Drama Burn Out? Please Help

K-Drama, C-Drama, J-Drama, T-Drama, Th-Drama, A-Drama, UK-Drama burnout?

I am genuinely wondering if I am having drama burnout. I usually watch in the moments when I am home after a hectic day or week (which is every day and week) to relax and be entertained. I watch a lot of Asian dramas but really I watch shows and movies from all over the world. As long as they are interesting, fun and/or funny I’m in. I have a long My Drama List list of plan to watch shows, but somehow I haven’t been able to settle on a show. Maybe I am burned out or my attention span has become so small it’s invisible or maybe the shows I have left to watch just aren’t as good. I’m not sure.

This week has been a little crazy because I was sick and now I am working to make up for the work I didn’t do while I was sick and there is nothing I would like more than a great drama I can kick back too. Maybe one I can watch on the weekend since we have a house rule that Saturdays are lazy days where we don’t get out of our pajamas if we can help it. But I HAVE NOTHING TO WATCH 😲😲😲

I am currently watching one great Taiwanese drama which is a billion episodes as usual. I love it but am not always in the mood for it. I also have another half dozen shows I have been shuffling between that are varying degrees of good.

One show I want to watch is Itaewon Class, but I know if I start watching before the final episode I may get addicted and I am a complete fail at waiting patiently for new episodes to air, same with the Thai BL drama that is ending in March. So what else is there? New? Old? Asian? American? European? Australian? African? South American? Anarctican, I’ll even take that.

For reference my fav (type) shows are comedies al a Arrested Development, Coming to America and The Big Boss, competition shows and movies and dance dramas like Dance Academy and Dirty Dancing, slice of life dramas like Fight for My Way, romance such as This is My First Life and Some Kind of Wonderful, Romance slice of Life’s like Coup de Foudre, K-Historicals like Scarlet Heart Ryeo, Mr. Sunshine and Rebel and any good action movies with obvious villains and badass good guys/ladies.

If you have a show you recommend PLEASE tell me because I’m dying here.

TY,

Rachel

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.

C-Drama: Go-Go Squid (First Impressions)

I have no idea how to rate this series because there are things I love about it, things I kind of hate and even some things I love and hate. I’m halfway through and can’t decide whether or not I want to go on.

WHAT I LOVE

The acting is great. Especially Li Xian because he seems to have immersed himself in the character completely. And it looks like Yang Zi is following the character as it was written in the script to a T. I say that without having seen the script, but it sure seems that way.

I like that there is a plot line with a unique theme. It’s about competitive hackers and refreshingly, they actually show some competitive hacking, unlike those business dramas where you never see the business or anyone actually working.

The characters are also all fairly likable, and multi-dimensional. And for once, no one is all bad. I also like that the show looks at past experiences and how they develop people into who they are and how they handle things.

WHAT I LOVE AND HATE

Full disclosure. I ship Li Xian or his character for myself. He is exactly the intense, muscular stocky guy with amazing bone structure that I love to look at. Half of me thinks this show is great because I get to look at him to my hearts content. Half of me hates this show because it reminds me that my glory days (twenties) are over, so I have zero chance of having a Lu Xian/Gun of my own, which is a little heartbreaking to think about.

WHAT I HATE

I can completely understand why the lead female, Tong Nian, falls in lust with “Gun” because… see above, but I just can’t seem to get past the way she handles it or the fact that she thinks she’s in love with someone she’s never had a conversation with.

I have an eight year old girl who I’m trying to raise to be smart, self-reliant, confident, and thoughtful and I would never want her to act like this girl. What makes it worse is that I ‘m assuming she gets the guy in the end after acting like that, which is a terrible message to girls everywhere. Bad role modelling is the worst. I wont give away the plot, but I will say she is very close to being a cyber stalker/real stalker. If she was an older guy acting this way with a younger female, instead of a cute girl, her antics wouldn’t be cute, they’d be grounds for a restraining order.

There’s also one scene where “Gun” criticizes Tong Nian’s outfit and she responds that she will wear whatever he wants next time she sees him. It’s one thing to want to please a guy, and dress in something he likes, but that seemed like a step too far. It reminded me of the girl in the movie Coming to America that the Prince was arranged to marry who answered “whatever you like” to every question he asked about her preferences.

I do like that the female character is academic and talented and has her own career, but the chances that she would give all that up to be with him seems way too high. This basically leaves me with the hee bee jeebies so it’s been hard for me to cheer on their love story.

I also hate Yang Zi/Tong Nian’s hair. So much. I know bobs and straight bangs are a trend in China, but American me just cannot get on board with them. Her clothes were a mess too. She’s basically dressed like a kindergartner on every episode that I watched, so between that and her hair she looked like a twelve year old, making their supposed age difference just a little bit creepy. I am blaming her stylist completely because Lu Xian/Gun’s outfits were all that and a bag of chips, almost as good as the leads from Full House (Thai version) who I think has had the best fashion of any male character in a drama series.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

I really like the opening song for the series.

I don’t know if it’s age or maintenance or what, but actor Hu Yi Tian seems to get more attractive every show he does. There is a marked difference from Rush to Dead Summer to now. Also, this must have been his easiest role yet since he was paid, at least up to episode 12, which is where I left off, to say ten lines and make a few faces.

My theory, which I will expand on in a later blog is that most guys level of attractiveness correlates with their haircuts, which is proven in Go Go Squid, since Li Xian is cute no matter what, but looks way better once he ditches the younger him flash back hair.

SHOULD I KEEP WATCHING?

I honestly can’t decide.

C-Drama: Le Coup de Foudre (9.5/10)

I’ve had Le Coup de Foudre on my list for awhile now, but with 35 episodes I put it off until recently. OMG is it good! It’s about two high school desk mates and their feelings for each other in school and as adults, and the friends who surround them. It is very mellow so even the dramatic scenes didn’t stress me out. Some viewers may not like this type of pacing, but since I watch to get away from the stresses and chaos of real life, I really enjoyed it.

Characters

The characters are well developed. I didn’t hate any of them and my favorite at the end was not someone I would have thought would be my favorite when I started the show. They grew on me over the course of it (#FeiDaChuanforlife). The leads Janice Wu/Wu Qian, who I last saw in My Amazing Boyfriend and Zhang Yu Jian were both great. My only critique of the female lead,character is that she played with her hair a lot, and her choices didn’t make sense. And I have nothing bad to say about Wu in this role. And Zhang played the cold stoic type better than any other actor I’ve seen so far. Both of them also had to perform a range of ages, since the plots follows their high school and adulthood years and they were impeccable.

The other actors were also fantastic. My appreciation for Actor An Ge who plays Fei Da Chuan is mostly because his expressions are on par with Aaron Yan and the best Korean drama actors. You can tell what he is trying to convey without him saying a word, which I think is the height of talent. Plus the character is kind of adorable in his kind, but cluelessness.

Plot development

The story was really sweet, and took real life considerations into account, which I really appreciated. It even focused on some situations that people face in the real world like abuse, injury, unexpected pregnancy, terminal illness and bankruptcy, but in a way that was interesting, not depressing to watch. I think the male lead, albeit cold, was the most loving character I’ve watched in a long time. I like that there was a good sismance. And I LOVE that the love triangle didn’t leave me feeling heartbroken for the second lead the way a lot of them do.

There were also a lot of funny moments. The times when the leads were feeling jealous of someone else were usually scripted as comedy. And the second to last episode had me laughing out loud through the whole thing which helped end the show on a really high note. The ending was also nice and happy and didn’t leave me hanging the way a lot of c-dramas do.

My one critique is I have zero idea what the female lead was thinking for part of the show. Some of her choices did not make sense to me, and I wonder if scenes got cut that would have explained it or if the directors and everyone else involved just failed to see that this part of the plot was really unclear.

Fashion

Kudos to the stylists who worked on this show. While not all the clothes characters wore were fashionable, I can only assume it was out of extreme thoughtfulness by the stylists. The lead female wore plain Jane clothes until the last few scenes. Her best friend was a bit hipster boho. Her brother was clean cut and even her parents dressed like parents. The lead male was really clean cut and simply dressed while his closest relative wore clashing clothes with a lot of gaudy patterned shirts, which is what, if his character were real, he’d probably wear. And a second lead female who was meant to be a heiress was extremely fashionable. I want almost all of her outfits to be in my closet, even though she is the size of a blade of grass so I strongly doubt they would fit me. And their is a running joke about a mink coat and how ugly it was that I really appreciated. My only criticism is that some of the pants people wore were ill fitting and ugly, which is a trend I see in a lot of c-dramas and would likely see on the streets of China, although I hope not. If so, China, please put the mom jeans and bell bottoms away. Please! For your own good.

I am really sad that this show is over because I enjoyed it so much. Lucky for me, it’s based on a book titled I Don’t Like the World, I only Like You, and some angel has translated it into English. Yay for that : ) Here is the link for it: https://www.novelupdates.com/nauthor/qiao-yi/

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.

The Drama I’d Rather Have a Root Canal than Watch Again

Oh where to start…

I really like the actor Blue Lan. My opinion is that he is a talented actor who doesnt know how to pick non-action dramas to save his life, which is why most of his work rates between 6-7. So, if I want to watch anything with him in it, I have to lower my standards – a lot. This is exactly what I did when I watched Apple in My Eye which is Taiwanese and rated 7.

Honestly, the plot sounded akward as hell (i.e. quasi incestuous), but the main pic for it was cute, it sounded like something with some depth, with prospects for a happily ever after that would make my heart happy.

Plot (care of MDL):
The Zhou family has high hopes in giving birth to a son, but was disappointed when Zhou Ji Wei was born a girl, making her the third daughter in line. Because she was a disappointment to the family, she was only ever given hand me downs from her sisters. She felt no love from her family, but luckily she feels the love of a family from her neighbor especially Dai Nai Nai. There she meets her ‘brother’ Dai Yao Qi and follows him around trying to be the best sister ever, however he has never wanted to have a sister. As she tries her best to be close to him as his sister, she slowly realizes the feelings she holds for him are not love for a brother but something more.

As far as production value and acting goes, I think it was pretty good. Both leads did a great job! So why would I rather put up with a horrifying dentist visit than watch it again?

Reason 1) There are two love triangles. One is fairly normal where two females fight for the guy. The other is CRAY. The guy is a nutcase with violent tendencies.

Note: Spoilers ahead, ones you should read if you want to be saved from the nightmare of watching this drama.

Reason 2) After the pair were separated for a long amount of time due to misunderstandings etc etc, they finally met back up and their love started to blossom, and the 3rds in their love triangles were vanquished, and the only thing left to do was to get married and live a life of happy mediocrity together, BUT THEN they break up so the guy can save face or some such blather. The girl is heartbroken which makes me as a viewer heartbroken. Then the writers add insult to injury and hint that the girl ends up married to the other part of her love triangle, THE PSYCHO! I mean WHAT? SMH. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? HOW IS THIS OK?

That was the ending I got after investing hours of my life into this drama, and getting excited that the end was close and the leads would finally be together. That ending left me so unfulfilled, and sad, and mad. WORST ENDING EVER.

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