Say, you've just started a new drama because it has an interesting plot, you like the actors, you've seen the trailer - whatever. You obviously make the mistake of watching it in real-time release (because you're STUPID - YES I'M LOOKING IN A MIRROR RIGHT NOW~! Stay out of it, I've got this.) And then you make the second mistake - you go online to vent, applaud, cheerlead or express what irks you.
And you find the fans. The ones who 100%, no holds barred, no excuses for not fangirling over hot oppa-allowed, will NOT let you have a different opinion. And they say so. Repeatedly. Attacking you in person for your tastes and choices in drama, questioning your level of knowledge about the EFFORT that went on making that drama (that is obviously such a success but you're the only idiot who can't see it). And then you try to explain, as reasonably as white-anger allows you, that you don't give a fig, it's just your opinion, and you're not there to be an anti-fan or drag down the production, you just don't LIKE certain things.
The more you try to be reasonable, the more they attack. Until the end, when you 1. stop commenting/participating in any kind of discussions even if you still follow the drama, and 2. give up and drop it with a VERY bitter after taste. Which is, sadly, not even produced by the drama itself, but by the acid/toxic fans. (And I really do hate saying "toxic" about anything, it's become so overused.)
Communities can get very loud and overzealous in "protecting" their likes. Sadly, it tends to happen in MDL too, which makes me glad the block user button exists, though I only hoped to use that in reddit, where it's the norm.
Now, back to the usual themes: I only got very serious SLS in The Wolf, I dropped Start-up in its first third because it looked to be going in circles and yes, I was also heading towards a SLS stage by then anyway, I HATE it when they announce they'd be extending a well-rated drama with a bunch of new episodes nobody asked for, I also don't like the PPL if it's done badly (at least in Jirisan, for example, they kept using the yoghurts but they were poisoned, LOL, talk about a strange promotion strategy.) People not talking to each other but disclosing all their plans to their enemies, booze (so MUCH booze especially in SK dramas), historical dramas that have no feeling of being lived-in (new everything - new rooms, new furniture, new clothes, new cutely-dirtied bandages, people who are supposed to know each other from ages ago who talk like they've just met, and so on and so forth).
Oh and origin stories that involve falling in love as kids. That makes my blood boil most of the time. Let kids be kids and don't fate-link them forever. (That was one huge selling point for Gu Family Book, at least for the Wol-Ryung storyline. I wanted a separate drama just for him and nevermind the second generation gumiho).
At least there's the HEA. Though they did trick us out of the scene of HJ opening his eyes.
I have... mixed feelings about it. The end could have explained more about how come YK can now not only stand, but hike again, and how HJ recovered so well, instead of taking us on a stroll along memory lane with Goo Young (who I don't care enough about in the end).
Kim Sol dying by the mountain - so to speak - is also kind of anticlimatic. Why didn't the mountain make him slide sometime along the killing spree?! I guess that's why YK keeps saying the mountain's just a mountain.
I could have skipped the ticket girl becoming a ranger too - didn't she get the ticket? Go be a Gangnam celeb, why don't you?!
Overall, there were good parts and not so good parts but I kind of liked it. I wish there was more on the supernatural aspect but you can't have them all.
I have rewatched the teaser where HJ opened the eyes, most likely it is cut scene from the past as he he was without…
Why would he be in a hospital bed then? I still have hope.
Edit I rewatched the scene too, he's still intubated - no air mask, true. It doesn't look like a past scene. I sure hope it's not a dream sequence or whatnot.
So this turns out to be kind of a see-saw series. The first episode of the week is kind of pale, and then a very…
If the dis-incriminating evidence was so easy to follow, this will turn out to be a case of police incompetence. I have to say it, I'm kind of disappointed about how easy it was to dig out the real killer once they even started trying.
The prison subplots are always kind of lackluster - the shocking violence of yesterday's episode seems gratuitous, given KHS will probably be found not guilty eventually. Unless they decide to try him for all the rest of the offenses - stealing the cab, driving without a cab license, DUI, drugs, failing to provide help to the victim, attempting to destroy the scene of the crime, etc. I am not certain how it works in Korea, but any and all of these are much easier to get him a guilty sentence on, so if they're included, they would assure him a prison sentence. In which case, him being cautious and starting to get along with the prison inmate boss might have some value...
And all the interviews SJH did cannot be used in the trial, since the people didn't express their consent to it, and the police still hasn't come around to asking. The CCTV records might be of some help, but only to provide a secondary possible killer, in order to prove that there is reasonable doubt... but not much more.
The very STRONG part of the episode though is the flaying out of everything KHS ever thought about himself. I liked that brutal deconstruction, it's not even completely unwarranted. I just hope they don't destroy the character so completely he won't ever recover. After all, he's just a dumb, scared stupid guy who reacted out of sheer horror. That final scene of her fingers moving really drives it home - but then, nobody can say she would have been saved even if an ambulance did come. She was found pretty fast, and she was not alive at the time. So painting him as sub-human for his fight-or-flight instinct going all the way to 100% flight is taking it a bit too far.
I mean, give the audience a chance to still like him and be happy he doesn't get convicted of a murder he didn't do.
So this turns out to be kind of a see-saw series. The first episode of the week is kind of pale, and then a very strong episode to keep the audience hooked.
I do NOT like how they're stressing out, again and again, what is about to happen to HJ.
First, not everybody who saw him on the mountain died - example, the old guy they were trying to talk to and wouldn't have it. And now that Kim Sol is revealed, he won't have time to execute any of the rest of the villagers, so there.
Second, there's that preview scene, which if they pretend to FORGET about it, I'm gonna be VERY mad about.
So they'd better present a nicely wrapped HEA. OR ELSE.
Just came back to thank you again for the Young Blood rec - first two episodes are hilarious! I already love the back-and-forth exchanges between the main characters, I really do hope it keeps on til the very end :D
Wei WuXian is a paragon of all cheerful, upright and charming rogues of all wuxia and xianxia world LOL. One can definitely understand why all the rest of them gravitate around him - who can fight being attracted to that flame?! He burns so happily, it's impossible to resist. Just ask Lan WangJi.
Tang Fan is the cutest puppy in the wuxia world - I applaud the efforts of Sui Zhou of keeping him alive (and well fed) and Wang Zhi's efforts of using his inquisitive mind in order to solve mysteries. The drama takes a lot of liberties with the stories in the novel, but I for one am pleased with most of them.
Haven't watched the other three yet, thanks for the Young Blood rec, it looks interesting.
What about Xiao Yu'er in Handsome Siblings? He's the carefree, rogue-ish (well, he's an outright bandit but his heart is in the right place), good-at-martial-arts and cheeky, shameless ML. He doesn't take many things seriously, but when he does, they're important things. I liked him in the latest version of the story.
Also, sorry, noboby will ever call Wen KeXing (Word of Honor) serious and broody, though he has his moments. Maybe crazy would be the closest adjective to what he seems to be LOL. Otherwise, snarky, addicted to poetry (sadly there's no one much around him to also appreciate it :D), obsessed with (a) male beauty, prone to stalking his love interest LOL.
Maybe Ning Que (Ever Night) would come closest to a typical costume c-drama ML... but he's still a rogue, playful character, much given to disrespect toward his elders, colleagues, masters and pretty much everyone else, but well, he has a good calligraphy so it's mostly easily forgiven :D
I'm not too sure about Wang Lu (Once Upon a Time in LingJian Mountain) - but TBH, the FL there took much of the spotlight :D
Hey , i have a question ( this isn't spoiler cause of tag supernatual power) , who have powers ML or FL and this…
ML was involved in an accident on the mountain and got foresight in return - he can see/sense there will be killing on the mountain and act to stop it or try to save the victims. He can't always save them, or read his visions correctly.
There's not a lot of romance, but so far they're pretty good friends and there's still time for more to happen.
It's glaringly obvious Kim Sol is at least an accomplice - the first thing he asks after Hyun-jo tells him about…
Or they both survive, the mountain spirits give IK the use of her legs back, HJ definitely wakes up, and they live happily ever after together! *keeping fingers crossed*
It's glaringly obvious Kim Sol is at least an accomplice - the first thing he asks after Hyun-jo tells him about…
True. But a lot of people from the village were NOT killed, so they moved away and presumably kept on with their lives. She could be someone's niece. From the preview, it looks like they're going to comb all people who moved away so that they learn what happened in the village in the end - there definitely are more survivors and their families.
That's why I had this frightening thought... what if IK's dad - or mom - were the one who threw the dead fox in the village's well, or did something else to help the cable company, so that the killer(s) held them responsible?...
It's glaringly obvious Kim Sol is at least an accomplice - the first thing he asks after Hyun-jo tells him about the things in the cave is "did the mountain tell you that, too?" HJ and IK didn't tell anyone (at that point in time anyway) about him seeing things on the mountain, just Se-wook knew something and told his friend on the phone. So either the friend on the phone is Kim Sol, or the mastermind learned about it and told all his accomplices/apprentices.
So all 5 kids in the village might have been involved... still, there was someone who attacked Sol's mom back then, he might be the mastermind. Or he might have been seen and inspired them all to do it.
The things in the cave are definitely serial killer "prizes" and only Kim Sol could have removed them. If he's still alive in the winter of 2020, he would be the one calling HJ out to show him, thus setting the trap.
I still don't buy it that the policeman is a killer, though I'm waiting to see if it turns out to be him. He doesn't seem to be able to be in all places and set all the traps that killed the villagers. And what's the deal with the villagers? Who are they killing? Those who wanted to stay, or those who wanted to remain?!
I guess we won't have a serial killer among the rangers in the end. I'm not that sad about it... unless there's a twist and one of them ends up the killer anyway. The one I could think of is the retired chief, who was the right age to be in the village thirty years ago...
And what did HJ figure out about IK that makes him freak out completely? Was she from the village too (if ONLY people from the village could see him, doesn't that mean she's also related?) Or her parents were from the village so she's also a target?? Why wouldn't he just warn her and tell her why, instead of killing himself trying to scare her away? It's like he forgot who IK is.
At this point I'm almost certain he'll survive and wake up. At least I'm keeping fingers crossed really really tight LOL. I rely on that preview scene. If they trick me out of that scene, I'll say some harsh words LOL.
PS That scene where she's rewatching the recording with her talking to the "air", when she closes in and sees there was someone in the background, listening to it... that was a good scare :D (and he has to be the killer/from the village, because he heard what HJ told IK about the time and place of the next kill.)
3 
Gun is always impressive - he has the coltish, scared, half-trusting White get in and own the story already. And seriously, "Sean"/Off looks amazing.
I really do hope this series delivers. It seems too short already and it's only been an episode.
Say, you've just started a new drama because it has an interesting plot, you like the actors, you've seen the trailer - whatever. You obviously make the mistake of watching it in real-time release (because you're STUPID - YES I'M LOOKING IN A MIRROR RIGHT NOW~! Stay out of it, I've got this.) And then you make the second mistake - you go online to vent, applaud, cheerlead or express what irks you.
And you find the fans. The ones who 100%, no holds barred, no excuses for not fangirling over hot oppa-allowed, will NOT let you have a different opinion. And they say so. Repeatedly. Attacking you in person for your tastes and choices in drama, questioning your level of knowledge about the EFFORT that went on making that drama (that is obviously such a success but you're the only idiot who can't see it). And then you try to explain, as reasonably as white-anger allows you, that you don't give a fig, it's just your opinion, and you're not there to be an anti-fan or drag down the production, you just don't LIKE certain things.
The more you try to be reasonable, the more they attack. Until the end, when you 1. stop commenting/participating in any kind of discussions even if you still follow the drama, and 2. give up and drop it with a VERY bitter after taste. Which is, sadly, not even produced by the drama itself, but by the acid/toxic fans. (And I really do hate saying "toxic" about anything, it's become so overused.)
Communities can get very loud and overzealous in "protecting" their likes. Sadly, it tends to happen in MDL too, which makes me glad the block user button exists, though I only hoped to use that in reddit, where it's the norm.
Now, back to the usual themes: I only got very serious SLS in The Wolf, I dropped Start-up in its first third because it looked to be going in circles and yes, I was also heading towards a SLS stage by then anyway, I HATE it when they announce they'd be extending a well-rated drama with a bunch of new episodes nobody asked for, I also don't like the PPL if it's done badly (at least in Jirisan, for example, they kept using the yoghurts but they were poisoned, LOL, talk about a strange promotion strategy.) People not talking to each other but disclosing all their plans to their enemies, booze (so MUCH booze especially in SK dramas), historical dramas that have no feeling of being lived-in (new everything - new rooms, new furniture, new clothes, new cutely-dirtied bandages, people who are supposed to know each other from ages ago who talk like they've just met, and so on and so forth).
Oh and origin stories that involve falling in love as kids. That makes my blood boil most of the time. Let kids be kids and don't fate-link them forever. (That was one huge selling point for Gu Family Book, at least for the Wol-Ryung storyline. I wanted a separate drama just for him and nevermind the second generation gumiho).
Wrapping up the novel here, LOL.
I have... mixed feelings about it. The end could have explained more about how come YK can now not only stand, but hike again, and how HJ recovered so well, instead of taking us on a stroll along memory lane with Goo Young (who I don't care enough about in the end).
Kim Sol dying by the mountain - so to speak - is also kind of anticlimatic. Why didn't the mountain make him slide sometime along the killing spree?! I guess that's why YK keeps saying the mountain's just a mountain.
I could have skipped the ticket girl becoming a ranger too - didn't she get the ticket? Go be a Gangnam celeb, why don't you?!
Overall, there were good parts and not so good parts but I kind of liked it. I wish there was more on the supernatural aspect but you can't have them all.
We'll see next time :D
Edit I rewatched the scene too, he's still intubated - no air mask, true. It doesn't look like a past scene. I sure hope it's not a dream sequence or whatnot.
The prison subplots are always kind of lackluster - the shocking violence of yesterday's episode seems gratuitous, given KHS will probably be found not guilty eventually. Unless they decide to try him for all the rest of the offenses - stealing the cab, driving without a cab license, DUI, drugs, failing to provide help to the victim, attempting to destroy the scene of the crime, etc. I am not certain how it works in Korea, but any and all of these are much easier to get him a guilty sentence on, so if they're included, they would assure him a prison sentence. In which case, him being cautious and starting to get along with the prison inmate boss might have some value...
And all the interviews SJH did cannot be used in the trial, since the people didn't express their consent to it, and the police still hasn't come around to asking. The CCTV records might be of some help, but only to provide a secondary possible killer, in order to prove that there is reasonable doubt... but not much more.
The very STRONG part of the episode though is the flaying out of everything KHS ever thought about himself. I liked that brutal deconstruction, it's not even completely unwarranted. I just hope they don't destroy the character so completely he won't ever recover. After all, he's just a dumb, scared stupid guy who reacted out of sheer horror. That final scene of her fingers moving really drives it home - but then, nobody can say she would have been saved even if an ambulance did come. She was found pretty fast, and she was not alive at the time. So painting him as sub-human for his fight-or-flight instinct going all the way to 100% flight is taking it a bit too far.
I mean, give the audience a chance to still like him and be happy he doesn't get convicted of a murder he didn't do.
Well, at least it bodes well for the finale.
Second, there's that preview scene, which if they pretend to FORGET about it, I'm gonna be VERY mad about.
So they'd better present a nicely wrapped HEA. OR ELSE.
Tang Fan is the cutest puppy in the wuxia world - I applaud the efforts of Sui Zhou of keeping him alive (and well fed) and Wang Zhi's efforts of using his inquisitive mind in order to solve mysteries. The drama takes a lot of liberties with the stories in the novel, but I for one am pleased with most of them.
Haven't watched the other three yet, thanks for the Young Blood rec, it looks interesting.
What about Xiao Yu'er in Handsome Siblings? He's the carefree, rogue-ish (well, he's an outright bandit but his heart is in the right place), good-at-martial-arts and cheeky, shameless ML. He doesn't take many things seriously, but when he does, they're important things. I liked him in the latest version of the story.
Also, sorry, noboby will ever call Wen KeXing (Word of Honor) serious and broody, though he has his moments. Maybe crazy would be the closest adjective to what he seems to be LOL. Otherwise, snarky, addicted to poetry (sadly there's no one much around him to also appreciate it :D), obsessed with (a) male beauty, prone to stalking his love interest LOL.
Maybe Ning Que (Ever Night) would come closest to a typical costume c-drama ML... but he's still a rogue, playful character, much given to disrespect toward his elders, colleagues, masters and pretty much everyone else, but well, he has a good calligraphy so it's mostly easily forgiven :D
I'm not too sure about Wang Lu (Once Upon a Time in LingJian Mountain) - but TBH, the FL there took much of the spotlight :D
There's not a lot of romance, but so far they're pretty good friends and there's still time for more to happen.
That's why I had this frightening thought... what if IK's dad - or mom - were the one who threw the dead fox in the village's well, or did something else to help the cable company, so that the killer(s) held them responsible?...
So all 5 kids in the village might have been involved... still, there was someone who attacked Sol's mom back then, he might be the mastermind. Or he might have been seen and inspired them all to do it.
The things in the cave are definitely serial killer "prizes" and only Kim Sol could have removed them. If he's still alive in the winter of 2020, he would be the one calling HJ out to show him, thus setting the trap.
I still don't buy it that the policeman is a killer, though I'm waiting to see if it turns out to be him. He doesn't seem to be able to be in all places and set all the traps that killed the villagers. And what's the deal with the villagers? Who are they killing? Those who wanted to stay, or those who wanted to remain?!
I guess we won't have a serial killer among the rangers in the end. I'm not that sad about it... unless there's a twist and one of them ends up the killer anyway. The one I could think of is the retired chief, who was the right age to be in the village thirty years ago...
And what did HJ figure out about IK that makes him freak out completely? Was she from the village too (if ONLY people from the village could see him, doesn't that mean she's also related?) Or her parents were from the village so she's also a target?? Why wouldn't he just warn her and tell her why, instead of killing himself trying to scare her away? It's like he forgot who IK is.
At this point I'm almost certain he'll survive and wake up. At least I'm keeping fingers crossed really really tight LOL. I rely on that preview scene. If they trick me out of that scene, I'll say some harsh words LOL.
PS That scene where she's rewatching the recording with her talking to the "air", when she closes in and sees there was someone in the background, listening to it... that was a good scare :D (and he has to be the killer/from the village, because he heard what HJ told IK about the time and place of the next kill.)