Are we (in my part of the world) on the 2nd day of December already??? *Sigh* so much to do, and then so many shows to have to JOMO.

I did do something unexpected show-wise though. I tried a totally unmentioned-on-this-blog, and possibly unnoticed cdrama, We Go Fast on Trust. This is a 22-episode series which showcases race cars, racing, romance, family and corporate issues. I liked the thrill of the race and the relationships, and I especially liked the ‘trust’ part in the title.

It stars the actress from Taiwan who was the lead in Someday or One Day, Alice Ke/Ko Jia Yan, as the robotic engineer (and quite convincingly) and a very pleasant Zai Zhi Lu as the racer who’s broken away from his ‘chaebol’ family. I enjoyed the likable leads and the unexpected hilarity.

It’s what I call a simple to watch show, with a solid, coherent story. We roughly know how it will end but the journey is what intrigues. What got me interested was the review by AvenueX who says this show respects the viewer. Now THAT, I like.

I’m continuing as best I can Castaway Diva and My Demon, together with my happy Rewatch Parties.

I’ve one more episode of Sono Onna Jiruba to post about and may start another J film: “My Happy Marriage”

That’s a lot!! 🙂

@FGB, come by whenever you can! Hope all’s well with you and that things get better this December. I’ll in and about our Jitterbug thread to read you.

@GB – to add to your load – have you checked out Tan Jianci in ‘Love Me Love My Voice’ – a jolly rom com with sweet/twee vibes.

I have only watched the first episode.

The ML (TJ) and FL meet when, unexpectedly, he enters her Voice Chat Room while she is chatting to her friend and in raptures over a chicken and tripe/pork hotpot.

You couldn’t make it up but yes they did…How’s that for an eat-cute??

He is a famous voice dubber … he also does overnights in a hospital… not quite sure what he is doing there. I haven’t quite worked out the whole story for the perky FL either.

They both share a love of food anyway.

TJ has a great voice as you know @GB…so you may just want to check it out to enjoy his mellifluous tones. The show is making the most of his voice… it is a seriously sexy voice and there is serious foodie flirting going on in the first episode.

I have just seen a great recipe for fried aubergine’s in fish sauce… looks yum. Just watch the first episode.

I don’t know if this will grip me but I am curious about this and will try a few more episodes. It may be a pleasant diversion.

Love Me, Love My Voice!!!
My very dear @Kate!!! Thank you sooo much. I was waiting to watch this very show but I’ve been distracted and didn’t check when it would air. I’m quite determined to watch it unless it totally flags and annoys me, but I really wanted to see and hear Tan Jian Ci again.

Would you be game to be on an open thread with me to watch this show together? 🙂

Righty-ho @Kate! I can’t resist eat-cute!! I’m not sure if I’ll be fast or slow in watching. TJC is one of those I’d maybe like to devour *maniacal laughter!*

But I know I’d definitely love to watch food/recipes/cooking (food porn?) and hear his voice.

🍜🍲🍛🍣🍱🥪🥙🌮🥗🥘🍧🍏🍊🍇🍈🍒

@pkml3, if you see this, please open a thread for @Kate and myself for the cdrama: Love Me, Love My Voice (Food porn emojis for good measure, just in case!!!)

🍜🍲🍛🍣🍱🥪🥙🌮🥗🥘🍧🍏🍊🍇🍈🍒

@packmule3, one of my daughters has collected her favourites from Studio Ghibli, but they are often on Netflix as well. Such interesting stories. Howl’s Moving Castle is a favourite. There is so much thought put into each story – not just light viewing, although they work that way as well.

@GB @Kate..I have not yet looked at love me. Love my voice. But it sounds like a show. I would really like so I am most likely interested in watching it with you. As I posted on the what are we watching thread, This was a show I was waiting for but could not remember anything about it like title. Or actors.

@pkml3 @MM, @Fern @Kate
I’m not sure you can get this Show on the usual sites which you pay subscriptions for. It’s on sites like Daily Motion, Dramacool, Kissasian, WE TV… As usual a VPN will probably be needed.

@MM, this may just be the show to entice your family… music, food, romance…

It will be great to watch with you @Fern and @Monmor!

It’s depressing, so much dramas I would like to watch, but as soon as I practice writing, like the current days, I’m out of time. So, I’m even late here about various things: read last Pm3 article on castaway diva, same with GB last text-wall about it.

Hoppefully, Castaway diva and Perfect mariage revenge end this week.

Then, I don’t know. I’m in an urge to end to write this looong drama episode of “Bookstore where you rent my heart”. There are nice difficulties, helping to warm my motor for continuing the even more difficult W2 rewriting.
Only, I should watch a few drama between the two. I hope so. Just I finish that first, I can’t think about anything else, then pick up a drama here, so I can watch with you. Maybe “My demon”, or the popular and nice one.

@WEnchanteur, best wishes with your writing. May your muse keep you inspired and busy.

Although it’s not your usual style, it sounds fabulous. And marketable, too. I hope we can all see it one day.

@GB I’m curious about We Go Fast On Trust too mainly because of the actress from Someday or One Day. But the reviews I read talks about it being kinda slow, especially towards the end (considering it is a drama about speed and racing?).

I’m catching up with Castaway Diva, the only Kdrama I am catch up with while all the others fall far behind. November is a busy busy month with birthday parties and conference to speak at and organize, so I have been sorely missing this space as I watch all the posts go up.

@Kate,
I’m on Romance on the Farm and I think I will choose my cdrama next drama after that…say maybe a week later when I finish. AvenueX reviewed Journey to Love as a generally good drama by a director who doesn’t waste the scenes in his camera work. Looks like a good potential!
I’ve watched LiuYuNing in The Long Ballad and Be Your Own Light. He’s not bad though yes I wouldn’t say he is super handsome but he is the OST king! So many OSTs I love are sung by him.

I’m still “recovering” from completing the Story of Kunning Palace and finding a new favourite actor Zhang Ling He. @GB he’s the ChangHeng in LBFAD…and in My Journey To You that I really really love. Anyone watched it?

I’m going to catch up with Matchmakers next and all of @PM3’s posts that I have missed in Nov. Oh oh and the Unexpected Business S3 that @PM3 mentioned in a post, you got me curious

@Grace and @Kate, I’ve been keeping half an eye on Kunning Palace, however with so many shows to choose from, I’ve become choosier. I listened to AvenueX’s review in her livestream and decided I’d pass. How did you find Zhang Ling He’s acting? I saw him in a few episodes of My Journey to You. Unfortunately both the Show and actors, (even Esther Yu and ZLH) left me feeling meh, so I dropped it. (I’m pretty much feeling that way about My Demon as well even after 3 episodes.)

In contrast to that, I just watched 1-2 episodes of We Go Fast on Trust and was interested in the decisions of the protagonists immediately. I’m into the 6th Episode now and still very much engaged. I’ll find out at the end if the last few episodes become too slow.

I kind of like Liu Yu Ning and all his singing of OSTs. It’s nice to have a more rugged, manly looking ML from time to time, instead of a pretty one.

I’ve started on Love Me, Love My Voice but need more time to really get into it. It’s been sweet so far… already have the meet-cute/eat-cute (LOL) which almost wasn’t!! The episodes are coming out fast and it will be hard not to binge several at one sitting!!! 😝🤩🤨🤓😎 Tan Jian Ci looks and sounds really nice and the protagonists are likable, which is a good start! If there’s anything that’s remotely not so positive to say about it… it’s that so far it’s been too sweet LOL. (I’m hard to please!!!) 😅😂🙃😇

@GB –

Snap! Great minds. That was my first response above – it moved between sweet and twee in the first episode.

For me it is a grower however.

I have seen 3 episodes now.

It can be enjoyed despite leaning towards the sweet as a delicious smorgasbord of taste and auditory encounters between our leads.

Lovely colour palette for this show too.

It very much takes us into the young FL’s world as she begins to get to know the ML. All her uncertainty and introspection and the wonder of blossoming romance out of nowhere – apparently…

@Kate, so you felt it too! Yes, there was sweetness overload, but not the irritating, cloying kind. Just that everyone is nice and there’s no real conflict yet, but we have some 28-30 episodes to layer on conflict, so I’ll enjoy the sweet and the quite quickly blossoming romance now!!!

I like that somehow Show manages to hit 4 of our 5 senses practically! I can almost smell and taste the food as well as see it and hear how it’s prepared LOL. Like FL Gu Sheng, I want to eat the food that’s being described!

Good point. It is very pretty and could well be a lure for the Tourist. See you on the LMLMV thread!

@Grace, LMLMV is the currently airing cdrama Love Me, Love My Voice starring Tan Jian Ci (the 9-headed demon in Lost You Forever) and Zhou Ye. It’s got recipes, nice voices, music/songs (a few episodes in) and of course it’s a romance. The interesting thing is that the couple don’t even know whether they’ve met before but there seems to be a great romance online and by voice.

At the moment I’m quite taken with We Go Fast On Trust as well. This one has great conflict and stress, (then catharsis) in all the car races.

Too many good shows!

@table122000

Thank you for the recommendations. Both sound good. The man from nowhere is when I have come across and thought About watching

🥘🍜🍛🍤🥢🥡🍶🐟🍗🧅🧄🥮🧃🥟
If I don’t find a compilation of recipes from Love Me Love My Voice eventually, I will be very cross. I’m hoping it will show up on YouTube or somewhere in the format of a little cook book. (Yes, I missed the eggplant emoji.)

MULAN

@Monmor, In Mulan she takes her Dad’s role.

But that is also a great show! I love the original Disney version.

@packmule3, please could you put up another thread for Love Me, Love My Voice? Perhaps 7 – 15. Viki is really making up for lost time right now.

With thanks and virtual cookies: 🍨🥧🍪🍫🍪🥮🍪🍫🍪🥧🍨

Oh, thank you so much, @packmule3. I’ll check again. We’re having a good old chat on the thread. There are similarities with Hidden Love in that it’s a slow burn between an older man/younger university student relationship and both are inexperienced. But the thread throughout is music and the spoken word – I really am enjoying the lyrics and melodies so much.

Hi, Monmor. Yes, Ailee is from New Jersey. I’m not sure when she moved to Korea. She was posting on YouTube when she was in High School and got recruited.

I don’t know if this will post, but here is a cute BTS from the wrap of My Happy Marriage. The ML has such a nice voice.

@fern I thought I had seen her accompanying
A nineteen nineties singer On a spotify track. She would only have been 8 years old or something at that point in time. So I guess I did not have that right.

Hi everyone,

I have to give a further big thumbs up to ‘A Journey to Love’… a very entertaining wuxia romance.

I strongly recommend giving it 5 episodes to get the measure of characters ( a very good ensemble cast), beautifully choreographed martial arts sequences, compelling sharply directed plot and some wonderful comedy. The FL and ML butt heads and get to know one another through adventure and intrigue, misunderstanding, and the push pull of attraction coupled with uncertainty.

The FL and ML – are quite the power couple – complement one another perfectly in the action … she is a beautiful assassin and he is a member of the secret service. He is astute – doesn’t miss a trick – a powerful fighter and a kind soul with a winsome sense of humour. His junior colleagues love him. She is a loner. They bicker and get to know one another through their adventures.

Some wonderful role reversal between them – won’t spoil that bit of the plot…put it this way, she doesn’t hesitate to go for what she wants!

I’m on Episode 6 now and hope it keeps up the quality, pace, light and shade, great direction, humour and the entertainment value.

https://www.iq.com/album/a-journey-to-love-2023-14fwm2tmcwd?lang=en_us

Speaking of Studio Ghibli, they just released a feature-length animated film in USA theaters; it was released in Japan in July. It’s The Boy and the Heron. I found this review helpful.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-boy-and-the-heron-movie-review-2023

Test.

@monmor, I’ve read that The Boy and the Heron is doing very well in box office numbers the first weekend of its USA release. I’m going to see it Monday with my daughters’ high school Japanese teacher, who’s became a personal friend in the years since my girls graduated. Reviews I’ve read of the film have been positive. This article presents an overview of Miyazaki’s works from an interesting perspective.
https://www.vulture.com/article/miyazaki-weird-little-guys.html

Kalo mesimeri Everyone!

I am kinda late to this party but let me write what I am watching!

1. Moon of the Day that finishes this week.
2. The Story of Park’s Contract Marriage that I really enjoy!
3. My Demon who is making us like it every week.

I have finished Sweet Home S2.

I want to watch:

– Death’s Game for Seo In Guk! It begin’s this Friday and with him he has an ensemble cast of known actors and actresses!🥰🥰

– Gyeongseong Creature with Park Seo Joon and Han So Hee.
Part 1 is coming December 22.

And I have some on my bucket list like:

– My Dearest
– The Matchmakers
– Perfect Marriage Revenge

We shall see ! Let us enjoy these beautiful days! I do hope you are all okay!

Hi @Cleo and Everyone,
Just adding here that I’m tempted to watch “Welcome to Samdalri (2023)” because of Kim Mi Kyung and Ji Chang Wook (Healer!!). Show reunites these two characters. I don’t know if I will really start on it or not, but it’s at the back of my mind.

There were other shows that I was considering… I think a cdrama and a jdorama “My Happy Marriage”?? If I can’t recall their titles it’s probably a sign I should JOMO! 😅🤪😝

Thank @Fern, I’ll see how my time comes and goes. 🙂

Hi Doensaeng @Cleo, I only watched two-thirds of the first Ep of SamDalri. It’s got the usual cheerful small town vibes. The set up is clear and quick. We know what’s about to happen from the middle of the first episode.

I, too, am not sure how much I’ll watch. It’s just good to see Kim Mi Kyung and Healer on the screen together again, after all these years.

@BethB, I love the new term–WOFFing–even if I haven’t mastered the technique. As yet I either watch a show or don’t. I suppose if I learn to WOFF, I’ll not have completely wasted my time if I make it halfway through a show and feel meh about it.

Thanks for the reminder @Cleo. I never keep up with what is airing when.

Now my weekends will be super full if I take on Death’s Game. It sounds quite scrumptious especially with not only Seo In Guk, but also the 2 Jae Wooks (Kim and Lee), Oh Jung Se, … and Park So Dam looks so unlike herself as Death?!?

From my vantage point on Shallow Island, I watched the first three episodes of Single’s Inferno Season 3 on Netflix. It may be in the reality show genre, but past seasons of this series have had drama, and I don’t doubt that parts are scripted to some degree. Half the fun for me is watching the reactions of the panel of commentators.

@BethB, after two seasons, Single’s Inferno had become predictable for contestants, panelists, and viewers, so Show needed to shake up the format. But the rush to Paradise fell flat for me. The time couples spent there together lacked intensity. Nervousness was evident, but the contestants weren’t yet emotionally invested.

Show certainly casts physical types, doesn’t it? Where’s the female contestant who arrives on the island appropriately dressed in cargo pants and hiking boots? I’m getting tired already of watching the women running their fingers through their hair. And the men shown slo-mo walking with their guts sucked in and torsos flexed…they know the cameras are running.

Up to this point the contestant who annoys me the most, so is most fun to watch, is Lee Gwan Hee. I wonder why he was dismissive of his basketball career when revealing his job to his second partner in Paradise. Has he come to realize he’s not as famous as he thought? Those in the world who don’t follow Korean professional basketball don’t know him as a star: hanging his success on SI on his sporting world fame won’t work if he’s just another stranger to the other contestants. And someone like him in real life would raise lots of red flags. He is controlling, even in everyday things like what his partner tastes at a meal. I understand that in Korean culture, putting a tasty, nutritious morsel on someone’s rice is a demonstration of respect and care, but he takes it to an extreme, overriding his partner’s freedom of choice. I wonder if a reality check during the show will dissolve him into tears, as predicted by some of the panelists.

Kalimera Everyone!

Finally, Amazon Prime has “Death’s Game” available for us too!
The first 4 episodes are up on the platform, whereas the other next four ones are going to be available at 05-01-2024.

@Packmule3 Can you please open a thread for us? Thank you in advance!

@Fern, it doesn’t work this way. Korean screenwriters always start as assistants, during years. And anyway, I don’t aim to sell that or be a pro. And even if I wanted, I’d probably need more years of experience to do that better. It’s why I produce a visual version of the screenplay: so it can be the final product for people to read. Or like I often say it: watch it with a kind of TV illusion. My goal is to provide the feeling to watch a drama. What a good screenplay should do.

Congratulations @WE! I’ll drop by to read as usual 😉

OK @Cleo. I’ll just make sounds like eek aaarrr oooh LOLOL.

😱😰😳🥵😓🫣😪😵🫠🫥
Hah! @WE, now we really need a dedicated thread for Death’s Game!!!
😱😰😳🥵😓🫣😪😵🫠🫥

@WE

At least I can handle that! 😀

@Pm3, HI, if you go here, I’ve a technical point for you:
You forgot to put this December “what are we watching” in the category.

To those who can squeeze another show into their watching schedule: I’m ten minutes into the first episode of Death’s Game on Prime Video, and Seo In Guk delivers stronger and more varied emotions in those ten minutes than in several of his previous shows combined. I say this in wonder and appreciation, as a Seo In Guk fan. If his performance in Death’s Game keeps this pace, this show may lift his career higher.

Cdrama “A Journey to Love” with Liu Yu Ning and Liu Shi Shi has sucked me into their world. A very well made drama so far (I’m up to ep 8) where everything works well production wise.

Great:…
production valuses
character moments and conversations
choreographed fight scenes
ensemble and believable OTP
music and camerawork
story
comedy that fits in with how the characters are

It’s so nice to see characters who are more human despite their spirit power and fighting skills, having sensible as well as laughable conversations over normal concerns, and wanting to grow… and even having a growth arc from early on. The individuals in the ensemble are interesting (instead of being mere plot devices) and both the ML and FL contribute towards the quest quite equally.

This is one of those shows where we expect all our drama hours to be paid off more than fully, and we keep our fingers crossed that we end off with a smile.

19 Episodes into A Journey to Love and it’s still going strong, even getting more interesting and the conversations are really good.

Here’s an interesting Cdrama crossover. The ML of A Journey to Love, Liu Yuning, is a singer and composer whose music has won many top awards. He contributed songs to OSTs of many films and TV shows, including “Nostalgia,” theme song for You Are My Hero; “Fireworks and Stars,” theme song for You Are My Glory; “Unparalleled,” theme song for Who Rules the World; “A Dream of Splendor,” opening song of the drama of the same title; “Looking for You,” theme song of Love Between Fairy and Devil; “Light,” theme song for New Life Begins; “Gravity,” ending song for Flight to You; “Guest Becomes Host,” a character theme song in Nothing but You; “My World,” opening song for Till the End of the Moon; “Windbreaker,” theme song for Fireworks of My Heart; “Distant Resemblance,” opening theme song for South Wind Knows; “Offer,” opening theme song for A Journey to Love; “Don’t Dream of Cold,” also in A Journey to Love. There are many, many more, but I have only listed his work in dramas I’ve watched (a few which I dropped, but not because of the OSTs!).

After struggling to find sources and subtitles, I start “A journey to love”.
I see that everything is indicated so that no one is lost.
– The voice-over on the political situation.
– The Subtitle giving the name of Wu’s palace as you enter the scene.
– Then, classic, Subtitle of the two women’s names.

And then comes a scene that gave me a laughing fit!!!
😂😂😂

—————————————–

Episode 01 – 06:14

A man tries to rape Ru-Yi in the garden.

RU YI: Let go of me!
ABUSER: Beauty, you don’t need to serve Prince Han first.
Why don’t you serve me first?

A dart hits his neck. He collapses unconscious.
Dart fired by… Ling Long, with her blowpipe!

RU YI: Ling Long!
LING LONG: You’re a grown-up, yet you keep messing things up.
I wonder who recommended you to be a Crimson Guard.
RU YI: I wasn’t good at being a spy from the start.
If it weren’t for you, I would’ve…
LING LONG: Even so, we have to complete our mission first.
If not, all of us will die.
There are 20 White Sparrows of An’s Crimson Guard
in Capital of Wu alone.
But Prince Han only fancies you.
Make yourself presentable and see Prince Han.
Remember to bewitch him with your charm
and tell him to bring you back to his residence.
The result of the war depends solely on
whether or not you can obtain the war provision map in his father’s study.

—————————————–

Here we accumulate a Plot-contrivance + Info dump on the nose. 😅

Being abused in a busy palace area?
Just then?
While she has spy status?
A mission so important she has to seduce a king?
By some random guy?
(and not an important one, since Ling Long plans to castrate him afterwards)

Only for Ling Long to rescue her and produce the info-dump.
In this case, information they already know and have no reason to say.
This is what we call an info-dump just for the audience.
And this one is really, really, showy and under the nose!!!
The complete rundown. Master class!
It’s close enough to absurdity to have made me laugh immediately! 😂

I can abandon all shame for my own info-dump!!! 😂

So, let’s say, that gives the stakes of her mission. Still good.
But do these lines make sense? Or natural? No.
And is it effective? With the avalanche of information, I don’t think I retain much.

I think I’d have preferred to stay in the mystery and find out otherwise.
Even a flashback would have been nicer.

And if I take the first line of the man, it’s quite confusing:
“you don’t need to serve Prince Han first”
Except we can’t understand what it is about.
By the way, it’s also part of the info-dump but a bit better.
Still: an important secret spy mission and even this guy knows?

Then the dialogue, well… No way to do that in a so naive way.
First, Ling Long could ask “can’t you defend yourself?”.
Or something like that. Then, quite no way to put her lines like this.
Maybe something different, more natural, that can open a flashback.
Or just put that elsewhere.

Now, there is always the advantage: put that info-dump, so it wins time.
But I’m not sure we win such time, when we can’t memorize all that.

Well, I continue to watch ep 1 now. ^^

Hi @Welmaris, yes, I generally find that AvenueX notes things that resonate with me. I read comments elsewhere that praised the show and so checked on what AvenueX said about it.

So far, so good. I’ve gone past the half-way mark and am still very invested in all the ‘good’ characters and in their objectives. The growth in the princess is lovely to watch. The dialogues which feature modern-day concerns with how persons are to be treated with respect, both when alive and after death are refreshing. This theme seems to run through the series as characters notice how they and others are treated by those in power and try to resolve moral conflicts and dilemmas. The characters’ quest for peace is especially striking now, in our climate of possible, greater military conflict.

I like the ideal espoused that women should be given agency, and that mysogyny is abhorrent, while at the same time characters know they use each other or allow themselves to be used, as negotiations have to be made. I watch to see if show will continue to give both male and female characters an equal chance to shine and ‘protect’ each other, instead of the usual arc the devolves to ‘strong woman becomes weak so that the man can shine’.

SPOILER

SPOILER

I was amused to see that the makeover happened to the man.

@Hana, it’s a bit of coincidence, but before to watch The Glory, I was about to watch Reborn Rich. I changed my mind at last moment. But I’ll watch that soon. Director is Jung Dae Yun (W and King2Heart one). Also there is actor Yoon Je Moon, who was the awesome villain in King2Heart.

Else, I ended Soundtrack#2. It was a nice watch. Only thing I disliked is a bit too slow last episode and they put the first 30 minutes into 3/4 format flashback, when it wasn’t a flashback and sabotage the image.

@GB, yeah yeah I know. But next time, be separated and incomplete in 16/9. 😬
Yep, it was all about her: she never want someone carry her burden.
Lot of little things everywhere, details, etc, in the drama.
I like scenes when they create music. The first one when they are waiting all night.
BTW, I don’t even know what they are waiting for?

I also watched 7 first ep of “Because It’s my first life”, but put on hold.
It’s quite good but some choices make that sleepy and slooow.

To All and anyone out here reading… would you prefer to know in advance if an ending is not going to be happy so that you can decide to drop a show, or would you prefer to never be spoiled and watch til the bitter end?

It’s a tough decision for me.

@GB, I don’t like spoilers.
But I take easely any ending, bitter, happy, sad.
By the way, happy ending isn’t my favorite. Just I don’t like to know before.
The only ending I don’t like are the boring and slow ones.

I can’t take a look at this cdrama you mention, I’m in the middle of “Reborn Rich”.

@hana: this drama is very different of The Glory.
Only common point it’s they have no comedy. So, the tone.

Reborn Rich director work is great. About the story, it’s not an easy one to do, it needs a lot of research. It’s like a historical retrospective.

“Journey to Love” checks all the right boxes for me.I am currently enthralled around episode 34. I have caught up with “love me Love my voice” as well.

@GB @Kate and others The couple in this show has a lot more than dishwashers or small talk to talk about!😀

@pkml3 and Everyone who read my comment above asking if we would prefer to know (or not to know) the ending if it’s going to be ‘bad’ or ‘sad’. Would we watch knowing it was not going to be our preferred ending?

I surprised myself by choosing to go ahead to watch and found the show well worth my time. Despite the difficult bits, I may rewatch. Those who do not want to know what I’m talking about should read no further.

SPOILER

SPOILER

SPOILER

I knew the ending and gritted my teeth and watch till the bitter end. It was indeed bitter. However, I would still say this was a good show… regardless of how anyone would have preferred the ending to be. The ensemble, quality, story, production values, fight choreography, etc were good from beginning to end. The music was pleasing, the humour was loads of fun, the trajectory was unfortunate but realistic.

A Journey to Love dared to ‘upset’ their viewers with much do or die (mostly die in the last one-sixth of the series). It also tried to leave the ending mysteriously open but that felt a bit weird and I do think it was not necessary. There will be many tears if we get attached to those characters, but they chose their paths and died for what they valued. I still enjoyed them when they were on screen. Show gave us enough time to grieve over each, one at a time and move on. It was strange though that we ended up with one of the side characters from a smaller tribe to bid farewell to.

My personal rating 8/10.

@kate @GB

SPoiler sort of

I finished journey to love and i’m glad I watched it. I see the very ending scene as simply a fantasy and not an open ending.

Talk about a high impact ending for the male lead.

When I was considering how it might end. I had an even worse scenario in mind so there was some relief in an honorable ending.

🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁
To @Packmule3 and my dear friends on BoD who celebrate at this time of year, I wish you a blessed Christmas. May your days be merry and bright, and may all your dramas delight.

💐🌷🌻🌈🎄🎄🎄☀️🌼🌸🌹💐

Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Good Christmas!

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Blessings to All!!

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@GB I know what you mean about “this is my first life” I quite enjoyed it as well. But I had whip lash in the last two episodes. It was difficult to understand her motivatin the last two episodes. That said, I enjoyed it enough to not regret watching it.

Hi All who have watched A Journey to Love … here’s the final review that I’ve been waiting for. It of course has SPOILERS in it, so be WARNED.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2QY7_aAXvc

I agree with AvenueX.

Such a good show. What a pity. Still enjoyed it like crazy.

That’s how I feel also. Tried to watch Gyeongseong Creature but the level of brutality almost made me feel sick to my stomach. They showed Japanese physicians cutting up a live, screaming person as part of an experiment/anatomy lesson in the first or second episode. I couldn’t watch past that.

Crash Course in Romance would have been a cute rom com but they had to include a serial killer. Same with Behind Your Touch, which I thought was going to be a small town romance with some detective/butt psychic stuff thrown in.

I’m wondering if it’s the influence of Netflix, trying to push kdramas more towards a regular American audience, which is accustomed to and probably numb to the violence?

@GB. Thank you for posting this link. It was interesting to hear her Thoughtfully articulate what I had Only noticed in passing, Particularly her discussion of the Longqing character. And how the narrative was not well developed in the last six or so episodes. I thought I had missed some plot points but I think it was rushed And not clear. Overall though I love the show.

Level of violence: This has been a part of Korean TV dramas since their beginnings. I think it is cultural. The casual violence towards others shocked me when I first started watching Korean dramas. Constant hitting, kicking, slapping, throwing water/drinks on people, not to mention verbal abuse. And no one says anything; they just accept it. Often depicted between parent/child, boss/employee, as well as man/woman, older kid/younger kid, so I think it is ingrained as part of their “senority” culture, power imbalance between both class and age. Korean cinema has long been an ultraviolent place. Many, many films are extremely violent. It showing up on Netflix television shows has less to to do with catering to an American audience and more to do with the Korean Producers being given more creative freedom to do as they wish for their programs as they don’t have the restrictions of Korean Network television. Just like American Producers don’t have the restrictions of American network TV at Netflix either. That’s a big reason why all of Asia want to work with Netflix. They are hands-off and give total creative control to the Producers. When Netflix started the Original programs in Japan, they were worried about creative control. Netflix told them they don’t interfere. Result: Producers of Netflix first original Japan show praised them and said how great it was to have the creative freedom. Same thing has happened with some of the Korean productions. The notable was Squid Game. Writer said he couldn’t get Squid Game made in South Korea according to his vision. SK television wasn’t interested for 10 years he tried. He was able to find a production team who brought the project to Netflix. They gave him creative control, which paid off both for him and for Netflix.

I have started “legally romance” I think this is my third watch. It is not so fresh in my mind though that I am bored. So it seems to be the right length of time since I watched it last. Fast forwarding through some of the familiar scenes to do with the other characters. I am enjoying reading the b o d threads.

@GB, you made me happy I didn’t started (or even tried to find the vod).

I think I’ll give up on “Journey” because I didn’t watched another ep.
Looks like wuxia is not my thing. But maybe also I’ve more difficulty to watch Cdramas, because I dropped “glory of special forces”, when I found that more easy to catch than “Journey”.

For now, I liked “Reset”, “The king avatar”, and could take a look at “Nirvana on fire”, because it’s a historical drama without fantasy.

Currently, I’m watching “Chicago Typewriter”.
There was nice moments of comedy, based on situation/acting and nothing forced, what I like. On episode 7, we get the idea there is a ghost.
I’m disapointed about that point, not because the drama did bad.
Just my own expectations, the mystery was so strange, that I was thinking about something really more strange than classic fantasy about ghosts. Well, more in “MOTA” style, twilight zone feeling, etc. (I just repeat in loop what I always say goshhh)

I did some W2 writing also. Final rewriting (without editing) of Ep37, 38. These one were difficult. I changed tons of time some scenes.
Currently I’m at the middle of ep39, not so bad. But will meet soon a complicated scene to rewrite, with content spread on a further episode, so I need to choose what I put now or later. Crazy puzzle.

@GB, editing is the most easy and the most quick. It’s mostly “trim the fat” and check there isn’t a wrong cinematic order. Maybe change a sentence here or there, or see a dialogue has a problem. Remove too much parenthesis (where you accumulate details about micro-action or feeling).

But the creative part is already over. What take really a lot of time is the rewriting, rethink entirely the scene, and the most difficult: characters reactions. Some scenes could be redone ten times with different ways for characters to speak or act. +it’s a mess, I’ve the old script and the ideas file and have to combine both, and think about new links with other scenes and episodes.

But I suppose I’m happy because writing a kdrama is EPIC !!! 😅
Different stages to feel the WOW!!!
– Ideas phase. Wow!! these ideas are awesome! 😎
– Structure phase. Wow!! so good link, order and new ideas! 😲
– Writing. Wow! Wow! Even better when written with awesome new ideas! 🥳🥳
– Rewriting. WOW WOW WOW!! I can’t believe I come up with so much even better ideas and scene order, and I could remove so much garbage and keep the best of the best. I can’t repress anymore the urge to kiss myself. 😘😂😂😂
– Sometimes some annoying messages that “hey, maybe some problem here”, but I’ve a tip: don’t worry, let’s be pragmatic, see that another day. The solution will jump by itself. 🤠

Of course I watched Kairos… 😄
Needless to say I liked a lot.
I maybe posted some comments here, pm3 did a thread, but I was late and watched after.

@packmule3 I saw that the main link to the blog has been hacked. I tried accessing on my tablet and iPhone and got the same NSFW text narrative (thankfully no visuals). Can still safely access the blog through comments.

I came here to comment that after sitting out most of December, I started watching Cupid is My Man. It is basically all the 2023 dramas in one: love between human and a fairy, reincarnation, past lives, karmic destinies, a character who has been turned into a dog, and a serial killer. So far the tone is light despite the killer mystery so I am going to continue to watch. Anyone else watching? It is on Prime.

@WE thank you! I accessed through the bookmark I always use , cross-checked it through google, two different devices and with vpn and without vpn and I cleared my browser to make sure it wasn’t on my end. Came up every time only on the title page or when clicking the header BOD and on both devices one of which is new (so definitely no malware). It was only the main link. All that is to say but it did not seem to be on my end but decidedly could have been. BUT it does seem to have cleared! So good news. And sorry about a fire-drill @packmule3!

@Welmaris – it is so sad. Not Others was my favorite drama of 2023 and I can’t help think about his wife Jeon Hye-jin (who was brilliant in her role as the mother) and their children. Heartbreaking loss.

@GB Unnie, @Welmaris and @GoodTwin,

Kalimera. I heard it first thing in the morning when he passed away and I am heartbroken. I cannot watch or comment anything these days.

Penalties reaching about $7.8 million USD were being levied against Lee Sun Kyun because he was dropped from projects, completed work isn’t being released, and commercial endorsements were pulled (not just his, but his wife’s also). It seems unfair to me that such a heavy financial burden fell on him and his family when he hadn’t even been charged, much less convicted, of any crime. I understand his contracts included morality clauses, but couldn’t time have been given him to let the dust settle? Did he have to pay such an enormous price for allegedly making mistakes–in some countries considered minor–and trying to fight his blackmailers?

I tried to watch Death’s Game since it’s gotten such good reviews but it also made me squeamish (I was braced for some violence/gore given the subject matter). I watched up until a mobster(?) is being tortured and the goons aim a corkscrew at his eye to gouge it out. I cannot watch stuff like that. (Maybe it’s because I’ve had lots of surgeries in the past and my body remembers being cut into on some subconscious level?). It is the second kdrama I’ve dropped this week (after Gyeongsong Creature).

I looked at the Cupid show on Amazon and the first episode was so dumb that I felt embarrassed for the actors, particularly the guy from Parasite.

So as of today I’m watching no dramas! (I went back to AGDTBAD, given my now-empty schedule, but it’s once a week and I think skipping a week like the other dramas). I might watch Park’s Marriage Contract after it’s done, skipping through the inanity, but I no longer look forward to it. I have been FF-ing through Singles Inferno, but don’t count that as drama watching.

So–this will be the first time since January 2020, when I started watching kdramas just before Covid, that I don’t have a drama on-queue!

BTW I looked at the previews for the upcoming January dramas and so many of them seemed either derivative (the new Park Min-Young drama’s plot sounds exactly like Perfect Marriage Revenge) or throw in too many plot points when maybe just a simple romance would do.

I might go back and look at some “classics” if I really start to yearn for something else to watch… If anyone has anything to recommend, let me know. I trust your judgement far more than viewers who simply swoon over things like Hometown Cha Cha, KTL or My Demon for the “oppas.”

FYI I still haven’t seen Mr. Sunshine or Pachinko (which I’ve started three times, but never gotten past the first half of the first episode–mainly because I was waiting for season two to come out and there’s been no word on it). So I may get to them in January finally.

PS Is See You in my First Life any good? I keep seeing viewers rave about it, but tastes vary so widely, it’s really hard to determine if it’s worth watching.

Mr Sunshine is one of my top kdramas. The production value blew me away.