ShortCircuit

And seriously, you get one genius hacker who just managed to go into your system through a backdoor you didn't even know was there, and what do you do?! You up and decide to directly connect the hacker's laptop to your inner network.

And you work as IT for the NIS. WTH?! I hope they fire the whole IT department over this, LOL.

The plot still doesn't make sense and Soo Yeon's story is moving painfully stiff. Nothing about her makes any sense. But, well. Someone has to be the obvious mole and take the heat. At this point though, I blame both the script and the actress - she, as they say, is acting in another drama than the rest of the cast.

In the first few eps I was annoyed by how buffed NM was. Now I'm getting annoyed with the sidelooks. WHY?! Ask a question, side look. Think about the reply to a question, side (or downward) look. It was cool while he was scanning for enemies, it makes no sense to keep doing it in the interrogation side room.

A bit too much style and not enough substance in this drama so far, IMHO. But I'll keep looking for the action scenes, for maybe-returning Hwang Hee and now for Ahn Ji Ho! They'd better not kill off his character, or else!

Ahn Ji Ho!!!! I loved him in Nobody Knows. (Everyone who didn't watch it, go watch it, it's worth it!)

This episode (4th) lacked action scenes, more than what we got were needed to waltz past the boring drivel.

Thank you! So few episodes left, I hope everything gets told in a logical (and emotional) manner...

The back story was told through flashbacks, the bromance (between brothers LOL) was solved in the first (final, historically) season... what's left worth going back to?

No self-respecting institution and particularly no intelligence agency would place a rogue agent (or one who's been missing for a year in uncertain conditions) back on the roll immediately, or at least not until they're sure he's not compromised, a traitor or at the very least, not mentally damaged. The erasing of memories is just the cherry on top - why would he erase his memories and start all over again after a year of struggling to make sense of what happened?!

This is a guy who has a weapon and can kill with or without it, at the drop of a hat. You don't mess with that and let him loose, just because he's good at kicking ass.

Medically too, he couldn't be cleared if we were talking a logical world.

Add to that the fact he goes after the drug gang basically on his own, with little to no backup (his rookie partner doesn't count), the fact he has access to equipment he shouldn't have (he gets weapons - the same kind as the official issue, trackers, cars, people find info for him on the sly etc), then when he kills some people and gets banged up himself NO ONE bats an eye - yeah, no matter how gung-ho spy agencies are in movies, I bet in the real world it doesn't work like that. And he's still not all there, he could be crazy for all the agency knows. And all that mess WITH NO PAPERWORK! :D That's the least credible thing LOL. He's not a contractor with unlimited budget, he's at least supposed to write some reports every once in a while.

Then there's the whole everybody-for-himself attitude in the NIS - I don't think that's how things actually work, but oh well this (hopefully) is fiction.

Then again, that's why we're calling it suspension of disbelief :D

The refreshing part for me is that both of them know there's someone else involved (even as a split personality) and that they both accept it as NORMAL.

Well, I hope Yu Shi gets some psychiatric help if he needs it for his trauma, but I love Wu Zheng being totally accepting of them both. And I laughed at his meek discussion with Grandpa. I hope he (Grandpa) won't throw a wrench in their plans.

So far, so good. Let's see where this short journey takes us :D

Is there a topic where the donghua current (and final) season can be discussed? Or is it frowned upon because this is the drama's topic?

I'm bursting at the seams to discuss the episodes and there's no one around me who even watches it. T_T

And before this probably gets deleted, does anyone know how many eps this season has? I keep trying to figure out how much more they can fit into who knows how many eps, and it's driving me crazy too, LOL.

Yeah, well, you weren't paying attention to Cheng Yi LOL. (Just kidding, I know the drama definitely has its down moments. And plotlines. And bad actors. Okay I'm gonna end it at this LOL.)

I'll say it again, for myself, I've no idea what is it about Love O2O that people like. She was kind of wooden, he was the epitome of Perfect Prince Charming (and stiffly so, enough that I never got interested in watching another Yang Yang drama again) Maybe it's one of those unexplainable things :D

Would you recommend a drama where Yang Yang shines as an actor? (I don't necessarily mean a popular drama, I've been burned by them before.) I really want to give him another chance, but he seems to be typecast already, always playing the perfect hero and that kind of character is rather meh for me...

So takeaways from episode 3.

The leading lady of NIS definitely warned the gansters to take off. But she's not the mastermind, because she'd have covered her tracks way better. And I have this impression she wasn't a top dog yet at the time of HJH's disappeareance.

Je Yi is the daughter of a NK defector/abductee (how is that HJH's fault?) who tries to wriggle her way into NIS for her own purposes. So far this is the most cliche plot line and kind of ham-fistedly pushed in... I mean, she's of NK descent apparently, and also has top grades in her master in - ta-da! - chemistry. Juuuuust like what's needed to be the greatest drug-maker in SK, apparently, according to the drama, LOL. Not suspicious at all :D Aaaand she wants to be the insider on everything HJH related. And acording to the cast list, it just so happens her dad is actually Baek Mo Sa (it looks like the same person). Oh well. Is that trying to say she is the evil mastermind?

I am now 80% convinced that Kyung Seok is the double agent, which yay! because Hwang Hee might come back. Soo Yeon still has no purpose in the story (which, considering this is about a quarter in already, doesn't make sense at all.)

Also, I am about completely fed up with top gangsters who do drugs themselves. That's not usually what happens, I think. If they start using, they start losing control, so why would HMS had been already an user even before his son died? Not to add that his acting is way over the top, too. I wish SK dramas depicted drug dealers as the cold-blooded, ruthless and SANE people they are. No need for extra insanity to point them out as evil. Their deeds are enough for that.

At this point, I'm only sorry for Lee Choon Gil, and it looked like HJH did care about him a bit. For a drug dealer, HE was kind of honest in his actions. Oh well.

You know when Jack (Keanu Reeves) tells Annie (Sandra Bullock) that he heard relationships forged in stressing conditions never last, in Speed? (She said it to him first). And she tells him they'll have to base their relationship on sex then.

I TOTALLY get that feeling with this drama.

I already gave up trying to find a logical storyline, I'll just have to keep watching it for the top-notch action scenes and the gore :D

Nothing happens to further the story in 2x speed either, but at least time passes faster...

What, nothing about "Love & Redemption"? :D Both the FL and the ML had hidden identities, and it played out really well.

I've watched some of these (not all) and for some reason, I really really didn't like "Love O2O" (it has nothing to do with the later scandal, I'd finished the drama long ago). Yang Yang has no appeal to me as a lead, I found his character there stiff and kind of obnoxious, and the FL's character was kind of lackluster too, for me. But then, esports related dramas don't have much appeal to me anyway...

Chen Zhe Yuan was on fire in "Handsome Siblings", Hu Yi Tian wasn't helped much by his character's story line, IMHO.

Bromance is on another level in WoH - LOL, you can say THAT again. The censors were sleeping throughout the whole censoring process LOL. If that's just bromance, then my mind must be in the gutter (that's a rhetorical observation, no one needs reply to it LOL.)

You're right, for some reason I keep mistaking it with "Secret Garden" LOL, that's the one I meant (and thought "Meteor Garden" was a reprise/variant of.) (Because I didn't like SG either...)

I watched BOF, woe is me. LMH with curly hair is... okay, let's not even bring up the memory. But I do love the OST - well, mostly Ji Sun's "What Should I Do", the part that plays when she jumps in the pool waiting for him to come get her. Wow was the drama tropey LOL.

BOF burned out all my interest in seeing any other variations LOL - and I came to know kdramas from watching anime and jdoramas, yet never could get into Japanese shoujo or harem/reverse-harem manga or anime, Fruits Basket and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge aside. And even those were long ago :D So anything like BOF or around the same genre is not really up my alley, unless I mistakenly start watching and it proves good.

What is SOOD?

Yup, XZ's long legs - I was looking a lot at them and the clever cinematography really did a number on both of the guys, and on quite a number of the support cast, too, LOL. Every time JC is running around being dangerous as a wild huntsman, the crew managed to get a shot from the down upwards showing those long legs hehehe. Almost like they knew there were some pervy persons (I admit NOTHING!) just waiting for those moments LOL. And obviously I have my favourites among FMVs :D

Like them being just big children (un)friendly competing for MZX's attention:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joL6Qqsvopw

Or just JC's cheeky wink and that blinding smile - if I were MZX, I would probably forget Wolfie in an instant LOL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eOciuZ-OI8

But XZ looks pretty good - and a lot more mature than his other roles - as Yan Bing Yun in "Joy of Life", too, manly&dangerous JC aside. No facial hair, but no smiles either - I still hope he'll be in the second season of the drama, but he's now such a big name, it's kind of improbable. Oh well. Here's hoping his star is still in ascension and that his next few projects will really showcase his range, he can do so much more :)

LOL, the George trope is probably based on "The Abominable Snow Bunny" cartoon, though by now it's basically everywhere, and it means I want to monster-hug Darren's character in TSOMD to death by cuteness overload (well, not real death anyway LOL).

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndCallHimGeorge

I knew Fu Meng Bo was Taiwanese, because someone complained in the drama's topic his accent wasn't what they (the commenter) expected it to be, for a purist Mandarin Chinese-speaker, as FMB is (To be honest, I was under the impression that Taiwan only kept the traditional writing, not necessarily the accent, but that might be just my impression). I have no ear for Chinese accents (YET! I'm working on that!!), so I can't tell, but if that was FMB's own voice and not a dub-over, he has a great soothing voice, IMHO :)

I haven't watched Meteor Garden because I tried the kdrama of the same title (are they related?) and couldn't make it past the first episode, even though that one comes with good marks. It might be not my kind of drama, or maybe I need to give it more time... or it might wait for just the right moment, LOL.

TSOMD comes from a GREAT novel in process of being translated (almost done now, I'm peeking at it from time to time, but I'm hanging back until it's finished, because I'm a speed reader and I NEED it to be finished before I dive in, LOL. Can't wait for more Tang Fan+Sui Zhou+Wang Zhi goodness! (Isn't Wang Zhi just the greatest?! I am straddling double ships right now. Can there be a catamaran of a relationship or something for these guys? :D)

"No Boundary" didn't start badly, IMHO, but I was easily captured by TDJ, so who knows, it might've been cuteness overload for me :D But I fully intend to go back to it and I don't care about the ratings - I've seen plenty of bad dramas before, and plenty of so-so ones, I'll take any disappointment if it comes. But it might be a good drama in the end, anyway. Tastes are everything :)

2. The trailer of "The Wolf" has scenes that never made it into the drama - you can bet a lot of it was cut out in the censoring phase. Like in the trailer, he's running with actual (CGI) wolves and his eyes turn red, his skin cracks and he goes through a shape shift from man to wolf. And there's the scene where he's talking to Ji Chong, where JC tells him if they didn't love the same woman, they'd be friends - that isn't in the drama. It was the scene I most waited for. And there's no scene of JC walking into the snowstorm (I wanted that!! :()

Then there's the whole supernatural storyline erased - how he and the other animal-suggesting quasi-monster characters got actually tamed and why, and WHY was there such a great importance placed on the fate of the First Prince (who barely makes it in through flashbacks and as a means to control Fourth Prince's actions.) You could see through the cracks things that might have turned this into one of the greatest fantasy stories in cdrama - but the ban on supernatural things downplayed everything sadly. From a Chinese take on Little Red Riding Hood / Beauty and the Beast we ended up with an almost-cliche at times too-political action drama that was only saved by their insane chemistry.

And I won't give up on Ji Chong, LOL. I liked WDL's character, but manly XZ's JC, with that loose ponytail and that little hint of facial hair and wilderness about him - wow, that was eyecandy walking. Those long legs! (OK, that comes through as lecherous LOL, but hey. He IS that good looking, can't pretend to be enamoured just by the character's inner traits, though they're there). Which reminds me, his backstory of leaving his place as a prince is also kind of skipped over rather fast - so sad!

As for WDL - the BEST scene of the show EVER is that one with almost no music where MZX follows the butterflies to that bridge where Lord Bo is listening to the wind and catches her perfume sachet. I love that scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnEswOGEwXY

I haven't watched many dramas that I knew were Taiwan-made (except for a few BL ones, that were kind of short.) I do need to expand my list LOL :D

I was about to say I only know Darren (Da Lu) Wang, but THEN!

I saw Darren Chen (Chen Guan Hong)~~~~

Do you know that saying, ”cute as a button”? Because under the dictionary definition of the phrase you'll see Darren Chen's picture, LOL. He's so cute you want to kiss him, hug him, take him home and call him George all... the... time!

I've only seen him in "The Sleuth of Ming Dinasty" (and started "No Boundary/Storm of the World", but well, "The Devil Judge"got in the way LOL), but he definitely impressed me! He's cute and charming as a rogue-ish and gluttony judge, cute and shy as a very feminine girl in travesty, LOL, cute and angrrry like a kitten when he's mad, well, cuteness overload, in that series. I definitely needed to see something like that, and it helps the series is pretty good, plot-wise, has a stellar cast (all hail Liu Yao Yuan, playing Wang Zhi, one of my new character crushes :) and also Fu Meng Bo, the titular ML along Darren), and it never lets up until the very end, If you haven't seen it yet, watch it, it will be worth the while :)

But Darren Wang too is very good - I liked "The Wolf" (though I am so sorry for what could have been instead of what made it through the censorship. And well, I definitely rooted for Ji Chong, what can I do? SML was overpowering here.)

I'm sorry to say I don't recognize the rest of the top 10, and that's my lack. I might check out some of the dramas, for a look-see :)

They become and remain best friends forever. BFFs if you want :D

It just takes a lot of time and misunderstandings until then.

But I don't get it yet - the informer set them up against targets that the gang picked, apparently, but one of the targets was the boss' son, so now the boss is looking for revenge?

In that case, why isn't the informer dead, and where was HJH for a year? Or is the informer another gang's tool and he's an insider on removing the current mob boss?

OR. Is the informer actually another undercover agent who turned rogue and is now doing his own thing? (Or being controlled by the NIS mole, if there is one?)

I guess Hwang Hee won't be coming back as a bad guy... I would have loved to see him again.

Well, the second episode improves the storyline a bit.

This looks like a blend of The Bourne Identity (the book's beginning, not the follow-up), Time Between Dog and Wolf and maybe a bit of IRIS thrown in.

At this point, after an explosive intro, they kind of mellowed it down immediately, which doesn't bode well - for me anyway. And even the beginning had its suspension of disbelief moments - like completely insanitary operation rooms that were supposed to be used to harvest organs. So much blood, so much dirt, no way to easily take the organs away to awaiting clients... It felt like a total gore setup for the sake of it.

I definitely cannot feel the cast gelling up - unless they want to make everybody into a suspect and the MC a lone wolf character. I don't know what Soo Yeon's deal is, but she came through as totally fake and lifeless (I've only seen the actress in Two Weeks, and her role there was pretty stereotypical.) We'll see if that's who the character is, or what the actress makes of her.

Just because I really really like Hwang Hee, I want Kyung Seok to be a double agent who betrayed them and faked his death to disappear to his island. (His GF didn't recognize the body, the ring was planted there rather impossible to miss, and he was in an undercover op, would he really have worn it?, and it was definitely an inside job.) I vote for KS to come back and be a villain. Let Hwang Hee break out of goody-two-shoes character types, please!

And in any case, Ji Hyuk's recruiter is definitely a suspect, because they always are.

For such a well-known actors studded cast, I definitely expected a lot more bang.

Also, question: I am not wrong, most of what's happening in the "now" is set in 2016, right? Because that's what was on HJH's medical records after he was retrieved. So we're going to have a time skip somewhere along the line, right?

Finally a big pet peeve of mine... Why did Namgoong Min have to bulk up so badly? He even does the gymrat walk (moving his feet in paralel lines, like he's always flexing his muscles.)
Normal people don't do that, is that supposed to be in character, or is it a NM thing?...

Gonna give it a few more eps at least, in hope of HH's return. Let him be a villain who's also smart, pretty please.

First episode impressions... Still on the fence about it.