I’ve been binge-watching so many dramas guys. I can’t even just say Chinese dramas or Kdramas or even just BLs. I’m not even sure how it happened. Actually. It’s probably the furlough. I want to be thankful for it and yet… I’ve been packing my days with all of the things I need to get done during the day, working the hours I have on schedule, working the hours on my Salesforce Admin certification, (Anyone else out there working or have that? Let’s chat!), doing my workouts, cleaning the house, and website work…I jam my days full! Which leaves those evenings, normally packed by those same things, freer! Somehow, I’ve decided it’s okay to just sit there and watch TV. Like the old days. Frankly, it’s weirding me out.
Like the good old days of Crazy For Kdrama, lets take a look at all I’m watching!
Gloria
After stressing once I realized I didn’t have access to one of my classic rewatch shows, which instantly brought a strong desire to, you know, watch it, I caved and searched on those sites that shall not be named. As expected, there it was! So I rewatched, eager to see if it held up after all this time. (And when I say all this time, I mean, I first watched that show, I want to say like 8 years ago? So long.) I didn’t watch the entire show, but I did watch the last 12ish episodes. If you know the show at all, you know that after 35ish episodes of the good guys consistently getting their asses handed to them by the bad guys, this is where they start their winning streak. Slow and sure, step by step they lay the groundwork for their eventual win. Turns out? Still totally worth a watch. I couldn’t put it down. Makjang as all hell, but that’s to be expected. It makes me wonder if I have the attention span to pick up Life is Beautiful again.
Strangers From HELLLLLLLL
Otherwise known as Strangers from Hell. This is a random show I picked up on Netflix. I’m not super far into the show but, not kidding, the first episode, the first minute, had me screeching out loud. The story of a young man from the country who moves to Seoul to be near his girlfriend has to find a cheap place to live. The one he finds is filled with mysterious and slightly evil characters. The first 3ish minutes of the show sets up the whole plot, with the guy running in fear, and (potentially) being murdered, then it flashes back to the beginning of the story. Who murdered him? Why? Did he actually die? Is this place supernatural or just filled with bad guys? Is a dentist character always going to be the murderer…even if he’s played by Lee Dong Wook? These are all questions I need to know the answers to. Plus, it’s been a while since I’ve watched a straight-up Korean rom-com. If I turn to Kdramas, its been through crime or supernatural. This is possibly both.
You can watch the show here. And here’s a teaser:
Ooh, looks like The Rose did a song for the OST! I love The Rose! Another check in the show’s favor though I’m not going to watch the video because I don’t want to be spoiled!
My Engineer
For BL and Bubbles, Alix and I struggled this week as we’ve finished most of our shows. The only currently airing BL we had left on our list was My Engineer. It’s not my favorite, but it’s not terrible. I find myself really disliking the main couple. Sure, they’re cute, but their relationship together is a bit of a train wreck and you have to stop and remind yourself…”Why am I rooting for them?” In these last few episodes, I’m actually here for the side pairings who I find to have more realistic storylines and I’m really rooting for them. Next week is the last episode and it had better be a long one as they have a lot of ground to cover!
You can actually watch the whole show on Youtube through the official My Engineer channel
YYY: The Series
We started this one as we like to keep up with the latest BLs during BL and Bubbles and this is currently airing. I knew from the teaser it was going to be…problematic for me and I’m happy to report, my instincts are not wrong! This has a laugh track! Ugh. I think we’re supposed to find the premise and the characters hilarious, but, yeah, unless something changes, this is not the BL I’m looking for. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch because that’s what we do, but we’re probably going to hate-watch it. I am holding onto the hope that I’m wrong. It has happened before. Why R U: The Series started out pretty rough but it finally found its ground, toned down the background noises, and turned out to be a really good drama. Perhaps it can happen here. I’m just not holding out that much hope.
I can’t give you the official place we watch, but here’s the teaser:
Hmmmm….
Moving out of BL land, even though we did watch more, I’ll hold that for another time. Let’s keep moving!
Mystic Pop-Up Bar
Remember when I originally talked about Mystic Pop-Up Bar? This one was a surprise to me that I actually picked it up. I blame the fact that all my favorite fanfic writers seem to be on strike. Usually I allow myself to read on Saturday morning from when I wake up until about 10:30. (I’m weirdly super strict with my free time.) Unfortunately, with nothing to read, and after finishing Gloria, I had dramas on the brain. I decided to go over to Netflix to watch the Chinese drama I’d been watching. Instead I saw that Netflix was actually streaming Mystic Pop-Up Bar and decided to give it a try. Guys! This show is great! I’m two episodes in and I laughed out loud, I got angry and I cried. The main character’s clothes are AMAZING, think updated hanboks. Usually, I’m not a huge fan of the acting style of the main actress, but I found it really works here. I’m excited to see 1) if they are able to keep the show without a romance and 2) what was in that scroll that made her agree to take her punishment?? If being the cause of over 100,000 people dying wasn’t enough to make her cave, what could be worse? My guess is it has something to do with her mom or that prince. They seemed to have a connection.
I am going to cop to fast-forwarding a bit during the beginning. I watched most of it, but once I realized the queen was coming after the girl? My fingers might have slipped a little bit. Sorry, I don’t need that sort of angst right now but I’m definitely going to keep going on this!
You can watch it here on Netflix.
Where I’m going to stop, because if I finish this post I’ve decided I’m allowed to be done for the night and can keep watching:
The Ghost Bride
Again, another new show instead of finishing the show I already have started! What can I say? I’m fickle like this. Both SaraG and SaraG’s mom were going on about how great this show was and, since it kept catching my eye even before that, I decided to give it a try. Oooh, one and a half episodes in and I’m hooked! I didn’t know much about the show before I went into it. Here’s what MyDramaList says the premise is:
Set in 1890, a young woman was forced to marry a dead man as a ghost bride in exchange to have her family’s financial debt forgiven. Her attempt to escape the obligation was complicated by her discovery of a conspiracy that was much bigger and more mysterious than she ever thought she would be in.
After reading this, the plot makes a lot more sense. I thought the show was Chinese, and I kept going, “Hey, I think that ghost detective looks like that Taiwanese actor!” Turns out that’s because it is that Taiwanese actor, Chris Wu. He’s currently irritating the crap out of me in the show, but I think he’s supposed to as he’s thwarting the heroine’s attempt to figure out who killed off the dead guy so she can save her dad. I thought the show was just her as a ghost bride but so far its about her attempts to avoid that fate by saving her dad on the power of her own deduction skills having made deal with dead guy. Its only 6 episodes and I’m wondering if I can bang it out tonight. Probably not, but I’m going to give it a try!
You can give it a try here at Netflix.
Believe it or not, this is just some of the shows I’m watching right now! It’s all very exciting. How about you? You binging anything good at the moment? Or not good that I should avoid?
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