Watched/completed in 2026

A very interesting portrayal of mother-daughter relationships through the plot device of pretending to be a student's mother at a elite school. The drama also portrays some societal issues such as the cut throat nature of prestigious academic institutions and motherhood in Japan, and the unpaid labor of being a parent.

An enjoyable watch.

After the somberness of this winter, this was a breath of fresh air to me. Funny, tropey and fast paced. The female lead was funny and likeable. Reminds me of Business Proposal but with its own flair. 

A young women is arranged to marry a General and she doles out justice on the villains in her family and in his. Predictable but fun. Lots of problematic female characters. 

Watched until Episode 4 and then dropped. Seems interesting and very slice of life but the topics of grief, loss and loneliness are hard for me to watch in this season. 

Tropey but kind of cute. The female lead Jay Jay is quite likable. Gives off reverse harem vibes as she meddles and makes friends with everyone in Section E. What makes the show different than other high school harem series is that it incorporates violence, trauma, and mental health in an interesting way. Also, the secondary male lead is so likeable - he's so easy to root for.

Cute but also a bit reluctant to praise  this portrayal of an age-gap romance. I wish the writers wrote the female lead as a college student or older - it would still work. I wish there were more high school romances or even an age gap among high schoolers or college students (senpai kouhei within the high school or college context). 

The second season went dark.

What I liked: I loved the portrayal of the friendships that Jay Jay has with Ci-N, David, and the rest of the Section E boys, the humor, the portrayal that echoes real life of when a young lady gets along so well with groups of young men, the backstory to the characters, and the inner dialogue of Jay Jay.

What I did not like: I was turned off by both male leads this season, the engagement, why Jay Jay has to pick between the male leads when she should pick herself or a more chill boy, why high schoolers are saying "I love you" to each other, why high schoolers are not portrayed as doing inner work or studying or thinking about their careers/future, lack of understanding who certain characters are, and why Jay Jay can't spend more time with supportive young women - her school and home life is filled with lots of males. 

I am curious where the third season will go.

I personally find relationships between the students at the school fascinating. The friendships or former friendships should be explored more - we need more dramas depicting male friendships and how they can go sour and how they can reconcile. And why the male leads are always drawn to the same woman.  Also, more of Jay Jay figuring out how to navigate the existing relationships as she is a newcomer would be interesting. The love lines and engagement plotline is dull. 

An interesting portrayal of infidelity. Amazing acting by Matsumoto Marika as Minori - who oscillates between unhinged and sorrowful. The music was good too.

The drama lost me when it introduced the true intentions of the male lead's mother and the age-gap romance plot line which was unsettling to me. 

I like it. Sun Qian has nice chemistry with Arthur Chen. These former classmates end up entering a marriage of convenience in an interesting time period. There is a good amount of humor and heart.

I don't enjoy the scenes with the male lead's sister - her marriage plot feels a bit dark and twisted compared to the sweet, light-hearted feeling of the remaining characters. The female antagonist at the factory also elicits similar feelings and seems to be a constant thorn in the side of the leads. 

Ep 13 may have been some of the funniest scenes I have seen in a while - props to the writers and actors for making the humor work so well.  Ep 14 portrays the sweet, shy attraction of the wo leads in a lovely way.

Sweet and light. Really a lovely watch.

It's a fun watch. The female lead is strong and plucky butcher who is fun to root for. Zhang Linghe is attractive as usual and still seems mysterious 7 episodes in. 

Dropped at episode 10. Has a lot of elements that I like but am not in the right mindset to watch another 30 episodes of this.

Dropped at ep 2. The leads are great together but I am turned off by the male lead's lack of transparency.

A love story between two young people in the entertainment business that explores obsession and loving people who are twisted and manipulative . It's entertaining and to the point.

I especially like the production details use of lights/lighting and ambience to add to the story. What kept me on my toes is figuring out what is real vs reel since the drama features actors shooting various projects. It also features a black wedding dress.

The female lead has a crush on a student in her announcer class that is both older and a police officer. The chemistry between the leads is nice and the female lead grows as she grapples with her friendships, her career, and her feelings for the male lead.

The male lead also has a interesting back story and stuff to work on before he can get into a relationship.

Love this! Two people connect over bentos at lunch even though they work at rival companies. The chemistry is great. The cooking scenes and the food is lovely. Enjoyable. Inoo Kei is lovely as the male lead.

The plot is centered around the female lead who takes up boxing and in the process grows in confidence and self-esteem. Her personal growth journey is lovely. The male lead also has to grapple with the traumas of his past and figuring out a new path for his career. Lots of growth for both protagonists which was inspiring to watch.

Where the drama faltered was the romance piece - I was less than convinced that these two liked each other - very little chemistry which made me tune out the romance scenes.

The female lead is portrayed wonderfully and her character as the spunky and money obsessed woman with a warm heart is fun to watch. Her chemistry with the male lead is fun too.

The humor in Episode 8 was fabulous and Pakbung is a fun female lead to root for. I like how the drama approaches different attitudes to money. The villains in this drama sucked some of the fun out of the show for me but overall, a solid Thai series to watch.

KBS family dramas are usually not my cup of tea but this seems fun and fresh somehow. It does feature a huge cast and has multiple plot lines but the leads are fun to watch together.

Choi Yoojun is cute, with his round cheeks and his toddling steps. The TXT members are working hard to care for him and it is so heartwarming to watch.

Dropped at episode 6. Interesting premise but slow. I also do not feel any chemistry between the leads. And the male lead seems static to me.

This short Thai series feels fresh - a gamer gets into a marriage of convenience and chaos ensues. Aom who plays the female lead definitely carries the show as the charismatic teacher/gamer who does things at all costs to make sure that her gaming team gets to the top. Sweet and also funny.

Cute drama with a predictable premise. The male lead is a genius systems engineer and the female lead is looking for work and has low self esteem. Female lead ends up working for the male lead and then enters into a fake relationship, which of course, turns real. He is a green flag and so supportive and kind to her.

The chemistry and the sweetness are worth staying for.

The parents as the panel make this show amusing and fun. The kids are cute but they seem young and inexperienced - most of them seem to be college students and under the age of 25.

An action, mystery Thai series featuring gangs and lots of death and gun violence. Both leads are trying to find out who is responsible for the death of their parents and start to fall for each other.

Positives: The leads have tons of chemistry and skinship, the female lead can defend herself and kick butt

Negatives: The leads do not talk much to each other, the editing of the series feel off, the writing also feels strange at time.

The leads were fun to watch together - lots of chemistry and banter. The humor was nice too - the memes and the female lead grappling with modern Korean life fun.

I think the drama faltered with the antagonist and the time travel piece - it did not make sense to me and I ended up fast forwarding through most of those sections.

Not sure of what I watched. A suffocating small town, morally gray teenagers, lots of unhinged behavior and conversations. And an infamous gym uniform. I ended up fast forwarding a lot because I had no patience to sit through this. This may have better worked as a movie.

Season 2. Yoon Hoo is one of the participants!

It is fascinating how similar the Korean dating shows are to each other. There are always one or two participants who garner interest from multiple participants and participants who garner interest from no one. The quieter, introverted personalities seem to struggle to "show" themselves to the other participants.