Viajero

I find it strange that Netflix never picked up Twinkling Watermelon. That was last year's Lovely Runner, only I thought it was even better. In fact, I still consider it one of the top-5 k-dramas I've ever watched.

I find this criticism to be more than a bit hypocritical given that one of the main reasons for the global success of k-dramas is that they have been purposefully making them more palatable for western viewers for many years now. I can easily name off the top of my head at least a dozen relatively recent k-dramas produced by local cable or over the air networks that are clear imitations of western shows or movies. Sometimes they are straight up remakes and in other cases they are more indirectly inspired, but either way, the only thing that really differentiates these dramas from the western originals is that they change some details to reflect the Korean cultural context. The main difference I see between the Netflix (and Disney+) originals and the locally produced shows is that the streamers tend to make more shows in genres other than straight up romance, and when they do include romantic story-lines, these tend to me a lot less cheesy and full of tropes than all but the best of the locally produced series.

Season 1 was fairly good, but Season 2 was sprawling unwieldy mess. The cast is pretty good, but they could only do so much with the what they were given.

On your last point, I guess I should clarify that while her level of maturity if fine for Xue Fang Fei, she's supposed to be passing herself off as Jiang Li, who by my count was still in her teens when she passed away. There is no way Yu Jin Yan can pass as a teenager.

It's true that Love Like the Galaxy was more character driven - almost more of a coming of age story (at least in Season 1). I usually prefer more action oriented series (I still prefer Reset to any of these historical series), the character development and overall writing in LLTG was so good and the plot moved along fast enough that I never got bored. Part of the attraction may be that I found the protagonist simply a lot more believable. The depth in which they delve into her character, warts and all, made her a lot more interesting.

I'm about halfway through the season and I have to say I'm a bit surprised at the high rating here. When it comes to Chinese historical dramas with strong female protagonists, I thought Seasons of Blossom from earlier this year and Love Like the Galaxy from a couple of years ago (just to name a couple) were significantly better. Not that this series is bad (otherwise I would have dropped it), but it has some problems including: Inconsistent writing, plot elements that seem patently ridiculous even for this type of show, and a FL who seems way too old for her character. Also, why are the male protagonists in all three of these series basically the exact same character? They are pretty much interchangeable.

I'm about halfway through the season and I have to say I'm a bit surprised at the high rating here. When it comes to Chinese historical dramas with strong female protagonists, I thought Seasons of Blossom from earlier this year and Love Like the Galaxy from a couple of years ago (just to name a couple) were significantly better. Not that this series is bad (otherwise I would have dropped it), but it has some problems including: Inconsistent writing, plot elements that seem patently ridiculous even for this type of show, and a FL who seems way too old for her character. Also, why are the male protagonists in all three of these series basically the exact same character? They are pretty much interchangeable.

There is simply no comparison. Sweet Home was fine in Season 1, but went completely off the rails in Season 2 pretty much wrecking all the good thing from the first season. I have no interest in watching the upcoming Season 3. Alice in Borderland was great in Season 1 and even better in Season 2.

Dr. Romantic's seasons 2 and 3 were just as good as Season 1, if not better.

Dr. Romantic's seasons 2 and 3 were just as good as Season 1, if not better.

I loved her character in Mr. Sunshine, which remains one of my all time favorite k-dramas.

I find it kind of funny to hold up East Asian societies as ideal when people in countries like South Korea, Japan, and China have stopped having babies and are headed for demographic implosions. South Korea is one of the most miserable least happy countries I've been in and I'm not surprised it has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries (which I guess does make for great dramas). Because of my job, I have lived in several Asian and Western countries over the years, and while I greatly enjoyed most of my time in Asia, I have no regrets about settling down in the west for the long term. Oh yes, and green energy investments are already paying off big time where I live, translating into lower energy costs compared to when this place was overly dependent on imported hydrocarbons. Those lower energy costs are one of many reasons why there is an industrial park no more than a couple of kilometers from my home that is full of new factories put in by companies who have moved part of their production away from China and South Korea.

I was looking forward to this series, but primarily for the plot and Ahn Eun Jin (who has been excellent in everything I've seen her in). I've never been particularly partial to Yoo Ah In, so I just hope that the cut scenes don't detract too much from the plot.

Strange that they would make a second season for such a disappointing show. I was really looking forward to Season 1 when it came out and couldn't even finish it.

I sure hope that they do a better job than S2 of Stranger. For me that was a real letdown.

This show is approaching halfway through the season in my region and I was thinking of starting it soon, mainly because unlike many, I do like Park Shin Hye. But the IMBd ratings are quite low and reading some of the comments here make me wonder if its worth it.

As someone who lives in Latin America and has spent quite a bit of time in Asia, I would say that you can't categorize entire regions like that. There are many Latin American countries where women have far more legal protections, have a much smaller earnings disparity compared to men, and generally are treated better than they are in South Korea. Just as an example, employers where I live could never get away with the kind of blatant discrimination against female employees (and mothers in particular) as they regularly do in South Korea.

While I do wish they would spend more time on YCA, I don't mind the focus on OEY because she's become my favorite character on the show since she went back in time. She's gives us the kind of snark that I can appreciate.