Shows I Watched: January 2025

Status: Dropped

Year: 2024 (12/30)

Country: Chinese

Genre: fantasy costume, adventure, comedy

Episodes: ??/40

Plot: Ml from modern times gets transported into the world of the role-playing game (murder mystery game, he solves the mysteries with his knowledge of science and deduction skills.

Comments:

• I was looking forward to the drama for Dylan Wang and Tian Xi Wei's chemistry (and they promoted it as such), but she came into the drama too late, and not enough build-up to their kiss
• Pacing issues: I am not an expert, but if you said the character is dead and has a funeral, I think that you should wait until the next episode to say he is alive (of course he is; he is the lead)
• Too many side characters that are reoccurring, I can't remember most of them
• The drama is not doing a good job of explaining what is happening

Status: Dropped

Year: 2024 (12/23)

Country: Korean

Genre: life, coming-of-age

Episodes: 4/12

Plot: A story between an idol trainee and an entertainment CEO trying to make it.

Comments:

• It was interesting, but for some reason, I just did not feel like clicking into the newer episodes when it aired.

Status: Dropped

Year: 2025

Country: Korean

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Episodes: 4/16

Plot: An ML doctor (obstetrician-gynecologist) travels to space as a tourist to fulfill a secret assignment from his future father-in-law. He meets the FL, who is in charge of his trip.

Comments:

• I think the whole drama is out of touch. With the big-name director, writer, and actors,  plus a big production budget. But it's not as witty, funny, realistic (in terms of the portrayal of human relationships), and romantic as they thought it would be to its audience.
• But it made me realize how good-looking Lee Min Ho is

Status: Dropped

Year: 2025

Country: Korean

Genre: historical, political, drama

Episodes: 2/14

Plot: The story of Queen Won Gyeong and her rift with her husband, King Tae Jo.

Comments:

•  I think it is good and refreshing to be centered around the core female figures of the era.
• I'm just not into ultra-serious drama at this time

Status: Dropped

Year: 2025

Country: Chinese

Genre: fantasy, costume, romance

Episodes: 5/10

Plot: A love story of a daughter of a righteous governor who believes in gods, with an incident she encountered when she was young and everybody around her thinks she is crazy. She meets a demon god, and they fall in love.

Comments:

• The color pallet hurt my eyes.
• The dialog was a little cringe (the male lead's sidekick said something along the lines of "Your majesty's beauty is unparalleled" or something and I just cringed so hard
• Bai Lu is on autopilot 

Status: Dropped

Year: 2025

Country: Chinese

Genre: costume, family, romance

Episodes: 11/36

Plot: The Li family from Luoyang is famous for its five beautiful daughters. They move to Bianjing, where the second daughter marries and settles. The matriarch's goal is to marry off her unmarried daughters.

Comments:

• I was going to finish it or at least stick it out, but I'm sorry to say... I find it hard to finish 1 episode. And I am not a "fan" of any of the actors (I have good impressions of them but I don't like them enough just to watch a drama for them) to watch it just for the actors.

Status: Completed

Year: 2025

Country: Chinese

Genre: historical, romance, drama

Episodes: 32/32

Plot: A story of a female lead who has a talent for culturing peonies.

Rating: 7.5/10

Comments:

• I love the actors, which is why I am biased toward this drama. This is Yang Zi's second collaboration with Li Xian.
• Wei Zhe Ming stands out here
• But side characters are in the story, and their stories are just for the FL to feel like a FL
• I was so surprised that there is a season 2 since they were not promoting it that way

Status: Completed

Year: 2025

Country: Chinese

Genre: contemporary, business, life

Episodes: 40/40

Plot: Conspiracies and the drama that occurs in the world of start-ups, investment banking, and private equity and journalism.

Rating: 9/10

Comments:

• The acting is Chef Kiss and the chemistry between the actors I rooted for the lead couples' relationships
• Very well-written and paced, they made what seemed to be a complicated situation easily understandable.
• The ending was very realistic, especially between the actors
• I was just confused with how old Gao Ye's character's age is

Status: Completed

Year: 2025

Country: Korean

Genre: medical

Episodes: 8/8

Plot: A genius trauma surgeon comes in as a replacement for Hanguk University as their current trauma expert, who quit due to overworking. He plans to build a trauma center and recruit team members.

Rating: 8/10

Comments:

• Every actor fits their role perfectly
• The comedy is funny
• Some things are over the top, but it is very manga-like that it reminds me of the structure of Japanese dramas
• It is shorter than a typical Korean drama, so it's quick and easy to watch
• I heard there is a season 2 and confirmed season 3

Status: Completed

Year: 2025

Country: Chinese

Genre: fantasy, wuxia, 

Episodes: 13/13

Plot:

Rating: 9/10

Comments:

• I was afraid that it will be a bad second season, like most that came out last year, but thank god it was good. It wasn't as good as season one, but that doesn't mean this season sucked.
• The cast and the acting.... especially Chen Wen Chi, is so good, I was amazed at how doll-like she was.
• The chemistry between not just the old cast members but the new ones.
• It was funny
• I wished it had more episodes though, I was sad that I binged it all (@12am)
• I am looking forward to the next season. 

Status: Completed (rewatched)

Year: 2024

Country: Thai

Genre: period, romance

Episodes: 19/19

Plot: A love story between a righteous judge with a humble background and a rich heiress of a department store as they fight against biases and their relationships

Rating: 7/10

Comments:

• I rewatched it just for the chemistry. I hadn't watched a Thai drama in a while until this aired. 
• The pacing and the storytelling are inconsistent (the bgm is a mess), but the leads carried the drama with their charm and chemistry

Status: Completed (rewatched)

Year: 2024

Country: Chinese

Genre: fantasy, costume, romance

Episodes: 39/39

Plot: A love story between a female immortal general who is running from an arranged marriage and an ancient god who is bored and lonely.

Rating: 7/10

Comments:

• Rewatched it for the chemistry and acting of the leads. Their chemistry is just amazing, and this is their second collaboration. Lin Geng Shin's "dying" scene is acted so well
• But the rest of the drama is eh, except for some cinematic scenic shots 

Status: Currently Watching

Year: 2025

Country: Korean

Genre: contemporary, romance

Episodes: 8/10

Plot: A love story between a workaholic heated CEO and her perfect secretary, who is a single dad

Rating: 9/10

Comments:

• The chemistry is on fire
• I have been craving a Lee Joon Hyuk romance for a long time and in my opinion the queen of romance Han Ji Min meeting
• This is blatantly a romance drama between two unbelievably good-looking people. It just puts a smile on my face, hence my bias for the drama
• And the stories in each episode are interesting
• The back story between the two that connects them in the past is unnecessary (it hasn't aired, but you can predict it when you watch the drama)

Status: Currently Watching

Year: 2025

Country: Korean

Genre: contemporary, melodrama, romance, coming-of-age

Episodes: 6/12

Plot: A love story between a girl who comes back to her hometown after desperately wanting to leave because of the scars she gained from being the daughter of a motel owner and a foreign mother and her childhood friend who has loved her since childhood.

Rating: 6/10

Comments:

• This is trying to be a lot of genres at the same time, and the tonal shifts feel like I'm watching three different dramas at the same time (artsy, romcom, melo)
• But I like the actors so I'll try to watch as much as I can before dropping it

Status: Currently Watching

Year: 2025

Country: Korean

Genre: contemporary, mystery, comedy

Episodes: 6/12

Plot: The drama tells the story of the members of the investigative TV program Trigger and the obstacles they face.

Rating: 8/10

Comments:

• As of now, it keeps the balance between the comedy and the emotional scenes and subjects
• I like the actors. Never thought that Jung Sung Il was another character after Ha Do Young, but he pulls it off
• Its very entertaining

Status: Currently Watching

Year: 2025

Country: Korean

Genre: contemporary, makjang

Episodes: 6/12

Plot: A hardworking interior designer is a faithful and supportive wife but gets blindsided by her husband who is having an affair with her arch-enemy. She finds comfort in the husband of her arch nemesis who is going through the same things.

Rating: 6/10

Comments:

• It's been a while since I watched a daily drama
• I think it's entertaining and passable

Status: On Hold

Year: 2025

Country: Chinese

Genre: costume, mystery

Episodes: 9/36

Plot: Our FL is a prostitute who managed to negotiate her freedom after she helped a county magistrate on a case and began assisting them on cases.

Rating: 8.5/10

Comments:

• The FL in her projects is a hit or a miss for me
• I'm afraid of the future developments of the FL relationship with the ML because I ship her so much with the SML (and he has more presence in the camera and gives more of the main ML energy), and this is rare because I do get SML syndrome. Still, I always root for the main couple.