Goong, BOF, Answer Me 1997

jade_okelani and I are 4 episodes from the end of Goong, and it's enraging her the same way it apparently enraged me the first time I saw it. :)) I say "apparently," because my long-lasting impression of it is one of fondness, possibly because I really loved the two leads, particularly Yoon Eun-hye as the commoner princess. But in reading old LJ entries about the series, I clearly had a poor immediate reaction to it. It's safe to say that Jade feels exactly the same, but that just makes it even more frustrating when the story turns to the line of succession stuff, and the machinations of Lady Hwa Young. The other thing is that the show is entirely too long -- it's 24 episodes, instead of the typical 16, and you really feel it. Not only do they have to fill the airtime with the stuff no one cares about, they're also getting extremely repetitive with the conflicts that Shin and Chae-kyung have to face -- namely all the misunderstandings, with Yul and Hyo-rin trying to get between them. It's a frustrating watching experience, even as much as you're rooting for that HEA and knowing it will come at some point. The question is just: When it happens, will it actually be satisfying after all that?

Jade has agreed to watch Boys Over Flowers as her next K-drama, but now I'm wondering if that's a bad idea on the heels of Goong. BOF is only worth it for the secondary pairing, and while the main pairing is imminently more watchable than the unwatchable stuff in Goong, the overall show is still a little too wacky and based in manga reality than reality reality. As much as I'd love for her to know the joy of Yi-jeong/Ga-eul, it might be for the best if we went to something a little more modern, first.

On my own, I've been watching Answer Me 1997. It comes highly recced by akscully, but I avoided it until now, I think, because I knew it would probably be something I'd want to binge watch once I started. And I was RIGHT. >< :)) I'm really loving it, and I'm bummed that the episodes are only 30 minutes long (other than, apparently, the final 2). And yet it's still only 16 episodes! :( ( Spoilery comments. )