The thread is open.
The dates:
Episode 16 – 28 February 2026
Episode 17 – 7 March 2026
Episode 18 – 14 March 2026
Break – 21 March 2026
Episode 19 – 28 March 2026
Episode 20 – 4 April 2026
The time:
6.00am PST
9.00am EST/Canada
10.00am Caracas
2.00pm in London
3.00pm in Paris
4.00pm in Athens
10.00pm in Singapore
Enjoy the show.
@GB, re rewatch possibilities post-Cat.
Maybe we should try for writers we like or might like?
I was idly thinking about Tale of Arang — writer Jung Yoon Jung — for no reason. Looked her up, she wrote Spiritfingers and Bride of Habaek, both favorites of mine.
So how about another show of hers — Misaeng: An Unfinished Life? It has an insanely excellent cast and apparently good music.
I havent watched it It doesnt sound like it is rolling in the aisles funny, but its not sad either. A failed Go player finds a new life in an office.
@GB, discovered that Imaginary Cat isnt available on US viki either, so will buse @WE’s link too.
@IB, do you have the link? If not, look for me on My Drama List and send me a message.
https://mydramalist.com/profile/GBgrowingbeautifully
I moved these two threads to the top of the blog so they don’t sink to the bottom while I’m away.
Many thanks for your thoughtfulness and consideration @pkm3!
Hi Everyone, @WE created an Excel sheet 2 years or so ago and put it up on the Google Drive, to tally our votes for shows to rewatch. After that, we forgot that we had that worksheet!!!
In any case, we have resurrected it so that we can do another round of voting, from now onwards for a show to watch AFTER Imaginary Cat. So the next show will be Imaginary Cat but we’ve already got quite a long list of shows from 2024 (or earlier!) and we can either change our vote or vote for the first time.
Feel free to suggest more shows if you wish. All suggestions and votes will take place on these last few R:WotS threads (ie Episodes 16-20.
Give 2 points for the shows you really would like to rewatch.
Give 1 point for shows that you don’t mind rewatching.
Give 0 points for those you do not want to watch/rewatch.
This is the static image of what’s in the Google Drive so that you can see that some of us have already voted previously but we can change our votes now if we wish. I see that the shows we have completed our rewatching of, we also voted for previously. 🙂
Here’s the link to view: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WOCpYB4FWdo8bnTBOGWNEhEaSRsD1AjC/view?usp=sharing
OK Folks, we start around NOW!!!
HI @GB, starting.
Once again we have another “meet-in-the-hallway/corridor” conversation. These quick convos just highlight 1 thing each time. In this case NGM is not worried at all.
Hi @GB! starting on current mark.
Hi @FF, please remember to check out the screenshot and vote for the show after Imaginary Cat.
Hi FF, GB.
With GUy-Man arrested, it’s start as a cool episode.
Hi @IB!
@GB, the link that you provided is a screen shot. Where do I go to input my vote?
@GB,
“quick convos”
yes, the hallways of power…WE said this wasnt an expensive production, so they seem also to provide a nice visual (each one is carefully framed) too.
Hi @WE, looks like Daddy Nam is not pleased with sonny boy at all. Still he wants him out of there.
JW and Park will have another twist of an interesting trajectory.
HI @FF!
Hi FF.
Everyone turned again Guy Man, except his father and prosecutor Hong (lawyer now).
@FF, just tell us your vote here in this thread or other R:WotS threads from Ep 16-20. You may add more show suggestions or change your vote along the way.
Hi @IB, @WE.
I wanted to say , Hi IF.
@GB, isn’t there a number of votes ?
Like 3 votes of 2 pts, and 3 votes for 1 pt ?
Such a sense of unease has been built-up that with every character who has changed position I am on tenterhooks, will the new prosecutor be turned again?
Hah! NGM is no longer getting the royal treatment in prison.
Park finds out that something is wrong with JW’s memory.
Hi @WE!
NGM can walk around freely when he is in prison? Haha the medical doctor seriously is not aware of NGM…. lol
Dong Ho is suspicious of JinWoo’s memory function.
@WE, I’m not limiting it. I was thinking that if we get a tie between top ranked shows, then we can re-vote or draw lots. Lower ranked shows will probably get shifted around as new shows emerge.
The camera looks like a telescope.. .
Our Judge Kang is our only hope.
Finally NGM has met a brick wall in his friend Judge Kang.
Oh, good. Bae Chul (chaebol in prison) provides the link. the victims are drugged. I had forgotten.
On love for secondary characters I am fond of the rat pimp/entertainment CEO Jae Chan. He is very fluid — believable.
This is really the episode for Seo Beom and DongHo’s skills to come to the fore though.
@GB, yes. No limitation is probably better (and not unfair either) to choose with sincerity. Last time we limited, and I didn’t choose Signal, when I was of course Ok for Signal too.
Usual method of Dad Nam – Feed the other judges and get his son out of jail.
Re Judge Kang — after all the corruption, I want him to be incorruptible but fear he is an allegory, an unrealistic character with No family, lovers or career that cannot be threatened by IlHo? An allegory for Young Justice.
Elder Nam talking to retired judges is a wrong move, can retired judges still be influential?
@E, the thing is that we’re keeping the votes from last time so it’s hard to limit votes now. Just vote as we feel like and see how it turns out. Worse comes to worse, we’ll just close our eyes and pick a show if there are too many with the same number of votes.
@FF were they retired judges? They seem to have clout and are still active.
We don’t know yet is prosecutor TAK betrays or if it’s a plan?
Oh I am so wrong, retired judges still have power to influent outcome. NGM is released from prison to Soo Beom’s disappointment.
@WE, I don’t remember Pros Tak becoming good again, however I recall that Judge Kang remained fair all the way through.
More intimidation of women who were victims before and who can testify against NGM.
@GB, it seems like one judge is retired, the other two are still in service. NGM comes bragging about his release to JW.
This SoB forces the prison doctor to bow now.
But he doesn’t know yet that Seo Bum betrayed him?
Another forced 90degree bow by gyu Man, this time in the prison corridor, to a doctor.
I think this is the sign of Gyu Man’s unravelling. In private he abused Seo Beom but the bow went too far.
And the same with the detective Gwak. Everyone, even the lowest has their pride.
GyuMan cannot stop pushing other people’s buttons and he wont let go until he has obtained the humiliation which satisfies him.
His perversion is becoming less violent since he became president but more public and, it seems, less controllable.
A brilliant characterization.
@FF I find that JW has such sweet dimples when he smiles. He even smiles so sweetly at NGM LOL. I prefer him here than in Imaginary Cat.
@WE, fortunately for Seo Beom, NGM never thought his closest friend and ‘dog’ would betray him.
Now Dad Nam seems to be rewarding Joo Il… but …
A cordial dialog with promises of death.
The art of kdramas. 🙂
Blackmail on the young wanabe actress.
Will she sell her soul to the devil?
@IB Now we have the encounter between pseudo father-son Suk Joo Il and Park. I think that nice bottle of whiskey or brandy was to pay Joo Il to kill Park DH.
I just looked up Boss seok’s actor resume –Lee Won Jung — huge career, supporting actor in just about every great show you can think of. This scene (.26 mins) is great. (wait for the end of this ep!!)
The lady prosecutor is interesting. At first she did what Nam wanted but now she’s going her own way to be a proper Prosecutor.
“a cordial (oh the pun!) dialogue with promises of death” lovely turn of phrase @WE
@IB, that’s what I’ve often been struck by in kdramas… so much politeness and cordiality amidst threats and blackmail. LOL.
That was a cool reveal in the office of hiding Ha Young — I caught the stutter though when an ‘unknown’ leaps into a cab to follow the Song Ha Young out of her apt bldg. Still it was scary, for a moment you think is it Jae Chan, the pimp creep.
Is that Chopin that NGM is listening to?
@IB Hah! NGM with music and meditation for the anger management? LOL.
Another convo with Tak. He’ll become Chief Pros and is supposed to help the Nams.
Soo Beom is so cute acting so sincerely to comfort NGM when he is doubtful of Pros Tak’s abilities,
@FF, I don’t know my classical music, but it could be Chopin.
JW gets Kim Chan to release Song Ha and he gets the evidence he needs: videos of those times NGM partied with girls and drugged them.
“Volume up” !! More yoga will not save GM! Still it is great.
Seo Beom, notice, has to crouch down when GyuMan waves him closer.
Kim Chan, oh.
And yet another corridor meeting and convo. I really like NGM’ suit, vest, shirt and tie colour combination. Is that colour, teal?
@FF, I can’t say if it’s Chopin, not enough time to recognize the style, and if it’s Chopin, it’s a piece I don’t know. I listened a lot but of course not everything.
A and in control therefore.re the open threats JW is now making to GyuMan face-to-face and now on the phone deliberate? I mean is JW deliberately inducing GM’s destabilization.
Yes I think so, JW is now one step ahead
@GB, I also don’t know music but I think I recognise this piece Nocturnal or something.
Is Ha Young backing out?
@IB, I find the Kim Chan actor spooky. He has the under nourish drug junkie look.
Oh I missed the suit, will go back and look. What do you think of DongHo’s checked shirt with a dark tie. I think it about a move to more sincerity, less gtheatricality.
Eventually, the wanabe actress is saved because of a bad decision of NGM to get rid of the manager when he was helping. An error.
@FF, that ‘pimp’ and drug supplier actor really looks the part.
Ha Young comes to court.
@IB I feel DH’s choice of jackets always rather loud and sort of contradicts his serious lawyer side.
Now I’m noticing Seo Beom in a maroon jacket in court. A hopeful colour?
Always it’s the JW team who does most of the investigating and the prosecutor just takes the info and the credit.
@GB, I thought it is weird too, JW taking revenge, but he is not the person in court to fight the case instead it is through another prosecutor.
As well as being solid evidence and cleverly used by the prosecution,
(I Find that) the footage of Kim Chan and GyuMan hauling Ha Young’s unconscious body out of the car to be a more chilling portrayal of his sexual predation
than even the more colorful sequences of the murder in the woods and rape in the back rooms of the villa of Oh Jung Ae.
It is squalid and terrifying.
Not the murderous excess of the monster inside but the overt rich man’s continual deliberate destruction of others’ souls.
@FF, in this trial, NGM has to be found guilty by the prosecution, so it makes sense. JW as a lawyer only defends plaintiffs, he cannot prosecute.
Ha Young must have mustered up so much courage to appear in court as a victim. So many people will know about her being rape and she has to see the perpetrator’s face again.
What’s the old gangster doing stroking a knife?
@FF @IB we get one of the very few ‘warm affectionate’ scenes of JW and In Ah in this episode.
Then we jump to the ‘affectionate’ scene of pseudo father-son Joo Il and Park DH… one of their last scenes? Joo Il has a job to do with a dagger … but can he do it?
‘Seo Beom and DongHo’s skills’
sorry, I meant the actors Park Sung Woong and Lee Si Eon — beautiful work.
The knife is meant for the old gangster?
@WE, so Nam tries to get rid of one of his loyal dogs before it turns around to bite him. It’s a mistake because now Park will be out for blood.
@FF, Joo Il brought the knife to stab Park DH but could not do it… so he got ‘punished’ for not obeying.
Now Park gets arrested for Joo Il’s stabbing. All planned by Dad Nam. I wonder why he is getting rid of all the ‘dogs’… why does he think he does not need them anymore.
So now it is Dong Ho’s turn to be framed?
Yes — The few scenes of love and affection. And right at the brink of not…
That was sad, too…because doesnt he go right after that to tape a message for her to receive in the future after he has lost his memory?
So he watches her sleeping like the classic lovers do, but he is thinking of how they will never be lovers(?)
In My Dearest, (the actress) Eun-Jin finally became the lover of NamKoong Min after he had utterly lost his wits. It can be done. Or at least in the future of when this was made, could be.
@FF, yes DH gets framed. Punishment for turning on the Nams.
I absolutely loved this episode.
@IB We’ve come to the end…
Please remember to tell us your votes for the show after Imaginary Cat here on one of these R:WotS threads (Ep 16-20). That gives us 5-6 weeks to vote and add on more recommendations if you like.
OOoh SHIT. I wasn’t expecting that. Because Hyungnim didn’t stab Dong-Ho, the bad guy (I could recognize the spy previously hired) stabbed Hyungnim.
@IB I liked the next episode. One more ‘sweet dating’ scene before there are no more, I believe.
All quite sad. In this war of the son… can it be said that there was no real winner?
@IF, oh yes, it’s a good episode. I’m lucky today because I’m watching best episode of this drama and Ep6 of the zombie-comedy with Jisoo, that is the best episode until now.
@WE, what is it about this script that you like?
INJUSTICE !!!!!!!!! DOng-Ho unfairely arrested for the murder of Huyngnim. CLIFFHANGER !
@GB — I was thinking of the structure. 16 eps is 2/3 of 24eps.
The dam of misery finally breaks but we have been so traumatized and conditioned to fear and mistrust that we cant quite believe it.
PTSD. Did you notice that Seo Beom is showing classic symptoms of PTSD (crouching away, defensive moves ), although it is meant to show that he is afraid of GyuMan because he (SB) has betrayed him (GM).
I am dozing off again, see you all next week.
Yes @GB I will cast my vote but maybe tomorrow 🙂
@GB, title of the drama is Newtopia. It’s a zombie drama, like few others before, but this one has a lot of comedy (often black comedy, of course). I was quickly hooked. The tone is original and right.
@IB, yes I believe that SB has been traumatised over many years of bearing with NGM’s unpredictable violence and vindictiveness towards those who are ‘poor’ or ‘beneath him’. He’s been beaten several times before but bore with it as a friend and possibly because he needs the money for his mum.
OK @FF. Have a good rest, good night!
@IF, oh yeah, Seo Bum was traumatized for too long by this situation, a permanent psychologic pressure on him.
Now I’ve to quit and wish you good week.
@IB, Soo Beom being guilty conscious
@FF, yes, that is what I meant —
although the point of the scene is that SB has a guilty conscience,
the actor is so brilliant that he finally uses the pychological evidence of trauma ONLY HERE, to demonstrate a much lesser point.
Previously he has radiantly and magnetically born the abuse by stillness. This is the only time he becomes emotionally loosened up. As he pulls free of the traumatizing situation.
brilliant, brilliant.
Goodnight @FF and @GB!
Good evening @WE!
I am off to eat chicken stew for lunch!
Oh, I got moderated off when talking about the camera footage in the parking lot of Kim Chan’s company.
I was saying that the shot of Kim Chan hauling Ha Young, unconscious,out of the car, followed by GYuMan, was more frightening and chilling to me than the more ‘graphic’ shots of GyuMan’s prime-cause crime, with all its color — the party, the backroom floor, the pine forest.
One is the monster inside of GyuMan off the leash. We think, will he be caught? How can he escape? And we ar ee slowly beaten down to despair by subsequent events.
The other, in black and white is evidence of the squalid secret crimes of the rich, who for their own soul-corrupted desires continually and habitually destroy the souls of those they do not consider human.
Watching GyuMan stretch and look around was more horrifying to me than anything else.