Noodle Restaurant By Day ~✳~ Evil Spirit Fight Club By Night. Uncanny. °S1-8.4 S2-4 °

High schooler, Mun, has a new job at the noodle restaurant where that searing hot chick works. It's not so much about serving 🍜 as it is training to go out and 86 some evil👻spirits. He'd been left with a leg twisted up worse than spaghetti in a strainer from the accident in which his parents died. Left dependent on a brace for mobility, he'll need oodles of training.

UC is a free-range, quality action⚡packed thriller about "counters" who work the restaurant counter by day & counter evil👻spirits by night. The new recruit they're scouting to replace a fallen (KIA) counter is Mun. During the 1st shift his new coworkers drop the orders on him. The usual recruitment base is hospitalized & comatose patients. As counters, they'll sample life once more, so most opt to devour this on-the-house treat. Completely-conscious Mun is an exception; they see potential in him. The show creators do a nice job with the house rules in this expanded world. Too many Kdramas (and other shows) fail to do so, thus creating customer confusion. Even worse, it fosters the appearance that they're cheating, ie., cooking without a recipe & casting whatever in the 🥗.

Counters are typically 3✖ as strong as any of their regular diners. How can Mun hunt evil spirits, or even work a table with a griseled limb? Counter magic. Once he's cleared orientation, his leg untwists as if it never happened. Their strength is a pinch confusing, tho. For the older Mrs. Chu, is she 3✖ as strong as the average man, or the average noodle shop matron? Their spirited 🅱ad🅰$$ jumps are high enough to clear 4 stacked up noodle houses. Their patrons wouldn't be able to clear a noodle house table, let alone the counters' higher-than-soju-spirits poleless vaults, thrice divided.

The team members have strengths and skills to match their respective specials🍲. Oh my… I meant to say specialties. Writing this is making me hungry! There are other rules that Mun has sworn to uphold, and rules are enforced by a governing body in the Heavenly realm. Be that as it may, no matter how earnest & thankful Mun is, temptation is the biggest monster we must all overcome. Powers and other counter services are for supernatural battles only. Serving up counter-power at a human skirmish is as pr🚫hibited as health dept violations or stealing from the restaurant's pantry. With his newly found 🏋+🥊+🕺Mun begins sweeping up his onetime tormentors - the school's vicious bullies. This will eventually affect his review: He's put on progressive probation.

The team happy-meal is 4 active fighters and a retired one who manages the register and team funding🏧. Dropped trays can drop lives! They must choreograph their moves to function as one, so as to handle tense battles. (They're more stressful than dinner-rush at a joint Guy visited in the most recent episode of Diners Drive-Ins & Dives.) Clear communication, combined with organic trust, are essential to maximize potency. They all become as close as the 🦃-scarfing family at Sunday dinner, in the Norman Rockwell🖼. Mun crushes like 🍅🍅🍅 on the pretty, but prickly-🍐 Ha-na from the first moment she brusquely takes his order. Sadly, Ha-na ain't asking for any of *that. She's one critic that's difficult to impress. The blended mother-son relationship between Mrs. Chu and Mun is as healing as hangover soup. He had lost his parents; she, her son. It draws her to him, and he's perfectly happy sharing her warmth🍵. The whole team is family; a functional-while-functioning one.

Why does the team wage this dangerous war? For evil👻s, killing customers and passerbys is a generator; an energy bank that compensates during a power loss. A dark👻's most nutritious snacks are rotten humans, along with the occasional vicious bully-blogger. Spoiled ingredients are perfect for evil👻 digestion. "Well-done" decomposition, like a special sauce, strengthens & freshens these carrion, hyenas & Tasmanian devils. Early on, the team (en)counters an extraordinarily pungent "level 3" evil👻. L3's are as rare as Beluga caviar. (We'll learn that this Beluga's host was a hitman. They'll go together like ramen & broth). Evil👻s take-out the victim's soul, consume, and never pay the tab. Counters, via Chase & master charges, apprehendi & deliver Evil👻s to the counting machines of the justice system. Souls are like pearls extracted from poisoned oysters; they can be saved. There are no shortcuts for whipping up the house special. Evil👻s must be caught alive in the wild, like lobsters, or the team will burn the order & forever lose the more-precious-than-pearls souls to obscurity.

Mun learns the accident that killed his parents may have been no accident. In fact, the #1 suspect for the dash-&-dine style hit-&-run, is their current competition, the L3. If so, Mun's parents' souls will be lost if the L3 escapes or dies, but in the meantime, M&D can be salvaged. Mun and the team urgently dash to win this wild game; it's more intense than any Iron Chef showdown. The prize: trapped souls boiling over inside this specter, Mun's parents being the Blue Ribbon.

Hitmen don't order for themselves. The backdrop is a rancid political system from porridge-police to nuts-mayor. Around the same time as Mun's tragic accident, fellow counter and former detective, Mo-Tak, was left in a coma from a still unsolved attempt on his life. These incidents could be connected like crab & claw. Meanwhile, the L3 evil poacher recruits his own 👻👻👻 team, making the Counters' jobs more challenging than waitressing in slippery souled, er - soled shoes. Unexpectedly, Mun brews skills that are far from everyday junk food. It's as unexpected as harvesting shrimp and finding a gold bar in the net. Looks like Mun is no small🍟plate.

UC is altogether worthy of an enthusiastic 👍🏾 yelp review. Kdramas serve up excellence morning, noon, and night; UC is no exception. Every element tickles the palate: The 🎭, 🎬 & 🖋〰 are incorporated more smoothly than soju & 🍺. Special effects add BAM! while complimenting the plot, instead of becoming a centerpiece. The villain is creepier than roaches in the teapot. The writer🖋〰 baked in savory setup lines. Here's some free samples: When Mrs. Chu announces: "We won't lose anyone in this photo." Soon after that... Well, 👀 and see. 7 yrs back, Mo-Tak tells Ofr. Jeong, who insists on going to a dangerous mtg: "Take your 🌂. I think a 🌩 is coming.".

The action is fun. In Ep7 there's a crazy fight that's more exciting than murder mystery dinners. Ha-na has entered Mun's mind to warm-up his memory. The evil L3 materializes inside Mun's consciousness like a sidedish of dogfood. Before Mun can scrape the scraps of shock away, they're fighting ~> inside his memory! They spring around like yeasty dough. They slip into places, including the evil👻's hideout, and then back to into Mun's memory. O.H.😍M.Y. They could have built a franchise around that! This succulent treat is a test recipe that management, inexplicably, failed to add to the menu. That sauce is too awesome to be left hanging out there as a one-off.

It's common for omelets of sci-fi fantasy to contain some logical eggshells. This show has some. One biggie is: Why don't the evil spirits just bring a 🔫 to the 🗡fight and toss the counters like salad? Did they mention it while quickly running down the list of spirits on tap? Maybe. Think of it as a delicious meal😀 but without the extra pickles you ordered😔.

Nevertheless, the bloggers got this one right. UC serves up a 🏅winner-winner-🐔-dinner. You can count on it!

QUOTE🗣

"Not taking action when you witness an evil deed is another form of wickedness." (The wickedness of enabling evil)

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬8 🖋〰 7.3 🎭8 💓6 🦋5 🌞7 🎨8⚡8 😅 😭 😱 🤢 🤔7 💤🔚8

Age 14+ (3✖ creepy & sinister)

Re-📺? 👍🏽

Final add-on
S2 is 12 addt’l eps. It opens hot & contains PG-13 language. They have a bigger budget, but that is not the key to a good show. Right away it's clear that this is a lazy-rest-on-our-laurels-in-we-had no-inspiration-or-good-ideas‐just-cash-in S2. The dialogue is stupid. The plot is stupid. The new characters are stupid. It makes me really sad. They think they're in the Mun-ee, but S2 is poor. It's Mun-dane.

It's not worth watching once you've gotten a good look at the evil spirit team. They're well done. Nothing else is. Kang Ki Young (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Oh My Ghost-10) played buffoons early in his career. He is convincing as a bad guy in While You Were Sleeping-7.2. He has the perfect look, but the director portrayed him as too measured and it doesn't feel quite right. They should have gone more thuggish and guttural. Together with Kim Hieora and Kim Hyun-Wook, the evil spirit team is stylish, creepy, & catchy.

Mo-Tak is back on the police force but he's still a counter, so he's working 2 jobs. He explains his amazing intuition about crime by saying that he gets inspiration while pooping. Pitifully, that's a metaphor for the whole season. It's akin to a long smelly f@rt.

Leia Mais

True Power °8.3° °Excellent°

“You're retired.”

When powered people are “retired,” it's meant to be permanent. Someone is making sure they are gone for good. He has a list. He's checked it more than twice.

M is a 2023 release that is rated 91 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 20 38-58 minute episodes. I've never seen a KDrama open like this… with astral vision, a hard landing, and a harder awakening. The ample budget is showing. It starts in HS. We follow kids with mysterious powers. Before long, we are in the backstory of their parents.

The backstories are /rough/ - Like pull-your-fist-back-and-take-a-moment-to extract-your-opponent’s-teeth-that-got-embedded-under-your-skin-after-a-powered-punch rough. Next, there's a HALL FIGHT!!! Fists of Flame!!! Dooooooood, it's awesome!!! And that episode is titled “The Romanticist”. Then it gets even more violent. It is alittle much- among the most intense I've seen. Clearly, they broke the budget on ep11.

Lee Jung Ha (Nevertheless-7.6, The Auditors, Rookie Historian-7.6) opens the show as the lightweight, Kim Bong “Seok”. Lightweight? More like weightless, at times. He has to wear a weighted backpack to keep himself from floating away like a lost party balloon. This town, that town, new school: To avoid predators, his mother has kept them moving constantly. He's sweet, likable, winsome, and pretty much adorable. Han Hyo Joo (Happiness, W, Blood Free-8.5) is his mother, Lee Mi Hyeon and Zo In Sung (Escape from Mogadishu, That Winter, the Wind Blows-7, It's Okay, That's Love) is his father, Kim Du Sik - He's just killer in the role.

Go Youn Jung (Alchemy of Souls-8.3, Sweet Home-8.4, The School Nurse Files-7.6) is his brand new schoolmate, Jang “Hui” Su. She's a transfer student, and she's pretty, yet she strangely befriends Bong Seok. I just finished watching AoS-2, in which this actress takes over as the FL. M follows a year later, yet she looks 5 years younger. I wouldn't have recognized her if I hadn't checked the credits. The funniest scene, early on, is when he brings her home. His mother's reaction is precious. At first, she's nonplussed. “You're a girl…” is what haltingly comes out. “A girl who's a /friend/…” Hui adds, trying to aid with the processing. “But you're pretty…” Mom is still working on it. When it finally clicks with Mom that her son has brought a pretty girl home, she gets too happy. Too friendly, too. The whole thing is really cute. Ryu Seung Ryong (Portrait of a Family, The Painter of the Wind, Kingdom-8.3) is Hui's father, strongman Jang Ju Won. He is marvelous as well.

Cha Tae Hyun (Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation, Brain Works) is the electric Jeon Gye Do. Ryu Seung Beom (No Mercy, Solitude) portrays a very creepy hitman named Frank. Kim Hee Won (Pawn, Han River Police-7.4) is one of the teachers, Choi Il Hwan. Moon Sung Geun (Falsify, Vagabond-8) is the vile governmental department head, Min Yong Jun. The director is Park In Je of Kingdom S2, and the screenwriter is Kang Full from Pain, Love Never Ends.

This production has it all: Love, laughter, warmth, sadness, pain, action, and excitement.
The fight scenes are exceptional and put quite a few Hollywood features to shame. The hitman/hunter is Steven Segal; H2K; Hard to Kill. They do a great job in speeding up the action in places in a way that multiplies the excitement. They are really showing off. The soundtrack is mostly average but not bad. Alone again Naturally, by Gilbert O'Sullivan circa 1972, unexpectedly showed up.

To be different is to be alone. To be normal is to accept the compromise of conformity which can be difficult to distinguish phoniness. That is the theme as well as the nature of power and what is most important.

“Hero? …What do you think power is? Empathy is what real power looks like. Having the ability to care and understand the emotions of others. What kind of hero breaks other people's hearts? …You acted like you were better than him. What you did wasn't admirable at all… a hero has compassion towards others.” Seok had showed off at school and his classmate was hurt when trying to imitate him. His mother is not impressed. Seok has never fit in. He watched a kid jump off the jungle-gym, claiming he could fly. All the kids cheered. Seok couldn't help but go and show them what he could do. But later, the first kid was badly hurt in a fall. His mother is right, but he's just a kid and he wants to fit in. It's a bitter lesson, and it underscores how isolated Seok is. The NK fighters are so sad. They were tortured into what they are. The human brain is terrifying. They are powered, yet still powerless.

M is powerful. It isn't the typical sweet and tame Kdrama. The language is rough (is that Hulu's influence, I wonder? Regardless, it isn't unrealistic) and the violence is jarring at times. This isn't for kids. They are keeping the story moving: S2 is in the works! No early retirement here.

〰QUOTE〰

Crying becomes a habit. A habit becomes a weakness.

〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 8.3
Writing 8.3
Acting 8.3
Romance 6
Flutters 5
Art 8
Sound & music 7.3
Ending ?
My personal EQ 6.5

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 7
Laughs 2
Tears 2
Fright 4
Tension/Anxiety 3
Gore 8
Thought provocation 5.5
Snores 0

Age 15+ Violence - an episode on bullying is very emotional and difficult, gore
Language: R-rated w/ many F💣s

Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.

Re-watch? WOULD

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2
Racket Boys-8.3,
Reply 1988-8.6,
The school nurse files-7.6,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
Law School -8,

Period
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,

Sci-fi / Action
Glitch-8,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
Mystic Pop-up Bar-8.2,
K2 8,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Private Lives 8.1, When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Sisyphus 8,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Vagabond-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6, Iris-8,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9, The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

Leia Mais

2D ▪︎ 3D ▪︎ A Stud in Any Dimension °6.7° °good°

Would love with an AI be real or artificial? Would it feel… hollow?

Like many shows about tech, MHL opens with a company's demonstration of its breakthrough technology. Go Yoo “Jin” is on the stage behind a glass panel, in front of the investors, discussing the latest developments with a man next to her. Jin dramatically reveals that the man who she's been talking to /is/ the latest tech. He's a hologram. The hi-tech glass panels are what enable the audience to see him. Even though next to him on the same side of the glass, Jin can see him because her spectacles are made of the same material.

Not even 10 minutes in we got an exciting car chase. An ominously black SUV follows Jin as she leaves the demo. Holo takes over operation of the self-driving car with precision maneuvering and eludes the threat, but Jin's safety is only temporary. The pursuers crash her vehicle, and Jin attempts to flee on foot. As they're closing in on her, she slips the glasses into the bag of a woman passing by, per Holo's direction. He had pre-screened the crowd and picked the woman out specifically. That's how we meet Yeon.

‘They're so interesting looking…’ When Yeon finds the exotic eyewear she tries them on (would most people do that? Don't think so…) A strange man appears in her bedroom! She freaks out. But he's gone. Hmmm. He was there when she was wearing the glasses. Plucking up the courage to try again she tentatively slides them on. There he is again! These glasses are cursed! Jin decides she'll toss them. The phone rings. It's him. Then he's appearing on her TV, yammering on about how he's an Ai and he's here to help her. She's going to have to give him a listen.

Listening is about all she can do. Jin is face blind. Every person she meets looks blurry. She can't make out facial details at all. When she was still in school and her classmates found out, they played cruel tricks on her. Now, she'll let people think she's ignoring them out of rudeness than admit the truth, so she is widely misunderstood. Holo can help her face the world with a smile and the ability to call out to everybody by name, because he can tell her who they are. He speaks directly into her ear. He doesn't have to tell her that her crush, Mr Yoon, is already taken, though. She and her glasses see that painfully enough in the alley next to the restaurant where the company dinner is taking place.

MHL is a 2020 release that is rated 85 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 12 60-minute episodes - it ends just in time and maintains its quality control. The backdrop is an ongoing police investigation as well as a hostile takeover by another company. Holo is based on an actual human being, Go Nan Do/NDo. Yoon Hyun Min (True to Love) plays him & Holo. I loved this actor in Tunnel-8.1. He looks completely different here. I think it's the hair. When he shows up, Yeon can't tell the difference between him and Holo as long as she doesn't try to touch him. There's a big difference, though. Holo is trying to /help/ her with her office crush, while NDo is prone to exclaiming things like: “Romantic love is one of the many lies perpetrated by mankind… The problem is that humans have always been flawed. Therefore the outcome is always failure.” He's better than a tank of laughing gas, that one.

Go Sung Hee (King Maker: The Change of Destiny, Gaus Electronics) is our FL, Han So ”Yeon”. She was perfectly cast. She is still gorgeous in her glasses and she has that brainy quality that makes her a good match for NDo. Yeon is spending lots of time with Holo. She talks to him about life, love, lying, and living. She's also undoing all of NDo's programming, too. What she doesn't know is that NDo is watching /everything/. He's using her as a beta tester. An UNPAID one!

Holo's #1 directive is to make his owner happy. There's an accident and it looks like Yeon is about to get electrocuted? Not if Holo causes a /citywide blackout/, she won't! The police get involved in this ‘hacker crime’. As Holo's developer, NDo almost hits the kill switch after that. He opts instead to move to the apartment next door to Yeon. This way, he can study what is going on with his life's work more closely.

Choi Yeo Jin (On the Way to the Airport, P1H: The Beginning of a New World) plays Go Yoo Jin, NDo's sister. She is adorable with her round freckled face and wavy hair. Her look is fresh and unique - she even has a TAN (gasp!). Kcountry is usually so pasty pale. I really liked her in this series. My current favorite actor, Lee Jung Eun (Oh My Ghost-10, Our Blues-8.5, Parasite-9, and dozens of other things) plays So Yeon's mother. She gets a crying scene late in the show. Ain't nobody better. Not in the wide world. Hwang Chan Sung (True to Love, What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8) is Baek Chan Sung, Vice-president of Magic Mirror. Everything about him says "Debonaire” in MHL. In ep1, he seems perfectly charming. As the show goes on it starts appearing that he might not be such an angel. If he is a bad guy, I still don't want to believe it because there's something appealing about the actor. That's a pretty good skill. The directors are Lee Sang Yeob (Familiar Wife-8.5, Yumi's Cells, Shopping King Louie), & Yoon Jong Ho (Lovely Runner, Flower of Evil-8.9). Screenwriter Ryu Yong Jae of Parasyte: The Grey collaborated with writers Kim Hwan Chae & Choi Sung Joon on this project, Money Heist: Korea & Psychopath Diary.

Yeon falls for Holo - /she thinks/. She slowly starts to realize that a relationship minus physical contact is less-than fulfilling. In the meantime, NDO's past is a mystery and his motivations are even more perplexing. Is he obsessed with Holo or is it Yeon that has captivated his interest?

Despite its positives, MHL is too loosely put together to be a top-tier production. It's good, and I wouldn't call it a waste of time to watch it once, but techies and analytical types may not appreciate it much. Compared to the other Kdramas I've seen, it's middling. They should have done better building up the attraction between them and the romance, in general - especially on her end. It's not bad, but it could have been better. The romance does pick up alittle in ep11. Ep12 is very nice.

They should have done better building up the attraction between them and the romance, in general - especially on her end. It's not bad, but it could have been better. The romance does pick up alittle in ep11.

Everything and anything might get humanized in a film, from insects, to candlesticks. The constant attempts to humanize AI is borderline unsettling. I've heard we have a loneliness epidemic in the USA. Many people try to fill that loneliness with tech and that is sad. Tech is great as long as it doesn't get in the way of human relationships. To make connections with others we must escape the prison of ourselves, and tech promotes the opposite. It's always a matter of moderation. Then it becomes a matter of health.

There's sloppiness that's indicative of lazy writing. Ep10 is unpleasant and a tad cheesy. A guy gets beat up horribly in one scene, and then has no signs of injuries in the next scene, which is just a couple hours later on the timeline. The corporate espionage story seems overly outlandish, but I'll have to admit I know nothing about that stuff. The police come in with an arrest warrant and also move to destroy property on the spot, which would only happen in an arena saturated in corruption or authoritarianism. IRL, it would probably take years to get to the point where intellectual property is destroyed. We can allow for them to compress the timeline, I suppose. Real life is always crazier; it just seems that it would have taken minimal effort and insight to make the show better.

MHL has its moments, though. The music is good, particularly the song, You Are the Only One. They feature respectable action in several scenes. The contrast between machine nature and human nature provides limitless fodder for laughs. Yeon has trouble sleeping so Holo counts sheep for her. Nobody told him to stop so he soon gets to over 12,000. They missed more logic V emotions humor than they nailed, though.

MHL will appeal more to romance junkies than any other type of viewers. Anyone who requires logical explanations and a tight script will be subject to small frustrations. Even romance junkies won't get enormous satisfaction. They tried to plug into the romance and thriller genre but got their wires crossed, slightly. Still, it's operational.


〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 6.7
Writing 6.5
Acting 7.7
Romance 6
Flutters 5
Art 6
Sound & music 7
Ending 7.5
My personal EQ score - 4.5

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 5
Laughs 2.5
Tears 3
Fright 3
Tension/Anxiety 2.5
Gore 4
Thought provocation 4
Snores 1

Re-watch? This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again….


Age 14+
PG-13 language, some.violence and alittle blood

Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ I would say to watch these shows first:

Modern Day -
Crazy Love-7.8,
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Call It Love-8.4,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9,
Mine-8

Action/Crime/Sci-fi -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Sisyphus 8,
Why Her?-8,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
Blood Free-8.5,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9

Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
Something in them Rain-9,
C: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9, Hidden Love-7.8

Leia Mais

~DaDa &a.ND ThE Tw2 r0b0T5 ? The Power Of Irresistible Love~ °6.5°

Huh. Alright, alright. Maybe the best place to start is with the titles that kept popping into my head. It was very distracting when this stuff was flying at me:

□ One Woman's Passage Through The Center Of Her Wiring (yuck)

□ Wired For One Woman's Passage Through Her Own Circuitry (nope)

□ Total Validation Via Passage Through Da-da's Core Processor (not quite)

□ A Tale Of Total Validation (getting there)

□ The Whirring Of My Heart (not bad)

☑ The Power Of Irresistible Love (good, but is it funny enough?)

☑ Robot Love triangle Better Than It Sounds. (Like it!)

☑ Luv Terminator (yep)

☑ DaDa & ThE Tw2 r0b0T5 (Love It!)

☑ PinocchiB0T, a REAL BOyT
(also love it)

□ Yeahhh! Heyyy! OYY! - He's ah-DROIDttt!!! (Yet again, love it. Dang. Dilemma.)

Watchlist roulette landed on AB. I'm thinking: "Just look at that premise! Here's my chance to trash a show, so I can avoid being so skewed positive in my reviews!" It shows balance to have a healthy critical side, afterall.

Yet, the film craft in AB is pretty good. The biggest problem is the plot itself, along with the dialogue. They weigh down some otherwise solid elements. Don't misunderstand, it's not a bad watch. It's worth charging up on AB as what they do well, they do really well. They adeptly utilized juxtaposition to make connections. There's also metaphors, irony, & laughs. No matter how bad it is, the satisfaction they give Da-da by having BF show-up her XBF, while in a Hanbok, is precious.

So, let's meet Da-da. She is creative, driven & earnest. She works in showbiz as she inherited her father's special effects studio. And she's been secretly dating mega star Ma Wang Joon (XBF) for 7 years.

Boy oh boy, do they chest slam us. Da-da & XBF's dating rituals have drained her. We see the pains they must go through (not really /they/,' it's all on her) to maintain his public heartthrob persona. She becomes emotionless. Robotic.

One night, XBF brings home some corporate dweebs & she's caught! Panicked, XBF calls her a stalker! Her night rounded out w/ a trip to the police station & then the ER. While there, she hears her jerk-soon-to-be-XBF talking, & thinks that he's there for her. Sadly, as she excitedly rounds the corner, it's just him on TV. We're not stuntman. Why do they jab us? Seven years of this, well, let's be honest, emotional abuse, has rewired her confidence- it's been bypassed. She's not robotic anymore. She's a phantom. #Done, she breaks up w/ him.

Cut to her workshop. The dummy she ordered arrived. When she opens the trunk she sees: That is no dummy! As she's staring, he falls forward. They end up on the floor, face2face, & lips2lips. What IS this? It's an engineer's effort to help his friend, the AI robot he's been developing, escape a twisted & sadistic customer who has bought him. This robot's on the lam.

Whether Da-da likes it or not, she's got a robot boyfriend. When their lips met, his mode was activated. She can't shake this Luv Terminator! She's not going to spend $ on him, though. She brings home a box of random, leftover clothes from the set, so he can cover up his loincloth. The beginning of their relationship finds him in some far out threads.

Then it starts. BF is chasing GF (Da-da) XBF is jealous. The fans are dangerous & rabid. The corporate dudes are even more rapacious. There's even a psycho hovering round. The plot will thicken like congealed fake blood.

While watching, a bunch of 'Wouldas' popped into my brain. The top one is: Can you go get a job? #2 is: Clean the house. Make my fantasies come true! Da-da isn't thinking about taking advantage of the situation, though. She's focused on escape. She tries to ignore him. She tells him to stay put until she gets home from work, but he always finds an excuse to go see her. He misses her, after all.

One day, an actor on set loses his temper w/ Da-da & berates her. BF walks up to him, flat-hands a blow to the actor's chest & dude flies across the set. BF was wearing that Hanbok (a woman's historical dress) at the time. He inquires: Are you alright, GF? And XBF sees it all. Oh, Yeah.

Yeo Jin-gu, as BF, hardly uses his cheek/facial muscles for the entire show. His body language shows a touch of rigidity. His performance is genius. I had to remind myself, HEY! That's an actor there. BF just wants to show love... & go on dates. They sneak into a closed amusement park one night. As BF generates power, they amble from ride to ride among the soft glow of the lights. OkOkOk... It's killin me to say this, but that amusement park jaunt is: The BEST Date ehverrrRrRRrRRR! (Sing it like an aria). ((The Best Date Ever!))

There's 2 BFs in Da-da's life. 2s factor weightily in the show. Post Hanbok incident, XBF wonders to himself: Who is that guy? Rain falls. He looks outside, & there's Da-da, face-to-face w/ her new BF, an umbrella overheard providing private shelter. XBF's head lowers as his gaze drifts to a pair of umbrellas on the floor. (Is she really going out w/him?) He grabs one & heads to the parking lot, where there are now a pair of umbrellas: One w/him alone, the other w/ his XGF, & her new BF, walking away. The rain pours. XBF begins to see double... & 2's & twos & pairs & couples & duets & deuces & snake eyes & duos

DAEBEK! That's Hemingwayian!

We also learn that XBF's nickname is Mazinger, meaning, Robot! He later says to his CEO: "Do you think you can treat me like a robot? Whoa. We even have 2 robots!

They are currently working on a show, here's the signage:

Actor: Ma Wang-joon.

Project: Traitor.

Ha!

The biggest irony is that Da-da, in an attempt to keep the relationship secret, is awful at first. She's doing to BF what jerk-XBF did to her. Secrets pile up. Out of frustration, one day, she tells BF: "Do whatever you want." Uh-oh...

There's plenty of laughs. XBF learns that Da-da gave BF an "A++ Korean Beef" sticker (He wants recognition. It's a reward). Aigoo, they fed us the low hanging fruit. In Korea, that's a wicked pun. They play the bionic man theme once when BF jumps - Nice! BF picks up a floppy disk & examines it. That's juxtaposition. From a Hanbok, to prison issue clothes, his outfits are hilari-aladojus (say it Mary Poppins-like). In Ep8 He picks her up & she cries she's not ready /YET/? She's that far gone?

Then IT happens.

He got a job! Now I'M falling for him a little...

WAIT! He wants to support her!

Uhh/pay my automo-Bill, unh,uh,Unh, ah ah Ahhh! Sing it:

Can you pay my bills?

Can you pay my telephone bills?

Do you pay my automo' bills?

If you did then maybe we could chill.

~Whoo Hoo, tell it, Destiny's Child. WHOO!~

Ahem. Okay.

Now, about love...The selfless love shown in AB is definitely irresistible. {Btw, it would be arrogant & disrespectful of me to comment on anything except my personal journey w/ male/female relationships, which follows.} Most women don't want to be w/ some feckless fop, but it's in a woman's embedded code to want to be loved completely. Adoring (yet masculine) love is one of our fantasies, whether consciously so, or not. Masculine, here, means the whole merry-go-round: a strong protector/provider, who is unafraid of feelings, & for whom his woman is the center of his world. Think: BF+Prince Charming+Rhett Butler's love child: Adoration w/ swagger. This is AB's exhibit #1. Love trumps all else. It's the preservative, the glue, that keeps it all together running smoothly. Without it, the entire product is defective.

Finally, to the best product AB is selling: Standards. AB should raise women's standards when it comes to men. Obviously, no person can be BF-level perfect. We all have viruses in our processors, but women should demand a man that unabashedly loves, protects & provides. (No spongers). Inversely, men want respect & to be, quite frankly, my dear, admired for their manliness - in sincerity. Even Mr. Robot asked of recognition for his efforts. The truth of it is that men (in general!) have operating systems that run on ego-fuel. I used to roll my eyes at it, refusing to enable or contribute to it. Thirty-two years of marriage taught me that if I want two people in our union to be fulfilled, then I'd better make my husband feel like 100,000,000,000 won, as he loved me completely (and that does make it easy). I loved our time together, until death did us part. Sharing this is only meant to be motivational; all the rage & discontent out there has made us miserable. To be happy, which is life's bonus option, one has to let it go, forget about oneself to focus on others once in a while, & to also be content.

Not everything is hardware. Select the best software to avoid meltdowns, as we have choices. A woman can choose a quality partner (or wait for one to drop on top of her), but she shouldn't settle. Strong women hold out for something complete. Forget strong. Smart women (that is, women that have decided to respect themselves) do that. You, reading this, have dignity as a human being, & you deserve respect. Every woman does.

As for ?? -> Can we have a ♥️relationship w/an AI? I'm in love w/ my robot vacuum, so I refuse to comment.

There's a long list of issues w/ AB. Let's skip it. The plo,t& dialogue are substandard & at times, awful. AB wanders, forgets where it was, & gets lost. The ending is blah - all around. Given the positives, login to AB if so inclined.

QUOTE:
{This, I could never understand: If you love someone you must let them go.} Now, I think I understand a little. That, more than my own feelings, it's about wanting to prevent the other person from getting hurt... Because, it'll be more difficult for me, to watch the person I love, go through struggles.

IMHO〰
RATINGS
Directing 7
Acting 8
Romance 5
Flutters 6.5
Ending 4

LEVELS
Warmth 7
Thought provocation 6

Re-watch? Notta priority

Age 16+

You may also like:
A Witch's Love 7.8, 99 days with the Superstar-7,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2, Another Miss Oh-7.5, The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Familiar Wife-8.5
Hotel del Luna-8.4

Leia Mais

Life~Pain~Romance~Joy~Food~Song~Healing ~⚕️~ Drama That Resonates Again

Grey's Anatomy, Take Your Scalpel & Go Home, Now. K-Band-Aid is In The HOWSE-pital

I put off watching this highly rated show for a while because I found the name unappealing. Well, what's in a name?

This series follows 5 friends from college that eventually end up working at the same hospital in Seoul. Now that they are all back in Seoul, they resurrect their college band by working on 1 song a month, to ensure they take time to be together. Whether the above pre-screening sounds like a solid basis for a hospital drama or not, it's merely the setting. What matters is the relationships, particularly as embodied in the writer/director/actors. In any case, HP has stitched together an outstanding fellowship of talent. Stick with the regimen for 3 episodes, at least, before determining its effectiveness. Ep1 gets off to a slow start and there are several scenes that won't be understandable until later. Once things get rolling they never slow down again.

HP is about friendship first, but also caring+respect for others, love, parents & children, music, and lots and lots of #food. The hospital scenes, including staff dynamics and operating room procedures, feel realistic. The characters are a delight.

Here's a shout-out to Jo Jung-Suk. I fell in love with him when watching the divine Oh My Ghost-10. He delivers another slam dunk with his performance as Dr. Lee Ik-jun. Everyone does a great job.


((((⌚))))

With season 2 now watched, the diagnosis is that their practice in season 1 rendered season 2 even #more effective. It continues with the uplifting treatment of the subjects, and it's a resounding hit. Picking up right where it left off, there's a seamless connection to season 1.

Early in season 2 there's a ping-pong tourney. Cardio-Thoracic Sx was looking good - until they had to concede in order to respond to an emergency. At least half of the matches seemed to be decided that way. Instead of mic drops, we see paddle drops. We get to hear other docs gossip about the great Lee Ik-jun: 'I heard Dr Lee was in the ping-pong Club in college. In fact, I heard he was in EVERY club in college. He was even in the magic club.' Comfortably confident, Ik-jun tells Song-hwa: "I'll return victorious before this tea gets cold." (Nope. Nuclear Medicine runs the tables). His defeat is commemorated with these words: "Tasting Defeat and savoring victory: These are the things that allow us to grow."

Let's take a moment to review the primary protagonists.

In season 2, Lee Ik-jun continues to play Dr Cupid. While Ju-wan (the cardiologist) is worried about Ik-jun discovering whom he's dating. We must wonder: Why worry? How could Ik-jun deny anybody love? Watch to see. He has time to play cupid, and also cover for the lunch lady because he's so brilliant that everything is easy for him. Besides, he's friends with the lunch lady on social media, and her son had a parole hearing. The only thing that takes Ik-jun more time than other docs is walking through the hospital. That's because the highly loquacious Ik-jun is friends with everybody - security guards, aides, custodians, scattered guardians... Just everybody.

Ah, the unparalleled and misnamed SONG-hwa. She can do everything: neurosurgery, research, office visits, lectures,,, one of her biggest timetakers is her mentoring of any and all residents in their educational, professional, and even personal lives. She can do everything but sing. She sings anyway, with masses of verve. She gets pleasure out of little things, like rain. She dances at church and eats like a Sumo wrestler. Utterly delightful, she's the heartbeat of the gang, excepting the band.

Seok-hyung lost a little weight and he looks great in season 2. He declined to take over his father's business and continues to rise to near celebrity popularity as an Ob/Gyn, despite his modest and somewhat shy persona. Patients respond to his gentle and caring manner. One office visit depicts amazing ultrasound footage of a 10 week old fetus wiggling its arms and legs. The couple's reaction is precious. Still focused on Seok-hyung, his mother remains unable to resist attempts to try to control him. She wants grandchildren. Now. She tells him: ‘I don't care who it is. Just get married.’

Dr. Chu continues to try and insert herself into Seok-hyung's life. In season 2 he's neither encouraging nor rejecting her efforts. Dr. Chu is not easily daunted. In fact, she's downright inspirational. Openly pursuing Seok-hyung, she often makes him laugh. Dr. Chu runs into Seok-hyung's mother - literally. Mom was so offended that she even told Rosa she doesn't care whom Seok-hyung marries, as long as it isn't #HER!, speaking of Dr. Chu.

Ju-wan is unchanged in season 2, and his relationship with Dr. Do, whom he is training, continues to improve. We get to meet Dr. Do's wife in season 2.

The pediatrician, Dr. Ahn (Andrea/Jeong-won) treads the course set in season 1. There's not a lot to say w/o spoiling some surprises. He complains that his siblings are worried about mom, but as they can't help "right now", they bombard him with calls. In rich irony he laments: "Why did they enter the church, really?"

We see the return of almost all the side characters: Parents, siblings, other doctors, residents, as well as new first years. They all continue to round out the show well.

Uju wants to go camping, so Ik-jun finally leaves his beloved city life for a weekend, because his son is his world. Hmmm. Who else loves ⛺❔️

Gy-eol is looking relaxed and even pretty, especially with her hair down. We learn more about her in S2.

As a side note, there's a realistic basis for the show. The positive connection between surgeons and music has actually been studied. The participants currently playing a musical instrument, at the time of the study, performed the laparoscopic tasks significantly faster than those who did not. They determined that visuo-spatial abilities used in laparoscopic performance clearly may be enhanced for individuals playing a musical instrument. It seems obvious that finger strength and dexterity should also be positively affected.

Even though HP is a top-ten show
in all of Korea's history, there are currently no plans for a season 3. The writer has completed the originally scripted storyline. That is the current status, but there's actually numerous ways to continue the drama. For now, it's a wrap. If you are one that dreads waiting for another season as it it's a multistage invasive treatment plan, it's safe to go forward with the HP procedure now, and hope for a recurrence in the future.

IMHO...

RATINGS
Directing 9
Acting 9
Romance 8
Flutters 5
Art 6
Sound & music 9
Ending 9

LEVELS
Action/ Excitement 4
Thought provocation 6


Suggested Age 12& up, with a caveat: One unmarried couple is shown in bed together with enough skin showing to infer what's unmistakably been going on. Any parents who object to that, be advised. The counter-balance is the realistic medical setting, along with reinforcement of good character.

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

A Witch's Love 7.8,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.4,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Move To Heaven-8.4,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,

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Life~Pain~Romance~Joy~Food~Song~Healing ~⚕️~ Drama That Resonates

Grey's Anatomy, Take Your Scalpel & Go Home, Now. K-Band-Aid is In The HOWSE-pital

I put off watching this highly rated show for a while because I found the name unappealing. Well, what's in a name?

This series follows 5 friends from college that eventually end up working at the same hospital in Seoul. Now that they are all back in Seoul, they resurrect their college band by working on 1 song a month, to ensure they take time to be together. Whether the above pre-screening sounds like a solid basis for a hospital drama or not, it's merely the setting. What matters is the relationships, particularly as embodied in the writer/director/actors. In any case, HP has stitched together an outstanding fellowship of talent. Stick with the regimen for 3 episodes, at least, before determining its effectiveness. Ep1 gets off to a slow start and there are several scenes that won't be understandable until later. Once things get rolling they never slow down again.

HP is about friendship first, but also caring+respect for others, love, parents & children, music, and lots and lots of #food. The hospital scenes, including staff dynamics and operating room procedures, feel realistic. The characters are a delight.

Here's a shout-out to Jo Jung-Suk. I fell in love with him when watching the divine Oh My Ghost-10. He delivers another slam dunk with his performance as Dr. Lee Ik-jun. Everyone does a great job.

This just pertains to season 1. I haven't started season 2 yet.

IMHO...

RATINGS
Directing 9
Acting 9
Romance 8
Flutters 5
Art 6
Sound & music 9
Ending 9

LEVELS
Action/ Excitement 4
Thought provocation 6


Suggested Age 12& up, with a caveat: One unmarried couple is shown in bed together with enough skin showing to infer what's unmistakably been going on. Any parents who object to that, be advised. The counter-balance is the realistic medical setting, along with reinforcement of good character.

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

A Witch's Love 7.8,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.4,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Move To Heaven-8.4,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,

Leia Mais

♡They Slap The Guemganggo On The Viewer! ⚙ A Total Guilty Pleasure♡

What to think of this?

In the first couple episodes I couldn't u/s this acid trip. I peeped Wiki & learned that it's based on the classic 13th century (some of the stories are older) Chinese fantasy-quest novel: Journey To The West. The most outlandish elements of KO are taken directly from this classic. Having ruled out KO being devised under pharmaceutical influence (in the 21st century, at least), I trekked on.

KO opens with an adorable little girl, actress So Won Kal. She's wonderful as young Jin Seon-mi, who is duped by Devil King/”DK”. He may look like a man, but he's really a /monster/. He asks her to collect something from inside a magical chalet. His warning: Never acknowledge the being living in there; she should act like she can't even see him.

Why send a little girl, you ask? DK /knows/ she can do this, b/c he noticed that she is able to see spirits.

Little Seon-mi has gotten herself into the middle of a cosmic, centuries long game being played by I'll-do-anything-that-makes-me-look-cool Son O-gong/”SOG” & DK. SOG is the being that's trapped & Seon-mi is no match for him - yet. He makes a protection deal w/ her: If she will set him free, he'll come help her whenever she calls for him: He'll always protect her. Once free, Mr. Slyboots removes his name from her memory. She won't be able to call his name now, & he'll never have to honor the deal. He didn't realize they were destined to work together to save the world, however.

Fast forward a couple decades. They meet again, & SOG is not indifferent this time. This time, he has the illest of intentions: He wants to eat her! She is, as it turns out, a Samjam - she's one-off-a-kind special. Consuming her will make any spirit or monster vastly stronger: Her very scent is intoxicating! He soon discovers their deal, actually does protect her. He can't proceed with their contract in effect. How about a new, #much-better-deal☺❔️? NOPE. She ain't trusting him again✋️. He tries to get her to willingly agree - she's going to get eaten… At least he'll be gentle... Not a working strategy either. Aigoo, until he can figure something out, he'll have to protect her so nobody else can get a bite in first.

I know, right? So WRONG.

Under his wing, the delightful world of monsters & spirits opens up to Seon-mi. They occupy the most coveted positions in the world: entertainment, business, politics, & so on. Though there are bulls, monkeys & pigs (O MY!), etc, they look just like us. That allows them to blend in while keeping the populace at large blind to their existence. Even Hyun Bin (from Crash Landing On You) is one! We mortals are powerless against them, indeed;)) When a CEO shows up to cook & clean at DK's house, we get a sense of the privileged life they lead.

KO is a visual extravaganza. The fashion is bold & exciting, yet Seon-mi is always understated. Much of the show takes place at DK's house. That's a good thing, because anyone would want to hang out in this glizy, uber opulent abode. From the marble floors to the intricately composed walls of beveled mirrors & 1930's streamline gleam, everything shines. Most of us have never seen the like. Yet it still seems comfortable - a design marvel.

They add numerous touches to fill out the space nicely, such as putting Mrs. Ma (a dog) in purple lipstick to make her mouth look more dog-like. Another example is when they are looking for a mermaid. The hallway they walk is lit to look like wavy water. It's such details that separate the mundane from the marvelous.

There's clever juxtaposition. The other kids know she can see ghosts, so Seon-mi is picked on horribly at school as a child. She's different. Taking note of the insulting hate inscriptions carved by her classmates, she sits down at her desk and slaps her ETHICS book down. This is the beauty of film. One could write volumes on the topic of bullying, and they were able to reduce it all to one slamming book. I always need a moment to geek out over morsels like that〰

Ok, I'm back. The acting is terrific. Lee Se-young has 3 parts total, including Richie, my favorite character in the series. Cha Seung-won, as Devil King, must go through Samjan fits & display all manifestations of rage. They both just knock it out of the volcano.

We get a look at some fun relationships. SOG is a capricious, mean, surly, brat of a being. He & DK don't hate each other; they've just been playing tit-for-tat for centuries because they're bored. Neither one wants the other to perish, as that would make life even more boring. Hanging around the two of them when they're acting up is like a carnival ride. SOG & Seon-mi's dynamic goes from predator & mark to something quite different over the course of the series. It's truly special.

There's heavy foreshadowing. Familiarity with this director and writer prompts a caution: Believe their foreshadowing. These two value Duty Over Pleasure. Here may be sniffles. Tears, even. In the scene that shows the darkest augury, black is the theme. It's heavy & dark feeling w/ both characters in black. As we get closer, we can see that one's wearing a shirt with gold trim over black on one half, & gold trim over white on the other. There is still optimism.

Now for some Scooby Snacks〰

○We meet the cutest, hot zombie ever. Lil sumpum for the boys....
○There's a group chat that's a well done running gag.
○SOG moves into DK's place without even asking. What he likes, he says, is that "Parking's not an issue." He's using 3 spaces, it turns out, & DK is in trouble with the manager over it. Parking's an issue, just not for SOG.
○There's oodles of ice cream.
○We see a CEO cleaning & cooking at DK's. He makes snacks for the kids. The CEO even cleans Seon-mi's fridge! Her assistant would have fainted over that.
○Speaking of said assistant, Lee Han-joo, he's comical. He's always terrified, as he can sense the ghosts around them, but can't see them. Ms Jin has kept him in the dark about her capabilities, but he knows things aren't quite right. °He's always thinking about quitting, but then something amazing will happen. As Jin Seon-mi gets tangled up with dieties & their agendas, mega stars & other mysterious beings start showing up at the office. He's not leaving now!
○One day he due to an emergency he leaves his kids with Ms Jin. When he picks them up, they refuse to leave at first. They saw (real) dinosaurs & PK, (the pop idol) the CEO made them snacks... and they got to play with a girl that can pop her eyeballs out! Ha! That one made me suddenly laugh so loudly, I scared the cat.

Now for a couple examples of how they bollixed it up〰

●The undisciplined dialogue is the biggest flaw.
●There's too many contradictions.
●There's too much wavering back and forth, forth and back, and forth. And so on.
●Yet some things that weren't said were even more vexing.
●There's dead ends running amok. For instance, we're told that SOG has never felt real pain, but they also had informed us earlier that his heart was broken after being betrayed by a human. Later, that sunk to the bottom never to be heard from again. In the world of film craft, that's basically inexcusable. Quality productions don't do stuff like that.
●Finally, Lee Seung-gi looks Waaay better with the long hair. Why'd they cut it?

Here's the journal I kept while watching KO, until I gave it up, being at a loss〰

》It's so bad. Undisciplined, running amok all over the place. It's awful.
》Oh, look. Even Ritchie's in the group text. Look at SOG, trying to act like he doesn't care. It's too much for him. That's hilarious.
》This is so wrong. If he says he doesn't like to see her hurt, then why is he telling her he can't wait to get rid of her? He's the only one hurting her. This is frustrating.
》Ha! That one was outrageous. What fun.
》They all stab her in the back. They are all #monsters. She needs to run away. Go grab Jonathan, please! Save yourself!
》Hey, that kiss was something. They truly seem to care about each other. Sweet.
》PK, really? Feed (X) to (Y)? You're rotten!!
》》(W), how could you work with a goddess to steal (A's) soul!?!

》That's so cute.

》》No, it's awful.

》Just look at the way they look at eac..ch...othr.

》It's funny.

》》It's turrible

》Why du I like it

》》I don... No do. Nonn em Emmmm

》》》Augh!!!!! My head's exploding!

》》》Get out of my head‼️《《《

Conclusion: like deities, it's up & down, but it dons the guilty pleasure genre like sweet smelling, comfy slippers. This show slapped a Guemganggo on me, and I'm liking it against my will. I hate it too.. Maybe... It's doing to the audience what the characters do to each other. (Not for a second do I believe that's by design, but it would be awesome if it was).

Finally, there's an exploration of the idea of being forced to love someone. We aren't talking about a love potion where somebody's drugged into an obsession. In KO, a flawed and selfish character is either forced to (truly) love, or given the gift of love, depending on how we look at it.

For the character, this is a wonderful feeling without losing the sense of self. Said character becomes a better, deeper person. If God gives us love, are we to enjoy it? Are we to be angry that it didn't originate from ourselves, or that we don't have a choice? No.

Love is a gift 〰♥️〰 It's always a gift.

QUOTES〰
It's dangerous to assume others think the same way you do. Thinking you're Ultimately different from others is also dangerous.

The reduction of the universe to the compass of a single being and the extension of a single being until it reaches God. This is love. ~Victor Hugo~

IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 7
Acting 8
Romance 8
Flutters 7
Art 9
Ending 8

LEVELS
Action/ Excitement 6
Thought provocation 5
Snores 0

Suggested Age 15+

Don't miss:
K: My Only Love Song 8.7;
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
Alchemy of Souls-8.3
Black-9
C: The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8

Leia Mais

And Now for Something Completely Different °VG° °Romantaholics only°

How does one admit that s/he spent over 16 hrs watching a show about how a con man poses as a wealthy blind woman's brother & ends up falling in love with her? This is utterly ridiculous. The plot summary is ridiculous. What's more ridiculous is that I cried through at least nine episodes. Part of me felt I myself was inside a scene from a comedy. Looks like the joke's on me.

I'll have to accept that I appreciate art with my heart much more than my head. If one can roll with the premise, it's a more pleasurable experience Thus, romance addicts will hop on this cathartic roller coaster & love the ride. Be warned, though, mostly everyone else will hate this.

Between hankies, thoughts jumped to the front of my brain, like: "Hey, this is more ridiculous than a General Hospital, Peyton Place, & Dynasty doing a Reunion-Funny-Raccoon-Video-Holiday-Extravaganza!" Or, "This could be one of the most aburd plot lines ever." As it turns out, this is nothing! Who knew the following plots were being inflicted on the public? Luke & Laura save the world from being frozen. Or, how’bout it was all a dream... a dog's dream. Then there's Timmy, the doll that came to life along with Precious, the obsessive orangutan nurse. Don't get me started on Being John Malchevich, which is really good, but can't be explained. Therefore, TWTWB isn't so bad. I've decided to not be embarrassed for loving it, and it's not the only Kdramas that prompt similar thoughts.

TWTWB is the story of Oh Young & Oh Soo. She is born into one of Korea's dukedoms (her father is a CEO). Her parents had a nasty divorce, ending with her mother leaving the house & taking her brother, Oh Soo. Age 7 at the time, Oh Young longed for them, but she never saw them again.

There's 2 Oh Soos, & they end up friends: Oh Young's brother, born into modern day royalty, & the /other/ Oh Soo, who had been abandoned under a tree at birth. Oh Soo is a grown street kid, sometimes thug, always a gambler, & usually a con man. When the Ohs finally come looking for the long lost son, he has been dead a year. At the same time, the still living Oh Soo suddenly owes a debt to a mob boss that, in the words of ‘The Boss’, "no honest man can pay." So when the family lawyer comes tapping around, Soo jumps at the golden opportunity to make connections with these "well-off" targets.

This sets up a line of obstacles that he & his friends-and-abettors must navigate with thriller style machinations. The irony is that while Oh Soo believes he's moving into that house with his eyes open, ready to plot his course & exit monied & worry-free, he actually went there blind & ended up snaring himself.

TWTWB is a show about isolation, family, lousy or absent parents, dignity, responsibility, telling oneself the truth, & honor. Most of all, it's about forgiveness. The players have a roulette wheel of hurts, slights & other grievances laid out in a circular fire squad formation. Almost every character needs to forgive another in this series. Young's list is by far the longest. The person that forgives can go on to heal. Maybe it isn't possible to pardon somebody out of selfish motives, but the party that gets the most benefit when forgiveness occurs is the one that does the forgiving. As the aphorism goes: Dwelling on hate & anger is like drinking poison & expecting the other person to get sick. TWTWB also underscores that once a person has passed, we must live a little hollowed out if we've missed the chance to attempt reconciliation.

There's nothing novel about the plot's arc: Poor, but smart street thug with a heart of gold, meets innocent, poor-little-rich-girl. Over time, his evil agenda evaporates as love blooms. The journey that matters more than whether it's redundant. Human existence is redundant. What matters most is how they tell the story, and they do it well.

The slow pace mirrors Oh Young's pace. She must proceed methodically & feel everything out prior to stepping forward. The director wants the viewer to FEEL the actors’ emotions. It seems that half of the series is extreme close-ups. That, along with the cello music, is a direct send up to the lauded Ingmar Bergman. When we don't hear the cello or the chimes, there is a thrumming beat to the soundtrack that's intended to build tension. Every episode adds to the taut atmosphere. Given the long close-up takes, the actors are nothing short of sensational showing a range of emotions hidden under poker faces. It should excite lovers of the craft.

Young, who went blind shortly after the siblings separated, was completely cloistered while growing up. She knows nothing of the world or most human interaction, yet she's grown to not trust anyone. Locked away, she's too vulnerable & naive to be left alone. Yet she is very, very alone. Her money blinds everyone around her to her humanity.

Their relationship is adorable. It is as beautiful as it is increasingly uncomfortable as the show continues. He can't take his eyes off of her. Under his nurturing she opens up like a flower. He seems more & more reluctant to go through with his plans. He starts to deflect his agenda and, rather, work on unlocking some of the mysteries in Young's life. Winter is representative of Young's life: A very cold & very long winter. Soo's the warm wind. He blows in and shakes everything up. Soo makes the chimes ring.

Soo & the boys from the street are shown to have limited options in life. At the end of the show, Soo loses all interest in making any excuses, valid or not. He & BFF Jin grew up next to Moo-chul who has a complicated relationship with Soo over a past tragedy and has given Soo 100 days to pay off his debt. Moo-chul may not like Soo, but he sticks to his word, despite being pressured to act earlier. Mr. Kim, the mob boss, is juxtaposed with all of the neighborhood boys. They have a code of conduct, but Mr. Kim respects nothing but his own image. While he likely knows Soo didn't steal his money, he demands repayment anyway, because he's jealous of Soo. Everybody is making deals & promises throughout the show, but Mr. Kim has no intention of keeping his word. Moo-chul may have been contracted to kill Soo, but everyone seems to understand it's just business, and nobody thinks he's lying about anything. It makes for good watching.

Soo is compared to the people around Young. We see that most of the condescending snobs are worse than he is. Young is the center of the wheel that everything turns on. The people around her may seem to care about her, but the money always undermines relationships & corrupts everything. Yes, Soo came to defraud her, but he ends up guiding her to the land of the living. He may have been abandoned at birth, but Young, born to "privilege," was treated even worse, as Soo was taken in by a loving family. The people around Young claim to love her, but from one perspective, they are the #true con artists. Her life has been pain. She is secluded in that secret room, with despair & self-pity infecting the space. She'd given up, out of exhaustion, by the time Soo arrived. She wants to die. Soo is next to Young because he wants to live! These opposite forces draw them together, swirling around each other, as fate tries to bring balance & promote growth.

Now to the Uh-Ohs. There's some /near insulting/ logical gaps & pitfalls. Several things make no sense at all. They did such a nice job with many elements, but some of the mistakes are astounding, given the context. This is a no spoilers review; few examples are possible. One of the worst things that occurs is related to revelations about one character. This person turns out to be delusional & dangerous. It's wildly inappropriate that this person is permitted to linger around. The flaws are severe enough that I can't go higher than a 7 rating. The cropped ending is too brief & klutzy, which is an issue with many Kdramas. Yet, it still is probably in the re-watcher category. I miss them already. Besides, Kim Bum, as Soo's BFF, has never looked more adorable. His parents, who raised Soo, are the only good parents in the show (even Secretary Wang has problems with her dad).

The portentous soundtrack amplifies Soo's (and the viewer's) dread of that fateful day; Young will learn the truth someday. We learn just how sweet & pure she is & how desperate she is to be loved. If you're like me, you'll also tear up from around episode 6, give or take, until the end. Flush out those tear ducts.

Soo was utterly transformed by his time with Young. From doing anything to survive, he now knows what he wants to /live/ for. He makes amends, he shows appreciation for those that looked out for him. He's left his room, joined his family & is open to caring for others. His face radiates a beautiful peace, tinged with underlying sadness. He has accepted truth into his life, particularly the truth about himself. That's even more useful than loving oneself. No excuses. Soo refused to make any excuses. That's not easy. How many of us can do that? He says he wants to pay for his mistakes. It's a touchstone at the gate of the path to redemption.

In the end, the cold winter yields to a warm & blossomed spring. The path of redemption & healing is complete. Love Isn't Blind After All.


〰QUOTES〰

Things end up as you believe.

Certain times are so heavy and long certain times feel so lite and short and at times the two are interchangeable at worst they perish for good...

〰IMHO〰

Age 15+

RATINGS
Directing 7.5
Acting 8
Romance 8
Flutters 6
Sound & music 8
Ending 8

LEVELS
Action/ Excitement 5.5
Thought provocation 6


Re-watch? I intend to


In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

〰Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7
Hospital Playlist 9,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9,


〰Bad intentions turned upside down:
Crazy Love-7.8,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Call It Love-8.4,
Anna-8.1

〰Romance junkies only:
My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
Something in them Rain-9,
C: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9,
Hidden Love-7.8

Leia Mais

Survival Camp: New Mom Edition °8.2° °every new mom needs this°

“The day I got promoted as the youngest director at work, I became the oldest pregnant woman at the hospital.” Jin desperately wanted both of those things, but she didn't want them to happen at the same time.

Pregnancy? “People blabber that it's a beautiful and joyful process. But it's not always like that for women who actually go through it. Pregnancy is exhausting, delivery is cruel, and recovery is miserable.” In saying that, the BCC director shows she truly understands. Jin finally starts to feel a smidge at ease.

BCC is a 2020 release that is rated 81 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 8 65ish-minute episodes. When Do Yoon and Jin arrive at the BCC, I wondered if Jin had actually passed to the afterlife. It looks like heaven (except for the creepy handmaids-tale-gowns). Massages, room service, baby care, classes, other new moms… What is especially poignant and metaphoric is that, to have a child, is the death of one's previous life. Once a woman becomes pregnant, life will never be the same again. Children break us down to nothing, and we have to build ourselves back up again.

The OM's (the /other/ moms) are in another world, though. It doesn't seem much different than Jr high with their persnickety cliquishness. Jin is sneered at because she intends to return to work. ASAP. Now, I really hate it when people sneer at stay-at-home moms. There's nothing easy or cushy about raising kids, feeding your family quality food, and properly keeping a house up. These days, not many families can afford to do it. (In fairness, if kids could vote, it's possible that every mom would be required to stay-at-home). I also find it very distasteful, however, when stay-at-home moms allow their worlds to become so small that they don't have a clue about what it's like out there. If you're a stay-at-home mom, you have no business commenting on somebody who works full-time and tries to juggle family life as well. Most people don't have a choice, and if you've never done it, you can't imagine how difficult it is. Nobody is living a perfect life. Not one of us. I doubt there's such a thing as parenting, or marriage, for that matter, without regrets. Not only is judging others useless, but it's harmful to us as it distracts us from the honest introspection and personal improvement that might alleviate some of those later regrets.

It's obvious that the screenwriters have been through this. I love the treatment of the birth, along with every other subject. They nail the emotions. The baby has an adorably crumpled frown. That frown is upside-down for everyone else. This couple had given up on ever having a baby. Now, the whole family's ecstatic. “You came through the birth so easily!” Her mother-in-law is all smiles. She's got it wrong, though. Jin actually died on the birthing table and was resuscitated. Everyone is over the moon, except for Jin. She's.just.exhausted.

Jin is an achiever. She immediately gets caught up in the subtle competitions going on between the OMs. First, she starts to feel competitive about breast milk. She calls her friend for advice. Said friend comments that it's been a long time since her baby was a /baby/. The camera pans over to a gangly, pimpled middle school boy. As he leaves, Jin's friend yells at him that he should /shave/ before going to school. The door slams. Then she finds his cigarettes. ‘I really can't help you right now,’ she says, and ends the call.

That sets the table. Through Jin's journey, the writers show the stress, the frustration, confusion, the bombardment of choices and pressures, all the nosy outsiders - each with an opinion, the fear, and the absolute irony involved in childbirth ~ and they show it well.


〰Mixed Emotions〰

Jin feels so out of place. She worked up until the last moment. All the OMs seem to know more. She's far behind. They liken it to the last car on the Snowpiercer train (that ain't good). She sees that work at her job is going on fine without her. She's losing herself. Her identity. Jin doesn't feel the overwhelming love that the OMs have for their babies. It's not like she can force herself to feel a certain way! She feels so very out of place.

〰Marital Strife and Physical Changes〰

Then it's relational stress. Poor Do Yoon. While his wife is being bullied, condescended to, and failing at breastfeeding, she's taking it all out on him. He can't even breathe right. He ends up bonding with another father who teaches him to wear earth tones so that he can blend into the background;) They go shopping together. The whole thing is pretty cute with them gushing over cribs and bottle warmers. But his new friend's time at the center ends first. Do Yoon actually runs after his bro's car in the driveway, then trips and falls as his buddy is leaving. Next, they get into how a woman's body changes. One of the OMs has gained so much weight she's doubled her size - and her career is dependent on her looks. Jin hasn't felt like a woman in a long time. Her body hasn't been hers for a long time. She has to hear how /this/ is a time when men tend to cheat. Then she has to watch her husband head off to his awards show with his beautiful coworker. In a convertible.

〰Choosing a Name〰

The pressure of picking a name doesn't elude this couple. Koreans have 39 days to register their babies’ births, so they don't deal with naming the kids until ep7. Until then they have silly nicknames like Glue Stick or Sprout. A baby's name contains the wishes of its mother,“ and “A name is a vessel that holds a person's fate,” is the verbiage being bandied around. I remember when I picked up the baby name book, the first thing that stuck out was the statement that boys with exotic names have a higher incidence of mental illness. (Yikes!) I've heard psychologists talk about trying to find a mock-proof name for their kids - they ultimately failed. We gave our son the first name of his father and grandfather, but ended up calling him by his middle name to “avoid confusion”. The confusion came when we had to update his records when he turned 18 and was issued an ID. The insurance company didn't want to pay his bills. When he graduated from HS, no one recognized the name they called out, lol. We have survived this, and worse. It's not humanly possible to do everything perfectly. One does need to lighten up and have some humility. The perfect parent has yet to be discovered on this flawed earth.

〰Finding the Perfect Nanny - before any of the other b!+ches do!〰

As their discharge date approaches, the babysitter competitions begin.

Jin's mom was set to babysit, but she needs an emergency surgery. Jin's first thought is about herself and her career. This is really inconvenient for Jin. When Mom points out her selfish attitude, Jin blows up, in rich irony, and blames her mom for not raising her better. Jin realizes she reverts to being a toddler around her loving, caring, giving, self-sacrificing mother. These new moms haven't worked out their relationships with their /own/ parents ~ And around it goes. Jin ends up in a competitive 3-way interview with a top-rated nanny and another mother. They cut in a Joseon era sword fight between the questions.

〰And the bang-jammy of them all: Breast V Bottle〰

She isn't producing milk. Jin has trouble making breast milk and breastfeeding. That's no trifle - Her life becomes ALL about that. They put her on a strict diet and a physical routine of massages and exercises to make her a better producer. She feels like a cow. They flesh out the breastfeeding versus formula wars beautifully. People get very emotional about it. Of course, the science is settled. It's better to breastfeed (cheaper, too). It's better to eat organic and prepare all your meals at home. It's even better to just grow your own food. It's better to monitor your caffeine intake. It's better to exercise regularly. It's better to go to bed early. It's better to not sit all day at the office but to stand once in awhile. It's better to squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom. It's better to brake slowly so you don't wear out the brake pads on your car too quickly. Obviously, these things aren't all of the same importance, but the point is that it's impossible to live a perfect life and to do /all/ the better things. We really have no idea what other people are going through and what struggles they have. This is an issue where the information is out there. They don't need to hear it again from outsiders. It's better to keep our opinions to ourselves. It really is. There are mothers who try their best to breastfeed and cannot keep it up, emotionally and physically. It isn't something that one should comment on to a stranger - someone whose struggles are entirely unknown to the speaker. If it would work, I'd be all-in on it, but It won't work, and it won't make the world a better place. These actions morph into self-aggrandizing superiority rituals, and that's just wrong. Regardless of our past choices, it's better than better to always be improving. Never stop working on yourself; when you're done, fix e'erbody else. In ep3, with around 10 1/2 minutes to go, there's a sequence on the breast v bottle wars that is not only the highlight of the show, it's production gold. They show arguments, fights, car accidents, bar fights, videos of the fights, videos that go viral and cause fights on other continents… all over breastfeeding... It's bloody brilliant.

The acting is excellent. Uhm Ji Won (The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale) is FL, Oh Hyun Jin. I've seen her in The Cursed-8.3, which is fabulous. As a fun fact, the actor who plays her husband in The Cursed, Jung Moon Sung from Hospital Playlist-9, plays the ob/gyn who delivers her baby here. Yoon Park (You Are My Spring, Doctor Slump), nine years Ms Uhm's junior, is her husband, Kim Do Yoon. I've seen him in Forecasting Love and Weather-6.8 and Introverted (My Shy) Boss-6.5. He plays a duplicitous character in both of those shows. He's such a sweetheart in the opening of BCC I couldn't place him at first. { bunny trail - I'm just over 4 years into my Asian programming addiction and I'm still not used to how many Korean actors don't look very Asian. I'm from the northeast. If I saw Mr. Yoon on the street wearing a suit I would think -Jewish Attorney- before I would think that he's Asian. Korea, being a peninsula situated in the center of the coast, was likely a stopping point for many a varied traveler. In addition, the USA has had personnel placed there for the better part of a century. Kcountry seems to have more variety mixed into the population than Japan or the southeast Asian countries (China, a country that also seems to love their Euro looking actors, varies widely by territory). Mixing the gene pool up makes the most beautiful offspring. It doesn't mean anything, it's just interesting.}

Park Ha Sun (Two Weeks, The Veil) portrays Jo Eun Jung. Married to a pro golfer, she's the queen of the BCC. All the OMs suck up to her. The darling Choi Ri (My First First Love-8) is the rebel mom, Lee Roo Da. She has pink in her hair, multicolor nail polish, bare feet, and No, “I won't be breastfeeding,“ thank you very much. Jang Hye Jin (The Red Sleeve, A Time Called You) plays Choi Hye Sook, the BCC manager. She's so perfectly casted it's spooky. She can't hide how much Roo Da distresses her. Director Park Soo Won also brought us Work Later, Drink Now S2.

The all female screenwriting team is Kim Ji Soo (Missing Crown Prince), Yoon Soo Min (Stock Struck), and Im Yeon Soo (Go Back Couple). They are the stars. If you are pregnant or a new mom or if you ever were, they will make you feel less alone. “I never understood why mothers resigned after maternity leave, before.” (Jin is having a mini-epiphany). ”Now, I do.” “Giving birth really takes a toll on you,” we hear in the next scene. Yep, they've been through this.

“The moment we accepted our unhappiness, we could finally be happy,” Jin observes. Midshow, the women start to drop the facade. They open up to eachother more - whether wittingly or not. They compete less and support eachother more. Now that'll make the world a better place.


〰QUOTES〰

…humiliation is a luxury of an emotion that one can only feel when he or she is still a human.

Attachment maketh man. 77% of motiveless crimes are committed by neglected children.


〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 7,5
Writing 8,5
Acting 8
Romance 5
Flutters 4
Art 7.9
Sound & music 7
Ending 8

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 1
Laughs 3.7
Tears 2.5
Fright 2.5
Tension/Anxiety 3.5
Gore 1
Thought provocation 8
Snores 0

Re-watch? possible - I recommend it for every pregnant woman


Age 13+

Rated TV-15

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
A Love So Beautiful-7,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.4,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Saimdang-8.5,
My Unfamiliar Family-7.9,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,
The Cursed 8.3,
Mother-8.8,

Leia Mais

Little Chef in the Big City ♨️ Don't Watch This Hungry °7° °VG°

Food is good stuff - we all love to eat it. Why do we love to watch it being prepared on TV? One reason is that it's comforting. Another is that it brings people together.

Taew is a small town girl from rural Thailand. We meet her through the words of her son. In order to distract his angry girlfriend, Kelli, who is about to leave him, he tells the story of how his mother left the countryside, came to Bangkok, and became a wildly successful chef in the 70's. MC is a 2019 release that is rated 7.4 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 13 50-minute episodes. It feels like a true story but a quick goog didn't provide any intel, so it's hard to verify either way.

Taew's first gig is as a maid. Initially, her boss seems harsh, but as she gets to know and trust Taew, she teaches her how to cook. The woman soon recognizes Taew’s great potential. She pushes Taew out of the nest, telling her that she's FIRED. She gives Taew a letter E r of recommendation for a job at a friend's restaurant. That doesn't work out; when Taew gets there the place is closed. The next few episodes find Taew hustling. Wherever Taew works, she steals - she steals recipes, techniques, and secrets. Her first real break is as a prep cook at Samran Kitchen. There she becomes like family with the rest of the staff. Pol and Jom work there and they will factor heavily in her life. “Do you remember me?” Jom actually helped her catch a bus when she first arrived in town, but that was more than a couple years ago. The beautiful Taew doesn't recall him, but he's never forgotten her.

Gybzy Wanida Termthanaporn (Bumbat Ruk Bum Roong Sook, Mae Lueak Kerd Dai) plays Taew. Her earthy voice is a pleasure to listen to. Jason Young (The Crown Princess, Eng and Chang, The Deadline) is Pol. Handsome and tall, he's a bit of a womanizer - More distant. More condescending. More reserved. He would be the choice in a romance novel. Louis Thanawin Teeraphosukarn (The Eclipse, Only Boo!) plays Jom. He's like a puppy dog - always there, always pawing over her, always helping. Taew has friendly affection for him, but it's platonic. He has an uphill climb if he wants to cultivate her feelings to grow into something more. Jom makes mistakes by sometimes behaving clingy, paranoid, and demanding. They both had some growing up to do. Director E Suphakorn Riansuwan also brought us Win 21 Ded Jai Tur and Something Family.

MC is nicely done and a pleasant watch. Taew's journey to Bangkok is jazzed up with cut-outs and hand-drawn animation. The shots of food, the cooking, and the glorious entrees are seriously appetizing - don't watch this hungry, you'll just torture yourself. It is strange how relaxing it can be to watch food being prepared and cooked on TV. The characters are developed well and they maintain interest throughout each episode. Taew never gives up. She keeps going forward. She's inspiring.

Like mother, like son: Mom had trouble deciding between two men and the son seems to be having the same struggle in deciding between two women. The sexualized modern-day characters that are sharing the story don't add much seasoning to the main dish - I didn't like Shane, the narrator, much in the beginning. After the initial episodes they focus more on the story, which has worthy themes. Sometimes nice guys finish first. Persevering together is the primary theme. Survival is the sub-theme: “Women like us often have to do the opposite of what we actually want to do. Because we can't bear any more pain,” we hear. That's worth chewing on.


〰QUOTE〰

There are times in life when you come to a fork in the road. You know the New Path is better. However you're not ready to take it because you haven't come to the end of the old one.


〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 7
Writing 6.8
Acting 7.5
Romance 5
Flutters 4
Art 7
Sound & music 6
Ending 7.4

LEVELS
Warmth 4.5
Action/ Excitement 3
Laughs 2
Tears 3
Fright 1
Tension/Anxiety 3
Gore 2
Thought provocation 4
Snores 0

Re-watch? This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again….


Age 14+
Language: pr!ck, $h!+ - maybe one or twice each

This is no chaste Kdrama or Cdrama.
The FL offers to do a strip tease for the gods if they grant her prayers. She tells her boss she wants to propose something. Next thing she knows, he's naked. The guys telling the story is a womanizer. Frequently, there's shirtless guys,

In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:

♥️ -
C:
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
Wait, My Youth-8.4

Romance junkies only
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
You are my destiny-6.8 cute and sweet and 1/2 padding,
Meteor Garden-7.4 - 70% flowing 30% dragging and BOF is better,
Hidden Love-7.8

K:
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Touch Your Heart 8.2; Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.4,
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10; Love Struck in the City 7.3,
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9; ♡When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;

Japanese lite romcoms: Maid Sama-10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4, Toradora-8.5


Taiwan
Age of Rebellion-9.5
Autumn's Concerto-7.2
The Fierce Wife-8
Two Fathers-7.5

Leia Mais

Outfoxed ¤ A Better Marble Trap °7.8° °Excellent°

He /planted/ something in her!

Yeo and Dam don't actually meet as much as collide, which caused the marble he's been cultivating for over 900 years to jump into her bo from his. Whoops. Yeo needs to find a way to get it back from her. If it stays in Dam too long it will kill her. Besides, he's been feeding it energy for nearly a millennium. When he's done, he will no longer be a Gumiho, he will be human. He was nearly done - and he ain't starting over now! So they become roommates. That way, he can keep an eye on her condition until he figures out a way to retrieve his precious property. She declined, initially, until she realized she will feel deathly ill if he's not around to provide assistance.

What's a Gumiho?

It began in old Joseon.

Rumor has it, it's a fox demon that disguises itself as a beautiful human woman in order to devour the liver of its victim. Maybe that isn't /completely/ true. Maybe the Gumiho is only trying to cultivate itself into a human, and eating livers, though quicker, is not required. It takes a thousand years the slow way, which is stealing human energy in dribs and draws by way of physical contact. All animals, including Gumihos, want to be human. Only humans can decide their own destiny.

Living together is no small thing. Yeo lays down some rules: No chicken. Chicken blood will weaken both of them. No men, especially men born in the Year of the Tiger, which is every male in Dam's year at school. No alcohol. What!?! He's gone too far. No booze. No chicken. No men… What is there for her to live for? She hits him back with some rules of her own, like stop smoking. So what if it's a 400 year-old habit? He might like smoking, but chicken is /her/ favorite thing. Company misery doeth love.

The first third of the show is them getting used to eachother and us getting a peek at them and their daily lives. Yeo is in danger. If he doesn't become human by the 1000 year point he'll turn into an evil spirit and be targeted for elimination. Dam has a similar deadline. If they don't extract the marble from her inside of a year, she'll die. In ep7 we are introduced to a baddie that covets the marble, which puts Dam in more danger. This incident directly leads to a plot shift - a reset, if you will.

The second half of the show is them trying to make their relationship work. A Gumiho isn't supposed to be in a relationship with a human, so they have more to work out than the average couple. Like good foxes, they dig through it all. There are some physical incompatibility issues, the main one being that his desires get confused. He loves her. He wants to kiss and hold her, but he also has a primal desire to drain her energy. It sounds alot like Edward and Bella from Twilight along with any number of similar vampire love stories. In a moment of passion it could be rather dangerous. An ancient deity doesn't like what they're doing and throws a wrench into the works that becomes more fodder for relationship issues they must work out. It advances the plot well.

MRiaG is a 2021 release that is rated 91 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 65-minute delightful episodes. It's an excellent romcom - no more, no less, and that is good enough. My only complaint is that some of the drama was poorly manufactured since he can teleport. Any emergency can be instantly addressed so their consternation sometimes seems misplaced. Jang Ki Yong (Sweet & Sour-7, My Mister-9.5, The Atypical Family) plays ML Shin Woo “Yeo”. If you haven't seen him before, you would probably be surprised to hear that he can play a first-rate thug. It's nice to see him play a sweetheart here. He's not just a sweetheart. He's got to walk a fine line between stoicism and experiencing brand new emotions. “When you live for such a long time, everything feels like a season that will eventually pass. Everything feels meaningless. But you seem true to yourself every moment. I like your honesty.” So says Yeo to Lee Dam (Lee Hye Ri of May I Help You). Ms Lee is the central character of Reply 1988-8.6, a comfy show about friends, family, and neighbors. She has a genuine infectious exuberance that she brings to everything. Previously dubbed “The Nations Little Sister” after appearing on the show Real Men, SHE is the reason this show is as fun to watch as it is.

The secondary romances are also nice. Kang Han Na (Familiar Wife-8.5, Just Between Lovers, Start-up-8) is Yeo ‘s longtime (we're talking 700 years) friend, Yang Hye Sun. She was a Gumiho, but she recently became human. She has more to do in this series than most shows where she often plays an ice queen/human figurine. I like her in this. Kim Do Wan (Moment at Eighteen, Doona!) and Park Kyung Hye (Goblin, Destined with You, My Lovely Liar) are Dam's BFFs, Choi Soo Kyung and Do Jae Jin. Bae In Hyuk (Under the Queen's Umbrella, Why Her?-8, At a Distance, Spring Is Green) is Gye Sun Woo, a popular guy at school who first comes onto Dam as a farce but ends up developing a thing for her. As cute as this actor is, with double-deep-double-dimples, I've seen him twice and both times he plays second fiddle. Go Kyung Pyo (Chicago Typewriter, Private Lives-8.1) makes a surprise appearance mid-show. It's fun to see him across from Lee Hye Ri in an echo back to Reply 1988. They can't hide the warmth they have for eachother in their scenes. The screenwriters are Baek Sun Woo (What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8, Doctor Slump) & Choi Bo Rim (Touch Your Heart-8.2). Director Nam Sung Woo also brought us the very popular Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, Because This Is My First Life-7.7, and 100 Days My Prince-5.5.

This is a cute couple. “This is our first date. You think I came unprepared? I've been keeping myself updated with the latest culture via news and books. And I've been watching romantic comedy dramas, so I'm very well aware of the latest dating trends. Plus, I can use magic. You won't be disappointed.” So says the 999 year old fox. What he thinks is current intel on dates is actually 20 years old. (For him, that IS current;). “I'm in love. I can't describe this feeling. It's soft and hot. I can't either swallow it or spit it out.” Dam is quite elegant in delivering these lines. “This doesn't mean anything. It's another meaningless relationship that will end soon.” That's what Yeo tells himself, until he can no longer deny it. They are mellow and comfy. Her joy is contagious, he caught it, the viewer catches it, and almost no one has any desire to turn back. They spent some time apart, but it didn't take.

“According to Mingxin Baojian, one's mouth and tongue are the door to anger and worries, and they are the axes that kill one's body,” we hear. Amen - preach it! While I've relegated this to simple romcom status, MRiaG is not low IQ. The writers show their depth-of-field in several places. The most popular boy at school supposedly is interested in Dam. Not believing that she can truly be attractive to him, Dam is skeptical of his motives. Yeo (already outfoxed by her himself) quotes poignantly from an old story: “To him, she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He could not understand why anyone wouldn't fall in love with her.” (Excuse me while I fan myself). ‘If you live long enough, you begin to become indifferent to everything,’ Yeo realizes. “Feigning love is not love. The more it's done, the emptier one feels.” Yeo had been posing and faking and acting for a millenia. Dam came to his house knowing his secret. He could be real in her presence. He became comfortable with her. That will make an average looking person a “10” to the beholder. “According to Sajasohak, one must be clean-cut and well-dressed. It means you should be neat and dressed nicely.” Dam is alittle casual about cleanliness. Instead of berating her, Yeo appeals to her best nature.

The entire show appeals to our best nature. Not much happens, yet every episode is a treat. It simply works. They also tie up the last episode very nicely. Not all shows do, so it's appreciated. Any romcom fan will find MRiaG to be their natural habitat.


〰QUOTES〰

There is always some madness in love, as Frederick Nietzsche wrote in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. That you like someone means that you are misunderstanding that person in your own way.

Dishonesty cannot beat honesty. Never.

The more you know the more you see.

〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 8
Writing 7
Acting 8
Romance 6
Flutters 5
Art 7.5
Sound & music 7.7 Best song - My All
Ending 8.3

LEVELS
Warmth 6
Action/ Excitement 3
Laughs 3
Tears 3.5
Fright 3
Tension/Anxiety 2
Gore 2
Thought provocation 3
Snores 0


Age 12+
Sime scary elements. A disturbing evil spiri

Rated TV-15

Re-watch? Sure would


Loving someone from “another world” - In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

99 days with the Superstar-7,
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek 7,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
A Korean Odyssey-7.2,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9;
Heirs 7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows 7,
Something in the Rain 9,
C: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
You are my destiny 6.8 cute, sweet & 1/2 padding,
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5,
Find Yourself 8.9

Leia Mais

Jack & the Hedgehog Take a Bite Outta the Hood °8.4° °Excellent°

Yoon Hye Jin (HJin) loses it one day. Total Mariah-moment. She quits. She drinks. She trashes her boss online. HJin is a skilled dentist with a conscience. This, invariably, put her at odds with her greedy boss who expected her to prescribe unnecessary, but expensive treatment for their unwitting patients. She couldn't take the pain anymore, and extraction was necessary. Now she's jobless and no one wants to hire a ‘poison pill’. Going keyboard commando on her employer put all her potential employers’ teeth on edge.

What does she do? She goes for a ride. Her wandering takes her to a quaint seaside town. Her love affair begins with the sign over one establishment: Coffee in the middle of the day. Beer in the moonlight… But she ends up having a fateful day: She loses her shoes. Then her phone dies. She can't find her money either. At every turn she received reluctant assistance from a local yocal, Hong Doo Shik (DShik).

HCCC is a 2021 release that is rated 90 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 70-minute episodes. Shin Ha Eun of Love Next Door and The Crowned Clown is the screenwriter who brings small town magic to life here. The deep-dimpled and lovely Shin Min Ah (Chief of Staff, Oh My Venus-7.4, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Our Blues-8.5) is HJin. She's the hedgehog - get too close you'll get stuck. Kim Seon Ho (Welcome to Waikiki S2, 100 Days My Prince-5.5) is DShik, our Jack-of-all-trades. Since Start-up-8 and Strongest Delivery Man-6.6, I've been a fan. It's wonderful to see him play the romantic lead. Lee Sang Yi (Youth of May, When the Camellia Blooms-8, Han RiverPolice-7.4) once again shows his range as Ji Sung Hyun. The magnificent Lee Jung Eun has a guest appearance in ep1; I think she's my favorite actress right now. The rest of the cast is wonderful, and the music might even be better. After Shazaming ‘Wish’ by Choi Yu Ree I pulled the entire playlist up on Spotify. All of the music is sensational. It compounds the delight factor. HCCC is excellent. There's a little bit of filler in double-digit episodes, but it doesn't suffer much from it.

I'm a fan of the director, Yoo Je Won. He's brought us Oh My Ghost-10, and the popular Love Next Door, & Crash Course in Romance. This Director exudes warmth, has an appreciation for good food, and really “gets” good music, particularly jazz. Like OMG, the soundtrack for HTCCC is stellar. Top tier. After some bold & underlined question marks (CV overview follows review), I am so happy that he's settled back into his own and is cranking out such amazing stuff, like I know that he can.

The main character in HCCC is the home town. HJin is from Seoul. She is used to high fashion and upscale amenities. The people that live in her new home lead different lives and rely on eachother heavily. We have the young, the old, the men, the women, the silly and the wise. There's a full cast and wide variety of well-developed characters that help push the plot. They also like to sink their teeth into some juicy gossip. After taking the plunge and opening a dental practice there, HJin offends everyone with her unconsciously elitist attitude, but with DShik's help from the shadows, she eventually settles into small town life. The next closest dentist is an hour away, so customers begin to wander in.

When HJin & DShik finally start dating, she wants to keep it a secret. The town is full of busybodies, afterall. Most of it isn't mean-spirited, but that's besides the point. Every time someone happens upon a sweet moment they are sharing, she turns around and slaps or kicks him. She even gives him a bloody nose in an effort to throw the dogs off. He almost doesn't survive their initial secretive phase. As it turns out, none of it was working anyway. Everyone saw through it.

They run into relationship static at one point. She knows he's keeping hurts from the past bottled up. She wants him to open up. She comes to the conclusion that she should wait for him. She tells him that if he promises to open up to her one day, then she'll wait until he's ready. He can take as long as he wants to “open wide”. I think that's the right answer instead of drilling him for what she wants, when she wants it.

HCCC digs into the root of things once or twice. One of the characters gets a beautiful speech followed up shortly by quite a beautiful death scene. Rather than the sequence feeling sad, it is a triumph of a simple life, lived well, to the fullest satisfaction. That is the theme of HCCC: A simple life and being content with just enough is the key to happiness. We let our endless wants create discontent and dissatisfaction. Choosing simplicity and contentment is choosing joy and peace. Love will always follow Along those lines, HCCC is a pleasant trip to the seaside with nothing complicated or heavy. Quite the opposite.


〰 IMHO 〰

RATINGS
Directing 8.2
Writing 7.8
Acting 8
Romance 7.7
Flutters 5
Art 7
Sound & music 8.8
Ending 8

LEVELS
Warmth 6.5
Action/ Excitement 3
Laughs 4
Tears 3
Fright 2
Tension/Anxiety 2
Gore 1
Thought provocation 5
Snores 1

Re-watch? Likely

Age 12+
Language: PG-13, but there isn't much of that

Rated
TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Fish out water tales:
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Mr. Queen 8.5,
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2 - It's exceptional except for 2 episodes,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,


Modern Day Kromcoms-
Mad For Each Other-7.7 ~silly fun;
Crazy Love-7.8,
My First First Love-8,
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9;
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Our Blues-8.7,
Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Because This Is My First Life-7.7,
Hospital Playlist 9,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9

Historical/Period -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,

Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
99 days with the Superstar-7,
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek 7,
A Korean Odyssey-7.2,
Heirs 7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows 7,
Something in the Rain 9,
C: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
You are my destiny 6.8 cute, sweet & 1/2 padding, When I Fly Towards You-7.8, Find Yourself 8.9,
Hidden Love-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5.

{Yoo Je Won Career summary: The solidly rated High School King of Savvy is his first effort. Oh My Ghost, as highly rated as it is, is still under-appreciated. Not only are the 4 leads (as well as supporting actor Lim Ju-hwan) absolute savants, but there is not one wasted line of dialogue. Everything points to something else. There's constant use of foreshadowing, metaphors, and other techniques that don't stop. Every viewing of the show reveals only more. Furthermore, it's a laugh-out-loud delight in the first half and then gets genuinely teary later on. I suspect it suffers because things don't get rolling until the very end of ep1, so a chunk of viewers probably didn't stick with it. Nevertheless, it is a masterpiece and catapulted this director and the lead actors to super-stardom. Tomorrow With You-7, which also stars Shin Min Ah, was next. I liked it very much, but some of the logic is deeply flawed - so much so that I cannot rate it above a 7. The positives outweigh the bad, but it should have been better. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes was well received and followed up by Abyss-4.7, which is a complete failure in every way possible. It is a debacle and there is almost nothing redeeming about it, other than the good looks of the ML. It is over-rated by kind viewers, many of which are likely reacting to a dearth of good romantic content from Hwood. Abyss is better than most Hwood gunk, but it is not worth watching once, given the many better features Asia has to offer. Hi Bye Mama!-6.5 has plenty of positives, but I wouldn't choose to watch it again. It was intended to be a ray of hope for people that have suffered loss, which was exactly what I was going through at the time, but it didn't do it for me. With HTCCC, CCiR, and LND he seems to have recaptured his magic.}

Leia Mais

Shifters Grifters Drifters & Heart Lifters °7.9° °Excellent°

Being the King's son has only brought Jang Uk misery and danger. Why? The Alchemy of souls. The name itself is a riddle. It is a spell that switches souls and bodies... and it's forbidden: We can't letl the bodies of the rich, young, beautiful and gifted all be stolen by people who know the spell, afterall. As AoS opens, the king is dying. He knows his mage is mastering the spell, so he demands that the mage switch bodies with him, as the king is determined to produce a royal heir. Jang Uk is that heir. He's got the DNA of the mage, whose body fathered him. The man who took over that body is really the one who created him, yet, they have no DNA in common. It's almost like Jang Uk has no father, which is kind of sad. Nevertheless, according to the maxims of AoS, Jang Uk is of the royal line. Even though the King's star, which marks the birth of a future king, appeared in the sky several months after the King's passing, the court believes the king died childless. Another man becomes king, another child becomes the crown prince, and the mage is forced to raise a child that isn't his.

While this is going on, an assassin has also been born. She (Naksu) wasn't actually /born/ a ruthless kiler; she was made. After her family was killed, a master adopted her with the intent to transform her into a killing machine. Over the years, She was fed pain and pressure until her bloodlust raged. The more skilled she became, the more difficult she was to control. Once she breaks free of her captors and starts mucking around, her quest for revenge against those who wronged her, coupled with her past crimes, land her on the most wanted list. As she's hunting, she's /being/ hunted - relentlessly. In fact, in ep1, she only escapes death by switching bodies via the AoS spell. Her emergent escape is incomplete, however: Her soul now resides in the body of a blind, weak woman named Mu-Deok, and Mu-Deok is not free. Mu-Deok is a slave - a slave that has just been sold. Who bought her? A mage. This mage is a near powerless man who's had his magical energy sealed from the day of his birth. Though his family is privileged, he lives as a lower class being in a world of powerful mages. What makes it worse is that his parentage is always questioned. His father has never acknowledged him, so the general perception is that he's a b@$tard. What's his name? Jang Uk.

Thus they meet. Jang Uk quickly realizes she has abilities and knowledge that he desperately needs. In private she becomes his tutor - his master. In public, she's his servant.

What's so marvelous about AoS? Director Park Joon Hwa has brought us hit after hit, such as Because This Is My First Life-7.7, What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8, and Touch Your Heart-8.2. He does not disappoint here. The filming is gorgeous. The sets, art, and costumes are impressive. A poetry book with blank pages becomes a scene of lofty elegance. Jank Uk's azure robe is resplendent. It's one visual sensation after another.

The acting is everyday Kdrama - it's excellent. Lee Jae Wook (Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol, When the Weather Is Fine-9) is the ML. Give him his Grade-A Korean Beef sticker. He's just another everyday Korean male lead. 'Everyday' means looking very (VERY!) fine, likely very tall, with a rich baritone voice, and excellent acting skills. Per Capita, Korea trounces Hwood when it comes to cranking them out. Jung So Min (The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, Love Next Door) is S1's Mu-Deok. (Lee Jae Wook's head is twice the size of hers. It's unsettling to look at). In flashbacks, her character is deadly serious. In her new form we gradually see that she's clever, moody, and always ready with a quip. She has a dry wit, a no-nonsense manner, and she's rather likable. When she's fighting back tears it's a nifty bit of acting. The pair's interaction is tangible. Mu-Deok must also have an overload of pheromones because she catches every guy's attention. I must say that Oh Na Ra (Racket Boys-8.3, My Mister-9.5) who plays maidservant Kim (a mother figure to JU) and Park So Jin (Sh**ting Stars, The King: Eternal Monarch-8) who runs the guesthouse/bar in town are both adorable. Oh my, the Crown Prince's voice is divine. It's impossible for me to dislike the prince because Shin Seung Ho (from Moment at Eighteen) is so pitch-perfect. {Before we get into it further, if you're watching this with the English language dubbing, you're missing some beautiful voices, particularly the men. You're also missing half of the performance. If that's the only way you can tolerate it, then it's better than not seeing AOS at all, but try an episode in the original language and see how it goes. Subtitle proficiency often takes mere moments.}

There's laughs. An attempted book burning ends up as a lark. Half of the jokes are connected to one mage's tea. Some would rather turn to stone than give up their libido. Jang Uk and Mu-Deok are on the run and hide out at this master's place for a spell. This powerful master's secret is his chaste tea, which negates one's sex-drive. Jang Uk decides to give the brew a try and becomes a happy little busy bee. So busy. So SO happy. Working and chumming around with his new master; they're just two bros having a great day. Mu-Deok is irritated, but she can't figure out exactly why. When that tea runs out, things do get tangled. One must have a libido to understand true desperation and sadness, it seems.

The soundtrack is magical. In S2 I shazamed Blue Flower by LIA, Aching by Kassy is too, I′m Sorry by Ailee, and Raindrops by Gummy. There's a bar / guesthouse scene with wonderfully original music that takes me right to Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars. There's even some cool rock riffs here and there.

There's also love and bittersweet loss.

The best thing about AoS, though, is how it does Chinese fantasy! The screenwriters are Hong Mi Ran Hong & Jung Eun who collaborated on Hotel del Luna-8.4, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, and more. These writers have already revealed their fascination with Chinese culture in A Korean Odyssey-7.2, which they based on the ancient Chinese work, Journey to the West. If you like AoS, just be aware that this show is pretty much a Chinese fantasy piece with Korean touches sprinkled everywhere. Despite some clunky special effects, China does amazing fantasy. AoS has more showmanship (or flare), and a kitschy sauciness that departs from the elegance that China breathes out, but the fact that the writer and director got inspiration from China is undeniable.

AoS could be improved upon. I love actress Jung So Min in Because This Is My First Life. Initially, she didn't seem like the best fit for Mu-Deok. The spark was missing, perhaps? I couldn't pin it down. It became clear that it is the writing and direction that falls short, not her performance. The story fails when it comes to fully realizing her character and motivations. Her personality is ill-defined as are her internal struggles. JU's early attraction to Mu-Deok, before he realizes what's going on, is played for cheap grins. it's slightly off and takes away from the grace of the show. The bad guys should have been scarier. The FL is flipped over to Go Youn Jung (of The School Nurse Files-7.6 & Law School-8) in S2. She has no memories and he doesn't recognize her, so they need to fall in love all over again. It should have been awesome, but their delivery is barely above average. After wondering if Jung So Min was right for the role, I ended up missing her quite a bit in S2. Finally, they are inconsistent with the rules they laid down, especially in S2.

I'm sincerely a fan of these writers. Anything with their names on it is a draw for me. My love for them is warm and cozy but not ‘Firebird hot,’ to borrow from the show. Sci-fi/fantasy is my favorite genre (they are commonly lumped together as one genre though they are actually quite different from eachother, but there's no need to get into that now). The Sci-fi fantasy genre is not one for dummies. The best authors are masters of intricate world-building with everything fitting together like a hand-crafted 1-second repeating pocket watch - Parameters are laid down and strictly adhered to - The lows are heartbreaking - The highs are euphoric. AoS isn't like that. Its weakest link is the writing. More for fun, AoS doesn't take itself seriously. Besides the levity, there's a fair amount of sheer stupidity. With a perpetually average IQ, they stay in the shallow end, while I would have preferred the series to carry more weight. It manages to stay in an acceptable range (Look at the ratings! People are crazy about it!). A lower degree-of-difficulty does lower the maximum score, though. The writing prevents my fingers from going beyond a 7.9. Just can't do it. But I still liked it very much.

If you like AoS, alchemize your watch list to include these amazing Cdramas: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!,
Eternal Love-8.3,
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8,
Love Between Fairy and Devil 8.9,
Love and Redemption-10


QUOTES~》

If you're not going to do anything, just die.

Evil always does what it wants without ever stopping. Why does virtue always have to prove itself over and over again?

RATINGS
Directing 8
Writing 7.4
Acting 8,
Romance 6
Flutters 5
Art 9.3
Sound & music 8
Ending 8.4

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 7
Laughs 4
Tears 4
Fright 4
Tension/Anxiety 3.5
Gore 4
Thought provocation 4
Snores 0

Age 12+
Scary elements violence gore

S2 language b@$+@rd, $h!+

Re-watch? Likely

Kdrama romances with a fantasy element:

My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6,
Oh My Ghost 10,
The Bride of Habaek-7

Leia Mais

Guardians, Old Souls, & Outlaw Gods °6.7° °good f/u to AwtG2W°

Rated 85 on AWiki, AwtG49 is a 2018, 141-minute continuation of Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. It picks up right where the first left off.

As the flick starts out, we learn that one of the Guardians has to go on trial for crimes that he committed while protecting our protagonist in the first film. (Who knew the Afterlife was so litigious? It's Hell, indeed). The other reapers are tasked with collecting a soul that's been protected well past his death date by an outlaw god, Sung Joo Shin (played by the adorable Ma Dong-Seok). God-Sung won't let the old man die before his orphan grandson graduates from school. Speaking of orphans, Korean features aren't kind to them and this trend continues here, sadly.

AwtG2W follows Kim Ja-Hong, a fireman who dies in the line of duty. When he reaches the Gate of the Afterlife, where he can be reincarnated after completing seven trials: betrayal, violence, filial piety, murder, indolence, deceit, and injustice.

Much of the cast here is the same as AwtG2W. Why mess with excellence? Cha Tae-Hyun (Narco-Saints, Assassination,1987: When the Day Comes) is the lead, Kim Ja-Hong. Cha Tae Hyun (Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation, Moving) portrays Kim Ja Hong. The dolorous Ju Ji Hoon (Kingdom-8.3, Blood Free-8.5, Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation) is Hae Won Maek. Kim Hyang Gi (Innocent Witness, Salon De Nabi) plays Duk Choon, and the wonderful Ma Dong Seok (The Bros-7.4, Train to Busan-7.8, The Roundup, Bad Guys) plays outlaw deity Sung Joo Shin. Lee Jung Jae, the lead of Squid Game, portrays King Yum Ra God of Death. The screenwriter/director is Kim Yong Hwa (200 Pounds Beauty-6.5, The Moon).

AwtG49 is, all-around, more of the same. Same strengths, same weaknesses. Its biggest deductions come from a failure to fully explore its potential emotional range. The fighting is excellent with a particularly grand battle scene. The cinematography is beautiful. It's a great movie-night-movie.

If you enjoy fantasy, even though China is often guilty of sub-standard special effects, they still put out the best stuff in the world. Anyone who enjoys the AwtG films should like Douluo Continent-9.4 and Handsome Siblings-8.7 even more.


QUOTE〰

Those who meet must part at some point.


Re-watch? It's not unlikely

Age 14+ Language: PG-13 language, probably less than 5 occurrences.


In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
My Mister 9.5;

Period -
C: Overlord 8.4,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
The Rise of Phoenixes 9
K:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl 8.5; Saimdang-8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9

Fantasy
K: Alchemy of Souls-8.3,

C: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10

Thrills -
C: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
K:
Mystic Pop-up Bar-8.2, K2 8; Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1; Train to Busan-7.8,
Signal 8.6;
The Man From Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4

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Trial By Afterlife °7.2° °good°

It opens at the close, for our ML, a fireman who dies while heroically saving a girl's life. The next thing he knows, he's walking toward the Gate of the Afterlife, where he can be reincarnated after completing seven trials: betrayal, violence, filial piety, murder, indolence, deceit, and injustice.

AwtG2W, a 2017 239-minute release that is rated 86 on AWiki, is about these trials in conjunction with static from the living world as his family's drama continues to play out. It's a review of the hard decisions he had to make in his life, and it's quite moving, in spots. Along with his two grim reapers guides he barely escapes a couple of the trials. Quick thinking, and a look at things from another angle keep him from sinking to the bottom. (‘All you cared about was money? You are guilty!’ ‘Wait, he only cared about money because he had to provide for his mother and brother!’ ‘Not guilty, then.’)

The acting is seamless. Cha Tae-Hyun (Narco-Saints, Assassination,1987: When the Day Comes) is the lead, Kim Ja-Hong. Cha Tae Hyun (Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation, Moving) plays Kim Ja Hong. The somber Ju Ji Hoon (Kingdom-8.3, Blood Free-8.5, Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation) is Hae Won Maek. Kim Hyang Gi (Innocent Witness, Salon De Nabi) is Duk Choon. The Screenwriter & Director is Kim Yong Hwa (200 Pounds Beauty-6.5, The Moon).

The special effects are excellent (they are almost overdone) and the sets are beautiful. The Gate of the Afterlife scene is jammed with extras, creating a sprawling feel. The chase scenes are mad-good. There are no flaws. Despite its strengths, AwtG2W does not take our spirits and emotions along for the full ride. I liked this film quite a bit, but I didn't /love/ it. It's a fantasy thriller - a big budget one, and it's visually spectacular. At the same time, it is a simple tale of afterlife excitement with the message to not give up. Per Wiki, it is based on the webtoon series by Joo Ho-min & inspired by Joseon dynasty Buddhist paintings and early Buddhist texts of the Ten Kings of Hell.

Maybe it won't put your emotions through a trial, but it isn't dumbed-down in the least, either. “A sin that has been forgiven in the real world will not be judged in the afterlife,” one judge says. Would that were true. Work on forgiveness. I find that I cannot forgive without divine assistance, but the release of anger and hatred does enhance peace. It is something we can all work on to make the world less of a hell. AwtG2W has the right combination of fun, excitement, and depth to make it a good weekend watch for a family with teens&older as it reinforces the best ideals. None of us wants to be found guilty of betrayal, violence, filial impiety, murder, indolence, deceit, and injustice, afterall, do we?



〰 QUOTE 〰

Can we think about it while we run?

〰 IMHO 〰

RATINGS
Directing 7
Writing 6.5
Acting 7.7
Art 8.4
Sound & music 6
Ending 8 and it continues….

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 7.8
Laughs 2
Tears 6
Fright 4
Tension/Anxiety 3
Gore 2
Thought provocation 4
Snores 0

Re-watch? Down the road… maybe


Age 14+ Language: scattered R-rated - $h!+ × 3, B@$+@rd, F💣 × 2, Pr!(k, Pu$$y

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Modern Day:
Mad For Each Other 7.8 ~silly fun;
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks);
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love to Hate You 8.9;
Her Private Life 8;
Touch your heart 8.2;
Romance is a bonus book 7.9;
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9;
Love Struck in the City 7.3;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
More Than Friends 8;
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9;
Something in the Rain 9

Historical/Period:
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy;
Live Up To Your Name 7.6;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
Saimdang 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9

Try a Chinese historical fantasy romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8

Action/Sci-fi/fantasy:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4

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