50FiftillidideeBrain

Soaring Swordsmen Sweeping Saga Stalwart Support Singular Sorrow & Longing Surpassed 8.7

The Untamed is wonderful and exciting. At times it's warm and at times it is so beautifully sad. We follow Wei Wu Xian over many years, particularly his exploits with Lan Wan Ji. They are the most promising youth - two of the best fighters and strongest opponents around.

Stick with it. It's confusing. We get a condensed intro in ep1 and then jump 16 years back to the beginning of the tale. The story meanders forward from there. TU has a couple of time jumps backward and forward. I went back later (approaching mid-show) and rewatched the first 20 minutes or so, which helped tremendously.

At the very beginning, Wu Xian(“WeiX”) is mischievous and ebullient, and always getting into trouble. Wan Ji (“LanZ” - Wei Wu Xian calls him “Lan Zahn”) and WeiX meet at Cloud Recesses. LanZ, as one of the Lan Clan, resides there and on site they have a finishing school, of sorts, for young men.

These two are complete opposites. WeiX keeps making friendly overtures to LanZ, which irritates the solitary LanZ greatly. WeiX is a fun, friendly joker and an overall class clown. LanZ rarely talks. Always drinking, WeiX has an easy affability about him. LanZ is serious, studious, never breaks the rules, and NEVER drinks, as prohibition is one of the Lan Clan's 3000 decrees. Yes, three-thousand. WeiX knows all about them. He's had to copy them 💯×💯s of times and he's often being punished. Never-a-hair-out-of-place LanZ was never punished, until he met WeiX.

A threat from the Wen Clan arises. All the other clans are concerned, resulting in WeiX and LanZ going on a quest together. One thing leads to another and they end up in many scrapes along the way. They eventually form a bond that's closer than brothers, though we have to wait until nearly the end to see the depths of the impassive LanZ's devotion to his friend. Still waters run deep, so frozen waters might have a torrent underneath their icy surface.

Tragedy occurs while the clans are fighting and WeiX is blamed. Thus starts his unraveling of the mystery surrounding events that lead up to the "current day."

{The show is based on author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's novel, Mo Dao Zu Sho. The two protagonists become lovers in his book, but that was stripped from the TV series. (🇨🇳 isn't the only country with censorship 'issues,' btw. Most of the world is censored.) This, understandably, upset the gay community. Said "Oligarchy" is what it intends to be. They don't care a whiff about feelings or individual rights. We are hypocritical to be "ho-hum" about that ruling Party's steamrolling, censorship monolith when Google, or the NBA want to get in bed with them, or when Nike or Apple want to slice mfg costs by employing near-free manpower to compile their uber pricey items at the establishment's no-impromptu-inspection-allowed factories. That hierarchy controls everything - most of all information. This allows them free reign to eradicate human rights: It's well documented. They don't tolerate religions either, and the rumors of what happens to prisoners makes many horror pics look TAME. (If you're still with me, the reason I don't use the name of this country is because I will be censored.) Just sayin, if we are missing something the censorship machine took away, we should empathize with our fellow humans, stand up for the rights of all, and not tolerate any bully censors. It's all permanently interlocked, and not a pick-and-choose situation. Censorship will always be more damaging than freedom of expression. Let the (respectful) dialogue flow. Commercial over.}

There's a heavy fantasy element to the show. The swordsmen fly through the air. They cast magic spells, make talismans, and musical instruments are used for magic as well. Some of the fantasy elements are key to the story. It is much like Flying Tiger Crouching Dragon. The fantasy is cool, but the feel is of a sweeping saga, not simply a fantasy piece.

The characters are well developed. Their humanity, and otherwise, is the centerpiece of the story. Despite the changes enforced on the storyline, the union between the two protagonists and their respect for each other is what endures once the final episode's credits scroll by. It's easy to infer that their bond goes beyond mere friendship. Even the hetero relationships in UT are virtually platonic by Western standards. There is no closer relationship depicted in the show, and it is breathtaking.

Every element shines (except for a couple of the special effects. One monster was very poorly done). There's 50 episodes. It's alot; too much for me to binge watch. Eventually I went to watching a couple of episodes a week, which was perfect.

However you choose to watch, just choose to watch this stunning piece of art. It is truly magnificent.

IMHO...
🎬9 🤔7 🎭9 ⚡8 🌞 7

Age 13+
Written 9/2/21

ps. 5/28/24 ~>>
Asia remains extremely conservative when it comes to sexuality across the board. But, I've recently seen 5 or 6 🇨🇳shows that depict either a gay man, a gay romance, lighthearted “gay” joking between men, or other gay-related content that is evidence of a major attitude shift.

“Today, the 🇨🇳government's approach to LGBT rights has been described as "ambivalent", "fickle", and as being "no approval; no disapproval; no promotion". There is much resistance from conservative elements of the government, as various LGBT events have been banned in recent years. Since the late 2010s, authorities have avoided showing homosexual relationships on public television, as well as showing effeminate men in general.” Wiki. Their record on human rights, in general, is even worse.

In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Overlord 8.4,
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
Eternal Love 8.3,
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
Love and Redemption 10,
The Rise of Phoenixes 9

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Close Encounters with the 3rd Kind °7.7° °VG°

He'll /try/ his /best/ to be faithful to her, he says. “There's only 2 kinds of men: Those who cheat and those who want to,” he qualifies, just so she knows how noble he is and how very, very difficult it will be to follow through on this intention. That's one prospective boyfriend's pitch for her affections. Zixin is looking for the “3rd kind”.

DGBMH is a 2011 125-minute Hong Kong release that is rated 91 on AWiki. It's an engaging and tasty little morsel that decries the concept of false-choices in relationships. Don't only follow your heart - give a listen to your head as well.

So far, Zixin hasn't used her head enough. “Here, take my seat,” Zixin says to the pregnant lady on the bus. When their eyes meet, they realize who they are; who /SHE/ is. Zixin is the ex. Preggers is the current gf of Zixin's ex-bf. Mr. Ex catches up with them on the bus. When he sees Zixin, his mouth starts flapping: ‘Hold onto my liquor and my other items, and take care of my frog. I will pick them up soon…’ Zixin's ex has no shame. She should have known that already, long before she ever shacked up with him.

Preggers has a meltdown.

Ex asks ZIXIN to leave the bus. His gf is too upset, and /she's/ pregnant, afterall…

After storming off of the bus, Zixin almost gets run over. A bum just manages to snatch her out of the way, saving her life. So she's still alive (physically), but Zixin is not living her best life right about now.

S'all gud, though. At work she's window-flirting with the hottie-in-a-suit across the road. He's been waving, putting up flowers made of post-its, doing magic tricks, and today he asked her out - all by way of sign language from the office building across the way. They are finally gonna meet for coffee.

What Zixin doesn't realize is that the woman in the office under her has also been signaling to hottie dude. Which one of them has he been asking out?

On the way for coffee, Zixin runs into her savior-bum. As a way of ‘Thank you’ she offers to give him all the stuff her ex-bf left at her place. Frog n’ all. This leads to an epic date. It's not a date, officially… But it /IS/ a date. It happens a couple nights later. He approaches her with a wad of cash. Apparently, he sold most of the stuff. He says she can't take the money home. They have to spend it. First, he takes her for a haircut. (‘How long have you had that hairdo?” Did /he/ like your hair long?) Next, it's: “Do you have to wear dark clothes at work?” New wardrobe! Then it's good food. Zixin learns that this bum is an award winning architect who has been trying to dig out of a pile of life's rubble with a shot glass.

She walks Into work the next day with a spring in her step. She's flowing. Everyone & everything else stops. Zixin is a totally new person, overnight. She's officially a hottie. (Never underestimate the power of a good hairdo, and don't neglect your physical self & health). Things go lopsided when half of her firm loses their jobs in the aftermath of the Lehman Bros 2008 collapse. Their new boss is someone from across the street.

Daniel Wu (Go Away Mr. Tumor!, New Police Story) plays Kevin Fong. He was a brilliant architect. Now he's a drunk. Louis Koo Anita (The Road Less Traveled) portrays Zhang Shen Ran. He's a red blooded man, and he likes women. Zixin is extremely attracted to him, but must ask him, based on his description of the two kinds of men, will he become a Martian after they marry? Gao Yuan Yuan (The Qin Empire, City of Life and Death) is the girl, Cheng Zixin. They were all upstaged by Froggy, though.

At the helm we have a team. Wai Ka Fai (Looking Back in Anger, Fat Choi Spirit) is screenwriter/director. Johnnie To, of Running Out of Time, co-directed, and there's two more screenwriters: Ryker Chan (Blind Detective) & Jevons Au (Distinction).

The theme is choosing the right one, not the one you /want/ to be the right one. The right one will naturally have a positive effect on us. The confidence that stems from a positive love relationship will always spur us on to better things. Zixin already did change the right one. And he changed her. And that was all without trying. The wrong one was never going to change.

I used to say that one shouldn't marry unless one feels s/he can't live without the other person. That is not untrue, but it's not a good enough litmus test. Marry the person who feels most like home. That's what you'll be trying to build with the person - a home.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.9 📝7 🎭8 💓6.5 🦋4 🎨6 🎵/🔊6.8 🔚7.3 🤗7 ▪ 🌞4.8 ⚡2 😅3 😭2 😱1 😯2 🤢0 🤔5 💤0


AAge15+ sexual content
Language: @$$h0le

Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned

Re-📺? Would

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Beautiful Love Makes a Beautiful Life °7.4° °VG°

Alert!

Beautiful girl.

Alone.

DRUNK.

Black slinky dress and red platform shoes.

/Someone/ should look out for her.

She stumbles onto Fang, but another dude arrives to assist her, so Fang walks away. But Fang made an impression, so while he's walking home, she's ba-aack! And she jumps on /his/ back.

“I'll buy you coffee sometime,” was how the night ended. They soon run into eachother a couple more times. Yes, she remembers him; she wasn't /that/ drunk. She gives him her card and makes more promises about future coffee. Next, she sees him in the grocery store and /demands/ his help in making dumplings. He complies. When her sig-other comes home, however, she acts like Fang's the plumber.

Ouch.

She seems to think she's a cat that can sit on anyone's lap and be loved. Look at how cute she is, afterall! Due to the success of the dumplings, she's now in the habit of calling Fang for all kinds of help. We soon learn that her sig-other has a much /more significant/ other of his own. She's going to need lots of help.

ABL is a 2011 124-minute release that is rated 92 on AWiki. It is a beautiful story, and it is completely different from a typical Chinese modern-day feature. That's probably because it's a collaboration with Hong Kong. It feels like we're watching real people from a camera in the corner of the room.

Liu Ye (First Night Nerves) plays ML Fang Zhengdong. He lives with his brother, who has communication struggles and needs looking after. Fang seems to be a natural nurturer. Shu Qi (Good Autumn, Mommy) portrays FL Li Peiru. Everyone in her life is selfish. Once she meets Fang, she just keeps comin back round to him because he is something entirely strange and new. It's mutual. They are obviously drawn to eachother. Over time, a bond forms and continues to get stronger. In the beginning, it's him helping her, but she gets a chance to return the favor.

ABL is just lovely. It is a romance that would please more than romance-junkies. These are two lonely people, and as opposite personalities, they each handle loneliness in their own ways. As a policeman, Fang handles it in an orderly manner by keeping his head down and fulfilling responsibilities. Li acts out in a disorderly fashion. She's often drunk and disorderly. One cop took notice, and 2 lonely lives became one beautiful life together.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.6 📝7.4 🎭8 💓7 🦋5.5 🎨6.5 🎵/🔊7.2 🔚8 🤗8 ▪ 🌞6.5 ⚡3.5 😅2 😭4 😱2 😯3 🤢3.5 🤔4.5 💤0


Age 13+ adult situations and mild sexual content

Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned

Re-📺? Would

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~ To The Victors GLORY ~⚜️~ To The Viewers ~ How Glorious! ~ °7.9° °Excellent°

KA has many problems, which is why I can't understand myself.

The muted voice track at times sounds like a dub over, & at others like they are talking in the bathroom. Many characters' voices are two short steps removed from toneless & emotionless. Not all viewers care about sets, but highly visual people do. KA's sets feel sanitized. There isn't a speck of dirt anywhere in 40 entire episodes. The sets either made my 💓 race from the savvy style, or I blanched at the suppressed sterility. Many of the sets have an over-exposed whiteness to them. If they were going for real-life to appear dreamlike & Glory to look more real, it would be brilliant. Let's choose the doubt's upside & deem it by design - a breakthrough of subconscious genius, at a minimum. Team HQs are very🆒 & the Shanghai cityscapes are impressive w/ stunning architecture lit in a dazzling display.

What about 💘? No couples form? C'mon, how hilarious would it be if 🗡Shaotin made a pass at Lil🔱Tang? Forget that; nobody even seems °interested°. Clearly, Glory suppresses hormones. It's almost as if these people are in 2D. Wei🔮Chen is the only male protag that displays any moxie. Lil🔱Tang is next😜. This isn't to say that characters should be snogging in every corner; it shouldn't be the centerpiece, by any means. As is, it's strange to see the young-beautifuls hanging out together without checking eachother out.

Maybe they're too saintly. KA has some fantastic players, thankfully. They provide a little cover for its issue w/ 😇saints. The many saintly characters, including ones that grow from odious to 😇like, are a prevalent flaw. Like GOT author, GRRM, states: There's only 1 thing worth writing about, and that's the human 💔 in conflict with itself. As we need flesh-&-blood characters w/ whom to identify, there's no room for 😇s in good drama (unless it's a plot device). Please tell me it's not sending a message about the glorious collective in order to mollify the 🇨🇳 censorship machine. I hope not: Hearing the paper editor lecturing the intern reporter on remaining impartial, to only report the facts, is a little too ironic. Be that as it may, propaganda machines are 🌏wide, not just in closed off countries. Not far removed from the above, are weird moments where Glory is portrayed religiously, & Ye☂Qiu as its prophet. Mercifully, it's only scattered instances.

Moving on, players that had great reluctance to join the team, & other characters that were infested with hate or anger, come around too easily. In 40 episodes, they have time for more of an arc, to allow progression to unfold gradually. They could have been recruiting more than 1 at a time, for instance. This would allow space for the more difficult cases to have a credibly phased growth process.

The cast is keek, but couldn't they have a couple chubby players? (Ok. Perhaps the reporter w/ the 'Elmer The Elephant" jacket fits that. He's sorta cute, though, like a 🐼). China has a vast populace consisting of the colors of the human 🌈, yet there's only a couple token medium skin-toned actors, w/ nary a dark skin tone. In fairness(ha!), many media outlets are guilty of the above. Being beautiful & light-skinned doesn't guarantee success, but it can certainly fill in any potholes for a smoother ride. It's something that we should all be aware of & fight against in ourselves.

The most significant flaw is the soundtrack. Don't underestimate this. The ruined portions are the flashbacks & sentimental moments. Not only did the sound kill them, but there's waaay too many of them to begin with! These scenes, many of which would have transformed w/ more energetic 🎵&🔊, are 😶. Their attempt to mfr emotions failed. Tragically, when KA is not snappy teammate repartee-filled interplay, or Glory drama-filled conquer mode, it's too often sentimentally simplified. Obviously, that has no place in such a show. Infused sparingly - fine, but there are too many sappy scenes w/ sappy music. Information-wise some are useful...except when they are__ DUPLICATES⁉ I started to ⏩ through them. It gets even worse at the end. Most of Ep40 is a sap fest w/ painful 🎶. The pain is from "over-sapuration" of sappiness. It hurts. Thankfully, the action🎵 is catchy & seamlessly bolsters gameplay.

Finally, I don't even play computer games except for the occasional trip to Freecell. So, help me out: Why do I ♥ this show so much?

🕹1st, KA is fun to watch!

Ep1-40, @45min ea, go fast💨. Nothing feels like useless stuffing (sans f/backs); the series flows. The competitive atmosphere is exciting. It's like an anime tucked into a live-action feature.

Yes, there's stereotyping:

☂ The intrepid, all-wise, near perfect leader, who can kill all day in a game, yet still have a tender disposition. {Lo, he was brought down by capitalism. He's one that's too 😇like - nobody can relate. He should be humanized a tad more. As he never brags, it's not until the last competition, once he verbalizes his analytics, that we see how brilliant, how very 1-in-a-billion, he is.}

☂ The cheerleader🔫 onto whom h/h idol falls.

☂ The struggling🚬player who needs the right coach.

☂ The loaner⤵🕳

☂ The 🤓geek, who is unparalleled in analytics + he happens to be hanging out precisely where they do. It's like Little Giants; I was waiting for "The Annexation Of Puerto Rico" play. When playing, the🤓 meets Chuck🤾Bricks in a hidey-hole. He's astounded. Analytically, it's nearly impossible for anyone to find that spot! In fairness, 🤾 actually fell in. He's not the team's genius, but he excels @ being lucky. "I'd rather be lucky than good,” MLB player, Lefty Gomez, famously said🤔}

☂ The once stellar, now washed up player🔮 w/ the surly attitude & gravely voice. He's akin to a Dennis Hooper type, so he should be a heavy drinker. Esporters don't drink, though. There's a hilarious bit when they go out after a win; most of them pass out before getting a full🍺/🥃/🍹down.

☂ There's even a scammer🛐. For them to hire him w/o more analysis is odd.

It's difficult, at this stage in 📽/📺, to come up with completely original characters for a feature. Should that be a priority? People have many commonalities; criticism for 'replay' types isn't so damaging, really. Is the journey fresh? That's what matters. 🤾 & Tang🔱 are not stereotypical. As is, 🔱's a bada$$ in her own way & 🤾 just runs around & makes things happen. {Speaking of bada$$↪ Let's put Youming "Yummy" GU (captain of Team🥊Tyranny) on the short must😍watch list〰 Excuse me. Where was… am I?}

🎮2nd. This team & their journey works.

The characters are fun & interesting, even in their incompletely molded states. The actors are solid; it appears any "narrow range" is due to the direction. The character who is most delightful is Shaotian, the Sword🗡Saint. Now °here's° a saint with no flaws. Every moment he's on screen is a rare joy. His blithely indefatigable trash-talking character is perfect.

Though 🚬Yifan, 🔱, Bao🤾Zi, (GO Steamed Bun Invasion‼) Mo⤵🕳Fang, and Gou🔫Gou, (and that Team🥊Tyranny hunk) are all loveable, next for me, is the great trash talker & warlock, Wei🔮Chen. Cheerful trash-talkers are the best. His feigned boredom is another asset. They squandered good screen time: He should have come to the team sooner. KA is stingy w/ his successful exploitation of every chance to rattle opponents (as well as Ye🌂 & 🔫 😅). Heck, he should have gotten farther w/🔫, the team manager. (He was getting down to it during that team outing, but he passed out mid-sentence). That's a flaw they need to rectify in S2↪They left us wanting more. That's not always a bad thing. Still.... More, please.

They did leave plenty of room for the team to grow, & for 💗 to 🌸 (I'd take a mere glint in somebody's eye). The show screams for a S2. From what I've read, covid caused the initial delay, & the next hurdle is scheduling the actors, who are all quite busy now. (I wonder what "Yummy"🥊GU's been in lately?) There's disappointing reports that Shuying Jiang, who plays 🔫, cannot reconcile her schedule, so she's being replaced in S2. She is likable in her role; it's not her fault that they gave her too many of those Hallmarkie scenes.

🖱3rd. Technically, KA is superb. It is said to be the only show that depicts actors as both real-life & animated (it's double the work). The graphics are nothing short of outstanding. The game Glory is real, w/ a real professional league in 🇨🇳, where it is immensely popular. So, while they may not have made up the game's graphics & rules, they incorporated all of it in a way that viewers who know nothing of Glory can still 💖 to watch. Every time they played Glory I was into that action anime within the story. Each round was always exciting & often tense.

🖲4th & final is the show's popularity. It set records for overseas markets & is rated highly by viewers, including moi.

Naturally, KA won't be for everyone. Don't retreat if you are thinking that you don't know enough about Glory to enjoy KA. That's just a backdrop. The real story is how a family forms. Some of the best 📽/📺 ever done are about people banding together & forming a family unit to face the odds together. I adopted them as family for 40 episodes, despite our differences. The fun I had watching makes me feel rewarded.

S2 would be even more rewarding...

QUOTES📢

☂ I don't think these ashes can ever be lit again

☂ Life gets easier when you're on the floor

☂ Was this intentional, deliberate, or on purpose?

☂ Any skill is meaningful only when it is used at the right time. Otherwise, it will become a flaw.

☂ Isn't it satisfying to chuck bricks?

IMHO 〰🖍

▫🎬7.3 sans f/backs 🤔5 🎭7 ⚡8 🎵7 sans sap music 😅 5.5 💤4 (f/backs) 🔚 9 w/o those wretched f/backs▫

Age 12+

👁📺again? I already did and would again w/ ⏩handy

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✒Mun-dane ⏬️ They Blew It

I loved S1 and did a review on it already, so I won't rehash it all here. S2 is just awful. I would say it's not worth the time, and I have lots of time right now.

S2 is 12 addt’l eps. It opens hot & contains PG-13 language. They have a bigger budget, but that is not the key to a good show. Right away it's clear that this is a lazy-rest-on-our-laurels-in-we-had no-inspiration-or-good-ideas‐just-cash-in S2. The dialogue is stupid. The plot is stupid. The new characters are stupid. It makes me really sad. They think they're in the Mun-ee, but S2 is poor. It's Mun-dane.

It's not worth watching once you've gotten a good look at the evil spirit team. They're well done. Nothing else is. Kang Ki Young (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Oh My Ghost-10) played buffoons early in his career. He is convincing as a bad guy in While You Were Sleeping-7.2. He has the perfect look, but the director portrayed him as too measured and it doesn't feel quite right. They should have gone more thuggish and guttural. Together with Kim Hieora and Kim Hyun-Wook, the evil spirit team is stylish, creepy, & catchy.

Mo-Tak is back on the police force but he's still a counter, so he's working 2 jobs. He explains his amazing intuition about crime by saying that he gets inspiration while pooping. Pitifully, that's a metaphor for the whole season. It's akin to a long smelly f@rt.

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✒Noodle Restaurant By Day ~✳~ Evil Spirit Fight Club By Night. Uncanny. °S1-8.4 S2-4 °

High schooler, Mun, has a new job at the noodle restaurant where that searing hot chick works. It's not so much about serving 🍜 as it is training to go out and 86 some evil👻spirits. He'd been left with a leg twisted up worse than spaghetti in a strainer from the accident in which his parents died. Left dependent on a brace for mobility, he'll need oodles of training.

UC is a free-range, quality, action⚡packed thriller about "counters" who work the restaurant counter by day & counter evil👻spirits by night. The new recruit they're scouting to replace a fallen (KIA) counter is Mun. During the 1st shift his new coworkers drop the orders on him. The usual recruitment base is hospitalized & comatose patients. As counters, they can sample life once more. Most opt to devour this on-the-house treat. Completely-conscious Mun is an exception; they see potential in him. The show creators do a nice job with the house rules in this expanded world. Too many Kdramas (and other shows) fail to do so, thus creating customer confusion. Even worse, it fosters the appearance that they're cheating, ie., cooking without a recipe & casting whatever in the 🥗.

Counters are typically 3✖ as strong as any of their regular diners. How can weakly Mun hunt evil spirits, or even work a table, with a griseled limb? Counter magic. Once he's cleared orientation, his leg untwists as if it never happened. Their strength is a pinch confusing, though. For the older Mrs. Chu, is she 3✖ as strong as the average man, or the average noodle shop matron? Their spirited 🅱ad🅰$$ jumps are high enough to clear 4 stacked up noodle houses while their patrons wouldn't be able to clear a noodle house table, let alone the counters' higher-than-soju-spirits poleless vaults, thrice divided.

The team members have strengths and skills to match their respective specials. (Oh my… I meant to say specialties. Writing this is making me hungry!) There are other rules that Mun has sworn to uphold, and rules are enforced by a governing body in the Heavenly realm. Be that as it may, no matter how earnest & thankful Mun is, temptation is the biggest monster we must all overcome. Powers, and all counter services, are for supernatural battles ONLY. Serving up counter-power at a human skirmish is as pr🚫hibited as health dept violations or stealing from the restaurant's pantry. With his newly found 🏋+🥊+🕺Mun begins sweeping up his onetime tormentors - the school's vicious bullies. This will eventually affect his review: He's put on progressive probation.

The team happy-meal is 4 active fighters and a retired one who manages the register and team funding🏧. Dropped trays can drop lives! They must choreograph their moves to function as one, so as to handle tense battles. (They're more stressful than dinner-rush at a joint Guy visited in the most recent episode of Diners Drive-Ins & Dives.) Clear communication, combined with organic trust, are essential to maximize potency. They all become as close as the 🦃-scarfing family at Sunday dinner in the Norman Rockwell🖼. Mun crushes like 🍅🍅🍅 on the pretty, but prickly-🍐 Ha-na from the first moment she brusquely takes his order. Sadly, Ha-na ain't asking for any of *that. She's one critic that's difficult to impress. The blended mother-son relationship between Mrs. Chu and Mun is as healing as hangover soup. He had lost his parents; she, her son. It draws her to him, and he's perfectly happy sharing her warmth🍵. The whole team is family; a functional-while-functioning one.

Why does the team wage this dangerous war? For evil👻s, killing customers and passerbys is a generator; an energy bank that compensates during a power loss. A dark👻's most nutritious snacks are rotten humans, along with the occasional vicious bully-blogger. Spoiled ingredients are perfect for evil👻 digestion. "Well-done" decomposition, like a special sauce, strengthens & freshens these carrion, hyenas & Tasmanian devils. Early on, the team (en)counters an extraordinarily pungent "level 3" evil👻. L3's are as rare as Beluga caviar. (We'll learn that this Beluga's host was a hitman. They'll go together like ramen & broth). Evil👻s take-out the victim's soul, consume, and never pay the tab. Counters, via Chase & master charges, apprehendi & deliver Evil👻s to the counting machines of the justice system. Souls are like pearls extracted from poisoned oysters; they can be saved, but there are no shortcuts for whipping up the house special. Evil👻s must be caught alive in the wild, like lobsters, or the team will burn the order & forever lose the more-precious-than-pearls souls.

Mun learns the accident that killed his parents may have been no accident. In fact, the #1 suspect for the dash-&-dine style hit-&-run, is their current competition, the L3. If so, Mun's parents' souls will be lost if the L3 escapes or dies. M&D CAN be salvaged, more importantly. Mun and the team urgently dash to win this wild game; it's more intense than any Iron Chef showdown. The prize: trapped souls boiling over inside this specter, Mun's parents being the Blue Ribbon.

Hitmen don't order for themselves. The backdrop is a rancid political system from porridge-police to nuts-mayor. Around the same time as Mun's tragic accident, fellow counter and former detective, Mo-Tak, was left in a coma from a still unsolved attempt on his life. These incidents could be connected like crab & claw. Meanwhile, the L3 evil poacher recruits his own 👻👻👻 team, making the Counters' jobs more challenging than waitressing in slippery souled, er - soled shoes. Unexpectedly, Mun brews skills that are far from everyday junk food. It's as unexpected as harvesting shrimp and finding a gold bar in the net. Looks like Mun is no small🍟plate.

UC is altogether worthy of an enthusiastic 👍🏾 yelp review. Kdramas serve up excellence morning, noon, and night; UC is no exception. Every element tickles the palate: The 🎭, 🎬 & 🖋〰 are incorporated more smoothly than soju & 🍺. Special effects add BAM! while complimenting the plot, instead of becoming a centerpiece. The villain is creepier than roaches in the teapot. The writer baked in savory setup lines. Here's some free samples: When Mrs. Chu announces: "We won't lose anyone in this photo." Soon after that... Well, 👀 and see. 7 yrs back, Mo-Tak tells Ofr. Jeong, who insists on going to a dangerous mtg: "Take your 🌂. I think a 🌩 is coming.".

The action is fun. In Ep7 there's a crazy fight that's more exciting than murder mystery dinners. Ha-na has entered Mun's mind to warm-up his memory. The evil L3 materializes inside Mun's consciousness like a sidedish of dogfood. Before Mun can scrape the scraps of shock away, they're fighting ~> inside his memory! They spring around like yeasty dough. They slip into places, including the evil👻's hideout, and then back to into Mun's memory. O.H.😍M.Y. They could have built a franchise around that! This succulent treat is a test recipe that management, inexplicably, failed to add to the menu. That sauce is too awesome to be left hanging out there as a one-off.

It's common for omelets of sci-fi fantasy to contain some logical eggshells. This show has some. One biggie is: Why don't the evil spirits just bring a 🔫 to the 🗡fight and toss the counters like salad? Did they mention it while quickly running down the list of spirits on tap? Maybe. Think of it as a delicious meal😀 but without the extra pickles you ordered😔.

Nevertheless, the bloggers got this one right. UC serves up a 🏅winner-winner-🐔-dinner. You can count on it!

QUOTE🗣

"Not taking action when you witness an evil deed is another form of wickedness." (The wickedness of enabling evil)

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬8 🖋〰 7.3 🎭8 💓6 🦋5 🌞7 🎨8⚡8 😅 😭 😱 🤢 🤔7 💤🔚8

Age 14+ (3✖ creepy & sinister)

Re-📺? 👍🏽

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2D ▪︎ 3D ▪︎ A Stud in Any Dimension °6.7° °good°

Would love with an AI be real or artificial? Would it feel… hollow?

Like many shows about tech, MHL opens with a company's demonstration of its breakthrough technology. Go Yoo “Jin” is on the stage behind a glass panel, in front of the investors, discussing the latest developments with a man next to her. Jin dramatically reveals that the man who she's been talking to /is/ the latest tech. He's a hologram. The hi-tech glass panels are what enable the audience to see him. Even though next to him on the same side of the glass, Jin can see him because her spectacles are made of the same material.

Not even 10 minutes in we got an exciting car chase. An ominously black SUV follows Jin as she leaves the demo. Holo takes over operation of the self-driving car with precision maneuvering and eludes the threat, but Jin's safety is only temporary. The pursuers crash her vehicle, and Jin attempts to flee on foot. As they're closing in on her, she slips the glasses into the bag of a woman passing by, per Holo's direction. He had pre-screened the crowd and picked the woman out specifically. That's how we meet Yeon.

‘They're so interesting looking…’ When Yeon finds the exotic eyewear she tries them on (would most people do that? Don't think so…) A strange man appears in her bedroom! She freaks out. But he's gone. Hmmm. He was there when she was wearing the glasses. Plucking up the courage to try again she tentatively slides them on. There he is again! These glasses are cursed! Jin decides she'll toss them. The phone rings. It's him. Then he's appearing on her TV, yammering on about how he's an Ai and he's here to help her. She's going to have to give him a listen.

Listening is about all she can do. Jin is face blind. Every person she meets looks blurry. She can't make out facial details at all. When she was still in school and her classmates found out, they played cruel tricks on her. Now, she'll let people think she's ignoring them out of rudeness than admit the truth, so she is widely misunderstood. Holo can help her face the world with a smile and the ability to call out to everybody by name, because he can tell her who they are. He speaks directly into her ear. He doesn't have to tell her that her crush, Mr Yoon, is already taken, though. She and her glasses see that painfully enough in the alley next to the restaurant where the company dinner is taking place.

MHL is a 2020 release that is rated 85 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 12 60-minute episodes - it ends just in time and maintains its quality control. The backdrop is an ongoing police investigation as well as a hostile takeover by another company. Holo is based on an actual human being, Go Nan Do/NDo. Yoon Hyun Min (True to Love) plays him & Holo. I loved this actor in Tunnel-8.1. He looks completely different here. I think it's the hair. When he shows up, Yeon can't tell the difference between him and Holo as long as she doesn't try to touch him. There's a big difference, though. Holo is trying to /help/ her with her office crush, while NDo is prone to exclaiming things like: “Romantic love is one of the many lies perpetrated by mankind… The problem is that humans have always been flawed. Therefore the outcome is always failure.” He's better than a tank of laughing gas, that one.

Go Sung Hee (King Maker: The Change of Destiny, Gaus Electronics) is our FL, Han So ”Yeon”. She was perfectly cast. She is still gorgeous in her glasses and she has that brainy quality that makes her a good match for NDo. Yeon is spending lots of time with Holo. She talks to him about life, love, lying, and living. She's also undoing all of NDo's programming, too. What she doesn't know is that NDo is watching /everything/. He's using her as a beta tester. An UNPAID one!

Holo's #1 directive is to make his owner happy. There's an accident and it looks like Yeon is about to get electrocuted? Not if Holo causes a /citywide blackout/, she won't! The police get involved in this ‘hacker crime’. As Holo's developer, NDo almost hits the kill switch after that. He opts instead to move to the apartment next door to Yeon. This way, he can study what is going on with his life's work more closely.

Choi Yeo Jin (On the Way to the Airport, P1H: The Beginning of a New World) plays Go Yoo Jin, NDo's sister. She is adorable with her round freckled face and wavy hair. Her look is fresh and unique - she even has a TAN (gasp!). Kcountry is usually so pasty pale. I really liked her in this series. My current favorite actor, Lee Jung Eun (Oh My Ghost-10, Our Blues-8.5, Parasite-9, and dozens of other things) plays So Yeon's mother. She gets a crying scene late in the show. Ain't nobody better. Not in the wide world. Hwang Chan Sung (True to Love, What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8) is Baek Chan Sung, Vice-president of Magic Mirror. Everything about him says "Debonaire” in MHL. In ep1, he seems perfectly charming. As the show goes on it starts appearing that he might not be such an angel. If he is a bad guy, I still don't want to believe it because there's something appealing about the actor. That's a pretty good skill. The directors are Lee Sang Yeob (Familiar Wife-8.5, Yumi's Cells, Shopping King Louie), & Yoon Jong Ho (Lovely Runner, Flower of Evil-8.9). Screenwriter Ryu Yong Jae of Parasyte: The Grey collaborated with writers Kim Hwan Chae & Choi Sung Joon on this project, Money Heist: Korea & Psychopath Diary.

Yeon falls for Holo - /she thinks/. She slowly starts to realize that a relationship minus physical contact is less-than fulfilling. In the meantime, NDO's past is a mystery and his motivations are even more perplexing. Is he obsessed with Holo or is it Yeon that has captivated his interest?

Despite its positives, MHL is too loosely put together to be a top-tier production. It's good, and I wouldn't call it a waste of time to watch it once, but techies and analytical types may not appreciate it much. Compared to the other Kdramas I've seen, it's middling. They should have done better building up the attraction between them and the romance, in general - especially on her end. It's not bad, but it could have been better. The romance does pick up alittle in ep11. Ep12 is very nice.

They should have done better building up the attraction between them and the romance, in general - especially on her end. It's not bad, but it could have been better. The romance does pick up alittle in ep11.

Everything and anything might get humanized in a film, from insects, to candlesticks. The constant attempts to humanize AI is borderline unsettling. I've heard we have a loneliness epidemic in the USA. Many people try to fill that loneliness with tech and that is sad. Tech is great as long as it doesn't get in the way of human relationships. To make connections with others we must escape the prison of ourselves, and tech promotes the opposite. It's always a matter of moderation. Then it becomes a matter of health.

There's sloppiness that's indicative of lazy writing. Ep10 is unpleasant and a tad cheesy. A guy gets beat up horribly in one scene, and then has no signs of injuries in the next scene, which is just a couple hours later on the timeline. The corporate espionage story seems overly outlandish, but I'll have to admit I know nothing about that stuff. The police come in with an arrest warrant and also move to destroy property on the spot, which would only happen in an arena saturated in corruption or authoritarianism. IRL, it would probably take years to get to the point where intellectual property is destroyed. We can allow for them to compress the timeline, I suppose. Real life is always crazier; it just seems that it would have taken minimal effort and insight to make the show better.

MHL has its moments, though. The music is good, particularly the song, You Are the Only One. They feature respectable action in several scenes. The contrast between machine nature and human nature provides limitless fodder for laughs. Yeon has trouble sleeping so Holo counts sheep for her. Nobody told him to stop so he soon gets to over 12,000. They missed more logic V emotions humor than they nailed, though.

MHL will appeal more to romance junkies than any other type of viewers. Anyone who requires logical explanations and a tight script will be subject to small frustrations. Even romance junkies won't get enormous satisfaction. They tried to plug into the romance and thriller genre but got their wires crossed, slightly. Still, it's operational.


〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 6.7
Writing 6.5
Acting 7.7
Romance 6
Flutters 5
Art 6
Sound & music 7
Ending 7.5
My personal EQ score - 4.5

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 5
Laughs 2.5
Tears 3
Fright 3
Tension/Anxiety 2.5
Gore 4
Thought provocation 4
Snores 1

Re-watch? This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again….


Age 14+
PG-13 language, some.violence and alittle blood

Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ I would say to watch these shows first:

Modern Day -
Crazy Love-7.8,
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Call It Love-8.4,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9,
Mine-8

Action/Crime/Sci-fi -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Sisyphus 8,
Why Her?-8,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
Blood Free-8.5,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9

Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
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

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~DaDa &a.ND ThE Tw2 r0b0T5 ? The Power Of Irresistible Love~ °6.5°

Huh. Alright, alright. Maybe the best place to start is with the titles that kept popping into my head. It was very distracting when this stuff was flying at me:

□ One Woman's Passage Through The Center Of Her Wiring (yuck)

□ Wired For One Woman's Passage Through Her Own Circuitry (nope)

□ Total Validation Via Passage Through Da-da's Core Processor (not quite)

□ A Tale Of Total Validation (getting there)

□ The Whirring Of My Heart (not bad)

☑ The Power Of Irresistible Love (good, but is it funny enough?)

☑ Robot Love triangle Better Than It Sounds. (Like it!)

☑ Luv Terminator (yep)

☑ DaDa & ThE Tw2 r0b0T5 (Love It!)

☑ PinocchiB0T, a REAL BOyT
(also love it)

□ Yeahhh! Heyyy! OYY! - He's ah-DROIDttt!!! (Yet again, love it. Dang. Dilemma.)

Watchlist roulette landed on AB. I'm thinking: "Just look at that premise! Here's my chance to trash a show, so I can avoid being so skewed positive in my reviews!" It shows balance to have a healthy critical side, afterall.

Yet, the film craft in AB is pretty good. The biggest problem is the plot itself, along with the dialogue. They weigh down some otherwise solid elements. Don't misunderstand, it's not a bad watch. It's worth charging up on AB as what they do well, they do really well. They adeptly utilized juxtaposition to make connections. There's also metaphors, irony, & laughs. No matter how bad it is, the satisfaction they give Da-da by having BF show-up her XBF, while in a Hanbok, is precious.

So, let's meet Da-da. She is creative, driven & earnest. She works in showbiz as she inherited her father's special effects studio. And she's been secretly dating mega star Ma Wang Joon (XBF) for 7 years.

Boy oh boy, do they chest slam us. Da-da & XBF's dating rituals have drained her. We see the pains they must go through (not really /they/,' it's all on her) to maintain his public heartthrob persona. She becomes emotionless. Robotic.

One night, XBF brings home some corporate dweebs & she's caught! Panicked, XBF calls her a stalker! Her night rounded out w/ a trip to the police station & then the ER. While there, she hears her jerk-soon-to-be-XBF talking, & thinks that he's there for her. Sadly, as she excitedly rounds the corner, it's just him on TV. We're not stuntman. Why do they jab us? Seven years of this, well, let's be honest, emotional abuse, has rewired her confidence- it's been bypassed. She's not robotic anymore. She's a phantom. #Done, she breaks up w/ him.

Cut to her workshop. The dummy she ordered arrived. When she opens the trunk she sees: That is no dummy! As she's staring, he falls forward. They end up on the floor, face2face, & lips2lips. What IS this? It's an engineer's effort to help his friend, the AI robot he's been developing, escape a twisted & sadistic customer who has bought him. This robot's on the lam.

Whether Da-da likes it or not, she's got a robot boyfriend. When their lips met, his mode was activated. She can't shake this Luv Terminator! She's not going to spend $ on him, though. She brings home a box of random, leftover clothes from the set, so he can cover up his loincloth. The beginning of their relationship finds him in some far out threads.

Then it starts. BF is chasing GF (Da-da) XBF is jealous. The fans are dangerous & rabid. The corporate dudes are even more rapacious. There's even a psycho hovering round. The plot will thicken like congealed fake blood.

While watching, a bunch of 'Wouldas' popped into my brain. The top one is: Can you go get a job? #2 is: Clean the house. Make my fantasies come true! Da-da isn't thinking about taking advantage of the situation, though. She's focused on escape. She tries to ignore him. She tells him to stay put until she gets home from work, but he always finds an excuse to go see her. He misses her, after all.

One day, an actor on set loses his temper w/ Da-da & berates her. BF walks up to him, flat-hands a blow to the actor's chest & dude flies across the set. BF was wearing that Hanbok (a woman's historical dress) at the time. He inquires: Are you alright, GF? And XBF sees it all. Oh, Yeah.

Yeo Jin-gu, as BF, hardly uses his cheek/facial muscles for the entire show. His body language shows a touch of rigidity. His performance is genius. I had to remind myself, HEY! That's an actor there. BF just wants to show love... & go on dates. They sneak into a closed amusement park one night. As BF generates power, they amble from ride to ride among the soft glow of the lights. OkOkOk... It's killin me to say this, but that amusement park jaunt is: The BEST Date ehverrrRrRRrRRR! (Sing it like an aria). ((The Best Date Ever!))

There's 2 BFs in Da-da's life. 2s factor weightily in the show. Post Hanbok incident, XBF wonders to himself: Who is that guy? Rain falls. He looks outside, & there's Da-da, face-to-face w/ her new BF, an umbrella overheard providing private shelter. XBF's head lowers as his gaze drifts to a pair of umbrellas on the floor. (Is she really going out w/him?) He grabs one & heads to the parking lot, where there are now a pair of umbrellas: One w/him alone, the other w/ his XGF, & her new BF, walking away. The rain pours. XBF begins to see double... & 2's & twos & pairs & couples & duets & deuces & snake eyes & duos

DAEBEK! That's Hemingwayian!

We also learn that XBF's nickname is Mazinger, meaning, Robot! He later says to his CEO: "Do you think you can treat me like a robot? Whoa. We even have 2 robots!

They are currently working on a show, here's the signage:

Actor: Ma Wang-joon.

Project: Traitor.

Ha!

The biggest irony is that Da-da, in an attempt to keep the relationship secret, is awful at first. She's doing to BF what jerk-XBF did to her. Secrets pile up. Out of frustration, one day, she tells BF: "Do whatever you want." Uh-oh...

There's plenty of laughs. XBF learns that Da-da gave BF an "A++ Korean Beef" sticker (He wants recognition. It's a reward). Aigoo, they fed us the low hanging fruit. In Korea, that's a wicked pun. They play the bionic man theme once when BF jumps - Nice! BF picks up a floppy disk & examines it. That's juxtaposition. From a Hanbok, to prison issue clothes, his outfits are hilari-aladojus (say it Mary Poppins-like). In Ep8 He picks her up & she cries she's not ready /YET/? She's that far gone?

Then IT happens.

He got a job! Now I'M falling for him a little...

WAIT! He wants to support her!

Uhh/pay my automo-Bill, unh,uh,Unh, ah ah Ahhh! Sing it:

Can you pay my bills?

Can you pay my telephone bills?

Do you pay my automo' bills?

If you did then maybe we could chill.

~Whoo Hoo, tell it, Destiny's Child. WHOO!~

Ahem. Okay.

Now, about love...The selfless love shown in AB is definitely irresistible. {Btw, it would be arrogant & disrespectful of me to comment on anything except my personal journey w/ male/female relationships, which follows.} Most women don't want to be w/ some feckless fop, but it's in a woman's embedded code to want to be loved completely. Adoring (yet masculine) love is one of our fantasies, whether consciously so, or not. Masculine, here, means the whole merry-go-round: a strong protector/provider, who is unafraid of feelings, & for whom his woman is the center of his world. Think: BF+Prince Charming+Rhett Butler's love child: Adoration w/ swagger. This is AB's exhibit #1. Love trumps all else. It's the preservative, the glue, that keeps it all together running smoothly. Without it, the entire product is defective.

Finally, to the best product AB is selling: Standards. AB should raise women's standards when it comes to men. Obviously, no person can be BF-level perfect. We all have viruses in our processors, but women should demand a man that unabashedly loves, protects & provides. (No spongers). Inversely, men want respect & to be, quite frankly, my dear, admired for their manliness - in sincerity. Even Mr. Robot asked of recognition for his efforts. The truth of it is that men (in general!) have operating systems that run on ego-fuel. I used to roll my eyes at it, refusing to enable or contribute to it. Thirty-two years of marriage taught me that if I want two people in our union to be fulfilled, then I'd better make my husband feel like 100,000,000,000 won, as he loved me completely (and that does make it easy). I loved our time together, until death did us part. Sharing this is only meant to be motivational; all the rage & discontent out there has made us miserable. To be happy, which is life's bonus option, one has to let it go, forget about oneself to focus on others once in a while, & to also be content.

Not everything is hardware. Select the best software to avoid meltdowns, as we have choices. A woman can choose a quality partner (or wait for one to drop on top of her), but she shouldn't settle. Strong women hold out for something complete. Forget strong. Smart women (that is, women that have decided to respect themselves) do that. You, reading this, have dignity as a human being, & you deserve respect. Every woman does.

As for ?? -> Can we have a ♥️relationship w/an AI? I'm in love w/ my robot vacuum, so I refuse to comment.

There's a long list of issues w/ AB. Let's skip it. The plo,t& dialogue are substandard & at times, awful. AB wanders, forgets where it was, & gets lost. The ending is blah - all around. Given the positives, login to AB if so inclined.

QUOTE:
{This, I could never understand: If you love someone you must let them go.} Now, I think I understand a little. That, more than my own feelings, it's about wanting to prevent the other person from getting hurt... Because, it'll be more difficult for me, to watch the person I love, go through struggles.

IMHO〰
RATINGS
Directing 7
Acting 8
Romance 5
Flutters 6.5
Ending 4

LEVELS
Warmth 7
Thought provocation 6

Re-watch? Notta priority

Age 16+

You may also like:
A Witch's Love 7.8, 99 days with the Superstar-7,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2, Another Miss Oh-7.5, The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Familiar Wife-8.5
Hotel del Luna-8.4

Originally 📝 11/2021

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✒Life~Pain~Romance~Joy~Food~Song~Healing ~⚕️~ Drama That Resonates Again

Grey's Anatomy, Take Your Scalpel & Go Home. K-Band-Aid is In The HOWSE-pital

I put off watching this highly rated show for a while because I found the name unappealing. Well, what's in a name? This series follows 5 friends from college who eventually end up working at the same hospital in Seoul. Now that they are all back in Seoul, they resurrect their college band by working on 1 song a month, to ensure they take time to be together. Whether the above pre-screening sounds like a solid basis for a hospital drama or not, it's merely the setting. What matters is the relationships, particularly as embodied in the writer/director/actors. In any case, HP has stitched together an outstanding fellowship of talent. Stick with the regimen for 3 episodes, at least, before determining its effectiveness. Ep1 gets off to a slow start and there are several scenes that won't be understandable until later. Once things get rolling they never slow down again.

HP is about friendship first, but also caring+respect for others, love, parents & children, music, and lots and lots of #food. The hospital scenes, including staff dynamics and operating room procedures, feel realistic. The characters are a delight.

Here's a shout-out to Jo Jung-Suk. I fell in love with him when watching the divine Oh My Ghost-10. He delivers another slam dunk with his performance as Dr. Lee Ik-jun. Everyone does a great job.

This just pertains to season 1. I haven't started season 2 yet.

((((🕕))))

With season 2 now watched, the diagnosis is that their practice in season 1 rendered season 2 even #more effective. It continues with the uplifting treatment of the subjects, and it's a resounding hit. Picking up right where it left off, there's a seamless connection to season 1.

Early in season 2 there's a 🏓 tourney. Cardio-Thoracic Sx was looking good - until they had to concede in order to respond to an emergency. At least half of the matches seemed to be decided that way. Instead of mic drops, we see paddle drops. We get to hear other docs gossip about the great Lee Ik-jun: 'I heard Dr Lee was in the 🏓 Club in college. In fact, I heard he was in EVERY club in college. He was even in the magic🔮 club.' Comfortably confident, Ik-jun tells Song-hwa: "I'll return victorious before this tea gets cold." (Nope. Nuclear Medicine runs the tables). His defeat is commemorated with these words: "Tasting Defeat and savoring victory: These are the things that allow us to grow."

Let's take a moment to review the primary protagonists.

In season 2, Lee Ik-jun continues to play Dr Cupid. While Ju-wan (the cardiologist) is worried about Ik-jun discovering whom he's dating. We must wonder: Why worry? How could Ik-jun deny anybody love? Watch to see. He has time to play cupid, and also cover for the lunch lady because he's so brilliant that everything is easy for him. Besides, he's friends with the lunch lady on social media, and her son had a parole hearing. The only thing that takes Ik-jun more time than other docs is walking through the hospital. That's because the highly loquacious Ik-jun is friends with everybody - security guards, aides, custodians, scattered guardians... Just everybody.

Ah, the unparalleled and misnamed SONG-hwa. She can do everything: neurosurgery, research, office visits, lectures,,, one of her biggest timetakers is her mentoring of any and all residents in their educational, professional, and even personal lives. She can do everything but sing. She sings anyway, with masses of verve. She gets pleasure out of little things, like rain. She dances at church and eats like a Sumo wrestler. Utterly delightful, she's the heartbeat of the gang, excepting the band.

Seok-hyung lost a little weight and he looks great in season 2. He declined to take over his father's business and continues to rise to near celebrity popularity as an Ob/Gyn, despite his modest and somewhat shy persona. Patients respond to his gentle and caring manner. One office visit depicts amazing ultrasound footage of a 10 week old fetus wiggling its arms and legs. The couple's reaction is precious. Still focused on Seok-hyung, his mother remains unable to resist attempts to try to control him. She wants grandchildren. Now. She tells him: ‘I don't care who it is. Just get married.’

Dr. Chu continues to try and insert herself into Seok-hyung's life. In season 2 he's neither encouraging nor rejecting her efforts. Dr. Chu is not easily daunted. In fact, she's downright inspirational. Openly pursuing Seok-hyung, she often makes him laugh. Dr. Chu runs into Seok-hyung's mother - literally. Mom was so offended that she even told Rosa she doesn't care whom Seok-hyung marries, as long as it isn't #HER!, speaking of Dr. Chu.

Ju-wan is unchanged in season 2, and his relationship with Dr. Do, whom he is training, continues to improve. We get to meet Dr. Do's wife in season 2.

The pediatrician, Dr. Ahn (Andrea/Jeong-won) treads the course set in season 1. There's not a lot to say w/o spoiling some surprises. He complains that his siblings are worried about mom, but as they can't help "right now", they bombard him with calls. In rich irony he laments: "Why did they enter the church, really?"

We see the return of almost all the side characters: Parents, siblings, other doctors, residents, as well as new first years. They all continue to round out the show well.

Uju wants to go camping, so Ik-jun finally leaves his beloved city life for a weekend, because his son is his world. Hmmm. Who else loves 🏕?

Gy-eol is looking relaxed and even pretty, especially with her hair down. We learn more about her in season 2.

As a side note, there's a realistic basis for the show. The positive connection between surgeons and music has actually been studied. The participants currently playing a musical instrument, at the time of the study, performed the laparoscopic tasks significantly faster than those who did not. They determined that visuo-spatial abilities used in laparoscopic performance clearly may be enhanced for individuals playing a musical instrument. It seems obvious that finger strength and dexterity should also be positively affected.

Even though HP is a top-ten show
in all of Korea's history, there are currently no plans for a season 3. The writer has completed the originally scripted storyline. That is the current status, but there's actually numerous ways to continue the drama. For now, it's a wrap. If you are one that dreads waiting for another season as it it's a multistage invasive treatment plan, it's safe to go forward with the HP procedure now, and hope for a recurrence in the future.


IMHO〰🖍

🎬9 🤔6 🎭9 ⚡4 💓8 🦋5 🎵 9 🎨6🔚9

Suggested Age 12& up, with a caveat: One unmarried couple is shown in bed together with enough skin showing to infer what's unmistakably been going on. Any parents who object to that, be advised. The counter-balance is the realistic medical setting, along with reinforcement of good character.


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

A Witch's Love 7.8,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.4,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Move To Heaven-8.4,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,

Read More

✒Life~Pain~Romance~Joy~Food~Song~Healing ~⚕️~ Drama That Resonates

Grey's Anatomy, Take Your Scalpel & Go Home. K-Band-Aid is In The HOWSE-pital

I put off watching this highly rated show for a while because I found the name unappealing. Well, what's in a name? This series follows 5 friends from college who eventually end up working at the same hospital in Seoul. Now that they are all back in Seoul, they resurrect their college band by working on 1 song a month, to ensure they take time to be together. Whether the above pre-screening sounds like a solid basis for a hospital drama or not, it's merely the setting. What matters is the relationships, particularly as embodied in the writer/director/actors. In any case, HP has stitched together an outstanding fellowship of talent. Stick with the regimen for 3 episodes, at least, before determining its effectiveness. Ep1 gets off to a slow start and there are several scenes that won't be understandable until later. Once things get rolling they never slow down again.

HP is about friendship first, but also caring+respect for others, love, parents & children, music, and lots and lots of #food. The hospital scenes, including staff dynamics and operating room procedures, feel realistic. The characters are a delight.

Here's a shout-out to Jo Jung-Suk. I fell in love with him when watching the divine Oh My Ghost-10. He delivers another slam dunk with his performance as Dr. Lee Ik-jun. Everyone does a great job.

This just pertains to season 1. I haven't started season 2 yet.

As a side note, there's a realistic basis for the show. The positive connection between surgeons and music has actually been studied. The participants currently playing a musical instrument, at the time of the study, performed the laparoscopic tasks significantly faster than those who did not. They determined that visuo-spatial abilities used in laparoscopic performance clearly may be enhanced for individuals playing a musical instrument. It seems obvious that finger strength and dexterity should also be positively affected.


IMHO〰🖍

🎬9 🤔6 🎭9 ⚡4 💓8 🦋5 🎵 9 🎨6🔚9

Suggested Age 12& up, with a caveat: One unmarried couple is shown in bed together with enough skin showing to infer what's unmistakably been going on. Any parents who object to that, be advised. The counter-balance is the realistic medical setting, along with reinforcement of good character.


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

A Witch's Love 7.8,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.4,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Move To Heaven-8.4,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,

Read More

And Now for Something Completely Different °VG° °Romantaholics only°

How does one admit that s/he spent over 16 hrs watching a show about how a con man poses as a wealthy blind woman's brother & ends up falling in love with her? This is utterly ridiculous. The plot summary is ridiculous. What's more ridiculous is that I cried through at least nine episodes. Part of me felt I myself was inside a scene from a comedy. Looks like the joke's on me.

I'll have to accept that I appreciate art with my heart much more than my head. If one can roll with the premise, it's a more pleasurable experience Thus, romance addicts will hop on this cathartic roller coaster & love the ride. Be warned, though, mostly everyone else will hate this.

Between hankies, thoughts jumped to the front of my brain, like: "Hey, this is more ridiculous than a General Hospital, Peyton Place, & Dynasty doing a Reunion-Funny-Raccoon-Video-Holiday-Extravaganza!" Or, "This could be one of the most aburd plot lines ever." As it turns out, this is nothing! Who knew the following plots were being inflicted on the public? Luke & Laura save the world from being frozen. Or, how’bout it was all a dream... a dog's dream. Then there's Timmy, the doll that came to life along with Precious, the obsessive orangutan nurse. Don't get me started on Being John Malchevich, which is really good, but can't be explained. Therefore, TWTWB isn't so bad. I've decided to not be embarrassed for loving it, and it's not the only Kdramas that prompt similar thoughts.

TWTWB is the story of Oh Young & Oh Soo. She is born into one of Korea's dukedoms (her father is a CEO). Her parents had a nasty divorce, ending with her mother leaving the house & taking her brother, Oh Soo. Age 7 at the time, Oh Young longed for them, but she never saw them again.

There's 2 Oh Soos, & they end up friends: Oh Young's brother, born into modern day royalty, & the /other/ Oh Soo, who had been abandoned under a tree at birth. Oh Soo is a grown street kid, sometimes thug, always a gambler, & usually a con man. When the Ohs finally come looking for the long lost son, he has been dead a year. At the same time, the still living Oh Soo suddenly owes a debt to a mob boss that, in the words of ‘The Boss’, "no honest man can pay." So when the family lawyer comes tapping around, Soo jumps at the golden opportunity to make connections with these "well-off" targets.

This sets up a line of obstacles that he & his friends-and-abettors must navigate with thriller style machinations. The irony is that while Oh Soo believes he's moving into that house with his eyes open, ready to plot his course & exit monied & worry-free, he actually went there blind & ended up snaring himself.

TWTWB is a show about isolation, family, lousy or absent parents, dignity, responsibility, telling oneself the truth, & honor. Most of all, it's about forgiveness. The players have a roulette wheel of hurts, slights & other grievances laid out in a circular fire squad formation. Almost every character needs to forgive another in this series. Young's list is by far the longest. The person that forgives can go on to heal. Maybe it isn't possible to pardon somebody out of selfish motives, but the party that gets the most benefit when forgiveness occurs is the one that does the forgiving. As the aphorism goes: Dwelling on hate & anger is like drinking poison & expecting the other person to get sick. TWTWB also underscores that once a person has passed, we must live a little hollowed out if we've missed the chance to attempt reconciliation.

There's nothing novel about the plot's arc: Poor, but smart street thug with a heart of gold, meets innocent, poor-little-rich-girl. Over time, his evil agenda evaporates as love blooms. The journey that matters more than whether it's redundant. Human existence is redundant. What matters most is how they tell the story, and they do it well.

The slow pace mirrors Oh Young's pace. She must proceed methodically & feel everything out prior to stepping forward. The director wants the viewer to FEEL the actors’ emotions. It seems that half of the series is extreme close-ups. That, along with the cello music, is a direct send up to the lauded Ingmar Bergman. When we don't hear the cello or the chimes, there is a thrumming beat to the soundtrack that's intended to build tension. Every episode adds to the taut atmosphere. Given the long close-up takes, the actors are nothing short of sensational showing a range of emotions hidden under poker faces. It should excite lovers of the craft.

Young, who went blind shortly after the siblings separated, was completely cloistered while growing up. She knows nothing of the world or most human interaction, yet she's grown to not trust anyone. Locked away, she's too vulnerable & naive to be left alone. Yet she is very, very alone. Her money blinds everyone around her to her humanity.

Their relationship is adorable. It is as beautiful as it is increasingly uncomfortable as the show continues. He can't take his eyes off of her. Under his nurturing she opens up like a flower. He seems more & more reluctant to go through with his plans. He starts to deflect his agenda and, rather, work on unlocking some of the mysteries in Young's life. Winter is representative of Young's life: A very cold & very long winter. Soo's the warm wind. He blows in and shakes everything up. Soo makes the chimes ring.

Soo & the boys from the street are shown to have limited options in life. At the end of the show, Soo loses all interest in making any excuses, valid or not. He & BFF Jin grew up next to Moo-chul who has a complicated relationship with Soo over a past tragedy and has given Soo 100 days to pay off his debt. Moo-chul may not like Soo, but he sticks to his word, despite being pressured to act earlier. Mr. Kim, the mob boss, is juxtaposed with all of the neighborhood boys. They have a code of conduct, but Mr. Kim respects nothing but his own image. While he likely knows Soo didn't steal his money, he demands repayment anyway, because he's jealous of Soo. Everybody is making deals & promises throughout the show, but Mr. Kim has no intention of keeping his word. Moo-chul may have been contracted to kill Soo, but everyone seems to understand it's just business, and nobody thinks he's lying about anything. It makes for good watching.

Soo is compared to the people around Young. We see that most of the condescending snobs are worse than he is. Young is the center of the wheel that everything turns on. The people around her may seem to care about her, but the money always undermines relationships & corrupts everything. Yes, Soo came to defraud her, but he ends up guiding her to the land of the living. He may have been abandoned at birth, but Young, born to "privilege," was treated even worse, as Soo was taken in by a loving family. The people around Young claim to love her, but from one perspective, they are the #true con artists. Her life has been pain. She is secluded in that secret room, with despair & self-pity infecting the space. She'd given up, out of exhaustion, by the time Soo arrived. She wants to die. Soo is next to Young because he wants to live! These opposite forces draw them together, swirling around each other, as fate tries to bring balance & promote growth.

Now to the Uh-Ohs. There's some /near insulting/ logical gaps & pitfalls. Several things make no sense at all. They did such a nice job with many elements, but some of the mistakes are astounding, given the context. This is a no spoilers review; few examples are possible. One of the worst things that occurs is related to revelations about one character. This person turns out to be delusional & dangerous. It's wildly inappropriate that this person is permitted to linger around. The flaws are severe enough that I can't go higher than a 7 rating. The cropped ending is too brief & klutzy, which is an issue with many Kdramas. Yet, it still is probably in the re-watcher category. I miss them already. Besides, Kim Bum, as Soo's BFF, has never looked more adorable. His parents, who raised Soo, are the only good parents in the show (even Secretary Wang has problems with her dad).

The portentous soundtrack amplifies Soo's (and the viewer's) dread of that fateful day; Young will learn the truth someday. We learn just how sweet & pure she is & how desperate she is to be loved. If you're like me, you'll also tear up from around episode 6, give or take, until the end. Flush out those tear ducts.

Soo was utterly transformed by his time with Young. From doing anything to survive, he now knows what he wants to /live/ for. He makes amends, he shows appreciation for those that looked out for him. He's left his room, joined his family & is open to caring for others. His face radiates a beautiful peace, tinged with underlying sadness. He has accepted truth into his life, particularly the truth about himself. That's even more useful than loving oneself. No excuses. Soo refused to make any excuses. That's not easy. How many of us can do that? He says he wants to pay for his mistakes. It's a touchstone at the gate of the path to redemption.

In the end, the cold winter yields to a warm & blossomed spring. The path of redemption & healing is complete. Love Isn't Blind After All.


〰QUOTES〰

Things end up as you believe.

Certain times are so heavy and long certain times feel so lite and short and at times the two are interchangeable at worst they perish for good...

〰IMHO〰

Age 15+

RATINGS
Directing 7.5
Acting 8
Romance 8
Flutters 6
Sound & music 8
Ending 8

LEVELS
Action/ Excitement 5.5
Thought provocation 6


Re-watch? I intend to


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

〰Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7
Hospital Playlist 9,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9,


〰Bad intentions turned upside down:
Crazy Love-7.8,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Call It Love-8.4,
Anna-8.1

〰Romance junkies only:
My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
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

Read More

✒Survival Camp ⛩️ New Mom Edition °8.2° °every new mom needs this°

“The day I got promoted as the youngest director at work, I became the oldest pregnant🤰 woman at the hospital.” Jin desperately wanted both of those things, but she didn't want them to happen at the same time.

🤰Pregnancy? “People blabber that it's a beautiful & joyful process. But it's not always like that for women who actually go through it. Pregnancy is exhausting, delivery is cruel, & recovery is miserable.” In saying that, the BCC director shows she truly understands. Jin finally starts to feel a smidge at ease.

BCC is a 2020 release that is rated 81 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 8 65ish-minute episodes. When Do Yoon & Jin arrive at the BCC, I wondered if Jin had actually passed to the afterlife. It looks like heaven (except for the creepy handmaids-tale-gowns). Massages, room service, baby care, classes, other new moms… What is especially poignant & metaphoric is that, to have a child, is the death of one's previous life. Children break us down to nothing, & we have to build ourselves back up again.

The OM's (the /other/ moms) are in another 🌍, though. It doesn't seem much different than Jr high w/ their persnickety cliquishness. Jin is sneered at because she intends to return to work. ASAP. Now, I really hate it when people sneer at stay-at-home moms. There's nothing easy or cushy about raising kids, feeding your family quality food, & properly keeping a house up. These days, not many families can afford to do it. (In fairness, if kids could vote, it's possible that every mom would be required to stay-at-home). I also find it very distasteful, however, when stay-at-home moms allow their worlds to become so small that they don't have a clue about what it's like out there. If you're a stay-at-home mom, you have no business commenting on somebody who works full-time & tries to juggle family life as well. Most people don't have a choice, & if you've never done it, you can't imagine how difficult it is. Nobody is living a perfect life. Not one of us. I doubt there's such a thing as parenting, or marriage, for that matter, w/o regrets. Not only is judging others useless, but it's harmful to us as it distracts us from the honest introspection & personal improvement that might alleviate some of those later regrets.

It's obvious that the screenwriters have been through this. I love the treatment of the birth, along w/ every other subject. They nail the emotions. The baby has an adorably crumpled frown. That frown is upside-down for everyone else. This couple had given up on ever having a baby. Now, the whole family's ecstatic. “You came through the birth so easily!” Her mother-in-law is all smiles. She's got it wrong, though. Jin actually died on the birthing table & was resuscitated. Everyone is over the moon, except for Jin. She's.just.exhausted.

Jin is an achiever. She immediately gets caught up in the subtle competitions going on between the OMs. First, she starts to feel competitive about breast milk. She calls her friend for advice. Said friend comments that it's been a long time since her baby was a /baby/. The camera pans over to a gangly, pimpled middle school boy. As he leaves, Jin's friend yells at him that he should /shave/ before going to school. The door slams. Then she finds his cigarettes. ‘I really can't help you right now,’ she says, & ends the call.

That sets the table. Through Jin's journey, the writers show the stress, the frustration, confusion, the bombardment of choices & pressures, all the nosy outsiders - each w/ an opinion, the fear, & the absolute irony involved in childbirth ~ & they show it well.

〰Mixed Emotions 🎭

Jin feels so out of place. She worked up until the last moment. All the OMs seem to know much more than she. Jin's far behind. They liken it to the last car on the Snowpiercer train (that ain't good). She sees that her job is going on fine w/o her. She's losing herself. Her identity. Jin doesn't feel the overwhelming love that the OMs have for their 👶. It's not like she can force herself to feel a certain way! She feels so very out of place.

〰Marital Strife & Physical Changes 👫📶

Then it's relational stress. Poor Do Yoon. While his wife is being bullied, condescended to, & failing at breastfeeding, she's taking it all out on him. He can't even breathe right. He ends up bonding w/ another father who teaches him to wear earth tones so that he can blend into the background😝 They go shopping together. The whole thing is pretty cute w/ them gushing over cribs & 🍼 warmers. But his new friend's time at the center ends first. Do Yoon actually runs after his bro's car in the driveway, then trips & falls as his buddy is leaving. Next, they get into how a woman's body changes. One of the OMs has gained so much weight she's doubled her size - & her career is dependent on her looks. Jin hasn't felt like a woman in a long time. Her body hasn't been hers for a long time. She has to hear how /this/ is a time when men tend to cheat. Then she has to watch her husband head off to his awards show w/ his beautiful coworker. In a convertible.

〰Choosing a Name 🎫

The pressure of picking a name doesn't elude this couple. Koreans have 39 days to register their babies’ births, so they don't deal w/ naming the kids until ep7. Until then, they have silly nicknames like ‘Glue Stick’ or ‘Sprout’. A baby's name contains the wishes of its mother,“ & “A name is a vessel that holds a person's fate,” is the verbiage being bandied around. I remember when I picked up the 👶 name book, the first thing that stuck out was the statement that boys w/ exotic names have a higher incidence of mental illness. (Yikes!) I've heard psychologists talk about trying to find a mock-proof name for their kids - they ultimately failed. We gave our son the first name of his father & grandfather, but ended up calling him by his middle name to “avoid confusion” (😜❗). The confusion came when we had to update his records when he turned 18 & was issued an ID. The insurance company didn't want to pay his bills. When he graduated from HS, no one recognized his name when they called it, lol. We have survived this, & worse. The perfect parent has yet to be discovered on this flawed 🌍 - so relax.

〰Finding the Perfect Nanny - before any of the other b!+ches do! 🔎

As their discharge date approaches, the babysitter competitions begin.

Jin's mom was set to babysit, but she needs an emergency surgery. Jin's first thought is about herself & her career. This is really inconvenient for Jin. When Mom points out her selfish attitude, Jin blows up, in rich irony, & blames her mom for not raising her better. Jin realizes she reverts to being a 👶 around her loving, caring, giving, self-sacrificing mother. These new moms haven't worked out their relationships w/ their /own/ parents ~ And ➿♻➿ it goes. Jin ends up in a competitive 3-way interview w/ a top-rated nanny & another mother. They cut in a Joseon era 🤺 fight between questions.

〰And the bang-jammy of them all: Breast V 🍼

Jin has trouble making breast milk & breastfeeding. That's no trifle - Her life becomes ALL about /that/. They put her on a strict diet and a physical routine of massages and exercises to make her a better producer. She feels like a cow. They flesh out the breast v 🍼 wars beautifully. Of course, the science is settled. It's better to breastfeed (cheaper, too). It's better to eat organic & prepare all your meals at home. It's even better to just grow your own food. It's better to monitor your caffeine intake. It's better to exercise regularly. It's better to go to bed early. It's better to not sit all day at the office but to stand once in awhile. It's better to squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom. It's better to brake slowly so you don't wear out the brake pads on your car too quickly. Obviously, these things aren't all of the same importance, but the point is that it's impossible to live a perfect life & to do /all/ the better things. We really have no idea what other people are going through & what struggles they have. This is an issue where the information is out there. They don't need to hear it again from outsiders. It's better to keep our opinions to ourselves. It really is. There are mothers who try their best to breastfeed & cannot keep it up, emotionally & physically. It isn't something that one should comment on to a stranger - someone whose struggles are entirely unknown to the speaker. If it would work, I'd be all-in on it, but It won't work, & it won't make the 🌍 a better place. These actions morph into self-aggrandizing superiority rituals, & that's just wrong. Regardless of our past choices, it's better than better to always be improving. Never stop working on yourself; when you're done, fix e'erbody else. BC has a sequence on the Bv🍼 wars that is not only the highlight of the show, it's production gold. They show arguments, fights, car accidents, bar fights, videos of the fights, videos that go viral & cause fights on other continents… all over breastfeeding... It's bloody brilliant.

The acting is excellent. Uhm Ji Won (The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale) is FL, Oh Hyun Jin. I've seen her in The Cursed-8.3, which is fabulous. As a fun fact, the actor who plays her husband in The Cursed, Jung Moon Sung from Hospital Playlist-9, plays the ob/gyn who delivers her baby here. Yoon Park (You Are My Spring, Doctor Slump), nine years Ms Uhm's junior, is her husband, Kim Do Yoon. I've seen him in Forecasting Love and Weather-6.8 and Introverted (My Shy) Boss-6.5. He plays a duplicitous character in both of those shows. He's such a sweetheart in the opening of BCC I couldn't place him at first. {🐇 trail - I'm just over 4 years into my Asian programming addiction and I'm still not used to how many Korean actors don't look very Asian. I'm from the northeast. If I saw Mr. Yoon on the street wearing a suit I would think -Jewish Attorney- before I would think that he's Asian. Korea, being a peninsula situated in the center of the coast, was likely a stopping point for many a varied traveler. In addition, the USA has had personnel placed there for the better part of a century. Kcountry seems to have more variety mixed into the population than the southeast Asian countries. Mixing the gene pool up makes the most beautiful offspring, and Korea arguablyhas the best lookingmales leads in the 🌍. It doesn't mean anything, it's just interesting.}

Park Ha Sun (Two Weeks, The Veil) portrays Jo Eun Jung. Married to a pro golfer, she's the queen of the BCC. All the OMs suck up to her. The darling Choi Ri (My First First Love-8) is the rebel mom, Lee Roo Da. She has pink in her hair, multicolor nail polish, bare feet, and No, “I won't be breastfeeding,“ thank you very much. Jang Hye Jin (The Red Sleeve, A Time Called You) plays Choi Hye Sook, the BCC manager. She's so perfectly casted it's spooky. She can't hide how much Roo Da distresses her. Director Park Soo Won also brought us Work Later, Drink Now S2.

The all female screenwriting team is: Kim Ji Soo, Yoon Soo Min, & Im Yeon Soo. If you are pregnant or a new mom or if you ever were, they will make you feel less alone. “I never understood why mothers resigned after maternity leave, before.” (Jin is having a mini💡epiphany). ”Now, I do.” “Giving birth really takes a toll on you,” we hear in the next scene. Yep, they've been through this.

“The moment we accepted our unhappiness, we could finally be happy,” Jin observes. Midshow, the women start to drop the facade. They open up to e/o more - whether wittingly or not. They compete less & support e/o more. Now that'll make the 🌍 a better place.


QUOTES📢

…humiliation is a luxury of an emotion that one can only feel when he or she is still a human.

Attachment maketh man. 77% of motiveless crimes are committed by neglected children.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.5 📝8.5 🎭8 💓5 🦋4 🎨7.9 🎵/🔊7 🔚 ▪ 🌞5 ⚡1 😅3.7 😭2.5 😱2.5 😯3.5 🤢1 🤔8 💤0

Age 13+

Rated TV-15

Re-📺? possible - I recommend it for every pregnant woman

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

A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
A Love So Beautiful-7,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Saimdang-8.5,
My Unfamiliar Family-7.9,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,
The Cursed 8.3,
Mother-8.8,

Read More

✒Little Chef in the Big City ♨️ Don't Watch This Hungry °7° °VG°

Food is good stuff - we all love to eat it. Why do we love to watch it being prepared on TV? One reason is that it's comforting. Another is that it brings people together.

Taew is a small town girl from rural Thailand. We meet her through the words of her son. In order to distract his angry girlfriend, Kelli, who is about to leave him, he tells the story of how his mother left the countryside, came to Bangkok, and became a wildly successful chef in the 70's. MC is a 2019 release that is rated 7.4 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 13 50-minute episodes. It feels like a true story but a quick goog didn't provide any intel, so it's hard to verify either way.

Taew's first gig is as a maid. Initially, her boss seems harsh, but as she gets to know and trust Taew, she teaches her how to cook. The woman soon recognizes Taew’s great potential. She pushes Taew out of the nest, telling her that she's FIRED. She gives Taew a letter of recommendation for a job at a friend's restaurant. That doesn't work out; when Taew gets there the place is closed. The next few episodes find Taew hustling. Wherever Taew works, she steals - she steals recipes, techniques, and secrets. Her first real break is as a prep cook at Samran Kitchen. There she becomes like family with the rest of the staff. Pol and Jom work there and they will factor heavily in her life. “Do you remember me?” Jom actually helped her catch a bus when she first arrived in town, but that was more than a couple years ago. The beautiful Taew doesn't recall him, but he's never forgotten her.

Gybzy Wanida Termthanaporn (Bumbat Ruk Bum Roong Sook, Mae Lueak Kerd Dai) plays Taew. Her earthy voice is a pleasure to listen to. Jason Young (The Crown Princess, Eng and Chang, The Deadline) is Pol. Handsome and tall, he's a bit of a womanizer - More distant. More condescending. More reserved. He would be the choice in a romance novel. Louis Thanawin Teeraphosukarn (The Eclipse, Only Boo!) plays Jom. He's like a puppy dog - always there, always pawing over her, always helping. Taew has friendly affection for him, but it's platonic. He has an uphill climb if he wants to cultivate her feelings to grow into something more. Jom makes mistakes by sometimes behaving clingy, paranoid, and demanding. They both have some growing up to do. Director E Suphakorn Riansuwan also brought us Win 21 Ded Jai Tur and Something Family.

MC is nicely done and a pleasant watch. Taew's journey to Bangkok is jazzed up with cut-outs and hand-drawn animation. The shots of food, the cooking, and the glorious entrees are seriously appetizing - don't watch this hungry, you'll just torture yourself. It is strange how relaxing it can be to watch food being prepared and cooked on TV. The characters are developed well and they maintain interest throughout each episode. From maid to assistant cook, to sous chef, to Samran Kitchen, to an elite Hotel, to cooking competitions - Taew never gives up. She keeps going forward. She's inspiring.

Like mother, like son: Mom had trouble deciding between two men and the son seems to be having the same struggle in deciding between two women. The sexualized modern-day characters who are sharing the story don't add much seasoning to the main dish - I didn't like Shane, the narrator, much in the beginning. After the initial episodes they focus more on the story, which has worthy themes: Persevering together is the primary theme. Survival is the sub-theme: “Women like us often have to do the opposite of what we actually want to do. Because we can't bear any more pain,” we hear. That's worth chewing on. And sometimes, nice guys finish first.


QUOTE📢

There are times in life when you come to a fork in the road. You know the New Path is better. However you're not ready to take it because you haven't come to the end of the old one.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7 📝6.8 🎭7.5 💓5 🦋4 🎨7 🎵/🔊6 🔚7.4 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡3,😅2 😭3 😱1 😯3 🤢2 🤔4 💤0

Re-📺? This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again….


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
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

K🇰🇷 :
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Touch Your Heart 8.2; Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10; Love Struck in the City 7.3,
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9; When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;

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


Taiwan 🇹🇼:
Age of Rebellion-9.5
Autumn's Concerto-7.2
The Fierce Wife-8
Two Fathers-7.5

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✒⚖ Guardians ⚱ Old Souls ⚱ and Outlaw Gods ⚖ °6.7° °good f/u to AwtG2W°

Rated 85 on AWiki, AwtG49 is a 2018, 141-minute continuation of Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. It picks up right where the first left off.

As the flick starts out, we learn that one of the Guardians has to go on trial for crimes that he committed while protecting our protagonist in the first film. (Who knew the Afterlife was so litigious? It's Hell, indeed). The other reapers are tasked with collecting a soul that's been protected well past his death date by an outlaw god, Sung Joo Shin (played by the adorable Ma Dong-Seok). God-Sung won't let the old man die before his orphan grandson graduates from school. Speaking of orphans, Korean features aren't kind to them and this trend continues here, sadly.

AwtG2🌏 follows Kim Ja-Hong, a fireman who dies in the line of duty. When he reaches the Gate of the Afterlife, he learns that he can only be reincarnated after completing seven trials: betrayal, violence, filial piety, murder, indolence, deceit, and injustice.

Much of the cast here is the same as AwtG2🌏. Why mess with excellence? Cha Tae-Hyun (Narco-Saints, Assassination,1987: When the Day Comes) is the lead, Kim Ja-Hong. Cha Tae Hyun (Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation, Moving) portrays Kim Ja Hong. The dolorous Ju Ji Hoon (Kingdom-8.3, Blood Free-8.5, Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation) is Hae Won Maek. Kim Hyang Gi (Innocent Witness, Salon De Nabi) plays Duk Choon, and the wonderful Ma Dong Seok (The Bros-7.4, Train to Busan-7.8, The Roundup, Bad Guys) plays outlaw deity Sung Joo Shin. Lee Jung Jae, the lead of Squid Game, portrays King Yum Ra, God of Death. The screenwriter/director is Kim Yong Hwa (200 Pounds Beauty-6.5, The Moon).

AwtG49 is, all-around, more-of-the-same. Same strengths, same weaknesses. Its biggest deductions come from a failure to fully explore its potential emotional range. The fighting is excellent with a particularly grand battle scene. The cinematography is beautiful. It's a great movie-night-movie.

If you enjoy fantasy, even though China is often guilty of sub-standard special effects, they still put out the best stuff in the world. Anyone who enjoys the AwtG films should like Douluo Continent-9.4 and Handsome Siblings-8.7 even more.


QUOTE📢

Those who meet must part at some point.


Re-watch? It's not unlikely

Age 14+ Language: PG-13 language, probably less than 5 occurrences.


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

Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
My Mister 9.5;

🎎 -
C🇨🇳: Overlord 8.4,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
The Rise of Phoenixes 9
K🇰🇷:
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

🔮🐉-
K🇰🇷: Alchemy of Souls-8.3,

C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10

⚡/😱 -
C🇨🇳: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
K🇰🇷:
Mystic Pop-up Bar-8.2, K2 8; Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1; Train to Busan-7.8,
Signal 8.6;
The Man From Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4

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✒⚖ Trial By Afterlife ⚖ °7.2° °good°

It opens at the close for our ML. He's a fireman who dies while heroically saving a girl's life. The next thing he knows, he's walking toward the Gate of the Afterlife where he can be reincarnated after completing seven trials: betrayal, violence, filial piety, murder, indolence, deceit, and injustice.

AwtG2🌏, a 2017 239-minute release that is rated 86 on AWiki, is about these trials in conjunction with static from the living world as his family's drama continues to play out. It's a review of the hard decisions he had to make in his life, and it's quite moving in spots. Along with his two grim reaper guides (Guardians) he barely escapes a couple of the trials. Quick thinking and a look at things from another angle keep him from sinking to the bottom. (‘All you cared about was money? You are guilty!’ ‘Wait, he only cared about money because he had to provide for his mother and brother!’ ‘Not guilty, then.’)

The acting is seamless. Cha Tae-Hyun (Narco-Saints, Assassination,1987: When the Day Comes) is the lead, Kim Ja-Hong. Cha Tae Hyun (Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation, Moving) plays Kim Ja Hong. The somber Ju Ji Hoon (Kingdom-8.3, Blood Free-8.5, Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation) is Hae Won Maek. Kim Hyang Gi (Innocent Witness, Salon De Nabi) is Duk Choon. The Screenwriter & Director is Kim Yong Hwa (200 Pounds Beauty-6.5, The Moon).

The special effects are excellent (they are almost overdone) and the sets are beautiful. The Gate of the Afterlife scene is jammed with extras, creating a sprawling feel. The chase scenes are mad-good. There are no flaws. Despite its strengths, AwtG2🌏 does not take our spirits and emotions along for the full ride. I liked this film quite a bit, but I didn't /love/ it. It's a fantasy thriller - a big budget one, and it's visually spectacular. At the same time, it is a simple tale of afterlife adventuring with the message to not give up. Per Wiki, it is based on the webtoon series by Joo Ho-min & inspired by Joseon dynasty Buddhist paintings and early Buddhist texts of the Ten Kings of Hell.

Maybe it won't put your emotions through a trial, but it isn't dumbed-down in the least, either. One judge says, “A sin that has been forgiven in the real world will not be judged in the afterlife.” Would that were true. Work on forgiveness. I find that I cannot forgive without divine assistance, but the release of anger and hatred is something we can all work on to make the world less of a hell. AwtG2🌏 has the right combination of fun, excitement, and depth to make it a good weekend watch for a family with teens&older as it reinforces the best ideals. None of us wants to be found guilty of betrayal, violence, filial impiety, murder, indolence, deceit, and injustice, afterall, do we?


QUOTE📢

Can we think about it while we run?


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7 📝6.5 🎭7.7 🌞5 🎨8.4 ⚡7.8 🎵/🔊6 😅2 😭6 😱4 😯3 😖2 🤔4 💤0 🔚8 and it continues….


Age 14+ Language: scattered R-rated - $h!+ × 3, B@$+@rd, F💣 × 2, Pr!(k, Pu$$y

Re-📺? Down the road… maybe

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

Modern Day:
Mad For Each Other 7.8 ~silly fun;
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks);
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love to Hate You 8.9;
Her Private Life 8;
Touch your heart 8.2;
Romance is a bonus book 7.9;
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
Love Struck in the City 7.3;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
More Than Friends 8;
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9;
Something in the Rain 9

Historical/Period:
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy;
Live Up To Your Name 7.6;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
Saimdang 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9

Try a Chinese historical fantasy romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8

Action/Sci-fi/fantasy:
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

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