#i'm slowly picking up my rewatch and i only have 10 episodes left now...

[flowerakatsuka]

dude, why does every goofy ass kara skit make me more attracted to him?

[kalena-henden]

Lee Je Hoon's Chief Detective 1958 starts today. Can't wait to watch! I enjoyed him in Taxi Driver and really want to watch through his filmography eventually.

Lovely Runner is knocking my socks off! Byeon Wook Seok and Kim Hye Yoon are killing both the comedy and the drama. Wook Seok is the cutest loser in love! The mystery and unexpected twists are fun and interesting. I hope this quality storytelling continues. I'm on the edge of my seat.

I only have 3 episodes left of Love Me Love My Voice which has been wonderful and heartwarming. I love the main romance but the friendships and secondary romances have been given ample time to shine as well. I'm always here a good found family. I really like how the dramatic readings and song perfomances have been carefully woven into the story to further the character development. Definitely recommend.

Now we come to our debrief on The Smile Has Left Your Eyes. Whoa, what a rollercoaster. The first half was interesting with many characters' selfish and dark intentions mixed with a little mystery were set up in contrast to our optimistic, self-sacrificing female lead. However, the second half drowned in major events happening and then being dismissed as if they never happened, multiple secret keepers refusing to tell the secret multiple times an episodes even when asked point blank when the answers could stop so many bad things from happening, and the existential dread I felt about what the big reveal was going to be only for it to completely dismissed. (FYI I found out what I thought was going to be the big reveal IS the actual reveal in the darker Japanese version it's based on.) After episode 14, I wasn't sure I could continue watching the show. But after a night of uneasy sleep, I decided to finish it the next morning on double speed to get through it. I did watch the last 10 minutes at regular speed. While there were some well done things about their relationship in the second half, it couldn't save the show for me even though I went in knowing this was not an HEA. Overall, I was just left feeling angry and exhausted. As a Seo In Guk fan, this was a show I had long wanted to see, just to find out what my opinion on it would be. I'm sad that the SIG fanmeet has been post-poned, hopefully I will be able to make the next date. But this means I feel okay to stop my SIG show binging so I will not be watching Hello Monster anytime soon. I'm actually impressed with how much of SIG's filmography I've already seen (7 shows as a ML, 4 shows as a cameo, and 1 movie). I'm pretty sure it's more than I've seen any other kdrama actor or actress.

After a bad experience at the new dentist yesterday, where the hygienist manhandled my teeth and they tried to upsell me on services, I was in need of a comfort rewatch. I've been thinking alot about Lee Jun Young lately and decided to break out the first thing I ever saw him in, Imitation. I was only going to watch a few favorite parts from an episode or two and ended up binging my favorite parts of most of the series. lol I really hope his upcoming Cinderella romcom with Pyo Ye Jin is going to be good.

I slowly picked Vigilante back up again this week and was excited to see Lee Joon Hyuk's character finally emerge to add a boost of energy and chaos to the story.

Now that I've got some time and the second half of the series has finally dropped, I will continue watching Chae Jong Hyeop's Eye Love You.

[for-dramas-sake]

My Final Thoughts on The Starry Love

Best drama of the year. Calling it right now. I'll even go on a limb and say this is the best fantasy drama ever. There I said it. And yes, I do think it's better than 10 Miles AND Ashes of Love.

(runs away from the vegetables thrown by fans)

Okay, now that the haters are gone, I can speak freely.

The best thing about this drama was its characters. They all were developed well and acted well. What makes a drama go round? It's characters. I can't complain about a single one, well, maybe Qingheng for being too hung up on a plant he watered, but I'll try not to dwell on that. If the character was bad, you hated him or her; if they were good, you loved them.

This drama brought in and showcased some of the best acting talent in the c-drama industry. Yes, I'm referring to Chen Xingxu who proved how amazing he is! He played 2 versions of 1 character and 3 other characters! I'm wowed by him. I should say I'm continued to be wowed by him, because I saw him in Goodbye My Princess and Fall in Love and both times he was fantastic.

Landy Li *chef's kiss* also amazing talent! She gave the troublemaker Yetan such heart and fun quirks you can't help but love her. She had different facets to her character that were slowly developed or revealed over time and Landy Li did amazing with her growth.

Her chemistry with Chen Xingxu is undeniable. They played off each other for quirky comedy scenes and then really came together for the romantic or angsty scenes. Plus, they looked really good together.

He Xuanlin who played Qingkui and Luke Chen who played Chaofeng were new talent that I hadn't noticed before and now my eyes are glued on them. Who else wants the 2 couples to pair up again in the same drama in the future? (raises hand)

All the side characters were either fun when they should have been or nasty as they were. Applause to everyone. AND A shoutout to Cao Bo who played Haichou! He was the most fun side character I had seen in a while. He wasn't just the sidekick to the male lead, but he was fun, rude and sassy!

Moving onto the story: Overall was a 10 out of 10. I was engaged from the beginning and not once was I not interested. There was excellent pacing and when things did slow down, I wasn't bored. How many dramas have we watched something, and we lose focus? Not in this drama! I mostly attribute this to the characters. Like I said before: they were all interesting and that keeps the viewers engaged.

A note on the ending: This kind of open ending has been done too many times for my liking. I haven't read the story, but I intend to. Even if the book had an open ending like this, I interpret the tree as the stage BEFORE the twins are reborn. I'm an optimist!

I can walk away from this drama and be satisfied with it, but still hope that one day we'll see a mini episode of what happened afterwards.

I think Chaofeng and Qingkui deserved better, writing wise. Qingkui became a side character, but there were episodes where she did practically nothing and even Chaofeng at the end was reduced to a mere handful of scenes. We were rooting for them for most of the show until the end and Qingkui became a sentient flower and Chaofeng was left to mourn her. I was disappointed with that, being honest.

The music and sound were also very good. This may not seem like a big deal, but I never once skipped the opening song or ending song. They were both beautifully epic or beautifully sad. And there were some instrumentals that were gorgeous. My top pick: the music in episode 37 when Youqin and Yetan are sparring.

The effects were gorgeous! It was on par with the Love between Fairy and Devil. I'm not an expert on this so I won't say too much. My only complaint was the overuse of the filters/ lense flares. There were some scenes where I was peering around hazy objects or blinded by lights.

In the end, I loved this show despite the nitpicking. I want to rewatch and revisit all of the emotions I felt over the course of watching this show. I loved that I could make fun of the show and have fun. It wasn't too sappy or too stupid and lately cdramas have been falling into those categories. So happy to see this drama rose above it all to be the best fantasy drama.