C-Drama: Parallel Love (1st impression)

Parallel Love is a time travel drama, and I really love time travel dramas, so I decided to give it a try. It’s about a woman who is a company director that out of the blue goes back in time when she opens a door. Then she gets a message saying that she has to help a guy become president of his company or she will disappear forever.

The first episode is a little wonky. The door time travel happens really fast and did not make a whole lot of sense. And there was no explanation for why she had to help a random guy get a promotion at his families company.

Also, the female lead did not make a great first impression, on me, or on the male lead. She ran into him during the doorscapade, since he was going through it at the same time that she was. She knocked him over and he told her she should apologize for it. She didn’t. She told him she was late for something, but her speech about being late was longer than any apology I’ve heard so far, so it sure seems like she could have said she was sorry.

The female lead continued to annoy me – and the second lead when she came across him again as he was about to give an important speech at an important event. She bumped into him again, ruining his shirt right before he had to go on stage. And again, she didn’t apologize. The male lead was forced to improvise, but his efforts were ruined.

Of course, he turns out to be the guy the female lead is supposed to help make company president. That was predictable.

When the female lead goes to his company looking to work with him she doesn’t know he is the same guy she bumped into multiple times. But when she finds out and hears that she ruined his important event she continues to be rude to him and still doesn’t apologize. I am a strong supporter of manners so it made it really hard to like her all that much.

The female lead also seemed oblivious to common sense on more than one occasion. She spent a long time opening and closing the door that she time-traveled through, trying to go back to 2020, which she came from. But when the staff approached her asking her to stop she couldn’t make up a good story for why she was doing it and was kicked out so she couldn’t keep trying in the future.

The male lead is actually likeable. He has a dry humor that is pretty great. His only major fault is really the fault of the shows stylist(s) who gave him godawful clothes and very dated hair. The hair I could deal with. The clothes, not so much. His main flaw was being in a career position he might not have been ready for.

There is also a twist to the story where the female lead who went back in time ten years is living at the same time as her ten years younger self. I think this is the most interesting part of the story. My favorite scene was with her ten years younger self and her ex-boyfriend who had apparently dumped her ten years later. Both characters seem like they will remain constant in the story since the ex-boyfriend works at the same company as the ten years older version of the female lead who I assume will have to avoid him.

If the whole drama was about that I would really enjoy watching it, but the show is mostly about the romance between the leads and the first two episodes more than set that up. There were interesting scenes between them about a wedding they had to plan, which involved some petty theft by the leads. It was fun(ish) to watch. But the rest of the lead up to romance involved throwing every single drama trope at the wall. This included the leads falling on each other, pressing up against each other, the female lead having to stay with the male lead at his house, him carrying her, covering her with a blanket and seeing her with new eyes.

This is the reason I paused watching the drama for now – or forever because I couldn’t take it anymore. There were so many ridiculous, corny moments that I can’t even count them all. If I was given a dollar for every time I rolled my eyes during the first couple episodes I would be a thousandaire by now.

This show could get better. It’s pretty highly rated so far. I do think it will probably have an interesting business plot with a female lead who does some cool problem-solving. And the leads might even be good together, although I don’t know how that will work with the whole time travel problem. I am also interested to see what happens with the ten years younger version of the female lead. But is it worth watching the stupid uber predictable cheeseball moments that happen every few minutes to see the rest of it? That it is what I am going to have to decide and honestly, I am not sure that it is.

C-Drama: Ghost Bride (7.8/10)

I recently watched the show Ghost Bride, which is airing on Netflix. The preview was interesting enough to make me want to watch it.

Summary:

A young woman in 1890’s China is in love with one man from a very rich family, but his cousin who is dead forces her to marry him by threatening the life of her father. Her dad was especially dear to her because she had already lost her mother. The woman comes in contact with a policeman from Heaven who is after the ghost and they work together to try and stop him. During that time the woman ends up in some sort of afterworld purgatory and will die if she doesn’t stop the wedding from happening.

The best parts:

The actors were good
The special effects were great
There were some funny moments
There is a mystery whodunnit that wasn’t easily solvable
It’s a short drama (thankfully)

Things that were’t great:

The young woman had no empathy for the guy she was in love with or his cousin. I get that being forced into a ghost marriage will make you hate your fiance, but they guy, as bad as he was, actually liked her and clearly had a messed up upbringing. I felt a little sorry for him and thought he could change his perspective given some effort, but she clearly didn’t and preferred to see him rot in hell (not a figure of speech).
She was also forgiven for doing something that I thought wasn’t easily forgivable and she also jerked someone around in a way I didn’t like.

My recommendation

If you like fantasy and ghost dramas and good special effects than it’s probably worth watching, just don’t expect perfection.

Best Songs from C-Drama OST’s

These are my personal favorites:

Accidentally In Love

Favorite Song: “To Be Your Love”

Singer: Guo Junchen

The Big Boss

Favorite song: Silhouette

Singer: Eleanor Lee

Meteor Garden

Favorite Song: Counting Shooting Stars

Singer: Connor Leong

The Story of Ming Lan

Favorite Song: Don’t You know

Singer: Hu Xia & Yisa Yu

Go Go Squid

Favorite Song: Nameless Generation

Singer: Chen Xue Ran

There are probably more great songs from c-drama OST’s, but this is all I could think of off the top of my head, which I think validates that I like them the best of all.

C-Movie: Fall in Love at First Kiss

I watched this movie after having failed to complete any of the First Kiss, Missin Kissin franchise thinking that a bite size version is what would work best for me. This turned out to be true. Unfortunately, this version was not that great.

My 8 year old and I watched this movie and not only did she pick up on the couples very unhealthy relationship (even by c-drama standards), but I had to keep telling her not to be like them if she liked someone later in life.

What made it unhealthy?

The lead girl was a complete stalker (my 8 y/o pointed this out to me, so you know it was bad) to the point where she had a picture of the guy on her blanket and pillow so she could faux spoon him during the night, plus a wall of memorabilia to him. And no matter how many times she was rejected (at least 20) she kept on pursuing the guy.

The lead guy was a jerk to her, which is most c-drama leads, but usually they turn nice by halfway through the show or movie. This guy called the girl stupid, told her not to to tell anyone they were living together, humiliated her, shooed her away repeatedly and even said he was marrying someone else. I mean come on. That might be considered love, if you’re dysfunctional, but it was just sort of pathetic to watch.

There were some cute moments, but not enough. And the idea we viewers were supposed to have, as pushed by the dialog, was that the lead guy became “more fun” because of the girl. And their relationship blossomed while he helped her study. Except none of that was obvious from the scenes they showed. There was no cute montage of them having fun together, and not only did she blackmail him into helping her, he mostly called her stupid the whole time.

The only highlights were lead actress Jelly Lin who was both believable and adorable and Kenji Chen (the second male lead), whose physical comedy was pretty entertaining.

I give this movie a 7/10.

C-Drama: Nice to Meet You (1st impressions)

Nice to Meet You is ending this week, which I think is always a perfect time to start a show, so that is exactly what I did.

I started episode 1, which began with some serious drama. It was a wedding and the groom was apparently hurt by the bride, and so he humiliated her in front of everyone before hurling a ring into the water outside. It was a really good start. It made me wonder what happened and want to watch to find out.

But then it went downhill, FAST. Before I tell you how, here is the plot, care of MDL:

An aspiring designer almost loses everything due to a scheme to take her down. She meets the successor of a premier jeweler that paves the way for a sizzling romance. Gao Jie has always dreamed of becoming a jewelry designer, so she packs up her bags to find work at a mining company in South America. She falls in love with Yu Zhi, the successor of Shengfeng Jewelry. Things do not gosmoothly for Gao Jie after returning to China, but in order to pursue her passion, she gets a job at Shengfeng. Shengfeng used to be the gold label in the industry. However, fierce competition from Western jewelers has reduced the brand’s prominence over the years. To get the company back to its former glory, Yu Zhi breaks tradition by focusing on Western designs. After Gao Jie joins Shengfeng, she becomes fascinated with the exquisite beauty of traditional Chinese jewelry and becomes set on creating designs that fuse Eastern and Western influences. Alas, their cooperation and budding romance encounter roadblocks due to Yu Zhi’s stepmother, Mu Zi Yun. She is also Gao Jie’s aunt who has been conspiring to take over the company.

How did it go downhill so fast you ask. My answer: It got so cheesy, pizza couldn’t rival it. The lead was introduced as he was rock climbing, where he almost fell, but righted himself with his massive (and by that I mean medium sized) muscles. The viewers are clearly supposed to come away seeing him as a strong adventurous type. He then sees the female lead at a club and is immediately interested. He manages to save her from her lecherous boss a short time later, then they part ways. The following morning her awful boss forces her to go to a jungle mine which wasn’t safe. Next thing you know men jump out at her crew and beat them all up (not clear why, maybe to steal what they got from the mine, but I don’t think they’d arrived yet, so it’s a head scratcher) and she runs away and ends up falling down a hill into the water.

Cue the adventurous hero who saves her, and just happens to have tents and a guide with him making running from a jungle gang into a camping experience. But despite the male lead saving her and having necessary jungle equipment and acting gentlemanly towards her, the girl decides to head back by herself. So dumb! She is quickly confronted by a giant python which the male lead saves her from (I told you it was cheesy).

The leads end up together in the jungle, no idea where the guide went, and the female starts to have the feels for the male after he shows her a “tree of life,” which just looked like one of a hundred jungle trees to me, but what do I know.

By this point I was barely hanging on. I had filled my cheese quota for the day, but I kept watching because it could get better, plus what happened to make their wedding so cray. I really want to know. But then the male lead got into the water to bathe (this was ok, shirtless is good says the cougar blogger) and tilted his head back, and at that moment I thought to myself PLEASE DO NOT DO WHAT I THINK YOU’RE GOING TO DO BECAUSE IT’S JUST TOO CHEESY AND I CANT TAKE ANY MORE. And whattaya know, he did it. The male lead came up out of the water like Ariel in the little mermaid and tossed his hair as water flew off him in what was supposed to be a “moment”, but was sooooo ridiculous I have no words for it.

And imagining 49 more episodes like that (49!) does not bring me to my happy place. Maybe it gets better. Usually I give a show more of a chance to reel me in than I’ve given this one so far, so maybe I’ll pick it back up, just to blog it or I could turn it into a drinking game, which is always fun with terrible thing, to drink every time they do something hokey. Although, my low tolerance probably couldn’t handle it if the story stays as corny as it was in episode 1.

No More Love Triangles, Please!

When I started watching C-dramas and K-dramas I had a high patience quotient for love triangles, but those days have come and gone.

It’s very realistic that some people have unrequited love or go after someone who isn’t emotionally available to them. That’s what my teen years were about lol, so I can appreciate it being portrayed in dramas, BUT I am so tired of watching people get rejected. It doesn’t give me warm fuzzy feelings to watch a lead crush the heart of the second lead or humiliate them. Some are so villainous that I can bear it out, but a lot of times the punishment the second lead gets is worse than their crimes.

For instance I love Queen in Hyun’s Mans, how could I not, but I loved it less for the way it handled the second lead. Sure Choi Hee Jin’s ex was an egotistical ass and broke up with her for jerky reasons, and for that I was willing to see him fail at getting her back. But then, when Choi Hee Jin forgot the lead because time started over (I won’t explain because I can’t lol, just watch it if you haven’t yet 🙂 he got on his knees and begged her for forgiveness and they began a healthy happy relationship, then the main lead comes back and she not only drops the second lead, but humiliates him completely. Not only does he find a guy in her bedroom, the guy squirts him with water, tells him he is taking his woman, and locks him in a shower while his girlfriend laughs at him, leaves him there and goes to spend the night with the other man. I mean, OUCH!

There are also second leads that go off their rockers, like in Something About the 1% where the seemingly rational woman shows up, goes after the guy and 10 seconds later she becomes a kidnapper. And it seems like these issues could be prevented, prior to abductions and violence, if the leads were just a tad bit firmer about their disinterest. Except writers seem to think this is what makes dramas interesting. Maybe they’re right. I am only one person, what do I know, but I disagree with them.

I want less of this. Especially since I really don’t think it furthers most plots in any good way. In C-dramas they make up the 10 episodes too many that turn a drama from a great one into something mediocre or fast forward worthy. And in K-dramas they’re distracting from what I really want to see which is a mushy love story, and some interesting plot lines about school, politics, law, family etc. I’ll even settle for mean moms, riches to rags, or amnesia over most love triangles.

If you know of any dramas WITHOUT immature love triangles, I would love to know about them because I am going on boycott until further notice.

Or trying to at least.

C-Drama Comedy: Proud of Love (8.7/10)

I’m constantly having The Big Boss withdrawals because, as I mentioned in another post, I love the show so so much. To help curb my withdrawals, I recently watched C-Drama Proud of Love which has some similar elements to The Big Boss.

Proud of Love stars Vivian Sung, star of the much vaunted movie Our Times and Tong Meng Shi of historical drama and Basketball Fever fame. It is about a body switch between college students, a plot line I never get tired of.

What makes this different from other body switch shows is the following:

The characters don’t conform their personalities and mannerisms to the body and identity they were switched to, so they pretty much act like themselves while inside the other persons body.
There is a focus on the realistic effects of switching genders, like when the guy (He Zhi Zhou) in the female (Shen Xi’s) body gets his first Aunt Flo or when Zhi Zhou gets aroused as a guy for the first time (in the boys locker room -whoops! 😳)
This show is also a little more explicit than most c-dramas with lots of body talk and some about sex.

Truth is, calling this a drama is wrong, It is much more of a dramedy. and it’s very best feature is that it had me laughing the whole way through. All the akward moments, and the great acting by Sung and Tong made the show hilarious. Note: Big Boss is still the king of LOL moments, by far, but Proud of Love is definitely funny.

Honestly, with the exception of a few special effects, there was only one thing I didn’t like about the show. They made their second lead too lovable. He is played by Darren Chen who played Hua Ze lei in Meteor Garden. And unlike that drama, where I was ambiguous towards him and his character, he is adorable in this and watching his character be sad made me sad. It is the only reason I’ve resisted watching Season 2 because I can’t decide whether the endless funny makes up for the sads from his sad face.

I highly recommend this if you like dramedy and you don’t get easily embarassed since there are dozens of akward situations where you will likely be peeking out from behind your hands. Because I love to laugh, even at the akward stuff, I give it a pretty high rating overall, which is 8.7/10.

A (Probably Completely Inaccurate) Guide to Love in S. Korea & China – as seen through the eyes of a drama watcher

As someone who has never been to Asia, whose only experience is spending a lot of time in American neighborhoods with majority Asian populations and “co-parenting” with someone living in Asia, I have no real conception of what dating and romance are like there. This means I am basically ethnocentric and have relied on k-drama’s and c-drama’s to show me, and I am pretty sure they haven’t done a great job since this is what I should believe about courting in S. Korea and China based on what I’ve seen.

1.THERE ARE RICH, ATTRACTIVE 25-40 YEAR OLD CEO/CHAIRPERSON VIRGIN MEN EVERYWHERE

2. ALL THESE RICH VIRGIN MEN (+ K-POP MEMBERS) ARE UNCONSCIOUSLY WAITING FOR A POOR (SIMPLETON?) WOMAN WITH A HEART OF GOLD TO COME ALONG

3. ONE IN THREE OF THESE GUYS AND GIRLS HAS SOME FORM OF PTSD FROM SOME SORT OF PAST TRAUMA.

4. TO LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER WITH ONE OF THESE GUYS A GIRL HAS TO OUT-ENDURE THE GUYS CRAZY MOTHER, FAMILY, BUSINESS ENEMIES AND/OR THE GORGEOUS (POSSIBLY MEAN) GIRL THAT HAS ALWAYS LOVED THEM WHO THEY WILL NEVER LOVE.

5. A GIRL WILL NOT WANT THE RICH GUY TO SPEND ANY MONEY ON HER.

6. A GIRL WILL MAKE A GUY TRY PIG SKIN OR INSTANT NOODLES FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! AS A RESULT, THE GUY WILL START TO LOVE RAMEN.

7. IF A GIRL DRINKS TOO MUCH (AND SHE PROBABLY WILL) THE GUY WILL NEVER TAKE ADVANTAGE, HE WILL JUST PIGGY BACK/CARRY HER HOME AND LOVINGLY WATCH HER SLEEP.

8. A GUY WILL ALSO BE HAPPY WAITING ONE-TWO YEARS AS A CELIBATE FOR THE GIRL TO COME BACK FROM HER STUDY ABROAD (WHICH IS MEANT TO STOP HER BEING A SIMPLETON). MAYBE BECAUSE THEY ALREADY WAITED 30+ YEARS?.

9. IF THE COUPLE ENDS UP TOGETHER, IT WAS PROBABLY FATE. IT WILL TURN OUT THAT THEY WENT TO THE SAME PRESCHOOL TOGETHER, SAW EACHOTHER ON A BUS ONCE, SHARED A FAMILY TRAUMA OR ARE SOMEHOW RELATED. #DESTINY

Choosing a Drama

Choosing a drama is a lot like deciding what to eat for dinner or where to go on vacation. There are a lot of variables and in the end it’s usually about what I’m craving most. Some days a light, fluffy romace is the best thing on earth and other days something with more depth or comedy is up my alley. In this vein, I thought I would share with you all my steps for choosing a drama.

What am I craving? i.e. what type of drama am I in the mood for. Whatever it is I am a happy ending girl, so anything I watch has to have that.

2. My first choice is usually Chinese. The irony in this is that Korea has more dramas and they’re generally better and there are good Thai and Filipino dramas too, BUT, I’ve been learning Mandarin so I try to find c-drama’s whenever possible so I can practice.

3. Does the plot sound good?

4. What rating does it have on My Drama List, since I’ve found that the ratings and reviews are usually on point (with a few exceptions). I try to stay at 7.7 and up unless I really love the plot and/or the actor/actress so I don’t waste my precious time.

5. Is the lead guy even remotely attractive >>> because I’m superficial I have a hard time watching romances where the guys are not my cup of tea.

6. How many episodes is it <<< Since I have to plan how I spend my precious time

7. Can I find it eng subbed

I dont know if anyone else uses this method, but it works pretty well for me.

C-Drama: About is Love (better than expected 8.1/10)

I recently watched the c-drama About is Love. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much. I actually thought I would likely change it after an episode or two based on the plotline and pics which looked really cheesy, but I was pleasantly surprised.

This drama wasn’t perfect and I will share why in a moment, but it passed my completely unscientific good drama test. It was addicting, I liked the main characters and I wanted them to be together.

The plot which either steals from a number of others or was stolen from is about a guy (young head of a company – of course) who can’t have physical contact with people, but finds someone who is an exception and tries to get her to help him treat his condition. Except he goes about it the wrong way and has to learn top be more considerate and apologetic in order to get what he wants. As a result they become friends and start to care more about each other.

What I liked: The lead girl is nice and had a backbone, the story has some cliches, but was generally unique, the lead guy is pretty lovable, and the story regarding the leads bff was good and added to the drama, instead of taking away from it. And I loved the old school video game scenes. (Note: It took me forever to figure out that the lead Yan Xi was a contestant on China’s Super Idol. I kept thinking he looked familiar, but couldn’t place him since he is a little older in this.)

What I’m so-so on: The fashion was ok. Most (not all) of the guys clothes were flattering and modern, but the girls usually looked like she dressed herself in the dark. There weren’t enough shirtless guy scenes, which was a shame because Yan Xi’s build was, in my opinion, the most attractive thing about him. And one of the supporting characters love stories kind of annoyed me because I believe in the “bro code,” and I think they broke it.

What I didn’t like: The lead girl was painted as an idiot (as so many Asian dramas do, a plot device that I as an intelligent female in a world filled with intelligent females HATE) even though most of her actions were pretty smart. Also, the leads took too long to figure out how they felt about eachother, since it was obvious, and the ending was pretty anti-climactic. I sat through at least 30 episodes to get there and expected that the investment would pay off in full, which it did not. It wasn’t the worst ending, but could have been so much better. I feel this is a trait of c-dramas since almost all of them have left me slightly unfulfilled at the end, maybe because I grew up on Disney where they always live happier ever after.

Overall I recommend this show, which will give you hours of mellow and pleasant entertainment.