tsutsuloo

You might enjoy this BTS video of actress Li Yuan (including her head getting shaved): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FboKU4sjSg

Thanks for explaining the concept of Love Teams! I'd noticed some repeated pairings but didn’t know they were an essential career-building strategy. BRIDE FOR RENT (2014) was my first foray into Filipino movies. It’s hella cheesy but I appreciated it as a palette cleanser from the polished Korean/Chinese/Taiwanese dramas I often watch. I also enjoyed the linguistic agility of Filipinos as they shift between Tagalog and English.

If you’re in the mood for romance and a bit of heart-ache, I can recommend two Filipino movies that explore love stories about the right people falling in love at the wrong time.

I’m not usually into adultery stories but THE MISTRESS (2012) on Netflix ended up being low-key sweet. A young architect discovers that his beautiful new client is his father's longtime mistress. He’s determined to undermine her but ends up admiring her. The two fall deeply in love despite the complications of their relationships to the old man. Leads John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo are a classic love team who have tons of chemistry and many films/dramas between them. (See another movie recommendation starring this team right below this post)

It’s not easy to find Eng. subs online but I highly recommend 2018’s SID & AYA: NOT A LOVE STORY. Despite the title, it IS a love story between an insomniac stockbroker who hires an over-employed beautiful woman to be his conversation companion during his sleepless nights. The film is filled with yearning, is sensitively acted, beautifully shot and has excellent music. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH1Iu6-nV0A

I enjoyed ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE while it was still on Netflix. (It's gone now.) It's a decent execution of the friends-to-lovers-who-were-dumped-on-the-same-day trope. The leads really sizzle! I recently saw EVERYTHING ABOUT HER and liked the dynamic between the two women. But the romance felt like an afterthought, which was a shame considering how HAWT the ML is.

Viki appended the "side story" as Ep. 11 to the original 2016 10-episode series.

[high five]!

Soundtrack available in Spotify: Shadow by Lao Zai (2018) | 19 songs, 25 min.

Regrettably, the filmmakers are accused of plagiarizing some of the music from composer and academic Dong Yingda, who had been commissioned to develop the soundtrack before being told her team's work wouldn't be used in the final film.

No. No. No. No. Oh God, no.

My thoughts at the end of Episode 10 in the spoiler.

U.S. Netflix now has all the episodes up today's (Ep. 9)!!!

Heh—I wish I could tell you which bits to scrub through. But I don't recommend skipping those eps *entirely* because there are important plot points—especially as Hae Ra and In Joon get closer and she and the loan shark try to unpack what really happened to Unnie. The FF button will be your friend.

I share your "slightly pleased" sentiment about the OTP's finale. But is it so hard to choreograph a realistic, emotional hug? Even without kisses, a hug can be passionate. Like, press cheeks or something. This show utterly failed at demonstrating satisfying G-rated affection.

Ha! "Oh well" pretty much covers it. *sigh* At least Soo Hyun and Jennie had their moment at the airport. So Yi Hyun shows what an actress can do with a tepid script. She out-acts everyone just with her eyes.

Did you end up dropping it for good? In Ep. 33-36, Hae Ra actually manages to show some cajones. The last 8 episodes (33-40) were bracing and quite enjoyable. I don't know if it makes up for the tepid middle but you might enjoy the ending.

"The second half plunged off the cliff."

Why oh why do k-dramas go off the rails at the end? In this case, it seems they lost their way in the middle. I'm grateful it pulled itself together for the last 4 hours. The audience deserved better.

Here's how I break down the show—without spoilers:

Ep. 1-16: Intriguing slow burn.
Ep. 17-20: Explosive emotional peak.
Ep. 21-32: Flaccid pacing, head scratching behavior from main protagonists and lots of WTF? This section was possibly written by committee.
Ep. 33-40: Show back in jaw-dropping top form with believable and satisfying denouement.

Thankfully the show ended well but it *should* have been great throughout.

I was entertained for today's Ep. 33-36. I think it helped to skip Kocowa's descriptions and not spoil myself. ;)

"We knew it was going to happen."

Did we? You're more savvy than I was. I agree with your assessment but must admit *I* was incredulous that characters could be so gullible. I even thought Hae Ra was playing In Joon's step-mom.

As they say in rom coms, I'm staying with this show until the end. But I've detached emotionally. At this point, I'm here for the Schadenfreude and Soo Hyun's wardrobe. The "romance," which started so promisingly, became cringe-y and improbable.

But even now, I'm hopeful that the show will be full-on crazy and fun the last 4 hours. (Though Fate and Fury might still be remembered as the first series of 2019 to waste its cast.)

Not at all. I think it's called "Sky Castle". ;D

It's worse with Chinese dramas. "I've already put in 45 hours. What's 15 more?"

Yes! I couldn't believe that there wasn't any interaction between Soo Hyun and Jennie in Ep. 25. That would've been amazing—watching witchy Soo Hyun waver in front of that little dumpling is so much fun. I hope the show gives us some meaty flashbacks for what happened between them during the 2-year time skip.