allllllll the dramaaaaaaaz

[sarea]

It snowed this morning! Only for about an hour and it didn't stick for more than another hour after that, but still... it was quite pretty, especially with all the trees in my "backyard." Next time I'll try and make a gif of it. :D

All right, it's time to update y'all on the various K-dramas I'm in the middle of. I've been giving my DramaFever subscription a workout, that's for sure!

It's funny, not too long ago, I remember saying in a post that I really loved my Chromecast, while my coworker preferred her Amazon Fire Stick, and I couldn't understand why. Now I do! If you use a subscription service, like Netflix or DF or whatever, and you have a Fire Stick, it's super convenient to watch it natively from the FS app, without having to bother with casting. It's a nice interface, if not extremely intuitive, but it comes with a remote control and you can also use your phone as a remote. I like it so much now that I even bought another one, and the latest version comes with Alexa voice controls, so it's even better! Chromecast is still better though if you want to cast random stuff from a browser... basically anything that isn't centralized enough to have a native app.

In alphabetical order:

Coffee Prince

Synopsis: This romantic comedy tells the story of Han Kyul, the handsome son of a wealthy hotelier family who is set in his bachelor ways and constantly deflects his family's attempts to make him commit. The constant pressure to get married drives him to hire a goofy young delivery boy Eun Chan to pretend to be his gay lover to scare away his family's set-ups. Trouble starts when Han Kyul begins to get to know the hardworking and lovable Eun Chan, and begins to develop real feelings for him — only to discover that "he" is actually a girl disguised as a boy.

I've talked about this one before. I'm still not done with it. >< I have maybe two episodes to go? I should just force myself to finish, but... the problem is that I'm at a super angsty part, where there's fallout from everyone (especially the hero) finding out that Eun-chan is a girl, and there's just so much pain and conflict that I did something I've never done before. I actually watched part of the last episode, so that I could bask a little in the happy ending.

The problem is, I apparently now have emotional closure, so I don't really want to go back to the pain/conflict part. Sigh. And yet the completist in me won't let me just skip those eps! I need to watch them before I forget the rest of the show, at which point I would need to watch the whole thing all over again. >< And I didn't like it enough to do that, honestly. I really like the lead actress (Yoon Eun-hye), and I surprisingly took to the lead actor, Gong Yoo, but I had too many issues with the drama as a whole, including a total lack of interest in the secondary couple, who took up a ton of screen time.

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Descendants of the Sun

Synopsis: It's love at first sight for special forces Captain Yoo Shi Jin when he meets a beautiful doctor who treats his wounds. Over before it can truly begin, the two separate due to their opposite values -- one being a soldier who takes lives, and the other a doctor who fights to save them. Almost a year later, a fateful reunion takes place in Uruk, causing them to work together. Can Shi Jin and Mo Yeon overcome their biggest hurdle, or was it never meant to be?

I watched the pilot of this one with adelagia. I liked it. And it even has the benefit of starring the male lead from Penny Pinchers, a movie that I unexpectedly really enjoyed. The problem is... I feel like this one is going to be mostly angst. I like my dramas to be heavy on the buildup, with fun and romance, and then there's angst, but that's over with reasonably quickly and then they're all happy. This one seems like it's going to peak with the happiness around episode 2 or 3, and then they're going to break up and it's going to be angst, angst, angst. I don't know if I can take it. I don't even ship them that hard, but I also like my angst better when I do really ship the couple. I guess I should see if it's able to make me love them before they break up, and if not, then I might have to pass on it. Too bad, because Song Joong-ki is a cutie. Maybe I'll just watch Penny Pinchers again... :P

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Healer

Synopsis: Kim Moon Ho is a successful reporter at a mainstream news station, but when he stumbles upon a 10-year-old mystery, he's forced to dive into a subversive underground news agency. On his journey to break open the case, Moon Ho teams up with Chae Young Shin, a second rate tabloid writer, and Healer, a mysterious internet-based journalist. With his career and his safety on the line, who can Moon Ho trust in a world full of unreliable sources?

This one has a massive number of positive reviews, but I couldn't even get through the pilot. Or maybe I did. I don't even remember, and that's a problem. I wanted it to be the new City Hunter. I'd love to watch something of that caliber. But the dude who plays Healer is no Lee Min-ho, and the story/writing reminds me of Hidden Identity in that some of it is just really cheesy/unbelievable. Yet... I do feel like I haven't given it a fair shot; I need to know why it has to many positive reviews!

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Hidden Identity

Synopsis: The heat is on in Investigation 5, an undercover police unit specializing in thwarting violent crimes. Led by Superintendent Jang Moon Won, this team of young and elite officers, including Cha Gun Woo (Kim Bum), Jang Min Joo, and Choi Tae Pyung, assume new identities and infiltrate dangerous crime syndicates. With only their wits and poker faces at their disposal, can the team complete their missions without blowing their covers in hostile territory?

It's funny that the synopsis should ask that, because I feel like they do nothing but blow their covers, and yet we're supposed to believe they haven't. I've watched about 3 episodes of this one, and it's a drama/thriller that limits itself due to some of its ridiculousness. It's trying to be realistic, but also Ocean's 11 at the same time, which is why when it fails it's especially facepalm-inducing. Kim Bum is pretty hot in it, though, and has actual fight scenes, so that will probably keep me going with this one. I'M NOT SUPERFICIAL YOU'RE SUPERFICIAL

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High School - Love On

Synopsis: High school may be tough, but Woo Hyun has a guardian angel looking over him — literally. Disguised as a naive high schooler, Lee Seul Bi descends from the heavens to protect Woo Hyun's life, but discovers she's got a thing or two to learn about life as a teenager, including the pains of falling in love. Can this cherubic guardian protect the apple of her eye and also manage to survive high school?

LOL, okay, so this one. This one is basically a fangirl's dream come true. That is, if you are a fangirl of the Korean boy band Infinity, because it stars two of the guys from that band. And NOT ONLY does it star them, their characters' names are THEIR REAL LIFE NAMES. So it's like getting to watch actual fanfic onscreen of your fave band members, which would be freaking awesome if I were a 12-year-old girl and a fan of that band/these guys. But since I'm not, I can only tell you that I'm not really sure why I've watched nearly all 20 episodes of this thing.

It had a good pilot and first few episodes, and I really like the heroine (though she is only FOURTEEN YEARS OLD IRL! OMG), and I even really like the premise. They do a good job with the world building, such as it is, but it's definitely targeted toward a younger age group, so it's very simplistic, the angst isn't real angst, people are super immature (the adults often seem more immature than the kids!), and there are very few sympathetic characters. I hate pretty much every adult on the show. And there are two canon Dracos, one male, one female, who are just irredeemably horrible and worse, pointless and irrelevant. There might be two male Dracos, if you count the second male lead, because he's such a little douchebag!

I find myself drawn -- sort of, because I don't actually care that much -- to secondary characters. I like Byung-wook and Tae-ho, who are the show's Crabbe and Goyle, basically, because they break out of "Draco"'s influence. I'm far more interested in their development, and their love lives, minor though they are, than what happens with the leads, especially the second lead, who does such unforgivable things I don't even understand how the people around him keep wanting to protect him/still like him. (Teehee, I just looked it up, and Byung-wook's real name is Min-seok, which makes me <33333333333 to remember the Min-seok character from High School King of Savvy.)

Anyway, I think the show could stand to be five episodes shorter than it is. But since I'm nearly done, I might as well finish it.

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Moonlight Drawn by Clouds -

Synopsis: Hong Ra On has one of the most unique jobs in the Joseon Dynasty: she disguises herself as a man named Sam Nom and gives great dating advice to lovelorn souls seeking to woo that special someone. Because of one of the letters she writes to help win someone over, she ends up meeting Lee Young. But little does she know that Lee Young is actually the future Crown Prince Hyomyung. Lee Young, for his part, also doesn’t know that Hong Ra On is a woman. With both their interests in each other intensifying, things start to get more than a little weird. And those weird things get even weirder when Ra On is sold into the Royal Palace as a eunuch and becomes involved in a political power struggle. Is this a dilemma a dating guru and handsome royalty can solve, or will the darkness of the clouds of greed and deception enshroud the love in the moonlight?

This is another pilot that I saw with adelagia. I don't know how interested I am in this one. I don't know why the whole gender confusion thing is so popular in Asian dramas, where the girl dresses up as a guy (I mean, even the lone Disney movie about a Chinese character is about a girl who dresses up as a man to go into the army!), but after my experience with Coffee Prince, I might have had my fill of it. Also because this one is one of those ones, stylistically, where they use odd comedy cuts and modern music and such. The other thing is that it's a period drama, and I haven't really been interested in those.

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Oh My Venus -

Synopsis: Although Kang Joo Eun was once considered the most beautiful girl in her hometown, her workaholic tendencies as a lawyer have taken a drastic toll. On top of being overworked and overweight, the former so-called “Venus of Daegu” is crushed when her long-term beau, Im Woo Sik, dumps her for another woman. Meanwhile, Kim Young Ho — a mysterious personal trainer who works incognito as “John Kim” — flees Los Angeles, amidst scandal. Joo Eun meets Young Ho on a business trip, and an odd turn of events convinces Joo Eun that Kim Ji Woong — a member of Young Ho’s team — is the famed John Kim. Threatening to blow his cover, Joo Eun tracks down his athletic entourage and blackmails Young Ho, Ji Woong and MFA fighter Jang Joon Sung into becoming her trusty personal trainers.

This is a really charming show that I've enjoyed a lot. I'm about midway through it, but I can sense the angst coming, so of course that's when I stopped. LOL. That is apparently my MO. When the going gets tough, Sarea finds a new drama to watch. (Maybe that's why I've been able to get through so much of High School: Love On, because the angst is all lame.)

My first reaction upon watching the pilot was that I did not consider Joo-eun to be the least bit attractive, much less the most beautiful girl anywhere. That said, I've grown to really like the actress a lot (even though I actually think she is prettier in her fat suit!). I've even grown to like So Ji-sub through this show, which bodes well for my eventual return to watching The Master's Sun! (Which is nice, because I do want to see it for Seo In-guk. :D)

The best thing about this series, though, is probably Young Ho's team. Henry Lau plays Ji-woong, and he is just DELIGHTFUL. (And I think potentially the most talented person on this planet, given that he speaks five languages fluently, is a concert violinist, sings, plays the piano, acts, and is in a boy band. I mean WTF really.) Joon-sung is far more reserved, but I've found his encounters with a woman who is infatuated with him to be quite amusing. And the three guys together is pure awesomeness. <3

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Squad 38

Synopsis: Under South Korea’s tax code, Article 38 is the elephant in the room, as the country’s richest people and corporations always find ways around it. Tasked with throwing the book at these corrupt robber barons, special police force Squad 38 gets down and dirty with tax evaders by using their own schemes against them.

Okay, I wanted this one to be another Signal, but a more capery version. And... I guess it sort of is that. But the thing is... tax evasion is boring as shit. And the show doesn't do Korea's tax collection agency any favors, because they all seem like incompetent a-holes who can't actually get any shit done because no one is willing to call the bigwigs on their corruption. Even though I know it's a show, and not necessarily reflective of reality, I feel like they must think they're showing us SOME version of reality, and it all seems so dumb. The tax people physically go to some rich dude's place to collect taxes, the rich dude's lackeys all deny that the rich dude lives there, and then they get into this fruitless struggle where the government agents often get sent away with their tails tucked between their legs, because they're like toothless guard dogs. It's so irritating, honestly.

The only saving grace to this show is the presence of -- you guessed it -- Seo In-guk, who makes for a super hot swindler with a heart of gold. :)))) But what ruins his character is the presence of his love interest, who I CANNOT STAND. Lord how I hate her, she's so fucking annoying. It's not a huge part of the show, thank goodness, but it's still part of it, and every time they flash back to their previous romance I'm like, OHMYGOD I GET IT, HE BROKE HER HEART, AND IT WAS SO CLEARLY A FLIMSY EXCUSE TO PROTECT HER, AND THE FACT THAT SHE CAN'T SEE THAT, AND IS NOW DOING ALL THIS STUPID SHIT, JUST MAKES ME HATE HER MORE.

So yeah. I've watched them put away one guy -- or rather, made him pay up -- and now they're going after bigger fish, which reminds me of City Hunter, except much less compelling.

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I also want to mention that adelagia and I watched one other pilot, which isn't going into the above list because I have no intention of continuing on with it.

Cinderella and Four Knights.

Synopsis: Eun Ha Won is a bright college student who dreams of becoming a veterinarian. Unfortunately, she loses her mother in a car accident, moves in with a cruel stepmother, and has no money for her education. One day, she helps an old man and as fate would have it, moves into a gorgeous mansion with three equally gorgeous men, who also happen to be billionaire cousins and heirs to the Kang family fortune. Between the rebel-minded loner Kang Ji Woon, playboy money machine Kang Hyun Min and the super-sweet singer Kang Seo Woo, Eun Ha Won finds herself in the middle of the hottest love quadrangle to ever befall a modern fairy tale princess.

It sounded like it was going to be guilty pleasure fun. But there was no pleasure. OR fun. It's basically a poor man's Boys Over Flowers, except none of the boys are flowers at all, and the secondary pairing is an annoyance rather than magical. Ha-won is this spunky, poor girl just like Jan-di (with no apparent flaws, which makes her boring right away -- she's too obviously sympathetic with the stepmother situation, she gets into college while her evil stepsister doesn't, she kicks rude guys' asses, etc. She's a walking stereotype), while of course the guys are all chaebols or chaebol-adjacent. Ji-woon, the main love interest, is deeply unattractive and an asshole to boot. I mean, sure, Jun-pyo was an asshole, but he was played by Lee Min-ho. WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. Lee Min-ho in that role had an infectious quality, a vulnerability, that you couldn't help but be grudgingly charmed by him; he was such a lovable idiot. This dude has no charms whatsoever, and has no such endearing qualities. He's basically a rebel without a cause. Oh poor me, I'm actually one of the heirs to a massive fortune, I hate my family, blah blah. Another strike against him is that he's friends with the annoying second female lead, who is apparently going to end up with the one guy we did find vaguely charming (if not attractive). So in all ways, NO THANK YOU.