ShortCircuit

I came in on a whim, stayed for the music, in the end went all in for Luo Bin. Despite some of the more rough parts, his character journey was the best, IMHO.

Though I have to say this first and foremost - WTH was everybody else doing, leaving the suicidal-despressed guy ALL ALONE after he had just had 1. the shock of his life when his BFF turned out to know a lot more about him than he had thought, 2. discovered he had placed his GF in mortal danger by existing in her general vicinity, 3. turned his BFF into a drug-addict killer AND still had him going obssessive over how to repay HCF for something that wasn't really his fault, 4. destroyed all trust with the local cops.

The HECK?! You don't do that to depressed people. I cheered when he decided he wouldn't leave (as in "leave", you know, going somewhere to lick his wounds and maybe have more suicidal ideations with no providential cat and BFF meeting this time).

So I don't really care about Sui Yi's motivations, she sucks big time with her time off request. And so does Xiao An - what, the only person she's coming for is Luo Bin? The other two are just fill-ins?! Eff that.

The bromance was so strong in this one I am not really sure if the hetero romance had any good fighting chance in the first place, LOL. Also, Zhu ZhengTing has amazing eyes and the camera man - he be praised! - should've found that out earlier. Just sayin'.

The clothing dep't, whatever it's called, should be fired en masse. They had no redeeming quality, despite some slick black suits that actually did fit the MCs, and the few paltry young people's outfits they allowed on set. My eyes are still smarting from all the ill-fitting, way-too-old-style for them clothing. No more, please.

The music was A-MA-ZING! And I seriously want it. Please China production company, release the OST and BGM!!

The plot itself - hm. There were some mysteries, the villains sometimes made sense, there were way too many overdramatic villains' actions, LOL, and the drug angle remained hinted-at instead of spoken out-loud, but it was kind of obvious. I wonder if China has the self-defense protection, or some rules to cut served time off for good behaviour. Even so, I'm satisfied with the ending. And I'll be looking out for these two guys in the future.

The part I liked best was when Frodo, err, I mean ChuFeng, knew Sam, err, I mean Robin, was coming through that door even without looking up.

Seriously though, I am all the way in Team Luo Bin.

Also, where the heck can I find that awesome soundtrack?! All the songs, not just the OP/ED, and the BGM too. I need those. For science.

I'll trust on this one, but if there's even the smallest hint of horror... I'll send some scary vibes your way :D

I highly recommend NiF. I also postponed it "until I have some spare time", then for some reason I started watching in the middle of a Wednesday night and I was finishing it by Saturday night. It's most binge-able, finally a revenge drama where the villains are actually pretty smart, and things happen that make sense and then there are the unforgettable characters, the amazing bromance (not even a hint of BL, I tell you, pure bromance) and the music!! I am easily addicted to OSTs, and this one's a keeper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWCtNwrCnUo&list=PL_gfTjL5_y7vpWtPOB49wEL5RRSeBv3w2

Can't sing its praises enough :D

I think HS is horror, though (watched the trailer a while back, seemed scary). I don't do well with horror, even if there's Gun in it LOL. (Made the mistake to watch Blue Hour before I read the synopsis, never again :D) And I even (kind of) like ghost stories. Hey, I watched The Sixth Sense twice in a row in cinema, that has to count for something LOL.

OMG... Only 7 from the lists above?! It sure felt I would've watched a lot more...

1. 32 dramas from 2022.

2. South Korea (16)

3. Drama (heh) (then Romance - but I pinky swear it's all accidental. All dramas have that romance part involved and I can't skip the genre tag, LOL. I'm more into mystery and thrillers). My most used tag - not genre - was Death, oops.

4. Reset (9/10)

5. I Don't Want To Be Brothers With You (because you sometimes need that heartwarming, found-family story that really IS about caring and where nobody is a bad guy, not even the bad guy (girl) themselves). Hon. mentions, though, The Oath of Love (because it's so cute!) and Under the Skin (because whoever drew those things is an artist. Or a whole bunch of them LOL).

6. I finally had time to just sit down and watch Nirvana in Fire. Yes, it holds up. Yes it broke my heart. But then again, I haven't felt that feeling since The Untamed and I needed it.

7. First, finish Sword Snow Stride (which I am watching.) Then maybe Joy of Life. I hear there'll be a new Nirvana in Fire - are we there yet?

PS OMG is the Thai Cave Rescue movie/drama out already?! I CANNOT put myself through that, though the ratings are pretty high. I watched it all develop in real-time, almost gave myself a cardiac arrest a few times, especially when the monsoon rains threatened to return. I am STILL so glad all the boys and their coach made it out, and that the stateless boys finally got their citizenship, too, but I still feel so bad for the brave people who risked their lives and lost them - Saman Kunan and later, Beirut Pakbara, in the process of bringing the boys up. Also gave myself second-hand PTSD after researching too much info on deep-cave diving (don't do it kids!!!)

From the list above, there's that Taiwanese drama, About Youth, that looks interesting, thanks for the rec!

(PPS I see the post date of the article as tomorrow, I have no idea how I can see it today, LOL. Don't ask. The Internet is drunk tonight probably :D)

I'll be there for any OffGun, though mostly for Gun. I'll maybe even try some supernatural vibes in Midnight Museum for his sake. But somebody better please tell this young man not to star in so many horror dramas, LOL, I get the chills and scares too easily :D

Because some of them, and DEFINITELY this one, are worth it.

Also, you just watched AoS S1 & S2, they're 30 eps of 1-1.5 hrs EACH with basically no OP and ED, which rounds them up to around 35-40 hours of content (for both seasons). TU has 50 eps of around 45 mins, including OP and ED, which means about 40 mins per episode, that is, 33-34 hours of total content.

So you see, it's not that they're long. It's just that you're used to count by episode number.

Give it a try, it's completely worth the hype.

(subs on) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ldvydu34Is

And here I only finished AoL for Run Yu's story LOL. Perspectives :D

At least S1 did have its moments, besides the cool moments. I still remember some pretty emotional scenes where Uk did manage to LEARN magic and not just invent holy fiery bows to shoot magical overpowered beings with and NOT die as it was implied would happen, for like, the whole S2...

I mean, did you really not want to watch SO many scenes where Lord Park couldn't cook right, and so few scenes where things actually happen to move the plot forward? *sigh*

They're both extremely good in different ways. The MCs in this one are less emotional than in TU, and the plots are vastly different, so don't expect the same type of vibe. If you like it, it might drag you in as much as TU, but do NOT expect anything to be similar. (This, coming from someone who watched and loved both dramas).

So, let's take it in order. A looooong setup for some support character losses, but no wait, they're undone because why not.

Then Seo Yul becomes the narrator for everything Bu-Yeon does because why not?

Then the fire bird is released and Uk fights it with the Ice Stone but he doesn't die, because why not?

Ex-priestess just came in and took over a dead baby's body, then waaited for twenty some years, then did magic (nothing really amazing either, why didn't she do it 200 years back?!), then released the body to another person - yay, zombie love for everyone!

Master Lee did stuff, off screen, because why not?

And also yay, Dang-Gu and Cho-Yeon had s*x, LOL. Yeah, important news for the story.

The MCs reuniting after both of them (inexplicably) survive a (rather un-impressive) final boss battle doesn't need to be shown on screen after 30 eps, because why not?

You know what? The first season wasn't the greatest fantasy ever, but it did have cohesion, a certain plot line, and a good resolution, even if not a HEA. I'll pretend the second season didn't happen. (Despite the CP-Uk-turtle cp happening.)

No turtle. Sad.

Also, so much exposition and so little action. Meh.

It's from Mo Dao Zu Shi (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation), the novel The Untamed is based on. But it's related to WWX's great confession to LWJ, so it didn't get past the censorship in the drama.

It IS present in the audio drama, though, if you want to hear it, and obviously, it's in the novel. As far as confessions go... WWX never does things half-heartedly, LOL.

My friends... you bow to no one!

Oh wait, you meant ROMANTIC quotes LOL. I love that TU quote myself - what about the famous: "I once thought you were my soulmate in this life." - "I still am!" :D
And SINCE we're talking... what about the even MORE famous quote that didn't make it through censorship sadly, "Everyday means everyday"? :D I don't know about romantic, but pretty memorable, IMHO :D

Or bromance heartbreaking quotes? In Nirvana in Fire, Consort Jing is trying hard to console JingYan telling him, "As long as you remember Xiao Shu, he is alive in your heart", but JingYan just says - "I don't want him alive in my heart, I want him alive in this world." I bawled my eyes out at that, because seriously? That's pure pain.

Or in Word of Honor - Wen KeXing is gone, so Zhou ZiShu goes on a rampage - "The world is not important, only my soulmate is" and then there's the even more direct one, with him shielding WKX with his body, shouting out "You're not worthy!" at Ye BaiYi, LOL.

For some reason, all I can think of are great romantic scenes of bromance/BL period dramas, LOL. Despite having watched LaR, AoL, AoS, etc...

There are 9 already aired eps they could have strung those upcoming deaths along and made them more impactfull. Instead we got frustrating slo-mo plots and the main leads barely spent meaningful time together on screen.

That's at least a wasted opportunity but IMHO it's just bad, very bad writing all around.

Is it me, or did this whole ep turn into a complete mess of editing?! All plotlines were messy and interrupted again and again, the big fight against 78 soul-shifters was kind of meh (ep 7's THREAT to attack from Uk was much more impressive), the queen was very predictably stupid again, the whole Assembly is now traitorous, WTH?!

And that last scene, what, it implies all the good-side elders are now gone? Like Park and Mme Kim, and maybe Mme Jin and who else? And throughout all this, Master Lee is gone (again) and nobody's ruling the mad house while Uk and Naksu are busy killing each other off heroically?

I am pretty disappointed. I didn't want much any more, just some bluster and cool fighting scenes...

The only saving grace at this time is the CP-Uk cp, that makes me still watch it to the end, LOL. And the turtle.

Ep 9, or Impenetrable Gwido's Revolving Door.

At least the turtle made it.

Stations (open air and cable too) survive through ads (or used to, anyway). If nobody much invests in their prime time airing, they try to switch to programs that generate more revenue or something. Or even stop investing so much in dramas at all - I mean, a lot of the public switched to streaming and the trend won't revert any time soon, so it probably isn't so profitable to put a lot of money into a drama only to see little return for it in the form of advertising.

Just my 2 cents though, I'm not in the industry.