50FiftillidideeBrain

✒⭐Soul Survivors - AoS Concludes⭐

AoS-2 is a seamless continuation of S1. It picks up about 3 years after the dramatic events of S1's close.

As the show opens it appears that they've spent a lot of money on the special effects. It's quite beautiful. The music is top tier also. Blue Flower by LIA is Shazamable. Aching, by Kassy, is too, as is I′m Sorry. by Ailee, and Raindrops, by Gummy.

They switch up the FL and she's got a very different personality than our S1 FL. She's also suffering from memory loss which explains part of the change. She has no memories and he doesn't recognize her, so they need to fall in love all over again. It should have been awesome, but their delivery is barely above average. Is it big-buget disease? Too often, a bigger budget bankrupts the humanity.

AoS doesn't take itself seriously. In S2 I was hoping they would go loftier, but they opted to go lower - they get more nonsensical than I would prefer. It's still a fantastic watch.

If I wasn't already familiar with Chinese fantasy, I may not have had those thoughts. Chinese fantasy, despite its often clunky special effects, is arguably the best in the world, and AoS has Chinese influence written all over it. If you like it, alchemize your watch list to include these amazing Cdramas:
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!,
Eternal Love-8.3,
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8,
Love Between Fairy and Devil 8.9,
Love and Redemption-10

AoS-2 drops off slightly from S1, but it is a solid conclusion to the popular show. I wrote more about it in my S1 review.

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Red Bun Coalition ♟️ The Means Rustify the Soul °8.4° °Excellent°

Corruption: the process by which something is changed from its original use to one that is erroneous or debased. A departure from what is pure or correct. Decay, decomposition, dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery. Even if leaders want the right things, too often they are willing to do the wrong things to get them.

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it," said Mark Twain.

US is a historical political fiction thriller based on true events. Three characters are based on actual historical figures while everyone else seems to be an amalgam of other players that created the political debacle of 1959-60 in SK, Uncle Sam being the most amalgamous. Communism was spreading, the world was in chaos. World War II had rewritten the map of the world. The North and the South Koreans were at odds. SK was closely monitored by an on-site U.S. military. This is one of Director/writer Shin Youn-Shick's (Cassiopeia) higher rated offerings. “I think Korea is the only country that asks if one has eaten as a greeting. (The series) portrays the difficult times right after the Korean War, when it was truly challenging to have even one meal a day,” Shin said. Yet it was politics as usual at the top. These back-room ghouls think nothing of the suffering masses.

Not interested? I gravitate to the imaginative side of entertainment myself - Sci-fi, thrillers, fantasy… romance. We have to make an effort to try new things to be more well rounded. As such, one could tag me a somewhat reluctant viewer. Around Ep5 it became clear that this is an excellent drama. US might not be my go-to genre, but it is an excellently created show. It starts like a tank. It grinds slowly but really cranks up towards the end. The acting and directing are sublime. What's most important is that it's a peek under the hood of politics, another reminder that politics is overrun by hoods. “This is what it means to be in politics,” muses Joo In-tae. His daughter had just asked him how he could work with a guy who had tortured him during the Japanese occupation. Many well meaning people jump into the “public service” foray with the intent to ‘do-good’, but they slowly get absorbed by a system that pumps out ‘doo-doo’. Politics is one big manure spreader. As KS says, it's “Hypocrisy disguised as a dream.”

1960. The March15 Election Fraud is about the rigged re-election of Syngman Rhee, in power since post WWII. That led to The April Revolution: A series of protests and demonstrations demanding reform that led to the removal of Rhee. We open in 1960, but the cars look older, indicating that money is scarce and they're getting by on older belongings and older technology. It is a dark, wet night. Authorities are dragging away a man who is screaming that it's Samsik's fault. What’s a Samsik? Well, he is a dude who made sure everyone in his circle had three meals a day. Even during the war. “Sam” means three. “Sik” means food. “Chingoo Chincha.” A true friend.

US is a 2024 release that is rated 86 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 42ish-minute eps that positively fly by in comparison to a typical Kdrama. Not only is US an excellent drama, but it's also a primer on politics and the slippery slope that topples the naive. The good they sincerely want to do is the carrot. Getting reelected is the stick. It helps me understand politicians more and it also makes me despise politics all the more. It's a filthy, slimy business. Cliches are always based on entrenched patterns. The cliche, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” still rings true. The human race hasn't outgrown that problem. Voters and the general public seem to have the attention span of a fruit fly and the memory of an ostrich. We neither know nor understand our history. Therefore we are doomed to suffer corrupt leadership. It just isn't wise to put too much trust or hope in political leaders.

After we hear what a nurturing guy US Is, we revert to 1959 for a closer peek. There's protesters in Seoul. I've not seen one political Kdrama where that isn't going on. It appears to be part of the fabric of Kcountry. The opening eps go back and forth between that point & MPs questioning suspects in 1960. Questions? In ‘59 these guys staged a coup!

Samsik appears to be more mobster than businessman. He's slowly built up enough to enable him to buy into a chaebol level company - he's about to become a business baron. “Do you know what pizza is?” He's in a great mood and jawwing to someone at the meal before his induction ceremony. “You probably don't even know what cheese is.” He tries to explain pizza to a traditional 1959 Korean. It might as well be explaining the 5th dimension. Try explaining soy sauce to someone who has never had Asian cuisine.

Later that night, he's at a political rally to raise trouble, and the meeting does break up in mayhem, but then Kim San/KS takes the podium. To paraphrase, he says ~ I just got back from the USA. No one is going hungary. Every building shines. They don't even eat all their food. I lived above a pizza shop. Do any of you know what Pizza is? ~ He goes on to talk of a vision where Koreans aren't starving but, rather, where Korea is the center for commerce in the world. Uncle Samsik is listening. Attentively. The scene is quite powerful.

Park Doo Chil (Snowpiercer) plays ML Uncle SamSik with his coat swinging; part of Sam's signature swagger. It's been 35 years since he did TV. Coming into US, I could only see him as he was in Parasite-9, w/ the greasy face and that smell. (I KNOW one can't smell anything through the TV. That is partly why Parasite is so brilliant!) He made an impression. He's excellent in Taxi Driver-8.4 as well, which is also half-fictionalized events based in a true setting and, historically, serves as a bookend to US. In US, PDC is indefatigable. His character is so alive, so energetic, so garrulous, so thoroughly compelling that, for someone with chronic fatigue, it's actually exhausting. US is a man who has gotten used to exploiting opportunities; it's such a habit that he never questions it. He understands that when your stomach is full your mind tends to open. He won people over by feeding them. We're not that much different than stray cats and dogs in that way. He is portrayed as a split, or compartmentalized personality. He is fundamentally decent to those around him and he's generally loyal, but he has no moral backbone whatsoever. Like the best criminals, he's a savant of human psychology. He grew up poor, therefore, he says things like: “Do you like people that are admired? They're the worst.” Yet he fully embraces the system, while he operates outside of the law entirely. US opens up in ep2: ‘I love red bean buns. I could never afford them, but I wanted them so badly I killed a man one day.’

Byun Yo Han, who is positively luminescent in Mr. Sunshine-9 & Misaeng-9.1, plays KS, a man who has the best of intentions but gets marinated and stuck to the bottom by the political sauce. Mr. Byun shows that he can play a serious role. Other actors can as well, but what other actors can't do is capture the magic of the other characters BYH has portrayed. He conveys a nearly tangible sense of delight. That is rare magic, indeed. KS has a soft spot for people who recognize his worth. That only means that he's too self-focused, and his pride is too important to him. It's something that will trip us up. He is so determined to pass his economic reform pkg, (it would be wonderful for Kcountry) that he's willing to do anything. ANYTHING. He thinks he can wash away the stink later.

Lee Kyu Hyung (Doctor John) plays the spineless, but powerful Kang Seong-Min. Even though he's a beautiful man, he's terrifying because he's completely self-focused, he has no empathy, and he's gutless. If someone makes him the slightest bit nervous, he orders a hit. Choo Sang-Rok is Park Ji-Wook. During the Japanese Occupation he was a quisling and worked as a police officer on behalf of the occupiers. In 1959 he’s a prominent politician. Tiffany Young (Reborn Rich) is marvelous as Rachel Jung. Jin Ki Joo (My Perfect Stranger) is Joo Yeo Jin, KS's fiance, as the show opens. Seo Hyun Woo (Flower of Evil-8.9) plays Jung Han Min.

The slippery slope. KS is courted more than a duke's only daughter. How does Samsik seduce him? With intoxicating statements like this: “Nobody gets to fulfill more than 25% of their desires. Nobody gets 80 or 90% so what do you do? You increase your desires by 40-50-60%. Have ambition.” When KS finally succumbs, he has this conversation with the party chief: “I don't need nice guys. We are waging a war here. I won't tolerate any tears.” “I've already shed all my tears. I'm done with that.” By that time he had abandoned his fiance, ignored dozens of illegalities, and had started sewing the seeds of revolution. Samsik stays in the shadows. One might almost think he invented subversive triangulation, but apparently politics is the same at all times and in all places. It's a filthy business in which those in power take advantage of those in need. Catch rivals committing crimes? It's merely an invitation to control them. Turning them in is the last thing that US would do. Even so, Samsik and KS form an unbreakable bond. They have good goals that they intend to implement by any means possible. Following proper channels never even occurs to Samsik, and he manages to slowly and steadily bend KS to his will.

It's always the things that we think we know, our faulty presuppositions, that are going to bring us down. “There was an explosion of people that spilled onto the streets instantly. Ultimately, none of the promises or plans we made mattered at all… No one could have predicted the way the winds would take us, or or how the waves would crash.” The director is adept at building up tension throughout the show. It explodes into protests. There's an aerial shot of marchers that pans several blocks. It's really spectacular. Next, he intersperses the filming with genuine newsreels from the time itself. It's quite emotional. Another nice touch is how KS is gifted a light grey suit. It stands out amongst the unified dark suit coalition. I think it represents how his white intentions became muddied and gray through his interactions with US. In the last ep KS wears a black suit. His eyeglasses are two tones of grey.

Uncle Sam knows things are going sideways in the last episode. He can sense it. He looks at the hotel lobby. People are chit-chatting, drinking and going on with their evening as if nothing's happening. They're completely unaware of the day, of the country, & of the rotation and revolution of the earth. Isn't that always the case? The soldiers enter. It's a profound scene.

US, himself, is often profound. We'll let him close this out: “Let me ask you about the principles that govern this world. Spring arrives, then summer. Flowers bloom, then wilt. They're what make the World Go Round And the sun rise and set. The Earth's rotation and revolution. Can you feel it right now? The rotation and revolution? That's precisely the kind of man I am. The Earth's rotation and revolution…” (looks like the earth still goes around without him). “Sometimes I feel… I feel tossed aside in the world, completely abandoned. I'm flooded with loneliness. It's in those times that I find what I fear most of all… is when that loneliness… becomes familiar.


(more) QUOTES📢

So you think love is trivial? Guess you don't know much about love.

People think they're different from each other. Eventually, they figure out they're all the same. When they figure it out, it's too late.

You have a bad habit. You underestimate people who are younger than you. You need to fix that.

An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought. ~Simon Cameron US financier & politician, 1799-1889~

〰🖍 IMHO

📣8.3 📝8.5 🎭8.5 💓3 🦋4 🎨8 🎵/🔊7.5 🔚9 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡5.5 😅2 😭6 😱3 😯3.5 🤢3 🤔7 💤0

Age 14+
Language Rated-R F💣, some violence, gore, and scares, but the tradeoff is the primer on politics and human relationships. This is an educational jaunt as well as an excellent drama.

Rated TV-MA

Re-📺? Would


Historical footnotes:

Those based on true historical figures:

~Ryu Tae-ho as Choi Han-rim: a prestigious general who KS calls a 2nd father. WIKI - “Based on Lee Han-lim, he is known for his political neutrality and being the only commanding officer to declare public opposition to the May 16 coup. After graduating from Shinkyong Military Academy and studying at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, he served as an officer… was a classmate of Park Chung Hee,” part of the Imperial Japanese Arm & finally 1st Army CDR when the 5/16/60 coup occurred. “He opposed the military's intervention in politics and stood on the opposite line from those who led the military coup of Park Chung-hee. He had prepared to mobilize reserve forces to suppress the coup, but withdrew to prevent a civil war and potential North Korean invasion. Due to his opposition, he was arrested two days later and discharged along with the 5th District Commander and Army Major General Park Ki-byung.”

~Park Hyuk-kwon “as Choi Min-gyu: Minister of Home Affairs who collaborates with the Liberal Party government. Based on Choi In-gyu.”

~Oh Kwang-rok “as Joo In-tae: a politician who insists on national prosperity and peaceful coexistence. Loosely based on Cho Bong-am…Three years after the election, Cho was charged with espionage and receiving funds from NK. His first trial resulted in an acquittal but he was convicted in a second trial and was executed on 31 July 1959. His death sentence was posthumously overturned in 2011 by the South Korean Supreme Court.”

The Albright Stonebridge Group is a real Foundation committed to economic growth in SK.

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Mother's Love Will Never Abandon You ♡ A Sad Show With A Bobbled Ending

This is a good drama, but it made me sad - and not a cathartic "sad," like a Chinese or Shakespearean tragedy that is somehow fulfilling. This show brings on an empty sadness.

In the +, the characters are all complex and thus, they remain interesting. I loved the cameo of Seobinggo and Shin Soon-ae from Oh My Ghost, which I consider to be one of the best romcoms ever made. OMG & HBM share a director, Yoo Je-Won. He has 10 works credited to him, all of which are rated 7 or higher. That's outstanding. So far I've seen Tomorrow With You(7-VG but major logical problems and a couple of crashes with consistency) The King: Eternal Monarch(7.9 it's different, and it's not perfect, but it's mostly excellent) and Abyss(4.7 Poor - it's awful, which hurts my feelings because I love Park Bo-young), and Oh My Ghost(10 - it's superb). His most popular shows are Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha & Crash Course in Romance, which are ones I haven't gotten to, yet.

This drama addresses weighty topics (death, loss, regret, guilt) and does it well. Yu-ri shows thoughtfulness and grace… and MOXIE. The best moments are when the ladies get together, especially when they don their sunglasses-of-doom.

There are shortcomings - too many for it to be considered a top-tier production. Some things that happen are unexpected, but the final outcome comes speeding down the road and arrives just as foreshadowed. There is poor resolution. We are treated to some final moments peeking a few years down the line, but it’s too brief and way too ill-defined, and we don't witness much of any healing. Not all the drinks that are poured are imbibed, meaning that many of the characters seem like they would get more of a story arc, but they just evaporated instead. The rules of the "game" are not laid out. Even when the reason Yu-ri came back is confirmed, it doesn't change any of the problems. It is actually a weak plot point: If that method works, we shouldn't need funeral directors or cemeteries as no one would ever stay dead. As lovely as that would be, it doesn't play well in this show.

Their effort to analyze the mother/daughter cycle is respectable. It seems the show's diffuse focus redirects the audience from an exploratory surgery that would provide a deeper analysis of the truth, to: "Take an aspirin and get some rest. It will all blow by "

In summary, this is not a feel-good drama. Don't look for that. It did not help me process my own recent loss: Don't look for that either.

IMHO...
Suggested Age 12& up.


Directing 6.7
Acting 8
Romance 3
Thought provocation 6

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✒ ♥️ Dimestore Harlequin Novel On the Small Screen °VG° Lite-Snack Romcom

This is not an instant classic. It won't be studied in film class. It is a classic, somewhat cheesy romance without any major flaws. Classic, here, means it's akin to those cheap paperback novels that were written by the grosses a few decades ago, the biggest publisher being Harlequin. My sister would read them by the bagfuls.

Yumi is a girl who is trying to live a better life than her narcissistic ex-adult film star mother. She was teased relentlessly in school over her parentage, so she doesn't want to be equated with her mother anymore - Enough already! She needs distance. She wants to be a *whole world* away from her & her mother's pasts. To draw a solid line between her and Oma, Yumi keeps herself buttoned up and tries to stumble her way through life in the background.

She embarks on a weekend trip for mom's second (Wait. It was the 3rd, maybe?) marriage. For Yumi, the weekend is one fiasco followed by a-mother - eh, /another/, culminating in a one night stand. In a convertible. On the beach. With a dude so good looking, he's almost too pretty. None of this makes Yumi feel better about it. She's disgusted with herself. She doesn't even know his name! (But HER mother wouldn't be so ashamed😂/😬). She wakes first in the morning & slinks off with some of dude's clothing, leaving him exposed to the elements... and gawkers - quite a crowd, actually. All ages. They loved the show. He received loads of fanfare, too.

Yumi, next, slinks back home to focus on putting her life in order. She graduates with a dietary sciences/nutrition degree and is thrilled to land a job at a large corporation that offers great benefits. She's thrilled /until/ she runs into HIM. She has to figure out how to best slice and dice this situation pronto.

That sets the table. You'll have to watch it to see what's on the menu.

MSR is not devoid of quality elements. "No matter how many bad things happen in a day, if one lucky thing happens, it's a lucky day," says Yum-i, while buddy-chugging wine from the bottle, in a convertible, surfside, under the magically lit sky. 🌊➕🍾➕🌌🔜💓⏩💣⏩🚀. 15 min later they have a 1 night stand.

🕛Timeout: That's never a good idea. It's an unacceptable risk to one's physical and emotional health, and one will win the lottery before it leads to committed love. That's one reason it's a fun thing to watch and wonder, and then walk away🕧

This is a show to which lovers of romance who need a mental vacation, can relax and enjoy some healthy snacks. Their little chess game, misunderstandings, series of non-communications, and many memorable meals will make loveaholics smile. Cha Jin-hook (Played by the otherworldly gorgeous Sung Hoon) tells his father, who is pushing for his marriage: "My wife is right here," metaphorically meaning the business. However, his wife is literally #there, in the building. Nice morsel. I suspect that Yumi's name is a play on the English word "Yummy" - also a clever detail.

There are scattered problems: Some minor, some moderate, but they don't bring on indigestion. MSR is what it was designed to be, as a whole - simple escapism. However, it could be improved on. Starting in Ep11, there were too toooooo 2*2*2 many sappy flashback scenes, with sappy background music. They could have made it an episode shorter, or, better yet, make optimal use of that screen time with more content. Do yourself a favor, and FF thru them. When Yumi is singing Karaoke, be warned: They do the #whole song with flashbacks. Then Mr. Cha goes down memory lane. It gets ridiculous, but some quick remote control work takes care of it. Trust me on this one.

The actors are likable, and they did a great job. The secondary romances are brief pleasures. It's easy to root for them. The CEO's aid wears over-the-top-flowered-polka dot-paisley-anything-suits. He's amazing, and wears them proudly. He's one for the highlight reels.

This is a good enough aperitif between heavier shows. If you are at a loss as to what to watch next, but in the mood for a heroine-exits-cocoon style romance, this will do as nicely as an afternoon tea.

IMHO...

🎬7 🎭7.4 💓8 🦋7 🤔6 🎨7.6 😅6.6 🌞7.7 🔚8.

I'm suggesting Age 16+ My reasoning: Her mom is an ex-porn star, which has been a lifetime vexation for Yumi. Also, they have a one-night-stand when they hardly know each other. There's so many other great Kdramas to watch, so there's no rush for teens to see this one.

Romance junkies only -
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
Something in them Rain-9,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9,
Hidden Love-7.8
J🇯🇵: 7th Time Loop-7.9,
True Beauty-7.5
Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion-8.4,
Nina the Starry Bride-8.4

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☘ The Snide Rabbit & the Smiling Carrot ☘ °5.7° °avg➕️°

Mom, I got a call today. ZGDX wants me to play on their 🎧Esports🕹 team…”

“Well I got a call today too. I won a Rolls-Royce just because I bought a fish at the supermarket.” Mom isn't easily impressed.

Esports. E…Sports? They've got the fittest fingers in the world! But parents don't believe it's a suitable way to make a living. Dad chimes in that “cool” isn't a valid factor in choosing a career. Now that Tong Yao has graduated, it's time to forget games and get a J.O.B. BUT, these esports dudes are prettier than a K-pop boy band! What's a gurl to do? Hmmm? A girl's gonna get to Shanghai and give it serious consideration.

But Yao's ex is in Shanghai playing for an opposing team… Whatever, she's so over him. As soon as Yao signs with ZGDX, mom changes the family chat heading from Happy😀Family to Unhappy😥Family… The fans are in an uproar. Her teammates aren't thrilled to have the first girl player in the league. Biscuit, the 🐈, is the only one who's happy. Just looking at Cheng's fish tank and dreaming of the catch keeps him smiling.

FIYS is a 2021 release that is rated 8.6 on MDL & 8.1 on IMDB. It is 1 season consisting of 31 45-minute episodes. It's proof that Xu Kai's smile can carry a show, as FIYS makes the Hallmark Channel look like the Smithsonian Channel. I flinched at the inane dialogue and weak plot devices a few times. From one sappy speech to the next, there's a heavily manufactured feel. At times even the romance feels rather staged (and at other times it's charming). Someone actually orders shark fin soup - Hey, China! That is not alright. Shark fin soup is derived from a brutal practice in which the fin is cut off and the shark is left to sink to the ocean floor and die slowly. This unnecessary cruelty should be banned🚫universally. They do not do a good job drawing the viewer into the competition; the viewer knows very little about what's happening on the screen. One can't help but compare it to The King's Avatar-8, which does a superb job of heightening game play drama and excitement. KA has no romance, but it has spectacular graphics. The tiny screen with tinier characters running around and tinny sound effects is less than exciting in FIYS. I got caught up on my shopping list during the game play because it adds nothing to the equation until the last competition. As of ep7 it still feels like set up - things haven't gotten rolling yet. Perhaps by ep9 or 10 things finally emerge from set-up mode. Then playas gonna play, and haters gonna hate - because this new girl has *ganked the sport's #1 attraction, Chessman. She's claimed ownership. The fans are in a frenzy.

*gank -verb; to take or steal (something); in a video game, to use underhand means to defeat or kill - good word.

Chinese esports fans in this show are really rough, and I'm from right outside of Philadelphia - I know tough fans. FIYS is a 31 episode sermon against cyber bullying with a romance tucked into it. But it's cute, and it passes the time pleasantly. And, hey, it's got cats. Dogs are great, too, but cats are underrepresented and downright abused in Western media. The adorable Xu Kai (Ancient Love Poetry-8.6, Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain-7.5) is Lu Si Cheng. No complaints. Notta one. Cheng Xiao (The World of Fantasy) plays Tong Yao, who is fleet of finger and can play many different RPG characters. Since opposing teams get to ban a certain number of characters, this is a necessary skill.

The romance is like a low drama Sunday stroll. What's a girl supposed to do when she hasn't quite made up her mind, yet the man of any girl's dreams gives her 2 hours to accept or reject him? She ain't ready. He pulls a stunt to seal the deal. He knows how to strategize, afterall. He seems to be into her rather quickly, particularly her bunny bra that he accidentally saw one day. In ep1 it's: “No one would look at you.” and in ep11 it's, “my intermittent blindness.” Soon, his bunny/carrot analogies are nibbling at her. By ep21 it's: “Your hands are so soft.” They are required to live stream for several hours a month while they practice. Since they sit next to eachother, the fans quickly pick up on the tension between them and the junk that they're airing out, both knowingly and unknowingly. From the outside it looks like this: “One of you is too proud and the other is too arrogant. Do you intend to fight for life?”

Now for the Scooby snacks.

🍬They pay subtle deference to The King's Avatar. Their uniforms are nearly the same as the ones that Team Happy wore in KA with some black added in. In ep1 a player on the other team is Yang. They're yelling “Yang! Yang!” It feels like a shout-out to The KA which stars Yang Yang.

🍬The soundtrack is loaded with beautiful piano and violin.

🍬Top lane, top laner, topsolo. Bottom lane. Bottom laner. Middle lane. Midsolo. Jungler. Shooter. Support. Gank. The lingo is fun.

🍬China loves Tolkien. One of the teams is Orcs of Doom. I've seen other references to Tolkien's works in Chinese shows.

🍬A great touch that they should have worked in more often is animation accents. They review the week's quotes with fun word animation bouncing around the screen. Great sequence. When she's tired, a hand-drawn energy bar in the red-zone and a mostly depleted heart are following her around. Less is not more in this case. More fun touches like that would have been an enhancement.

🍬“Your aesthetics are a reference for exclusion,” she says as she puts back the shoes that he picked out😂.

🍬The Big BAD🇰🇷Koreans on the other teams… given the history, and the fact that with a population of around 50M to China's 1.4B, SK is 0.036% China's size, that's funny. They also make reference to watching Kdramas💖

🍬Poor chubadub. Every time something intimate happens, he happens upon it, and he just don't wanna see it!

Love can overcome the odds, and this adorable couple does manage to eke out a win, despite the above mentioned hindrances. At least that's what the ratings demonstrate. This would probably be more popular with tween and teen girls than any other group. She's a touch stiff; maybe it's just him carrying the show… The poor dialogue and plot drivers do lower the degree of difficulty, so the top score is ceilinged well under its full potential. Romance junkies will tolerate this well, but others will relate to it worse than parents will to a career playing video games.


QUOTES📢

It's safer to be a wimp.

What's yours will be yours; otherwise could you take it by force?

Never take the enemy lightly. Don't fight unprepared battles.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣6.3 📝5 🎭6.7 💓6 🦋6 🎨5 🎵/🔊7.5 🔚7 ▪ 🌞5 ⚡2 😅2.5 😭2 😱2 😯2 😖1 🤔3 💤4


Age 13+
Language: PG-13 he!!, d@mn, etc

Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned. ..

Re-📺? Nah, and with the benefit of foreknowledge, I would not watch it for the first time, though it certainly has its bright moments.

In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:

🎎Historical/Period:
Overlord 8.4,
The Sleepless Princess 9.1 (there's a minor fantasy element),
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8,
Under the Power 8.6

🇰🇷K:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;

🔮Fantasy - Heavenly realm:
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome siblings 8.7;
Heavenly Sword 9 (Kung-fu!);
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6

💘Modern Day romance:
Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine;
Find Yourself 8.9 all around excellent;
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5

🇰🇷K:
A Witch's Love 7.8;
love To Hate You 8.9;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's okay not to be okay 9;
My Mister 9.5;

⚡🇰🇷K Action:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4

🇯🇵Japanese lite romcoms: Maid Sama (10), Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo (7.8), Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions (8.4), Toradora (8.5)

Originally 〰️🖊 May 2024

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✒ ⭐ Utterly ✨ Starstruck ⭐ °5.9° °Avg°

💥 You've been slain❗ Oh no. What's Jingjing gonna do?

This show is anxiety treatment. It's soothing, as the dulcet voices speak Mandarin that is beautiful to listen to; it's almost like a massage. Heartbreak & tense moments are kept to a minimum. It's very pleasant hanging out with this pair, even though they're a little boring. Those thoughts & feelings will carry a viewer to the 20-something episodes. At some point, one must acknowledge that the dialogue isn't much more than: “Look at me I'm pretty,” and “Look at my boyfriend. Isn't he handsome?” The writing and dialogue are so flat they're nearly 1-dimensional.

YAMG is a 2021 release of 32 35-min episodes. It was still a few episodes too long and the content was too stretched out in the end. I don't hate this show. It has some lovely moments. It's easy to see why many would enjoy this, but it's just not my poison, so I'm unable to easily overlook its shortcomings.

Stalett, Qiao Jingjing, was a high school classmate of now rocket scientist Yu Tu. She had a crush on him, but he was only interested in the stars. (Now that she's a huge ⭐ he might take notice). She never forgot Yu Tu, but she stopped thinking about him and went on with her life. The entertainment industry is half smoke and mirrors - they sell fantasy and most of their narratives are closely managed: They flat-out lie about the stars' personal lives. Jingjing is starring in a movie about gaming. She got too carried away one day and gave the (very false) impression that she's good at the game Honor of Kings. This got her an invite to the upcoming game tournament, but at the same time, it generated skepticism and mean talk online. If she doesn't get real good real quick she'll be a laughingstock. She needs a coach.

Yu Tu is a near master at the game. She's aware of his online persona and reaches out to him to teach her gaming. He doesn't make it easy, but he comes around and works with her. The rest of the story is them falling for e/o and them acclimating to their relationship. She has to keep her love life a secret. That's one obstacle. They have the HS reunion and a trip home to their families. That's a big deal. Then it's sorting out their busy careers and each making time for the other. Let's not forget the gaming tournament: Yu won't let her fail. I doubt any viewer thinks she'll mess that up.

Dilraba Dilmurat is everywhere. I've seen enough close-ups of her face for a lifetime. She's beautiful, and she has impossibly big eyes. As far as acting goes, she can be likeable, but her range is limited. She does a good job at playing cute. Yang Yang is also very popular. My First look at him was in The King's Avatar-7.9, which is quite good. In KA he's an analytical gamer who plays Glory, and he's virtually sexless. In YAMG his friends call him “girl repellant”. His hair is more tailored in this show which gives him a leaner look. He transforms into a good romantic ML, here, once he decides what he's going to do. He changed his voice in YAMG to make it deeper and more serious. It doesn't sound authentic. I've long been on the fence when it comes to his talent. I considered him average in Who Rules the World-7.5. I admit that he managed solid sex-appeal in YAMG and he was also quite good in Love 020-6.7 (but that show could also be better). Currently, his name on the billing wouldn't move me towards or away from a show.

You give me the moon and I'll raise you some stars This romance is lowkey. It comes very close to dragging alittle, but in the end, it's sweet. In the early episodes It's hard to imagine what's going to fill the rest of the time. Some of their time apart should have been halved or quartered, but it worked. Many of their romantic scenes work, too, though the latter ones are repetitive of the earlier ones. It would appear they had sufficient content for 20-25 episodes max. They stretched it too thin.

Therefore, YAMG should have been better. They had the ingredients and the tools for a top level romance. Chinese modern-day features often contain awkward dialog and wooden interactions between actors. Everything's stiff. Their idea of amusement is when he acts smugly. Sometimes it works. Smetimes it doesn't. One of my discarded titles is the ironic: He's so good looking & she's so good looking, it /must/ be love. There was a time when they commented on looks one time to many ~~} that was in the teen episodes. They go beyond any scrap of good sense with it. It started to feel gross. My rating would have been lower, except she /really is/ cute and gorgeous, and he /really is/ handsome. That does take them a long way. In the last half dozen episodes it became increasingly difficult to hang in there with them, however. The final 2 episodes are more about patriotism and a love for China's space program, which our ML is an employee of. There's nothing wrong with that.

Some of the outfits are awful - almost beyond imagination. They have so many wardrobe misses that I questioned myself on the “hits”. The red dress she wears is stunning, without question. He's got some cool slip-on ankle boots that are a little bit platform. I love them. Maybe I'm wrong - I am a sucker for crazy socks and shoes. They look sleek to me. There's other times where the fashion is disastrous. Yu's mother runs out of the front door during breakfast in a long sleeve velvet (velour?) dress that looks more appropriate for a cocktail party. Furthermore, she runs out to the front gate in her slippers, which would never happen. There's another scene where they're hanging out indoors with their coats on. I can't help but contrast the wardrobe in modern day features to the costumes in Chinese historical and fantasy features, which are resplendent works of art. It's fascinating. As far as music goes,. Stereo Love, by fewtile, is a world🏅class tune; it's sad, haunting, transportive, and it's on my Spotify.

Who will like this? Diehard romantics and romance junkies who are looking for a low stress,low mental energy watch. I didn't mind it at all, but there is nothing that beckons to me to circle back to this couple - ever. My world will not revolve back in that direction.


QUOTE🗣

He {my dad} doesn't have the right to express his opinion in front of my mom.


〰🖍 IMHO

🎬7 🖊〰 5 🎭67 💓67 🦋66 🌞 6 🎨6 🎵/🔊8 😅2 😭0 🤔3 💤 3 🔚5

Age 13+ plenty of kissing and they hit the sack prior to tying the knot.

Poli-wagging; 4/10. Many modern-day Chinese features send the message: Be a good citizen. It would be un-American to not criticize our own government, right? That's a jailable offense in China. There is no perfect government in the world, so there's always something to be improved on.


Re-📺? 🆖

In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:

🌐💓 -
C🇨🇳:
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
Wait, My Youth-8.4


Romance junkies only: Accidentally in Love-6.5 ‘18 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch,
Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine but many object to an outrageous stunt the ML pulls,
Boss & Me-7
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
You are my destiny-6.8 cute and sweet and 1/2 padding,
Meteor Garden-7.4 - 70% flowing 30% dragging and BOF is better,
Hidden Love-7.8

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✒ Looks ARE Everything ⛔ Don't Descend Unless You're Down With That °4.7° °Abysmal°

How could a show named Abyss be so shallow?

Sadly, the show created its own Abyss, trying to make -4 = +4, to extract a sample from the feature. Mathematically, 1 negative in the mix only detracts & never adds + too many negatives will bring everything down into the abyss. A successful feature needs enough positives to negate those negatives. Does 🅰 teeter, or does it totter? Let's examine it.

The show has a similar twist to that of Shallow Hal. Hal is given the gift of seeing people as they are on the inside, not the superficial outside. Hal ends up falling in love with a corpulent, plain girl who has devoted her life to others as a volunteer, so to him, she looks like Gwyneth Paltrow. Go Se-yeon (“Sey”) is a prosecutor, and she's a looker. She's been friends with Cha “Min” since college. He's not attractive in the least, but as an heir to a cosmetics empire, his family is. They aren't attractive enough for Sey to accept Min, however. He's never told her, but he loves her, and there's little doubt that she knows this.

Sey wouldn't join Min in life, but she joins him in death: They are both murdered around the same time. Using an "Abyss," which is a beautiful sphere of light that can bring back the dead, Grim Reaper type beings resurrect them into bodies that reflect the beauty of their souls. Sey ends up average looking and Min, well Min ends up looking like Ahn Hyo Seop from Business Proposal-7 & Dr. Romantic. On his worst day he's a 9. They decide to work together to hunt down their killers. This stirs the villains into action and the show proceeds from there, but it's a bumpy and unsatisfying descent into a pitfall of poor dialogue, bad plot points, and general sloppiness. Abyss is abysmal.

Apparently, becoming more beautiful will improve somebody's personality. They made Min look like Super Dork in the opening clips of the show. After his exterior is transformed to match his internal beauty, he becomes intellectual, reasoned, thoughtful, and displaying social intelligence that he clearly didn't have before. It's true, attractive people receive different (better) treatment during the run of their whole lives, even by their own parents. Parents of unattractive kids treat them worse than parents of attractive kids treat their own, studies have shown 😲.

Park Bo-young is an adorable human being. They bring her in to play the dull reincarnated appearance of Sey's soul against the now beautiful Min. She also takes on a brasher, more grating personality. This is what I most hate about 🅰. it kills me to see them do that to Park Bo-young. When her hair and makeup are done right, she's gorgeous. As a ghost possessing her body, she criticizes her appearance in Oh My Ghost-10 as well, but it's played for laughs, and the rest of the show reinforces her attractiveness. She's the type of person who can look many different ways with makeup, wardrobe, and hair changes. She's a superb actress. As 🅰 progresses, her face gets softer. She starts looking a little more comfortable and, consequently, prettier. Ahn Hyo Seop doesn't have a lot to do other than look good. For what he was called to do, he's more than competent. It's just hard to assess his skills from this show.

Lee Sung Jae as the doctor is nothing short of fantastic. His character gets more irritating, though, as the show goes on. Why can't he just put that shaggy hair in a ponytail? It grates the eyes. Han So-hee, as Jang Hee Jin, is annoying in 🅰. She's great in Nevertheless-7.6, playing the quiet tortured type in that, as well. It's unclear if she can do anything else based on these features. Having to put up with her in 🅰 is wearisome.

Though it likely wasn't intended, the theme of the show is: Looks /do/ matter. They actually hammer in that theme ~repeatedly~. This romance is the worst. They're trying to push a narrative that he only ever liked her for her - the woman with the hideous soul. Yes, they had a friendship, but she treated him like doo-doo for 20 years. How could she not show shame? Why didn't she even apologize? She's shameless - so entitled. She's small and mediocre, too; she's shown her soul❕ She even resents having to pose as his secretary, she's that bossy and selfish,. They try to make the case that she was always interested, but that's ridiculous. There's no connection between them that the viewer can feel (and these actors each connect with their co-stars in other dramas, so don't blame them). Sey shunned Min for his looks, and only now that Min looks better, she likes him. I'm probably not the only viewer who wanted him to end up with somebody better.

There are so many issues. Basically, it's people making stupid decisions, doing stupid things, running off stupidly, without asking for help or backup, as the director tries to force certain emotions, situations and plot points. For those of you who skew more logical, don't go near this. I'm half logic / half emotional, and it drove me nuts. Like trying to weed around rose bushes and constantly getting scratched by thorns, it's impossible to enjoy this. The supposedly tense times don't have any effect. The supposed cliffhangers are just big yawners. This show flat-lines.

I literally logged an entire page of problems with the production. Here's a sample:

☄ It's incomprehensible that a prosecutor would leave her door unlocked. If you know anybody in law enforcement, they know too many horror stories to do anything as naive as leaving a door unlocked. In fact, enhanced paranoia is a much more likely condition. We know a state prosecutor who won't let his wife go to the mall alone. Leave the door unlocked? Laughable.

☄ How would the killer know that Mr Park was in the hospital?

☄ Why does Hee Jin look the same after reincarnation? Despite her questionable soul, her face even cleared up. Is it just because the actress is hot?

☄ It's insulting that person would go into a dark & desolate area to meet somebody for a sales transaction, particularly after the trauma she'd been through. It's almost worse than horror movie stupid.

☄/Beyond/ horror movie stupid is the prosecutor running off on her own to rescue her parents at the restaurant. She has no weapon and no plan. She does have the police force at her disposal; she's a prosecutor for God's sake.

☄ They leave a dangerous villain with her phone which she uses to get rescued.

☄ They use an entire convoy - with video cameras - to take a murderer to his crime scene for a reenactment, but only one cop is needed to escort him to the restroom. It doesn't go well.

☄ Next there's a woman who helps out the killer and her reason is utterly ridiculous.

☄ Sey asks Min: ‘Wouldn't it be great to be rich?’ He IS rich. She KNOWS that. How moronic.

☄ Somebody that wealthy would have gotten his teeth fixed, wouldn't he?

Director Ja Won-yu is more than capable as shown with Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2 and Oh My Ghost-10, which is my favorite. This is an excellent director that dropped a dud. It happens. Around episode 12, I thought I could keep going. It got worse. By episode 14, I started sorting through mail and other things, only looking up once in awhile. It was continuing its downhill skid, and I couldn't take it. It isn't junk food. It's moldy food. Even the message it sends is rotten. Therefore, I would say don't let yourself slip and fall in. There's hundreds of more /attractive/ shows to watch first.

Time Better Spent: Here's a short list of lite & wispy, no-tears Kromcom recommendations that require no thinking:
Romance Is A Bonus Book-7.9, Forecasting Love and Weather-6.8 (not that good but not bad enough to trash + it's relaxing), A Witch's Love-8 (Actually great!), Mad For Each Other-7.7 (fun and short), Her Private Life-8 (a surprise winner), Live Up To Your Name-7.6 (solid and enjoyable), My First First Love-8 (simple & cute), & My Only Love Song-8.7 (hilarious), My Roommate Is a Gumiho-7.9 (the 2 leads make it worth it), Oh My Venus-7.4 (Shin Min Ah is great in everything) .

C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine, but the ML pulls a stunt that many will find too obnoxious;
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9,
Hidden Love-7.8


〰🖍 IMHO

🎬42 📝51 🎭70 💓54 🦋53 🌞25 🎨43 ⚡45 🎵/🔊67 😅20 😭36 😱45 🤢46 🤔15 💤73 🔚68

Age 15+ Language: b!+ch, sh!+, b@$t@rd. Violence. Serial killings. Domestic abuse. Stabbing. Sex reassignment.

Re-📺? 🆖 That's only for masochists

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☠A Trainwreck That'll Eat Your He♠️rt Out °7.8° °Excellent°

🚅2B is an exploration of what happens when a zombie infected person stumbles onto a loaded train as it leaves the station. Loads of SK features have eating front and center, but in this movie, the dining car is closed. Only the zombies get to snack.

The main protag is fund📈 manager and father, Seok-woo, who is traveling with his 10 year old daughter, Soo-an. She doesn't look 10, she's small and adorable. Newly divorced, dad is taking her to visit mom.

What ensues is what one can expect from a zombie thriller at 60+ full-steam-ahead mph, with cars, door, racks, & compartments everywhere.

The worst issue with the film is how characters don't take charge of their own well-being. None of these people are trained to kill. They aren't all grabbing or fabricating weapons. When a couple of them discover a major weakness the zombies have, they don't even inform the others or exploit it properly! One character had rigged armour, of sorts, around his arm, to go help rescue someone else. Why he took it off is perplexing: He needs it later. It isn't surprising that individuals would be paralyzed by shock, but the fact that nobody got fired up enough to take charge is hard to accept. More pro-activity would have kept one car of passengers on track to save many lives. I suppose it wouldn't be a horror film if nobody acts idiotic.

What's also on display is the best and worst of humanity. The moral centers are the 10 year old Soo-an, and the big man, along with his very pregnant wife (she looks like she's 11 mos in, or carrying triplets in some scenes). The embodiment of evil and conniving, self-interest is portrayed by another passenger. As his true nature doesn't raise its ugly head until midway, his portrayal shows how dire circumstances can bring out the best and worst of people. Seok-woo is claiming the middle moral ground in the beginning of the show. He intends no harm, but he's not about to get involved or inconvenience himself, either. He even stores his investors' phone numbers in a file entitled "Lemmings" on his 📱. We watch his moral journey, not just his geographic journey, during the route of the flick.

It all seems typical - not bad, not great - for the first 70-75% of the film. The last portion of the movie is excellent with regards to the filming, action, special effects, and acting (Zombies go flying all over in a fantastic trainwreck - we even see a train pull a horde of zombies as more and more of them jump onto the growing blob of a pile!). Kim Su-an, who plays the kid, may not get to kill a zombie, but she slays her part. SK entertainment, in an apparent overabundance of riches, parades a steady flow of amazing child actors.

All Aboard! T2B is definitely worth the trip, particularly for the excellent last stretch. It comes in at just under 2hrs, and it streaks by in no time at all. The focus is on the people, but the zombies make some 🆒 moves, too. In the final analysis, it is also a worthy primer of what not to do during a zombie apocalypse, which I daresay might come in handy someday.


IMHO🗣

🎬8 🎭8 😅0 🤔6 🎨7 ⚡8 🔚9

Age 13+

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㊙️ The Most Evil Deal ⚔ °7.4° °VG°

Revenant; definition: A person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.

“People around you will die. People you don't like or wish would disappear will die. Evil spirits are said to grow by fulfilling a person's desires.” The folklore prof looked very serious when he said this. (He must be insane!)

Next thing, the guy who scammed their family hung himself.

Let's get this out of the way: There's too many unexplained things out there for all of them to be a coincidence. Whether it's supernatural or super dimensional (perhaps there's no difference between the two) any fair-minded person who looks at the evidence would agree that there's quite possibly, even probably, more to our existence than this 3D plane.

Lost time, memory lapses, purchases she doesn't remember, things she doesn't remember saying or doing… Ku San Young is increasingly confused and disturbed. Is it multiple personalities? D.I.D? Drugs? Nope. It's possession. Most cultures in the world have lore, myth and/or downright belief that possession exists. There's psychologists, and other highly educated people who do - because they've seen it, like Dr. Richard Gallagher, Ivy League grad, board-certified psychiatrist and Columbia/New York Medical College professor.

San Young doesn't deserve this. She's not an evil person. An evil spirit shouldn't want to hang out with her, right? Sure, she was thinking about killing herself, but she pulled back. The scammer had taken everything. Her mother is impossible to deal with... She /didn't/ jump, though. The woman on the /other/ side of the road did. And then the evil spirit left the woman across the road and latched onto her. Now, Su Young can see spirits, AND this weird folklore professor is texting her, approaching her, and saying all kinds of weird things to her, like everybody around her is going to die. Another thing he says is that doors are the passageways between worlds. If someone knocks at the 🚪, make sure you know who it is before you open it.

® is a 2023 release that is rated 89 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 12 70-minute episodes. What a creeptastic opening. Watch the opening credits. They are short in length and tall in imagination. To get right to the point, ® is good, but not great. Its greatest failure is that the characters don't completely possess its audience. We remain on the outside and never fully bond with the protags. Don't wait around for love: They just tease us. Perhaps they are looking at a S2? Nothing has been announced.

Furthermore, ® is scary, but it's much sadder than merely scary. It's loosely tied, with many fine working elements that come together to make an interesting, imminently watchable show that leaves one feeling quite morose along with the sense that it could have been better. Ep12 runs into problems - Stupid people, stupid actions, stupid plot turns. It's mostly confined to 2 scenes. They recover.

The show can get creepy. It isn't on the level of some of the darker Hollywood stuff, but it has bona fide chills. There's many deaths. The primary evil spirit is a child ghost. The ghost's backstory is horrifying. Anyone who finds child abuse to be a particular trigger may want to avoid ®: It took a toll on me. Child sacrifice is/was not as uncommon as we would like to believe. Child abuse is/was not uncommon at all. There were many moments when the show weighed heavily on me. The plain, oft repeated & proven fact is that a group of people can talk themselves into any action, no matter how heinous.

There's more good than bad to ®. We've got an all-star cast. Kim Tae Ri (Mr. Sunshine-9, Twenty-Five Twenty-One, Space Sweepers-7.6) is FL Ku San Young. She's fantastic. Young is a little woman who casts a big shadow. It's a shame she kills herself in ep1. Wait… that was the woman on the /other/ side of the bridge. Young caught herself in time. But her mom blew the money. They're wiped out. That didn't change. Yang Hye Ji (Sweet Home-8.4, Wonderful World-7.8, When the Weather Is Fine-9) portrays her BFF, Baek SeMi, who is put-off and often hurt by the recent changes in Young's personality. Ye Soo Jung (Mine-8, Link: Eat, Love, Kill-6.7) has a guest role as Kim Seok Ran, San Young's paternal grandmother. She's a fantastic actress.

Park Ji Young (Save Me, The Red Sleeve) plays Yoon Kyeong Moon, San Young's mother. As of ep5, I'm not in love with her performance, but she is a beautiful woman. She has to play a person who has been through severe trauma. Her backstory is rough. (We will see, I thought to myself early on). In the final analysis, her part drags the show down. She's annoying and she does irritating things.

Oh Jung Se (It's Okay to Not Be Okay-9, Queen of Tears) plays ML Yeom Hae Sang. He's been following Professor Ku Kang Mo/San Young's father's career (Jin Seon Kyu of Space Sweepers-7.6, Kingdom-8.3) for a long time. The legend, Na Byung Hee, is his grandmother and CEO of Joonghyun Capital. Her first credit is from 1977. I've seen her in No Gain, No Love-7.4, Inspector Koo-8.4, Start-up-8, Hospital Playlist-9, Saimdang, Light’s Diary-8.5, & Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds-7.2, and I've just been watching since 2020. She can play the sweet grandmother, the frustrated mother, or the queen b!+ch. She's fabulous. In ® she acts possessed, or at a minimum, oppressed. Never seen her like this before - Her character is really dug into her evil - total commitment.

Both police officer roles, and the actors that portray them, are underutilized. That isn't about screen time. There's something missing from their character arcs. Kim Won-Hae (Black-9, Signal-8.6, and so many more) plays officer Seo Mun-Chun. He's terrific in every role. In ®, though he is a cop and deals with facts, his personal history is such that he knows there are supernatural phenomena out there. On one level he knows, on another level he refuses to accept it. This creates a lot of tension in him as well as an obsession with strange suicide cases and other unexplained phenomenon. Its only result is that it has garnered him the moniker ‘Detective Shaman’. He happens to be friends with folklore professor Yeom Hae Sang. Hong Kyung (Weak Hero Class 1, DP-8.4) is the other ML, Lee Hong “Sae”, a young detective. He had the highest score of his year on the exam. He's partnered with Sr. Ofr Seo Mun-Chun. Everything his senior says and does make Sae uncomfortable. This partner will say things like ‘As a detective he's supposed to be easing the grudges of the Dead.’ How can anybody say that in this age of science & globalism? Sae wonders how he got stuck with this nut. “Do you want to come with us?" Sae's asked by Professor Yeom & his senior. “No thanks,” is his clipped reply. “I'll conduct a more rational investigation.” The viewer is “in” on the inside joke and the over-the-top irony weighing down this statement.

The screenwriter is the highly talented Kim Eun Hee (Signal-8.6, Kingdom-8.3), and the directors are Lee Jung Rim (V.I.P) & Kim Jae Hong (Through the Darkness, Flex X Cop-8.5).

The main theme is: The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil + Money doesn't solve every problem. What is done for money (and food) in the show rivals documented dark histories and many horrifying conspiracy theories about what still goes on today. The realm of hungry ghosts is one of the Six Paths in Buddhism, we learn. Being hungry and thirsty, hungry ghosts always covet, and their realm was created by human desires. This basic template loosely shows up in anime, and the classic Chinese work, Journey to the West (A Korean Odyssey-7.2 is based on it). It isn't completely unlike Dante's Inferno, either. The writer has been sprucing up on her folklore.

There are a few amusing scenes. Our FL and the professor are conducting their own investigation while the police are rationally investigating “the facts”. They are working from completely different angles. Yet they still end up at the same places at the same time. It's probably the best element of the show.

Will you like this? ® is a show for fans of the horror and supernatural genre. It happens to be my least favorite genre- probably because Hwood's stuff tends to be so evil feeling, but I still like a good scare every now and then. I thought The Ring, for instance, was very well done. In my estimation, the good outweighs the bad, but ® is not on the watching level of The Cursed 8.3, The Wailing-8.8, or even Uncanny Counter S1 (S2 is horrible). Hopefully this provides some light in the darkness.


QUOTE🗣

Humans are more terrifying than ghosts.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.3 📝7.5 🎭7.5 💓4 🦋5 🎨7.7 🎵/🔊7 🔚6 🤗4 ▪ 🌞4⚡5.5 😅3 😭5 😱5 😯4 🤢4 🤔5 💤0


Age 16+
The primary evil spirit is a child ghost. The ghost's backstory is horrifying. Anyone who finds child abuse to be a particular trigger may want to avoid this show.

Rated TV-15: Parents Strongly Cautioned.

Re-📺? Highly doubtful


In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
My Mister 9.5,

🎎 -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9

⚡/🚀 -
Glitch-8,
Mystic Pop-up Bar-8.2,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Mother-8.8,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

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YIKES! Okay.....☠ °Excellent°

SPOILERS ARE SEPARATE AT THE BOTTOM

SG is a foray into the callused debauchery of which humans are capable. It builds on 'The Most Dangerous Game' w/ a twist. Here, bored positive-balance-sheeted rustlers devise a game that enables them to entice poor souls in financial straits to come out & play. The key is what the players weren't told, not what they were: 456 competitors may enter, but only one will exit alive at the end. The fulsome 1%-ers won't participate. Preferring to spectate from the comfort of their private luxury boxes or big screens, they wager while the "horses" perform... & die. SG showcases the mutual annihilation pact we enter when it's "every man for himself." It illustrates that if there's no umpire, people will always run out of their lanes.

lt challenges the viewer with the question: ‘Do you believe humans are good?’ Not quite, right? “Open your eyes!” “Wake up!” “Dig up your inner skeptic!!!” “Work on the word NO!“ “Augh!” I was yelling at the screen like I was at, well, the races. It's not that the players are horror-movie-inept. It's their failure to timely process how the race was degrading, at a frenzied gallop, into barbarism. Pleading w/ them has no effect. All viewers can do is watch in dismay as if neutered. In time, the players do comb it out: The rules specified by the referees are the ONLY rules applicable. The penalties for running out of the lines are, umm... Severe.

The violence is lurid, but not gratuitous. Author Hwang Dong-hyuk stated his purpose: "I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life." He was poaching from the gauntlet of his own fiscal hardships.

The first two eps focus on the wild swings our ML/#456 is subjected to when his psychotropic journey begins. We watch him enter a limo, awake in the surreal, lofty dorm of horse stalls (300ft high, maybe?) & finally exit into the calamitous onslaught of Game 1.

For those of you🇺🇲 who are new to Kdramas: Hey! We've been waiting for you;) Relax, Most viewers achieve subtitle fitness immediately. The whole world is watching our entertainment deposits that way. If you can't diversify, they win! Kdramas excel at extracting every possible wince & whinny out of the viewer. The writing, directing, acting, & overall play are consistently supplying ROI (returns) due to the high quality of execution. So much so, that they're in danger of their stats being overlooked. Korea's got an excess of talent.

More of the same, SG is superb dressage, or pageantry, particularly in the horror genre, which is loaded with dumbed down characters & script, lots more blood & guts, & an extraordinarily evil feel to the substandard works. SG blows the whistle on those foul circulations for which a de-worming & muck-out is prescribed. Yes, the violence is jolting, and yet it's not gratuitous or meaningless. It posts warnings of dangerous conditions.

Notwithstanding, KDramas, like Simone Biles, can twist with wondrous strength. They routinely spiral the knife into the viewer's psyche w/ disciplined follow-through. An example is the demented sickness of using "innocent" colors like pink & leafy green that also resemble medicines, such as Pepto Bismol. Along w/ the kiddie trappings, it's all dread multipliers. It's nauseating.

In the opening eps, Kdramas also tend to trot out players before the audience that are an extreme version of themselves. Ten+ hrs allows ample time to invest in talent, improve performance, & yield gains. Just remember, most of the people you see on the screen will either dramatically transform or the audience's appreciation of them will change as the series matures. You may squander your currency backing a failing commodity, while another's performance might lead your fantasy team to victory.

Scouting 456 exposes a pathetically & painfully substandard performer of the most contemptible sort: over 40, living w/ mom, swiping her money to gamble on horses... Relegated to the penny stocks, has he ever been bullish? Not likely. Has he ever pitied the horses? Nayyy! Nary a concern. The projection that he will gain any interest is dubious. The thought of up to 9 eps/laps monitoring his performance isn't appealing in the opening derbies.

Competing "horses" are numbered. If Kdrama writers assign #s to competitors, it's likely the #s have a commodity backing their values in Numerology. Utility players who can slip into many positions, Numerology definitions, like astrology, tend to be generalized in order to broaden the application. Having said that, let's see if any of the numbers assigned by Mr. Hwang have any credit values.

☂456 is slacker-protagonist Seong Gi-hun, & signifies effort & patience. A mentor is needed who will teach working on self-improvement as a priority. Hard work will add value to life.

✔Check. It's applicable.

☂218 is for Cho Sang-woo, 456's friend from the 'hood.' The number 218 symbolizes manifesting one's biggest & seemingly impossible desires into reality, often related to 💰.

☂001, the old man's # is at its most positive when in the realm of work. It's assigned to winners indicating 1st place. It represents independence, but this can also mean loneliness, isolation, or being single.

☂199 is Abdul Ali. 199's are self-reliant & comfortable pursuing their agenda, which, for Ali, is providing for his family on his own. #199's goals virtually never conflict with long-term human survival & well-being.

☂067 is NK native, Kang Sae-byeok, who strives to protect her family. No surprise: #067 signifies home, family, unconditional love, responsibility, sacrifice & service. Creating a solid foundation for the future, & protection of family & possessions is a #067's priority.

☂244, the pastor: Spiritual advancement can be phenomenal in a #244's life. He must keep wrong at bay & not offend the inner energy installed by his maker.

Finally, upon the runners' return in EP3, 187 players re-enter the stalls: The US police code for murder.

✔, ✔, ✔, again. And on it goes. There's more in the spoiler section. Getting chills?

If not, you probably haven't seen the show yet. Don't forget this when you do. The strategy trotted out is medal-winning. Just be woke about what the show is about. It is not about displaying incidental, cheap, & meaningless horror for the purpose of titillation. SG is a metaphor for the writer's own hardships in a cruel, uber competitive & heartless society. The players all represent the downtrodden, like geldings in irons. Most of their backstories, if posted on GoFundMe, would grab attention. I'd be tempted to contribute to a few of them. Even the criminals are subtly shown to have been wedged into their life choices. Delving into one gangster's number (101) exposes his basic needs that clearly weren't met. It all contributes to his projected gains & losses.

Oh, these "poor," rich, hacked-up GOONS. Their lives are so empteee. Sigh. Studies show around 21% off CEOs are psychopaths. It's not a stretch to guess that some of these fulsome degenerates are in that club, given their heightened sadism. We all know that money isn't everything, but it certainly fills in divots allowing the race of life to run smoothly. These coasting reprobates can't seem to notice, through all the haze of pride, that people are most gratified when we help others.

Kdramas are also wont to lob deferred options that the viewer didn't account for into the works. Expect that everything is not what it seems to be. Avoid being roped in by Ponzi Schemes.

This is not over. We need S2. The question has not been answered yet. #456 is sequential ~> moving forward. To the extent that 456 accomplishes anything, true to form, he will barely get his neck over the line. Here's my ante-post bet & hope: In S2, he'll be stallion #789 who tramples out this ghoulish fraternity of gamers.

Apologies for mixing up the monetary, equestrian, & sports metaphors. I'm not good with rules either.


QUOTE📢 Good rain knows when to fall. ~Du Fu~


〰🖍 IMHO

🎭8 🎬8 🤔8⚡8🎨7🔚9

For age 15+


In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Racket Boys-8.3,
Mr. Queen 8.5, Love to Hate You-8.9, Glitch-8,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9, Misaeng-9.1, Law School-8,
My Mister 9.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine-9,
Mother-8.8

Action/Crime/Sci-fi -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
Sisyphus 8, Inspector Koo-8.4,
Iris-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6, Blood Free-8.5,
Beyond Evil-7.4, D.P. -8.4,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9,
The Wailing-8.8,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

originally 📝 10/2021


⛔️SPOILERS FOLLOW⛔️


⛔️

⛔️

⛔️

🚦218 is Cho Sang-woo, 456's 'friend' who worked his way up from 'hood-rat’ to white-collar hood. To a point, he mirrors 001. This loathsome in-runner surprisingly gave up the fight, but not before becoming a murderer. #218 is for manifesting one's biggest & (on the face) near impossible desires into reality. Business, duality, & serving humanity must coexist. 218 failed in his run to win that 💰, but he found redemption in his last moments. 218 knows that 456 will serve his mother AND humanity w/ the 💰.

🚦101 is gangster, Jang Deok-su. A #101's primary function is romance, w/ importance of relationships right behind. At first blush this doesn't fit w/ the character, though he did get involved in a quasi romantic trist. Let's flesh it out further:

A #101 needs coexistence. Without it, a #101 is alone. People w/ that # can feel lonely & lost just thinking of being alone. 101 obviously grew up w/o basic needs & training, leaving him consumed w/ bitterness & ill-prepared for rigid competition. #101 also points to eternity & the journey that is about to begin w/ all its uncertainties. It's a reminder that we are not in control of our destiny. God is. So #101s should follow the course & learn before their time on this plane is over. It's sad to think that 101 didn't get emotional support or the care needed for success. He is still responsible for his infractions, but it's sad, nonetheless. He parallels the VIP who was attracted to the cop. They each had the same expression of shock, disbelief, & the beginnings of acceptance when facing death.

🚦199 is Abdul Ali, one of the worst upsets of the show. #199s are independent & comfortable pursuing their agenda. For Ali it's providing for his family - independently. A #199's goals virtually never conflict w/ humanity's survival & long-term well-being. We see that Ali is good, albeit naive, & foolish to be so independent that he'd wager his life on a long shot ih an effort to provide.

🚦212 is Han Mi-nyeo, the 'crazy Mare' who brought down 101. #212s frequently chase curiosity, adventure & ALL new, shiny objects ~ often on a whim. #212s can be good team members. Their energy can be sensual. Enroute towards goals, they can face harsh obstacles. Jumping the fence may lead to negative outcomes. As with 101, only the negative interpretations are exhibited by them. Their harsh lives had severed them from the positive elements w/in themselves. They portray ruthlessness, but there is a forlornness about them, too.

🚦111 is the doctor. A #111 won't let himself be slotted into a team member role unless the role is real leadership. They haven't been broken. If #111's thoughts are negative, it could attract toxic situations & people.

🚦240 ('phillie' Ji-yeong) is just released from prison for putting down her abusive 'sire'. #240 is about nurture & mutual support w/ a high focus on security & the future; all provided w/o expectation of return. She went underfoot for 067 & thus negated the lie the VIP's tell themselves about human nature. Having already sacrificed her freedom to deliver justice to her mother, 240 is the moral center of the show.

🚦The husband/wife duo is portrayed in #69, or two identical digits facing & complimenting each other to make a whole. If we squeeze 6&9 together we can make an 8, which toppled, is the eternity sign. In addition, the visual aspect of the # is related to ying&yang. The energy of #69 is best when involved directly w/ family or team as an equal. Freakily, #069 symbolizes the closure of a chapter in life & encourages one to be prepared for a traumatic phase. Whether ending good or bad, it is bound to bring a huge change. Be prepared for it, b/c the manner in which it's dealt with will affect one's future.

The players aren't the only losers. The police Officer's story is grim. Hwang Jin-ho went there to save his brother. Seduced by the power of the dark side, the frontman won't let /anybody/ move in on /him/. So he brought his own brother down. That's pain. Frontman actor, Lee Byung-hun, aced an expression of curtailed grief tinged with guilt + overt resolve to cantor forward. After all, it was his brother or him.

001 didn't get what he wanted by hosting SG, which was a panecea for loneliness & boredom. It seems he & the VIPs justify their actions by deluding themselves that they are conducting a social experiment. Insistence that everyone is as cutthroat as they are leads to pitting people against eachother. This enables them to inveigle their own selves that those people deserve to die: 'Just look at who they really are! It's voluntary... they all get a fair chance.'

In the end, the old man had the whole world, but was utterly unsatisfied. Craving the camaraderie he'd had while growing up poor, he felt that kinship w/ 456, even though 456 eventually betrayed him. At the time, 456 had a 2nd chance. He could have done the all-or-nothing, but refused. That plot point of betrayal, while needed, was his worst moment. The old man was playing him all day to tempt him, but he meant it when he called 456 his gganbu, or close buddy.

The kinship manifests itself when the old man wants to see HIM at the end of his life. 456 is there, bedside, when #1 dies. Where's his wife? Where's his kids?? Where's his grandkids??? Can I get a mistress? Nope. Just 456 & an aid were there. Next, 001 saves 456's 'life' a 2nd time by jerking 456's bit toward /living/, rather than merely existing.

456 is who he is. He wins 3x's in the show's run, but even when he wins, he's a pathetic loser that barely stumbles over the line. In winning, his soul was put-down. When he went to see the old man in the penthouse he won their game, but he didn't get what he wanted once again, as 001 died before 456 could kill him. It did wake 456 up. He no longer has to feel guilty about flashing a laser in the old man's eyes during the race: His regret is not shipping 001 off to the dog food plant himself.

The red hair broadcasts that he's now either on fire, or starting to blaze his trail. Finally. This is not over. We need a S2. The question has not been answered yet. #456 is sequential & shows progression, or moving forward. Here's my ante-post bet & hope: In S2, he'll be stallion #789 who tramples out the ghoulish fraternity of gamers.

Read More

☪Enchanting, Entrancing, Some Dancing & Romancing ⚜️ °8.4° °Excellent°

[Spoilers are contained in a separate section at the end]
⚜️What A Delectable Diversion. HDL is a magical little fantasy about a hotel where the dead can rest prior to heading to the afterlife. You Can Check Out Anytime You Like 🌃 But /She/ Can't Leave…

While the hotel is magical & regular slubs like us can't see it (or its guests), it still exists in the real world. It's registered with the province & a human manager is required to handle all human affairs. Enter Mr. Koo. When Koo is young, his father, in a fateful encounter with Ms Jang, promises Koo's future to Jang. Dad is pressured into this promise in exchange for his life; otherwise, Koo would grow up parentless. The good news is that HDL will now fund Koo's upbringing. So Pop takes him to 🇺🇸 where Koo, in time, "pulls a Harvard" in Hotel Mgmt. Even so, like all humans putting on blinders, neither dad nor child took the obligation seriously.

Koo comes to realize, 25 years later, that he cannot shirk this obligation. Just when he has his dream job bagged, Jang runs interference. What plays out is a peek into this amazing world within our world. As all of Koo's training is OTJ, every episode is a treat to something new & imaginative.

HDL is a visual extravaganza, from the hotel to the fashion-porn. Filmed on location at the Hotel Seine Café, which is staggeringly beautiful (it's now on my bucket list), 'dainties' & 'fancies' are 360 degrees around. Some of those delights are revealed in my spoiler section. The filming bolsters the gorgeous spectacle. Jang's got an outfit to go with every occasion, even one to wear when dining on rice cake soup. But don't expect spontaneity. If you suddenly want to go somewhere & she's not dressed 'correctly', just fuhgettaboudit.

While there's plenty of side stories in which to become engrossed, the main protagonists are Ms Jang (owner of HDL), & Mr. Koo, her very reluctant 99th human manager. Jang looks like a porcelain doll & is as feisty as a Tasmanian Devil. She's also sealed herself off. We see her dismiss the former Manager of 40 years with perfunctory efficiency, devoid of all emotion. She's taken on petulance as a primary personality trait. She displays no feelings at all, & is particularly devoid of compassion. Consistency long ago abandoned, she will say anything in the moment to satiate her emptiness.

Jang's truly b@d@$$, but, Ms Snark - Ms Sourpus - Ms Oppositional - Ms Ill-Tempered Ice Queen - is about to get a change of perspective, not just a change of clothes. Koo might appear to be a feckless wimp (which is how Jang's been treating him) but he is, as it turns out, tremendously courageous & a problem solver of the highest intellect. He knows when to be reserved & when to step up. When he steps up, it's with every bit of panache that Jang displays.

There are visual cues to the romance. Jang & Koo gradually match each other more & more. At first it's just her nail polish that matches his outfit & it grows from there. Flowers are popping up everywhere. They are beautiful… & perishable.

There's plenty of laughs. Mr. Koo is lurched far off-balance by the rush of new experiences, & he frequently jumps behind Jang out of fear until he gets accustomed to dealing with ghosts. She looks like she might reach 5'2" in spiked Jimmy Choos, so it's absurd - and bang-on funny.

When Koo was still running away from the job, Jang went out to retrieve him. He passed out after a nasty ghost encounter. K- "How did you get me back to the hotel" ? J- "Well, I got something similar to a handcart. All you need to know is that I got you back safely." The way she actually got him back, however, is not analogous to a handcart! Not one little bit!

Once in awhile, live people insist on checking in. They are placed in Room 404, the error number we've seen on countless computer screens. In EP10 there's a deft little scene: Koo & Jang are at a restaurant where people died from eating (she can't get enough of that). She's ticked off at him, but she can't resist taking pictures of her food. Snapping away, she never diverts her fuming stare from Koo. She moves the camera around & clicks it but only looks at him. It's hilarious. Koo is gifted a big cat print suit. Will the fastidious Harvard grad be able to even get one arm into the jacket without a meltdown? It's worth watching to see.

There's some head-scratchers, unfortunately, & there's some glaring omissions, too. The ending is not my favorite part of HDL. Things went downward a tinge in the last couple eps. Ep16 was too slow, sappy, & drawn out. It's always sad when the wrap up of a great story is the worst part of it.

We watch them & all the staff develop individually & as a unit. To avoid any jolts to the system pay attention. The show creators will tell you where they are headed: Believe them. We don't see much of what happens going forward, which is a little letdown. That is why viewers are clamoring for a S2.

Things are mostly looking way up at HDL, though. This is appropriate to watch with kids that are around the ages of 12& up. The feel is almost Disneyesque. There's some elements (evil ghosts, murders) that are too scary for children of single-digit age, who would struggle with the subtitles anyway. HDL offers valuable lessons, such as forgiveness, & Koo is a walking ethics handbook.

While you may not get 100% customer satisfaction, make sure to check-in anyway. This is a hotel, & a show, like no other. I'm a little sad, but also very bedazzled.


⛔️SPOILER SECTION⛔️

From tidbits to broad strokes, here's some additional insights into HDL.

In the way of laughs and delight〰️>
The pool is actually a yacht-worthy ocean with sunlight-levels to order. HDL even has an amusement park. Who wants to go! Uh, hang on... I can wait a while for that, I guess. The entrance fee is steep.

After Koo starts putting his whole heart into the job, Koo finds out that he was the /3rd/ choice for manager. Having been 'committed' to the job for 25 years & presuming himself indispensable, he's shocked. The staff calls him 'Mr. 3rd choice' behind his back.

The way she got him back to the hotel when he passed out was by possession. It's best that Koo not know.

How could you say "no" to having a beer with the Grim Reaper!? SANCHEZ!

In the way of romance〰️>
The Romance between these 2 is magnificent. Koo actually pursues Jang. She exposed the tiniest opening & he wedged it wide to occupy all the empty space. It inspires a smidge of awe. Before long they are spending most of their time together. They continue the trend Koo started by conversing in metaphors. For example, when Jang says: "The sea is beautiful tonight. It makes me a little sad." She looks Koo in the eye & says: "I'm sad because it's more beautiful than it was before." They feel for e/o, but they haven't fully acknowledged it to themselves, so they can't express it yet. As their feelings deepen, they both want to protect e/o. Next, they begin matching. It grows from there. Once she gets past wanting to kill him, they match more completely & start to reflect e/o. He closes one episode by declaring: "You are devouring all my nights & all my dreams: Admit it, he just laid down a 🎤drop! Another time, Koo tells Jang: "The view is much better now that I'm with you." Koo's so smooth he could write dating primers. They show us the apex of his masculinity when Jang, in an attempt to coerce him into the cat print suit, threatened to take his clothes off if he didn't wear it. He looked at her & said: "Can you handle it?" She froze for a moment. He ain't weak at all.


In the way of heartbreak 〰️>
We see heavy foreshadowing in the rose he gave her: It's fragile & will wilt eventually. Some things are left oblique, such as the sex of the last Yun family baby, or the non-answer to the "capricious" deities that don't seem to be fair.

It was obvious they would be resolving grudges for the staff. It might have been better if they spread it out a little more. We don't see what happens to anyone going forward, which is another letdown. The ending is not to my liking. At all. Their relationship is priceless. They have so little time together once they settle into it.

I get it: Koo let Jang go. He made the choice. The show creators chose the ground rules they constructed, though, and not only are their constraints somewhat severe, but they don't always make sense. Worse, is that they are inconsistent, at times. Early on, we're told the tree looks dead because time stopped flowing (is dead) for Jang. She didn't die in the series, so why would she have to cross over to the Afterlife? Why would Jang even be sentenced to pay a 1000 year penance? Because she took out the rotten government that abused their power & her people? Does Jang's punishment fit the crime as well as Koo's tiger suit fits him? Jang's horrible circumstances seem worse than she herself is.

I spent most of the series thinking that when Jang's time flows again she'll be able to live her life out with Koo before passing. In fairness, the vibe increasingly felt ill-fated. It's not like they didn't forecast the weather. Nevertheless, I'm going through 5 grief stages over it. Right now I'm angry. YO! It's a fairy tale, for cryin out loud!! Why can't we have a fairy tale ending!? :( looks like I'm sliding into the bargaining phase)...

Mago “straight” asks Koo if she can do him a favor in exchange for the scissors' safe return. Why didn't he ask for more time? Mago used him to work on Jang. She set it all up 25 years ago, perhaps longer. SHE caused his broken heart. She didn't have to be so stingy… so dang capricious. They're making me hate fate.

Don't tell me that meeting in future lives is a happy ending. One happy life now is worth a hundred ‘possible’ lives later. If they do, indeed, meet up as kimchi & chicken noodles, is that happy? Doubtful. It's understandable that aspects of reincarnation are considered to be romantic. The potential downside is that we could look at all the misery in this world as being deserved by the oppressed due to indiscretions in prior lives. Every living thing could be in jeopardy within that philosophical circle, & compassion & empathy will take on damage under such suppositions, also. The worst thing is that if it turns out to not be true, then it is too cruel to the oppressed.

Things go downward a tinge in the last couple eps. Ep16 is too slow, sappy, & drawn out. It's always sad when the wrap up of a great story is the worst part of it. The saddest thing is that I could be experiencing a warm firefly glow today, instead of anger. Finally, for Jang, running the hotel is a punishment, but it seems to be a reward for the next guy. CAPRICIOUS Mago winks at us again.

Enough of that.

I'm still alittle sad, and I'm also alittle angry, but still bedazzled.


Originally 〰️🖊 10/2021

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✒ ⬜️Fun with Light & Shadow ⬛ Slightly Silly ❣ Yet Utterly Adorable °Excellent°

I've always said that if you aren't willing to at least risk being tacky, you won't have any fun.

That's one of the themes of this show. The opening line is: "All Children Are Artists." As we see when the group later goes to an orphanage, the children take pure joy in expressing & sharing of themselves. They aren't worried about critics or reviews.

This show introduces us to Duk-mi. She's an energetic, hard working & passionate person who lives in Technicolor. A once aspiring artist, Duk-mi is now the curator of a privately owned museum. Her job is not ideal as she, along with her suggestions, are rarely respected. Duk-mi is not easily suppressed, though. She does her job with verve. She also has a secret life away from the museum. If found out, she would be fired. You see, Duk-mi …🥁🥁🥁… Is a "fan😍girl." {GASP!} Pop singer Si-an is the recipient of her affection, and she is not alone.

Fangirls are a sisterhood of women, ALL devoted to a star. Besides knowing ALL the music and ALL the useless trivia about their idol, to be a true fangirl, one must be at ALL the star's public appearances. This includes ALL airport arrivals and book signings, not just concerts. ALL this dedication is neither easy nor cheap. We watch Duk-mi go from the museum, straight to a Si-an appearance lugging a step ladder & 14 inches of zoom lens. From behind a black mask, she snaps her photos & heads home, where we see how deeply her obsession is etched onto her being. Her studio apt is a giant Si-an collage. It's jammed with every souvenir of which one could conceive - posters, dolls, the requisite cardboard cutout & even Si-an pillows... Even a water bottle, half full, that Si-an threw to the crowd once. (I said 'half full' out of habit. This water bottle is definitely half-empty!). It's basically the tackiest decorating ever - Even worse than Bette Mildler’s in Ruthless People.

We then meet Ryan (Conventional. Condescending. Cheerless). He's an artist turned lauded NYC critic. A mental block has severed him from his craft. He can dip a brush 🎨, but he can't touch it to the canvas. As a critic he isn't known to look at many pieces for more than 3 seconds (<1 sec is typical, 2+ could launch a new artist). He stopped creating art when a painting of 🫧 bubbles arrested his gaze. Believing it was Stendhal Syndrome ('When exposed to an incredible work of art, one may experience a rush of psychological symptoms.') he sees a psychiatrist. His therapy was going the way of his paint brushes, though: Nowhere. It's a mystery in the NYC art scene, as is the artist, Lee Sol, who brushed on those 🫧 that popped Ryan's career. Nobody seems to know anything about the painter.

The first time Duk-mi and Ryan meet is at an art auction in Shanghai. They fight over a painting. The painting is of 🫧soap bubbles🫧. Artist: Lee Sol.

Duk-mi knows that "her SI-AN" is a fan of Lee Sol's work. Every year, The Road To Si-an webpage pools money from fans to buy a big gift for the object of their adoration. Her boss thinks it's merely a work trip, but Duk-mi's real mission is to get that 🖼 for Si-an. She loses. She tries to talk Ryan into surrendering the painting to her. He looks at her like she's a lunatic. Fate is at work; these 2 have 2 other chance meetings, though they both don't put it all together until later.

Duk-mi's boss, the director/owner of the museum, is a garrish, overweening tyrant. She is played by the great Kim Sun-young, who's clearly having the time of her life in the role & in those preposterous outfits. She makes Duk-mi miserable. Fortunately, her husband is embroiled in a scandal, so she must step down temporarily.

You get one guess as to who the next director is.

They don't blend well.

That should adequately lay out the paints on the 🎨: Except for their overlapping love of art, Duk-mi & Ryan, a Korean adopted overseas, have opposite existences. They are compared & contrasted in visual ways. Dude's home is painted a deep Wedgwood blue. While it's a pretty color, when it covers 4 walls it only reflects his current bleakness. Taste aside, Duk-mi's room is vibrant. She's open, which is why she can feel art so intuitively. She's full of love and passion. Ryan is dried up like old paint.

Ryan becomes drawn-in by hearing Duk-mi talk about works of art. With admiring fondness, she seems to be able to scry an artist's thoughts & emotions. He becomes fascinated with her w/o realizing it or thinking about why. Fascination leads to close observation. (😱! Don't look behind the mask!) We can feel doom approaching. What will Ryan, who is from that snotty NYC art world, think if he ever discovers HPL?

Another theme is family & togetherness. Duk-mi's parents created a home where all are welcomed. Duk-mi's mother is, well, /motherly/. She wants to feed and love-on everybody that comes through their door. They even raised Eun-gi - from birth - for an overwhelmed single mother. He & Duk-mi consider themselves siblings. Fellow fangirl, Seon-joo, who runs the local coffee shop, is Thelma to Duk-mi's Louise. The office, Duk-mi's apt, the museum, the coffee shop, and her parents place are all frequent gathering spots. Duk-mi's life is shared with family, and friends-that-are-family.

Ryan's life is solitude. That's why he's angry when Duk-mi pokes around his place when he's not there. He seems to have no one.

The two seem to fall for eachother quickly, though it takes them a few eps to realize it. While the falling-in-love is usually the funnest thing in a romance, in the case of Duk-mi & Ryan, I found the series even more entertaining after they get together. The way they mix it up is sensational; their relationship is pure enjoyment. Duk-mi smiles with her whole being. She smiles a lot. At first it seemed overdone, but it's rather by design. She is the SUN that warms him back up. Art is all about light. Ryan couldn't step forward until he came out of the darkness. His first steps towards healing were in Duk-mi's direction.

There are mysteries to be solved, secrets to be revealed, and singers to love in the balance of the show.

HPL also sketched in some laughs. They have trouble with R-r-ryan's name, so they call him “Lion”. Eun-gi tells Da-ni that she'd be an annoying friend. She looks at him and says: "You're a good judge of character." We understand Duk-mi's obsessive side when we get a full look at her family home: It's genetic. The two protags are in a chess game over a notebook and the truth about Duk-mi, which is amusing. Generating laughter could be the trickiest art of all, and HPL sells it.

Poor Eun-gi. He's coming in 2nd again. He wins the silver medal (again) in scoring his gf. Duk-mi was just a primer, actually. He certainly has a type! In my ledger, Eun-gi‘s gf won: Eun-gi is arguably more attractive, & he's protective, loyal, appreciative, chill, great to hang out with, and... Well, did you /see/ that shower scene?? That actor probably has fangirls himself. Nuff of that...

While HPL is certainly silly, and completely adorable, romance-wise, it can also be profound. The following exchange is a free therapy session: Seon-joo's TV producer husband is pushed into doing an 'expose’ show on 'crazy' fans. He hides this from Seon-joo, and even secretly copies files from her computer. When she finds out, she could have foamed up milk with no machine. She was STEAMED. He tries to explain, with the most positive framing, all the good reasons why he made the show, including securing the transfer she had wanted him to get. Fangirl nails it. She might be silly, but she ain't dumb. She asks if it was all for /her/ sake then? He says no, he didn't "mean that..." She responds:

"Do you know what I really hate about you right now? If you've hurt me, you should just remain as the assailant. Why are you using me as an excuse to act like a victim? Do you expect me to understand and pity you in this situation?"

He replies that he shouldn't have waited to tell her, and he's not sure why he stalled with that. She comes back at him again:

"Do you want to know why you didn't tell me beforehand? It's because you didn't feel the need to. You knew I'd throw a fit later on, but you were simply going to escape that moment." In finishing, she informs him that he didn't talk to her because he was already determined to do it.

One of the excuses he used was that it was all for their son. Her response: "You used my precious family as a weapon to stab me, and {your son} as a shield to hide behind. It was a nasty and cowardly move."

Perhaps that exchange will be useful for your next relationship argument. She later says that 'in a relationship there are things that cannot be resolved with logic. This is a matter of emotion.' Well put.

There are disappointments: No big "reveal" to Si-an, we don't see the exposé show & leaving a child at the playground?! C'mon. They could have done plenty of things better, but the positives redeem it. It's good enough to hang in your gallery.

The most important takeaway from HPL is that a loving and caring family unit can do a lot of good. Duk-mi and her mother make numerous lives better. Duk-mi's mother gets the credit as she raised Duk-mi. We ran the “open house" in our neighborhood. We are close with many of the kids still, and we even Christmas with two of the brothers that were fixtures in our home for a few years. We can't go after everything we want AND love others. The two are exclusionary. The odd thing is that helping others is more fulfilling than going after everything we want.

Quote: In Korea, if you kiss and don't go out, they send you to jail.

Originally 〰️🖊 9/2021

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✒Outfoxed ❣ A Better Marble Trap °7.8° °Excellent°

He /planted/ something in her!

Yeo and Dam don't actually meet as much as collide, which caused the marble he's been cultivating for over 900 years to jump into her body from his. Whoops. Yeo needs to find a way to get it back from her. If it stays in Dam too long it will kill her. Besides, he's been feeding it energy for nearly a millennium. When he's done, he will no longer be a 🦊Gumiho, he will be human. He was nearly done - and he ain't starting over now! So they become roommates. That way, he can keep an eye on her condition until he figures out a way to retrieve his precious property. She declined, initially, until she realized she will feel deathly ill if he's not around to provide assistance.

What's a Gumiho?

It began in old Joseon.

Rumor has it, it's a 🦊-demon that disguises itself as a beautiful human woman in order to devour the liver of its victim. Maybe that isn't /completely/ true. Maybe the Gumiho is only trying to cultivate itself into a human, and eating livers, though quicker, is not required. It takes a thousand years the slow way, which is stealing human energy in dribs and drabs by way of physical contact. All animals, including Gumihos, want to be human, as only humans can decide their own destiny.

Living together is no small thing. Yeo lays down some rules: No 🐔. Chicken blood will weaken both of them. No men, especially men born in the Year of the 🐅, which is every male in Dam's year at school. No alcohol. What!?! He's gone too far❗ No booze. No chicken. No men… What is there for her to live for? She hits him back with some rules of her own, like stop 🚬. So what if it's a 400 year-old habit? He might like smoking, but 🍗 is /her/ favorite thing. Company, misery doeth love.

The first third of the show is them getting used to e/o and us getting a peek at them and their daily lives. Yeo is in danger. If he doesn't become human by the 1000 year point he'll turn into an evil spirit and be targeted for elimination. Dam has a similar deadline. If they don't extract the marble from her inside of a year, she'll die. In ep7 we are introduced to a baddie who covets the marble which puts Dam in more danger. This incident directly leads to a plot shift - a reset, if you will.

The next phase of the show is them trying to make their relationship work. A Gumiho isn't supposed to be in a relationship with a human, so they have more to work out than the average couple. Like good 🦊🦊, they dig through it all. There are some physical incompatibility issues, the main one being that his desires get confused. He loves her. He wants to kiss and hold her, but he also has a primal desire to drain her energy. It sounds alot like Edward and Bella from Twilight along with any number of similar vampire love stories. In a moment of passion it could be rather dangerous. It's sufficiently dangerous that an ancient deity throws a wrench into the works, which only feeds into the relationship issues they must work out. It advances the plot well.

MRiaG is a 2021 release that is rated 91 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 65-minute delightful episodes. It's an excellent romcom - no more, no less, and that is good enough. My only complaint is that some of the drama was poorly manufactured since he can teleport. Any emergency can be instantly addressed so their consternation sometimes seems misplaced. Jang Ki Yong (Sweet & Sour-7, My Mister-9.5, The Atypical Family) plays ML Shin Woo “Yeo”. If you haven't seen him before, you would probably be surprised to hear that he can play a first-rate thug. It's nice to see him play a sweetheart here. He's not just a sweetheart. He's got to walk a fine line between stoicism and experiencing brand new emotions. “When you live for such a long time, everything feels like a season that will eventually pass. Everything feels meaningless. But you seem true to yourself every moment. I like your honesty.” So says Yeo to Lee Dam (Lee Hye Ri of May I Help You). Ms Lee is the central character of Reply 1988-8.6, a comfy show about friends, family, and neighbors. She has a genuine infectious exuberance that she brings to everything. Previously dubbed “The Nations Little Sister” after appearing on the show Real Men, SHE is the reason this show is as fun to watch as it is.

The secondary romances are also nice. Kang Han Na (Familiar Wife-8.5, Just Between Lovers, Start-up-8) is Yeo ‘s longtime (we're talking 700 years) friend, Yang Hye Sun. She was a Gumiho, but she recently became human. She has more to do in this series than most shows where she often plays an ice queen/human figurine. I like her in this. Kim Do Wan (Moment at Eighteen, Doona!) and Park Kyung Hye (Goblin, Destined with You, My Lovely Liar) are Dam's BFFs, Choi Soo Kyung and Do Jae Jin. Bae In Hyuk (Under the Queen's Umbrella, Why Her?-8, At a Distance, Spring Is Green) is Gye Sun Woo, a popular guy at school who first comes onto Dam as a farce but ends up developing a thing for her. As cute as this actor is, with double-deep-double-dimples, he plays second fiddle both times I'veseenhim. Go Kyung Pyo (Chicago Typewriter, Private Lives-8.1) makes a surprise appearance mid-show. It's fun to see him across from Lee Hye Ri in an echo back to Reply 1988. They can't hide the warmth they have for e/o in their scenes. The screenwriters are Baek Sun Woo (What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8, Doctor Slump) & Choi Bo Rim (Touch Your Heart-8.2). Director Nam Sung Woo also brought us the very popular Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, Because This Is My First Life-7.7, and 100 Days My Prince-5.5.

This is an endearing couple. “This is our first date. You think I came unprepared? I've been keeping myself updated with the latest culture via news and books. And I've been watching romantic comedy dramas, so I'm very well aware of the latest dating trends. Plus, I can use magic. You won't be disappointed.” So says the 999 year old 🦊. What he thinks is current intel on dates is actually 20 years old. (For him, that IS current;). “I'm in love. I can't describe this feeling. It's soft and hot. I can't either swallow it or spit it out.” Dam is quite elegant in delivering these lines. “This doesn't mean anything. It's another meaningless relationship that will end soon.” That's what Yeo tells himself, until he can no longer deny it. They are mellow and comfy. Her joy is contagious, he caught it, and the viewer catches it. They spent some time apart, but it didn't take.

“According to Mingxin Baojian, one's mouth and tongue are the door to anger and worries, and they are the axes that kill one's body,” we hear. Amen - preach it! While I've relegated this to simple romcom status, MRiaG is not low IQ. The writers show their depth-of-field in several places. The most popular boy at school supposedly is interested in Dam. Not believing that she can truly be attractive to him, Dam is skeptical of his motives. Yeo (already outfoxed by her himself) quotes poignantly from an old story: “To him, she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He could not understand why anyone wouldn't fall in love with her.” (Excuse me while I fan myself). ‘If you live long enough, you begin to become indifferent to everything,’ Yeo realizes. “Feigning love is not love. The more it's done, the emptier one feels.” Yeo had been posing and faking and acting for a millenia. Dam came to his house knowing his secret. He could be real in her presence. He became comfortable with her. That will make an average looking person a “10” to the beholder.

“According to Sajasohak, one must be clean-cut and well-dressed. It means you should be neat and dressed nicely.” Dam is alittle casual about cleanliness. Instead of berating her, Yeo appeals to her best nature. The entire show appeals to our best natures. Not much happens, yet every episode is a treat. It simply works. They also tie up the last episode very nicely. Not all shows do, so it's appreciated. Any romcom fan will find MRiaG to be their natural habitat.


QUOTES📢

There is always some madness in love, as Frederick Nietzsche wrote in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. That you like someone means that you are misunderstanding that person in your own way.

Dishonesty cannot beat honesty. Never.

The more you know the more you see.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣8 📝7 🎭8 💓6🦋5 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊7.7 Best song - My All 🔚8.3 ▪ 🌞6 ⚡3 😅3 😭3.5 😱3 😯2 🤢2 🤔3 💤0


Age 12+ Some scary elements. A disturbing evil spiri

Rated TV-15

Re-📺? Sure would

Loving someone from “another world” - In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

99 days with the Superstar-7,
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek 7,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
A Korean Odyssey-7.2,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9;
Heirs 7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows 7,
Something in the Rain 9,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
You are my destiny 6.8 cute, sweet & 1/2 padding,
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5,
Find Yourself 8.9

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✒t's All Good In The Hood❕️ °Excellent°

Is this a romance, or an exploration of parent child relationships?

It's both. It's actually more the latter. There's loss, longing, loneliness, laughter and love, with scary tension mixed in for good measure. The neighborhood is a character on its own. The place to which they've taken us is so charming. Good directing, good acting, good writing and a good soundtrack all come together beautifully, like Donbaek's pork stir-fry. The romance between the two leads is sweet. The mystery surrounding the murders is also handled very well. Most of the character arcs are satisfying.

Dongbaek is uncomfortably passive and within herself in the first few episodes. Watching her develop... and bloom🌸... is a treat. I've become a big fan of Lee Jeong Eun, Dongbaek's mom. She's a stellar talent and currently my favorite actress. I first saw her in Oh My Ghost which is a romcom that's cooked up to perfection (except the first episode is slow and a tad hard to get into until the last 60 seconds when e'erthing flips. She, along with the other 3 OMG leads, delivers magnificent performances. I have had a love affair with all of them ever since). This show is 95% excellent. Here's a complimentary sample of unimportant nitpicks:

🥜It doesn't quite make sense to open a restaurant/bar just because you can make one good dish....

🥜It would have been fun to see policeman Young Shik catch a few more criminals, but it is understandable that one case came to consume all of his time.

🥜I wasn't pleased with the treatment of Jong Ryul, Pil-Gu's father. It seemed more severe than he deserved. He truly cares for Dongbaek. He never had a chance to know his son. He made mistakes when he was immature, and has since grown up. The reason for the break-up and her attitude toward him is less in focus than other plot lines. I'm glad they didn't make him a cartoonish bad guy, at least. That's a played out stereotype; he has more complexity.

🥜The efforts to catch the Joker had some holes, or flaws. Obvious things that should have been done were not, mostly to maintain the plot.

Any criticisms are easily overlooked due to the overall excellence of the show. Hwang Yong-Sik's energy alone is worth the time spent. Kang Ha-Neul is really terrific as the ML. So grab the peanuts and Soju and enjoy your stay in Ongsan.

QUOTE📢

"I scratched on cement that hasn't hardened." (Meaning that since he's a kid it will mark him, hurt him, and stay with him for life).


〰🖍 IMHO

🎬8 🤔6 🎭8 🦋5 💓 7

Suggested Age 14& up.

Originally 📝 7/2021

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Like Pizza Delivered Upside Down ~ Could Have Been ⤴️ But It's Just ⤵️ °4.6° °Poor°

I tried to roll along with BIOG, I really did. When watching fiction - especially fantasy - we must hold our suspension of disbelief in order to go along with the show and enjoy it. It's more relaxing to be on the generous side of the issue. Each time we have to dismiss inconsistencies, errors, a clumsy cadence, stupid dialogue or other disappointments, it's like a pinprick. At some point blood starts to gush and one can't let it go anymore. Then almost everything posi+ive drains dry, which is what happened here. This show just doesn't work; it's lifeless. Inconsistencies kept that "little ✒pinch" feeling going. For instance:

✒Can people see ghosts, or just evil spirits? It's unclear. We are told that seeing ghosts is something only a few people can do, but as the show goes on, more and more people are seeing ghosts. The viewer can make some guesses as to why this happens, but we shouldn't have to guess. The rules of this world should be explained and then adhered to. Or it hurts.

✒Hyun Ji's wardrobe, and how she is able to obtain, wear and change clothes is inconsistent. Her clothing is a plot driver in some episodes, yet rules about wardrobe laid out early on are bent, broken or tossed out altogether later. While I'm on the subject of costume, when Hyun Ji is wearing black she should have had spike-heeled boots on, not the frumpy-dumpies she wears. How kick@$$ing could she be when wearing them? They only could have helped.

✒She gets wet when it rains but her hair is dry when she comes out of the lake(?)

✒Why don't people see the forks and knives moving and the glasses being raised when ghosts are eating?

✒The police investigate a buried body in the woods and declare that it may not be a natural death? Possibly. What made them think that? Oh, right, the body was BURIED.

✒I'm almost shocked that the two seniors, In Rang and Cheon Sang, who only want to film ghosts in the beginning of the show, seem to forget all about it, and their youtube channel, as the episodes go on. The writer and director just let that aspect float out there and never used it. Letting something so important to the characters just fall away with no reason provided is downright lazy plot and character development.

✒We aren't told how technically skillful In Rang is, early on, so when he magically displays prowess later, it seems to sprout from nowhere.

✒Do we know the monk's actual relationship to Bong Pal? He seems to be an uncle, but if that was stated I missed it. We shouldn't be left to guess.

✒Do we know if Hyun Ji got all of her memories back from her time with Park Bong Pal?

✒What's going on in ep16 when they claim they don't need money and they have to be convinced to earn some? Bizarre.

It's as if they mixed scenes together like four and water. They don't have the sugar and the eggs, so no cake. It's gloop. Instead of a cohesive product that works, they just have a pile of separated scenes that don't combine for a better whole. On top of the inconsistencies and general sloppiness, the soundtrack and sound effects are lackluster.

The acting was fine. The actors suffer from bad directing. It doesn't seem like it's their fault. There appears to be a lack of chemistry, but it's probably a lack of good direction. Joon Hwa Park has a great lineup as a director. Hopefully this is an outlier. Conversely, one of the best things in the show is an incentive twist. That was a pleasant surprise. The villain is well done also, but none of that can bless this offering.

IMHO…

Directing 4
Acting 7
Romance 5
Flutters 4
Thought provocation 3

Age 13& up.

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