at JD's mother. The stuff she says as she struts around, thinking she's entitled to all that. She is fine with lying and ruining other people's lives in order to get what she wants.

Though, it's not clear what she actually wants. I get it that her primary objective is to get JD's bone marrow for Jenny, which basically makes her a literal bloodsucking vampire towards JD. However, it seems a point of pride that KS pine after her and only her, and she's outraged that he has the nerve to find a woman to love?

The times when she tells JD about how all that she wants is for the three of them to be a happy little family together is totally gross. Especially given how quickly JD will find out the lie once she finds out about Jenny. However, her mother clearly doesn't care about that at all. To be fair, if it all happened that way, then it would be too late for KS and MR to get back together anyway. Fortunately, it seems that KS is resistant to everyone, including JD, who wants him to given in to SJ.

Also, KS' MIL is a total piece of work, and I get sick just thinking about her. The nicest thing that might be said about her is that she's delusional. The worst is that she's another example of Korean motherhood who thinks that it's perfectly okay to sacrifice for everyone and everything if her own children get what they want. I'm really not a fan of this trope, and hope that it's not true, since it makes Koreans seem like immoral narcissists.

3 hours ago, ktcjdrama said:

I won’t blame you not coming back here... Agree that the romance between TK and YD can be a little bit more passionate, and I am not talking about steamy kisses. It is even more compelling to watch the childless couple. This drama is truly a waste of BJH ability. She hardly needs to do any acting, only delivering lines... I don’t understand why they need to cast her for this role 🙄

I agree with you and @SilverMoonTea that the OTP romance in this drama was a bit bleah, but especially now. They are so busy being "good" and conciliatory to everyone else, and their scenes together are basically them worrying about everyone else.

As for BJH, I wonder if she's had difficulty getting roles? I agree that she is wasted here, but I was shocked by her appearance right now anyway. She seems to have lost a lot of weight for this role, and actresses who are losing out on roles seem to try to get skinnier as a way of making themselves more appealing to casting directors. She may have taken this role because she doesn't have any other serious offers on the table.

I think this is why every time I see a sub-par idol actress get cast in yet another drama, it just makes me shake my head. Clearly, production houses would rather cast idol actresses in the hope that their fans will watch regardless of how unwatchable the end product is for those who are not fans. Same for idol actors as well, I guess, though their projects seem to do worse anyway, so not as much incentive to cast them?

On 9/5/2023 at 7:08 PM, ktcjdrama said:

@stroppyse where are you now with the episode? I am wondering if you remember the scene when SJ was talking on the phone with her lawyer... I think I watched that episode raw, and didn't quite catch what she said to the lawyer. I want to know more about what her marital status is. Husband dead, leaving inheritance for her? Or divorced? 

Too lazy and difficult to rewatch to find that episode. Not important though if you don't remember, since I believe it will be revealed again later. 

 

The lawyer mentions that he has finally finished completed the work to get SJ's inheritance from a James Kim. I think James Kim was the partner that she lived with overseas. SJ asks the lawyer to start selling the properties since she's planning on staying in Korea and possibly remarrying her ex-husband.

Though given that KS is putting in the papers for their divorce, it's not clear what KS and SJ's legal status is. Also, if she's still legally married to KS, I would have thought that could complicate issues of marital inheritance? Though not sure about that actually.

I also saw the part where SJ needs a bone marrow transplant and since she can't find a suitable donor, family had the highest chance of matching. That's why she's shown back up, because she needs something from them. And then she lied to JD to get her tested to see if she's a suitable donor. She does not have any mother instincts whatsoever! I mean, seriously, she is an ultimate leech who doesn't mind preying on anyone, including her own daughter.  Blech.

Or I guess she wants JD's bone marrow for her other daughter, Jenny. Whatever. SJ is a terrible mother.

10 hours ago, Mizv said:

Plus the pregnancy scare is going to be extremely enjoyable.  

Pregnancy drama? Who is pregnant?

edit: I finally saw whose pregnancy it was. Wow, that's going to be a bit of a shocker.

Back to JD's birth mom. She is brazen to the max and has no morals or scruples apparently about getting what she wants. Good thing that JD was raised by KS rather than by her birth mum.