#mousie watches kdrama

[mousieta]

Review: Cruel City

Year: 2013 Country: Korea Platform: Viki Heartless City (also: Cruel City) is one of the very first KDramas I ever watched and still one of my all-time favorites. It’s had a few rewatches from me over the years but its been about 5 years since the last one. As we are coming up on 10 years of my watching Dramas I’ve had the desire to go back and look of some of those early favs to see how they hold up.

This one absolutely does.

A gritty, cop noir drama, the show focuses on our anti-hero ‘Doctor’s Son’ as he plots and fights to make it to the top of Seoul’s drug running underworld. He is played to absolute stunning perfection by Jung Kyung Ho who layers him with depth and pathos, his silences are intense, his focus piercing. He is compelling from the first moment he appears on screen.

Around him, he assembles a crew of broken, flawed misfits and through sheer force of will shapes them into a family. Chief among them are his lieutenants Madam Jin Sook and playboy Hyeon Soo. His foil is the cop, Hyeong Min who is trying to unravel the layers of corruption, deception and crime all around him, using his young sister-in-law Soo Min as an undercover agent/sex-worker.

The performances are riveting, every member of the cast in top form, providing depth and nuance to their characters, infusing otherwise despicable characters with a lovable charm.

The directing is solid, fully seated in its genre. And the writing, while stretching the suspension of disbelief just shy of too far with the various twists and turns of the plots, saves itself by being deeply rooted in its understanding of the story’s characters. While there is an element of romance it is secondary to the much larger plot, which can sometimes be a refreshing change in a romance-heavy drama landscape.

Watch this when you want something dark and painful and beautiful, when you want to be reminded that even at their ugliest people are capable of change, and love and there is a bleak kind of beauty in that. However, I must advise trigger warnings for drug use, violence, and depictions of sexual assault and murder, on screen, as well as an on screen sex scene, so proceed with caution if those are concerns for you.

#heartless city #cruel city #jung kyung ho #mousie watches kdrama

[dangermousie]

I think it puts us on notice what kind of narrative it will be that when we first meet our FL as a child, she's being dragged as tribute to Yuan.

It is so interesting watching this in retrospect because while I obviously can't know for sure, everything at the start was setting up SungNyang and Wang Yu as THE otp. I mean, they may not have ever gotten a happy ending, it wasn't this type of drama, but there were definitely being set as true loves. They have the first meeting (Ta Hwan doesn't even show up in ep 1 except in the framing coronation scene):

He tries to stand up for her without knowing who she even is:

I mean, he even tries to help them escape:

But of course it all goes bad and her mother dies and she almost does too.

Side note: he's a bad guy but that styling makes me weak:

Anyway, to get back to Wang Yu and SungNyang (side note - Empress Ki is so well done that even though I ultimately ended up on Ta Hwan x Sung Nyang ship, I totally got those who were rabid for SN x WY. And honestly, Wang Yu is by far the best person of the main three, it's not even a competition. His greatest tragedy is that he's smart, he's tough, he's righteous - and it is still not enough, never enough. Not to win. And I am not talking about love, I am talking in general.)

It's an interesting parallel between him and Ta Hwan who, in ep 2, we find out is Yuan heir sent to Koryo to die just as the Koryo heir is sent to Yuan to die.

And then timeskip...

Ha Ji Won is queen of everything btw. I miss when we had roles like this. Here she is passing as a man, leader of an armed group, deadly archer. God. I love her.

Wang Yu and Sung Nyang's meetings in ep 1 all scream "kdrama OTP OTP OTP!" It's fascinating. Live shooting has pluses and minuses, but one of the pluses is that they can alter things if they see the story would be better in a different direction due to actor interactions. This isn't as stark a case as the legendary case in Queen Seon Duk (Bidam, Bidam, Bidam, BIDAAAAAAAM!!!!) but it's up there.

Heh...

This was epic!

This was gorgeous. Honestly, they had great chemistry and dynamics. If it wasn't for Ji Chang Wook being such a consummate scene stealer with a character basically written to cater precisely to me, I'd have been on this ship forever and ever.

Mmmmmmm

God

I love them so much!!!!

Man nobody does a tough BAMF the way Ha Ji Won does.

Next episode: Mousie's unhinged favorite, the powerless Yuan heir Togon/Ta Hwan arrives or a threesome would have solved everyone's problems.

PS Seriously, he'd be the antagonist or at the very least an evilish sml in any other drama. GOD. I love love love Empress Ki.

#kdrama #empress ki #ha ji won #joo jin mo

[leia-organaa]

Okay so I’m back and only a really spectacular piece of media could bring me back to fandom life. I’m talking about Moving (무빙) (2023). Warning: spoilers ahead.

Wow, this show. So, so, so good. I know the whole teenagers with superpowers and protective parents vs evil shady government/bad guys thing has been done before in different ways, but this one still felt so refreshing in its approach. Why? I don’t know. Maybe I’m biased towards kdramas, but there’s something about this show that its western predecessors like Heroes and Stranger Things etc. don’t have, and I think it is its distinct cultural and political identity that makes it unique.

To be honest, I didn’t catch the show when it was initially released last year because life caught up to me, and I regret not being there during its height of popularity. I just binged it in two days during a holiday break because the Baeksang nominees came out recently, and got curious because of the list. I have no regrets losing sleep over it. It was genuinely exciting and heart-wrenching, and so beautifully made. Thank you, Disney+, for the big budget, and for letting Kang Full adapt his work.

Anyway, I don’t really want to make a whole essay about how good the show was so I’ll just list down my thoughts and ramblings.

Jo In Sung is gorgeous. I already knew that prior to this show but he makes such an excellent Doosik, a smooth and dangerous spy with superpowers, who can be tender and romantic at the same time.

Han Hyo Joo — love her. So pretty as a spy, and to see her transform into a mousy single mother who is simply trying her best? Amazing.

Doosik and Mihyun’s storyline is my favorite. Spies who fall in love, and in the nineties? Omg. Mulder and Scully, seriously. The retro styling and production design was well done, too. Not cartoonish or obviously fake like they do in some kdramas. You can see there was genuine effort made to make it look somewhat realistic and believable to have been set during that time period. Maybe the shoulder pads and women’s blazers could have been slightly bigger, but the hair and unflattering trousers on Mihyun and Doosik’s and Juwon’s oversized coats? The filters? Excellent.

Back to their storyline. The set up was so good. The way it developed was so natural. The cutlets! Those trees! Their life together! All the tender feelings! God. What a beautiful couple. I love them. I want them to be happy. It broke my heart that their lives were stolen away from them.

There is a reason why Ryu Seung Ryong was nominated and why he is a legend. That man is a force. He is a beast. Juwon is their Wolverine. But my favorite parts are when he is being an awkward suitor then husband to Jihee and loving dad to Huisoo.

Lee Jung Ha’s smile as Bongseok can light up the world. What a sweetheart. I’m excited to see what happens next for him in the sequel (there will be a sequel, right?).

Cannot wait for Huisoo to become even more badass than she already is. If she takes after both her parents, she’d be terrifying.

Ganghoon is definitely the kind of guy I would have had a crush on at that age. Handsome, mysterious, a good son. Kind of sucks to see him turn into the very thing all the parents wanted their kids to avoid, but seems like he has the potential to be the new Doosik.

Now that I’ve read the story behind Hyewon, okay, I’m really intrigued to see where this goes.

Kim Sung Kyun as Ganghoon appa! My Reply 1988 heart.

The North-South conflict really gives the show its distinct flavor. The espionage is cool and all, but the traces of commonality give the show a lot of heart and humanity. I like how a lot of South Korean media humanize the enemy. It’s a reminder that they were one people a long time ago.

How does this have only 40-something fics on AO3????? Please, people, this deserves everything.

I had a lot more thoughts on this as I was watching but these are what stuck. I really hope to see more of these characters, hopefully soon, but I’m also interested to explore the other stories in this same universe that Kang Full has created.

#kdrama #moving kdrama #moving #무빙 #jo in sung #han hyo joo #ryu seung ryong #Lee jung ha #go youn jung #Kim do Hoon

[episodes-outside-seoul]

La dolce vita, 1

I got some great suggestions when I recently asked what I should watch during winter break, but I ultimately decided to go with a dark horse. When an essential drama post went around a few weeks ago, @eviesbfdylan mentioned La Dolce Vita, a series I hadn't heard much about.

Well, it turns out that it's exactly my jam. Its production team was also behind a number of well-regarded sageuks, as well as the delightfully over-the-top thriller Time between Dog and Wolf. And although it aired in 2008, it feels like a successor to the early oughts run of tragic melodramas begun by Winter Sonata. It's serious and thoughtful and melancholy, and it's definitely no accident that the first episode largely takes place in snowy Japan.

Female lead Hye Jin is a mousy housewife whose life totally revolves around her family--she stays at home to care for her two daughters while her businessman husband goes out to make buckets of money. But because this is a melo, things aren't quite that simple. Her husband uses some of that money to keep a much younger mistress, whom he visits every day. When Hye Jin discovers his infidelity, it feels like her world falls apart.

Her response is to leave for Japan, where she plans to kill herself in a dramatic fashion inspired by a novel. Only in the tried and true Kdrama way, on her trip she meets a handsome young man who begins to change her mind about the future.

I'm looking forward to where things go from there, but I'm also a little worried: Dolce Vita aired just as today's trend for happy endings was getting started. Will it truly be an old-timey tragedy? Or will the seemingly bloody opener be a red herring?

#os dolce

[bound-in-locks]

Kim Ji Hoon is such an over-actor and, tbh, I love that about him.

#he just commits 10000% #thief nom thief nim #mousie watches kdramas

[mousieta]

Review: Twenty-Five Twenty-One

Year: 2022 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix

Twenty-five Twenty One is a coming of age drama elevated by a stellar cast and a thoughtful, moving script to stand out within its genre. Disclaimer, though, I may be biased as I am smack dab in the center of the target demographic of this show’s nostalgia pull. I’m the same age as Kim Tae Ri’s character, Na Hee Do, with a daughter only a year or so younger than hers. That fact definitely colors my perception of the show. But, I feel, also gives me insight on what it is setting out to do and a clear perspective on how successful I feel it was.

In the vein of the Reply series, the show centers on youth’s coming of age in the late 90s and early 00s. The show spans roughly from the IMF crisis in South Korea through the United States attacks of 9/11. The focus is on the transition from teenager to adult within the context of a sports drama.

Kim Tae Ri plays Na Hee Do; her and her rival Go Yu Rim are international level fencers. The show lovingly sprawls through relationships with parents, friends, the struggle of self-discovery, finding one’s path in the world, starting a career and, of course as any KDrama worth its salt, first love.

What sets this drama apart - in my opinion - is what makes it controversial and will potentially render it unpalatable to others and it also cannot be easily discussed without show-ending spoilers. So if you don’t want those, you can go ahead and skip the rest of the review knowing I heartily loved and recommend this drama for its solid writing and acting (Nam Joo Hyuk, as ever, reminding me of why I have such a soft spot for his characters and their awkward charm).

~spoilers past this point~

A common trope in the Romance-heavy drama landscape is the idea of The One. It is not enough for our OTP to meet, fall in love, and be together. No, they must also be fated, destined to meet since childhood, mystically connected all their lives. It is a useful short-hand, a way of confirming to the viewer that once the drama is over and done, the viewer gone, these two are going to remain together in perpetuity (which is often why sequels or continuations is placed where they’re more common are awkward). Fate has declared it so,

To be clear, I have no problem with this trope. It is just one of many in a storyteller’s toolbox: dependent on execution for its success.

However, over the course of life, a person can have many loves, many important relationships. Longevity is not the sole marker or a relationship’s success or value. So it is refreshing to have a show that acknowledges and explores that. A romantic love can be deeply important, powerful and essential to a certain person at a certain time in their life and then ultimately fall apart. The fact that it ended does not render the relationship’s place in a person’s life meaningless and doesn’t have to be torn down because someone eventually has a different life partner.

The show takes pains to show early on and continuously in the flash fowards that Hee Do is  not with Yi Jin. He is not the father of her child and she only knows about what’s going on with him in passing. I am sure some may have anticipated a last minute fake out, putting everything right so our lovers can rid off into the sunset, but there is no such moment, nor even the hint of one. The last scene is not a mystical meet-cute. The focus is fully on Hee Do reflecting on the beauty and ephemeral nature of the past.

The relationship is permanently left in the past of Hee Do’s journals and memories. This, for me, renders the entire story all the more poignant, overlaying it with a Romanticism of youth.

I found the ultimate dissolution of the main relationship heartbreaking because it was so understandable and believable. It is not enough to care about someone, to be in love. Relationships require communication skills and cultivation, things that come with experience. It is why first, young love rarely works out. Especially in the late teens/early 20s which is a transitionally period for many people. It is a time of internal growth and self-discovery which is important and not always conducive to building a relationship. (Of course relationships from this age can work out, but it is nice to see them *not* working out and still be important)

As watchers, it is frustrating because we can see what the characters need to do to solve their problems. But the characterization of each lead is so strong we understand why these solutions aren’t possible or readily discovered by either of them.

And so, we are left on this gem-like reflection on the past. It is unclear if current day Hee Do is happy; there is a melancholy to Kim So Hyun’s portrayal of the older Hee Do. And we never see her partner to know how that relationship is. But I find that ambiguity fitting. This show is ultimately about youth, and in ones 20s the future is wholly uncertain.

#twenty-five twenty-one #kim tae ri #nam joo hyuk #kdrama #mousie watches kdrama #reviews 2022

[mousieta]

Review: My Father is Strange

Year: 2017 Country: Korea Platform: Viki

Ugh, where do I start with this drama. This is abolutely one of my all time favorite dramas. It is 50 episodes that slips by like 16. There are 12 episode dramas that wish they were as well paced and structured.

At the heart of the story is the Byun family with father Hansoo and his wife Na Yeong Shil who are absolutely relationship goals. You can absolutely see how their relationship lays the foundation for the loving, supportive family they’ve created. They depend on, respect, and communicate with one another. Nothing moves forward that doesn’t have them both on board. I loved when the drama would show the two of them retiring to their room, to sit facing one another as they tried to work together to find the solutions to the problems facing their family.

After them are one son, and three daughters. Each of their stories could reasonably have been a drama in its own right. Joon Yeong is the eldest, a hard worker who loves his family and knows he just isn’t the smartest guy but he’s gonna keep just plodding along working his hardest. Hyeyoung, the oldest daughter is the light of my drama world. I could barely focus when she is on screen as she is incredibly charismatic and commanding in her presence and stunningly beautiful. She is whip smart, fearless and capable, yet flawed. Watching her wrestle with the idea of marriage and what it means for a woman who is driven and fulfilled by her career in a society that says a woman is a daughter and then a mother resonated with me deeply.

Mi Young is the second daughter, struggling with overcoming the insecurity and bullying of her past. She, along with Yoojoo, her highschool bully, are given one of the most satisfying arcs in the show. Yoojoo’s redemption is something that is slow, hard earned and progressive. I love how the show addresses it with time and a gradual understanding of what it means to forgive and atone.

Hwayoung is the baby played by Ryu Hwa Young. I was so torn watching her because she knocks the character out of the park. She is young and selfish but kind and honest. Her romance is the stuff of sweet fluffy rom-coms but her facing off against her CEO was a delight.

Finally there was Lee Joon as the (obligatory) birth secret. Joon is amazing in the role. He renders what could be a selfish and arrogant character as vulnerable. Though he does get a loveline - it is his love for the family, his slow growth from lonely outsider to firmly entrenched member of the Byun clan that is the heart and soul of the drama.

What I love most about this drama is that it provides characters that are fundamentally Good People, with natural human flaws. And the conflicts that arise are mostly those born from the realities of life: people making poor choices or making the best choices they can at the time with the hand life has dealt that still doesn't work out. But they're all trying their best to love and care for one another. It also happens to have the best redemption story I have ever seen in any piece of media and some day I'll write a full meta on how fantastic it is a story of growth and forgiveness.

I am not lying when I say this drama is one of my favorites. It is 50 episodes and I watched them all twice three times, now. Even now I’ll put one on and find myself drawn back into these people and their lives. It is a beautiful drama that shows that you don’t need malicious over-the-top schemes, secrets and backstabbing to have compelling drama. You can have a cast of characters that love and TALK to one another and still have plenty of drama with just the arrows that life decides to shoot at you.

#father is strange #lee joon #kdrama #mousie watches kdrama

[mousieta]

Review: Again My Life

Year: 2022 Country: Korea Platform: Viki

Again My Life is an enjoyable enough drama if you love Lee Jun Ki, as that is most – if not all – it has going for it. His commitment to his roles is always engaging and his action scenes are always a treat. Those two things – almost exclusively – were what got me through to the end.

It may be that the show suffers due to the fairly recent proximity of Lawless Layer which – thematically – covers much the same ground to better effect. To his credit, Jun Ki does differentiate between Lawless Lawyer’s Bong Sang Pil and Hui Wu in Again My Life. Here, however, all elements are less compelling. The writing never rises above the most lack-luster, and all the actors are serviceable but largely unmemorable, never given enough room or direction to become more than caricatures serving the plot. Which is sad, because there was plenty of potential.

The premise of the show was fascinating as well: a man gets a chance to re-live his life starting back at his senior year of high school, but with all the memories of his future life. Unfortunately, this gimmick is never more than that as we go episodes with that having little to no relevance or impact.

The show forgoes any but the most superficial character work to focus on a revenge/take down/anti-corruption plot which is no where near intelligent or sharp enough to carry the whole show. What could have been a solid and lovable ensemble piece with an interesting variety of characters is instead a meandering muddle of mediocrity focused and uninteresting villains and banal political machinations.

The actions scenes were – as expected – fantastic but, like Hui Wu’s prescience, was under-utilized; his martial arts skills were largely irrelevant. Underutilization could be the tagline of the entire show. It had a solid handful of what could have been amazing elements if brought to the fore to give us an interesting and compelling show. Instead we get a rehash of an over-used plot providing nothing innovative or novel.

Its a way to pass 16 hours made enjoyable if your a fan of the actors but that’s about it. It took me forever to even finish as I kept forgetting about it but I did, eventually, make it to the end.

#again my life #lee jun ki #mousie watches kdrama #reviews 2022

[mousieta]

Review: The Red Sleeve

Year: 2022

Country: Korea

Platform: Netflix

The Red Sleeve is exactly what I look for in a Sageuk. I did a partial review of it at the end of last year but wanted to revisit it again now that I have completed the whole thing. In drama-land nothing is certain. The trajectory of a show always has the capacity to take a hard turn and what was once spectacular leaves you with a bad taste in y our mouth. So, it is with pleasure that I can say The Red Sleeve does not suffer from this affliction. Junho and Lee Se Young are both two solid, enjoyable actors who keenly understand their characters.

As a Sageuk tied strongly to the actual history of King Jeongjo the show also benefits from being an adaptation of a novel. This breaths a strong characterization into both leads who are skilled enough to not just understand the assignment but put in extra credit.

We get to see why these characters love one another (always a big point for me as I want to believe two characters love one another because of who they are rather than the actor’s billing). They are charming and sweet in just the right amount to then build up their steadfast dedication to one another.

Because the audience is expected to know the history – and if one doesn’t it is readily searchable – this story is much more about the journey towards its resolution than actually getting there. And drawing on what is historically understood to be an actual love match, the show takes pain to believeably build that love in both its writing and the chemistry of its leads.

While dramas often vere into melodrama – ratcheting up the angst for its own sake – the real life couple had more than their fair share of tragedies.

I could roll my eyes at it except it never felt overwrought as much as just the reality of existence before the advent of modern medicine.

That said, the show manages to find a poignant, romantic ending in the midst of its tragedy – which on the one hand is fitting as inevitably all couples will face the specter – separation – of death. The show gives us that in a way that feels loving and true.

#the red sleeve #mousie watches kdrama #reviews 2022

[mousieta]

Lee Jun Ki is such a gift to Action Dramas

#again my life #lee jun ki #mousie watches kdrama

[mousieta]

Review: Pachinko

Year: 2022 Country: Korea/America Platform: Apple +

Pachinko is a little different than a typical Kdrama, as a joint venture between a Korean and American studio, adapting a novel of the same name by a Korean-American writer. The story focuses on a Zainichi family – Korean people living in Japan – and spans at least 3 generations, the narrative flowing back and forth in time.

The story focuses on Sun Ja beginning from her childhood in the early 20th century living in Korea under Japanese rule. The second story juxtaposing it – is that of her grandson Solomon in the late 1980s.

Sun Ja’s story is one of survival through colonial oppression and the unique oppresion of a woman within a Patriarchy. Solomon is a young, ambitious capitalist working for an American company trying to close a land-deal that will guarantee his personal, professional success.

As a more American than Korean show, it does not follow the typical Kdrama beats or structure, rendered more as the first season of an ongoing show than a self-contained story. So, while it does have a definite narrative arc, it does not answer or resolve every plot question.

The writing is powerful, the going back and forth in time meaningful. Both protagonists Sun Ja and Complex are complex and layered as they navigate through their world, its expectations of them, and their own desires. Lee Min Ho as Sun Ja’s love interest, Han Su, shows just how compelling and capable he is with the right role and project.

I think, ultimately, what pushed this drama to be more to me than I’d anticipated, was its thematic elements. Having not read the book, I did not anticipate it delving so deeply into what it feels like to be the other within a colonialist system that simultaneously needs you and wants to obliterate you. The show pulls no punches with regards to the horrors of Japanese Imperialism and xenophobia. It also, however, does not reduce its Japanese characters to caricatures. It is too nuanced for that. It does not cast hard lines of black and white but wrestles with the complex nuances of humanity trying to live within these structures. It does not withhold judgment but neither does it paint with an overly broad brush.

Through Solomon it confronts the definition of success and what it takes to actually succeed within a capitalist/colonialist system, what tradeoffs need be made and questions if the sacrifices are worth it and how those choices ripple down through generations. What is it worth to gain a fortune if you must trade away your culture to get it? And what if it isn’t a fortune but just survival you need? What are the trade offs and what are their costs?

It was powerful and difficult to watch at times, because these are not easy questions to ask, much less answer.

I did not expect the story of Korean immigrants in Japan to resonate so deeply with my own Chicana experience. Though in hind-sight I guess it isn’t quite as surprising. Much like Parasite resonated globally because we all live in the state of Capitalism, Pachinko resonated because I, like the characters, live in a state of the colonized. And colonization will supplant any and every marginalized culture with its demand for homogeneity.

#pachinko #lee min ho #kim min ha #mousie watches kdrama #2022 reviews

[dangermousie]

The Legend is actually going to be my next after next sageuk rewatch because next sageuk is acutely gonna be Hong Gil Dong - feel like something with a delicious chaser of despair (it remains one of only two kdramas Mr Mousie watched with me - the other one being Chuno - I think he has a skewed perception that Korean dramas are all period class war tales with a dark outlook 😜)

Gotta say, this drama was like a curse on its cast because none of the main three are doing anything at all now as far as I know despite their erstwhile popularity. And if it’s clear why with Kang Ji Hwan (a jail sentence will kill your career dead), I have no idea why this is the case of Sung Yuri and Jang Geun Soo who are talented and scandal free and used to be hella popular.

Anyway, I love this drama as much as it tapdanced on my heart with cleated boots.

Except for My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, I didn’t unabashedly love another Hong Sisters drama since (tho I’ve enjoyed some overall) but what a way to go out!

#kdrama #hong gil dong #sung yuri #kang ji hwan #jang geun suk

[mousieta]

2021: Drama Rankings - In Progress Shows

Stranger 2 (2/16)

Year: 2020 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix Look, I know this one is going to be good. I just know it. The whole cast of season one has returned and I cannot *wait* to see Lee Joon Hyuk be an absolute cockroach of a terrible human being. Bae Doo Na and Jo Seung Woo are also amazing and season one was so, so good, riveting and gripping.  I watched the first two episodes and know we are going to be in for the same in this one. However, I just haven’t been in the right mood to immerse myself in it just yet. So I’m waiting for the right time, hopefully sometime next year.

Hospital Playlist 2 (5/12)

Year: 2021 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix This show is just as good as season one. Really there is nothing I can say wrong about it as the writing acting and directing are all top notch. That said, I’ve been making my way through it slowly as, for some reason, I just don’t feel compelled to hit ‘next episode’. Each episode is fantastic and, perhaps due to it’s slice of life nature, leaves me feeling satisfied in a way that holds me over until another day when I feel like cuddling up and coming back to these friends I love. Perhaps its also a bit of not wanting it to ever really end. My one, patently ridiculous gripe, is I’m just not on board with the pairing of Ahn Jung Won and Jang Gyeo Wool. The actors are decent enough but there is so little actual chemistry between them, and little narrative oomf to their relationship. It’s placidly pretty in an innocuous way that leaves it uncompelling. They’re together… I guess… cuz the script tells me so, which is one of my biggest relationship pet peeves. But, I’m not watching it for the romance so it’s fine, I guess. (honestly would have LOVED if they’d made him gay, tbh; story wise it would have resonated so much better)

Bad Buddy (9/12)

Year: 2021 Country: Thailand Platform: YouTube Someone needs to set up a drama production office where they just issue P’aof blanket checks to do Whatever He Wants. Honestly, he has not let me down yet. He tells queer stories with such care and love but also practiced skill. There is absolutely no need for this show to be as good as it is, yet it has truly elevated itself. Much credit for this to the skill of the lead actors and a script with gives them depth and nuance to bite into. The pacing is so solid, with each episode moving forward briskly but giving enough time and weight to important moments. Shoutout has to be given to the absolutely amazing product placement. We saw it in AToTS but P’aof really just using every mandated moment to be as Extra as possible with our OTP, and I love that for us very much.

Strangers from Hell (5/10)

Year: 2019 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix This is so good. My only excuse for not having finished it is that I am a big, big baby that cannot handle scary creepy things. Honestly, by rights I shouldn’t even be watching it as it is very much not the type of thing I’m into. And yet, here I am, because Lee Dong Wook is so compelling and creepy and wonderful. I love the dynamic between his and Im Si Won’s character. Unfortunately, being able to only watch at 3pm on a Very Sunny and Not At All Scary Sunday Afternoon with a house full of noise means I can only get through episodes sparingly.

The Red Sleeve (15/17)

Year: 2021 Country: Korea Platform: Viki I’m very much enjoying this. I started it because I felt the need for a nice, epic feeling Sageuk in my life. There’s just something sweeping and compelling about a historical drama done right, and this one is doing so much right. I love that our male lead is so forthright and upfront about his feelings but the issues keeping our leads apart are very real, with no easy solution. I’m a bit nervous about the one episode extension as those are often double edged swords but I go into finale week hopeful, excited for the end and sad to see it go.

Boys over Flowers - Thailand (1/16)

Year: 2021 Country: Thailand Platform:  YouTube Look, there’s not more to be said about this franchise that hasn’t already been said. Either you love it or you hate it, and I love it. Yes, the leads are a mess, yes there is a layer of toxicity over so much of their dynamic. But at its core, this is a story of our male lead finding his humanity and decency and a badass female lead who kicks his ass on the regular. So far it is delivering on every level in a satisfying way, and I already know that Bright’s descent into one sided love is going to destroy me so… I will just be here gobbling popcorn every week watching the train-wreck unfold.

#stranger 2 #hospital playlist 2 #bad buddy #strangers from hell #the red sleeve #boys over flowers #mousie watches cdrama #mousie watches kdrama #mousie watches dramas #2021 drama reviews

[mousieta]

Review: The Devil Judge

Year: 2021 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix Ji Sung has been one of my perennial favs since Secret and Protect the Boss (though I dropped the latter bc Choi Kang Hee annoyed me to no end) so this show was on my radar for a while. Then I saw some behind the scenes clips and sold my little queer heart to the devil and started live-watching (which I so rarely do as an act of self-care). Waiting each week was as exquisite an agony as Jinyoung Ga On being choked by Kang Yo Han.

The show is another entry in drama-land’s field of revenge dramas with a tortured, anti-hero judge, Kang Yo Han, played to delectable perfection by Ji Sung, pursuing his vigilante justice in a near-future dystopia. Part of his plan is the seduction, intellectual and … otherwise…, of Jinyoung’s Kim Ga On, a fresh-faced, newly minted Judge with wrongs in his own past he wants righted.

The show wrestles with concepts of justice played out in a modern world steeped in social-media, drawing parallels that show that, for all our claims to civility, we are not far removed from a past we try to delineate as barbaric and other, with its tortures and public executions. It also confronts the topics of corruption, the ability to discern truth in an age of Fake News, and what true justice actually looks like.

It actually engages with all these issues thoughtfully and meaningfully; reams of meta and analysis can be made on these points that provide unique insight into our modern world. I don’t want to discount the importance of that, and have engaged on these topics in various group chats since the show began airing. However, I’ll be honest, the thing that rotted my brain from the inside out was our leads. The writer of the show is on record as striving for queerness with his story in as much as he was able within Korea’s social landscape.

The show was written casting Jinyoung’s character in the role Kdramas usually reserve for our female lead and it is so damned gay I was forced to write out nearly 30,000 words of gay fanfiction in just over two weeks like a woman possessed, it was all just too much. This show and these two characters have fundamentally broken me in some way and I will never be the same. Do the sum of all these parts, rationally, add up to this impact in me? No, not really, but that is just the power of a fangirl brain.

The show wasn’t absolutely perfect, so I don’t quite give it a perfect score. The secondary female lead is underwhelming in many ways, both as I feel the actress felt short, and as she was written (which, actually I don’t think was a failing of the writing but of the tropes embedded in this genre). She served her plot purposed well enough but was mostly frustrating to watch, which is actually fairly reminiscent of secondary male leads in this type of show.

The other weakness is that this show was originally mapped out to be more episodes then was truncated, I believe, and the writing for the plot reveals this. The last few episodes resolve themselves a bit too easily/ quickly and could have benefited from being expanded a bit so the plot flowed a bit better. It’s a minor quibble as the central emotional relationship was what I really cared about.

Before I wrap this up, though, I have to highlight a few other elements of the show. Number one is to give a shout out to Kim Min Jung who is so wonderfully unhinged, she stepped all over my bisexual heart and left me wanting more. There is one scene, set in a barber shop, between her and Yo Han that is so intense I had to pause and walk away for a while to take it all in.

All in all, despite its flaws, this may be my absolute favorite drama of the year. The gift that keeps on giving as I look at my To Write list.

#the devil judge #ji sung #kang yo han #jinyoung #kim ga on #gahan #mousie watches kdrama #2021 drama reviews

[mousieta]

Livewatch Thoughts: Business Proposal and Twenty-five  Twenty-one

I’ve been in the mood to watch something in a modern setting and since there are a slew of new shows that have just started or are still in their first half, and I don’t have it in me to binge watch right now so taking a show a week at a time is ok, I decided to try a couple out. So, last night I watched 2 episodes of Business Proposal and one of Twenty-Five Twenty-One

Spoiler: I liked both enough that I’m going to keep watching them for now. However, I thought the juxtaposition of watching the two back to back left me with some interesting observations. I’m not trying to pit one against the other or say one is better, though I do prefer one a little over the other. Both seem like solid little kdramas and neither is breaking their respective molds.

Business Proposal is definitely slicker. It is wearing its budget on the sleeves of the many, many transition costume changes of Ha Ri, our lady lead. Perhaps in keeping with its web-novel origins, it has tons of little cgi additions: fireworks exploding in the background to punctuate emotional moments, overlays of a dinosaur to represent leading man Kang Tae Mu (an in-show joke). It is also fun enough, though I think it pushes right up to the edges of my suspension of disbelief as the plot needs concealed identities but the story demands some emotional stakes. Which comes to my main gripe: its slick but feels ultimately empty. Like cotton candy, all sugar no substance.

The actors are serviceable, but just barely. They aren’t bad and I’ve liked both of them in other shows, Ahn Hyo Seop in 30 but 17 and Kim Se Jeong in The Uncanny Counter. Neither of their characters actually feel like people instead of just roles as a vehicle for the plot. Like, I’m all for tropey shenanigans but it feels like all setup and no heart.

It’s fun but missing that bit of charm that makes it lovable as well.

I’m down for the contract relationship, though (I would have dropped it if it’d kept the fake-identity/lying for love tropes) and the same-gender friendships are currently where all the magic is for me. I *am* enjoying it, just not loving it and with all the slick effects and appeals to comedy, I wish I could love it as much as it wants me to.

Contrasting that with Twenty-five Twenty-one, which I’ve actually been looking forward to, is interesting. It is not as slick, there are no flashy transitions or effects. It’s tone is very different, as though its trying to appeal more to the sensibilities of the Reply series (though I do not think it’s trying to copy them but rather is ruminating on similar themes with its own lessons to impart).

I think the acting quality is much higher, and the directing is leading to more human portrayals of the leads. They are rendered more nuance and with deeper complexity. I am more invested in the lives of our leads Na Hee Do and Baek Yi Jin, I care more about their individual development and how they will shape one another, though both dramas have clear trajectories for all their characters and relationships.

The potential downfall of Twenty-five Twenty-one, however, will be in avoiding slipping into gratuitous melodrama. The show, for me, will hinge on how it strikes the balance of its emotions, of how true it stays to the cores of the characters. Because it is showing more, it will have a higher bar to clear.

All that said, I’m enjoying both and will stick with both of them for now.

#business proposal #twenty-five twenty-one #kdrama #mousie watches kdrama #mousie reviews

[mousieta]

Review: Hometown Cha Cha Cha

Year: 2021

Country: Korea

Platform: Netflix

Though rom-coms are not my first choice among dramas, I do adore a well done rom-com. My problem with the genre is I have very specific requirements from them and more than enough fall short to make me always hesitant to start one (they also will get dropped pretty quickly).

My first requirement is that the relationship between our primary couple must feel like one of equals; it must feel like each is coming to the table with something and the other is shaped and changed by them for the better. The second is that it must feel like our characters should be together, because they genuinely enjoy one another and because romantically they make sense, the show has to demonstrate these things to us and not just rely on their billing on the cast list.

This show nails both those requirements and more. Our leads are Yoon Hye Jin (played by my goddess Shin Min Ah) and Hong Doo Shik (rendered engagingly by Kim Seon Ho who’s it status particularly in I-fandom I find baffling if unsurprising - honestly I dropped Start Up, guys). Together they have a delightful amount of natural chemistry and individually, heaps of personal charm. Both characters are likable and eminently root-for-able. We want them not just to fall in love, but also to grow individually.

The fish-out-of-water story of Big Fish Dentist Hye Jin getting a healthy dose of reality and being knocked down a few pegs when she resettles out in hicks-ville is delicious when paired with jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none Doo Shik’s journey to stop hiding behind layers of walls masked by easy smiles and carefully crafted nonchalance. The cherry on top is a lovable secondary cast of villagers creating a network around our leads. I do adore a found family.

It is interesting comparing this to, say, A Tale of Thousand Stars which had similar dynamics. However, where AToTS fell short in its rendering of the village around our lead, Cha Cha Cha succeeds because instead of focusing exclusively on rendering the leads as fully developed characters, it allows *all* the characters to have depth. Even Annoying Woman Who’s Nose Is In Everyone’s Business has reasons for her actions, has redeeming qualities and is loved by those around her for them. Side characters exist just as much for their own sake as for the benefit of our leads.

The true reason, though, that I love this show so much (ok I’m exaggerating the OTP is lovable enough to justify my affection) was likely unintended (look, I managed to scrape together 400 words of review when THIS is what I’ve been wanting to rave about the whole time) but is a consequence of this new push I’ve seen in KDramas to de-toxify the Love Triangle. Of course, we cannot eliminate the love triangle, because what would a rom-com be without the illusion of choice (honestly they do narratively make sense because they provide a lead with a choice, thus reinforcing the OTP). The annoyance is that they are usually ‘Female character backed into a corner by two males aggressively Toxically Masculinating in her direction’. To get rid of that, now, we just get two male leads that like each other A  Lot! The result, here, is so incredibly gay, I couldn’t take it. There was much squeeing over Doo Shik and Ji Sung Hyun, our second male lead.

Yes, yes, I know I was supposed to contemplate Sung Hyun as a match for Hye Jin but that never registered for me. Somehow, in their quest to establish these two men as Very Good and Caring and Not At All Toxic, the show gave us a meet-cute, a couple of sweet dates, a lot of eye-flirting, Schrodinger’s Sexual Sublimation as bickering rivalry, a product placement scripted like a couple’s night-in and an emotionally intelligent connection between two genuinely likable men. I cannot help it, I do not write the rules, these two are bisexual (ok Doo Shik is pan) and in love (lower case letters).

Someday I will write the emotionally satisfying OT3 polyamorous slow burn that this show was meant to be, and help it attain its final form.

#2021 drama reviews #hometown cha cha cha #shin min ah #kim seon ho #do i even want to tag him lmao #oh well #no i'm not going to engage with his scandal #or....if i do i'll put my thoughts on it elsewhere #its enough to say it wasn't enough to tarnish my love for this show #mousie watches kdrama