Somewhere I Don't Want To Go °5.4° °avg, & not a romance°
Xue Tong's father died a hero as she was preparing to enter college. “I found a new burden being added onto my shoulders,” she explains. “I must score well in exams because I'm the hero's daughter. I have to be considerate all the time because I'm the hero's daughter. I can't afford to make any mistakes because I'm the hero's daughter. I can't bring shame to my heroic dad… I realized that this burden has become a part of my personality. For the past few years I've been a timid coward. Today, I decided to put down that burden to become a brave yet ordinary person. Only by doing so can my dad's bravery bring light into my life.” She's crafted an extraordinary manifesto.Xue Tong was framed. All she did was pick up a piece of paper. But the exacting exam monitor, Mu Cheng He, accused her of cheating. XT's Professor knows she's not the type to cheat, so he does not render a verdict, but rather takes time to look into the issue. Ep1 is about how she goes on a quest to clear her name & find the true culprits, but even moreso, it sets up a clash between her & Mu. She “doan” like him. Notta bit.
Li Ting Ting from Unique Lady plays FL, XT. Without a sense of style, she's no fashionista. More Sporty-Spice than any other, she walks, talks, & quacks like a jock, but they didn't put her on any team ~ other than the infamous dorm room 323. She is smart, down-to-earth, & she's girl-nextdoor cute. Protect yourself & hit the mute button when she sings. She & her two beasties, Bai Lin (Baby-Spice) & Song Qi Qi (Surprise-Spice) remind me of the 3 friends in the amazing 💘anime Maid Sama(10). The FL is a tough, smart overachiever, then there's the studious, bespectacled QiQi, & finally the ponytailed fan-girlie, Bai Lin, who always seems to make trouble. Unlike the rule-enforcing Misa from MS, XT is not a great rule follower. She's downright disruptive sometimes.
At some point they get Scary-Spice as a roomie. She's a model, she looks like Joan Jett, & she's as cool as her too. They are in their 3rd year. 21 year old XT is really popular this year. All kinds of guys are approaching her - to pass messages & gifts to her new super-hot rommie, Zhao Xiao Tang. As it turns out, the guy XT is interested in only sees her as a buddy. Tang is his kinda tangy, he thinks. But, YO! Tang is totally Tangsta.
XT's thing is languages. She's an English major, but she's also learning Russian. When she shows up to her first Russian class of the semester, guess who's filling in for the professor who is out of town? The show teaches us about the alveolar “al ‘vee lar” trill, or rolling of the r’s. Those w/ ankyloglossia (tongue-tied) aren't able to do it, but ethnicity is not a risk factor for that condition. Asians simply aren't used to making that sound. (How many of us in the USA can reproduce most of their consonants? According to Google translate I'm hopeless). Anyway, XT's alveolar weakness is exposed promptly. Extra homework. Mu will be keeping a close eye on her. She ends up as the class representative. She'll be in his office daily…
Zhang Chao is ML, Mu. He looks like Michael Crawford's Cornelius Hackl from Hello Dolly. He's not a bad guy, he's just a physics major. They're precise & rely on what they see. He's been skipping grades since he was young, So he's always been surrounded by people older than him. Nobody played w/ him when he was little. “I didn't care. I don't need others to play w/ me. Because I knew in my heart that physics was the most interesting topic,” he insists. When he wants to speak romantically it might be something like this: ”Time is irreversible in general relativity. The only ruler of time is the transfer of heat. But when the heat begins to pass, What happened can no longer be erased.” Just fan yourselves, ladies, before you pass out! Left-brained folk aren't known for their touchie-feeliness. As a physics PhD student & teacher, Mu is in a position of authority at school. He & XT end up clashing many times. He even has to pick her up at the police station. So when he needs to break into the lab, who's he gonna call?
SOWK is tagged as a romance, but it's more a college drama about XT & her roomies. The romance is low-sizzle. This isn't where you get your dopamine fix. (For that I recommend Well-Intended Love-7.5, which is rom-porn. Just be warned that the ML pulls a very offensive stunt. The two best modern-day Cromances I've seen are, A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5 & Find Yourself-9.2) The show sort of acts like a scientist in that we observe these characters more than identify w/ them; our emotions are not fully pulled in. The viewer might get irritated w/ Bai Lin, but our feelings are not subjected to intense wind resistance. This isn't hot love, it's cool fusion.
While XT remains oblivious, the viewer sees Mu start to smirk at her. Next, his gaze lingers on her. She's been helping him as a way to apologize & say “thank-you” in the aftermath of their various run-ins. He invites her to the planetarium. She's in bummy pants & a t-shirt w/ an oversized plaid button shirt hanging like a moo-moo over the ensemble. She skips & scampers from one exhibit to another. When she sees all the tweens making a model she wants to do it, too. She just had her heart bruised by being placed in friend-zone by another dude, yet here she is doing it to Mu. Or is she? Soon it's obvious that they are each attracted to the other & they are self-aware. They aren't people that talk about feelings though. They keep it lowkey.
For a nerd, he does a nice confession. Once they are dating, XT gets frustrated because he's slower than the sea turtles they observed while diving. Not only is he a scientist, but he's 10 yrs her senior. Who can blame him for moving slowly? Her youth & inexperience make her look like a bomb to him. Does she really love him? Will another guy catch her eye? Is she going to stay? That coupled w/ his old-fashioned tendencies & the deference he shows to her don't pave the way for anything hot-&-heavy. In fact, when they go on their trip, the couple next-door to them asks for a condom & he claims he doesn't have any. Is he even attracted to her? Little does she know, they are one good scare away from getting much closer, until… “He can't accept anyone in his world.” When his experiment runs into problems, He becomes obsessed. He abandons XT on Mars.
Thematically, there's no central message here. To the extent that there is a central theme, it's growing pains. “Your life belongs to you. People like your parents, best friends or even your partners can't be held responsible for your life.” QiQi may have the hardest time w/ that concept. For a girl w/ her nose always in a book, she perhaps has the strongest emotions & the toughest time sorting through them.
XT is upset at one point because she & one of her close friends will have to compete for a scholarship. Her friend’s been going through hardship & XT almost prefers to lose. The pragmatic Tang breaks it down: “You are not showing kindness by avoiding the problem. That's hypocrisy. If I was your competitor, the way you were behaving now would only make me think that you were looking down on me.” In the USA, individualistic nature makes us think that we have more importance & influence in situations & we actually do. We have a drive to fix things. Before we act we should look at our intentions from all sides.
There's lightly sprinkled quality tidbits. In ep15 he says they can brave the rain together. He's talking about the weather, but it feels portentous… They go on a trip to Malaysia & it's gorgeous. They even take out a transparent kayak. Mu Hai (Li Jiu Xiao) proves that hair does make the man. Bai Lin is disappointed by yet another guy. She's on a school outing so she climbs up the mountain. It's an overcast morning. One of her classmates close out to her & she raises her head. “Look, the clouds have parted! “ Maybe the one who won't disappoint her is right behind her. Or is something else going on? It's a nice little scene. The music is well above avg but I couldn't find any of it by way of Shazam or spotify.
Here's a quote from the show: “Scriptwriters these days aren't reliable at all.” Just as Voyager 1 will soon run out of battery & transmissions to earth will cease, SOWK ends up doing the same thing. SOWK isn't deeply flawed, but these characters don't draw the viewer in sufficiently to make up for what it lacks. We don't dislike them, but are they likable enough? There was a promise of more. I'm writing this as ep20 closes. 20 hours in & I'm starting to feel disappointed. The show hasn't given me enough to compensate me for my time. Instead of floating higher, it's gotten water-logged. Now I'm looking at 4 episodes to go, & I'm already done.
Update: At ep23’s close I started to actively dislike SOWK. XT is hard to read - does she care at all? It's impossible to tell. At times I think she's horrible. She goes too toxic on one character without sufficient reason. I'm starting to find her distasteful. Bai Lin is frustrating. The urge to slap her is making me frustrated. (To be fair, she does mature before the credits roll). QiQi is a big disappointment. SOWK has a low degree-of-difficulty. There's no buildup or foreshadowing or meaning to it. It doesn't make for high quality entertainment. Many viewers love it - for more than half the show I thought I did, but it slipped out of my orbit long before its allotted time.
QUOTES📢
There are many kinds of love but there is only one kind of breakup.
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause & reflect.” -Mark Twain. (Amen).
〰🖍 IMHO
📣5.8 📝4.8 🎭7.5 💓4 🦋3 🎨5 🎵/🔊7.5 🔚6 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡3.3 😅3 😭5 😱3.5 😯2.5 😖1 🤔4 💤3.5
Age 14+ Violence, sad situations, adult situations
Language: he!!×2, b@$+@rd+1 pr!ck×1 d!(khe@d×1
F💣×1
Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned
Re-📺? SOWK is fine for one go-thru but it's largely forgettable, & like a college elective, there's no reason to go back again. I wouldn't opt to watch it again for the first time w/ the benefit of hindsight.
Originally 〰️🖊 May 2024
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✒ ☠ What Lies in the Forest °8.3° °Excellent°
Well, this certainly exceeded my expectations. I'm not familiar with the director, but I've seen writer Yeon Sang-Ho's other works, Hellbound-5.5 and Train to Busan-7.8. I like T2B very much, but consider HB to be half good/half bad which adds up to average. A Stephen King type, Mr. Yeon started with webtoons and anime but is just getting warmed up when it comes to live action. His inspiration for TC was an actual ritual. What I appreciate about TC is that they aren't trying to 1-up every previous occult horror feature. They go for authenticity, and the effect is truly chilling. They set out to tell a good story in a quality way - They pitchforked it with gusto and tossed it with great verve. Well executed.This show opens with a brief look into the past and how our younger FL's childhood formed her womanhood. This child's gift has brought her nothing but horror. Ep1 is a decent set up. Ep2 gets ghoulish in more ways than one. E3 turns the screws alittle more. So far, so pretty good. TC is a 2020 release that is rated 79 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 12 65ish-minute episodes. The director is Kim Yong-Wan, whise 1st credited work is the movie Champion. Since then he's put out the film The Cursed: Dead Man's Prey, and show The Whirlwind and If You Wish Upon Me, along with this show. All his works have solid ratings, and he's just starting out. TC displays his competence at every turn.
Sung Dong-Il (Sisyphus-8, Reply 1988) plays "Jin" Jong-Hyun. I don't know why, I just like the guy. Watching him as the embodiment of evil is not my favorite look for him, though. He's the type of actor who can play a bad guy, a truly loathsome one that the viewer, somehow, cannot completely hate. In TC he is dragged into a ritual by his mother. He doesn't even want it, but he exits the back-end forever transformed. (Mom opened doors that should have remained closed). I do feel sorry for him. That aside, Mr. Sung is not the perfect fit for the role. This is an excellent show, and the only thing that feels off is him. Jung Ji-So (Doom at Your Service, The Glory, Parasite-9) is Baek SoJin, the younger of the 2 FLs. She must play a cheerless girl that has had a bitter life. She sells it with every cell of her body. She gets a crying scene and she's amazing in it. Im Jin-"Hee"(Little Women) plays reporter Uhm Ji-Won & Jung Moon-Sung is her policeman husband. He was investigating the Forrest Company and her investigative reporting led her to look into them as well. Within mere hours, it seems, they are both told to abandon these efforts and work on something else. Mr. Jung plays a painfully subservient and obsequious doctor in Hospital Playlist-9 (an excellent show with a slow start. Give it 2-3 eps minimum). This is a completely different role which showcases his acting ability. Jo Min-Soo is the shamaness, Jin "Kyung". At first glance, in ep1, I didn't think much of her... but /wowie/. She slays that part. She slays alot of things in TC. Kim Min-Jae plays Forest CEO, Lee Hwan. He's close to magnificent. He is the diabolical-part-psychopathic CEO. So convincing. Though it's a relatively small part, Kim Shin-Ro, as So-Jin's mother, does an excellent job.
Badguy Jin is the Chairman of Forest which is about to launch their IPO. One of their subsidiaries is "weird." It's a consulting Co led by Shaman Kyung who is also Jin's spiritual guide. When one of their compatriots ends up dead in a twisted, cursed heap, she is able to reverse-engineer how it happened. From there, they form defensive and offensive strategies. Now they are on the hunt to eliminate their enemy who resides in the shadows.
Who is their enemy? Our 2 FLs have formed an alliance - the reporter/Hee and the HS shaman/SoJin. One demonstration (that dead-twisted-curse-heap) is enough to convince Hee, just as it's enough to alert their enemies.
They seek out expert help on spirits and hear: "At first, it heals the sick and helps women get pregnant to show off its magical powers and make believers out of the monks. And once it succeeds in that, the evil spirit steals the souls of the monks and kills them." That's a better description of evil than we get in Western entertainment. We should always remember that the evil are liars.
TC's main focus is curses, & not all these curses are supernatural. It draws a parallel between cursing someone to death by way of evil spirits and cursing someone to death through cruel behavior. It draws a parallel between human behavior and demons. Each person must choose whether to emulate angels or demons. Regardless of your belief system, people know what the right thing to do is, yet the right thing to do is rarely the easy thing. We're all drawn to the dark side. Moral strength is much like physical strength. We must exercise it regularly or it will wane. We need not teach our children to lie or lose their temper or think about themselves. We need to teach them goodness, and we need to practice it ourselves. Then it gets easier.
One thing I applaud is, at one point, a character no longer accepts the rules as they were laid out and goes the other way with surprising results. It's a reminder to reevaluate your presuppositions once in awhile. For instance, we often see the separation of horror and technology, as horror is often connected to ancient things. It's so old fashioned, right? There's a growing body of work that depicts the forces of evil utilizing technology and the power structure of society to advance its cause. It actually makes sense. Archive 81-7.8 does it well.
KRISHKIM interviewed 📝Yeon Sang Ho, for Zapzee. "Director Yeon began writing TC with a subject of "Bangbup" curse that he found interesting since his childhood. He melted his opinions of the current world into his drama. He stated that "this society allows the people to detest others for their own justice and legitimacy." He also added that the fact that the drama empathizes with the "hatred society" is the reason behind breaking the 6% viewer ratings." I couldn't find anything else on the "Bangbup" curse to elaborate more, but the rituals depicted in the show feel entirely authentic. They have similarities to what is shown in the outstanding film, The Wailing, and the director of that movie claims strict accuracy. It heightens the creepiness.
The relationship between Baek So-Jin and Im Jin-Hee becomes more touching as the show goes on. Each fills a gap left by the other's tragic loss. There's some cool shots including off-eyeball reflections. The sets are full of detail. They put care and craftsmanship into the production. It's a thrill when they bring a variety of shamans in from all over the world. They created an array of looks and personalities.
The end of ep8 is a shocker. Where do they go from there? How will they fill 4 more episodes? They set it up in ep9 and manage a couple twists.
Immediately upon being possessed by evil, CEO Jin is inspired to start a new social media platform - Forest Co. What makes Forest different is the Forest of Curses, which enables users to curse someone. We will see a group of teenage girls inviting the evil spirits to come to them and curse their enemy. From the outside looking in, this practice is either a waste of time or opening doors that are best left closed. (So don't try it!) It may be more sophisticated to laugh this stuff off, but I do not. We are born 100% self-absorbed. Maturity is learning to be unselfish, but in this narcissistic society, most people never grow up. Thus, people think they can exert control over things of which they know nothing. Self-absorbed, immature people think too highly of themselves, their abilities, and their futures. Talk to a high-schooler. Most of them think the world is a place that will welcome them. They will be rich, successful, and contented. They don't believe they can be deceived, so they open doors they should not.
TC manages to be truly sinister. We see rituals that obviously link us back to past millenia. Worship of spirits is commonplace around the world, and it is commonplace in Asia. The occult is one way people attempt to exert control over their existence. But we don't have any true ability to control such things. Like UFO sightings (99% nonsense and 1% credible reports and occurrences that can neither be refuted nor explained) it's hair-raising. Have you ever been in a place where you felt an overwhelmingly horrible vibe, even if like me, you aren't one to get vibes? I've experienced it twice, and I'm normally oblivious to my surroundings. I could feel the heavy air. I've accepted that my subconscious is picking up on a full spectrum of things that my oblivious conscious mind does not - both the supernatural and the mundane - and I've learned to trust that vibe and be wary.
Most people have a sense of the supernatural and eternity. Most believe there is more to existence than this 3D world. Many who scoff at these ideas are doing so to be welcomed into the "right" circles. They ignore anything that cannot be explained rationally and scientifically, but there's just too much out there that is unexplained, though - too much to be /certain/ that this 3D world is all there is to it. Don't overestimate yourself, don't let yourself be snookered, and don't open doors that are best left closed. Do watch TC. It's excellent.
QUOTE📢
There are things that cannot be explained by science.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣8 📝7.3 🎭8.3 🌞3.5 🎨8 ⚡7 🎵/🔊7 😅2 😭5.7 😱6 😯7 😖6.4 🤔6 💤0 🔚8
Poli-wagging 2/10. The shaman determines that no such evil spirit came from Korea. This one has come to them from Japan. Such evil lurks in Japan, not K-Kountry. The Japanese shaman is used to augment the creepy feel, particularly for Koreans. Korea will never love Japan. The history is too poisoned.
Age 16+ occult, gore, violence, language, horror
Re-📺? 👍🏽
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Modern Day:
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love to Hate You 8.9;
Her Private Life 8;
Touch your heart 8.2;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
Love Struck in the City 7.3;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9;
Historical/Period:
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
Saimdang 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9
Action/Sci-fi/fantasy:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
The Cursed 8.3
Flower of Evil 8.9
The Man from Nowhere 8.9;
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4
Originally 〰️🖊 May 2024
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✒Nice Shot >>>➖♥️➖▶ Fate Ain't Yoda °5° °terminally average°
Shot through the heart ♥ and you're to blame ♥ You Give Love a Bad name.>>>➖💔➖▶So does this show… almost
Cupid, draw back your bow ♥
And let your arrow go ♥
Straight to my lover's heart for me, for me ♥
>>>➖💔➖▶He missed!
Somewhere in a smelly, messy apartment in Seoul there's a band of misfit cupids. They lost their wings 500 years ago in a Joseon Era world-class screw-up. “Do you ever think that woman was reborn? The one who caused all our trouble?” “I'm sure she's probably been reborn several times over by now.” Their arrow missed, the intended couple ended up ill-fated, and the Cupids were demoted. They're working their way back; their progress is marked by a golden arrow on the mantle. Once they turn it completely gold again their status will be restored. The Cupid who actually shot the arrow is now in dog form most of the time. He snaps in and out of it as their redemption draws near. Unfortunately, it happens at the worst times, like on a date or while in the veterinary office.
MMiC is a 2023 release that is rated 89 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 60-minute episodes. It hypothesizes that fate doesn't know everything. It's not perfect. Neither is this show. I liked the characters and many of its elements, but it not only doesn't have sufficient content for even 10 episodes, it Isn't tight enough. It's not exciting enough. It's not funny enough. It's not romantic enough.
Obviously, from the premise, it's clear that this isn't a serious show. The backdrop Is a murder investigation with hooks that are latched into both of our leads as well as the detective investigating the crimes, Seo Jae Hee (Park Ki Woong of The Bridal Mask, Rookie Historian-7.6, and the unfortunate Pandora: Beneath the Paradise-3.9) plays the detective. He was a king in a former life, and he was fated to be with our FL then, but the arrow missed and e'erthing went bollix. His story is actually tragic. 💘🔺 alert! They can't seem to help themselves.
Jang Dong Yoon (Daily Dose of Sunshine-7, Please Be My Ear) is our Cupid, Chun Sang “Hyuk”. Most girls wouldn't want a fairy boyfriend, but dang, he smells nice. Our FL comments on his pleasant redolence often. He's alittle tired, about now; it's been a long 500 years. He actually opines in ep1 that 💘 is a curse.
When a coworker offers a ticket to the Cupid Exhibit, saying ‘maybe you'll get shot with Cupid's bow’, our FL replies: “They better not show up in front of me. They have a lot of explaining to do.” Broken finger, struck by lightning, massive blood loss, choking - all were the FATES of her various boyfriends. Every attempt at love has been cursed - since she was 9. Nana (Confession, Kill It) is our FL, Oh ‘Baek’ Ryun. She's not gluten intolerant - she likes her Tteokbokki made with wheat flour. She's beautiful, but deadly, by no fault of her own. She became a veterinarian to counterbalance the unintended harm she's done. ‘You committed a grave sin in your past life. You've been living lonely lives for 500 years. Go to the top of Inwangsan cliff and beg for forgiveness for 1,000 days. On the 1000th day, your true love will appear. A man who knows the past will come to you.’ So the fortune teller tells her. That was 3 years ago. It's no small task, but she was convinced to do it. In the meantime, she keeps running into this weird dude. He's handsome, but his aura screams there's much more going on with him. When she realizes how sturdy he is - he came out of an extreme experience that should have almost killed him, yet he had nary a scratch - she's undone. She attacks. A whole life of bottled up frustration springs from her lips onto his… his cheek. I thought she was going to go for the gold, but she opted for silver.
It seems like Gong Min Jung is in everything I see, lately. In MMiC she's An Do Ra who is, once again, the BFF of the FL - a common role for her. I've seen her in Marry My Husband-7,5, Daily Dose of Sunshine-7, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2, My Holo Love-6.8, and not too long ago, the marvelous Familiar Wife-8.5. She and her secondary romance are the best thing in MMiC, but it's not enough to make it fly.
Moon Ji Hoo (Single & Ready to Mingle) as cupid Chun Dong Chil is transformed into a sweet golden retriever. He assumes human form only sporadically. The Ladies LUV him, much to the dismay of cupid Chun Dong Koo (Park Myung Hoon from Ssanahui Sunjeong, Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area, & Crash Landing on You-9.1) who is the more muttley (and muddled headed) of the two. Muddled headed people need love too. They make this poor guy wear polka dot sweaters😱! Most wouldn't make a dog wear that! The sweaters must be a tie-in to the ‘polka dot murder’ case in the show. Eom Se Ung (Govengers, Triple Fling, Best Mistake) is cupid Chun Dong Pal, but they, pretty much, waste his part. Kim Pub-Lae (Children of Nobody, Bad Man) has a voice for the ages as the fate god, Samshin. The directors are Myung Hyun Woo (Miracle) & Nam Tae Jin (Lovers of the Red Sky), and the screenwriter is Heo Sung Hee (One More Happy Ending).
“My dear friend, you are in love. You are suffering from a new pain. It's getting darker in your head. But it's getting brighter in your heart.” Baek leaves no space for misconceptions. She likes Hyuk. He isn't thinking in those terms, however. Actually, he's actively resistant to it. He's interested in her as a person, though he doesn't let himself delve into the reasons why. He spends time with her. He goes to the veterinary clinic. Her hopes are up. So, one day he tells her: “I'm the man you're looking for. Trust me.” Her hopes soar until she realizes what he's about from his next sentence: “I'm going to find the Perfect✨Mate for you.” (He's cupid, after all ~> that's what he do). He can't understand why that got her so angry. She tells him what she wants in a mate, (it's not what she wants, it's an impossible list devised to make him give up). He tries to send her prospective mates based on her stated parameters: She rejects them all. He's very confused. That's only fair; she's confused too. Viewers each have h/h own tailor-made buttons. MMiC pushed none of mine, romantically. It never takes flight.
There's truly lovely filmcraft and special effects. This is not a low budget feature. They have a meal together, though it's not officially a date. Afterwards, when she tries to keep the relationship going (he shuts her down), she storms off. Later that night they're both in bed having a tantrum. He is sleeping in charcoal gray sheets with light colored pajamas and she's in a charcoal gray dress against light colored sheets. The optics are quite nice in that scene, which is a ying & yang representation. At this point, she hasn't even completed her 1,000 prayers. She still has a few days to go. The music is REALLY good. Gorgeous piano music is the usual background. Shazam didn't work. I made at least 3 attempts for 3 different songs, but got no results. The Playlist will probably show up on Spotify eventually.
If you can do 1000 trips, you can do 2000. The main theme is power of the will, for good or for not-good. “From now on, I'm going to fight against my destiny,” claims Baek. I like that. Don't accept things just because you've been told “it can't be done.” Unfortunately, the message gets muddled. There's some golden arrows pointed at the audience, though. An Do Ra, Baek’s roommate, does a dating podcast and also teaches classes. She makes a lot of mischievous jokes, but when she's giving serious advice almost every word is golden. “An emotionally guarded man isn't attractive.” “Clothes are the most basic means of respecting yourself. When you wear something that suits you, you feel good to start with.” She's not going to teach dating skills, she explains. She's going to teach personal appeal. Finding our personal appeal is about making us the best version of us and not focusing on tricks or others. Working on ourselves is always the answer. Every word is a keeper.
And now for the quiver of misses. On a snowy night, An Do Ra invites Hyuk up for a drink with the two of them. The whole sequence is a constant stream of Do Ra doxing and teasing them. It should've been cute, but it's too silly and it didn't sit well. In flashbacks to old Joseon and prior lives, the two MLs are fighting over a girl. They use a different actress (Kwon Ah-Reum of Missing: The Other Side S2 & Body Parts). She's fine in the role, it's just unclear why they use a different woman when the men are the same actors. When cupids are fading out for a metamorphosis they can't pick up physical objects or turn doorknobs, but one of them beats up some guy in a bar. That's inconsistent. In ep15 we get an information dump with new parameters and rules they never hinted at earlier. That isn't good writing. It lacks complexity and makes it look like they are making things up as they go. As the episodes rolled on, this show kept my interest less and less. I really enjoyed the secondary romance and the dating school sequences, but everything else floundered. I cannot point to many specific negatives, there's just a dearth of positives. It's more like a broad outline that moves from point to point without engaging the heart, quite ironically. This goes beyond not having sufficient content for 16 episodes because it never even spreads its wings. MMiC is terminally average. The best I can say is that it will fill the time, but I'd rather watch any of my recommendations listed below again, rather than MMiC or the first time.
QUOTE📢
You'd be perfect if you were more humble.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣5.3 📝5 🎭7 💓4 🦋4 🎨7 🎵/🔊8 🔚6.5 🤗3 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡5 😅2.5 😭2.5 😱3 😯2 🤢5.5 🤔3 💤3
Age 14+ male female relationships and sex are the theme, though it's never raunchy. There's also murders being committed and investigated. Language: b@$+@rd
Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned
Re-📺? Notta chance
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Inter-species 💞 or something like it -
My Roommate Is a Gumiho-7.9,
Boys Over Flowers-8.3 ~ melodrama to the max,
A Korean Odyssey-7.2,
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
Oh My Ghost 10,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Alchemy of Souls-7.9,
My Mister-9.5,
Sweet Home 8.4,
Black 9
Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7
Hospital Playlist 9,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
🎎 -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9
⚡️/🛸 -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
Sisyphus 8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
Something in them Rain-9,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9, Hidden Love-7.8
Consider a Chinese 🎎/🔮 romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8, Love Between Fairy and Devil 8.9, Love and Redemption 10 or Japanese romcoms: Maid Sama 10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo 7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, or Toradora 8.5
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✨️ Beauty & The Nerd ⭐ Crossed Star Love Circles Back On Itself ✨️
99DWTS is pure escapism of the geek-gets-the-girl variety. Only 10 episodes, it's not a long-term contract, and it shoots by quickly. Just like Kohei wants to find new stars, I'm on the hunt for a new word rather than using cute so often. Alas, this show can only be described as cute. So CUTE! Adorable at times, charming at others, and silly toboot, but in the end, it's quite simply "cute".Namiki Kohei is an in-between-jobs astronomer, who is picking up side jobs while he ,ooks for one in his field, so he's working as an agency bodyguard. He is hired to protect a KorJapean half-Japanese/Korean national, Han Yuna, who is scheduled to film a series in Japan. She is more like a quasar than a star, being enormously popular in both countries, and winsomely beautiful. Filming is scheduled for 99 days, thus Kohei has a 99 day contract.
With a dream is to work at a famous observatory, Kohei is an everyday nerd, and at the same time, he's a kind, decent man. The observatory would give him the best chance to discover a "new" star and name it, which is his only goal at the opening of the show. All he cares about is /those/ kind of stars, and those heavenly bodies. Like many obsessed geeks, he's oblivious. We learn that girls and women may have shown interest over the course of his life, but he's never taken notice. He loves the constellations, and has no interest in ogling filmstars or even pursuing women. It's precisely why he was selected for the job.
Quickly, Kohei realizes: Han Yuna doesn't want to be confined, nor will she tolerate being guarded. Kohei finds himself chasing 'person' Yuna daily, when he'd rather be chasing scorching hot 'places' & 'things.' Yuna's relentlessly aggressive manager won't allow for any going off script. No excuses! Kohei must keep Yuna tethered. Complaining bitterly about the assignment, Kohei cannot wait for the 99 days to end. He pieces together that Yuna's been looking for someone, and resolves to help her find her long lost love. Then she'll stop trying to escape.
Meanwhile, Kohei's sister has dropped her kids at his place to traipse off with a new boyfriend. We learn she's actually traveling with new boyfriends more than she's at home with the kids - Kohei's teenaged niece, and an elementary school pair, 1 of each. While the romance is half of the "cute' factor, the young neice and nephew are the other half. To Kohei's unnerving, they are gifted with exacting perception and a high social IQ. Coupled with their loquaciousness, they embarrass Kohei's as easily as they down a triple sized slice of cake on a too small plate. They love their uncle and seem to prefer living with him. Additionally, these 2 heavenly cherubs are full of love, happiness, and exuberance. They make friends with everybody, including Han Yuna, when she chances meets them.
{Commercial Break}
This show is fiction. The odds that these children would manage to be happy not knowing their fathers, and watching a parade of men marching through their home, while regularly being abandoned by their mother so she can fo "play" without them, are worse than the Powerball lottery. This show is family appropriate. It provides a perfect opportunity to discuss family, marriage, and raising children with your children. It's a parent's job to equip their progeny with critical thinking skills, to enable them to make informed decisions in life, afterall. It's also important to discuss entertainment, in general, with your kids, to ensure they understand that they should not take cues on how to live from what they see on screen. Furthermore, they should not assume that behavior on screen is always an acceptable way to conduct oneself. {Commercial concluded}
Before we can say 'supernova', Yuna is visiting Kohei's place to hang with the family and eat at the restaurant (dive) underneath his apartment. People crave family, and Kohei's family is extra warm and joyful. Besides, with a delicious restaurant below, they are always eating delicious Food Food Food. Eventually, Yuna's co-star tracks them down because he's interested in Yuna, himself. He starts to worry that he'll lose to a bodyguard. That cannot happen. Consequently, Kohei's place becomes a hangout for the stars. Things start revolving around him, revealing that Kohei's gravitational pull is no trifle.
One thing that is refreshingly different is that side characters are the best looking men in the show. Kohei isn't bad looking, but he's no Song Kang. As we get to know him better, he looks better and better.
The show creators do a great job playing around with plot advancement. We'll see the characters' real lives intertwine with the drama that is being filmed, creating a loop: Is life imitating the drama, or is the drama imitating life? While the storylines aren't exactly the same, the lines of the script weirdly reflect precisely what's going on between Kohei and Yuna. Yuna is acting out a drama with her costar, and living out one with Kohei.
Furthermore, though Yuna is in a scripted drama, the most dramatic scene she plays is a private one between her and Kohei. The way it was shot and edited was so obvious, I had to chuckle. The director is visually yelling to the audience: "Here's the real story, the real drama", like the yolk in the egg. Or was that the chicken and the egg? It's a loop, wherever you hop on.
As soon as Kohei starts nearing the azimuth of realization regarding his feelings for Yuna, they are assaulted by the most formidable solar storm of all: Fame. Kohei feels as far from Yuna as the distance from earth to its closest star; 92 million miles. Can either of them have a life together with the black hole of the paparazzi sucking them in? It's going to be a spikey Endeavor for our Brave Challengers. 💔
99DWTS is a low-challenge, just veg and take a break series for viewers. It's perfect for when you aren't sure what to watch next, or are in need of a mental break. It's akin to a Hallmark feature, only better. The romance is sweet, but the real paycheck is the warmth. 99DWTS will warm you up better than a pot of tea on the surface of Venus. It's yummy, rummy, chummy in the tummy warmth.
As always, resist dubbing. You only get a fraction of the acting. Subtitle competency is immediate. One has to look beyond the known, to experience the new. In short, if subtitles are a force field keeping you away from foreign entertainment, you are missing some of the highest quality features out in the great beyond. For your own sake, try to get beyond it. 😢
99DWTS isn't one of those high quality features, but it is a high-in-the-sky series, given the great smiles and snuggly warmth it radiates. It gets a little draggy towards the end, but it will still light up (and cozy up) your night if you can take time to relax and look up.
QUOTES🗣
If you forge ahead in life, someday something good is bound to happen.
I guess he understands feelings when the right time comes.
Kids: “If they get married, Ya-oona will be our mother-in-law! Yeah!” (She'd be marrying their uncle).
IMHO〰🖍
🤔 5 💓7 🦋6 🌞9 🎭7 🎬7 ⚡6
Age 10+
Originally 〰️🖊 2/2022
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✒He Only Plays For Keeps °6.8° °Good°
Gamers don't need a dating website because they can make good matches while gaming🎧. Our protags are fans of the RPG (role playing game) Chinese Ghost Story/CGS. FL, Wei Wei, even has an in-game spouse - until she gets dumped. She won't be in the dumps for long, though: Her white knight is in the wings.Computers don't just facilitate hook-ups; they make identity theft pretty easy, too. While Er Xi may not have stolen Wei Wei's 🆔, she did borrow Wei Wei's CGS game character, which leads /Wei Wei's/ crush to pursue /Er Xi/ in the game, thinking he's hanging out, virtually, with Wei Wei. It also leads men at Er Xi's summer internship to believe that SHE'S the top female CGS player. Er Xi, unawares, is getting all kinds of attention in the name of Bei Wei Wei, and Bei Wei Wei wouldn't have it any other way-way-way.
L020 is a 2016 release that is rated 8.3 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 30 45-minute episodes. It's obvious that the show was a precursor to the King's Avatar which also stars Yang Yang. (KA is great, but it contains no romance. It's about a RPG competition). Many players suspect that our FL, Bei Wei Wei, is not really a girl because she refuses to post photos online, and no other chick has come close to her top-tier ranking. She's jilted by her in-game husband in ep1. Because of laptop problems she ends up having to complete a duel at an internet cafe where our ML, Xiao Nai, (the elusive top-ranked player) gets a l👀k at her in the middle of her spectacular gameplay. He knows who she is now, but she didn't look back at him to see him looking back at her, as it says on Mr. Girlie's shirt. She don't look like no dude! She's😍gorgeous. When Bei Wei Wei's game character shows up to her ex's new in-game wedding, our ML is there as well. He proposes marriage to her. It's just a gaming marriage, but for her it's Cinderella✨time.
Xiao Nai, or Yi Xiao Nai He, as he's known in the game (Yang Yang), is a student of legendary popularity. He's the best looking, he's the smartest, and he's even good at 🏀. But he's as cold as a snow leopard's claws in January. He and his roommates/his bros have designed a new game and are preparing to launch it soon. Zheng Shuang plays FL, Bei Wei Wei / Lu Wei Wei Wei. She's a computer major and she's also the “Belle” of the Computer department. Between school, tutoring, and gaming, she has no time for love. Being pretty attracts jealous attention from other women, especially a couple of the mean girls on campus. Wei Wei and her dorm-mates apply for an internship at one of the big software companies that, perchance, wants to buy Xiao Nai's game. Her identity, in part, gets switched with her perky and adorable roomie, Zhao Er Xi (Mao Xiao Tong) because Er Xi panicked in her interview and gave them Wei Wei's game 🆔 as her own. This leads to identity mix-ups. Several people believe they've met the gamer Lu Wei Wei IRL, but they've actually met Er Xi.
Wei Wei's new game marriage is wonderful💖. She starts to wonder about who the person is behind her game husband's character. Should she meet him? In the meantime, back at school, Xiao Nai unexpectedly sits next to her in class(?!). Game-hubby wants to meet. She goes to the rendezvous point… Why is Xiao Nai, the untouchable legend, hanging around here today? Imagine her shock when he scoops her up, takes her to the inter-department 🏀 game and then lets e'erbody know they are now dating. The way it plays out is fun. They already got to know eachother online. He's way ahead of her as he's been able to observe her IRL for awhile, and when he makes a move, it's for the win. The rest of the show is dealing with the petty tricks, jealousy and fallout that happens when these two popular items are removed from the shelf. They are each taken, now, and not everyone has an easy time accepting that without a fight.
For a modern-day Chinese feature this is pretty good.
Yang Yang,who plays the ML, Xiao Nai, does sell the viewer on his attraction to our FL, and he manages some top notch romantic moments. His voice in L020 and You Are My Glory sounds deep-fake. I think his voice in Kings's Avatar is the real him. Can he act? I wasn't sure that he could, going into this show. I've only seen him play all-powerful all-knowing slightly smug male leads, and I've only seen him in modern-day Chinese features, which are completely different from Chinese fantasy and historical features. It's time to watch Who Rules The World to crystallize his assessment. Regardless of acting skill, he's quite beautiful, and he also contributes to the soundtrack. He's no Kun Chen (from The Rise of the Phoenixes) but he'll do. His game hair is awful, like Qin Dynasty politician hair.
Zheng Shuang is the FL., Bei Wei Wei. She's sweet and demure. She remains too demure throughout the show which gets a tad tedious. Mao Xiao Tong plays her BFF Zhao Er Xi. Despite references to her average looks, she is an adorable pixie. She actually does look like Cao Guang's (Bai Yu) 🐱, Coffee. They usually have her hair and costume looking dreadful. She has short hair that has grown too sloppy and needs 2" taken off, but she is routinely referred to as plain or even homely when she's actually a knockout.
Speaking of Bai Yu and Yang Yang, the show has lots of beautiful men. Bai Yu, sans glasses and curls, is a very handsome man when inside the game, CGS. Xiao Nai's friends are well casted. Zheng Ye Cheng is "Girlie," Hao Mei, and he might be better looking than Yang Yang. He's stern, masculine, and sexy in The Sleepless Princess-9.1. I never recognized him - that's good acting! Vin Zhang as K.O. (he is fabulous in Eternal Love-8.3) & Cui Hang, playing Qiu Yong Hou, compliment the visual feast, and Niu Jun Feng is not only a nice looking guy, but he has an endearing quality as Yu Ban Shan. Hao Bo plays the gynophobic Ah Shuang. His fear of women is why the fledgling company cannot hire females. Xiao Ling (Qin Yu) & Yu Yao (Guan Xin) are the other two girl dormies. They don't get as much screen time as Er Xi. They never bring everybody together, which is a shame. I kept waiting for it, but it wasn't to be.
The primary romance is low drama and pleasant as a warm breeze. Nothing much happens, and the show has that "Prozac" effect that Chinese modern-day dramas all seem to have. While Chinese historical and fantasy pieces are superb in every way, their modern-day stuff is weirdly relaxing to watch despite being deeply flawed. There are at least two secondary romances that are quite cute but left mostly unfinished - they absolutely should have been wrapped up better - that's not a minor flaw. The 🐱 appears to be in serious distress in a couple scenes. In the States, I think it would have created a stir; I was concerned for that kitty. He's a gorgeous feline. Just as in You Are My Glory-5.9, which also features the comely Mr. Yang, L020 is too focused on the good looks of the leads. 20% of the dialogue seems to be about the exterior appearance of the characters, and that is so skin-deep. (I realize that I may have committed 20% of this article to what the actors look like… perhaps that's hypocritical🙄, but script & dialogue and critique & commentary are not the same thing). The acting is often stiff, the dialogue is often unimaginative and witless, and the plot drivers such as game dynamics, corporate maneuvering, and technical workings are not explained in the least. Don't expect to learn anything interesting: This show will only bring on rhythmic breathing - and that's enough.
They play completely respectable 🎸 riffs during some of the action. I've seen China rock-out better than Japan, at times. Both of them rock out better than Korea. Korea, on the other hand, reigns supreme in the realm of pop and soft rock. Anyway, the soundtrack isn't bad at all. All-in-all, L020 is a show that romance junkies, who don't get too prickly over technical mediocrity, will like. With the benefit of foreknowledge, I would still watch it again for the first time. Technical excellence alone doesn't make a show good. It must speak to the heart as well. L020 is food for the heart, not the brain, but its true payoff is its Prozac💊effect.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣6 📝6 🎭7 💓6 🦋7 🌞6 🎨5 ⚡4 🎵/🔊7 😅3 😭3 😱2 😯4 😖0 🤔3 💤4 🔚7
Age +no age restriction with the following caution: There's a few oblique non-direct references to sex and waiting for it plus some kissing scenes.
Re-📺? This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again….
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
You Are My Destiny 7.3,
The Kings Avatar 8,
The Oath Of Love 7.6,
I Hear You 7.3,
Meteor Garden 7.4
Historical/Period:
Overlord 8.4,
The Sleepless Princess 9.1,
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8,
Under the Power 8.6;
The Rebel Princess 9.1
Fantasy:
Love Between Fairy & Devil 9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Heavenly Sword 9;
Love and Redemption 10
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⚔ Mission Fail °8.5° ⛩️ °spectacular°
“When can we see each other again?” “We cannot. We belong to two opposing sides. If we meet again, one of us will have to die.”Right now, the emperor is weak. The government is corrupt. Factions have formed. The rebels are rising. The House of Flying Daggers is the most dangerous group of rebels. We're in China, 859 AD, at the waning of the Tang Dynasty.
HoD is a 2004 119-minute release that is rated 87/82 on RT, 7.5 on IMDB, and 8.3 on MDL. There's much more going on than meets the eye. We have wheels within wheels and gears inside of them.
The acting is China's run-of-the-mill-superb. Takeshi Kaneshiro (This Is Not What I Expected) is ML Red Cliff Jin. The actor's father is Japanese and his mother, Taiwanese, which explains his name - and his look, actually. Andy Lau (Tak-Wah, Singing When We're Young) plays the other ML, Liu Zhao Tou. The cast is rounded out with Song Dandan as Yee, Zhao Hongfei as Xiao Bu Kuai, and Jun Guo as a law enforcement Officer. The screenwriter is Bin Wang (Hero, To Live) along with writer/Director Zhang Yimou (Under the Hawthorn Tree & Hero).
Zhang Ziyi (The Rebel Princess-9.1, Hero & Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ~loved both~) is Xiao Mei, the new blind maiden at the pleasure house. Is she in the Flying Daggers cult? They lock her up following an unruly incident in between her and some house patrons.
The Tang version of the CIA local branch has devised a clever scheme. An officer, Jin, will break Mei out of prison in hopes that she will lead them to the Flying Daggers sect, so they can eliminate this dangerous group. Mei is not easily managed, though. Soon, Jin has to fight his own people to survive, because no one else knows about his mission. Things continue to get more tangled and murky.
The cinematography is gorgeous. Exotic forests, fields, fall foliage and flowers. Fighting, too! The fights are beautiful ballet. We see every season represented in the film. One fight takes place in a verdant bamboo forest. It's spectacular. Fall is a good time to fall in love… Finally, there's flakes of snow, moving into the finale. Probably some frostbite, too.
There's a good twist or two. They twist beautifully in this film. The whole movie is a magnificent twist-within-a-twist. My biggest complaint is that it's over with so quickly. Having gotten used to 25-75 episodes, I've been watching some unforgettable Cdramas. Sometimes the big budget items, like sophisticated fight scenes and pricey special effects, don't make much of a showing in the multi hour miniseries (sometimes they aren't bad) but it's hardly noticeable given the top-tier writing, acting, sets & costume. So, give HoD a watch and consider some of the recommended time investments below.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣8.5 📝8.5 🎭8.5 💓6 🦋6 🎨8.8 🎵/🔊7 🔚8 🤗6 ▪ 🌞4⚡7 😅2 😭7 😱3 😯3 🤢3.5 🤔6 💤0
Age 12+ There's sword fighting and violence, but this is a great movie for people of most ages. Rated TV-PG: Parental Guidance Suggested
Re-📺? Yep
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
🔮🐉-
C/🇨🇳:
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10
⚡😱/🚀 -
C🇨🇳:
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
The Untamed-8.6
💓 -
C🇨🇳:
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
K🇰🇷 :
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
🎎 -
C🇨🇳:
Overlord 8.4,
Story of Yanxi Palace-10 (I'm on ep 50 out of 72. So far every episode is a 10).
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
Ruyi's Royal love in the palace (episodes 1 - 49 are a 9.3. While looking up its historical accuracy, I learned how heartbreaking the rest of the show is. It's over 80 episodes, so that's a hella-lotta hurt. I am not up for it now, so I stopped at episode 49, which is a perfect ending).
The Rise of Phoenixes 9
K🇰🇷:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9
⚡😱/🚀 - K🇰🇷:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
The Man From Nowhere 8.9
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4
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✒So Simple ☕️ But Soo-joon Will Make You Swoon °6.8° °good°
WWWSK is a mini romantic getaway. A just-for-fun romcom, there's nothing else going on. The leads are special actors. Park Min-young. (Secretary Kim) always delivers. Once again, she is quite lovely in this show. She wears fluid tops, feminine outfits, soft colors, and she always looks good. Park Soo-joon seems to be having a corkin time playing an egotistical boss. He actually makes the show. WWWSK is a 2018 release that is rated 85 on AWiki. It's 1 season consisting of 16 60ish-minute episodes. The directors are Park Joon-Hwa and Yoo Jong-Sun, & it's based on writer Jung Kyung-Yoon's novel. The filming is lighthearted & breezy and animation accents add to the whimsy.The setting is at a large company. The current CEO, Lee Young-joon, works for his father, chairdad. He's comically arrogant. He's not the least bit mean-spirited, however; he just seems a little silly. Secretary Kim is his personal assistant, and has been for 10 years. In ep1, she gives notice.
He's a bit surprised but tries to act cool. Gradually, we see that things aren't cool with him at all. He tries to fathom how she could leave such a wonderful boss as he? To understand what her struggles and concerns are, we must get to know her more & he will have to get to know her quite a bit more. He also has a lot to learn about the complex world of interpersonal relationships. It's certainly no spoiler to say that they get together rather early in the show and the rest of it is trying to work out some of the struggles that they've had from back to the time they each were children.
Their first struggle in dating is how they fall back into the old habits of boss and secretary. She's making the reservations, when they're eating she's taking care of all his needs: His handkerchief, cell phone, making sure everything's laid out right. The restaurant employees look at each other and say: 'Wow, she seems more like a secretary than his girlfriend'.
He wants to spend more time with her, so he starts to lighten her load at work. He goes to makes his OWN copies, and the other employees almost have a collective stroke😮. Once his task is completed and he goes back to his office, he peeps out to her sitting at her desk in the foyer area. He points at the copies. He points at himself. He's /so proud/ of himself. It's cute.
He tries to take her places that she would enjoy, which lands them at an amusement park. He gets his first 🎢 coaster ride. Through the entire thing he sits upright, arms crossed, chin up, looking like he's on the bow of a ship. E'erbody else is squealing. It's good for some chuckles.
The supporting story arcs and romances are even more fun. Hwang Chan Sung (True to Love, My Holo Love-6.8) is the frugalmiser, and Go Gwi Nam & Pyo Ye Jin (Taxi Driver) plays the observant Kim Ji Ah. Hwang Bo Ra (Vagabond-8, Arang and the Magistrate) is the Kewpie-faced, curly-locked Bong Se Ra (she's a cutie) and Kang Hong Suk (Hotel del Luna-8.4) portrays Yang Cheol, a big-ol teddy bear. One guy in the office knows absolutely everything. He doesn't share any of it until precisely the correct time. When they're all standing around talking and wondering about something, he'll be the resource of all information. It's a funny running bit, especially given how assured and authoritative his character is when he's giving out information. Fabulous child actors also help light up this production.
WWWSK suffers a smidge from what I've labeled "MAL-content". They don't seem to have enough content to fill up the whole show. It starts to wander about two-thirds of the way in and loses focus. The plot isn't tight; it's a little sloppy. Some of the personality changes are too fluid.
8.1? This is rated 8.1 on IMDB, 8.3 on MDL, and 85 on AWiki. I was so excited to watch it - I saved it for when I needed a "sure-thing" and didn't want to take a chance. So I couldn't help but be disappointed. It makes me feel lonely, because there is no day of the week WWWSK deserves such a generous rating. I get it - the show is cute, and it's better than most of the junk that loveless Hollywood puts out. Shows should not be rated on technical aspects alone as a show that doesn't touch the emotional core is missing something. Conversely, an emotional connection will cause us to overlook all kinds of faux pas.
New viewers to Asian programming will overrate the first couple things they see out of sheer joy that this entertainment wonderland has opened up to them, and here, the leads are each fabulous, in their own rights. I saw WWWSK early in my Asian programming addiction. For a long time I just took notes but was suffering from an extreme illness and I got (almost hopelessly) behind on completing the reviews and posting them. I've since seen PMY in When the Weather is Fine-9 and Her Private Life-8, as well as a couple other shows in which her performance is better than the sum of the total production. Chemistry? She's Walter White - a walking chemistry set. She's fabulous in every role. I fell for Mr. Park from watching A Witch's Love-7.8. Additionally, I'm currently in the waning episodes of Itaewon Class. What an actor. He doesn't look the same at all. He has a serious and tragic part to play in IC, so it makes sense that he seems to be having the time of his life in this role. It makes sense that these 2 actors have beaucoup fans, and those fans are likely to view anything that they are in positively.
No doubt, WWWSK is a fun ride to take. But the romance itself is barely above average, it's IQ is medium-low, the plot has some weak points (particularly the backstory). There's lots of lesser known shows that are rated lower but are of better quality. Some examples are: Familiar Wife-8.5, Touch your heart-8.2, and Love Struck in the City 7.3 (I have to watch LSitC again. I liked it when I watched it quite a bit. Parts of the ending disappointed me, particularly with the secondary relationship, though I think they'll be fine going forward. It's stuck in my brain. I keep remembering it more and more fondly. I think there's something that my subconscious is telling me I missed. I'm going to have to revisit it and update my score eventually). These directors are capable and each have better shows. Park Joon-Hwa directed Touch your heart, Alchemy of Souls-8.3 and Because This Is My First Life (7.7 it's mostly exceptional but for the last 2 episodes), while Yoo Jong-Sun directed the fabulous Descendants of the Sun-8.3. Just go into this with your expectations set-to-mid and you shouldn't be disappointed.
In one sad scene, parents refuse psych treatment for a traumatized child. Saying "no" reflexively is a bad habit. Watching Kdramas is a good habit. WWWSK is imminently watchable - it's a good show. Romfans won't want to quit it early.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣6.5 📝6 🎭7.8 💓6 🦋6.4 🌞7 🎨7 ⚡3 🎵/🔊6 😅6 😭4 😱3.7 😯3 😖2 🤔4 💤3 🔚8
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Workplace Romances:
Crazy Love-7.8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Call It Love-8.4,
My Mister 9.5,
C🇨🇳: Find Yourself-8.9,
Boss & Me-7
🌐Modern Day -
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Cheese in the Trap-7.7,
Our Blues-8.5,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,
🎎 -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9
⚡/ -🚀
Flex X Cop-8.5,
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Tunnel 8.5,
Why Her?-8,
💓Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9, Hidden Love-7.8
Consider a Chinese 🎎/🔮 romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8, Love Between Fairy and Devil 8.9, Love and Redemption 10 or Japanese romcoms: Maid Sama 10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo 7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, or Toradora 8.5.
Originally 〰️🖋 1/2025
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This review may contain spoilers
✒A Simple Poem From ☕Where It Is Always Warm
[Spoilers are contained in a separate section at the end]Though it mainly takes place in winter, WTWIF is like a caressing summer breeze. Be still; let it flow over & around you. It's about loneliness & togetherness, as well as pain & healing. One could say that a theme of the show is to 'Come In From The Cold.' Tied into that is what is required to come in from figurative cold: Expressing our feelings. Family & loved ones should know about us - about me, about you. Those that take their feelings to the grave remain in frigid, gloomy isolation.
The words "warm" & "cold," along w/ their variations, are ubiquitous in this series. The concept of temperature is visually represented over & over again via the weather, beverage choices, characters, blankets, coats, or shoes. They weren't stingy w/ it.
The director wasn't stingy w/ quality craft or scattered embers radiating like beautiful glowing gems. For example, ep3 lays out an allegory for the show during book club. In 'The Legend Of The Silver Fox's Eyebrow,' the fox lends his eyebrow to a person who cannot find a real human. Looking thru the eyebrow reveals the true nature of a person. There were pigs, weasels, & rats, but no genuine humans were found. Imagine the fear & isolation that must follow such a non-discovery. In ep15, Mok Hae-won (“Hwon” played by Park Min Young from Her Private Life-8) expresses her version of this tale.
WTWIF has a unique vibe, like the feel of an indie film (except for Hui's scenes). The soundtrack is extended silence w/ a drizzle of subdued chords. The cadence is slow for 14 eps, & eps15-16 aren't necessarily fast paced, but they are jammed packed. The series seems to be moving at the pace of Eun-seob (ES - the fabulous Seo Kang Joon from Cheese in the Trap-7.7): It's plodding, but steady. Around ep7 we're given reason to wonder what the rest of the show could be? By ep15, what came to mind was: Is it almost over already?!😥 What's even happened since ep7?? Charming small town life has happened, along w/ the subdued every day conflicts that don't seem like high drama but for the one living them out.
Speaking of small town life, Jang-woo (Lee Jae Wook from Search: WWW), is special. He understands himself & what he wants, which keeps him #content. Contentment is the #1 ingredient for happiness. He chose his hometown over the glamor of Seoul as he understands the value of simplicity. We know he's smart, but he is also the /wisest/ of them all & the #1 pillar in the show.
Another delight is Hui, ES's sister (played by Kim Hwan Hee from The Wailing-8.8. She is full of life & J😁Y. She's simply happiness on a bicycle. Her energy is boundless. Her exuberance cannot be squelched. She also can't be stopped, the targets of her affection are learning. While we can't rely on Hui's logic… {"If everyone at school hates me, he should be the one who likes me." Hwon: "Is that how it works?" Hui: "of course it is!"}... Perhaps we could benefit from one of Hui's mantras: "That hurts my pride. It really hurts my pride. It hurts my pride SO MUCH!!" Get it out. Expel it! Then move on.
This series was expertly crafted.
Metaphors abound, like the cabin, which represents a locked away heart. ES goes there to be alone w/ his feelings as he's never expressed them to anyone. There's continuous comparing & contrasting, eg, Hwon and ES are contrasted. They each had a childhood w/ an intact family. They later lost their parents to abandonment, death & prison. The /difference/ is temperature. ES's family IS 🔥warmth. ES is quiet 🔥. Hui is expansive 🔥, Mom is protective 🔥, & Dad is the fuel that keeps everyone going. Hwon's family is cold. Crybaby, the word-smith, encapsulates the situation when he remarks: "This family is not clingy at all." It's a great, understated laugh line in the context. It isn't that they don't love, it's that their emotional capacity runs so deeply that they've been dragged down into solitary depths.
There’s mirroring, especially between Hwon, Mom, & Aunt. Hwon mirrors both of them & they mirror e/o. Metaphors blanket WTWIF. When ES takes Hwon to her childhood home, she acknowledges that she heard it had fallen into ruin - a metaphor for the family. It continues through Mom, who informs that she fixed the house up "well," & sold it "well." That fix-up process has begun for their family too. Images link characters. Hwon is connected to mom & aunt via lollipops & sunglasses. They don the sunglasses to hide hurt. Lollipops are most likely self-comfort - having something sweet when life turns bitter.
Genetics & the concept of family are touched on - mostly implied, but at times it's overt. ES's uncle talks about what's in the family blood. He states it can't be denied, & pushes hard for ES to go away w/ him. This sets up the direct comparison of ES's family to Hwon’s family.
Several of the townspeople take delight in belittling ES, b/c they've passed judgment, calling his parents hobos. His adopted mother (Nam Ki Ae from Confession) is having none of that. She protests when they dispatch ES to rescue people lost in the mountain, claiming they care nothing about him or whether he's in danger. Another time, she declares that she's decided to love ES /more/ to avoid any perception of playing favorites. Her motherly love for ES is absolute, & she never hesitates to express it. She's pillar #2.
Hwon is drawn to ES like a weary traveler to a cozy seat by the hot coals. ES is always wrapping a coat, blanket, or his arms around her & she can't get enough of it. After the miserable truth about her family history is exposed to Hwon, she runs away to be alone w/ her thoughts. ES finds her on a bench & wraps his coat around her as the camera pans down to a small heater. He holds her. ♨Warmth. Such comforting warmth🔥. She can't get enough of it. She's been an ice sculpture for so long, that once she experiences his comfort, she (literally) latches on to him. It's quite sweet. If one thinks about it, warmth is simple. Coldness is complicated. “Simplifying” is another theme of the show. Think: Jang-woo.
The Maze Of Sisterfield… The topic of domestic violence is addressed. We witness a woman, days away from death on a hospital bed, who has bruises from a recent beating. In typical fashion, she lies about it. These women exist in a harsh climate that yields no space for compassion or pity; only cold condescension. It's a commentary on the collective, not on the women as individuals.
Severe, or continuous pain can change a person. Like forgetting how a person looked when young, a soul in chronic pain can forget what it's like to be well. After awhile, many that suffer long-standing pain struggle w/ even desiring to be healed: They can no longer visualize it. I've witnessed this. One cannot have a goal that s/he cannot comprehend, perceive, or are too frozen solid to carry out. The ones that love Hwon are unable to communicate it. They genuinely don't think they deserve it. They are icicles lined up next to e/o that never come together. When the weather is fine, they must melt to combine as water; then they can flow together.
Mom was trying to protect everyone, but she ended up isolating them all for a very long time. Her motivation was love, but she failed to express it. Hwon rightly told her: "If we're family, we should share the pain together." Bo-yeong muses that no relationship is flawless, but we can eat on a table that has a crack. Over time, stress cracks are bound to form in relationships (as long as they aren't forming /overtime/!). We hurt, apologize, forgive & move on. That's how we need to live. Everyone needs to find their space in which to thaw & breathe.
Hopefully, Aunt & Crybaby will find their space. How STUBBORN can a person be, especially when it's to h/h detriment? The show tells us that some people never let go of the white-knuckled grip they have on their emotions. Aunt is self censured, w/ ice cold resolve to carry out the sentence she's required of herself: Denied love & marriage, denied medical treatment & pain relief, shaded from the world & most human interactions. She treats Crybaby like she treats herself. If she is going to deny herself & live in misery, then Crybaby will just have to accept it. He is more special to her than she will acknowledge, however. If she lets him go for good, she'll regret it. Aunt hasn't fully blinded herself yet, thankfully. At the end of the show we see a developing fissure in the tundra via the hint of a smile. Aunt shows additional evidence of defrost when she implores Mom to write a letter to Hwon. Aunt warns that Mom's motivations will remain a secret forever if not explained. Communication must begin. Then healing is sure to follow.
The director, Han Ji Seung of Mistress, dedicates extended screen time to celebrate the arrival of spring. Hwon can tell it's getting warmer, she says, b/c her breath is fogging up only half the distance as before. The rain starts. Thunder rumbles. Vivid green buds cover the trees. Everybody is talking about the beautiful weather. Spring will welcome hope & simple triumphs.
Oh Dear, I've called this series a poem. We learned the difference between poetry & prose from #2🦄. Did I already forget?
Okay, review:
In the simplest terms, prose is everyday writing. It covers all the different types of writing one reads daily, from blogs, to articles, to novels.
Poetry adds artistic style to writing. It's all about vivid imagery & rhythm. It works to make you feel something, or to drive a point home. Poetry writers select their structure, rhyme scheme, pattern, & words w/ the purpose of arousing emotion.
Nope, it's a poem.
Quotes:
Warmth🔥: It's when my cold hand touches your cold hand and we both become warm. It's when loneliness meets loneliness and becomes cozy. It's when sadness meets sadness and becomes happiness. It's when cold breeze meets cold breeze and becomes soft snow. That is Warmth.
Make a choice☑◻: If you cannot just love, you cannot just give your heart, you can just give up on the happiness you would gain from loving.
Happiness and unhappiness are like the sides of a coin. If you don't become happy, there is no reason to become unhappy. If you don't possess you cannot lose, you can just disappear from that certain person's sight forever.
⛔️SPOILER SECTION⛔️
The following contains additional insights that might be considered spoilers.
ES grew up on the mountain. He was young when his parents abandoned him. Mr. Im found him & took him home to Mrs. Im's open arms. His early life experiences had left him emotionally untethered. Once Hwon came into his life he was able to start expressing himself. The townspeople call the "hobo boy" to help find people lost on the mountain, and mom fights it, saying they care nothing about putting him in danger.
ES's uncle talks about what's in the family blood & how it can't be denied. When he pushes hard for Eun-seob to leave w/ him, his biggest mistake was to declare that no one in the family can live w/ anybody else, as ES's birth parents already demonstrated. Uncle doesn't realize that ES has learned something better. Despite his (new) family's fears, there was no way ES was going back.
What's in Hwon, Mom, & Aunt's blood? Isolation, shutting down, shutting out others, & retreat are family failings. In a later episode Hwon tells Mom: “You were all taking care of your own pain, so you threw me away.” Those are brutal words for a mother to hear.
There is more mirroring. Hwon is drawn in by ES like a weary traveler to a cozy seat by the embers. Long before she realizes her feelings, she mirrors ES's mother in being protective of him. We particularly see mirroring between Hwon, Mom, & Aunt. Hwon, believing she was rejected, started wearing sunglasses. The scenes play out between Hwon's confession & ES finally grabbing hold of her, and the pain expressed on her face & body are evidence of exceptional acting. When watching, what came to mind was: I've felt the same way she's feeling.
Hwon picked up another bad habit at home. She retreats. Rather than forgive Bo-yeong, who would have stood by her when things got ugly, she weathers the storm alone in quiet agony. Her silent coldness is her covering to conceal the hurt. Stress cracks allow the chill in to arrest her heart. We will see her thaw beautifully in this series. Both of them thaw & heal.
Hwon's mother makes excuses for her abuser. Eventually she just can't anymore. One day, he's threatening her & aunt while standing in front of the car. She just can't stop her foot from pushing down on the accelerator. While many of us wouldn't have hesitated to hit the gas, upon reflection, it's understandable that taking a life would be devastating for a decent person. Even if "Brother-In-law was "deserving of it," even if it's in self-defense, Mom & Aunt's reactions aren't too extreme. This was a man capable of love & generosity. He was a wonderful father to Hwon. The gravity of the situation is crushing them.
Once the truth of what happened to her father is exposed, Hwon's frozen core was hit by a sledgehammer & shattered. At the height of her pain, Hwon tells ES, in a Silver Fox paraphrase: "I'm so scared. I don't know what people are really like. I keep getting fooled. I can't believe anything of what they say or the things I had believed in." She talks about the hurt of not being told by her family about anything that's going on. In talking-the-cold-logic of right & wrong, she asks ES if that's right. ES's response is warm emotion. He says: "...(your mom) probably lived all those years carrying the burden in your stead." Mom was trying to protect everyone, but only ended up isolating everyone. Her motivation was love, but she failed to express it. Hwon rightly tells her: "If we're family, we should share the pain together."
Just like when she believed she was rejected by ES, the truth is that Hwon is loved more than she's ever imagined: It's just been hidden from her. How /can/ anybody know they are loved if they aren't told in word or deed? The ones who love Hwon are unable to communicate it. We hurt e/o, but wise people apologize, forgive & move on. Everyone needs to find their space in which to live, breathe, and thrive.
Spring winds that had carried Hwon to Seoul later deliver her back to Walnut House. She's ready to plant roots & bloom. While she hated teaching music to children at the beginning of WTWIF, she's now content w/ it. Simplifying her life has allowed her to be at peace & to latch on to ES for all seasons to come.
Originally 〰️🖊 9/2021
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✒Joseon-Seoul Drift ~⚕️~ Doctors Without⏳Borders °VG° °7.6°
This one had me on pins and needles😁. {Oh, dear. Many apologies. I had to excise that from my system. Okie dokie, moving on...}I wasn't enthusiastic about LUTYN a couple episodes deep. It didn't spike my interest. It almost seemed too ridiculous, and I wasn't getting the point. It's a house rule that the whole series must be watched prior to weighing in, intolerable, stabbing pain being the exception. Some shows are perfected or impaled in the final episodes. Therefore, prodding - um, plodding on was the only choice.
It paid off like hidden treasure.
The show's premise is that Dr. Heo Im, the most famous and gifted physician/acupuncturist from the Joseon era, suddenly time slips to the 21st century. While a 400 year jump would put a strain on anybody, he penetrates 21st century society uncommonly well. The primary reason is that his skills are still relevant and on📍point in modern days.
Dr. Heo Im undergoes a remarkable transition (healing) in the course of the show. His touching relationship with Ha-ra (it's precious) is enough reason to stick with this series. The interactions with Bong-sik and Mom are almost as sweet. Watching Dr. Choi Yearn-keyong (played by Kim A-Joong, who makes 200 Pounds Beauty-6.5 worth watching) and Dr. Im circling round eachother, while the circles become a tightening loop that stitches one to the other, is pure pleasure.
One coincidence after another keeps him and Dr. Choi poking into one another. She, understandably, thinks he's screwy. Eventually, she is forced to believe him: They are thrust into, and stuck inside, many harrowing situations while they try to understand what in the wide world is going on. It's not like he could fabricate what she's seeing and feeling, and collective hallucinations are not as good an explanation as the simple truth: This guy's from the past! It's not a new concept, but LUTYN tells a great story in a skillful way that punctured my bubble of resistance. One scene that was particularly cute was when they played some carnival style games. She's better at throwing darts and popping 🎈🎈🎈 than ‘Mr. Needle’ is.
LUTYN has a light-hearted feel, but it also managed to sting my eyes on a couple occasions. They, additionally, address piercing questions that prickle beyond mere medical ethics. It's shot (filmed) well, and while LUTYN is not a high budget feature, the battle scene is impressive; Dr. Im's patients aren't the only ones who get skewered.
The biggest head-scratcher, from my perspective, is how they failed to equip Dr. Im with the best tools for that final penetration, er - mission. It's difficult to elaborate without spoilers, so we'll leave it there, lest I pierce your eyes. The ending is better than the average. Too many Kdramas have rushed, or tacked-on endings. The cadence on LUTYN is perfect. They 🔨nail it.
The soundtrack is solid. The action song, which is also the title track, nicks beats from the 80's. It's similar to the ROCKY theme, but perhaps, even better. "Troubleshooter" is a get-ready-to-go that's jazzy with a pinch of 70's-80's-cop-show sound. "Not gonna wait," and "Fate" also snagged my interest and are on my Spotify.
My recommendation: Have a little trust, stick around, and give 4 or 5 episodes a 💉 before you seek a second opinion.
QUOTE📢
You get angry at others for your own mistakes.
〰🖍 IMHO
⚡6 🎬7.5 🤔5 🎭8 💓7 🦋5
Age 12+
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love to Hate You 8.9;
Her Private Life 8;
Touch your heart 8.2;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
Love Struck in the City 7.3;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9;
Historical/Period -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
Saimdang 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9
Action/Sci-fi/fantasy -
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
The Cursed 8.3;
Flower of Evil 8.9;
The Man from Nowhere 8.9;
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4
Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks);
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max;
The Bride of Habaek 7;
Heirs 7.3;
That Winter, The Wind Blows 7;
Something in the Rain 9;
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine;
You are my destiny 6.8 cute, sweet & 1/2 padding;
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9
Consider a Chinese historical fantasy romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8, Love Between Fairy and Devil 8.9, Love and Redemption 10 or Japanese lite romcoms: Maid Sama 10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo 7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, or Toradora 8.5
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⏳BONG BONG ⚙ Sing A Song ... Say What!?! ..... Drop It Down.... ⏱H, yeah.....⌛ °8.7°
This show is seriously funny, especially the first half, so... Drop in!I had just watched Live Up To Your Name-7.6 which involves time travel to/from the Joseon period, so redundancy was a concern. Turns out, there was no need to worry, tee-hee.
There's nothing novel about entertainment features that portray time travel to a romanticized past era, anyway. Not only is the contrast between different cultures fascinating, but the fact that people are the same, no matter the circumstances, resonates.
Did I say fascinating? Not on this show. This show displays that the differences are HILARI🤣US.
What's so funny, you ask? Driving a big van through a cramped Joseon shopping district- after beheading the "monster" (the van) didn't work. Pulling out a 99cent lighter and causing panic. Teaching the Joseans "2 thumbs up👍🏽," drinking games, or slang. Fine, it's all been done before, but this show reaches into the backseat and pulls out the laughs. It's all giggles until a misplaced history book almost wipes out Korea entirely. Oh my. What should we do?
The van, Bong-Bong, is the most intelligent of the characters. Bong-Bong clearly has an agenda, and drives the plot, ahem.
Speaking of characters, we have the petulant actress, the greedy flimflam artist, the Mute Ninja who communicates with his mind, the escaped princess, the villain (a narcissist in full bloom), and more.
I loved this corny little show. The episodes are all just 30 minutes, so each one is its own brief escape. Bong-Bong may take me anywhere. Let him (yes, Bong-Bong is a male, even though On-dal calls him 'my lady' throughout) anyway, let him take you through 20 fun filled episodes. You won't want to return!
You have reached your destination.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣9 📝7 🎭8 💓8 🦋8 🌞6 🎨7 ⚡6 🎵/🔊8 😅7 😭3 😱3 😯3 😖3 🤔5 💤0 🔚10
Age13+
R language F💣 X 4 which is later played back
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Out Of The Chrysalis ➰️ Into Self Awareness ➰️ An Art School Fable About Taking Wing VG 7.6
Right from the start I'm thinking:"Yo! Oh NO! Women and girls don't need to be watching this!"
This story follows the lives of art students, particularly Nabi's group of friends. Though the focus is on their love lives, the stresses of classes, projects, competitions, and future plans factor heavily in the story. The protagonist is Yu Nabi, a beautiful and talented but resigned, student.
The show starts with her painful break-up. She is then quickly seduced by the powerfully sexual Park Jae-eon (Song Kang from Sweet Home-8.5 & Navillera), who is a notorious womanizer. They couldn't be more different, except for the "road closure" signs on the way to their hearts. She starts a physical relationship with him but continually doubts him. He never asked for more anyway. This type of dude is not good in real life. Users like this tend to be on the sociopathic scale. Naive girls will think the can change him, that they'll succeed where other women have failed. It won't work, girls. You will get your heart shredded.
"It's making me so uncomfortable," was my thought, from EP 2 through midway when there was a plot shift. At the same time, I was also thinking that the director & actors handled the seduction scenes well. They are as steamy as the kitchen in a noodle restaurant. Nabi moves on to other guys. She has no shortage of admirers herself. These relationships may make her more at ease, but there are clearly no sparks, such as the ones Jae-eon ejects when he's performing his craft.
My method is: No reviews without watching the entire show, intolerable pain being the exception. If I had broken it off with Nevertheless in the early episodes, which I was not enjoying, I would've had a much different opinion than I now do after watching every frame. A solid 25% (it seems) of the early episodes consists of Nabi staring with an emptiness that showcases how a hammer shattered her fragile shell. Her emotional core is pulverized. She's struggling with school. Nothing is going right. She's shut down.
Nabi brightens up in the very last scene, when she settles on the next step in the direction of her future. She smiles radiantly, her voice lifts an octave or so, her words suddenly flow with ease: She's confident. There was so much transformation in that last smiling sentence that it was breathtaking.
The director, Kim Ga Ram (Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency -7.4), created her own piece of art in this series. This is Kim Ga-ram's third effort. All three are rated solidly with an increase in the IMDB rating for each one. We should be looking forward to more excellent offerings from Ms Kim. Screenwriter, Jung Won, is just getting started.
Not only was Nabi's transformation handled aptly, but there are many scenes that are excellent, with imagery and metaphors noticeable in the first watch. (Another go-through would only reveal more.) In Ep9, for example, Do-hyeuk gives Nabi an umbrella. He told her it will rain. He has an extra umbrella. Cut to Jae-eon who looks out at the deluge, umbrellaless. Do-hyeuk was prepared for heartache. He had braced himself. He was ready for rain. Heartache snuck up on Jae-eon. He never saw it coming. Several others in the extended group, who had been longstanding friends, also pair up. Their romances were all done well.
Adorned with a butterfly tattoo on the back of his neck, Jae-eon claims it means: The ugliness & pain of happiness & a lack of freedom. While Jae-eon has looks, money, talent, and popularity, which are all things that people believe will make them happy, he's not happy. He's lived free with many women, which left him not free to pursue a meaningful relationship. It's obvious that Jae-eon's dingy apartment -it's almost grayscale- is emblematic of his closed off heart. "Nabi" means butterfly. Nabi emerges from her chrysalis at the end of the show. That emergence had nothing to do with a man. The criticism of Nevertheless promoting toxic relationships is not fair. Nabi's confidence, in the end, was from, by, and through HER, not anyone else. This show is a cocoon that yields it's beauty right on time.
The sculpture on which Nabi labours for the entire semester appears lackluster, just as Nabi does. She takes a step toward joining society by finally taking on assistants. The reveal for finished works will be the end of semester art show. What's on display is Nabi herself. Nabi's piece has taken up wings to fly. The process and the show are the stages of a butterfly. The matured Nabi powers through her entrapments in full stained glass splendor. She might as well fuse with her sun-catcher and bracelet.
This is a well-crafted show. I would give it a rating of around 7.6, but it doesn't rise to the level of a solid 8. The director will likely be there with her next effort. Nevertheless, this series is well worth watching. It's not like the 3' deep cutesy romances. The director has crafted something more complex. In fact, I would classify this as a drama about self-awareness and self-liberation first, and a romance second.
QUOTE📢
Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne~
〰🖍 IMHO
🎬8 🤔6 🎭8 💓6 🦋8 ⚡1
Age 15+
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Modern Day:
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love to Hate You 8.9;
Oh My Ghost 10;
Our Blues 8.7 - ensemble piece;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
Love Struck in the City 7.3;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9;
Action/Sci-fi/fantasy:
Signal 8.6;
The Cursed 8.3;
Flower of Evil 8.9;
The Man from Nowhere 8.9;
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Romance junkies only:
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks);
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max;
The Bride of Habaek 7;
Heirs 7.3;
That Winter, The Wind Blows7
Something in the Rain 9
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✒Snap Crackle POP IT! ⛺️ °8.2° °Excellent°
🍹This show is a long cold draught on a hot day: Refreshing.MPUB (2020, 12 1hr eps) is a story about the workings of the Afterlife, both up⬆ there, and down⬇ here. Many Afterlifers have jobs, while others have to do community service. Due to the creativity of writers Bae Hye-Soo (webcomic) & Ha Yoon-A, and director, Jeon Chang-Geun (What Happens to My Family?), it's fun to watch them do what they do.
Weol-joo (Hwang Jung Eum from Kill Me, Heal Me) runs a tent bar in Seoul as a front for her real job (eh, court-mandated community service, ahem), which is resolving grudges. She discovers that a local boy, Kang-bae (Yook Sung Jae from Goblin & The Golden Spoon), would be the perfect helper at the bar. That is because Kang-bae has a special talent for getting people to open up - No soju needed. Kang-bae has never been happy about this special talent of his. However, a gig is a gig, so he goes to work with Weol-joo and her bodyguard / Chef, Gwi (Choi Won Young from Under the Queen's Umbrella & Twinkling Watermelon).
Kang-bae is immediately plunged into hazardous assignments. Training is all on-the-job-as-you-go. It's hilarious when they step into a client's deep subconscious without warning Kang-bae of how wildly and inappropriately dangerous their venture is. Only after he screams "BUG!" and almost drops them down the ⬇⤵infinite🕳abyss⤵⬇ (😱❗) do they tell him the downsides of the j.o.b. I actually did L🤣L during that scene.
Another night, when Kang-bae comes to work, he walks through the tent door and enters a sunlit field 🌞. In the background, a jaunty band plays. It's the Afterlife Lottery Games! Next they have him partake in a criminal act that jeopardizes his 😳WN afterlife. Kang-bae can't even begin to get his balance🎢
The first few episodes deal with the stories of various clients. Some are amusing and some are tragic. Later, things take a more personal and dangerous turn. There are quotas to be met. There are bad guys to catch. There is Soju to drink. There are mysteries to be solved. Some have links to events 500 years past.
There's a couple small logical chips on the mug🍺, but the flaws are minor and few. This story is bright, full-bodied, and original. What imaginative delights the writer gave us! The acting and directing are a perfect pour. The cadence is also perfect.
So…crack open a Soju and give it a shot!
IMHO...
🎬8 🤔6 🎭8 ⚡7 💓6 🦋3.
Age 13+
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Modern Day:
Mad For Each Other 7.8 ~silly fun;
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love to Hate You 8.9;
Her Private Life 8;
Touch your heart 8.2;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
Love Struck in the City 7.3;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9;
Something in the Rain 9
Historical/Period:
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy;
Live Up To Your Name 7.6;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
Saimdang 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9
Action/Sci-fi/fantasy:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4
Consider a Chinese historical fantasy romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose (9.8), Love Between Fairy and Devil (8.9) or Japanese lite romcoms: Maid Sama (10), Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo (7.8), Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions (8.4), or Toradora (8.5)
Originally 📝 8/2021
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This review may contain spoilers
✒☂ Drunk Dialing 4 Dummies ⛈ Dysfunction Under Inspection ☂ °7.8° °Excellent°
Spoilers are clearly marked and at the bottom.Witches brew: These 3 friends are cursed!
Wu-Yeon(Wu) the 'ex-collector', says she's cursed to be forever trapped in a 1sided ♥️ w/ Su, despite days, mos, years~> Despite the /decade/ that's elapsed. She seems composed, but when alcohol pours in, emotions pour out into Su's voicemail. Wu has a most-of-life crush on Su, who has declared them to be in friendzone⛔️… more than twice, or thrice (or double on ice) for a full decade. Su drops into town & mixes her up, only to exit without leaving a gratuity. That forever leaves Wu forlorn & in need of liquid relief, which leads to slurpee vms on Su's phone. She's a serial drunk-dialer, & her friends are so hungover it. Su might be their friend, but he drags the party down.
Yeong-Hui(Hu) grew up poor, w/ no advantages behind, & only struggles ahead. She's been cursed to a life of toil, poverty, & unworthiness. Hu is 1/2 of the couple mixed within the group. She and her BF struggle to face life's hardships and muddled family pressures, while trying to stay strong together. The only true struggle is that Hu refuses to accept that the man she loves can truly accept her: She's too poor and her family is always in trouble: She will only drag him down, she's certain.
Jin-Ju(Ju) is cursed as well: Never to know ♥️. Ju struggles with loneliness, and her life, without love, is a drag.
MTF pulls up a chair alongside a band of boozers & toast the twenties. Wu, Hu & Ju were fused 🔗by combat in the HS arena. Now it's 10 years post graduation, when everybody thinks they have it figured out, but virtually no one does. They're learning to navigate adult jobs, situations and relationships. The 3 girls have a lifetime bond from their early HS years, so when Yeong-Hui pairs up with her BF, his friends come along as chasers to round out a 6-pack: 1 couple + 4 drinking buddies.
This brings us to now. Su is back in town, and once again sends signals to Wu that appear encouraging (is it finally happy hour?), only to flip the table on her once more. Again. As soon as Wu moves on to someone else, Su suddenly declares feelings for.... Guess who.
Their stories dial-in to several themes, including:
☂ Scars from thoughtlessness
☂ Pain's effects on emotional health, incl toxic Parent-child relationships & self-inflicted wounds
☂ Surviving 1sided♥️ - They all go through it
☂ Faulty suppositions - recheck yours every 5 years or so. They can't all be right.
☂ The sinking loneliness of selfishness vs the buoyancy of generous & committed ♥️
MTF also offers paths to resolution: L♥️ve is opening, giving & accepting. Maturity is learning to be unselfish, even when it hurts. Especially then.
For a few episodes, it was difficult to tell if it was worth the wait for last-call. There were a generous pours of quality exchanges, metaphors, quotes, ironies, basically the usual for the better Kdramas - The ones they do well are outstanding, if not superbly divine. 75% into the show, I had only been looking at it through narrowed eyes in low light, waiting for the moment a glass would shatter and MTF would be easily swept away & forgotten. However, by ep15, I felt like a regular with the gang at the pour-it-all-out-house. Unexpectedly, real tears started flowing. Inner conflict overflowed next over the proper rating: 7? Am I looking at this through the bottom of the glass? An absolutely stunning conversation put the answer into focus - MTF has buoyancy. It is refreshing, and it dazzles when it catches the light.
There's a spill of latent (submerged) emotions in MTF's examination of the 3 women and the challenges they stare down from across the table in their quest for: Love, financial independence, and the most elusive honesty-to-self. MTF opens their circle and invites the viewer in. Like with any relationship, the show leaves room to allow the viewers to drop in and raise a glass, even though we must hold back the urge to smash a soju bottle over some noggins.
This is more of a drama than a romance, and it is a worthy one. The cast is smooth and fluid; not a sour in the bunch. Ong Seong-Wu exhibits a truly great performance as Su. Be prepared for the slower cadence with anything that helps bring relaxation, and watch them blend, stir, and shake their lives.
〰QUOTES〰
Words are like boomerangs. They come back at you. (Aigoo. HEAR, youngins!)
Emotions are determined by the person on the receiving end. (Isn't perspective & timing everything?)
I'm afraid you will use the wounds you received as a shield & grow up a warped adult.
Back views are the saddest
〰IMHO〰
🎬7.5 🎭7.5 🖋〰 8 (This is the writer's 1st credited work, so we've been promised future brilliance) 💓7 🦋5 🤔8 🌞5 🎨7 🔚8
Age 15+
⚠️SPOILER SECTION⚠️
Before the next round, let's sweep away the broken bottles: MTF deliberately matures at a slow, near frustrating pace. It's relaxing if you can - Just un-tense↪ now breathe🌬 What will likely frustrate every viewer is that Su, Wu, & Hu are as irritating as a botched drink order. Perhaps it's not what you're expecting, but the director & writer have placed tasty fusion on the table.
In defense of the house specials, 1st we'll look at:
Su. Most people dislike him. For most of MTF he's emotionless. He's cold & self-isolated. Su was alone his entire childhood. Now he's alone, even amongst friends. From his view, human interaction means bitterly spatting parents. Affection denied is intimacy died. ‘Relationships are distasteful’, is what he learned at home. No wonder he's a photographer. He studies but never participates. At the same time, he desperately tries to let ☀ inside. Obnoxious, cold, or odd behaviors are childhood painkillers. Kids cope in any way they can. Entrenched behaviors turn into bad habits that are difficult to delete, like a voicemail once it's already been delivered. "Kron-ih-'kah," while it's appropriate (helpful, even) to call out bad behavior, we shouldn't tell a person that s/he isn't handling pain "right". Be patient & generous w/ others.
Though Su won't imbibe his own feelings, it's obvious that he's always been intoxicated with Wu~
⏱ Per his overseas friend, when Su's in the USA, his comment card mentions ·only· Wu, by name. No one else from Kcountry
⏱ Su picked on, cheered up &/or defended no girls, other than than Wu
⏱ No doubts, he enjoys spending ⏱ w/ Wu
⏱ He enjoys it so much that he fills her ☕️ & ⏱ whenever he's back, despite her deflections. "I want to see Wu as much as I can before I leave," he says, etc
⏱ His narcissistic jokes are on the tab, but he never leaves tips about the the good things he's done for Wu
Su's a world away from understanding how his actions leave Wu as frozen as a daiquiri. He lied to himself 1st, being blinded by fear & blunting to his underexposed emotions. Feelings for Wu gush out after she leaves the table to sit in the corner w/ another guy. Then (THEN!) he declares himself. Its effect is 100% contrary to his hopes.
{🐰⚫> IRL, ya'll RUN AWAY! A romantic relationship won't, nor is it supposed to, fix such problems. People like this often don't want to be part of a project that will hire them. The very moment their desired 'object' stirs, they'll dump ice water all over and bolt}
Wu: Though shy, she seems adjusted in HS, but her life's blood is leaking and sharks attack. Even w/ her friends' support, her emotions are still stunted. HS is when she begins to take Su's cues as clues of his interest. Sadly, Su ain't got a clue ·yet· Wu musters the courage to offer her 💝 to Su at the airport as he's escaping M&D by going to the USA. He visibly stiffens to rebuff her w/ blank eyes & rigid face, as a resolute chill falls like a dropped napkin. It's the 1st in a decade of misalignments between them. She cries for a long ⏱. Eventually, she just cries when she's sozzled. This ♻ repeats in bursts. Su reappears & appears interested, so Wu is frozen in hope. Her loved ones are hungover from it all. They don't like Su.
Wu is her most frustrating when she breaks up w/ Su. She's wrong. She agrees to go abroad w/ him, goes back on her promise, & then blames him for not being there - he doesn't ♥️ her enough, she blames. She wasn't honest about ·what· she needed from ·whom· preferring a draught of resentment when her needs sat empty. Just as she always flits from ex-to-the-next, never once opening up, then floating away, she pivots and does the /same/ to Su. 1-sided♥️ is a symptom, as is her projec/deflec·tion. Neither she nor Su is able to heal the other. They must self-heal to self-liberate or they'll self-isolate & self-medicate.
Hu is suffering from what's referenced in The Perks Of Being A Wallflower: "We accept the 💘 we think we deserve." Always railing against poverty, her mother's complaints drip continuously until their tiny apt was overflowing. Mom's resentment became a bitterness that long ago blotted out affection. Hu has been plied with inferiority. She was dunked into the whirlpool w/ no way to emerge, so she truly believes she's dragging down Hun-Jae, her BF since HS. After all, he shouldn't suffer the way she has! Once again, as is the case w/ Su, the branding from childhood cannot be brushed away. She's also extremely stubborn, like mom, so it takes her a long ⏱ to come around.
It's frustrating how nobody has a faster epiphany, but isn't that true life? People don't pivot like Michael Jordan. These characters, blinded by pain, aren't contrived. I'm reminded of Kafka's Metamorphosis & how fed up I was w/ Gregor: "Someone should smash this bug!" Lol〰 Kafka's manipulations: He tricks the reader into being just as fed up as Gregor's family. Gregor didn't do anything wrong↪ Except↪he frustrated us↪so "bring out the Raid!"
The series is to the rim w/ metaphors:
☂ Absent Su, the dummies are drinking. Wu keeps looking at the empty Su-less chair next to her
☂ Jurassic Park's "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" is cleverly placed (Su's apt in rearview)
☂ Wu & Su's clothes will start matching as they see each other more often
☂ Pinocchio's nose teaches us that lying distances us from others. We always lie to ourselves 1st. What sensible profundity
〰☂〰 ⛈Rain⛈ 〰☂〰
In MTF, rain represents the rough stuff of life that hammers all. Similar to armor, the ☂☂s are protective Shields. When Su decides to ♥️ Wu, he abandons his ☂ (He ✨ when wet. Ahem). Unprotected, Su hazards the elements & gets drenched. (Song-Wu Ong should do more scenes in the rain, all wet ☺).
People don't share ☂s often in the show. They're all alone in trying to protect themselves from the ⛈ of life. Instead of a lightweight ☂, they're wrapped up & weighted down in armor. We stand strong, walk shielded, & party-on better TOGETHER. It's not a coincidence that Hu compares turtle shells to armor over scars. Eventually, one will die from the weight or learn to take some off. (Of all the hypocrisy! - As if she's going to walk in the rain & not get wet! She will finally pull her chair all the way up to the table.)
About hypocrisy... When Ju tells the other girls how she sees ♥️, fate, & commitment, she might have been staggering around the room from the looks Hu&Wu shot her. The viewer's expectation is that the 2 will choose a personal-life application from that sampler. Instead, they comment on how /Ju/ has matured! We're all blind to our own stuff. That scene drops a case of stuff.
Enough w/ the ♥️🔺s! Not realizing, as a newbie, what a departure MTF is from Kdrama tropes (the CEO is not the best match), the kind CEO seems the better choice. But, Su is a different person by the end. He exits w/ his glass ½ full. He loves. He's open to friendship. He is now able to point the lens Wu's way: It's HE that's been in a 1-sided♥️ w/ HER all this time, he declares. I was stunned. So was Wu. She stops, reviews, & realizes ALL her relationships had been 1-sided ~> b/c of HER. That's top-shelf writing. It was this scene + crying real tears that took my rating from 7 to 8.
Along w/the ♥️🔺, MTF serves up another trope: MSS (Mandatory-Separation-Syndrome). Usually painful as cirrhosis, for Su & Wu it's a good thing. The power balance between them should be 1:1 parts, which is necessary for them to grow together. It's also appropriate that Su's devotion be proof-tested.
The men in this show are saint-level good: Loving, patient, supportive... These girls tapped-the-majic-keg! Even though Wu didn't choose Saint CEO, she did catalyze Su into becoming her prince. Ding-dong! The curse is lifted. Each girl gets her prince! Ju, the girl w/ the loveless curse, gets married 1st. (It looks that way - they'll make it. Right? ;)) She had been looking & lamenting that she would never find him, but he had always been spilled out in front of her. The other two come to realize they weren't cursed in the first place. None of them were.
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♡They Slap The Guemganggo On The Viewer! ⚙ A Total Guilty Pleasure♡
What to think of this?In the first couple episodes I couldn't u/s this acid trip. I peeped Wiki & learned that it's based on the classic 13th century (some of the stories are older) Chinese fantasy-quest novel: Journey To The West. The most outlandish elements of KO are taken directly from this classic. Having ruled out KO being devised under pharmaceutical influence (in the 21st century, at least), I trekked on.
KO opens with an adorable little girl, actress So Won Kal. She's wonderful as young Jin Seon-mi, who is duped by Devil King/”DK”. He may look like a man, but he's really a /monster/. He asks her to collect something from inside a magical chalet. His warning: Never acknowledge the being living in there; she should act like she can't even see him.
Why send a little girl, you ask? DK /knows/ she can do this, b/c he noticed that she is able to see spirits.
Little Seon-mi has gotten herself into the middle of a cosmic, centuries long game being played by I'll-do-anything-that-makes-me-look-cool Son O-gong/”SOG” & DK. SOG is the being that's trapped & Seon-mi is no match for him - yet. He makes a protection deal w/ her: If she will set him free, he'll come help her whenever she calls for him: He'll always protect her. Once free, Mr. Slyboots removes his name from her memory. She won't be able to call his name now, & he'll never have to honor the deal. He didn't realize they were destined to work together to save the world, however.
Fast forward a couple decades. They meet again, & SOG is not indifferent this time. This time, he has the illest of intentions: He wants to eat her! She is, as it turns out, a Samjam - she's one-off-a-kind special. Consuming her will make any spirit or monster vastly stronger: Her very scent is intoxicating! He soon discovers their deal, actually does protect her. He can't proceed with their contract in effect. How about a new, #much-better-deal☺❔️? NOPE. She ain't trusting him again✋️. He tries to get her to willingly agree - she's going to get eaten… At least he'll be gentle... Not a working strategy either. Aigoo, until he can figure something out, he'll have to protect her so nobody else can get a bite in first.
I know, right? So WRONG.
Under his wing, the delightful world of monsters & spirits opens up to Seon-mi. They occupy the most coveted positions in the world: entertainment, business, politics, & so on. Though there are bulls, monkeys & pigs (O MY!), etc, they look just like us. That allows them to blend in while keeping the populace at large blind to their existence. Even Hyun Bin (from Crash Landing On You) is one! We mortals are powerless against them, indeed;)) When a CEO shows up to cook & clean at DK's house, we get a sense of the privileged life they lead.
KO is a visual extravaganza. The fashion is bold & exciting, yet Seon-mi is always understated. Much of the show takes place at DK's house. That's a good thing, because anyone would want to hang out in this glizy, uber opulent abode. From the marble floors to the intricately composed walls of beveled mirrors & 1930's streamline gleam, everything shines. Most of us have never seen the like. Yet it still seems comfortable - a design marvel.
They add numerous touches to fill out the space nicely, such as putting Mrs. Ma (a dog) in purple lipstick to make her mouth look more dog-like. Another example is when they are looking for a mermaid. The hallway they walk is lit to look like wavy water. It's such details that separate the mundane from the marvelous.
There's clever juxtaposition. The other kids know she can see ghosts, so Seon-mi is picked on horribly at school as a child. She's different. Taking note of the insulting hate inscriptions carved by her classmates, she sits down at her desk and slaps her ETHICS book down. This is the beauty of film. One could write volumes on the topic of bullying, and they were able to reduce it all to one slamming book. I always need a moment to geek out over morsels like that〰
Ok, I'm back. The acting is terrific. Lee Se-young has 3 parts total, including Richie, my favorite character in the series. Cha Seung-won, as Devil King, must go through Samjan fits & display all manifestations of rage. They both just knock it out of the volcano.
We get a look at some fun relationships. SOG is a capricious, mean, surly, brat of a being. He & DK don't hate each other; they've just been playing tit-for-tat for centuries because they're bored. Neither one wants the other to perish, as that would make life even more boring. Hanging around the two of them when they're acting up is like a carnival ride. SOG & Seon-mi's dynamic goes from predator & mark to something quite different over the course of the series. It's truly special.
There's heavy foreshadowing. Familiarity with this director and writer prompts a caution: Believe their foreshadowing. These two value Duty Over Pleasure. Here may be sniffles. Tears, even. In the scene that shows the darkest augury, black is the theme. It's heavy & dark feeling w/ both characters in black. As we get closer, we can see that one's wearing a shirt with gold trim over black on one half, & gold trim over white on the other. There is still optimism.
Now for some Scooby Snacks〰
○We meet the cutest, hot zombie ever. Lil sumpum for the boys....
○There's a group chat that's a well done running gag.
○SOG moves into DK's place without even asking. What he likes, he says, is that "Parking's not an issue." He's using 3 spaces, it turns out, & DK is in trouble with the manager over it. Parking's an issue, just not for SOG.
○There's oodles of ice cream.
○We see a CEO cleaning & cooking at DK's. He makes snacks for the kids. The CEO even cleans Seon-mi's fridge! Her assistant would have fainted over that.
○Speaking of said assistant, Lee Han-joo, he's comical. He's always terrified, as he can sense the ghosts around them, but can't see them. Ms Jin has kept him in the dark about her capabilities, but he knows things aren't quite right. °He's always thinking about quitting, but then something amazing will happen. As Jin Seon-mi gets tangled up with dieties & their agendas, mega stars & other mysterious beings start showing up at the office. He's not leaving now!
○One day he due to an emergency he leaves his kids with Ms Jin. When he picks them up, they refuse to leave at first. They saw (real) dinosaurs & PK, (the pop idol) the CEO made them snacks... and they got to play with a girl that can pop her eyeballs out! Ha! That one made me suddenly laugh so loudly, I scared the cat.
Now for a couple examples of how they bollixed it up〰
●The undisciplined dialogue is the biggest flaw.
●There's too many contradictions.
●There's too much wavering back and forth, forth and back, and forth. And so on.
●Yet some things that weren't said were even more vexing.
●There's dead ends running amok. For instance, we're told that SOG has never felt real pain, but they also had informed us earlier that his heart was broken after being betrayed by a human. Later, that sunk to the bottom never to be heard from again. In the world of film craft, that's basically inexcusable. Quality productions don't do stuff like that.
●Finally, Lee Seung-gi looks Waaay better with the long hair. Why'd they cut it?
Here's the journal I kept while watching KO, until I gave it up, being at a loss〰
》It's so bad. Undisciplined, running amok all over the place. It's awful.
》Oh, look. Even Ritchie's in the group text. Look at SOG, trying to act like he doesn't care. It's too much for him. That's hilarious.
》This is so wrong. If he says he doesn't like to see her hurt, then why is he telling her he can't wait to get rid of her? He's the only one hurting her. This is frustrating.
》Ha! That one was outrageous. What fun.
》They all stab her in the back. They are all #monsters. She needs to run away. Go grab Jonathan, please! Save yourself!
》Hey, that kiss was something. They truly seem to care about each other. Sweet.
》PK, really? Feed (X) to (Y)? You're rotten!!
》》(W), how could you work with a goddess to steal (A's) soul!?!
》That's so cute.
》》No, it's awful.
》Just look at the way they look at eac..ch...othr.
》It's funny.
》》It's turrible
》Why du I like it
》》I don... No do. Nonn em Emmmm
》》》Augh!!!!! My head's exploding!
》》》Get out of my head‼️《《《
Conclusion: like deities, it's up & down, but it dons the guilty pleasure genre like sweet smelling, comfy slippers. This show slapped a Guemganggo on me, and I'm liking it against my will. I hate it too.. Maybe... It's doing to the audience what the characters do to each other. (Not for a second do I believe that's by design, but it would be awesome if it was).
Finally, there's an exploration of the idea of being forced to love someone. We aren't talking about a love potion where somebody's drugged into an obsession. In KO, a flawed and selfish character is either forced to (truly) love, or given the gift of love, depending on how we look at it.
For the character, this is a wonderful feeling without losing the sense of self. Said character becomes a better, deeper person. If God gives us love, are we to enjoy it? Are we to be angry that it didn't originate from ourselves, or that we don't have a choice? No.
Love is a gift 〰♥️〰 It's always a gift.
QUOTES〰
It's dangerous to assume others think the same way you do. Thinking you're Ultimately different from others is also dangerous.
The reduction of the universe to the compass of a single being and the extension of a single being until it reaches God. This is love. ~Victor Hugo~
IMHO〰
RATINGS
Directing 7
Acting 8
Romance 8
Flutters 7
Art 9
Ending 8
LEVELS
Action/ Excitement 6
Thought provocation 5
Snores 0
Suggested Age 15+
Don't miss:
K: My Only Love Song 8.7;
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
Alchemy of Souls-8.3
Black-9
C: The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8
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✒Jack & the Hedgehog Take a Bite Outta the Hood ✨ °8.2° °Excellent°
Yoon Hye Jin (HJin) loses it one day. Total Mariah-moment. She quits. She drinks. She trashes her boss online. HJin is a skilled dentist with a conscience. This, invariably, put her at odds with her greedy boss who expected her to prescribe unnecessary, but expensive treatment for their unwitting patients. She couldn't take the pain anymore, and extraction was necessary. Now she's jobless and no one wants to hire a ‘poison pill’. Going keyboard commando on her employer put all her potential employers’ teeth on edge.What does she do? She goes for a ride. Her wandering takes her to a quaint seaside town. Her love affair begins with the sign over one establishment: Coffee in the middle of the day. Beer in the moonlight… But she ends up having a fateful day: She loses her shoes. Then her phone dies. She can't find her money either. At every turn she received reluctant assistance from a local yocal, Hong Doo Shik (DShik).
HCCC is a 2021 release that is rated 90 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 70-minute episodes. Shin Ha Eun of Love Next Door and The Crowned Clown is the screenwriter who brings small town magic to life. The deep-dimpled and lovely Shin Min Ah (Chief of Staff, Oh My Venus-7.4, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Our Blues-8.5) is HJin. She's the hedgehog - get too close you'll get stuck. Kim Seon Ho (Welcome to Waikiki S2, 100 Days My Prince-5.5) is DShik, our Jack-of-all-trades. Since Start-up-8 and Strongest Delivery Man-6.6, I've been a fan. It's wonderful to see him play the romantic lead. Lee Sang Yi (Youth of May, When the Camellia Blooms-8, Han RiverPolice-7.4) once again shows his range as Ji Sung Hyun. Kim Young Ok, whose earliest credit is from 1957, is one of the elderly ladies. She is stupendous. The magnificent Lee Jung Eun has a guest appearance in ep1; I think she's my favorite actress right now. The rest of the cast is wonderful, and the music might even be better. After Shazaming ‘Wish’ by Choi Yu Ree I pulled the entire playlist up on Spotify. All of the music is sensational. It compounds the delight factor. HCCC is excellent. There's a little bit of filler in double-digit episodes, but it doesn't suffer much from it.
I'm a fan of the director, Yoo Je Won. He's brought us Oh My Ghost-10, the popular Love Next Door, & Crash Course in Romance. This Director exudes warmth, has an appreciation for good food, and really “gets” good music, particularly jazz. Like OMG, the soundtrack for HTCCC is stellar. Top tier. After some bold & underlined question marks (CV overview follows review) I am so happy that he's settled back into his own and is cranking out such amazing stuff, like I know that he can.
The main character in HCCC is the home town. HJin is from Seoul. She is used to high fashion and upscale amenities. The people that live in her new home lead different lives and rely on eachother heavily. We have the young, the old, the men, the women, the silly and the wise. There's a full cast and wide variety of well-developed characters who help push the plot. They also like to sink their teeth into some juicy gossip. After taking the plunge and opening a dental practice there, HJin offends everyone with her unconsciously elitist attitude, but with DShik's help from the shadows, she eventually settles into small town life. The next closest dentist is an hour away, so customers begin to wander in.
When HJin & DShik finally start dating, she wants to keep it a secret. The town is full of busybodies, afterall. Most of it isn't mean-spirited, but that's besides the point. Every time someone happens upon a sweet moment they are sharing, she turns around and slaps or kicks him. She even gives him a bloody nose in an effort to throw the dogs off. He almost doesn't survive their initial secretive phase. As it turns out, none of it was working anyway. Everyone saw through it.
They run into relationship static at one point. She knows he's keeping hurts from the past bottled up. She wants him to open up. She comes to the conclusion that she should wait for him. She tells him that if he promises to open up to her one day, then she'll wait until he's ready. He can take as long as he wants to “open wide”. I think that's the right answer instead of drilling him for what she wants, when she wants it.
HCCC digs into the root of things once or twice. One of the characters gets a beautiful speech followed up shortly by quite a beautiful death scene. Rather than the sequence feeling sad, it is a triumph of a simple life, lived well, to the fullest satisfaction. That is the theme of HCCC: A simple life and being content with just enough is the key to happiness. We let our endless wants create discontent and dissatisfaction. Choosing simplicity and contentment is choosing joy and peace. Love will always follow Along those lines, HCCC is a pleasant trip to the seaside with nothing complicated or heavy. Quite the opposite.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣8.2 📝7.8 🎭8 💓7.7 🦋5 🎨7 🎵/🔊8.8 🔚8 ▪ 🌞6.5 ⚡3 😅4 😭3 😱2 😯2 🤢1 🤔5 💤1
Age 12+ Language: PG-13, but there isn't much of that. Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.
Re-📺? 🆒
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Fish out water tales:
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Mr. Queen 8.5,
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2 - It's exceptional except for 2 episodes,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
Modern Day Kromcoms-
Mad For Each Other-7.7 ~silly fun;
Crazy Love-7.8,
My First First Love-8,
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9;
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Our Blues-8.7,
Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Because This Is My First Life-7.7,
Hospital Playlist 9,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Historical/Period -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
99 days with the Superstar-7,
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek 7,
A Korean Odyssey-7.2,
Heirs 7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows 7,
Something in the Rain 9,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
You are my destiny 6.8 cute, sweet & 1/2 padding, When I Fly Towards You-7.8, Find Yourself 8.9,
Hidden Love-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5
{📣Yoo Je Won Career summary: The solidly rated High School King of Savvy is his first effort. Oh My Ghost, as highly rated as it is, is still under-appreciated. Not only are the 4 leads (as well as supporting actor Lim Ju-hwan) absolute savants, but there is not one wasted line of dialogue. Everything points to something else. There's constant use of foreshadowing, metaphors, and other techniques that don't stop. Every viewing of the show reveals only more. Furthermore, it's a laugh-out-loud delight in the first half and then gets genuinely teary later on. I suspect it suffers because things don't get rolling until the very end of ep1, so a chunk of viewers probably didn't stick with it. Nevertheless, it is a masterpiece and catapulted this director and the lead actors to super-stardom. Tomorrow With You-7, which also stars Shin Min Ah, was next. I liked it very much, but some of the logic is deeply flawed - so much so that I cannot rate it above a 7. The positives outweigh the bad, but it should have been better. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes was well received and followed up by Abyss-4.7, which is a complete failure in every way possible. It is a debacle and there is almost nothing redeeming about it, other than the good looks of the ML. It is over-rated by kind viewers, many of which are likely reacting to a dearth of good romantic content from Hwood. Abyss is better than most Hwood gunk, but it is not worth watching once, given the many better features Asia has to offer. Hi Bye Mama!-6.5 has plenty of positives, but I wouldn't choose to watch it again. It was intended to be a ray of hope for people that have suffered loss, which was exactly what I was going through at the time, but it didn't do it for me. With HTCCC, CCiR, and LND he seems to have recaptured his magic.}
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