Reviews

Perception shifts

Yi and head seamstress actually have a woman to woman conversation. A true friendship is budding here. Secretary Zhao has been sitting and waiting on Wen who comes in soaked. They have some sparring words and Zhao runs to get Yi, he tells her Wen is dying and to hurry up. She finds him feverish and wipes him down and tucks him in. Director Fang shows up and orders Yi out of the room. Omg this woman. 🤬Yi was married to a soldier, she spent her life around the military except for these last five years of limbo and this woman thinks she wants a geeky nerd husband.😝She didn’t think Yi had any understanding of the military. It is Fang that had no idea of the military wife. She didn’t think culture and military could mix.😝 While I am happy Yi stated quite firmly why she liked Wen and he concurred, I am annoyed with him for not sticking up for her more strongly with his colleagues. Yang is doing his first round of reporting and he sets up Wen with a question not on the itinerary. Wen answers and Fang made sure he was unaware of the approval copy until too late. Zhao wants to kick his ass and I’m all for it. So now Fang is putting Yi through background checks. They try to corner her with a single school colleague. I find it funny how forthright she was about her father😂 She was more than happy to say why she dropped his name. She told them she would face the woman directly and call her out for lying. When they brought a woman in, they had no knowledge of each other since they never had met. They got the school wrong and their information.😝😂 It is fun watching the interrogator that thought she could intimidate so well look incompetent and stupid at her job. When Fang tells her she passed, she had to add her two cents in why it was not a good thing for Wen’s job. I laughed at her extra huge mug to get through the day. This might be the only thing I can agree with her on. During her background check they could not be together. I like the letter Wen wrote and so did she.❤️ Qing has finally started to act like a sister. She feared being cut off if she remarried and that her brother would be forgotten. Yi assured her that they would always be family and she could never forget her first love. They finally have a meal like family. Qing is truly becoming a young woman now and expanding her perception of things. When she talks about this to Yang, he goes off on a diatribe. She breaks down in tears but I truly hope she drops him and sees him for the bully he is. What he said after she left was disturbing. He thinks he has the power and authority to change all to his will. He certainly has a god complex.😝🙄Wen thinks this will stall his career. But sometimes, it’s the scum that floats to the top. I hope he keeps better eye on him. I like how Wen takes the initiative to invite Qing to go with him and Yi to her brother’s memorial. I appreciate the effort he took to assure her that her brother’s memory would always be held in high esteem. He stepped up nicely with this thoughtful gesture. Fu has written a reflection paper. Wen has called him out for corrupting officials for favors and Fu doesn’t want to become an enemy. Yi as always is direct. She candidly told Wen that she was not up to the political things and would harm his career. He corrected her by saying they didn’t know her and she was his mirror showing him sincerity and the human heart.❤️ I’m with Zhao wishing he would be more authoritative and flexible at times, but I get why Yi loves his quiet strength and strong aura. For me, this arc has been as interesting as the first. The perspective is completely different, but it’s supposed to be. This story truly continues as a family legacy focusing on the strong women that forged their own paths.

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we need to be hornier.

tanaka keishi is a terrorist for taking that screen+shot right in his fucking face OMG . . . i started this show after hearing so many strong opinions about it. i wanted to give it a fair shot because i do think there was valid criticisms but i thought maybe at least the show would just be inoffensive. & now having started it that kind've makes it even more offensive. at first it was okay. they weren't really reinventing the wheel here this was a very standard j-drama. & then our couple started interacting more & i felt like i just got pushed down a hill ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ i think I'll start with suzume. he comes off as kind've patronizing. i think there is a truth in his character. there is definitely a demographic of gay people just like him. but i too am a cutesy gay man & it just feels like he has to remain in his cookie cutter. also personally this show should be a lot hornier. he is a gay man living alone for four decades he LITERALLY needs release. i always hate how feminine uke characters are always treated like smol boys some of us are perverted sluts MOST of us are perverted sluts. & this kind've goes to my problem on how being queer is written in this show. he definitely has thouight about being attracted to men before the show started along with aversion to women as love interests. but then we get the scene of his shock & awe seeing the dating app & it is completely framed as him only just now opening himself up to the idea of liking a man. which is an okay thing to explore. if you try & explore it. say something about this new feeling ,say something about the world you exist in that makes this an uncomofrtable new feeling ,one that makes you scared to feel it. & then tanaka's entire dialogue at the end is just so silly to me. how do you know that he is gay ? is it just gaydar intuition ? because it wasn't in the notes unless it's a language barrier & he wrote male lover. this kind've ties every different thing i have been talking about together but kazama shunsuke does too much in his acting performance sometimes. j-drama actors always get a little animated but i still have a problem with it here. he just does not feel like a real person & more of a caricature. i get harsher when it is a queer show. i am tired of safe " " we're just like you " " gay depictions. we are messy beings with complicated living experiences. sometimes it's fun to have boys' loves that exist in a fantasy land where we're all ignoring homophobia for a booktok prompt & trope but this isn't doing that. i want to see them go more. i want to feel intense catharsis seeing my fears & insecurities that makes straight people uncomfortable because they can't empathize.

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Measuring and matchmaking

Minister Wen was a bit flustered after getting measured for new uniform.😂 The gulping water to cool down spoke volumes.🤣 After measuring, while on the bus, she ruminates on her encounters with Wen. He is actually there waiting for her to get off the bus to talk. Here is where I wish she would have let him say what he wanted to say. She gave him a way out and he took it. If he can’t fight for her, he doesn’t deserve her. Qing is not only trying her hand at matchmaking, she is appointing herself as chaperone.🤣 To her credit, she at least got in the vicinity of correct unlike Wen’s matchmakers. I think she considers him a candidate because he is nothing like her brother. I don’t see Yi interested in anybody Qing can boss around.😝And is this the director’s assistance to distract from Wen? Qing has adjusted pretty quickly to the idea of Yi finding someone else so I am thinking her comrades must have had some influence. This is both better and worse for Yi. I had a good chuckle when she stashed the professor’s flowers in Qing’s pocket and said these are for you.😂🤣 Fu is shmoozing with directer Zhao. He wants him to drive his Mercedes around longer. I am disappointed that he isn’t firmer about leaving his gifted watch on. Yang , Directer Fang, and Wen are seeing Yang off with his new employer. The one thing I have appreciated this episode is that both Qing and Yang have less volume. My ears thank you. Wen notices Fu’s car but also the change in license plates. Here I fear his buddy may really be like Dalun. He is noting his friend commenting on the plates. It skips to the finishing up of the blind date meeting for Yi. Qing actually tries to sound like a mother explaining why Yi needs time.😝🙄 This child is very damn clueless on propriety. At this point the last thing Yi wants is a double date with sis and Yang so she sets up her own meeting at the studio and professor Xu rides off happily. He is an odd duck spouting out Italian phrases in Qing and Yang volume.😝😂 Yi’s response…are you done? She tells him quite candidly she doesn’t like him and that she likes someone else. 😂 Zhao visits Wen and has gifts. Wen is noticing his friend liking finer things. Wen understands that small bribes lead to bigger ones so he tells his friend to talk to him before anything happens. Qing 😂🤣 Yi has finally had it with her and treats her like the irritable child she is.😂🤣 Qing trying to talk softly is somewhere between a whisper and squeaking like when you have laryngitis.😝😂 Yi has had enough of their gossip and finally makes it clear she will file charges if they keep it up. Yay for her. She gets back to work and head seamstress shows up. She mentions that Wen assigned her the job. Her family shows up and the kids are hungry so Yi surprises her by suggesting they go to her place to get noodles. Wen and Zhao start well looking at new project site but things go downhill rapidly when a young man calls him brother in law and wants to use his car. Zhao tells him no and the kid flattens his tire for him. Zhao and Wen have it out about gift receipts. Here I think Wen goes overboard in accepting nothing, but after seeing his friend I understand why. He wants his friend to report the car and his friend refuses. Wen is totally pissed off and heading to town on foot and the episode ends.

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hundred + eighty+eight days

a very solid start to be honest. i really enjoy the scene sequence ,they do a really good job cutting between both of their lives. brief scenes like in the start of our cast in their different seats in life ,all of the missed connections between wataru & sonoko at every train intersections. the mr. children's concert at the start & her dropping her mask was really nice. it's a very well+made show with a cookie cutter story & characters & dialogue. if this was a recent drama i might've been very apprehensive about it how cliche it is but here i am rocking with it as a future generation looking back at a classic. i do like how well each character is set up here. i am doing a fresh restart half+way into this show because i forgot who is who & who feels what. i can't really strand kayano. you show up unannounced to this man's apartment ,he invites you in & you immediately stick your nose into his business like girl . . . & don't raise your fucking voice at me like what ?

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