50FiftillidideeBrain

✒Boy Wonder ✨️ Batman's Bratty Lil Bro °8.5° °Excellent°

“Everyone has their own task in their life. But I've never believed that.” It opens up dark and foggy. It's creepy. It looks more like a horror film. “Living with no purpose was not that bad. But now, a question was thrown into my life. Now I start my journey to find an answer.”

After that opening we jump back 2 mos. It's bright. It's colorful. Sparkly jazz is playing while bloody Marys are pouring. Su ditches the board meeting in the morning, telling his butler he needs to sleep more. He forces that butler to watch a clip of him swimming with the sharks. He looks like another worthless rich guy, a spoiled brat without a care in the world. Before he goes back to sleep, however, he gets a notification. There's been a kidnapping! The next thing we see is that he's on the SWAT team - Is he Batman? Is he a rich do-gooder, who appears aimless, but actually fights crime on the sly with the vast resources available at his fingertips? Nah, this is
the dress-up/role-play swat team. This guy doesn't work hard, but he plays hard. This isn't a spoiler ~ we're still under 10 minutes in.

Soon we cut to real cops (Violent Crimes Investigative Team 1) chasing a real criminal. Right at that moment, in the vicinity, Jin I “Su”, is innocently walking down the street when he has to defend himself against an assailant. Some random dude picked a fight with him. All Hy the cop sees, when she catches up to the action, is Su assaulting someone. Su's arrested - Our leads meet that way. Su's chair-dad finds out about the arrest from a reporter ~ At his press conference ~ He was attempting to announce his candidacy for Mayor of Seoul when he's blindsided by the news of his son's arrest. He angrily vows to disown Su… Until the police realize during the course of their investigation that Su actually captured a murderer. He did not commit assault: It was self-defense. Su's father is furious once again, and the police are squirming because they're in a lot of trouble. They work out a win-all-around solution: the police will say that Su has not been arrested. He's been a cop for 2 mos and worked with them to capture this murderer. Now, e’erbody happy. Everybody except Su's “co-workers” and the reporter who is now accused of making a false report about Su's arrest. So now···

Su's on the force. The cops are forced to work with him. They're hoping he never actually shows up to work.

FXC is a 2024 release that is rated 90 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 70-minute episodes. It's plenty typical and formulaic, but if you go for cop shows that incorporate humor with a couple surprises, you'll likely enjoy this. I certainly did. The episode about hypnosis is a bit weak, but all-in-all, one can't ask for more from a cop-edy drama. The cases are interesting and well conceived. It's really good - They could turn this into a franchise. Apparently, S2 has already been announced.

Ahn Bo Hyun (Kairos, See You in My 19th Life) plays the rich & spoiled Su. He's been shows that I loved: Her Private Life-8, My Only Love Song-8.7, & Descendants of the Sun-8.3. He was in a show that I liked: My Runway-7.5, and one that I hated: My Name-5.7. He's completely different in everything, so he's as versatile as he is good looking - and he is a specimen. Su inhabits a world that is entirely unfamiliar to the police. He has an advantage when it comes to investigating people of wealth and status as the son of the chairman - the /illegitimate/ son. (Therefore, his stepmother despises him). Su might seem obnoxious at first, but he's a kind-hearted and delightful person. He's a touch carefree, even careless, but he doesn't have a mean bone in his body. His mother died when he was about 7. He has no memory of it, but he's told it was a car accident. His father is concerned that “he'll get his memories back”.

Park Ji Hyun (Love All Play, Reborn Rich) is Lee Gang Hyeon/”Hy”. She's not the most feminine female. Dad, also a decorated detective, is her drinking buddy. She's positively rough… and RUDE, and she despises Su. Her everyday look is so utilitarian that it was jolting to see her dressed up for a sting operation. She looks great. As mature as she seems, she's actually 6 years younger than her co-star. Ahn Bo Hyun must have some amazing genetics because he looks like he could play a high school kid, still.

Kang Sang Jun (Marry My Husband, Doctor Slump) is hardboiled detective Park Jun Yeong, who has been alongside Hy since the academy. He seems overly interested in, and overprotective of, Hy. He doesn't try to hide his disdain for Su. Kim Shin Bi (Journey to the Shore, Revenant) is the friendly junior detective and social media follower of Su, Choi Gyeong Jin. Jung Ga Hee (Longing for You,The Glory) plays medical examiner Yun Ji Won. I love this ME. She's got a dry wit, a great attitude, and she's funny. Jokes coming out of the autopsy room sort of write themselves. In one scene she puts a decayed rice cake that supposedly choked someone to death on the metal tray. She then takes a fresh one, bites it, and puts it on the tray next to the one she extracted from the deceased's throat, showing how the one from the dead body was obviously cut, not bitten. Point made, she picks up the one she had started eating off of the tray and pops it in her mouth. The delivery was perfect. I laughed out loud. Ms Jung has a short resume, and I look forward to seeing her more. Her credits are sure to accumulate as she is absolutely darling.

Director: Kim Jae Hong - He's a rock star. His most recent 4 efforts: FXC, Revenant, Through the Darkness, & Begins Youth are all rated 8.7 on MDL. He has 7 other credits; 3 in the 7.5-7.8 range and 4 in the 6.6-7.3 bracket. Not a dud in a bunch. Screenwriter: Kim Ba Da of A Man Who Was Superman & the popular My Name-5.7, which I didn't care for

The cops do everything they can to keep Su on the sidelines, but he's just not the kind of guy to sit quietly in the corner. The next couple episodes deal with him proving himself. They're going to have to work with him, they realize. Money makes the day-to-day stuff easier (being a cop sure is costing Su a fortune), but it can really mess up relationships. That's the theme. Speaking of wealth, Su questions a wealthy person of interest at a tanning salon. Given that Kdramas are so pasty skinned my jaw dropped and I haven't found it yet. This is the first tanning bed I've seen in a Kdrama.

His stepmother is so abhorrent that he ends up moving back to the house where he lived with his mom, only to find out that Hy now lives across the street. This creates situations where he must interact with her parents. “For your information, this will be salty. I recommend not eating it.” So Hy advises when she delivers the kimchi that her mother forced her to bring over. (It took 3 days of nagging but she finally caved in). And that’s why Hy crossed the road ~ maybe the chicken was following her.

Will the seeds of romance bloom in S2? They aren't there yet, and they have more than one road to cross. She's drab. Oh, how his presence must hurt her eyes! Lime. Plum. Lemon. Tangerine. Grape. His clothes are colorful, bright, expensive, and capital-F-Flashy. He's a peacock. Her car is really messy. She's more dude than chick. He comments on a sticky brown residue in the cup holder. “Oh, I spilled coffee yesterday.” Unsatisfied, he presses further: “Didn't you clean it up?” Her unfazed answer: “I did” Unconvinced, he responds: “Do you have a tissue or anything?” She looks around, “Use this.” She hands him a piece of /junk mail/. Only someone who's lived like a slob or has been around a slob would be able to write that. That's too authentic. It cracked me up.

Her Oma falls in love with Su first. Perhaps that's because she sees a potential mate for her rapidly aging daughter. There's nice juxtaposition when he's at his family's home for a press interview. Afterwards, dinner is being laid out, but stepwitch informs him that they are /not/ setting a place for him. When he gets home, Hy's mother insists that he come over and have dinner with them.

They have to do a stake-out which means spending even more time together. That's followed up by an undercover operation where they are wedged even closer. Su has things to work through before he can give all to a relationship, however. As we get to know Su, it becomes obvious that his cavalier attitude is the way he deals with pain. He's got some trauma that he's never dealt with. He's locked it away under the surface as evinced by his reoccurring dream about a painting of a woman submerged in water. Hy starts to hear from people (her father and a psychiatrist, for example) to be wary of Su: He's a ticking time bomb, she's warned. Halfway through the show, he gets his memory back.

Be that as it may, Hy will be the last one to deal with her own feelings. Most of S1 sees her on the fence as to whether she can tolerate Su at all. She wrote up a brutal recommendation to release him from the force, and it sits in her desk drawer. This mindset leads to amusing scenes, for example, when they're about to do a group arrest. She's handing out guns to everyone on the team. Su puts out his hand. Hy gives him handcuffs. There's NO WAY she's giving him a gun. Naturally, /he's/ the one who ends up saving the day and slapping the handcuffs on the perp. Later on, we see that he's had them gold-plated! You can't beat a guy with optimism (and resources) like that. You might as well tune in, then: You know if you can't beat ‘em, you might as well join ‘em!


QUOTE📢

There's no one who is strong enough to beat everything.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣8.5 📝8.3 🎭8 💓5 🦋4 🎨7 🎵/🔊7.4 🔚8.5 ▪ 🌞5.5 ⚡6.5 😅4.5 😭3 😱3 😯3 🤢3 🤔3.5 💤0


Re-📺? Totally worth it

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

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 Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9, Mine-8

Action/Crime/Sci-fi -
Inspector Koo-8.4,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Vagabond-8,
Private Lives 8.1, Law School -8, Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4, When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Why Her?-8,
Sisyphus 8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6, Blood Free-8.5, Iris-8,
D.P.-8.4,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9, Wonderful World-7.8,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9, The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

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✒ Eun Ha-Won & Those Shoes Kickstart A Family Royale °good tween show°

Cinderella and the Four Knights is a show that I watched early on in my Asian programming addiction (a gripping addiction that has taken me quite by surprise). I wasn't happy with it at the time, but I can see now, after watching dozens more shows, that it is geared towards a younger audience. There are better shows out there, but CAT4K is a perfectly acceptable way for tweens and teens to spend some downtime.

Eun Ha-Won is an outstanding role model. She is cheated by her stepmother, so no school. She is hustling jobs to save up and make something of her life. She meets Kang Heoyon-min, who rents her for the evening to pose as his date. He has his reasons. One thing leads to another and soon she's working and residing in the Kang household which consists of grandpa (He's loaded), 3 grandsons (They are like princes), and a collection of staff, including secretary Lee. This family is in a rut, but Eun Ha-Won will soon shake things up so much it will never be the same again.

The plot is cute and simple. Most problems are wrapped up in a tidy package relatively effortlessly. The romance is sweet. The acting is VG, and the art design and sets are good. They had the elements for a better show, which is why it's so popular, but they skated in the second half, and the final couple episodes were downright bad.

They also just hadda trot out an overused Kdrama trope: WKEWY, or, We Knew Eachother When (We Were) Young (The "K" is silent; it's pronounced "Whey," which is what "WHY??" sounds like in Korean. It's MY word. I can do that😜). What a worn-out, 15th-hand, dried out plot point in which a couple, after connecting when they were kids, end up falling in love after years of separation. It's a tie in to a couple being “fated”, but is that important enough to wedge it in and toss out originality? Along with the word "cringey," let's put WKEWY to sleep for a hundred years. When WKEWY makes it into a show for no apparent reason, we must ask WHY?? would they do that?! Kids Show or not, there's more eye-rollers than Knights in CAT4K.

It is still good enough. They deal with the death of a childhood friend and a character who is riddled with guilt. It is a good opportunity to discuss these topics with your child, but it may be too much for some kids, so decide accordingly.

You May Like:
For the 10-14 age group, Part Time Idol, Strongest Delivery Man, D4DJ, The Miracle, Spark, Bodacious Space Pirates, Belle, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, One Piece, The Dragon Prince, Avatar The Last Airbender & Trollhunters are all good to excellent.

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W♡nder-Girl Meets Bad☆Boy☆Band! °8.3° °Excellent°

Wondering if this is worth your time?

If you love Kromcoms, this show is mandatory. If you think romcoms are Daebek, SK or otherwise, you will want to add this one to your list. Here's the test: If you aren't starstruck by ep2's conclusion, just move on; BOF is not for you.

Jun-Pyo may love viewing the skies through his telescope, but BOF isn't intended to be viewed through a high powered one. Lie back, look at the stars and dream a spell. Yes, there's consistency issues, and 2-2-Too much back and forth. Yet, I couldn't stop watching. 25 episodes is a LOT, and yes, it should have been trimmed back. The last vignette is best forgotten; it's that 5th season that never should have been made. Ask Jun-Pyo to hand over a towel in order to wipe that one away.

Additionally, it stretches credulity a tad far when we see these ruthless and cruel overlords of the school all (rather quickly) turn from black holes into North Stars. Actually, the 3 aren't necessarily cruel, but they are indifferent, which is just as bad. Since they were in playpens together, it seems that his 3 quasi underlings just let Jun-Pyo be Jun-Pyo. He is the sole instigator, the solar flare. Jan-di's parents are over the top of Namsam tower extra, but within the sphere of comedies at large. Jan-di has some strange moments in the first 3 or so episodes. She almost looks (clinically) spastic. Obviously, the director was going for laughs, but ultimately gets a "Huh?" None of that is important, though, because this is very Pride and Prejudice (especially if Darcy had an evil queen for a mother) with some Beauty and the Beast stardust thrown in.

Geum Jan-di is a beautiful soul, and Gu Jun-pyo loves her so completely, that I fell for them. Their relationship is lovable... when it's not WWIII, that is. The way they tit-for-tat fight, make up, and merely converse (always addressing each other using full names only, for example) is adorable. The leads did a bang-up job: The attachment feels authentic, and the sparks are visceral. While I haven't seen the lauded Japanese version, Koo Hye-sun is perfect - she's artsy, smart, and still forward-strong: She's a singer-songwriter, actress, director and artist now. I love her Jan-di, except for the loose handful of Red Cards. Lee Min-Ho - Don't dismiss him. He's not a heartthrob merely because he dropped from the sky that way. He built his image one work at a time, and BOF was his big launch to international stardom.

It does make sense that he falls for her, btw. "No" is something he'd never heard. Ever. He's no longer a lone star in upper space looking down on everything. Here comes a moon at his level, orbiting him. He loves the challenge. While engaging in the contest and in partial shock a girl exists that isn't interested in him, Gu Jun-Pyo concludes that Jan-di is the #only light in his sky. He's been denied love and family time, which is what his heart wants most. She blew his mind by standing up to him. He fixates on Jan-di as his panacea, his home. He boorishly pursues her, knowing nothing but bossing people around. He'll grab her arm to drag her somewhere, and she #lets him. She, likely, has no idea why(?!) she lets him. She certainly doesn't want to like him - given how much she °loathes° him. The human heart is a mystery, indeed. If you find his behavior offensive, you're right, but only for a twinkle. Gu Jun-Pyo is a quasar, Jan-di, the red giant. Once their paths collide, the quasar changes course, shooting down to earth. All those episodes find Jan-di schooling Gu Jun-Pyo. He accepts her tutoring and becomes a better, happier, more peaceful man. The opening of the show finds him a veritable toddler - le infantile terrible - throwing tantrums and money at everything that vexes him. Don't think for a moment that he's domineering, abusive, or controlling in the relationship; that ain't what's going down. Jan-di would kick him in the head if she didn't want his attentions. Anyone thinking Gu Jun-Pyo is in the lead is projecting. He enters HER world, and it's endearing. They travel light-years to bond, only to have that bond tested to the extreme. The gravitational pull between them only strengthens as they share any orbit to work through obstacles together.

BOF is an excellent choice for teens. Jan-di is a shining role model. Her beautiful smile elevates all who are in her proximity (except The Witch). She stands for what's right. She is courageous. She's a veritable Joan Of Arc in the battle for Shinwa High- Without the burned-at-the-stake thing. Yet, she can be as comforting as a plate of warm pancakes. The way Gu Jun-Pyo adores her, emitting rays of warmth in which she can bask, should resonate with teenage girls, and prod them to reflect on their standards when it comes to boyfriend material. If you can swim with it and overlook some of the goofy stuff, you will escape to the great beyond with this entire group of friends. You will also be treated to an epic kiss, mid thruway at rush hour, in the background is the sun dropping from the sky, igniting the space between them. Eat your hearts out Sunny, Ginger & Miranda.

The notoriety of the show, which includes its effect on popular culture, plus the fact that BOF boosted Kdramas' popularity globally, as well as the numerous nominations and awards bestowed all supply evidence that this series is WONDER-FUL.

IMHO~》》

Directing 7
Acting 8
Romance 9
Flutters 8
Warmth 7
Art 7
Action 5
Thought provocation 6
Ending 8

For Age 13+ with cautions: Jan-di gets duped into taking fetish photos. She's shown in a childlike skirt and wearing bunny ears. She holds up a revealing costume and refuses to put it on. There are two setups to look like two singles shared a bedroom (to get an enemy in trouble), and there was a lie about a pregnancy scare. These would all be good for generating worthy discussions regarding safety of person and reputation. Decide accordingly.

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⏱ Archie and Edith Zero Story ✨ °excellent *but…° °7.9°

As the ferris wheel turns: Adorable🎡 goofy 🎡adorable🎡 *beware!🎡 adorable🎡 offensive 🎡adorable 🎡meaningful!

Based on a manga by Yue Takasuka, GMC is a 2016 release that is rated 7.3-S1 / 7.5-S2 on MDL. It is 2 seasons consisting of 17+10 45-minute English subbed episodes. For those not familiar with MDL, they are a generous lot. 7.3 is a very low rating. I don't read other reviews before doing my own, so I haven't verified why, but it's easy to guess why.

Here's a story about a guy who is loved afar by hundreds who have never met him, along with a girl who is loved by everybody who gets to know her. Miss I-feel-everything meets Mr I-feel-nothing. Tbf, some people would prefer to stomp Ue in the head rather than finish S1. The first thing we see is her beautiful smile. Nao is in a great mood. Nao is ALWAYS in a great mood. She is sunshine itself. “Her emotions keep her pretty busy,” we'll hear.

Shiraishi Shunya (Hot Spot) plays our toxic male, Uehara Hisashi / ”Ue”. He is not in a good mood. He's never in a good mood. Not sunny. He's just another cold elitist @$$, much like Irie, from Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8. As sour as Ue is, he's still considered one of the top 3 boys at school. No girl is allowed to date him. The top 3 are for “everyone,” & the mean girl coalition strictly enforces the rules.

In the opening scenes, Nao watches Ue harshly reject an invitation. All the other girls are fawning over Ue. Not Nao. On the roof, later on, he thinks she's the one who sent him a text to meet there. He's rude. She comes back at him, telling him he should be kinder. She's somewhat disgusted.

Whatever. Nao's got other things on her mind. She's moving tomorrow!

Her new place is gorgeous! It's /too/ nice for the price. She soon finds out why - she has a roommate. Anyone wanna guess who?

They've been victimized by a real estate scam! It's a double contract! The rent is twice what they were quoted! First, there's the blow-up. Then the denial. Then bargaining. Are depression and acceptance soon to follow? They have a big debate, back & forth, hemming & hawing, but they decide to just stay put and live together until they can find a better situation. They're in a tight spot. Oh, and Nao cried. Ue couldn't handle it, so he caved. (He /does/ have his soft spots!) They don't know it now, but that temporary situation isn't the least bit temporary. It's going to be permanent. Say goodbye to your single lives, Nao and Ue❕👋.

The next morning, Ue whips out a list of rules: Bathroom times, no eating his food, no friends over, don't tell anyone they live together… oh, and don't talk to him at school. They will remain as strangers.

True to his word, he wouldn't give her the time of day at school. She wanted to apologize because she knocked over his frame and broke it, but she never got a chance. When he got home, he blew up over it. She had spent all day looking for another frame, save to make time to prepare rolled cabbage, as he mentioned it's his favorite. Every battle brings them closer. Little by little, they build a bridge between them.

I actually watched this a 2nd time because I'm behind on my reviews and I didn't take very good notes the first time. One thing's for sure, I was very conflicted about it. I hated the Iceman. This time around, I can see that it's a hard shell that he put on himself. He lost his parents. He's alone in the world. He's had his share of heartbreak, and he doesn't want to go through it again. I'm appreciating the lead actors' long pauses and contemplations this time. It may come out rudely, but there's a lot more going on under the surface. Nevertheless: IRL, my lovely ladies - WARNING! - #Hail no! Never put up with this disrespect. Oh, our big bad world, the sun, the moon, and stars, rain, sleet & #HAIL NO! This is a work of fiction. Reforming the bad guy is a bigger fantasy than time travel. Hold on for true love and respect. Your mate MUST cherish you.

Ue keeps a brutal schedule with a collection of part time jobs. Consequently, his room is full of ⏰⌚🕰🕛 that go off every morning. Sometimes it's not enough. Nao goes into wake him up because she can't stand the sound. He murmurs “Yuri” and pulls her down for a 💋. She freaks, kicks him, and runs out of the room, but later, he has no memory of the kiss. That's even worse! He's treating her like she's a lunatic when HE's the one who's out of line! They storm off the school, walking competitively. “Stay 3 meters away from me,” he warns! Nao is fuming. She's not stupid, but she does really stupid things because she's emotional. She gets so caught up in emotions that she doesn't pay attention to much else. That morning, she got lost on the way to school. “What an idiot,” Ue thinks. Yuri, btw, is Ue's first crush. He's not over her. She's now his sister i/l.

“What's wrong, Nao?” Meanwhile, Nao can't get any relief from her friends because she's sworn to secrecy. Marina is developing a bit of a crush on Ue 🤢. She enjoys looking at him and fantasizing about him. Boy, does Nao want to correct the record! Marina knows her silly friend is hiding something, because Nao is even sillier when she hides something. She pressures the secret out of her. When Ue comes home unexpectedly early, he knows that Marina now knows. That means Mitsuishi knows, too.

Ue remains hardened on the outside, but inside, he's softening up- big time. When the Mean Girls came calling because they saw them in a room alone at school (they were spatting over swapped gym clothes) they cornered Nao in the equipment shed. He came and rescued her, telling the girls that she's his gf. He walked her across the campus while holding her hand. Everyone is in an uproar now! Including Daichi.

You're unexpectedly popular,” Nao's work supervisor says. (KentaroSata fromYamibu Real & Kyo Kara Ore wa!! portrays adorable Issei). One of her potential love interests (Abe - she rejected him) just walked into the ramen shop. Nao isn't the prettiest, the most sophisticated, the smartest, the most industrious, the strongest, or the most talented girl. She IS the brightest. I don't mean “bright” like smart, I mean “bright” like 🌞. She's also… demure? Submissive? Guys gravitate to that like moths.

By ep3 it's clear that Ue thoroughly enjoys teasing her. What isn't lighthearted teasing is the gossip at school. Nao is public enemy #1! Daichi sees what's happening with them. He thought Nao would always be there and now she's slipping away. When Daichi invites Nao to the aquarium, Ue picks a fight with her. Ue has had several stare-downs with Daichi at this point, and it's obvious he's jealous. These two guys instinctively know they're rivals, even though Ue is a long night from his morning-of-dawning-realization that he's fallen for Nao. He won't say he's jealous. He's not ready to admit T.H.A.T. He won't THINK it. So he hits Nao with a guilt trip: "I would never go on a date with somebody that I don't like,” he admonishes her. Nao grew up with Daichi, which is why it's so easy to lie to herself about their relationship. She treats him as a brother and a friend, though he's paying a lot more attention to her these days. Ue’s comments bore through the bull-doodoo. She cannot continue the lie once the truth begins to haunt her.

She forgets her phone when she goes on her non-date with Daichi. After her mom calls her about 15 times in a row, Ue takes the phone over to Nao. By then, Daichi has left and she's alone. The two of them walk home together and their outfits match perfectly. They are starting to blend. They also start to spat, because he can't help teasing her. She can't stay angry because he gives her the sweetest smile. It might be the first time he smiled at her. It's a good one. She's silenced.

Fukuhara Haruka (Yuru Camp△) is our darling Yoshikawa “Nao”. Sakurada Dori (Cool Doji Danshi) is Daichi. He's also a top 3. I'm team Daichi. IRL you pick Daichi over Ue. One thing gives me pause, though: He has admired Nao from afar for a while. They're friends. It's not easy to cross that bridge and try to make it something more. He could lose the friendship. He hesitated for a reason. Maybe it was just fear, but something tells me that there was more to his hesitation. Afterall, they didn't end up being the ultimate match. Each of them is a little timid. I strongly believe that if it's meant to be it's always mutual. If it's not mutual, a person should walk away and work on h/hself. Maybe the timing isn't right. Maybe there's someone better out there for you. I don't think anybody should waste a moment fawning for someone who doesn't reciprocate.

It's not hard to guess that people hate the show because he's toxic and she's too timid. Too shaky. Her head is mostly down in S1, which is appalling. She must have needed a C4-5 surgery after filming this! They should pay for her cervical spine fusion. She acted her toothy smile off. Her range of emotions it's just so sweet. Her compassionate caring looks are completely authentic.

There's plenty of Mars and Venus misunderstandings. S1 shows Ue trying to control himself and not push Nao. He is respecting g for her, though he doesn't do it in an appropriate way. Nao's biggest quandary is when she wonders: Is it real or was it just proximity? She realizes that she never feels comfortable in the relationship because she doubts herself. Her anxiety comes from lack of confidence in her, not in him. Ue, on the other hand, has trapped everything inside of him ever since the death of his parents when he was young. His only ✨ was Yuri - he lost her. He's not stuck up: He is terrified of interaction and unable to let any light escape from his eyes. His transformation is palpable & very well done. Soon, he has friends who are more like family. Deceiving ourselves is something we have to fight all our lives. Don't ever think you've conquered it. But don't give up.

The filmcraft is excellent. They utilize expert comedic timing, cute segues, little ironies, and sound effects to create a wonderful flow. The editing enhances the tension and excitement. Ise and Nao are quite powerful in ep17. The acting is excellent. The filming is bright and upbeat as a counter to Ue's meanness. It's a really nice filming technique when two of them are terrified about doing joint sports. Their heads are down, eyes to the floor, and they both turn black and white. Ue always has Nao on a rollercoaster. He'll announce he has to say something. She hopes that he'll confess. Instead, it's about how her antics have been driving him crazy. His list includes things that weren't her fault in the least! She's now feeling low, but Ue concludes by saying, ‘Nevertheless, it's been fun’. He walks away leaving her more jumbled up than sheets in the dryer.

And now, for some Scooby Snacks:

⏱ Her goofy clumsiness is called dojikko in anime

⏱ We see the guy who's done the most rejections grudgingly form a friendship with the guy who's received the most rejections.

⏱ {Eavesdropping, Abe overhears: "You won't be seeing me anymore."} He says to Isseki: “Did you just get dumped by your stalker?” 😅

⏱ Kamikaze love confessions. Going hot into somewhere cold. No idea of the outcome. Love on the EDGE! A person approaches someone s/he hardly knows, sans any positive signals: "I (love admire) you; would you be my (BF/GF)? 🤔 When does that ever work?

⏱ Ue tells Abe: “As always, you have no self-awareness.” Ha! Right back at you. That's true for most of us. Until each of us can admit that we have lots to work on, it's not important to compare, and that no one else's deficiencies improve us in the least, then one does not have self-awareness. Nobody wants to be a walking talking irony, so consider this.

⏱ No matter who wants to be her prince in the play, Ue ends up playing her prince in real life.

⏱ Manga mix up scene at the ferris wheel! They go full comic book outside the love ferris wheel trying to get the couples right. Abe ends up in the couple's car alone.

⏱ I'm sad to say that these two remind me of Archie and Edith from the 70's sitcom, All in the Family. It's no challenge to imagine Ue calling Nao a “dingbat.”


QUOTES🗣

It's easier to be with someone who loves you rather than to be with someone you love.

Idiot!
Moron!

“You're only a paying attention to yourself. That causes trouble for people.”


IMHO〰🖍

📣8.2 📝7.6 🎭8 💓6.5 🦋4.8 🎨6 🔚8.5 ▪ 🌞5⚡2 😅4 😭2 😱2 😯3 🤢1 🤔6 💤0 🤗7

🎵/🔊: 7 the most dramatic times and most episodes and with what sounds like African chanting and beating on the bongos. It's rhythmic and it really adds to the excitement

Age 12+ 2 F💣s

Re-📺? I did. Liked it twice

⛔Mini spoiler⛔

⛔
“I know.”

At the very end, Ue says “I love you”. Nao straightens her entire spine, looks him in the eye, and responds: “I know.” For those of you who can't stand Nao's obsequious and apologizing manner, can you see that it was working up to this moment? Neither one of them was okay. It's just that Nao's dysfunction is easier to live with.


From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~
💘
Ouran High School Host Club-8,,
Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8,
Special A Class 💓8.2,
Maid Sama-10,
Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion-8.6,
Mischievous Kiss,
True Beauty-7.5,
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun-7.7,
Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady With the Lamp-6.5 (tweens),
Colourcloud Palace-7.5,
Hakkenden,
7th Time Loop-7.9,
Honey & Clover,
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale-7.5
Real Girl-7.5,
Toradora-8.5,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Nina the Starry Bride-8.4,
Your Lie In April-9,
Violet Evergarden-9.5


🇯🇵 live action
Blazing Transfer Students-6.5,
Fullmetal Alchemist-5.5 Feature film,
Good morning call 7.9,
Map for The Wedding-7,
Million Yen Women (100-manen no Onna-tachi)-7.5,
Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8,
My Love from the Stars-6.8,
Samurai Gourmet-7.5
F 📽 🇯🇵 School Live-5.6

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Reaper Madnes ⛏ A Peek Under the Hood of Life & Death °8° °excellent°

Death is certain. Not everyone will live to see TOMORROW. Some can't bear the thought of it. “Did you think that was the end? NO. Compared to the price you'll have to pay for your sins, this is just the beginning for you.” Grim reapers are pros at delivering grim news. A 2022 release, rated 90 on AWiki, T is 1 season consisting of 16 60-minute episodes. We're following grim reapers around. Ryun is on an experimental team (RM) assigned to reduce the suicide rate, but her team is understaffed. Nobody expects them to be made permanent.

It opens to black, red, and ghostly blue. A woman in a chili red suit (Ryun) stops a van full of people from committing suicide and hurridly drives them to the hospital. Her cargo is frightened as she weaves in and out of lanes and daringly skirts over to the opposite side of the road. She doesn't understand. Why are they valuing their lives NOW? “Didn't you guys get together to die?” She's genuinely curious. They start begging for their lives. “We want to live!” “All humans are faced with choices, and each of those choices comes with consequences,” she'll comment. Too many times, we only get 1 crack at the right choice. Unbearable pain might make a person want to kill h/hself, but suicide is never the right solution to problems.

When a homeless man attempts to jump off of a bridge, Joon stops him, but they both end up going in the water. The RM team really screwed up, which is why the rescue fell on Joon. Now Joon is in a coma, and they're going to have to make it up to him. Right now, he's scheduled to be in that hospital bed for 3 years. BUT, if he'll work for the grim reapers they'll wake him up in 6 months. Oh, that job he hasn't found yet? He'll land the job of his dreams in 6 months, too; only if he helps them.

So Joon becomes temp at the reaper facility. Besides the escorts to the afterlife, there's all kinds of jobs. His assignment isn't set at first as nobody wants him. He ends up at the unit that everyone thinks is useless: RM - Risk Management, or suicide prevention. The unit manager isn't even from Heaven! She's from HELL!

Kim Hee Sun (Woman of Dignity, Remarriage and Desires) is our hellish Goo “Ryun”. Her fashion is outstanding. She must play tough, hurt, vulnerable and strong. She has insurmountable pain that has kept her down for centuries. The actress handily portrays all of this. The full-faced Ro Woon (The King's Affection-8.3, She Would Never Know-7.3) plays Choi “Joon” Woong. He's a good actor but his looks are so other-worldly that it nearly distracts from his performance.

Lee Soo Hyuk (Doom at Your Service) is Park Joong Gil. He has a narrow mindset to go with his narrow face. He hates the RM team and he loathes Ryun. Any feeling that intense isn't simple, is it? She used to work under him but left for the just-formed RM unit. He's a cheerless rule follower and is plagued by nightmares. He asks Ryun why /she/ is always appearing in his nightmares? She deflects and says she has no idea. As the show develops, the last third will be devoted to their past.

Yun Ji On (Love Next Door, Memoris) portrays Im Ryung “Goo”. I wondered about the occasional nose-picking, but that's actually a glitch he picked up from the way he died. Still, I wish they hadn't. Kim Hae Sook gets around. Her first credit is from 1977. In Start-Up she's a sweet grandma. In Hospital Playlist-9, a weary mother and widow who is finding love with her old best friend. In Inspector Koo-8.4, she's a rich dame who is really a thug. In Revenant-7.4 she's a committed rageful villain. She has unlimited range. Here, she's the boss, the Jade Emperor. They have her in protruding shoulder pads that look like wings under wraps. The directors are Kim Tae Yoon (New Trial) and Sung Chi Wook (Kairos). Llama, of Webtoon Singer is the original creator, and this is a first effort for the 3 screenwriters: Park Ran, Park Ja Kyung & Kim Yu Jin.

Joon's start is less than perfect and no team volunteers to take him. Ryun figures she can abuse him as a pawn. Her unit is so understaffed that he's better than nothing, she's thinking. Next (or first, rather) they give him the rules. Here's the code of conduct for Jumadeung Reapers:

⛏ A Reaper may not dress or behave in a way that compromises dignity. We cut to Joon getting fitted for a custom-made suit. He's elated until Ryun says: “You look like a rag doll” 😆

⛏ Complete secrecy. He gets a new resident number. A new name as well. His face will appear differently, so if he runs into any of his acquaintances, they won't recognize him. His body is still in the hospital, afterall.

⛏ Reapers are forbidden from using their powers in front of humans, and they are forbidden from involving themselves in human affairs. They must abandon all ties to the land of the living. This proves to be quite impossible for Joon. When Joon comes across an online troll who assists people in committing suicide he /has/ to take matters into his own hands. That's not the only time. He's not the only one, either, actually. They're actually pretty sloppy with the rules.

⛏ They even make him sign a contract.

The show is about love, loss and acceptance. It's a celebration of life and reinforces that when there is life there is possibility. This isn't a romance. It looks back on love tragically lost and has a promise of potential future romance. There's more loss than love in T: Following a show centered around people who are about to commit suicide is heartbreaking.

Ep2 delves into the life of a women who is being cruelly bullied. It's difficult. “It's like a tunnel that will never end,“ says one victim of bullying. She desperately wants relief but sees no chance of ever experiencing an amelioration of her suffering. “There is no salvation unless you save yourself,” we learn. That is true, in part, but for some to fly they might need a push. Next, they help Joon's friend who failed the civil service exam… again. They make 🍗🍗🍗 in the past and deliver it 20 years into the future! Then, it's helping a deceased woman prevent her widower from self-termination. They break all the rules on that assignment, but they end up doing the RIGHT thing.

Ep6 brings us Jeon Mu-Song (Blues) as Lee Young-Chun, an elderly man who, for a living, collects cardboard to be recycled. There's something sincere and endearing about this actor. I've only seen him in The King: Eternal Monarch-8.3, in which he made a strong impression as the King's elderly uncle. Perhaps it was his performance, or the way I was feeling on the day I watched ep6, but I teared up. Here, he's playing a 91 year old Korean war veteran. As he pushes his loaded handcart down the street while wearing his distinguished service cap, a child asks his mother: ‘Why is he doing that?’ “He didn't work hard enough or study properly. Make sure you study hard so you don't end up like that,” is her cold under-thought response. She probably fashions herself a great mother, but she's going to raise a monster. How difficult is it to teach your children to treat every human with dignity? The evidence is that the idea is incomprehensible for an ever growing number of parents. Anyway, he gets a proper send-off. I had tears welling up during the entire episode.

In ep7 they have to go undercover and work in an office. They're completely miserable clicking on the computer all day and putting up with their obnoxious, harassing, egotistical boss. Since June's been pining for a job in the backstory leading up to the show, it's pretty funny how, when he actually gets to work in an office, he finds it to be a level of hell.

Ep8 is a big moral dilemma. They have to decide whether to save a ruthless scammer or not. What's lacking is whether they'll call the police on this criminal who deserves to be in jail. Saving the person's life is one thing, but the rest of that life should be spent in prison. I had trouble enjoying the episode thinking that if someone doesn't call the cops, Ima be quite displeased. They do get round to it, so the angst was wasted.

In one episode they deal with the doggy who attempts suicide. I rolled my eyes a bit, but that 🐶 is S😍 CUTE.

Ep10 deals with a r@pe and it's very sad. The victim will tearfully recount how, after the attack, everyone in the family blamed /her/. “Why were you out that late at night alone?” ‘Why did you do this, why did you do that, why did you WEAR that?’ It's brutal. Then they get into the online commenters who find fault with the victim. Monday morning quarterbacking is too easy. After going through trauma myself, I've noticed how other people habitually downplay and minimize someone else's pain. Trauma and pain are painful enough, but the reaction of others is what makes a victim feel completely isolated and alone. At some point, every bad experience should be evaluated so that one can learn from it and avoid things like that in the future. However, the time to Monday Morning QB is once the crisis has passed. It's never time to do it in the middle of the crisis. A person traumatized and in pain needs to feel loved, supported, and protected. Period.

From abuse of women in current day, ep13 takes a trip to the past when it dips into World War II and how the Japanese used Koreans as “comfort women”. More tears. T segues into the backstory of one of the team members. As the latter episodes come into play, we'll go more into the past along with mysteries that continue to have an impact on today.

The filming is excellent. The effects are sophisticated and beautiful. They make the city bend in one cool effect. Goo's reincarnated mother from the past is featured in current day. She works at a store called The South Face. It's clearly The North Face, but in Korea they, apparently, must avoid such references to the “North”. That's pretty interesting.

T is funny in spots too. Most of the humor is a contrast of personalities. Imagine Joon’s shock when he learns that his partners have been reapers since the Joseon era. Ryun's been one since the Qing invasion (December 9, 1636). He's at a loss. They don't have honorifics for that!

They do a nice job with the wrap up and send us to tomorrow with a smidge more hope.


QUOTES🗣

You have to be born like that to be that annoying.

My pride made me misunderstand you and do those horrible things.


IMHO〰🖍

📣8.5 📝8 🎭8.4 🎨8 🎵/🔊7 🔚7 🤗4.5 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡6.5 😅3 😭7 😱3.5 😯3 🤢3 🤔5 💤0

Shazams: My Only One by BEN

Age 14+ for heavy and sad material life and death struggles that could be disturbing. Rated: 15+ - Teens 15 or older


Re-📺? The future is unclear


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

Grappling with Death -

Crazy Love-7.8,
Flex X Cop-8.5,
Mystic Pop-up Bar-8.2,
Uncanny counter S1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Oh My Ghost 10,
The Bros-7.4,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
Marry My Husband-7.5,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
Move To Heaven-8.4,
Hymn of Death-8.4,
Death's Game-7.8,
Light Shop-8.6,
Wonderful World-7.8,
Black-9,
The Cursed-8.3,
The Wailing-8.8,
Mother-8.8

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Individualism ⛩️ Collectivism & The 8-Fold Fence °9° °Outstanding°

“A man has 3 hearts.

One in his mouth for the world to know. Another in his chest just for his friends.

And a secret heart buried deep where no one can find it. That is a heart a man must keep hidden if he wants to survive.“

§hogun is a brilliant depiction of two cultures clashing. Each of these countries believes their own superiority is such that they are entitled to invade and control any and all other peoples. Their viewpoints are opposite (sort of) but their entitled sense of superiority is EXACTLY the same.

The emperor (the §hogun) is dead. The leaders of the 5 fiefs will fight it out to be the next §hogun. Perhaps not Toranaga. “Shogun - a beautiful relic from a bygone era.” Yoshii Toranaga doesn't want it, he claims.

This is a top-tier production. It's a great drama with multilayered character development, and humorous banter that gives way to elevated dialogue. Based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell, § is a 2024 release that is rated 99/84 on RT & 8.6 on IMDB. It is 1 season consisting of 10 60-minute episodes. The original network was ABC, but FX released it along with Hulu. It's technically a US production but it is more than half in the Japanese language and utilizes Japanese actors and technical staff. It was already made into a miniseries in the 80's, and while I haven't seen the original, I would expect the two features to be like 80's Dune and 20's Dune. This has been confirmed for a S2 though they are out of the original source material. The story will pick up 10 years later. They are set to start production in January, 2026


The §hogun is dead, and the Europeans have mounted a soft invasion. The Catholics already have several missions set up and many fiefs work with them directly. The Protestants just showed up, though. Their theological differences escape the Japanese, but each side is willing to die for them. We meet John Blackthorne first (Cosmo Jarvis from Annihilation-7). He and his crew are in rough shape off the coast of Japan when the warriors invade their ship. They decide to take the pale strangers into custody, rather than “off” their heads on the spot. Blackthorne vows to recover his ship and his men to continue his Protestant mission.


Hiroyuki Sanada (Shin Hanshichi Torimonocho) is brilliant as his captor, Yoshii Toranaga, one of the fief leaders and an old sly fox. He's the one who worries the other fiefs the most. He has his own mind and he is not a go-along-to-get-along kinda guy. Born in New Zealand. Anna Sawai, (Pachinko), just may steal the show as Toda Mariko. In a show about men pursuing power and destiny, a woman is the fulcrum. Tadanobu Asano (Keiji Yugami, Mortal Combat) is Toranaga's #1 guy, Kashigi Yabushige. Tommy Bastow (Agatha Raisin) portrays the compartmentalized Father Martin Alvito.
§ tells a sweeping story in a beautiful manner. It's the §engoku Period, around 1600. Japan is in a state of civil war. The Tokugawa §hogunate is about to be born. Europe is at war, particularly Protestants V Catholics, and it's spilled over into Asia. While Europeans come bearing technologically advanced weaponry, they do not behave in a more refined manner. Each side refers to the other as savages, and they are each 💯% dead-on accurate.

The artistry of the show is magnificent. It all looks authentic with layers of texture. The opening is a 6-minute short CGI film by Elastic. Did they make the ships for the show? Per AI: “Yes, multiple wooden boats and partial wooden ships were constructed for the FX series, with a strong emphasis on historical accuracy. An American boatbuilding expert was brought in to ensure the designs were authentic to 17th-century Japan.” The ep5 earthquake and mudslide are magnificently portrayed; I stopped breathing for a few moments. There's a boat race! An unofficial / unintended one. It's very exciting.

The show is based on history and historical figures. Per AI “The English navigator William Adams, also known as Anjin, became a key advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who later became the Shogun. Adams' expertise in shipbuilding, along with his knowledge of Western technology and trade, proved invaluable to Ieyasu.. Ieyasu enlisted Adams to help improve Japan's naval capabilities by constructing Western-style ships.. These ships played a role in enhancing Japan's naval capacity and fostering trade relations with European powers during the early 17th century.” I dunno. Seems like cultural appropriation is one thing, but a look of love and admiration from the outside in is another. People will never stop imitating eachother. We're sheep.

What's life without alittle romance? Mariko might be married, but her husband is never around. When he is, he's awful to her. (“I will give my husband nothing. Not even hatred. Because that is what he merits.”) Mariko is Blackthorne's interpreter. She's the only person he can speak to, and they end up spending all their time together. He falls hard for her, and while she's more difficult to read, she seems to reciprocate. It's long gazes, surreptitious touches, double-speak and countless metaphors. She's gorgeous. He is NOT. Yet it sizzles. In the hot spring one night she asks him where he'd take her in London? They basically have a virtual date, just talking about it. The scene is tremendous.

In the magnificent ep7, Toranaga gifts Blackthorne a night in a brothel as a reward + compensation for not allowing him to leave with his ship. Mariko must accompany him “to interpret”. By now, Toranaga and Mariko‘s husband are suspicious, and their suspicions are justified. It smells of a setup, and Mariko is no dummy. As they enter, she warns him that their #every#gesture# is being watched. The courtesan is considered the best in the country, as is the brothel. She discusses the services they offer. Physical pleasure is only one of the goals, while escape from life's afflictions is the ultimate goal. Mariko is interpreting every word spoken by this Lady of the Night, but in 3rd person. She suddenly switches from 3rd person to 1st person at the height of the courtesan's verbal seduction. Instead of “she will,” Mariko opts rather for ”I will.” It's more sensual than most aex scenes.

The jokes write themselves in any clash of cultures. Blackthorne wants to try what they're eating. It's natto, or fermented soy beans. Sure, it's a great source of protein, but it's treated much the way Limburger cheese is, and Blackthorne even comments that it's much like spoiled cheese. Limburger certainly has its devotees, but most people can't get beyond the smell. Same for natto, and though it's considered an “acquired taste,” the Japanese love it. Even more, they love joking about it and treating it as a dare. Just can't put that fork in the mouth? Nattokinase capsules are also a popular health supplement. There's several funny cultures-colliding moments.

What really makes § worth it is the elevated writing. When Blackthorne admits to Mariko that he's never met his daughter, he talks about how the sea beckons him. He's been out /there/; he hasn't been home. She says, “You serve your masters well.” He turns to her and affirms that he has no masters. There's the disconnect between East and West: The constant tension between individualism and collectivism is on display. Neither side does it completely right. Neither side has all the answers. In Asia, they see themselves as part of a whole, while in the West, we see ourselves as individuals. There's problems both ways and a blend of the two is what perfection is.

But perfection isn't human. In the East, the individual is stifled and crushed - the people are slaves to the group. Insane sacrifice is expected in a collectivist society. A warrior stands up for Toranaga's honor in ep1 and to mollify the offended parties, Toranaga puts him and his newborn infant to death. The widow is expected to accept this and continue on. Then Toranaga gifts the widow to Blackthorne! In the West, we're overloaded with narcissistic monsters. “If freedom is all you live for, then you will never be free of yourself,” we hear. The answer is a balancing act. There will be times that the group is more important than one's own life, but most of the time, individuals should be free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. At the same time, the person who believes s/he is the center of the universe cannot have healthy loving relationships with others. Intimacy is what we've lost; it requires give AND take.

They put quite a frame around ancient Japan: Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Fires. They build their houses to “go up as quickly as they come down”. “Death is in our air. It can come for us at any moment.” ‘Life has no value to the Japanese,’ John opines. Only their “meaningless rituals, which have trapped them, have any significance”. He's astounded at the inefficiency, the sheer unworkability of it. Yet, the people suffer it all with straight faces. Commenting on their stoicism, Mariko tells Blackthorne about the 8-fold fence. The young are taught to build it themselves: It's an ❇impenetrable❇ wall behind which they can retreat. “Listen, without hearing, to the sound of the rocks growing Do not be fooled by our politeness, our maze of rituals. We could be a great distance away, safe and alone.” Everything outward is form - PHONY FORM. The real person is in “a secret heart buried deep where no one can find it. That is a heart a man must keep hidden if he wants to survive.“

As §1 winds down, we have a heartbreaker. I'm upset. “War is inevitable,“ we hear. Perhaps, but it's rarely /necessary/. Sure, going to war in defense against oppressors is sometimes necessary, but wars of aggression, borne from the worst darkness of the human heart, never are. “If you win, anything is possible,” says Toranaga.


QUOTES🗣

Enemies are everywhere and friends nowhere. To show your true heart is to be killed.

Let us choose to look away from what we cannot control.

Thank you for this novel distraction.

Once loyalty begins it does not have an end. Otherwise, it is not loyalty.

Not your god, or my god… just God.


IMHO〰🖍

📣9 📝9 🎭9 💓7 🦋5 🎨8.5 🎵/🔊8 🔚8 🤗6.8 ▪ 🌞4⚡7 😅3 😭6 😱4 😯2.8 🤢9 🤔7.5 💤0


Age 15+ nudity, sexual content 4/10; R-rated Language; Gore: the usual battles are depicted, but we see men on horses turned into exploding guts by cannon balls. It's on an extreme level. Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.


Re-📺? Yup

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~

The Dragon Prince-8.7,
Samurai Champloo-8.6,
The Dragon Prince-8.7,
My Happy Marriage-8.3,
Moribito Guardian of the Spirit-8.6,
Vinland Saga-10,
Attack On Titan-8.9


🎎 -
C🇨🇳: Overlord 8.4,
Under the Power 8.6,
Story of Yanxi Palace-10
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;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9

🔮🐉-
C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10

⚡/😱/🚀 -
C🇨🇳: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;

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✒⚖ Recycled Brimstone ⚖ °8.2° °Excellent°

I AM THE POWER!

He actually pumped his fist when addressing the gala. This judge is tough. He always seems to do the right thing, he just looks very wrong as he's doing it. An old lady tearingly thanks him for his ‘just ruling’ and breaks down sobbing. The Judge holds her, but as Gaon looks on from the back end, that judge is yawning!

T👹J is a 2021 release that is rated 93 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 75-minute episodes (ep16 is 95 min). Sometimes it takes a devil to catch a devil. This is a fantasy-thriller about corruption and political wrangling. They aren't attempting real-life plausibility. If realism is important, or if one knows a lot about the judicial system and how slowly it moves, this show might be annoying. One does have to roll with the unreal elements in order to enjoy it. Therefore, this article won't attempt to explain or justify the impossible timeline nor the audacious actions depicted. If all your shirts are starched and your sneakers are 🥛⚪, this may not be the show for you.

We're post pandemic. Post insanity. Trying to live again. Cut to a politician ranting: He's discussing the country's resurgence along with judicial reform. "Judge Kang Yo Han, dubbed the “Justice Bao” of the 21st century for his ruthless decisions… will deliver, once and for all, what you've always wanted: A trial where justice stands!" Public approval of the country's judiciary is in the teens. They will be televising a trial and letting the public VOTE on the verdict.

And there he is! Right on cue! Is he a judge or a male model? He's sort of a Korean Josh Hartnett (a very good thing). He's questioned about his harshness, especially to the disadvantaged - mentally, physically, & emotionally. He says they're all merely defendants >> /criminals/. He doesn't believe in “such fickle things like good will...”

Not everyone loves him. A denizen of the cigar-smoke-filled back room has brought on Judge Kim Gaon (Park Jin Young from Our Unwritten Seoul & He Is Psychometric) to keep an eye on him. Waiting for Gaon on the first day of his new gig is pretty girlie judge, Yun Su Hyeon (Park Gyu Young from Sweet Home-8.4, Celebrity, & Dali and the Cocky Prince). She knows she was chosen for her looks, she admits, so she'll be working triply hard to prove her worth. They, along with JK, will be judges on the new show. There's no public confidence, but they learn that first day, there's plenty of animus. Early in ep1 a man tries to crash the courthouse with a stolen school bus. Our judge takes out the driver with a high level rifle while Gaon saves a little girl from being struck. They're still strangers, but they're already working together well.

Ji Sung has had mega hits like Defendant, Doctor John, & Connection. Here he's the lead, Judge Kang Yo Han - JK. I've seen him in Familiar Wife-8.5, which shocked me, it was so good. He's about as good looking as a man can get. It just comes down to personal taste. The ridiculously adorable Kim Min Jung (Man to Man-6.7, Mr. Sunshine-9) plays “Jung” Seon A, admin assistant to mega-influencer, Chm Seo. No one is like Ms Kim. She reminds me slightly of Helena Bonham Carter's Marla Singer, from Fight Club, whom Tyler Durden described as a “predator posing as a housepet". Jung is chiffon over black lace over steel. She's amazing. Her boss, Chm Seo has a big social program he's rolling out through his Social Responsibility Foundation.

Park Gyu-Young is Yoon “Su”-hyeon, Gaon's Bff. She always asks him to marry her. He declines, saying he won't ruin the friendship. Gaon's on the show, so she becomes exposed to all of the players, which leads to suspicions about JK. She starts to investigate him. They watch JK take down an obnoxious driver one day. He literally destroyed the guy's car with a sledge hammer! Su is entirely by-the-book ~ 💯. When Gaon and JK start to bring the heat on the bad guys, she struggles because they can't do it and completely stay on the right side of the line. They are in murky territory. Corrupt governments pass so many laws that it's impossible to keep them all. They make us all criminals so they can get us whenever they want to. Gaon and JK are walking that tightrope.

Jung Eun Pyo plays the con artist who swindled Gaon's family. He has some riveting moments. Baek Hyun Jin (Happiness) plays President Heo Jung Se. Every time he's bellowing from the podium I can almost feel the flecks of spittle. He's sorta gross. To the extent there's any over-acting, it's on him. However, it looks like he's not entirely sane, and nobody else is that extra. Choi Jung Gyu (Children of Nobody, Two Weeks) is the Director and Moon Yoo Seok (Pro Bono, Miss Hammurabi) is the screenwriter. We see lots of those whom we see lots of. The list of guest stars is impressive.

The first airing is a hit! Gaon thought JK was on the take for the defendant (JU Chemicals Chairman) but the very end of the trial was a bit of a stunner. Gaon's more confused than ever. JK looks totally sus, tbf. Like a constant drip, we hear eyewitness accounts and see flashbacks of JK's former life. He wasn't wanted by his father (illegitimate) and he's done some things that appear to be criminal. We don't have the full context, but this judge is no simple guy and he's clearly not much of a rule follower. The more we see, however, the more things align in a way that's favorable to JK. Perhaps he isn't the baddie?

JK lives with his niece (Jeon Chae Eun from Way Back Love & Uncle Samsik-8.4 plays Kang Elijah), though we aren't introduced to her properly for a couple episodes. She's in a wheelchair, ever since the fire that killed her parents. She's deeply angry, and her tone is always caustic. After a bomb goes off at the Supreme Court, Gaon is injured trying to save JK, so he recuperates at JK's house. Elijah is straight-nasty to him. He's a charming guy, though, and he knows how to cook, so he gradually makes inroads with her. Gaon also looks quite a bit like her deceased father, JK's brother. JK even mentions it. Their place is a mansion. They're loaded. JK admits his father was a loan shark. “It's all about selling hope and getting it back through fear.”

This is no romance, though the dynamic between Jung and JK is steamy, along with feeling rather slimy. We see a couple of one-sided crushes. One gets sidelined just as feelings are reciprocated, and it's particularly sad. We see damaged, doomed love. It's actually beautiful in its own way. Corruption is the main theme. Gaon came in suspecting JK and saw every act through a tainted lens. At the same time, he finds himself drawn to JK and he's bonding with Elijah. He continues living at JK's even after he's recovered. It's safer there. At the end of ep2, JK shows Gaon how very corrupt the system is. Gaon cannot deny what he sees: The justice system has a total bowel blockage. Gaon has a total breakdown. “What can we do against them while adhering to all principles and procedures? As I told you, there is no justice in this world. Only a game exists. A terribly tilted one at that.” JK ain't joking!

The balance of TDJ is sorting through the drips of new information to solve not only current crimes, but 20 year old ones as well. “The rich and powerful never reflect on their actions. That's only for the poor.” The corrupt politicians are truly soulless. What the viewer doesn't know is who is working with them. Whom have they paid off? Suspicions around JK won't die, and JK will not defend himself. We'll find out why. Things get very dark before dawn.

The plot works well enough. The writing is good. The acting is outstanding. The filming is good. The feel is heavily stylized and slick ~by design~ as JK has nearly supernatural instincts and acumen. Given its tone and ambitious plot, TDJ brushes up to Big Mouth-7.4, which had me seesawing nearly the whole time wondering if it was entirely too outrageous or if it worked. I decided it worked. This works too, though it collects some chaff with the wheat. When feeling threatened, the president suggests deliberately spreading the virus to consolidate his power. Let's never forget that reality is always much stranger; 3 years after the show was made, an incident nearly as bizarre occurred in South Korea when President Yoon Suk declared martial law on 12/3/24. It only lasted for 6 hours, so the dire emergency was only in the president‘s head.

TDJ serves to remind us all: “We are all here to do our duties bestowed upon us by our people, who are sovereign. We must make sure that no one is wronged and that no one sheds tears of blood. We must also ensure those who make others cry tears of blood are rightfully punished. Is that not our duty? That's why I'm in my judge's robe. If we fail and neglect our duties someone out there will suffer. And their suffering is what breeds monsters. There is a reason why people are enraged.”



QUOTES🗣

Charm is power.

Being over-modest is no different than being arrogant.

Turning crises into opportunities is how those who move the world operate.

“I lived my entire life for revenge. Now that it's realized, I feel empty.”

No matter how much you hate this world and its people, you can't live alone. Everyone needs someone to rely on, because we're human beings.


IMHO〰🖍


📣8.3 📝8 🎭8.5 💓5 🦋5 🎨8 🎵/🔊7 🔚9 🤗6 ▪ 🌞3.5 ⚡5.8 😅2 😭5 😱3 😯3 🤢4.5 🤔6.7💤0

Shazams:
The show opens to the edgy Drop The Game, by Flume & Chet Faker

Age 16+ Language: occasionally R-rated, violence, sexual situations. Rated: 15+


Re-📺? No opposed, but notta priority.


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

Crazy Love-7.8,
Racket Boys-8.3,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Flex X Cop-8.5,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Vagabond-8,
Why Her?-8, Inspector Koo-8.4,
Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing),
Tunnel 8.5,
Itaewon Class-8.9,
My Mister 9.5,
Moving-8.5,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Awaken-8.7, Light Shop-8.6,
A Shop for Killers-8.7
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Sweet Home 8.4,
Oldboy-9,
Parasite-9,
Mother-8.8



⛔SPOILERS⛔

⛔

⛔

⛔
Ouch! There's an extremely painful death. Quite a few folks meet their demise in the show's balance, but one death is a difficult pill. Gaon needed to experience loss at the hands of this cabal to be perfectly aligned with JK. They handle the grief properly.

At ep2's end JK takes Gaon to a prison visit to see the man who defrauded his family. The fraud directly led to his parents’ deaths. Another person, who appears to be mentally deficient, is serving out the criminal’s sentence!

In the end he/they really did topple their construct, which turned out to be a house of cards.

Read More

✋️The Hoods in the Hood °7.4° °VG°

BE flies in the face of the concept that time heals all wounds. Sometimes time merely allows wounds to fester into a gangrened mess. A 2021 release that is rated 91 on AWiki, it is1 season consisting of 16 60-minute episodes.

Back in time we see Lee Dong “Shik”, who is the older twin by a minute, but only half as accomplished as his younger sister. The priggish church lady readily points that out. Two decades forward he's a cop. Known for his temper, as we first see him 20 years hence, he's busting up an illegal gambling ring - of old ladies at the beauty shop! Shin Ha Kyun (Evilive) is perfect as Shik. He's crazy, alright… but does that make him guilty? His sister died 20 years ago. She wasn't the only one. Now, people are dying again.

It's good to see Yeo Jin Goo in a highly rated production. He's marvelous in Hotel del Luna-8.4, but My Absolute Boyfriend-6.5 has some problems, as does Link: Eat, Love, Kill-6.7. Both of them are (arguably) good enough for a one-time watch. He's the primary reason why. I haven't gotten to the popular Circle nor The Crowned Clown yet. Here, he's born-to-privilege Han “Joo” Won, son of the next police commissioner. His dad's making him do the rounds of small town police stations to get the feel of the force. That lands him next to Shik. The chief notices their distaste for eachother and pairs them up. Mr. Yeo always plays someone slightly fussy or high maintenance. In BE he's a germaphobe.

Shik and Joo are a good iteration of The Odd Couple. Manyang is a small town, and the small town feel weighs heavily on the production. Shik is from Manyang, but Joo is from Seoul. Shik is from a humble family while Joo's family is the furthest thing from that. Shik's no germaphobe! We'll see him touch things that'll make the average person squeamish. Joo is a rule follower. That ain't Skik! As the body count mounts, almost everyone is suspect. Shik, having suffered his own share of loss and trauma, might just be the most suspicious.

The acting really is superb. It seems like many of the side characters get their Oscar worthy moment. Choi Dae Hoon (Flower of Evil-8.9, Extraordinary Attorney Woo) plays Park Jung Je. Kim Shin Rok plays violent crimes officer Oh Ji Hwa. Her resume isn't long, but wow. She's excellent. She has a small but pivotal part in The Cursed-8.3, and she slays it. Choi Sung Eun (The Sound of Magic) is Yoo Jae Yi. Choi Jin Ho (The Heirs-7.3, Oh My Venus-7.4) plays Han Ki Hwan, Joo's father and Deputy chief of the National Police Agency. Kil Hae Yeon is Do Hae Won, Congresswoman of Munju City. She gets alot of work. She portrays the mom in both Something in the Rain-8.6 & One Spring Night-7.8, shows that echo eachother like two volumes of the same book. . Nam Yoon-Soo plays the youngest cop we see. He was fabulous in The King's Affection-8.3. Yoo Jae Yi is played by Choi Sung Eun from The Sound of Magic. She is amazing, particularly in ep7. Jang Sung-Bum (Call It Love-8.4, Stranger) plays Shik's former partner. He gets a brief but excellently acted out death scene in flashback. He can sing beautifully, btw. He shines in Call It Love-8.4.

Let's not overlook Lee Gyu-Hoe as Kang Jin-Mook, the painfully shy and stuttering father of one of the victims. After I looked up his bio I noticed that I've already seen him in Crash Landing on You-9.1, Link: Eat, Love Kill-6.7, Daily Dose of Sunshine-7, and DP-8.4. I didn't recognize him at all! It's a testimony to his superb skills, as he is most definitely superb in BE. Screenwriter Kim Soo Jin gave us Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Jook & the excellent comedy, My Only Love Song-8.7, and Shim Na Yeon also directed The Good Bad Mother.

⛔Mini spoiler⛔
⛔
The most painful death is Kang Min-Jung's. Her demise seems to break Shik's heart. They have various suspects locked up that are, at the time, believed to be the last person to see Min-Jung alive (she's marvelously played by Kang Min-Ah from True Beauty). They managed to surprise me when the culprit is finallyrevealed.
⛔
⛔

Do most of Shik's moves make sense? I'm not sure… I can't adjust to the 💅 finger thing. They do explain it, but I can't fully board that car and ride along. Do they reach alittle far? Go to the border of nonsense? Sure, a couple times they get dangerously close and it isn't always a smooth ride. But they get away with it. Overall, BE is very good. Not everything that happens helps the plot along, and it was slightly dragged out at the end, but it is still a quality crime caper that is worth watching. Ep7 is magnificent.

Overall, the cadence and filming are good. The palette is dark and most scenes have a grimy feel. That takes skill. In one scene, they are searching in a cornfield at night. Aerial shots show black trails between the stalks where other wanderers have trod. I don't know Korean or Mandarin, but I have to wonder if, from an aerial view, the trails make any kind of character? It looks possible.

Manyang's past and present will collide before the end. Long standing corruption is at the seat of many of the issues, but not all of them. Not only are there crimes to solve, but the biggest mystery is if Skik & Joo will be able to work together without killing eachother before the end. One can't figure that out early on. It remains a question to be answered until nearly the last frame.



QUOTE📢

Can't you tell that nut-job is 100 times more rational than you?


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.4 📝7.6 🎭8.3 🎨7.7 🔚7 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡5.5 😅2 😭7.7 😱5.4 😯3.8 🤢5 🤔4 💤2

🎵/🔊7.5 Shazams: The Road, by sunwoojunga & Empty by car, the garden

Age 16+ Murder, violence, gore. Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.

Re-📺? Doubtful



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

Modern Day -
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
My Mister 9.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9

Action/Crime/Sci-fi -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
Inspector Koo 8.4
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Law School 8
Sisyphus 8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
D.P. 8.4,

The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Parasite-9
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

Read More

Cha-chi Loves Vinny ⛏ A Golden K’Italian Fable °7.9° °a romp°

“Evil is prevalent and vehement.” Therefore, one fighting against it must be even more so.

Suits. Food. Paintings. Art. Wine; Vincenzo is Italian. Not by blood, but by choice. Opera and a nice dish of pasta really get his heart going. He's smart, he's methodical, and it's generally a bad idea to pi$$ him off, because he's not just Italiano, he's mafioso - a consigliere (which is NOT “corn salad,” though that's what it sounds like in Korean). When his father dies, his cousin takes to calling him an “uncivilized Yellow,” while at the same time demanding respect as the boss. (Vinny is not uncivilized. He's even kind to pigeons). Vinny (♈) points out that respect is earned (Amen!). After his cousin tries to kill him, ♈ decides to walk away. Arrivederci! Jjajangmyeon, kimchi, and tteokbokki here I come! Just for a month to get business done. Then it's off to Malta🏖.

♈ ain't nobody on the international crime scene. One NIS agent (Im Chul Soo from Alchemy of Souls-7.9) notices when ♈ lands in Seoul. He wants to follow him, but his boss isn't interested. Turns out, that agent is a tad obsessive. He takes leave to get a job in the building to watch ♈ closely. He develops a man-crush on ♈.

Meanwhile, back in 🇰🇷, attorney Cha is in court. She's arguing a case for Babel (big Pharma), and boy is she ruthless - even to her father - he's opposing counsel. But she does NOT lose. Yoo Jae Myung (Stranger) plays her father, Hong Yoo Chan. He's unrecognizable from his fantastic performance in Itaewon Class-8.9. Jo Han Chul (Mr. Plankton, Mother) is her boss, Han Seung Hyuk, CEO of Woosang Law firm. He's amazing in Romance Is a Bonus Book-7.9 as a poetry obsessed editor. He's also amazing in 100 Days My Prince-5.5, but the show tanks in the 2nd half - not his fault. Here, he's a lawyer. “I've never seen a sly person who wasn't a coward,” ♈ will say to him.

Korea is now a world leader in filmed entertainment. They must have felt a little left out because they didn't have a good catalog of Mafia shows. Haven't their orphans been adopted all over the world? What happens when a Korean is adopted into Italy? Into a Mafia family? A 2021 release that is rated 93 on AWiki, ♈ is 1 season consisting of 20 75-minute episodes. A behind the scenes extra episode was made but can't be streamed. I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but I did expect something with a more serious tone. Despite all the multiple deaths and a fair bit of gore, they keep it light-hearted. ♈ is a caper, a romp with a collection of fruit-and-nuts characters. There's just no criticizing it as it's all for laughs. It's well written, acted, and directed, so the creators maintained the confidence to have fun, and it's obvious that the cast is enjoying themselves. It shines through, and the audience can bask in it, ♈ isn't afraid to be heartbreaking, either. Many sad things happen.

There's a dilapidated building in a run down area of Seoul that's sitting on a gold mine. That's where the mob hid their gold. ♈’s mission in 🇰🇷 is to retrieve the gold stashed in a secret basement in the slums. Nothing is going his way, though. He's drugged and robbed by his limo driver. The old building he wants to destroy is inhabited by a collection of oddball tenants who unsettle /him/. The dry cleaner ruined his limited edition suit. The Italian chef is a fraud. The pawn shop owner also seems sketchy. When the manager of that shabby building arrives at home, thugs have taken his family hostage. They force him to sell the facility to Babel, Inc: Sign or die! He signed. The next day, he is “accidented to death,” and thugs show up to kick everyone out JUST when Cha is there having an argument with her dad (a do-gooder attorney who is helping the residents there). Cha doesn't respond well to thuggery. She resists. Things are getting ugly when ♈ shows up and everyone freezes. So, ♈ and Cha meet. That's just ep1.

As ep2 opens, ♈ quickly gets the upper hand. After the police leave, Cha says a few pithy words to him and then trots off. But wait! She stops. She realizes she's gone in the wrong direction😂! So much for the cool exit. She pivots and walks by him again. No words, no explanation no nod of the head… she's still cool ~ Even when she has to pivot. Apparently, she's got a chronic problem with going the wrong way as she does it again later in the parking lot. Let's not forget that she was defending Babel in court in ep1, so her life's been directed wrongly. ♈’s also going the wrong way. Perhaps they can turn it around together.

Jeon Yeo Been is Hong “Cha” Young. I loved her in Be Melodramatic-8.7 & Glitch-8. She's comfortably in her wheelhouse here, being smart, snarky, impatient, and aggressive. Song Joong Ki (Space Sweepers-7.6) is ♈ Cassano. He could have passed for a high school student despite being 34. He looks even younger than he did in Descendants Of The Sun-8.3.

Kim Yeo Jin is recruited to be Cha's new boss, Choi Myung Hee, the most unctuous and sleazy character in the show.. She had small parts in Daily Dose of Sunshine-7 & Itaewon Class-8.9, but she gets to shine here. She's smart and quite the individual. She doesn't seem to have moral qualms about helping an evil corporation do their dastardly deeds. She's sort of a monster. Yoon Byung Hee (Our Blues-8.5, Mr. Sunshine-9) portrays Nam Joo Sung, Jipuragi Law Firm's paralegal. He looks like your everyday geek, but he has fun surprises packed away. It's an amusing role. Ok Taec Yeon (Save Me, Blind, Heartbeat-4.8) portrays Jang “Jun” Woo, Cha's underling at the law firm as the show opens.

Kwak Dong Yeon (Queen of Tears, My ID Is Gangnam Beauty-7.5) is Jang Han Seo, CEO of Babel Corp. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing, and our gang quickly surmises that he's a front man. He's a half-ingenuous idiot, half-terrified little brother. There's so much going on in the show that I was taking his performance for granted until, north of episode 15, I realized his acting is stunning and he's nearly stealing the show. Screenwriter, Park Jae Bum, brought us Dinner Mate-7.2 & The Fiery Priest. The director is Ms Kim Hee Won of Queen of Tears & The Crowned Clown.

Babel took the building by force. ♈ is gonna get it back. There's no way he's letting them get his stash He goes to someone who knows Babel well - Cha's father has all the intel on this eeeevillle entity & their karat & stick: As Vinny reads up on them, he realizes they operate JUST like the mob. And their lawyers operate JUST like he did as a consigliere for the La Cosa Nostra. “Even though I know that the game is rigged, I must give it my all to beat them. That's my fate. Smart people may rule the world, but reckless and stubborn people like me protect this world.” Cha's father is an inspiring character. ♈ looks stunned after he hears this. A tragedy changes the course of Cha's life. Instead of shilling for Babel, she decides to take up her father's cause and fight them. When the 2 leads start working together, they are in sync. It's seamless. They aren't motivated by good; not yet. She wants revenge and she wants to win. He wants his gold.

This is a thunder dome match. Only one side will exit alive. They go on one campaign after another to bring Babel and its depraved leaders to justice (for the record, ep4 is magnificent), but Babel is loaded with money and resources, and they don't play fair. Just like a horror movie, the Pharma company gets back up no matter how many times it's knocked down, and the game turns ever bloodier. ♈ and Cha deal out serious blows that Babel never saw coming (they even did the Carrie thing and dropped a bucket of blood on a dude while he was on stage), but they reconnoiter, regroup, and put their near limitless resources to work. Babel's not afraid to get their hands dirty. They rather enjoy it. ♈ doesn't mind a good fight in the mud himself. Cha positively relishes it. “Sometimes one wins because one doesn't give up. It doesn't come down to merely skill every time.”

The weakest aspect of the show is that it does get outrageous, but that's also the funnest part.
The true chairman of Babel has been undercover. I can see why he did and the job he did, /sort of/ but it doesn't entirely make sense. It is overlookable, though, since he's clearly not sane.

“All this time, we thought we were weak. We weren't weak. We just didn't try to be strong. We're going to give it our all, now.” Before long, the building residents are turned into prospectors & gold diggers. A homeless person, in exchange for dinner, tells the residents he was on the team that built the secret chamber for the tons of gold. He actually has a picture of himself posing with the gold bars. The rest of his crew were killed. He only escaped death by going underground. Convinced, the residents decide that they're going to Go for the Gold. They start searching. (Apparently none of them have heard of a metal detector). In matters like this, silence is golden. If anyone else finds out about what's underneath the building, everybody in the country will be trying to get it. Still, the problems will not cease for them! They need a retinal scan from the guy who was in charge at the time this was all set up. He's not even alive anymore. It almost seems like that gold might as well be fool's gold.

The romance isn't a focus. It's hard to tell if they're attracted to e/o at all until… In ep14, they are running yet another scam. He tells her she can't wear her pantsuit to this one. After buying a dress, he takes her to a jewelry store and puts a necklace and earrings on her that are to die for. She comments that they're too expensive for a single job. He deflects by saying, “It's not a gift, I'm only transferring them to the rightful owner.” Swooner! They stole another couple's reservation of an entire art gallery and are on an elaborate play-date. Babel's been using art for smuggling and money laundering, and they believe something crucial is hidden on the grounds. What Cha-chi & ♈ didn't know was that the man had planned a surprise proposal for his gf. The gallery employees are completely caught up in the moment: “Get down on one knee!” “Declare your love!” “Present the 💍.” “Seal it with a 💋.” He was about to try and squirm out of it when her lips met his. She kept her eyes closed, and he kept his open, but not forever. He closes eyes and starts reciprocating, and then she opens her eyes… and closes them again. The whole thing played out softly and slowly to lite jazz music over 53 seconds. That's no trifle. It's lovely. It's way up there with first kisses shown on film.

As for the couple whose big date was stolen, the residents picked that couple up and gave them the night of their life. Dinner at the Italian restaurant, a show put on by some of the more talented nutcases occupying the building, and the pièce de résistance: They got engaged in the Buddhist temple. It all went so well that we see other couples doing the same thing later.

♈ keeps its tongue in its cheek. It's the furthest thing from serious. The borderline overacting is part of the fun factor. They get away with all of it due to the crisp timing and excellent delivery. It reminds us that “the real gold isn't in a mine. It's in your heart. Finding gold will not fill your heart.”


QUOTES🗣

One who achieves small victories will eventually achieve big ones.

When you continuously turn lies into truth, you become blinded to the truth.

The only free cheese is in the mouse trap.

The strongest punch comes from behind.

There's no law that can punish a monster like {him}.

Ignorance isn't a sin, but refusing to learn is.

To not have is to have. (Thank the monks for that one).

Be careful which ladder you choose to climb

You know how people are. The less you know about something, the easier you believe it.

Friends are like two souls in one body.

All the criticisms children give their parents will come back as regrets… Regret is the most painful thing in life.

Do you know how to tell when someone's become evil? It's when they stop feeling ashamed.


IMHO〰🖍


📣8 📝7.7 🎭8.3 💓6 🦋6.5 🎨7 🎵/🔊6.5 🔚7 🤗6 ▪ 🌞5.5 ⚡6 😅4 😭5 😱3.5 😯3.8 🤢6 🤔4.5 💤0

Shazams: Adrenaline (Italian Version) by Aalia, I′m Always by Your Side, by John Park
The use of Italian opera is very effective


Age 16+ Language: $h!+, @$$hole, pr!ck,
There are multiple murders, assaults, and deaths. This show is violent. Rated TV-15


Re-📺? Would

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

🌐💘 -
Crazy Love-7.8,
Racket Boys-8.3,
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2 (But for eps 20 &21 it's an 8+)
Reply 1988-8.6,
Oh My Venus-7.4K,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
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,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Move To Heaven-8.4,
Misaeng-9.1,
Hospital Playlist 9 (give it 3 episodes to get warmed up),
Itaewon Class-8.9,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
SKY Castle-9,
Something in the Rain-8.6,
My Mister 9.5,
Wonderful World-7.8,
Parasite-9,
Mother-8.8

⚡/🚀 -
Flex X Cop-8.5,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
Glitch-8,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Vagabond-8,
Why Her?-8,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
K2-8,
Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing),
Revenge of Others-8.1,
Tunnel 8.5,
Moving-8.5
Blood Free-8.5,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Awaken-8.7,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Sweet Home 8.4

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,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
Something in them Rain-9,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9,
Hidden Love-7.8

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✒ ⛈Blue & True On Jeju ⛴ °8.5° °Excellent°

Jeju is Kcountry's Hawaii. It's where e'erbody wants to vacation. OB is an ensemble piece that is much like a vacation (or a series of daytrips, perhaps) with several of the characters. We visit them separately, but it all blends together.

Imagine growing up in touristy Hicksville. It's the sort of place where a poor kid might bring a piglet onto the bus, but there's a smattering of rich kids in the mix to mock the poor child. Surrounded by small-minded Hicksville, if one is smart, one might get to escape. We're describing Hansu. The kid with the piglet was his first gf. He went to the big city, attended a top university and landed a job in the financial industry. Things didn't stay afloat, though. They stalled, sputtered, and started to die out. After agonizing years on the skids he must crawl back home, where he learns that his uneducated, 🐷-loving, 🐟-monger ex is SWIMMING in money from slowly buying up small shops and collecting rent. Kids, none of you think you'll hit hard times. Most kids anticipate good things. Just treat everyone with respect and never get too cocky - just in case.

As the show starts, we drop in at the 🐟market on Jeju Island. A group of local women and two men go out on a boat for the day's catch. One of the women draws the ire of the others. 💭Should we fire her? 💭She flirts with everyone. 💭Everything she says is a lie, too! That's what the women are thinking. Cut to the men: ‘What would you think💭 if I went out with her?’ 🤣 One is asking the other. Does anyone else find the worldwide consistency of human nature reassuring? OB is a 2022 release that is rated 88 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 20 55-minute episodes, and it's competent from the start.

It centers around the local fish industry, particularly the Haenyeo (female divers of Jeju Island). Per Wiki: Haenyeo (or haenyo - "sea women") “are female divers in the 🇰🇷 province of Jeju, whose livelihood consists of harvesting a variety of mollusks, seaweed, and other sea life from the ocean. Known for their independent spirit, iron will and determination, haenyeo are representative of the semi-matriarchal family structure of Jeju… Traditionally, girls started training as haenyeo when they were 11 years old. Beginning in shallow water, trainees worked their way up to more challenging depths. After about seven years of training, a girl was considered a "full-fledged" haenyeo. Today, the oldest haenyeo are over 80 years old, and have been diving for more than 66 years… Because so many families relied on the haenyeo for the majority of their income, a semi-matriarchal society developed on Jeju with the haenyeo at the head of the household. On the tiny islets off the coast of Jeju, such as Mara Island, where sea-diving was the sole source of income, this reversal of traditional gender roles was fully realized; men would look after the children and go shopping while the women would bring in money for the family. Other manifestations of Jeju's unique society include men paying a dowry to the family of the bride (a reversal of the custom on the 🇰🇷 mainland) and families celebrating the birth of girls over the birth of boys.” These are some baaaad broads.

The filming is competence all day long. Shots of the sun breaking through onto the water from a moving boat are gorgeous. Each episode’s intro reveals which couple it's covering. We rotate from the adults in the present to the kids of the past, showing the community's circle of life. They also cycle kids from the present into the rotation to create the feel that time will churn on. In one shot, a man doesn't merely remember his old self jumping in the ocean while in his street clothes, but he floats next to a vision of his former teenaged self. It's an exceptionally well done scene. A typhoon is coming. It coincides with the time a teen boy must tell his father that he got the daughter of dad's archenemy pregnant! There's adorable animation effects to represent a kid's dream. ‘Could I love a liar?’ A man wonders this as he writes those words on the glass. She calls him and asks if he misses her? We look at him, through the glass, through those words. “I do,” he says. The OST is VG. Once Again, by WINTER & NINGNING is a great song, as is Who am I, by Kim Ji Soo.

Here who we're dealing with:

Jung “Eun”-Hui & Choi Hansu: Cha Seung-Won is Hansu, a Jeju Island native who has to come crawling back from Seoul. When we meet him, we can see that he's a guy used to holding in pain. I've only seen him in Korean Odyssey-7.2, in which he plays Devil King, the consummate egotist. He commands that show. In OB, when his HS friend is complimenting him on growing up well, his look of ruffled discomfort along with deep sorrow is arresting. Seeing him as a defeated man in ep1 delights me because it showcases his range of talent. His acting only gets better. The great Lee Jung-Eun stars as Eun. She has, at times, taken my breath away with her skill. She plays a middle-aged spinster fishmonger who meets up with her first love again.

“Min” Seon-A & Lee “Dong”-Seok: To his mother: “What is your favorite memory?” “Right now,” she claims. She doesn't look particularly happy, though.🤔 He's played by Lee Byung-Hun, who is sort of a legend. It's strange to see Eugene Choi from Mr. Sunshine-9 or Squid Game's Front Man cutting loose and dancing, I must say. (And he can smile! Who knew?) The luminous Shin Min-A plays Min Seon-A, a Jeju native turned Seoul-cialite who must flee back to Jeju once in awhile. She improves every feature she appears in. She actually has carried some shows on those narrow shoulders. My favs are Oh My Venus-7.4, & Tomorrow with You-7 (despite its flaws), No Gain, No Love-7.4 is fun, and whoo don't luv some Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2? Whenever she returns, Dong is turned inside-out.

Park Jeong-Jun & Lee Yeong-”Ok”: Kim Woo-Bin is in the show as one of the fishermen, Jeong-Jun. He plays Choi Young Do in Heirs/The Inheritors. Not everyone loves that show but my vote is that it's worth watching for him alone. He steals it. He is fantastic in OB. He's simply got the goods. Ok (Han Ji-Min) is new in town and she's a gorgeous, flighty flirt. The women despise her, while the men don't seem to notice her deficiencies.

Bang Yeong-Ju & Jung Hyeon: Two HS students, whose fathers despise eachother. Each knows /exactly/ how to get back at dad. Bae Hyun-Sung & Roh Yoon-Seo are fabulous. She has a particularly strong presence. As is typical, all the kid actors are exceptional (especially Kim Jae-Won as the young Hansu - well - swoon on me! - and Ki So-Yu as Son Eun-Gi is outstanding). There's a superfluity of kids in the flashbacks, so we get a good look at the stars of tomorrow. There's also an epic teens' first kiss. “Epic” extends to the later fallout.

One couple talks about parents. She's fighting depression, and her father had committed suicide. Now, she's in the middle of a custody battle for her son. She talks about how she explained to her son, who is afraid of the dark, that her sickness makes her feel like she's in the dark even during the day. Even when there's other people around, she's always alone in the dark. As for the man, his relationship with his mother has stalled for years. "I wonder if my mother ever loved me as much as you love your son," he queries. The woman begins a poignant soliloquy. Did her dad love her? If so, how could he leave her? She realizes that life must have been incredibly difficult for him. Then she was flooded with resentment. Why didn't he tell me? I could have given him a hug! He should have told me he was struggling! I would have tried to make him smile. Soon, she starts to blame herself: She didn't /ask/ how he was. She never asked what was giving him such a hard time… She has regrets. {In the form of a PSA I'll say that unthinkable, absolutely unbearable pain is one cause of suicide, though it is not the right option. As another PSA, I'll say to always consider the potential effect of prescription medications on yourself or a loved one, because your doctors probably won't. Prescription drugs almost killed me and my doctors sat back and yawned as they observed. I don't think they are trained to even think about side effects, which are apt to worsen over time.}

Dong brings his mother to where he's staying and Min is there with her son. Mom, who was forced to be a man's mistress and put up with substandard treatment of her son in order to survive, looks at young Yeol and knows that her son, Dong, will do better. The full range of emotions displayed by actress Kim Hye-Ja (Mother-8.8), as she takes in woman and child, is magnificent. Everyone raves about Parasite-9, understandably so, but I like Mother-8.8, also by the legendary director Bong Joon Ho, even more.

Two old friends address a very old rift. ‘Had you been completely loyal you would have confronted me and said that you were hurt, just like you're doing right now. And if I didn't acknowledge my mistake and refused to apologize, you should have torn my hair out… That's what a loyal friend would have done… what kind of loyal friend holds a grudge like a stranger would?’

People are just a bunch of piranhas and peckerfish, afterall. Gossip (and, by extension, toxic pride) are themes, as is the weight of caring for someone with special needs. Caring for someone with special needs would be much easier without all the staring and nastiness. It's a human impulse to stare at something different - something extraordinarily beautiful, ugly, malformed, unique, short, tall, dark, light - something or someone unique. Maturity is learning to be unselfish, and to be unselfish, we must have empathy. We must be able to put ourselves in another's shoes and imagine what it would be like to have everyone stare all the time. What’s it like to be constantly asked about one's height, or a scar, skin color, disability, or beauty? Let people be. Don't be a peckerfish. Try being the one person who doesn't question a person's accent or some other thing they've had to deal with a dozen times a day.

A pair circles eachother tentatively. One of them has secrets. The other wants the truth. Ultimately, the truth will be about the one without the secrets, not the one who kept things close because of past heartbreak. They struggle because one is always waiting for a muddy shoe to drop and ruin everything: One of them has been conditioned to expect disappointment.

"I bet they even keep count of their neighbor's underwear." Small town gossip and general nosiness is on display. One of the old classmates who works at the fish market scolds Eun: “You shouldn't be hanging around with a married man!❗ …Have you eaten yet? Do you want to get some breakfast?" Of course, /he's/ married, too. The locals consider the wealthy Eun their own property. Anyone like Han-Su sniffing around could endanger her available funds. This leads into another theme···

"Just a Little Bit More." America's first billionaire, John Rockefeller, said that was how much money would be enough. The problem of money in relationships and the powerful temptation to suck-up to rich people is addressed. All of Eun's relationships are tarnished by the fact that she has money. It's part of her appeal. I've found myself acting differently around rich people over the years because I was horribly immature. Certainly, money is appealing, but rich people aren't necessarily so. Money is a hurdle that good character must overcome. Successful people tend to subconsciously believe they are intrinsically better, and thus more deserving of their good fortune. Wealth has a tendency to make people more self-focused and less generous as they turn their gazes inward. People have greater fear and pain from a loss than they have pleasure from a gain, and rich people see giving away money as a loss. Yet our subconscious prompts us to treat these types extra special in hopes that something will rub off. A friend of mine says that rich people will screw you over “because they can.” We get led away by what we want. The key is to not want much - be content. Take every person on their own character merits.

And dive into OB! It's that vacation you never want to end.


QUOTES📢

There's no way to satisfy everyone.

Don't say that with your beautiful mouth.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣8.5 📝8.2 🎭9 💓7 🦋5 🌞7 🎨6 ⚡4 🎵/🔊7 😅3 😭4.5 😱2 😯3 😖1 🤔4 💤2 🔚9


Age 14+ with the following cautions: R language F💣s, @$$hole × 2, B!+ch × 2, Sex, teen pregnancy, abortion. Rated: TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.


Re-📺? Likely

You May Also Like:

love to hate you 8.9
Touch your heart 8.2
Love Struck in the city 7.3
My Mister 9.5
I'll see you when the weather is fine 9
More than friends 8
A Witch's love 7.8
Romance is a bonus book 7.9
Hospital Playlist 9
It's okay not to be okay 9
Something in the Rain 9
Start-up 7.5
Her Private Life 8

My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5
Live UpTo Your Name 7.6
My Only Love Song 8.7 (same FL)
Saimdang 8.5
Mr. Queen 8.5
Mr. Sunshine 9
The Kings's Affection 8.3
Rookie Historian 7.3
Try a Chinese historical romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8


Boys Over Flowers
My Secret Romance (too many flashbacks)
Mad For Each Other silly fun
Crash Landing On You

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✒♥️Double Blind Taste Test♨️ °Good for romance junkies°

In the final analysis, BP is a typical Golden Corral spread in which a great chef snuck in and put out a few tasty small plates. Watch to be treated to some of the most romantic words a woman can hear: "What do this credit card & my love for you have in common? They both have no limit." Swoon away, ladies!

I'm irritated. This show is horribly cliche, yet I continued to watch it and like it, for the most part. They gave just enough to keep me going, while at the same time, they revealed how pathetically low my standards are. It really p!$$e$ me off. Going into ep4 I was almost embarrassed for myself. Basically, if you're not a romance junkie, don't watch this. It is not for you. For you romance fans, failings aside, this pair releases dopamine. That's what us junkies crave, and it's the only reason to stick with this formulaic, inconsistent show.

BP might be off-the-rack, but the leads are special. Let's meet them. Ahn Hyo Seop (A Time Called You, Dr. Romantic) is ML, Kang “Tae” Mu. His grandfather is the CEO. Grandpa feels responsible for his orphaned grandson. He wants him 💒married💍. He wants grandkids 👶🚼👶 GREAT-grandkids. Their due-dates are overdue. But Tae is very much an Iceman. He's cold and he doesn't know how to treat a lady. Kim Se Jeong (Uncanny counter S1-8.4 S2-4) is Sin Hari. She's like the girl next door, but she can put on a show, both IRL and also on the dining room table. She sings, she acts, and she cooks like a master. She has a spark and her voice has a throaty resonance that's pleasant to the ears.

Hari is, otherwise, a common girl from a common family. Her job is coming up with new recipes & food ideas as well as packaging innovations ~~> at Tae’s grandfather's company! She's excellent at what she does. What isn't so common about Hari is how she's 1-degree of separation from Kcountry's 1% by way of her rich BFF. Seol In Ah from Twinkling Watermelon & the fabulous Mr. Queen-9, in which she plays a demure lady of the court, portrays Jin Yeong “Seo”. Hari met this heiress-with-a-heart-of-gold at performing arts HS, which is plausible. Seo’s father wants her hitched, and he's been trying to fix her up in a business arranged 🤵👰. She ain't interested. Grandpa's got blind dates lined up for Tae. Dad has blind dates lined up for Seo. What dad don't know is that Seo NEVER goes on her own blind dates! Hari goes as Seo, because Hari is a superb actress, and she knows how to send those rich dweebs running for the hills.

Inevitability comes knocking. When Seo’s dad and Tae’s granddad arrange a date for the two of them, Hari only asks: “Who is it this time?” ‘Oh I don't know; just some schlep from some rich family. Just go take care of him for me, please!’ Seo's answer is something like that. When Hari's date… eh, I mean Seo's date, walks into the restaurant, Hari realizes it's the president of her company😳! Yes, she wore a wig and she looks outrageous, but he's likely to recognize her if he sees her at work. She'll have to make this one quick!💨 Sorry, Hari. This one's for life.

It isn't so much a Pride and Prejudice romance; it's a straight power flip. He's the all-cold, all-business dude with all the power. Her job is to repulse him when she poses as his blind date. After a short night out with her, he's /supposed/ to jump in his hot car and take off without a look back. Instead, though his reasons are murky and clearly driven by his subconscious, he latches onto Hari. For the date, she played a classless harpy with big hair, big jewelry, and big lungs. He was supposed to be horrified. He goes home thinking maybe she's the one! He wants to see her again. There's always a reason to use (see) her again. All she wants is escape. Step by step, he begins pursuit and she plots escape routes. She doesn't realize that he's already ceded power to her. He wants to date her so he can stop all the blind dates, he tells himself. When he learns she isn't Seo, she cops to being an actress and provides a fake name. Alright. Fine. She's an actress, not an heiress. We've all heard of play-dates: He offers to PAY her to DATE him. Her parents happen to need buckets of duckets, so she agrees.

At some point his greatest fear is how he's going to develop a real relationship with her. At the same time, her biggest fear is getting fired. Needless to say, they have a side dish of disconnect to go with their stew of fascination. The show is about taste, and Tae looks like he tastes good 🙄. Actually, they objectify him to the point where it is uncomfortable. It's almost a parody. As beautiful as Mr. Ahn is, the women steal the show. Their personalities and friendship are highlights. Seo is adorable.

The 2ndary couple get off to a front-and-center start, and their romance doesn't feel like an afterthought. Seo meets Tae’s secretary, Cha Seong Hun (Kim Min Gue from Queen: Love and War. He plays a lady killer in Because This is My First Life-7.7). She falls for him instantly and realizes who he is when she meets him again later. These 2 could have stood for more screen time, actually. There were some missed opportunities, and they actually had the groundwork for more episodes if they had let it breathe more.

The actors are not the reason BP has problems. They did fine. It's the dialogue, the directing, and half of the plot that suffers. True, Hari's spastic attempts to cover up her identity are annoying. Fortunately, it doesn't go on for even half of the show. Viewers might be able to relax more knowing this. Besides the boilerplate CEO-involved-with-the-girl-next-door, the show also tosses in other common-as-kimchi plot points. We see MSP (Missing or separated parent(s) and MSS, or mandatory separation syndrome, which is when a couple, once they get together, must separate. ('I love you! Finally, we're together! Now I'll catch you later...' Huh? It's overused). BP isn't bad, it should just be better. It's marshmallow frosting without cake. Plenty of worse shows have more substance, but shows like BP have their place, particularly if one needs to escape anxiety, not add to it.

Part of the story involves illegal taping of women via surreptitiously planted cameras. The penalties don't even rise to the level where they can put the perpetrator in jail! The women suffer trauma, not feeling easy anywhere they are for fear of being watched, yet the law does nothing to protect them. Women's rights are a hot-button topic in Asia because they are decades behind the West in those traditionally heavily patriarchal societies.

BP has its taste sensations. There's clever foreshadowing, foreboding statements that are true in a way other than expected, and other crafty connections. It's not devoid of quality elements. Somewhere around ep5&6, when he decides on his objective, it does get amusing. In ep9 we see some legendary drink making. After their first kiss, which is not in the usual context, there's shots of them lying in their respective beds, split-screen, touching their lips thinking about it. Together, their heads form a heart. It's nicely done. There are several comments about how their relationship mirrors one from a current TV drama about the daughter of chicken joint owners and her own boss. Perhaps the cutest bit is when he starts to resent her boss and the policies of the company she works for (her job is messing up his dating plans!). He never puts together that it's HIM and HIS company that's impeding on his love life.

If they really had wanted to have fun with it, he would have mischievously asked her to put that big-hair wig on again…


〰🖍 IMHO

🎬7 🖊〰6 🎭7.5 💓7.4 🦋7.8 🌞 7 🎨6.7 🎵/🔊7 😅6 😯3 😭3 🤔3 💤2.5 🔚7.6

Age + Language: @$$h0!e, f💣s. She plays the floozy who has names for some of her body parts. Cheating and promiscuity and getting a motel room / one night stands
are alluded to.

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

The screenwriters are Han Sul Hee (Ugly Miss Young Ae) & Hong Bo Hee (High Kick! The Revenge of the Short Legged) and the director is Park Seon Ho (Suspicious Partner).

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

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✒ ⚕️ The New Normal? °good°

Crazy, I'm crazy for feeling so lonely 〰 I'm crazy, crazy for feeling so blue 〽 Worry, why do I let myself worry ? ♻ ¿ Wondering what in the world did I do? 〰 I'm crazy for trying and crazy for crying 〽 And crazy for loving you-ooo-oo
~Willie Nelson, as sung by Patsy Cline~

“We all stand on the border between normal and abnormal,” we hear. Normal. What is that, even? One thing that's typical is that, “In a lifetime, we will all experience some difficulties.”

Jung Da “Eun” is a person who loves. She cares. This cruel world isn't always kind to such fragility. One thing I've learned from hitting bottom - from complete and total failure to stay afloat - is that we all have our limit: Mind-over-matter cannot fix everything. We can't power-thru every problem. Each one of us is capable of crashing. DDOS serves as an elementary school primer for mental illness. That is not a criticism. The treatment is gentle and simple, but the facts are true. We see that all types of people, successful and floundering, well-off and poor, from intact families and broken backgrounds, all types of people can struggle with mental illness. Park Bo-Young (Oh My Ghost-10, Doom at Your Service, Strong Girl Bong-Soon) is Eun. I love her. She's legendary in OMG, and she's one of my favorites just from that show. Lee Jung-Eun from OMG is reunited with Park Bo-Young as Song Hyo-Jin. She's my favorite actress right now. Her part as a nurse manager is not a big challenge. She doesn't do much until ep10. It's wonderful to see her onscreen, regardless.

DDOS is a 2023 release that is rated 91 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 12 52-70 minute episodes. The opening credits, artwork and music are spot-on and properly set the mood. Jang Dong-Yoon (The Tale of Nokdu, My Man is Cupid-5.9) plays Song Yu-Chan, Eun's lifelong bff. This is the 1st effort for director Lee Jae-Kyu. Same for the writers: Lee Ra-Ha (webcomic), Lee Nam-Kyu, & Kim Da-Hee. DDOS is a drama that contains some romance, but romance is not the centerpiece. Even so, the primary romance is cute and the 2ndary one is sweet. Yeon Woo-Jin (Thirty Nine) plays Dong Go-Yun. I've only seen him as a recluse in My Shy Boss-6.5. In DDOS, he plays a wacko (in the funnest sort of way). It was great to watch him in such a different role ~ He's funny! Contrary to what one might think, he is NOT a patient. He's a doctor from the next unit over. He's an eccentric - a term used for functionally crazy people of means. Eccentric people often are such because they don't see the point in being fake to fit in with “normal” people. Eccentrics think that “normal” derives from one original and the sheeple who copy that original ~> y’all are nutz.

Nobody can recite the perfect formula or ratio, but a functioning society requires that we all hammer our individualism down to fit in with others. (Keep yourself and your domicile clean. Be polite. Don't lie, steal, or harm. Stop at the red light and go on green. Keep your word. Take your meds. Don't be too loud.) If we are too individualistic we create friction and strife. If we hammer ourselves down too much to fit in, though, we lose ourselves, usher in an oppressive system, and propagate phoniness & depression (Don't speak the truth as nobody can handle it. Don't wear/eat/like that, as people will think you're strange. Do this, don't do that. Join here. Hate those people. Vote this way. Don't disagree. Take your meds. Think this way.) There's not one thing normal about normal. It's often a means to bully others, “What we probably need right now is the courage to face down the hate directed at us. Yet our longing to be loved by others, our need for approval, they cause us to take the knives to our souls and carve out what we want others to see. That's the reason we are always enduring unhappiness and pain,” is one character‘s astute assessment. Gaslighting. Social anxiety. Paranoia. Toxic mothers. Bully bosses. Obsession. Compulsion. Obsessive-compulsiveness. Depression. Narcissism. Suicide. Most odd behavior is linked to pain. So how, then, should we live? Unselfishly, most of all. Authentically, next. And we should re-examine our presuppositions every few years. Remember, it's simply impossible to be human and to be correct about everything.

One patient wants to talk to the psych about obsessive knuckle cracking - it makes his knuckles large and that could “hurt others”. After a couple visits to discuss this weirdness, the doc has had it and cuts him off: “Large knuckles won't hurt anybody anyway!,” is doc's parting shot. Later we see how and why the doc was so tragically wrong. It's funny.

“Strange, isn't it? We always notice other people's flaws before our own flaws. When it comes to that, we're all blind.” Amen to that. They take a deep dive into the stigma around mental illness. The nurses comment about how many of them chose that field due to a sick loved one.
Eun is compassionate. That may make her slightly less efficient at her job, but does it really make her worse at it? She's providing care and encouragement to those who see very little of those human qualities. The mentally ill tend to experience public ignorance, intolerance, and isolation. “It's not that I like my child being called disabled,’ says one mom, “but that is the reality.” What is more difficult for a parent to go through than mental illness in their child? It's not only heartbreaking, but it's also emotionally and physically exhausting. It's Hell's roller coaster and the off-switch isn't working.

Sometimes, all that pain leads to suicide. They couldn't address mental illness without going /there/. A patient’s self-inflicted demise causes multiple ripples through the unit. One of the nurses is so heartbroken that she ends up being committed for depression in the fallout. She doesn't want to come back to work. ‘Can you not take a pulse now? Can you not set up an IV? If you can do your job, who cares what anyone thinks about you?’ Sometimes we want to quit because things didn't go the way we wanted. Well, welcome to the human race! The people who think things are going the way they want just haven't had their troubles yet. Nobody gets everything s/he wants.

The rest of the unit is in pain over the suicide, too. “Self-harm is really a cry for help. Some might want attention, while others have been pushed away so often by society that they start believing they deserve it,” a nurse opines. Cliches contain truth, but are often treated as final truths when they fall short of being so. One cliche that is not entirely false but still does nothing to bridge the gap between logic and emotions is that suicide is an act of cowardice, which clearly isn't entirely true, either. I don't believe that suicide is the answer to anybody's problems, but it is an act borne from unbearable pain. If one hasn't felt emotional pain so horrendous that one wishes s/he was never born, then perhaps, be slow to pronounce callous judgments (shut-up and count your blessings?). The whole unit reacts to the death of the patient, but each professional also handles it personally. “Dealing with death isn't something you can just get used to. It's sad every single time.” One new employee accused the lead doctor of not caring about the patient's demise and gets a talking to. Later we'll see that doctor, who supposedly doesn't care, taking some pills.

Pills. That seems to be what Western medicine is now reduced to. In my case, the pills nearly killed me. I had Serotonin Syndrome, and none of my doctors caught it - Not even when I was experiencing escalating seizures and losing my mind. Doctors don't seem to think in terms of bad drug reactions. Their answer for me was only, ever, MORE 💊. I am thankful to Redditers because they are the ones who put me on the path to recovery. Medication can be a life saver, but the ultimate recovery would be to get off the meds, if it can be done safely. Nearly dying from prescription medication has spurred me onto a journey of health. We have a plethora of chronic illnesses now that hardly existed a few decades ago. If you find yourself overcome with anxiety, depression, or any number of GI or autoimmune diseases, please consider, along with whatever else you are doing, going organic and eliminating sugar. Not only does sugar have highly addictive qualities (so they put it in everything) and zero nutritional benefits, but sugar and grains feed fungi that exist in our bodies, and these fungi can affect our emotional and GI health. This is why you'll hear “health nuts” constantly going on about gut-health. Serotonin receptors are in the gut, not the brain! For me, going off the meds was only part of my recovery. I had to clean out my whole system and it is an ongoing process. We joke about the warnings that accompany drug commercials and all the ingredients in our food that we cannot pronounce, but there is a dark side to this stuff that isn't funny - not one bit. Years before I knew I had a problem (I was on the medication that was slowly killing me for 10 years) I heard cardiologist Christopher Davis, a nationally recognized “Top Doc”, speak. He realized that the medical industry was generating lots of income, but not making anybody well. He now runs a clinic that focuses on the right food as the primary medicine and he's healing people. He's getting them off of the meds. I might not be completely sane, but he certainly is, and thankfully there's a growing number of functional medicine doctors with the same vision, who see themselves as more than a drug-pusher.

In all, shows like this are a public service. This subject is a heartbreaker, so with the remaining space, here's some jokes to lighten the mood.

☄I have generalized anxiety disorder, but it sucks because it affects me specifically.

☄They say mental illness runs in my family. But in my family, we’re all pretty lazy, so it just sort of meandered its way through the generations.

☄I don’t do drugs. I do therapy. Unfortunately, therapy isn’t as fun and it’s just as expensive.

☄I have bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety, disordered eating, and psychosis—which are more friends than I had in elementary school.

☄I never say I’m bipolar. I like to scream it at the top of my lungs while running around naked at the supermarket.

☄It makes perfect sense mental illness runs in my family. I’d run too if I had a family like mine.

☄The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four people is suffering from a mental illness. Look at your three best friends. If they’re OK, then it’s YOU.

☄My therapist told me that I over analyze everything. I explained to him that he only thinks this because of his unhappy relationship with his mother.

☄A question that always makes me hazy is, is it me or are the others crazy?

☄They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me!

☄I told my wife the truth. I told her I was seeing a psychiatrist. Then she told me the truth. She was seeing a psychiatrist, two plumbers and a bartender. (Rodney Dangerfield)

☄Hello, welcome to the mental health hotline.
If you have obsessive compulsive disorder, press 1 repeatedly.
If you are codependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.
If you have multiple personality syndrome, press 3, 4, 5, and 6.
If you suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line so we can trace your call.
If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be transferred to the mothership.
If you are hearing voices, listen carefully and a small voice will tell you which number to press.
If you are manic depressive, it doesn't matter which button you press. No one will answer anyway.
If you are dyslexic, press 96969696969696.
If you have a nervous disorder, please fidget with the pound button until a representative comes on the line.
If you have amnesia, press 8 and state your name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number, and your mother's and grandmother's maiden names.
If you have post traumatic stress disorder, slowly and carefully press 911.
If you have bi-polar disorder, please leave a message after the beep. Or before the beep. Or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.
If you have short term memory loss, please try you call again in a few minutes.
If you have low self esteem, please hang up. All our representatives are busy.


QUOTE📢

Happiness isn't complicated. Being free to do what you like, that's happiness.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.5 📝7 🎭8 💓6 🦋5 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊8 🔚8 ♦ 🌞7 ⚡3 😅3 😭6 😱3 😯4 😖2 🤔5 💤1

Age 11+With a caution about some infrequently scattered PG-13
Language: ($h!+, pr!(k, b!+ch) this is a gentle introduction to the issue of mental illness that reinforces compassion. To that end it is well suited for kids and adults. Rated TV-14


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;
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

Read More

✒ ⛔️ The Strong Don't Bark Nor Do They Howl‼️°8.7° °Outstanding°

Wanna git that adrenaline blazing through your system? Take a number and have a seat. ASFK's 8 eps appear to be in real-time, but for the many flashbacks that clue us in on what led up to “today,” and a brief stop to see the breaking dawn of the following morning. It's all what's happn’in now, and it appears that it's ALL happening now! Bombs, IEDs, pistols, machine guns, robots, drones, mines, poison gas, regular gas (just add match), slashing, kicking, punching, and, yes, biting.

Jian buried her uncle today. The after party is way more than she bargained for. While the beginning is piece-mealed together, from jump, ASFK is never boring. A sniper has targets in his sights. Two of them are just kids! One of the kids is Jung “Jian”. She's played by Kim Hye Joon from Kingdom-8.3 and Inspector Koo-8.4 where she's a tantalizing psycho. She's unrecognizable here. She spends the entire show in the same track suit and her hair is a mess, but she can be super cute. Jian clearly knows how to fight back. She jumps from the top of the refrigerator to the sofa. Under the sofa is a sniper rifle!

ASFK is a 2024 release that is rated 91 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 8 51-minute episodes. As I started episode 6, I was already sad that it was going to end soon. Another season has been confirmed for release in 2026, thankfully. Just relax and watch. Ep1 raises a barrage (here, “barrage” means a garage and several basements worth) of questions that won't be answered immediately.

While the timeline is uncertain as the show flips around from hour to hour, month to month, and year to year, Jian gets word that her uncle and only guardian is dead. Lee Dong Wook (Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938) plays uncle Jung Jinman. I've only seen him in Touch Your Heart-8.2, which I loved. I haven't been able to check him out yet in the legendary Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, because I haven't gotten around to getting that Viki pass. Uncle.did.not.commit.suicide. No matter what the police say, that much Jian /knows/. Strange looking twins show up at his funeral. They look like dangerous men.

Locals are at one of the tables gossiping about the deceased. Did he really just sell commercial hoses online? One man says “I heard he used to head up the WASP agency.” Another one says that he heard Jinman was an anti-North spy for the NIS. The viewer has already had a glimpse of the guns and hyper-vigilance, so none of this is surprising. Jian is flustered: “I lived with him for 10 years. Yet I know nothing about him,” she realizes.

It's obvious that Uncle Jinman was not a simple guy. There's more to him than what we see on the surface, and ASFK will take us several layers beneath the surface. Jian had sensed something was off before, and she's now glimpsing uncle's bank balance, which can't be overlooked: Can someone make that kinda 💰 by merely selling hoses? It doesn't seem so. Hoses aren't in that much demand… are they?

One thing that's in plenty of demand is killin. Not many people out there can't think of 1 person they want dead. All that killing requires equipment and preparation. Uncle's Shop for Killers is a 1-stop operation. Uncle Jinman makes killin easy.

We meet young Jian in ep2. She's portrayed by Ahn Se Bin. I'm keeping an eye on this girl's career. She's fantastic. Starting as one of the orphans in Crash Landing on You-9.1, she nearly stole the show Racket Boys-8.3 when she hangs out with the elderly neighbors and teaches them how to read. It helps them get out of a shady deal. In Link: Eat, Love, Kill-6.7 she has a small but very important part as the ML's sister. The whole show revolves around the fact that her character went missing. Once again, she steals the show in The First Responders-7.8 S2, opposite of Kim Rae Won. She is a mega-talent.

Geum Hae Na (A Man's True Colors, The Boy From Nowhere) portrays So Min Hye… I sorta wanna be her. She's so bad@$$, and she looks bad@$$ while she's doing it. When the bad guys learn she's there, they pause the entire operation to negotiate for more money. She shines brighter with each episode. Seo Hyeon Woo (Uncle Samsik-8.4, Flower of Evil-8.9) plays the sleazy Lee Seong Jo. He's totally vile. Wow, long hair is his best look - by far. He tells all his victims to obtain enlightenment. He, himself, is “en-lightened” before the end. He's not the worst of the bad guys. That would be Bale (Jo Han Sun from Hot Stove League & Midnight Thriller). He's a psychopath serial killer type. The great Park Gwang Jae makes an appearance as the funeral bus driver in eps1&8. He's good in everything, like Moving-8.5, Revenge of Others-8.1, Big Mouth-7.4, Flower of Evil-8.9, Kingdom-8.3, & 100 Days My Prince-5.5. As for screenwriters, one is Ji Ho Jin of Newtopia, and Lee Kwon (Shut Up: Flower Boy Band) is the other screenwriter & the director:

There's an amusing sequence in which they have to vacate the home while it is being redone. Jian asks hopefully: “Where will we be staying?” “Jirisan Mountain.” As soon as she logs in the answer, she takes notice of the camping equipment he's gathered in front of him. Hopes are dashed. The next scene is the two of them alone in the dark and cold. His leg is injured and he's in danger of succumbing to hypothermia. She starts complaining. (Why didn't we just go to a hotel? Etc). Sure, who wouldn't feel that way? But her words, tone, and attitude made things worse. Her uncle says: “When you are in a difficult situation, instead of arguing over right and wrong, it's important to find a way to solve the problem and overcome the situation.” I've been thinking about how the phrase, ‘Timing in life is Everything’, is profoundly true. I've never had a good sense of timing. The time to Monday-morning-QB is after the crisis is over, not in the middle of it. Jian chose to feed her own emotional satisfaction at the expense of her uncle's. That brand of complaining is actually cannibalistic.

After some backstory we get back to the day at hand in ep3 - Jian is in the middle of the longest day of her life. Professional killers keep coming in droves just to wipe her off the map. That house redo? It's bulletproof, it's booby trapped, and there's lots of places to hide. Apparently the house is five times as big underground as it is above the surface. The bad guys keep coming. Uncle clearly made some nasty, very motivated enemies. They may get rid of one wave but then a new wave arrives with more weapons, more power, more men, and more technology. At some point Jian is warned: Bael is coming. He's the guy who killed her parents.

Most episodes have flashbacks so that we continue to examine the atypical way that this girl was raised. In a world of murderers, whom can one rely on? She runs into that problem pretty early on. “It's not about right and wrong, but who's strongest… The week must know their place and Choose Wisely” The biggest problem for Jian, with Unc gone, is knowing whom to trust. There's scenes where two other people in the room are each telling her not to trust the other one. It's a shady world and perhaps no one is trustworthy. In every dilemma, she recalls something her uncle told her that helps her. He's still guiding her way, even when he's not there.

By now, funerals are some kind of trigger for Jian. They always end in disaster and then yield way to a new life. In flashback we see Jian when she was little at her grandmother's funeral. Her uncle takes her home and they have a talk in the dark. It's a very creepy scene. On TV a lion is being eaten by cheetahs. They talk about death and how they won't see Grandma anymore. She says “death sucks”. He agrees but tells her to not fear death. The room is dark, death is all around, his voice is low and sultry but much like a typical movie-demon voice, while trepidatious piano music is playing in the background. “Don't be scared. Whatever makes you scared, keep your eyes open and face it,” uncle tells a tween-aged Jian. While this was going on, her parents were being murdered at the funeral home. Her uncle's going to be her guardian from now on.

When they get to his place (and a lot happens before they managed to actually get there) she trips and drops all of her things. She stays on the ground and looks at him. He's opening the door. He turns, and there's a long pause as he studies her. ‘I'm not your parent. No will I ever be. Therefore, I won't be able to do the things for you that they did.’ He turns back and enters the house. She's on the ground with all her worldly belongings scattered around her.

Everything that happened from the death of her grandmother until she arrived at her uncle's house was too much for a little girl. She develops aphasia (a language disorder that affects the ability to communicate. It can impact speaking, understanding, reading, and writing). Jian stops talking. This leads to bullying at school. There's an amusing sequence where they are cutting between a parent-teacher conference and their home life. The teacher asks uncle if he's helping her with her aphasia? We then watch them live out their lives without speaking a word. When she needed money she put a note on the fridge. Later, money appeared under the magnet. What hurts, though, is that kids are not kind to someone who's different. She's bullied cruelly at school. When the teacher brings that up at the conference, Uncle says he believes she needs to work it out on her own. It isn't long before Jian and her uncle are conversing.

They don't neglect the plot, dialogue, or character development, but primarily, ASFK is an action-packed ride with many thrilling elements. There's intense action in every episode. The dog robot is baaaad and scary! Supersonic sound weapons! Booyah! There's cool action before ep5, but towards the end of the episode it's leveled up even more. Totally super-charged. Ep6 continues ratcheting up the adrenaline. It's extra caffeinated.

The story is told cyclically. It starts in the current day, goes to the past, back to the current day, and then it goes further back in the past. The day of Grandma's funeral bookends episodes 1 & 7. Ep8 is not the end; it begins a new day. Jian's small band of allies is pretty beat up, but unlike most of the assailants, they are alive. Bael's alive, too. He really shouldn't be. It looks like S2 will continue his story and hopefully it will conclude it.



QUOTES🗣

There are always blind spots.

Only the weak bark.

We must take responsibility for everything we do.


IMHO〰🖍

📣8.7 📝8.5 🎭8.7 🎨8.5 🎵/🔊7 🔚? 🤗7 ▪ 🌞4⚡8.5 😅2 😭6 😱5 😯5 🤢6 🤔5 💤0


Age18 + violence. Dismemberment. Scary elements. Violence against women and children
Language: R-rated w/ F💣💣, b!+ch, $h!+. Rated: 18+ Restricted (violence & profanity)


Re-📺? booyah!



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

⚡/🚀 -
Flex X Cop-8.5, Love to Hate You-8.9,

Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Vagabond-8, It's Okay Not To Be Okay-9,
Moving-8.5,
Why Her?-8, The First Responders-7.8,

Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing),
Tunnel 8.5, Itaewon Class-8.7,
Train to Busan-7.8,

The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Awaken-8.7,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Beyond Evil-7.4,
Blood Free-8.5, D.P.-8.4,
The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Sweet Home 8.4
Oldboy-9,


〰 Hulu Catalog 〰

Big Mouth-7.4,
Blood Free-8.5,
Call It Love-8.4,
Crazy Love-7.8,
The First 1st Responders-7.8,
Flex X Cop-8.5,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Han River Police-7.1,
High School Return of a Gangster-7,
The Judge from Hell-4.5
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2 (this show is marvelous except for taking a quality dip in eps 20-22)
Light Shop-8.6,
Link: Eat, Love, Kill-6.7,
Maestra: Strings of Truth-6.8,
Moving-8.5
Pandora: Beneath the Paradise-3.9,
Parasite-9,
Revenant-7.4,
Revenge of Others-8.1,
So I Married the Anti Fan-6.8,
Uncle Samsik-8.4,
What's Wrong With Secretary Kim-6.8,
Why Her?-8,
Wonderful World-7.8,
The Worst of Evil-7.7

Read More

✒Mello Yello Pop ⭐ Lo Fizz °6.8° °Sweet But No Tang°

SIMTAF happens after a clash between a reporter and a pop superstar that ends with her getting fired. Next, she seeks retribution - through social media and VERY public demonstrations. The whole spectacle was on display for rabid fandom to devour. What usually follows a spectacle these days? The reality show. The pop star will marry his anti-fan. He quips: ‘Anti-fans are fans in a way after all, aren't they?’

Proximity Alert! The best way to overcome prejudices is through exposure, or proximity. The more we're around somebody, the more we'll see them for who they are instead of what we chose to believe before we knew the person better. (As an aside, color is one of the first things we don't see anymore once we get used to being around a person. There's a few things that are less important than the shade of someone's skin). The more we're around somebody, the more their looks change based on their inner beauty whether for the better or worse.

That's the set up. He's basically a decent guy who's gotten a tad spoiled from being a star. She's an aggressive, intelligent reporter who is the opposite of spoiled. They detest e/o. Thus the show promises us some 💥-sparks-Tension-🔥-PASSION, but we get very little of that. They start with the marriage, which is a sham. She gives him a good scare as she peels out in the convertible: The show creators, thus, reiterated their promise (FIB) that 🎆fireworks🎇 are to follow.. and… there's almost none💢. It's really perplexing as to why they didn't show them bickering while filming their show. That would have been so much more fun. The 1st episode is disjointed, sloppy, and unfocused. It lags. What they ended up with is close to glorified time-killer.

Thank the stars, they cast,actress Choi Soo Young as the FL “Geun” Young. She is special. They mostly squandered her talent. She stole the show, Run On-7, as half of the 2ndary romance. They tossed in the MSP trope (Missing or separated parent(s) which doesn't do much to enhance the plot. The show borders on bland, but it has its moments. The leads are competent and likable, while the writing is insightful in places, and those serve to guard against total floppage.

Choi Tae Joon (Suspicious Partner, Ugly Alert) portrays ML, Hoo Joon. Hwang Chan Sung (True to Love, What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8, My Holo Love-6.8) is JJ / Choi Jae Joon. Han Ji An (Oh Seonam Girls High School Investigators, The Vanished) is In Hyung. Her character drags the series down a peg but she ends up providing some of its greatest depths. True, I hate the look on that girl's face. She's trying to make her singing career work and it's not going well. As her character is under tremendous stress, she holds her mouth tightly and always looks anxious. She's so stiff that it seems as if she has a neck and shoulder injury. She skulks with her shoulders drooped and her head downcast, looking a bit like a chipmunk that's about to barf. It was difficult to watch. She seems to see herself as a powerless victim and is so caught up in her trauma that she isn't once engaging, relatable, or sympathetic. I felt uneasy every time she was onscreen. She gave us a gift, in the end, though: In Hyung concludes that while she's dreamed of being loved by many people, she realizes that she's not a person that knows how to give or receive love. Few people can turn their gaze from one of self-absorption to true introspection and reach that level of internal honesty.

It seems like SIMTAF was shot as a reality show. There's nothing slick or smooth at all. There's little soundtrack, even though we're following the music industry. It's nearly lifeless at times. Geun is always beautiful, but some of her outfits are atrocious.

Yet, there are worthy themes. "In real life we all cover ourselves with prideful wrapping paper." His pride. Her prejudice. They need to crumble. One of the friends is full of hatred and bitterness over a past event which he seems to have misunderstood, to a certain extent. Things became worse over the years, not better, because his anger couldn't be mollified. It hardened into bitterness. He let a person live rent-free in his head for years! That's the same as enslaving oneself, so don't let that happen. How lying isolates us in the middle of the wilderness is another theme. “I came a long way on wings made of lies. But I realized I had nowhere to return to on wings of lies. Whether they are exposed or not, at some point our lies run their course. We who are fortunate reach our dead-ends with enough time left to do some good.” That quote is more profound every time I read it.

To the final shot, though, this could have been tighter, neater, funnier, fit together better, and it could have had a better flow. It could have been alot better, yet it still wasn't bad. As I write this I'm trying to decide if this show is worth watching at all? I'm wondering if I should have abandoned it. This might be worth watching for their first kiss. It's well above average - an 8, minimum. They think no one is watching, and nobody was, but the cameraman left the camera rolling. They are so exposed, snagged, ~oh snap~ Well, lookie here. The fans are going to lose their minds!


QUOTES🗣️

Things that don't fit always become a problem.

You have to tell seven lies to make one lie work.


〰🖍 IMHO

🎬6 🖊️〰6 🎭 7.3 💓68 🦋7 🌞7 🎨65⚡4 🎵/🔊73 😅45 🥺35 😭35 🤔64 💤5 🔚74


Age 12+

Re-📺? pass


It's the we've-been-forced-to-live-together trope! Similar offerings:

My First First Love-8,
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Playful Kiss-7.3,
My Roommate Is a Gumiho-7.9,
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
Because This Is My First Life-7.7,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,

🇯🇵Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8

🇨🇳Well-Intended Love-7.5 19 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 - arranged marriage loosely fits in this category

Read More

✒❌️Wrong Car ✅️Right Destiny °7.5° °VG°

They say nothing is free. WIL is about a free ride that isn't free, in the end.

“How could I have leukemia?” Xia Lin (aka "Lin Lin" aka "MuMu”) knows this makes no sense. Her personal and family history are clear of health issues. She's flummoxed as she bulls her way out of the hospital and flings open the door of her Uber. A strange man is in her ride!?! Whatever, just “drop me off first, I'm in a hurry,” she honks. “Well? Scoot Over!” The stranger scoots. (We all Uber in Maseratis all the time, right?) The stranger takes a call from his friend: “I'm alone on the street! Where are you, you were supposed to pick me up!” Sounds like that come from the other end of his phone convo. Stranger, Ling, (Xu Kai Cheng from Novoland: Pearl Eclipse) laconically shuts him down cold: ”Take a cab.” Next, Ms MuMu gets a call from her actual Uber driver… Whoops! Wrong car…

Or wuzzz it?

WIL is a 2019 release that is rated 7.6 on MDL, which is actually a middling rating for that site. Viki has it at 9.3. Why the disparity? WIL contains some triggers that many viewers will find unpleasant, specifically the making of a monster. It's also about the unmaking of a monster. Some viewers will not get beyond the triggers, while others will enjoy the dopamine rush that a classic style romance delivers - he's really, really into her. Our ML grew up with a domineering father. His mother is gone - she finally had to escape her horrible husband and she abandoned her son. Ling picked up some bad tendencies from Fughee (dad) and brings them to his love life. There's nothing unrealistic about that pattern. WIL is about how MuMu‘s presence reforms Ling’s tattered emotional state. The point is that he has issues and needs some work. It isn't justifying his behavior, even if his wrong acts work out in the end. If abusive and domineering men are a hot-button trigger for a viewer then (based on the ratings and reviews) WIL is not the one to watch.

This is a non-spoiler review, so no specifics, but our ML pulls an outrageous stunt because that is all he knows. Fughee brought him up to be emotionless, manipulative, authoritative, and domineering. He desperately craves love but is not equipped to give or receive it. Some watch this and can't get beyond the urge to cancel our ML entirely. On a core programming level, I'm incapable of hating a show in which the ML loves the FL as much as Ling loves MuMu. Keep in mind that equality of the sexes in Asia is decades behind the West. This show is actually performing a service in representing this behavior as wrong and in need of reform. Our FL absolutely refuses to put up with it.

Perhaps that will help you decide if you will enjoy WIL or not - it's only value is in its wind-down escapism, so if it will get one worked up, one should avoid it. People take every trend too far, and our cancel-culture has gone too far. Wrongs should be addressed, corrected and even punished, but we are too quick to throw out human beings. ‘Bringing out the lions’ has never fixed any society or any wrongs, and it never will. None of us are without blemishes. Our first goal should be to promote growth in others. Blocking, mocking, and cross-offing might make a person feel better (superior) in the short run, but it does harm and not good, ultimately. Now I've gone way overboard for a piece-of-fluff show. Moving on…

Mixing up cars is not enough to bring them together. They didn't even exchange names, after all. MuMu glimpses her medical file & learns that the closest match for a bone marrow donor is a stranger, Ling Yi Zhou. She studies up on him - he's a CEO & he will be hard to reach. FeiFei (Liu Jia Xi from The Last Immortal) is her cute & spritely friend. She will teach MuMu how to hook a guy. There's 3 main principles: 1. Commitment. 2. Be Shameless. 3. Be committed to being Shameless. With help from Fei Fei she starts scheming.

Many women have already schemed to meet Mr. Ling, so MuMu & FeiFei are to be congratulated, as it isn't long before MuMu gets her 1-on-1 and sees he is her kind Uber-stranger who gave her a free ride. He won't help, though! He's a businessman, and there's nothing in it for him. No deal. MuMu becomes very emotional and decides she's going to die in a beautiful way. She jumps into the water. For those of you who haven't watched many Asian features, particularly Chinese ones, walking or jumping into the water is treated as a tragic threat of imminent death. It's something I found amusing the first few times I saw it, but now I'm so used to it I just take it in stride. It's a representation of a suicide attempt and it should just be taken as such, no matter how inauthentic and downright silly it appears. Even the Netflix show, Marco Polo-8, has such a scene. It's obviously a cultural thread that connects a patch of ideas and images to which we, in the West, are not privvy.

Anyway, near drowning (her acting was perfect, too. He complimented her) wasn't enough to bring them together, or save her life. She had to go on a campaign. She learned his schedule and he got used to seeing her face until he finally breaks down and agrees to help her. He has 1 condition: Marry him. Marrying her will chase away all the annoying women coming after him. He doesn't have time to work on human relationships. He really doesn't have the desire to, either. She is well suited for the position because she needs something from him. MuMu has a dream of being an actress. Perhaps being married to this well connected guy will save her career as much as it saves her life. Tit-for-tat he understands. Ling can make sense of that. FeiFei theorizes that Ling's real motive is to hide the true nature of his relationship with his actor friend, Chu Yan (Ian Yi from Killer and Healer). Ling needs MuMu to keep him “straight,” ahem. Come to think of it, their first date was /shopping/... 🤔

Actually, what Ling cares about most is making his grandmother happy. It's Grandma who wants him to get married. So, they get to work. Contract signing (with only moderate haggling), civil ceremony (more like a registration), the surgery, recovery, and choosing what family property to occupy (such problems)… They keep the marriage 100% packed away until the move-in stage. She wanted it kept under wraps completely (“😤You're supposed to keep it a secret!” ”😶I took that clause out.” 😤😤!)

Soon she becomes curious about whether Ling finds women attractive or not. More exactly, whether he finds /her/ attractive. She tries an experiment👙 or 2… They fall for eachother early, so most of the show is adjustment issues. He was honed by his father to be ruthless. He's done some ruthless things and he's accustomed to having complete control. How will she respond when the truth comes out? More importantly, is that gonna fill 30 episodes? They have a couple surprises. This duo has some 👛👜🎒stuff💼👝🛍🛄 to work out.

Ms Mu is played by Simona Wang (The Legend of Du Xin Wu). She is bright and endearing. Her manner allows her to appear cute though her looks are more classically beautiful. She was born in ‘91 and was 28 years old when WIL was released. She's supposedly just 21 in ep1, but she does appear older than that. The show covers a few years so it catches up with her. Director, Wu Qiang also brought us General's Lady, Miss Crow with Mr. Lizard & The Eternal Love S2) and screenwriters, He Dun and Yang Huai penned Cute Programmer & The Romance of Hua Rong.

They've almost completely course-corrected in recent years, but for a long time it was common for a Chinese modern-day feature to have inane dialogue to the point of… - well, pinch yourself to check that you aren't dreaming, and confirm they actually committed something that feeble to film. That bad habit probably led to the plot twist that got women's rights groups in a twist (they ain't wrong!). It's more a matter of 1. How seriously do you take a show like this and, 2. If a character makes a mistake, even a particularly bad one, but they have sincere remorse coupled with a complete turnaround later, can we forgive h/h?). WIL has above average writing and dialogue.

The acting is above average. Ling's mother had to hold back tears at one point and the actress was breathtakingly effective. I held /my/ breath. The wardrobe is above average (except for Chu Yan's suit of blue squares which brings on morning sickness). Speaking of wardrobe, Ling looks fabulous in a suit, and I'm not crazy about suits. The script and the plot are well above average. It could be argued that Chinese modern-day dramas are best watched while in rem sleep. They're melodious and often soothing though overflowing with poor plots, wooden acting, and awkward dialogue. The value and/or rating of a feature is in both its technical excellence and its emotional connection. Chinese historical and fantasy features are among the best in the world, but their modern-day stuff has been technically appalling while being emotionally palliative. Guess what? Emotions win 90/90 -> They win 90% of the time for 90% of the people. And Chinese modern-day features are Prozac.

WIL has the 🇨🇳usuals: Flashbacks. Amnesia. Poison. There's a plot twist with one character that's just laughable (Ling's mom). Some of the sequences and side stories are nonsense. Romance fans should still like it quite a bit, though. The building where he works looks like poured liquid with wavy sides. It's an architectural jewel. The filming location is Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, which is on Taihu Lake, 100-150 miles from Shanghai. Another building is a horizontally lit sphere. Swanky. She's always wearing star jewelry and I love it. Each episode ends with a cute vignette looking back on a scene from a different take.


QUOTES📢

S1
In this world there are three things you can never hide: a cough, poverty, and love.

I guess poverty has limited my imagination.

〰🖍 IMHO

S1
📣7 📝6.8 🎭7.3 💓7 🦋7.5 🎨6 🎵/🔊6.7 🔚7.5 ♦ 🌞5 ⚡5 😅3 😭3 😱3.4 😯2 😖1 🤔2 💤2.5


Age 12+ kidnapping, Adult situations, sexual content with lots of kissing, pregnancy, violence

Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned. Re-📺? Not impossible


Historical/Period:
Overlord 8.4,
The Sleepless Princess 9.1 (there's a minor fantasy element),
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in the style of ancient Chinese opera),
Ruyi's Royal love in the palace (episodes 1 - 49 are a 9.3. While looking up it's historical accuracy, I learned how heartbreaking the rest of the show is. It's over 80 episodes, so that's a hella-lotta hurt. I am not up for it now, so I stopped at episode 49, which is a perfect ending. I cannot recommend episodes 1 - 49 enough. It's near perfect).


K:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
The Kings's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9


Fantasy - Heavenly realm:
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome siblings 8.7;
Heavenly Sword 9 (Kung-fu!);
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Eternal love 8.3 + its sequel Eternal Love Of dream/Three Lives, Three Worlds, 10 Miles Of Peach Blossoms 7.7 (I watched these in the wrong order, which was a shame. EL is not without flaws, the FL being the biggest issue, but overall it's outstanding. The sequel was not originally planned. EL actually tells the same story as ELOD as a secondary romance, and the show was so popular that they did the sequel and changed quite a bit).
Love and Redemption 10
Historical/Period:
Overlord 8.4,
The Sleepless Princess 9.1 (there's a minor fantasy element),
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in the style of ancient Chinese opera),
Ruyi's Royal love in the palace (episodes 1 - 49 are a 9.3. While looking up it's historical accuracy, I learned how heartbreaking the rest of the show is. It's over 80 episodes, so that's a hella-lotta hurt. I am not up for it now, so I stopped at episode 49, which is a perfect ending. I cannot recommend episodes 1 - 49 enough. It's near perfect).


K:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
The Kings's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9


Fantasy - Heavenly realm:
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome siblings 8.7;
Heavenly Sword 9 (Kung-fu!);
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Eternal love 8.3 + its sequel Eternal Love Of dream/Three Lives, Three Worlds, 10 Miles Of Peach Blossoms 7.7 (I watched these in the wrong order, which was a shame. EL is not without flaws, the FL being the biggest issue, but overall it's outstanding. The sequel was not originally planned. EL actually tells the same story as ELOD as a secondary romance, and the show was so popular that they did the sequel and changed quite a bit).
Love and Redemption 10

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