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Burn the land and boil the sea... You can't keep the sky from me!

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This is canon.

Darcy’s introduction in Pride and Prejudice is really ‘what if you had just had the worst month of your life because your ex-bestie tried to lover boy scam your baby sister out of her share of your dad’s life insurance and your friend dragged you to a shitty party in a dive bar in the neighbourhood where he’d just signed a short term lease, and you decided to let your bad mood show because you were never going to see any of the assholes in this stupid shitty bar EVER again. And your friend ended up making out with a girl he’d just met there while you were stuck talking to her sister who was less cute and then her mother appeared and started trying to matchmake and started saying how if she was twenty years younger she’d clime you like a redwood and ooooh is that a black Amex, guess the next round is on you hahhahahahaha, while her other sister (how many fucking sisters does she have?!) flashed an obviously fake ID at the bar and ordered six vodka-diet red bulls and no one in her family except the less-cute sister even tried to stop her. And you went home and consoled yourself that you would never see any of these people again but then you met them over and over again because they live next door and your friend and the cute sister keep meeting up to make out but not actually date and then. You fall in love with the less-cute sister because it turns out she’s really witty and charismatic but she already knows and remembers and resents the fact that on a day when you were in a shitty mood you called her mid out loud in a dive bar.’

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Blood calls blood

Every time a streaming service puts out a new show with deliberate focus on diverse casting and featuring queer characters, refuses to devote any marketing budget to the show at all, and then cancels it for not getting enough hype, we should be allowed to ritually sacrifice an entertainment executive.

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Friendly Rivalry (2025)

I didn't quite finish this and I don't think I will, so I don't have alot to say about it.

There are people who are really into this show, and all the soapy trope-ness going on. It's very similar to alot of edgy teen dramas you might see in America from the CW, only it's Korean, so it's darker than most (though maybe not darker than Riverdale) and it's got an interesting WLW relationship at the center of it.

I think I would have enjoyed it more, but it hit on alot of things that are a little too real for me (child poverty, neglect, drug use) and it definitely made it feel like a chore for me to keep watching it.

But if it sounds like something you'd enjoy, it's definitely worth a try.

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Study Group 2025

This drama started out really fun, but I kind of lost interest in the middle and couldn't finish it.

What Worked

The characters are pretty fun, and I really enjoyed the crazy setting! The actors were okay, and the action was over the top. The show did a good job of showing off its manhwa roots.

What Didn't Work

After awhile, the show started to feel repetitive and I couldn't really tell where it was going. I liked the show's message overall, but had trouble keeping interested in the characters. I think if I was able to binge the show, I may not have cared, but spacing things out and giving myself time to think about it kind of ruined the enjoyment for me.

TL; DR:

If you're looking for a fun, over-the-top action show, this is worth a try. Just don't expect too much from it.

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Baby shark (do-do-do-do)

did i tell u guys i got into an argument on twitter bc i said foxes are dogs and someone tried to bring up their actual fuckin. classification or whatever and i just said “foxes are dogs cause they are fluffye” and they kept arguing with me. the entire time i was like “you will not survive the immigration to tumblr you are lucky we are not there right now”

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I keep to the Old Ways...

“The old magic persists thanks to it’s unfathomable power.”

No, the old magic persists because the new magic can’t run the legacy spells I need to do my job, and keeps trying to install spirits I don’t want or need onto my orb.

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They left off Hacker Ajumma! But still a good list <3

#KDRAMAWOMENSWEEKS | 2024, Day 7: Everything Everywhere All at Once & userdramas get to know me bingo: actor or actress

KIM MI KYUNG in 2023: Crash Course in Romance · Tell Me That You Love Me · Doctor Cha · Agency · Welcome to Samdalri · Death's Game

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Today I learned...

I just got the tpb of the power fantasy, I noticed that the peace sign (which is made up of the semaphore signals for N and D, standing for nuclear disarmament) is put into focus right before Valentina destroys a bunch of nukes and I thought this was an interesting detail and I’m wondering if this was intentional.

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Me too! Books!

she's really living the dream life...some people dream of having one reading room for their books at home, she went even further and got a husband (a very loving one) with a cozy bookstore that she can just hang out in all day long, it's like she's got a second home but it's just books

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Love Scout / My Perfect Secretary (2025)

What a sweet, well run show! I came into 2025 wanting to get off the drama rollercoaster. No huge ups or downs, just tell me a good story and do a good job each episode. And this show delivered.

What Worked

The two leads are really great, both separately and together. Han Ji-min (as CEO Kang Ji-yun) did a great job taking in role of the grumpy, driven CEO. Lee Joon-hyuk (as personal assistant Yu Eun-ho) was also amazing playing a single father who is hard on his luck. The way this kind of role typically works out is you have the CEO (who is nearly always a man) start out as this terrible boss who is eventually made more humane by the new personal assistant (who is nearly always a woman). "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim" is the classic example of this.

And "Love Scout" followed the blueprint pretty well, except for flipping the two leads, so that the ML had to be the supportive, humane one and the FL was the grumpy boss who needs to be softened. This could have gone very wrong, but it works because the show refuses to let the leads reset into their traditional roles. The ML was supportive and caring throughout the show and (while he had some input) he never tried to take the reins from the CEO. And the FL was the "tough CEO" the whole way through, even correcting the ML when he stood up for her at the wrong time.

Because the showrunners were so strict about their relationship at work, it also kept the show interesting when the leads were trying to navigate their relationship outside of work. They didn't quite slip back into traditional roles, but instead figured out for themselves how their relationship was going to be. This made for some great romantic moments.

What Didn't Work

Overall the show was very effective and excellently done. The things that didn't work, were more about choices the showrunners had to make instead of being failures. They include:

The antagonists were overall very two dimensional.

The corporate backstabbing plotline was underdeveloped and not very interesting. Also, there should have been more lawyer-ing going on in the last arc.

They had a few filler scenes that could have been cut / replaced.

Some of the PPE was just too obnoxious (though there were a few PPE heavy scenes that actually worked).

For me, these are minor quibbles. Especially since they wouldn't have added that much to the show (other than making the series longer). I liked the fact that it was only 12 episodes, and these are the choices you make when you cut the show down by four episodes.

The Performances

I could just name check everyone. Everyone gets a gold star! Especially the two leads and the little girl who played Byeol (Gi So-you). I even give the two antagonists a pass because (even though they were two dimensional and a little over-the-top), they were obviously doing exactly what the director wanted them to do.

TL; DR:

This show is just well done. Even people who may not like this kind of thing should give it a try. And for the romantics out there, this is well worth your time!

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The Trauma Code (2025)

A fun little action show that's pretty much a webtoon brought to life. If you're in the moody for campy fun that's not too deep, this is a good show for you.

What Worked

The campy feel mostly worked. The actors all know exactly what kind of show they're in. No one is going to win any awards, so they're willing to just have fun with it. The episodes are short and paces well, so you never feel like you're bored with it, and you can pretty much binge it in a day or two.

Also, they did a good job with the surgical theatre part of this. Lots of fun props and fake blood and exciting last minute saves.

What Didn't Work

There were some CGI problems that are only going to get worse with age. They spent pretty much all their money on sets and props in the surgery area, and everything else got cut. The style of the show kept it from being too obvious, but it's not going to be a show that you can watch over and over again without noticing it.

The Performances

Again, no one is winning any awards for this, but the showrunners managed to pair up some young rising stars with alot of good supporting actors from dramaland.

Ju Ji-hoon did a good job playing the unbelievable but fun main surgeon / ex-mercenary. Choo Young-woo played the "rookie surgeon" role pretty well, though there were some moments when, believe it or not, he was too over the top, like the first time in a helicopter. I also enjoyed Ha Young who played the "head nurse". She was the nice, but slightly bland 2FL in Doona and it was good to have a role where she could just cut loose.

It was great to see veterans like: Kim Sun-young (from "Her Private Life", among other dramas), Kim Eui-song (from Taxi Driver, and alot of other good dramas), even Park Ye-ni (from "You Are My Spring"). They all put in a good effort, and knew the assignment: competent leads + campy supporting actors = a fun show.

TL; DR:

Campy, fun, and quick, this show is easy to binge through, and easy to forget about when you're done.

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https://www.ssense.com/en-gb/editorial/music/how-japanese-breakfast-found-herself-in-seoul

"How Japanese Breakfast Found Herself in Seoul"

A gorgeous profile on one of my favorite artists. Worth reading if you're even a little interested.

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A Taxi Driver (2017)

Based on a true story, this is one of those movies where the real life events far outstrip what the filmmakers are able to show. It's not a Very Serious Drama (TM), and it does take some liberties, but it's definitely worth watching, if you can find it.

What Worked

If you don't know anything about the history of the Gwanju Uprising (and I knew very little going in), this movie will give you a good introduction. It's not great history, but it does a good job of showing the ordinary people who were affected by it, not as victims, but as real living people.

The filmmakers chose to center the point of view around two outsiders, one from Seoul and one from Germany. This is a good choice for a movie, in that it gives us enough distance that we're able to watch some of the terrible stuff happening without being quite so overwhelmed.

What Didn't Work

The film was very effective, but it is still a movie, and it still needed to make money, so it's a political thriller, rather than a tragedy. There were moments when the filmmakers chose to bring in some levity, or take liberties with the actual events, because they didn't want to leave the audience feeling too down at the end of the show.

Basically, the film's biggest flaw is there's a much better story out there by a Nobel prize winning author: Human Acts by Han Kang. That novel tells the same events, only as a tragedy. And it tells them from the point of view of the people who lived through it. Any film would fail in comparison.

The Performances

Overall, the performances were good. Song Kang-ho as (Taxi Driver) Kim Man-seob was especially good. His entire character arc was very satisfying. Thomas Kretschmann as (Reporter) Jürgen Hinzpeter was also good, at least by Korean Western actor standards. Everyone else did a great job of making these character seem real in the time they were given.

TL; DR:

Watch this movie if you can. Read Human Acts if you have the chance. The real life history is amazing and (sadly) still relevant 45 years later.

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Brewing Love (2024)

I wouldn't say I loved this. There were some great moments, but it got really slow by the end of the series and I couldn't quite finish it.

The Good

Kim Se-Jeong (as Chae Young-ju) was fun to watch. She's great at playing the plucky heroine who gets things done. They managed to add some depth to this type, and I especially enjoyed the scenes with her grandma, and most of the other cast.

The first few episodes were very silly in a manhwa kind of way that I enjoyed. And I liked the family dynamics and most of the stories around the main characters. The second couple was also cute.

The Bad

The business / office plotlines were very dull. The writers tried all sorts of machinations to make them less boring, but they were the weakest link by far. I didn't care about the brewery nonsense, and the main characters didn't seem to care either.

Also, the main couple, while cute in theory, kind of fell flat overall. And the second female lead (Shin Do-hyun as Bang A-reum) just didn't quite have the acting ability to carry the part off. She wasn't bad, but you would need a really good actor to make up for the mediocre story she was given.

The Ugly

The show's biggest flaw was that it had 6-7 episodes of story that it stretched out to 12 episodes of show. There was so much time wasting nonsense. Also, there were no real obstacles to the main couple getting together, and very few obstacles to the second couple. This meant the show had to invent things that were increasingly hard to believe. I just didn't care enough to wait for the ending.

TL; DR:

This is the kind of show that doesn't required you to pay too much attention, it just wants to keep you company. It's not bad TV, but it's not great either.

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When the Phone Rings / The Number You Have Dialed (2024-25)

This show is unhinged in the best way possible. I loved the premise, I loved the two main leads. This is like "Perfect Marriage Revenge" turned up to 11, with explosions and phone related hijinks.

What I Liked

The first episode was darn near perfect. It established that this was not a serious drama for serious people. This was a drama for people who want to be entertained by Hot People with Massive Trauma doing Crazy Shit. The two leads have been very good in previous dramas, but this is their best work as far as I'm concerned.

What I Didn't Like

The ending was taken directly from the webtoon, and it was a little bonkers. Also, the male lead was a little unhealthy at times. But again, this is not a show that was going for realism, so a little light crazy is good actually.

The Performances

Chae Soo-bin (the female lead) was great. Yoo Yeon-seok (the male lead) was great. Their chemistry was off the charts good. The rest of the cast was okay. Park Jae-yoon (the baddie) was very hateable and did a good job.

TL; DR:

A very well done thriller / romance which knows what it's trying to do and achieves it perfectly. If you are even slightly interested in this genre, do yourself a favor and give it a go.

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I never doubted them! I mean it's true to the character: "Our boy will travel halfway around the world and live in a war zone rather than get therapy!"

Also, if my speculations are correct and they are indeed following the main line of the novel, this is going to be a hella dramatic happy ending.