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deonideatta · 3 years

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hi hi i heard you like chief kim and i'm here to get all the intel on why it's a good drama 😊 and what you love about park jae bum's other dramas 😊 pls let me know if there's romance bc that's the oxygen i breathe when i watch a show 💕

Hello!!! Thank you for asking me about Chief Kim!!!! I can go on about it for ages lol. This got a bit long so i’m putting it under a cut

Chief Kim (aka Good Manager) is a comedy office drama with 20 eps, and it aired in 2017. There isn’t a main romance plotline, but don’t let that put you off! It’s an incredible drama in so many ways. (tho there is a subtle romance side plot, but it doesn’t involve the main character and it’s never the main focus, though it is cute). It does feature a bromance that was so great that the two actors literally won an award for it tho lol, so there’s also that!

In a way, the general premise is somewhat similar to Vincenzo in that it’s the main character and an unlikely team of others fighting a big corporation. The comedic tone is also more or less the same. The drama follows Kim Seong Ryong (the titular Chief Kim, played by Namgoong Min), a man with a talent for handling numbers who goes from running a seedy accounting firm to quite accidentally becoming a champion of employees rights in one of the biggest corporations in the country. He originally joins the company with the goal of embezzling a lot money and moving abroad, but he gets swept up in office politics surrounding high executives and the sinister goings on surrounding the position he was recruited for, as well as the shady things the higher-ups want him to do and the suspicion of the other members of his department. Eventually he starts to work alongside them to fight the corruption of the higher ups, and quickly becomes the bane of top management’s existence by being so incredibly annoying that they begin to regret hiring him.

It’s the kind of drama that really gets you to laugh, while still being incredibly heartwarming. The main character is so unashamedly funny, and the character dynamics are all so warm, and none of it ever seems forced. The first tag for the drama on MyDramaList is “character development”, and that says a lot! There’s so much growth that goes on for all the characters, even some of the villains! It’s especially funny because to begin with all the good things Kim Seong Ryeong does are completely by accident, and he’s annoyed but also pleased with all the attention it gets him. Over time he begins to own it, and begins to actively try to stand up to the corrupt people at the top of the company. The other highlight for me besides the humor is definitely the characters. From the eccentric main character, to the no-nonsense second in command in his department Yoon Ha Kyung, to the aggressive finance director Seo Yul who is always eating (one of my all time favourite characters, played by 2PM’s Junho), to the janitor lady who always roasts everyone, there isn’t a single dull character, whether good or bad. And Seo Yul gets one of the best character arcs I’ve ever seen in a kdrama. You get to watch the characters struggle and triumph, and you feel for them because their struggles feel so real, and the drama really gets you invested in them. You see the ways in which they fight to survive as normal working class citizens and you want them to win.

It differs from Vincenzo in that the main character isn’t considered evil and loses his less savoury traits over the course of the drama (his character arc is one of becoming a more upstanding citizen), and the message is one of fighting against corporate greed using the corporate system against itself in order to make things better for the average working citizen. But there’s the same plotting, and the same feeling of rooting for the protagonist team to win as you watch them plot and plan. I never rewatch things, but i’ve rewatched Chief Kim twice already and i’m looking forward to rewatching it again soon (just writing about it is making me want to rewatch it right now lol). It especially hits well for me because i love office dramas, and the humor and the bromance are just right. (Also, not entirely related, but it’s the first drama Kim Seonho was in!)

Another Park Jaebum drama i can definitely recommend is The Fiery Priest! It’s also a comedy action drama with 20 eps (released in 2019), and it follows Kim Hae Il (Kim Nam Gil), a catholic priest with a real temper, as he works to solve the mystery surrounding the death of a senior priest. No romance there either, but it’s got the same humor as Chief Kim and Vincenzo, and the same overarching found family trope (that really shines for this one). It’s darker than Chief Kim, but not as dark as Vincenzo. The plot is very intriguing, and it’s the kind of drama you feel compelled to keep watching to see what happens next. And the host of characters in that drama is still one of my favourites to this day. Every character was incredibly written, and they all played vital roles in the overall story. Again, lots of character development all round, and great character arcs not just for the main character (even for a few of the villains!). Plus it was lovely to watch the various characters interact, get closer, and build relationships. Such an iconic squad. Not to mention how funny it is?? And the fight scenes??? In fact, I enjoyed it so much that when I checked Park Jaebum’s page on MyDramaList after watching it around June last year and saw Vincenzo as an upcoming project, I added it to my plan to watch list immediately even though there was only a single line of synopsis lol. It’s also got an absolute banger of a soundtrack!

When you think about it, all three (Chief Kim, TFP and Vincenzo) can be simplified to “guy with dubious past sets out to fight corruption and creates a great support circle in the process”. All three are dramas of finding people who care about you and are willing to fight alongside you, and fighting for your convictions/what you think is right. Each main character starts out as a somewhat solitary figure, and you get to watch as they each find people who are willing to fight alongside them and support them. What exactly those specific convictions are varies in each drama, but Park Jaebum writes the character development arcs incredibly each time, and the relationships between the characters are so real and so satisfying to watch. And yet the integrity of the main character in each drama is never compromised either, it’s shown that they can grow and become better without losing themselves. The growth is also in the way that they learn to work with and rely on others, because teamwork makes the dream work. And then to cap it all off he lets them have victories, and he makes it SO satisfying??? There are highs and there are lows, and you feel all of those right there with the characters, which makes the victories feel so so good. In each we see the ensemble cast get involved with the fight and the plotting, and we get to see all their epic plans and their execution, and the victories they win that build up over time. And it’s so satisfying to me! I love it a lot, just thinking about it is making me smile lol. It also shows how well humor and darker/more serious plotlines/events are balanced in the dramas, neither is compromised in favour of the other, but it always works so well that the humor never feels forced or out of place. As someone who doesn’t like overbearingly dark shows, I really appreciate that. They all give you lots to laugh at, while not losing any of the plot to the funny.

Of course there are differences, notably the romance, and the fact that Vincenzo is bad vs bad rather than good vs bad like the other two. They deal more with redemption (especially The Fiery Priest), but that works for the stories that are being told, and it’s very well executed.

It’s worth noting that Park Jaebum also wrote Good Doctor and 4 seasons of God’s Quiz. I haven’t checked those out yet, but I’ve heard good things about all of them. He also wrote Blood, I haven’t seen that one either but opinions seem to be split on how good it was. All of those are medical dramas (which is the reason I haven’t watched them lol, i can’t stand medical dramas) from before 2017, when he wrote Chief Kim. It seems he’s been on a roll since then, good for him and good for us lol. You can see everything he’s written on his MyDramaList page.

Overall I enjoyed the Park Jaebum dramas I have seen for first and foremost the comedy, but also for the warmth of the character relationships and for how well developed/written each character is. And I love how he balances the humor with more poignant/darker moments, I laughed a lot watching all three dramas, but I’ve cried over each of them as well. It’s a good balance to have, it gives you a good plot to be interested in, but doesn’t keep you stressed and sombre the whole way through. I’ve seen people say that Vincenzo wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t so wacky, and I fully agree. It’s the same for both TFP and Chief Kim, and that balance is definitely what I appreciate most in Park Jaebum’s dramas. I know I will laugh, but I also know I will get an incredible plot and incredible characters, and that’s really important for me. Plus I know I can trust that there will be a good ending because the writer cares about his characters.

I definitely recommend checking out both TFP and Chief Kim after Vincenzo is done, especially since they’re so similar in terms of comedic tone and basic plot direction. If you ever get to watching either of them feel free to hmu to chat about it!! There’s lots of plot stuff that can be can discussed.

lol this got v long (i have lots to say about how much i love these dramas haha), but I hope it’s helpful!!!

#a breakdown on why i love the park jaebum dramas i've seen so far #it was nice to sit and actually think about it/write the reason out lol #im very passionate about it sdfsdf #chief kim and the fiery priest are perhaps my favourite dramas ever #and vincenzo is looking to join them #vincenzo #the fiery priest #chief kim #kdrama #no spoilers

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thoughts-on-bangtan · 3 years

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Let’s talk: RUN episode 130

by Admin 1

A week has passed and it’s time for the continuation of last weeks tennis episode, this time with BTS coming together on a tennis court to decide who the BTS Tennis Champion is, excluding Yoongi who was the MC and umpire due to his shoulder. He was joined by one of the coaches who’d previously given the members lessons at the club we’ve seen them at in last weeks episode.

Before I truly get into it, and let me tell you, for those who haven’t seen the episode yet but are still reading this anyway (thank you so much for that), there is a lot to get into. Especially when it comes to vmin. It was a feast this week, I can tell you that much (so fellow vminnies prepare yourself to get annoyed and upset with you know who again this week as is tradition whenever we get a lot of vmin, am I being shady/petty?). But the other members were comedic gold as well, especially Yoongi with his amazing commentary, and fellow namjinists, we got a few nice things as well.

Funny thing is about an hour after the episode went live, the following ask appeared in our inbox and, at this point, I hadn’t seen the episode yet so reading this made me giggle but also very curious to see what exactly even happened that led to Jimin carrying Tae, as well as how Jimin did that since I immediately thought back to that moment at MAMA 2019 where he tried yet failed to lift Tae.

From anon: Tonight's Run episode. Omg. When JM carried Tae and pretended to give him mouth to mouth, Tae gay panicked and said 'Hold on!' and swiftly got up and went back to the court. I cannot with these two. 😂It's always like someone is brave and then the other one panics. Come on VMIN you can both be brave hahahaha

But lets start...at the beginning (and make yourself comfortable because this ended up being a truly long one, also spoilers for who the winner is will be marked):

The episode opens with the members reminding themselves (and the viewer) why they are on that court again (as well as Hobi playing so much with his racket that he ends up dropping it, aww) and also letting us know that a solid 3-5 months have passed since the previous episode was filmed. Furthermore they talk about how, due to their schedules, they didn’t really have time for practice (as in they basically conclude they were bad at keeping up with this project and mostly merely went to practice once while Yoongi commented how they probably should’ve chosen something a little more approachable with a schedule like theirs), seeing as in the meantime Dynamite was released and they also had MOTS ON:E to practice for and perform. I do love how the editors flexed Dynamite’s BBHot100 longevity in the subtitles.

Since the members all spoke toward the center, mostly turned around toward Jimin and Yoongi, Seokjin commented how they should also talk toward him, which Tae took as funny invitation to stand exceptionally close to Seokjin making him laugh with a big smile on his face. When I tell you I adore their dynamic and bond, I truly mean it.

Yoongi is announced as MC and joined by Coach Kim, to whom the members apologize for forgetting everything he taught them. Next they move along to explaining the “rules” which basically ends with none of the rules actually being explained and the members making jokes about how headshots are against the rules. Then the order and pairings for the starting matches are chosen by chance by Yoongi and Coach Kim, though Hobi and Seokjin are separated so they won’t end up playing against each other since Hobi is the only one with past experience while Seokjin was the only one who actually went to practice four times between last episode and this one.

While that’s happening, we get a wide shot of the court and the RUN crew giving us once again an idea of just how many people are involved to film these episodes and how many pairs of eyes are watching them. (this is something some people truly should remind themselves of more often when coming up with...theories.)

The order is decided as Hobi vs JK, Namjoon vs Tae (can we please talk about how, when Namjoon is pulled as Tae’s opponent, Seokjin quietly comments how he wanted to play against Namjoon? Cute!), and Jimin vs Seokjin. After the pairs are decided there’s this small hilarious moment where Seokjin stands a little further back and pulls out his phone and is promptly snitched on my Yoongi. In his defense Seokjin says that his dad was calling him so it was a completely valid reason to check while the other members complain about him having brought in his phone at all. Namjoon even tells him that he shouldn’t use his dad as excuse to which Seokjin challenges him if he should show him his phone as proof.

Then, finally, the matches begin. Yoongi and Coach Kim settle behind their umpire desk while Namjoon and Seokjin sit in the stands behind them to the left, thus on JKs side, and Jimin and Tae on the right, thus on Hobi’s. Who starts the match is decided in good old BTS fashion with rock-paper-scissors and we are treated to Yoongi calling Hobi a dummy which had me howling with laughter.

We also get chaos immediately as Tae pretends to be the ball boy on JKs side, though quickly gives up his job and returns to his place. All signs point toward Tae being in a fantastic, comedic mood once again. We love to see it. As the match is happening, Yoongi comments on how it’s actually surprisingly fun to watch, with which Namjoon agrees (and so do I). They all get so into it making it double fun to watch and even easier to cheer along and get emotionally invested in what’s happening on screen.

During the second half of JKs match with Hobi, Tae asks Coach Kim what kind of player JK is to which he replies that he’s a passionate one, and upon prompting clarifies that JK always stayed longer after practice to practice some more. That certainly sounds very much like JK, and fits with what we’ve seen in the previous episode. Despite that Hobi wins the match!

Next up is Namjoon against Tae. Jimin playfully takes up the role of Tae’s coach, hands him a bottle of water and carries his racket while Tae ties his shoes and then approaches the net for rock-paper-scissors. Upon seeing their shenanigans, Seokjin jumps in as Namjoon’s coach, making sure he has spare balls and that he actually goes to the net as well.

Before the match even begins we get Namjoon asking first Seokjin, who says he doesn’t know, and then Coach Kim if he’s even holding the racket properly which Yoongi comments upon saying he’s holding it the way you would a knife while cooking. Honestly Yoongi is on fire this episode with funny commentary. Then as they get to rock-paper-scissors, Tae as the most endearing human ever asks upon his angels (with Yoongi asking the editors to add in actual angel graphics for his sequence) to help him win, which he does. He gets to start off the match.

Namjoon is certainly the funniest tennis player among the members adding in little hops and spins making everyone laugh so, so much. Coach Kim comments upon how, because Namjoon was so busy, he didn’t get to learn how to do backhand and thus only knows how to do forehand (please don’t ask me what that means and what kind of effect that has because I have no clue). Speaking of laughter, at some point Seokjin is laughing so much and so hard Hobi turns to him and asks “why are you so happy?” but we never get an answer. Interestingly enough, as they announce a serve change, so Tae serving instead, Seokjin immediately stops laughing and looks focused again.

Also at some point they realize that Namjoon was playing with someone else’s racket, leading to Namjoon switching to his actual one, while Coach Kim says that Namjoon had left his racket at their gym which Seokjin comments by saying “that’s Namjoon”. We’re also treated to Nam-derer (Namjoon + Federer) and Tae-kovic (Taehyung + Djokovic) by Seokjin. Honestly, extra points for creativity. The match ends with Namjoon losing, ending up at the net and immediately being ready to bump elbows with Tae accepting his defeat. Absolutely hilarious match!

Next up is Seokjin against Jimin and it starts with Seokjin promptly loosing three points one after the other with the other members commenting that tennis is a mind game and Jimin’s mind is good. Jimin loses the next point, thus the members idea of Jimin potentially winning a “perfect game” (without Seokjin getting any points) is gone. Although it’s meant teasingly, this is still really cute:

Upon being prompted by Namjoon to bring out his (Jimin’s) true tennis skills, the game turns around and Seokjin goes into the lead. Soon thereafter the score is 5 for Jimin and 9 for Seokjin which leads to Tae calling out the score to Jimin (saying Jiminie) as 5959 which apparently is both a lucky number and phonetically similar to something you’d say in a cutesy way to a child or someone you love in Korean, and on top of that it’s also 9595 backward. Unfortunately all that soulmate luck doesn’t help since Jimin still ends up losing the match.

Next up is Hobi against Tae with Hobi “teasing” Tae by claiming that he’s certain Tae will win. The match starts off with Hobi winning twice but Tae gets into it soon enough and they actually manage to get a few rallies going, as well as Coach Kim commenting on how you can tell that Hobi has prior training. As they reach 6:7 for Tae, Jimin and Namjoon start chanting KIM TAEHYUNG, with Jimin, Seokjin and Jungkook also doing some additional “cheerleader” moves. Very sweet and supportive! Look at their smiles, look at Jimin’s smile! He does that a few more times as Tae wins more points.

Then we get to the moment that had everyone, vminnies and non-vminnies alike, in absolute shambles: Tae hurts himself (though I’m still not 100% certain if it was a joke or he actually hurt himself even if just a bit) and falls to the ground, Yoongi rushes in with a big smile while calling for a medic and Jimin runs over saying he’ll carry Tae. Which he does, just like anon said. Look at him! How is it possible that somehow Tae turns so smol whenever he’s in Jimin’s arms? Also just how strong, exactly, is Jimin that he can just pick up Tae like that despite Tae being taller, and therefore also surely a little heavier than Jimin?

Also can we please talk about how Tae hooks his arms around Jimin, how he nestled his head against him, and also about that barely visible (from our angle and due to Jimin’s shoulder) smile on Tae face as he’s being carried? And also Namjoon’s face. Of course he’s there as well because what would be a vmin scene if Namjoon wouldn’t be there as well haha.

That’s still not everything (truly this episode is a gift that keeps on giving) since Jimin puts down Tae on the stands and proceeds to give him pretend CPR and acts like he wants to also give him mouth-to-mouth which makes Tae giggle/laugh, but not just any laugh, it’s his Jiminie laugh. Catch me crying. After that Tae gets up and ends up winning the match giving us the following (it’s not too visible in the gif but my heart melts at Jimin’s happy/fond smile):

And thus the final match is Kim vs Kim, place your bets now before continuing on. I do love how seriously Jimin is taking his “coach” job as he once again stands by Tae’s side before the match begins and carries his racket.

Since this is already getting outrageously long (and there are still 16 minutes left) I’ll just mention a few highlights instead of a detailed commentary. Also, if you don’t want to know who wins, I’d recommend skipping this part. I’ll add a bold Match Over at the end so just scroll until you see that.

Tae and Seokjin tease each other which Seokjin delivering the following line “I’ll prove that the underdog can’t make it to the top”.

Tae fails his first attempt at a serve, but upon second try, wins his first point.

Tae asks for more balls so he can keep some in his pockets which is commented by JK as Tae being greedy for balls because his mom didn’t buy him the toys he wanted as a kid. Another member, though I can’t for the life of me figure out which, asks what he’s talking about, and then Namjoon puts an end to the antics.

Seokjin rolls up his sleeves (things are getting serious serious) and Namjoon wishes him good luck (we love a supportive leaderbf). This is followed by Namjoon wondering if Seokjin is Shapovalov and Seokjin wins the point.

Seokjin wins the first set and they switch sides.

Seokjin tries to pick up the ball by hitting it with the racket just like they’d been taught in the previous episode but hits the ground instead. Yoongi wants to give him a yellow card but only has a yellow pen which he holds up instead.

They get a fantastic rally going but unfortunately Tae loses because he hits the ball too hard and it goes OUT. JK says it was so good there should be a slo-mo to commemorate that rally which makes everyone laugh.

Tae hits the ball into the OUT and nearly hits Jimin and JK which prompts Jimin to chant something in Busan satoori along with JK but Namjoon stops them by saying that they’re in Seoul.

The ball gets stuck in Tae’s racket, something that happens very, very rarely and thus the members decide to give him that point simply because of that. Namjoon also tells Tae he should buy a lottery ticket.

Finally, because “hard work never betrays”, Seokjin wins! He also wins, according to me for the cutest smile because honestly LOOK AT HIM, how can anyone not be endlessly fond, endeared and enamored with him? That’s scientifically impossible and should be a punishable crime. Am I exaggerating? Who cares!

Also Hobi gently, so very gently, dabbing away Seokjin’s sweat with his sleeve.

Seokjin receives a skinny little gold medal, which Tae sneakily steals from him like a little squirrel while Seokjin gives a speech while being the most humble and very Seokjin.

MATCH OVER

After the game the members gather at a restaurant with the bill being paid by Seokjin, which is something the members simply decide upon though Seokjin makes a joke about having forgotten his wallet at home. What a nice prize for winning, makes it totally worth it, right? The first dishes that are served are seafood which Namjoon comments on by saying that he can’t eat them, but he needn’t worry because there was plenty, and I mean plenty, more food to be tried and eaten.

Overall the dinner featured some funny and interesting moments such as:

Hobi, Tae and Seokjin playing the “tangsuyuk” game which Namjoon calls childish and yet makes a game out of him saying “child” and Jimin “ish” with a laugh and smile on his face.

Jimin and Seokjin having a funny/cutesy conversation in a mix of Korean and English which is followed by Seokjin saying they should now only talk in English, which Hobi accepts. The only ones who do it are Hobi and Seokjin (who shows off two sentences with great pronunciation) and then it’s over and they switch back to Korean.

JK saying “I wanna be a lobster” to the tune of “I wanna be a rockstar” from Interlude: Shadow.

An extreme closeup shot of Jimin trying Peking duck including some ASMR for those who like it.

JK and Seokjin reaching for Seokjin’s drink at the same time with Seokjin telling JK he should order his own instead of trying to take his (later we see JK still drink from Seokjin’s glass). Jimin also asks for a sip (though he might be talking to Hoseok since there’s a glass standing between them as well from which we see Jimin drink).

Tae wonders what they’ll be going through in the next episode of RUN which gets commented as “reasonable doubt” by the editors in the subs.

Jimin tells the story of how he went to a hair salon with Yoongi though at first he can’t remember when it was. Tae and his vault of Jimin memories though does, saying that it was for their profile pictures before debut. The story goes that Jimin got an asymmetrical haircut which apparently was so bad/funny Yoongi couldn’t look at him and left him behind to meet with his friends instead. Once Jimin arrived at the dorm, Hobi woke up from his sleep yet, upon seeing Jimin, “fainted” because he laughed so hard.

As final dish they get mattang which reminds them of the mattang JK made in an older episode of RUN which ended up basically being completely immovable and stuck to his plate. “First is cleanliness, second is cleanliness, and third is adhesiveness.” I’m not surprised that we remember these things, but looking at how much they do, see, and have to remember, I’m always amazed by the fact that they remember such small things as well.

Jimin asked how long they’ve been doing RUN for to which JK says “10 years” making everyone laugh. Yoongi though comes through saying that they started in 2015, which is correct.

In the end they get some coffee and Tae asks if they should leave for their next shoot now, something it seems they’ve been stalling on doing since Tae already asked that twice before and they came up with things they should/need to do or eat before that.

And that concludes the episode! Wow, this turned out way too long. If you actually made it this far, I truly applaud you and also thank you sincerely. I loved this episode and I just had a lot to say, I suppose. This might be one of my new favorite episodes, which I have a feeling I’ve been saying for the last couple of episodes as well, but what can I say, these episodes have really been amazing recently.

#BTS #RUN BTS #RUN BTS episode 130 #tennis #Namjoon #Seokjin #yoongi #hoseok #jimin #taehyung #jungkook #vmin #bangtan sonyeondan #RUN episode commentary

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non-stop-imagines · 4 years

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To a Groovy Night Out

Request: Can you do an imagine where it’s in the 60s and Bucky and Steve are invited to an underground nightclub by Sam and Bucky meets the reader and she teaches Bucky how to dance. Kinda like in Dirty Dancing but the gender roles are reversed. The song Stay by Maurice & The Zodiacs played on my playlist and I thought about how funny it would be to see Bucky’s expression with the reader grinding on him

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Black!Reader (60s AU)

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: Nothing much really, the dancing described is a bit suggestive.

A/N: AHHHHHH!!! First thing written in months and I did it all within today. I feel like it's a good starting point for getting back into the swing of things especially taking the time to research and making the story as accurate as possible. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH FOr giving me the encouragement to get through the semester and being so patient. Thank you for not giving up on me because it really helped knowing that when I started writing again the people I'm writing for would be right there with me. So, THANK YOU AGAIN! THANK YOU FOR GETTING THUS BLOG TO 1000 FOLLOWERS! I LOVE EACH AND EVERYONE IF YOU! I hope you all enjoy, and to the anon who requested this, thank you for being so patient with me. Love you all!😍💛❤️💛❤️💛

UNIVERSAL TAGS LIST: @beautifulwisdom2001 @iamzion-therealhabesha @thottio @jetaimeamore @mixedfandxms @here-for-your-bullshit

Masterlist

_______

“You’re coming tonight, right?” Your best friend since grade school, Sam, asks over the phone. You continue to pick out your near perfect fro, which you're grateful for.

“I have to. I need to meet these white boys you conned into coming.” You set down your pick and adjust the phone that was in between your ear and shoulder, sitting back in your chair and twirling the spiraled cord around your finger.

“They’re cooler than you think.” Sam looks into the oval mirror hanging on his wall, admiring his above the shoulder appearance and unbuttoning the first few buttons on his shirt, showing off a good amount of chest hair.

"I just know they better not flip out like the last white person that came through. You remember that? When Jack with the box cut and glasses brought some fridged white bitch that tried to bug Sheila about how she was dressed?" You scoff at your words and adjust your bust in your yellow flowy satin button up that you tied around your midriff then pick up your eye liner pencil.

"They're hip, I promise. Like me, the only reason they went to training for 'Nam was because they didn't want to get impounded." He runs a brush over his growing hair then looks at the clock on his nightstand. "When do you think you'll get to the club?" He sits in a chair close to the phone and bends over to tie his Chuck's.

"Quarter to 10, 11 earliest. You know I always arrive on the scene fashionably late." You smile for a moment then proceed to finish lining your other eye and pick up your mascara.

"11:30 got it." Sam roll his eyes before checking his upper body appearance one last time. "See ya there."

"Later." You bid farewell the hang up. Standing from your seat after applying mascara and some lipstick, you move over to your closet door mirror to admire your new threads. You had on a satin yellow button up tied at the waist and cinched at the wrists with a healthy amount of cleavage showing, black mini skirt, showing off your assets, and black go-go boots accentuating your legs. "Alright girly, time to show up and show out." You grab your small clutch and make your way out of your room.

_____

"Wow, this place is a blast." The tall, inhumanly muscular blonde says, looking around the dimly lit nightclub, Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson blasting through the building, loud enough to hear down the block.

"Hey where's this babe you were talkin' about, man?" The faux tough brunette asks taking glances at the door every ten seconds, reveling in each beautiful sight that walks through.

"She'll be here. Why you flippin out over her anyway?" Before the man could answer you came up behind Sam and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Hey boys! We havin fun yet?" You chuckle earning some smiles from the men around you. You remove your arm from Sam to get a good look at him. "Sam, looking groovy as always."

"And you, fashionably early this time." You chuckle and shake your head then turn to the two white boys, tucking your clutch under your arm and reaching yours out to shake their hands. "You two must be Bucky and Steve."

"I'm Steve. And my gawking friend here is Bucky." You didn't notice until Steve said something but for the past minute and a half Bucky has done nothing but revel in your presence. Even with the dim lighting of the club, your skin still shinned like gold, the red tint on your lips making him want to kiss you then and there, and you outfit highlighting your body's features in the best possible way.

"I'm sorry. I'm James but my friends call me Bucky and might I say you look outta sight Ms…-uh-" He reaches out to shake your hand.

"Y/F/N Y/L/N. But please, call me Y/N, Ms.Y/N is my old woman." You flash a sweet smile then look over to the near empty bar. "Welp it's not a good night out unless someone has the intention of getting blitzed. You guys want anything?"

"You know what I want." Sam tucks his hands into his pockets. Bucky and Steve both refuse allowing you to make your way to the bar. "You can put it on my tab!" Sam shouts to you.

"I was going to anyway!" You turn around and grin then sway to the bar as Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye comes on.

"You did not disappoint, Wilson." Bucky says, watching your hips sway almost subconsciously to the music.

"Eh, don't let her fool you. She was a complete egghead in high school. Still is. She has a degree in engineering, a wiz with numbers." Sam leans on the high table standing next to them.

"Oh that won't stop him. He's always been a kiss up to smart girls." Steve raises an eyebrow at his friend who was still looking at the dancing girl, who was now making her way back to the group.

"An Old Fashion for the old man," you had the glass to Sam. "And a sidecar for moi." You take a sip from your glass. "And whatever he said about me… probably true." At that moment Uptight by Stevie Wonder comes on. "Oh well you know I can't be still with this groove." You set your drink next to Sam and grab Bucky's hand. "Let's dance, James." You pull him to the middle of the floor begin to move, doing the hully gully and the jerk while Bucky bobs his head trying to keep up. You couldn't help but bust out laughing.

"Hey, cut me some slack! I don't go dancing all that often." He beings to laugh with you.

"You just need to chill. Starting with your look." You take a step back and untuck his red polo from his dark brown pants and then reach up and pull a strand of hair from his slicked back hair-do. "Better. Now, for the dancing, uh-, here. Step side to side." Bucky does as told slowly stepping side to side. "No faster, with the beat." You grab his hands and show him with feet, your hands in his sending shivers up his arm. He trys to follow, tripping over his feet a few times. You chuckle. "Better, but not so… freaky. Smooth it out, make it look natural." He tries again, looking scarier than before, but just as you were about to give him another instruction, Stay by Maurice William & the Zodiacs flowed from the speakers and through the club.

"Ok, lets try this." You place your hands on your hips and move your hips back and forth slowly and sultry. Bucky tries to follow your movements but ended up being as stiff as a board.

"Like this?" You threw you head back in laughter, Bucky following suit. You shake you head and bring your hands to his hips, placing them on top of his hands, realizing just how big they are.

"Ok, now back and forth, back and forth, flu-id mo-tion. Good. Now…" you match Bucky's tempo and move closer to him, eventually straddling his left leg. "Put your hands," you take his hands which were hovering around your body and place them on your waist. "There. Now you keeping doing that and I'll do… this." You begin to circle your hips, your upper thigh dangerously close to his crotch. You reach your right hand up and around the back of his head, bringing his ear closer. "And don't be afraid to cop a feel, brother." You pull your head away and smirk. Then allow your left arm to hang at your side as Bucky's hands became more adventurous. His face on the other hand was still timid, and slightly surprised. Soon the song was over and you and Bucky were making your way back over to Sam and Steve who both seem to be chatting up a poor girl who had no idea which one she wanted.

"You two were a sight to see." Sam grins as he hands you a fresh drink, and you take a sip.

"Someone had to show this square how to chill out." You hip bump him. "I'll be back in two shakes." You take another sip of your drink and head back over to the bar.

"Hey, uh, Steve? You want to shake that skinny bippy of yours out on the floor?" The girl asks, not making eye contact until Steve puts out his hand for her to take.

"Let's dance." And with that, it was Steve's turn to humiliate himself on the dance floor.

"So how was it? Dancing with Y/N? I've been told it's a religious experience." Sam chuckles, crossing his arms.

"That's an understatement. I've never danced like that before. She's some teacher though. Uh, is she, um… carrying the torch for any one?" He rubs his neck and looks over at you, waving back after you wave at him from the bar.

"HA! She is a catch, isn't she? Yeah, I tried to get her, but she said I was too much like family. But hey, maybe white boys such as yourself are her type." Sam shrugs and takes a swig of his drink, wincing at the burn then looking at his friend, who gazed hopelessly at you, then quickly panicked as you began to walk back over with four shot glasses in one hand and a bottle of liquor in the other. "Ah, come on. Don't be a candyass, y'all practically banged on the dance floor." Bucky's face turns red at the comment. "Hey come on. Just ask her out." Sam seemlessly changes from his whisper to taking a swing of his drink as you finally get back to the group.

"Alright! Now it's time to let it all hang out!" You set the glasses down on the table and pour the the liquor in three of the four glasses after grinning at Steve dancing with the cute dark skin girl a head and a half shorter than him, even with her afro. You hand a glass to Sam and one to Bucky. "To new friends and a groovy night out." You intertwine your arm with Bucky's and then down the burning liquid, looking into Bucky's eyes before doing so. He takes his shot, lifting you on your toes a bit as he brings the glass to his lips due to your intertwined arms. He looks at Sam, who was tilting his head toward you, then slowly removes his arm from yours.

"Uh, Y/N… I was wondering, you know, if you would maybe wanna hang out sometime? If it's not a hassle, of course." Bucky messes with his glass, keeping his eyes low until the silence became too much for him. He looks up to see your eyes and are met with your smiling chocolate irises, red lips smiling in a similar way.

"Far out!" You throw your arms around his neck, leaning back into his instinctual grip around your waist. "I'd love to James. Maybe sometime next week?" You lean in to his neck, taking in his scent then give hip a peck right below his ear.

"Sounds like a plan." He hugs you tighter, tilting his head giving you more access to his neck. You accept and continue to kiss down his neck.

"Man, if you guys are gonna neck, at least do it on the floor like everyone else." Sam points, the first thing catching your eye being Steve's girl now pushing open the buttons on his long sleeve polo, sleeves now rolled up.

"Well then color me gone." You grip Bucky's hand and lead him to the floor, his eyes on your swaying his hips as I Say a Little Prayer by Aretha Franklin floods the speakers, leaving Sam not so alone as a girl quickly comes up to him after you two leave.

"Why have you been calling me James all evening?" He asks a few seconds of you kissing along his neck again, pressing your body to his and following your up tempo step and sway.

"I like to call people by the name their mama gave them, if they allow me." You bring your right hand further up on his head and lightly scratch his scalp.

"I love when you say my name." He says these words with an amount of confidence you didn't think could possibly come from him. He moves one hand down onto the back of your thigh and tightens his grip on both your lower back and thigh, then takes the lead in the movements, learning quickly how to move. You smirk up at him, running your gaze along his face, then pulling his head down to meet your lips in a heated kiss, nothing but a haze of lust and admiration coming from and surrounding you two, the music being the only thing part of your world.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x black!reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes #winter soldier imagine #60s AU #black reader #marvel imagine #marvel

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smylealong · 3 years

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Year in review - 2020

2020 has been a mixed bag of an year. Where on one hand it has been a raging dumpster fire with a global pandemic, lockdowns, social distancing, online schools, politics, forest fires, Karens and the general sense of ennui that the year brought. On the other hand, the year gave us all time. Time to reflect on ourselves. Time to teach ourselves new things. Time to binge watch. And boy did the streaming platforms make full use of it. Listed below are the best things I saw in 2020. (Across languages and in no specific order.) IT IS A LONG POST. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

HINDI Thappad: Dir: Anubhav Sinha. Starring: Tapasee Pannu, Pavail Gulati, Diya Mirza, Kumud Mishra and Ratna Pathak Shah. On surface level, the premise seems frivolous. After all, it was just a slap. Just. One. Slap. Yet, with that one slap, the protagonist’s neatly organized world comes apart at the seams. From there begins Amruta’s (Tapsee Pannu) journey into exploring the micro-aggressions and tiny slights that she has turned a blind eye to, for the sake of keeping peace. The film never veers into a glorification of violence nor does it get overly preachy. It is a mirror to the patriarchal society and raises pertinent questions about the things that the society as normalized. Things that shouldn’t be normalized.

Bulbbul: Dir: Anvita Dutt. Starring: Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwari, Rahul Bose, Parambrata Chatterjee and Paoli Dam.

Horror does not always lie in the things that go bump at night. Sometimes, horror is what society expects of you. Horror is the consequence of not fitting into the role that has been written for you. Sometimes, it is terrifying to be a woman in a male-dominated society. That is what Bulbbul explores. Wrapped in a beautiful package, Bulbbul tells the raw story of a child-bride who is punished, harshly, inhumanly, for acting her age. If you haven’t seen it yet, drop everything and watch it. It’s on Netflix.

Lootcase: Dir: Rajesh Krishnan. Starring: Kunal Khemu, Rasika Duggal, Vijay Raaz, Gajraj Rao.

This was a charming little movie that had me in splits. A story of a simple man who chances upon a bag full of money. What follows is a hilarious tale of lies, deception and comedy of errors. Kunal Khemu proves that Bollywood does not realize just how talented he is. Vijay Raaz’s deadpan comedy and Gajraj Rao’s evil smiling desperation are a delight to behold. I’m smiling even as I am writing this. This was fun!

Raat Akeli Hai: Dir: Honey Tehran. Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte, Ila Arun, Shweta Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia.

This was India’s answer to Knives Out. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is at his finest as the honest and frustrated (in more ways than one) police officer who finds himself attracted to the mistress of the murdered man. What follows is a tale so full of twists and turns that I could not predict where it is going. When you have Siddiqui at the helm, you are almost certain to get a good film. But when he is backed by stellar performance from the able cast, that takes the film to another level altogether.

Patal Lok: Dir: Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy. Starring: Jaideep Alhawat, Niraj Kabi, Abhishek Bannerjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Gul Panang, Ishvaak Singh.

Wow. Just. Wow. This is arguably the BEST thing that I have seen all year. On the surface this is an attempted murder case. But what it actually is, is a mirror to our society. It is a human story. A story of greed, corruption, power, violence, misogyny, depravity and true evil. It is a story of love, hope, support, kindness and humanity. It is a story of us. My hats off to the entire cast and crew for coming up with something truly special.

ENGLISH

Haunting of Bly Manor: Created by: Mike Flannagan. Starring: Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Amelia Eve, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohli.

Based on Henry Jame’s Turn of the Screw, this was a poignant tale of love, loss and pain. While it pales in comparison to its brilliant predecessor, Haunting of the Hill House, and the 1961 screen adaptation of the novel, The Innocents, Bly Manor still manages to be a worthy watch. In Mike Flannagan’s deft hands, we get to see a completely different perspective of the Haunting. I won’t say more, for spoilers, but this was definitely one of the better things I watched this year. Especially since I almost eschewed English movies/series this year. (I did watch some forgettable movies like Extraction and Mulan, but even mentioning them here feels sacrilegious.)

Korean

This year, I returned to Korean Dramas after a long time. My last Korean Drama before this year was Faith that I saw in 2014. Since Boys Over Flowers (Read Kim Bum) is my guilty pleasure watch, I decided to have it on in the background sometime in March or April this year. (Honestly, in 2020, who knows?). BOF took me to The King: Eternal Monarch. And TKEM introduced me to Woo Do Hwan who gave me some of the best times in this year. Three of his dramas feature here.

Save Me:- Dir: Kim Sung-soo. Starring: Ok Taec-yeon, Seo Yea-ji, Woo Do Hwan, Jo Sung-ha, Jo Jae-yoon.

Do you fancy a kick to your teeth? Because that is what this series is. What starts a simple story of a regular family’s struggles upon moving to a new town, quickly turns into a harrowing nightmare in which you are simply the viewer. The story delves into cults and the insidious power they hold. Through Seo Yea-ji’s brilliant performance as Im Sang-mi, we see a K drama heroine who is not a damsel in distress. She isn’t the one throwing the punches, that is done by Ok Taec-yeon and Woo Do Hwan. Still she is the one that leads the fight. If that wasn’t enough, Woo Do Hwan, plays Seok Dong-chul. Arguably one of the best male leads I have seen.

Mad Dog:- Dir: Hwang Ui-kyung Starring: Yoo Ji-tae, Woo Do Hwan, Jo Jae-joon, Ryu Hwa-young, Kim Hye-sung.

What a treat this show is! Smart protagonists pitted against equally intelligent antagonists and a taut plot that rarely sags (It does sag just a wee bit in the middle but it picks up pace very quickly). Woo Do Hwan is fantastic as the ever changing, tough to pin down, Kim Min Joon. The layers in this character! This show will keep you guessing. Every cast member is stellar and no one has a single misstep. A must watch!

My Country: Dir: Kim Jin-won Starring: Yang Se Jong, Woo Do Hwan, Kim Seol-hyun, Jang Hyuk.

This series brings a set of very complex emotions in me. Don’t get me wrong. I love the series. Its story, characterization, costumes, cinematography, acting, action scenes, OST. They are top notch. A+. But... and this is a big one, this series is also a glaring display of what happens when a writer falls in love with one of their characters. As a writer, I can say that we love all our characters. But it is very dangerous for a writer to move from simply loving the character to falling in love with the character. When that happens, the writer becomes afraid of letting that particular character make mistakes. Or glosses over their flaws. Often at the expense of the other character. Which is what happened here. The writer fell in love with Seo Hwi and Nam Seon ho paid the price. Hwi could literally assassinate people in front of Hui Jae and still be forgiven for it, while Nam Seon-ho gets demonized for trying to save Hwi by telling lies. I could go on and on about how unfair this series was to Seon-ho, but that would be a separate post altogether.

Tale of a Gumiho: Dir: Kang Shin-hyo Starring: Lee Dong Wook, Jo Bo-ah, Kim Bum.

I started this series for Kim Bum (I LOVE THE GUY). I was prepared for some cheesy, goofy fun with some good looking people. But soon, I was watching it for the story. A smart Urban Fantasy with elements of Korean Mythology, this was UF done right! This series made me do research. I am so tired of seeing the same old myths in fantasy that this came as a breath of fresh air. Intelligent protagonists who communicate well (gasp! what? That happens?). A flip-flopping anti-hero. A truly psychopathic villain and a bunch of other well-fleshed characters make for one entertaining watch. I highly recommend it.

Chinese:

K-dramas made me revive the Tumblr account that I had created sometime in 2017 and which lay dormant since then. Soon, my Tumblr feed was filled with gifs and metas of a show with pretty men. I did not pay much attention to it, till a post about Jin Ling’s Uncle made me snort. Even though I didn’t understand what it was talking about, it was still funny. Realizing that the show is on Netflix, I saw the trailer and wasn’t impressed. Then there was the length. 50 episodes! Holee-moleee. “No. I ain’t got that much time,” I said and moved on. But then, I saw a gif of a man smiling. I had never seen a smile that dazzling. There was something about that smile that made me go back and click on the first episode. And in less than ten minutes of the episode, they killed the man whose smile drew me to the show. WTF? But I had seen gifs of him. There had to be more. Then, the show began and I had no idea what was happening. I decided no smile could be worth the brain-cells I am having to expend for this. Chuck it. But people in Tumblr said, hold on. You will understand it. Episode 2, and I still wasn’t sold. I gave it till episode 5. Then, before I knew it, I finished the 50 episodes and currently reside in the rabbit hole that is The Untamed.

Dir: Zheng Weiwen and Chen Jialin Starring: Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo, and a host of others. I can’t write the name of the entire cast, even though I want to.

PS: In case you don’t know, the man with the pretty smile is Xiao Zhan.

#2020 year in review #long post warning

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generallynerdy · 5 years

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Worried (Legolas X Reader)

Summary: Elven locks are a pain to brush. Luckily, Prince Legolas has a bit of experience with it.

Requested by Anon (AO3): I feel really bad and strange about asking (I've never made a request before) but I was wondering if you could write a Legolas x Reader chapter where Legolas brushes the reader's hair after a fight or maybe before a party or dinner? I know it's really strange but I was just thinking about how his hair is always perfect and I thought it would be kinda funny if the reader's hair was a tangled disaster. Also, I feel like long elf hair would be such a pain, especially if it was curly. I completely understand if you don't want to write his one because it's so random, but thanks anyways!

Key: (Y/N) - your name Warnings: pure fluff, i haven’t watched lotr in a while forgive me pls, glass shatters Word Count: 1,179

Note: reader’s gotta have somewhat long hair for this, sorry my gorgeous people with short hair <3 ily

It was an understatement to say that Legolas ran into your room.

See, he was minding his own business in the halls of home, Thranduil’s Kingdom in Mirkwood, when he heard the crash. It the distinct sound of shattering glass and he knew just where it was coming from; your room.

So, he sprinted down the hall and burst into the room, only to find that, no, you were not being attacked, you were not being kidnapped, and you were not in a drunken daze. In fact, you looked perfectly sensible, bending down to carefully pick up the pieces of glass that had once been a vase on your dresser.

The only thing that didn’t look normal about you was the state of your hair. It was a complete mess atop your head. In fact, a brush had lodged itself into your locks, as if you’d been using it before the vase incident.

“(Y/N)?” He asked as he entered, causing you to look up. “What happened?”

You groaned and stood, taking a handful of glass to put on the dresser for the moment. “My own stupidity.”

Legolas raised an eyebrow and strode over to you, grabbing the remnants of the glass and carefully placing them with the others. He then looked over at you and opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. What could he say?

“I know,” you huffed. “I look ridiculous.”

You grabbed the brush and pulled it through your hair, flinching at the violent tug it made.

“I was more concerned about how you got here,” Legolas smiled softly. “What happened, (Y/N)?”

“I was brushing my mess,” you muttered, gesturing to your head. “I like to pace when I brush and I walked by the dresser like an idiot. So, I knocked over the vase.”

Legolas hummed fondly. “I thought someone broke in.”

“Unfortunately not. But my head left me a few hours ago,” you sighed.

“It’s not all that bad!” Legolas laughed. “At least you didn’t cut yourself. Just try not to be that clumsy at the dinner tonight.”

You groaned and rubbed your face with your hands. “I’m not going to be ready for that any time soon. Your father will kill me.”

“I wouldn’t let him,” Legolas said.

“Doesn’t change the fact that I’ll be an embarrassment to the kingdom,” you sighed.

He shook his head and stepped forward somewhat shyly. “Do you want some help with your, uh, mess?”

“Please,” you begged, crossing the room to sit on your bed.

Legolas sat on the bed beside you, taking the brush from your hands. He pressed his fingers lightly against your head to turn it away from him, beginning to move the brush through your messy locks.

Section by section he went, being as gentle as possible. You barely felt a pull as he did it, considering you were rather distracted by the conversation the two of you had.

“Where did you learn to brush hair so well?” You asked him.

“Aside from my own?” He laughed. “My father used to let me brush his hair when I was small.”

You gaped. “No! King Thranduil?”

“Believe it or not,” the prince chuckled.

Legolas kept you distracted a good while and, by the time you noticed the gentle pulls on your hair again, he was actually done.

“There,” he announced. “Do you want it braided?”

“Don’t tell me you can braid hair, too!” You exclaimed, turning slightly to look at him. “The might Prince Legolas of Mirkwood, braiding another elf’s hair. What would the dwarves say?”

He chuckled. “Well, braiding is important to them. They’d think we’re courting.”

You flushed red at that, but he didn’t seem to notice as he began to separate your hair into three sections. His fingers were nimble and quick, but the braid itself was near perfect. Glancing at the mirror in the corner of the room, you couldn’t believe how gorgeous your hair looked once he got the style going.

Holding back your laughter at his extremely focused expression was difficult, too. He was biting his lip and squinting his eyes as he went along, making you giggle. When Legolas heard your laugh, he looked up, meeting your eyes in the mirror.

“You’re a horrible person,” he teased. “Here I am helping you and all you can do is laugh.”

You waved him off. “I just think you’re adorable, that’s all.”

“Adorable? That’s new,” Legolas said, raising an eyebrow.

He finished off the braid, tying it back with a silver ribbon as a finishing touch. “There. Finished.”

“Oh, it’s gorgeous,” you gasped, tilting your head so you can see it in the mirror.

Legolas flashed you a smile. “A beautiful braid to compliment a beautiful person. Do you think you’re ready now?”

“Sure, I am,” you grinned before noticing he had yet to get dressed. “But what about you?”

“Father couldn’t care less how dressed up I am,” he shrugged.

You scoffed. “You should at least make an effort, Legolas. It’s not becoming of a prince.”

“Maybe so,” he sighed. “But I hate these things. I’d rather be out doing something than eating and making small talk the entire night. And I despise having to enter alone. It’s just me and a room full of people I barely know.”

“Well, I’ll be there,” you suggested.

Legolas smiled softly as you turned to face him. “My only company. And I’d wish for no better. But Father will pull me away eventually. Then, you’ll be alone, too.”

“It’s nice knowing that you worry,” you teased.

He didn’t tease back, surprisingly. His face softened as he opened his mouth to speak gentle, genuine words. “I always worry about you.”

The words hit you harder than you expected. Of course, he worried about you. He had practically galloped into your room like a horse at the first sound of trouble, even if it had just been shattering glass. He’d offered to help you get ready for this dinner, because he knew it was stressing you out. Come to think of it, Legolas was always there when you needed him, whether you knew you did or not.

You couldn’t help glancing away from the handsome elf’s eyes down to his lips. He seemed to realise where your stare had moved and almost tilted his head. But before he could, you were kissing him.

His hand went to rest on your waist, the other going to your cheek. Meanwhile, you had one on the back of his head and the other pushing against the bed to keep you tilted toward him.

His lips were just as soft as you had imagined-- though, you definitely hadn’t imagined kissing them. Not you. You didn’t do that.

You were the first to pull away, but you didn’t entirely, choosing instead to rest your forehead against his, eyes closed as you smiled giddily. Opening your eyes for a brief moment, you saw nearly the same expression on Legolas.

“So,” you breathed out in a half laugh. “What do you say we go to that dinner together?”

Masterlist

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odanurr87 · 4 years

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2019: My year in K-Dramas - Part 1

I’ve been getting into kdramas for a few years now, but I usually only watch one or two at a time. This year I watched a lot more (and that’s not counting The Bride of Habaek, which I dropped when it became clear it was a very bad adaptation of the manhwa; Crash Landing on You, which started airing a couple of weeks ago; nor Tomorrow With You, which I haven’t yet finished, what’s probably not a good sign), a few being rewatchs of old shows that I like. Seeing as it’s unlikely I’ll ever write up full reviews for each like I did for Goblin (you can read my review here), I decided to compile this list to tell you what I liked and didn’t like about each, what I feel worked and what didn’t. I’m also including a qualitative metric (Rewatch meter) that tries to gauge how likely it is that I’ll find myself returning to the show in the future (Low, Medium, High). Naturally, your very own meter may differ from mine.

For future reference, these are the shows I watched in 2019 and that I aim to cover in this series of posts:

While You Were Sleeping (2017)

W (2016)

My Strange Hero (2018)

The Secret Life of my Secretary (2019)

Angel’s Last Mission: Love (2019)

Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon (2017)

When the Camellia Blooms (2019)

Bring it on, Ghost (2016)

One More Time (2016)

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010)

My Love From The Star (2014)

Descendants of the Sun (2016)

Regardless of which show did better, overall, I find myself drifting more and more towards Korean dramas than your run-of-the-mill American TV show, save for a few bright exceptions, such as The Expanse. Heck, they’re better than most Hollywood movies nowadays.

Since I’ll probably end up writing a lot, I’ve decided to split this review list into two parts. Let’s start with the last kdrama I watched and work my way backwards... if I can remember, that is.

WARNING! There will be spoilers so read at your own risk.

While You Were Sleeping (2017)

Bae Suzy as Nam Hong-Joo, and Lee Jong-Suk as Jung Jae-Chan.

Release Date: September 27 - November 16, 2017

Episodes: 16

Available on: Viki

Summary: Nam Hong-Joo is a young journalist who has had bad dreams about the future since she was a kid, but she has never been able to change the outcome. Jung Jae-Chan is a rookie prosecutor who moves in across the street with his younger brother. When Jae-Chan has a prophetic dream of his own about Hong-Joo being involved in a car accident, and the tragic events that follow, he makes an impulsive decision to interfere, changing Hong-Joo’s fate and that of police officer Han Woo-Tak in the process. When the three of them start having dreams of one another, they realize their lives are somehow entwined. Together, they decide to use their knowledge of the future for good, but changing someone’s fate is never straightforward, and the consequences for doing so may be more than they can handle.

What I liked:

The concept and writing. This is the second show I’ve watched, in chronological order, with Lee Jong-Suk as a lead where I’m really attracted by the concept. Imagine if you could take the precogs from Minority Report and give them (relatively) normal lives inside a kdrama. This is the result. Even better, having Hong-Joo and Woo-Tak have different and often contradicting dreams about the future makes for an interesting twist, as we see prosecutor Jae-Chan struggling to navigate these prophetic waters in search for the best outcome. Curiously, the show makes a point early on about how Jae-Chan’s the variable upon which their dreams diverge, but nothing really comes off it. Naturally, the concept of multiple diverging futures gives the show’s cinematography a chance to play around a bit, often comparing the same event in alternative timelines, or in the same timeline but at different moments in time. It may sound complicated, but it’s pretty to grasp once you start watching. Furthermore, the writing’s pretty tight all around, what’s not a mean feat when you’re juggling multiple realities, with some very emotional payoffs as the show draws to a close. Perhaps its weakest point is exactly how this prophetic dream ability is transferred from person to person (a theory is put forward which doesn’t entirely convince me), and the unnerving (and unexplored, fortunately) implications should someone less honourable were to have these dreams.

youtube

When The Nightmares Started. This is the best track in the entire show and if it’s not the main theme, it damn well should be. It has moments of calm, a hint of romance and hope, and that awesome shit-is-about-to-get-real cue starting at 1:38 that never fails to make a scene tons more epic. Your dish-washing experience will be 100% more epic playing to this track, guaranteed!

The Justice League (and friends). This show could’ve probably gotten on my bad side real fast if it had created a villain with the same superpower as the heroes (depends on the execution to be honest) and, indeed, I thought that was the direction it would inevitably take, revealing at some point that (evil) defense attorney Lee Yoo-Beom also had prophetic dreams and had been using them for his benefit all along, muahahaha! Instead, the show gave us three average people, connected by their prophetic dreams, who decide to team up and use these visions for good. It’s not always easy to change the future, as it has many ramifications, and therein lies the show’s narrative potential that it manages to exploit, perchance to its fullest. Even in the very last episode there’s a hint that maybe the people they’ve helped throughout also have dreams of their own that they use to help others, sort of a pay-it-forward chain. It may be somewhat unrealistic, but it’s a good note to end the show on all the same.

Kim Won-Hae as Choi Dam-Dong. Easily the best supporting character in the show, delivering a stronger and more rewarding performance than in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, where he played two characters (he was pretty funny as the over-the-top head of development planning at Ainsoft), veering towards the more serious/dramatic/emotional end of the spectrum, although with some comedic elements mixed in. I was surprised by how strong his arc turned out to be, and my respect for his character went up by several points when his arc comes to a close and we finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together. This man can do both comedy and drama, so kudos to him.

What I didn’t like:

Mr. Perfect (also known as Han Woo-Tak). It’s not that I dislike him, far from it. Woo-Tak is so good, smart, selfless, and even good-looking, that he kinda undermines the OTP just by existing. He’s really setting unreasonable standards for any man to compete against. I mean, he even plays Cupid for the OTP... while also being in love with Hong-Joo! On the plus side, the show doesn’t really try to push the romantic triangle angle, what usually has mixed results. The one thing I did mind is how the show hints at him potentially being a better attorney/prosecutor than the main lead since that’s kind of Jae-Chan’s thing. I mean, if you take everything that makes the lead special and give it to someone else, is he still the lead?

OTP: A stronger performance from Lee Jong-Suk than in W, complemented by a relatively (and I cannot stress this word enough) weaker performance by Suzy in some aspects (I think Han Hyo-Joon’s Oh Yeon-Joo in W does sad love better than Suzy as Nam Hong-Joo, but it’s a matter of preference), results in a better pairing with more chemistry. Suzy is great and lovable at being the quirky Nam Hong-Joo (watch the video below if you’re unconvinced) and Jung Jae-Chan is a lot more vulnerable than Kang Chul ever was, but I was left wondering at times whether this couple would’ve gotten as much traction were it not for the strength of their past connection (especially with Mr. Perfect around).

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Verdict: What can I say? While You Were Sleeping was an excellent show from beginning to end. If I were to nitpick, I would’ve chosen the end wedding to be the one between Jae-Chan and Hong-Joo since that honestly makes more sense, and maybe I would’ve made Woo-Tak more of a bro than a somewhat-but-not-entirely romantic rival (think Seo Dae-Young in Descendants of the Sun).

Rewatch meter: High

W (2016)

Han Hyo-Joo as Oh Yeon-Joo, and Lee Jong-Suk as Kang Chul.

Release Date: July 20 - September 14, 2016

Episodes: 16

Available on: Viki

Summary: W is a bestselling webtoon by cartoonist Oh Seong-Moo that follows the adventures of Kang Chul, an Olympic gold medalist framed for the murder of his family, who’s eventually acquitted and becomes a multi-millionaire who fights crime (think Bruce Wayne but without the costume). Tired of his creation, Seong-Moo decides it’s time to kill the protagonist and put an end to the series (much like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decided to kill Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls). Oh Yeon-Joo is Seong-Moo’s daughter, a doctor and passionate fan of W, who is one day mysteriously transported to the world of the manhwa, where she sees a dying Kang Chul and saves his life. Intrigued by his mysterious saviour, Kang Chul decides to learn out more about her and Yeon-Joo finds herself constantly returning to the world of the manhwa. Will Kang Chul learn the truth about her and his world? And if so, what will be the consequences?

What I liked:

The concept. It’s not an altogether original concept, and I’m reminded of Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero (Who Framed Roger Rabbit before that), but it’s also not one that you see often on the screen, big or small. The idea of being able to enter the world you’re reading about and meeting the characters you know and love is extremely appealing and there is some fangirling from our protagonist initially. Naturally, since she knows everything about this world, it’s good fun to see her inadvertedly reveal something that she couldn’t possibly know and deal with the reactions/consequences. What’s better is how Yeon-Joo tries to figure out the laws of the manhwa world by applying the real-world concepts of cliffhangers and dramatic revelations, often to hilarious effect. Seeing how the manhwa continues to write itself to reflect events in W’s world, and the reactions by readers (and by Yeon-Joo) in the real world is really entertaining, especially those from the more passionate W fans.

The transition between animation and live-action. I love the blend between animation and live action, as in the example below. There are more subtle transitions, like when a character’s hand oscillates between the real world and the cartoon world. Perhaps it’s a very simple filter but it looks good. Also, what little we see of the manhwa is very well drawn.

Han Hyo-Joo as Oh Yeon-Joo. Despite the fact that Yeon-Joo’s character becomes less proactive in the second half of the series (as I will discuss below), she was the one who really carried the show for me, certainly on the emotional side of the spectrum, where Kang Chul felt a little flat throughout (to be fair, he’s more the analytical type and he’s a manhwa character). She was also able to convey humour quite well, especially in the earlier, funnier, episodes.

The execution (of the first half). The first episode doesn’t waste a second setting up the story and there is never a dull moment. Watching Yeon-Joo read the latest episode of the manhwa and witness her reaction as she sees herself in the comic was gripping and I was eager to see what the next episode would bring. The show was also fairly consistent with the rules of travelling back and forth and what one could and couldn’t do in the cartoon world. We were witnessing an epic struggle between the cartoonist who wanted to kill his creation with his stylus and the daughter who wanted to protect him so much that she had willed herself into his world (if that’s not a good setup for a love story, I don’t know what is). And all the while, Kang Chul was putting the pieces of the puzzle together in his universal and unrelenting search for truth. Every episode brought something new to the table and, much like the manhwa, ended with some revelation or cliffhanger that kept you on the edge of your seat asking for more. Unfortunately, I think that was also its downfall.

What I didn’t like:

The execution (of the second half) and the overall pacing. I think the (relative) downfall of this series was trying to do too much too early. It worked for the first half because the show had a lot of material it could burn through and, in a way, it was refreshing that it was willing to do so. Sadly, my thoughts eventually turned from, “What’s going to happen next?” to “What can even happen next?” The story was moving so fast that I began to wonder where exactly it was going, and that’s when some of the flaws started to seep through. Episode 9 focused on the aftermath of Yeon-Joo resetting events, thus making Kang Chul forget all about her. While I certainly felt for her when she met her amnesiac husband, this was largely thanks to Han Hyo-Joo’s performance (and good track selection), for Kang Chul had been her husband in name only. Had we previously seen more episodes of their life together, this scene would’ve been a lot more impactful, and her desperate crying outside the operating room more heartfelt. Then, the plot thickens as we move into the (overly) dramatic second half of the show, with the introduction of a villain who knows about the real world and starts manipulating events in the manhwa for his benefit... by possessing cartoonist Oh Seong-Moo! What? This was never established as even remotely possible! (not to mention it doesn’t make sense) As you can imagine, this is whereabouts the rules of this universe start to break down and anything goes. Furthermore, when this villain is defeated in Episode 13, the show suddenly remembered it already had an antagonist perfectly cast for the part and finally decided to put him to use, although too little too late for my taste. As if that weren’t enough, a character is killed because drama, since any other explanation would make no fucking sense. This death is entirely nonsensical and I was beginning to conclude the show should have ended a lot sooner.

The amount of flashbacks/dreams/recaps/plans. I don’t mind a good recap or a flashback every now and then, but there came a point where the show started abusing this narrative device a little too much. The show spent a lot of time either: going over things we already know; featuring lengthy dream sequences that are very transparent and serve no purpose (although, incidentally, would make for a better ending); or laying out how events are supposed to go only for them to go in a completely different direction. While they are sometimes necessary, most of the time they were just padding that actually detracted from the story.

How secondary the supporting characters in the manhwa truly are. I know Kang Chul is supposed to be the protagonist but his bodyguard and secretary aren’t given a whole lot to work with throughout the show. I wish they had been active participants in learning the truth of their world rather than passive bystanders.

How Yeon-Joo becomes less proactive in the second half. Maybe it’s just a feeling, but I think our female protagonist became more reactive and less proactive in the second half, with Kang Chul being the one who mostly directed the course of events. It didn’t help that she kept fainting every now and then, what meant she had to spend some time in bed, what was a shame since she was the more interesting character. To be honest, I think the whole father arc should’ve been over and done with in the first half, with Yeon-Joo stepping up to be the new cartoonist.

OTP: Undercooked, but Han Hyo-Joo manages to almost convince me.

Verdict: It’s hard not to say W is one of the most refreshing shows I’ve seen in a while, even despite its more prominent flaws in the second half. I don’t like how powerful the drawing tablet became, especially after it was established that the manhwa could, at times, overrule the will of the real world, as clearly depicted when Kang Chul refuses to commit suicide. I’d rather the manhwa characters had resolved things on their own, aided by Yeon-Joo, without having to resort to some ultra-powerful plot device. Furthermore, I think the show should’ve taken things a bit more slowly rather than try to surprise us every episode, and use that time to build the relationship between Yeon-Joo and Kang Chul. Another thing I feel the show didn’t exploit to its fullest was the fact that Yeon-Joo knows just about everything that’s transpired in W’s world, what maybe could’ve aided Kang Chul in his investigation (sadly, this is undermined by the fact that the murderer really has no identity, what I find odd). Last but not least, Kang Chul never remembering his “past life” was a missed opportunity.

Rewatch meter: Medium

My Strange Hero (2018)

From left to right: Jo Bo-Ah as Son Soo-Jung; Yoo Seung-Ho as Kang Bok-Soo; and Kwak Dong-Yeon as Oh Se-Ho.

Release Date: December 10, 2018 - February 4, 2019

Episodes: 32

Available on: Viki

Summary: When Kang Bok-Soo was a high school student, he was falsely accused of committing acts of violence and ended up expelled from school. Those who brought the accusations against him were his first love, Son Soo-Jung, and a fellow student, Oh Se-Ho. Nine years later, Bok-Soo saves Soo-Jung’s life and suddenly finds himself a mediatic sensation. In order to improve the school’s somewhat tarnished image, he’s invited back to finish his studies. Bok-Soo hesitates, but when he learns Soo-Jung is a teacher there and Se-Ho is the new director, a latent desire to get revenge surfaces. Will Bok-Soo finally get his revenge on the people who wronged him nine years ago? Or will he spend most of his time doing anything but? The latter.

What I liked:

Teacher Park. He’s the kind of teacher everyone would like to have in high school and an example of moral rectitude that Soo-Jung tries to follow. You can tell he really cares for all the students and always tries to be fair and just, no matter the personal cost.

Soo-Jung’s arc. Probably the character who experiences the most growth throughout the show, in no small part thanks to her starting point. She’s the only teacher who stands up for her students, is willing to expose the corruption in the school, and goes so far as to quit her job because she feels she didn’t earn her spot fair and square (despite Oh Se-Ho telling her she was hired because of her qualifications). It is worth noting that when Mr Park gives the other teachers the chance to own up and resign honourably nobody does.

What I didn’t like:

The series meanders a lot early on. Initially, I watched till Episode 14 and dropped it because nothing was really going on. Bok-Soo says he wants to get revenge but his heart really isn’t into it. He certainly doesn’t have a plan like, say, Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo, or Emily Thorne in Revenge. In fact, for those first 14 episodes, it only seemed he went there to suffer some more at the hands of the same people who wronged him all those years ago. What leads me to...

Son Soo-Jung isn’t a very likable protagonist initially. I don’t know if this is done on purpose to get us to side with Bok-Soo, but it doesn’t seem like a very smart strategy to have us dislike the lead’s main love interest for almost half the length of the series. I mean, that’s what the antagonist is for. It seems like at every opportunity she twists the knife on Bok-Soo’s back a little more, so much so that a hurt Bok-Soo outright demands, “Why don’t you just ask me what happened instead of constantly making assumptions?” (I’m paraphrasing) Her response, basically telling him to fuck off, didn’t win her any points in my book. That’s about when the writers probably realized their mistake and started filling us in on how Soo-Jung’s life was also miserable after Bok-Soo was expelled so please don’t hate her. They also pull a 180 when she stands up for Bok-Soo during a disciplinary hearing, what I thought was quite out of character for her at the time. The two seem to patch up their relationship awfully fast, what struck me as odd as they didn’t seem to have much chemistry. Having said that, Soo-Jung’s character certainly grows after Episode 14 and has a very satisfying arc, ultimately being the only teacher worth a damn in this school, other than Mr Park.

“Is Kang Bok-Soo’s revenge finally starting?” After I initially dropped this show at the Episode 14 mark, a video popped up in my YT feed with that title (only they used the actor’s name instead of the character’s). It was a scene where Bok-Soo went about exposing the many deeds of corruption within the school. Great, I thought, shit is finally hitting the fan... in Episode 26. I resumed watching from that mark until the end. The series had finally managed to get me invested, almost as it was over, and I decided to watch the episodes I’d missed.

OTP: There are some cute moments but I still didn’t feel the chemistry (what, ultimately, is my entirely subjective take).

Verdict: I don’t feel this is a true romance drama like others on this list, if ever it tried to be, what’s decidedly strange because there are many episodes dedicated to exploring the relationship between Bok-Soo and Soo-Jung with little else going on. Instead, I see it as more of a critique on the Korean education system and the immense pressures students are subjected to in order to meet unreasonable standards, with some romance elements sprinkled on it so that it’s not too depressing. That’s my take on it anyway. As such, it has some enjoyable aspects to it, like seeing Bok-Soo share nuggets of wisdom every now and then, or the students standing up for Bok-Soo and their school, or the revenge/investigation finally kicking into high gear. It’s just unfortunate it took so long to get there and didn’t really encourage me to do so.

Rewatch meter: Low

The Secret Life of my Secretary (2019)

From left to right: Koo Ja-Sung as Ki Dae-Joo; Kim Young-Kwang as Do Min-Ik; Jin Ki-Joo as Jung Gal-Hee; and Kim Jae-Kyung as Veronica Park/Park Ok-Sun.

Release Date: May 6 - June 25, 2019

Episodes: 32

Available on: Viki

Summary: The story follows Do Min-Ik, a prominent director at T&T Mobile Media, and his secretary, Jung Gal-Hee, as together they deal with the onset of an illness that prevents Do Min-Ik from seeing faces, the result of a possible attempt on Min-Ik’s life by some unknown party. On the corporate drama side, this undermines his shot to succeed his (jerk of an) uncle as Chairman of the company, and we see Min-Ik and Gal-Hee struggling to hide the truth of his illness and overcome the many obstacles set on their way to chairmanship. On the romance side, his inability to recognize faces causes him to mistake his secretary for Veronica Park, a rich heiress and leading figure in the film industry, whom he eventually falls in love with... what is kind of a problem since the real Veronica Park develops a crush on Min-Ik’s best friend, Ki Dae-Joo (also a director at T&T), while Gal-Hee falls in love with her boss. And, just in case we didn’t have enough corporate drama, we learn early on that someone may be embezzling from T&T and all the signs point to Dae-Joo. How will this all turn out?

What I liked:

Do Min-Ik and Jung Gal-Hee working together. Min-Ik is one sharp boss, and the moment he’s unable to recognize faces, he starts devising other strategies to recognize people, such as identifying them by their height. Gal-Hee pitches in with the different directors’ hairstyles, and eventually Min-Ik is even able to recognize them by their specific tics. Another example is the first stockholders’ meeting where they team up to prevent Min-Ik’s dismissal. Everything goes so smoothly that it prompts Veronica Park to ask Gal-Hee, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Did you write the script to this play?”

What I didn’t like:

The deceit lasting so long. Min-Ik doesn’t start as the best of bosses, we see that in the first episode, but that very same episode opens the door for him caring for Gal-Hee more than he’s willing to let on. The show does a good enough job of explaining his rather rude behaviour towards his secretaries and why he always fires them within a year, what makes the deceit all the more hurtful. However, the problem I have with Min-Ik not realizing Gal-Hee was pretending to be Veronica Park, is that this happens for 24 episodes! That means we only have 8 episodes left for him to feel betrayed about the whole thing yet also recover in time to start dating Gal-Hee. I don’t feel this was enough time to successfully explore their relationship.

How weak/bland every other story is. The attempt on Min-Ik’s life and the police’s investigation of it is handled abysmally, with the detectives only appearing from time to time to create what some writer thinks is drama. They’re so useless that the perpetrator actually has to turn himself in! I thought Dae-Joo was a bland character throughout, so I had zero interest in his relationship with Veronica Park. The same goes for Gal-Hee’s family. Even Min-Ik’s mother somehow pulls a 180 out of the blue. The only other plot thread that caught my eye was the possible embezzlement and that was wrapped up horribly, what leads me to...

No one facing the consequences of their actions. No matter how much the writers want to frame this secret organisation within T&T as Robin-Hood-like, the fact remains that they were stealing. Not only that, but they can be directly tied to the assault and attempted murder of Do Min-Ik, among other crimes. Sure, they’re all fired at some point, but they all get hired back thanks to Min-Ik. Nobody faces any jail time except for the guy directly responsible for Min-Ik’s accident who actually apologizes to him and turns himself in. The leader of this shadowy organisation comes out unscathed and has her machinations to see Dae-Joo become chairman of T&T rewarded when...

Dae-Joo becoming the chairman of T&T. What a payoff. The blandest and most uninterested character in the entire show becomes the chairman when the character we’ve been rooting for throughout, the only one who’s willing to put everything on the line to help the downtrodden secretaries, gets the short end of the stick. I guess it’s true when they say no good deed goes unpunished.

OTP: There is some chemistry there and I wish we had seen more of it, but sadly the (official) relationship between Gal-Hee and Min-Ik takes place a little too late.

Verdict: Usually, most of the kdramas I’ve watched and liked, to some extent, have some scenes that are imprinted on your mind (much like Gal-Hee’s face is imprinted on Min-Ik) and that you find yourself returning to from time to time. With this show, I honestly had to struggle to recall any such scenes, even with the aid of YouTube playlists. This is not helped by the fact that I can recall none of the music used, and that’s not a good sign. Memorable scenes and songs usually go together, as the next show in my list will prove. Ultimately, The Secret Life of my Secretary, while entertaining enough, didn’t live up to my expectations and, as such, it’s unlikely I’ll be rewatching it any time soon.

Rewatch meter: Low

Angel’s Last Mission: Love (2019)

Shin Hye-Sun as Lee Yeon-Seo, and Kim Myung-Soo (Infinite L) as Kim Dan.

Release Date: May 22 - July 11, 2019

Episodes: 32

Available on: Viki

Summary: Kim Dan, a troublemaking angel with a kind heart, is 24 hours away from Heaven when he meets the beautiful, talented, yet cynical and arrogant, prima ballerina Lee Yeon-Seo. Recently blinded by an accident during a performance, Yeon-Seo somehow manages to spot Kim Dan, who should be invisible to any human. His curiosity sparked, he follows Yeon-Seo around and eventually, in a fit of impulsiveness, saves her life in a car accident. However, for having interfered and saved a human’s life, Kim Dan is fated to turn to dust... unless he’s willing to undertake one final task. His mission? He must help Yeon-Seo find true love, but will he be able to keep from falling in love himself? Obviously not. And, naturally, Yeon-Seo has some evil relatives who are out to get her, because it wouldn’t be a kdrama otherwise.

What I liked:

The songs. I can’t vouch for the entire OST for I haven’t listened to it all yet (Correction: I’ve now since listened to all of it and it really has a lot of good tracks), but there are at least a handful of songs that will stick with you like glue. I can’t say if I like the songs more because of the scenes in which they play, or if I like the scenes more because of the songs that are used, but I can say the songs play an important role in engraving these scenes into my mind. Songs like ‘Sweeter’, by Jess Penner, that play when we’re playfully exploring the relationship between Yeon-Seo and Kim Dan; or ‘Pray’, by KLANG, when some important relevation or dramatic scene is about to transpire; or ‘Oh My Angel’, by Chai, that plays during the more romantic moments; these songs have made it into my Spotify list and are a must-listen on a daily basis for now.

The humor. Beyond the interactions between Kim Dan and Yeon-Seo, which sometimes make for very humorous situations, my hat’s off to the characters of Archangel Hoo, Dan’s senior (played by Kim In-Kwon) and Chung Yu-Mi, Yeon-Seo’s butler (played by Woo Hee-Jin). The former has dozens of opportunities for humor as he’s able to take the form of any human and keeps surprising Kim Dan by keeping tabs on him. The latter is probably the closest thing Yeon-Seo has to a mother (or maybe an older sister), and can be playfully mischievous when she starts noticing our leads may have feelings for each other. There are two scenes that perfectly embody the show’s humor that I would be remiss if I didn’t direct you to. Be aware they contain spoilers.

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The leads and their chemistry. You cannot make a kdrama work if the leads don’t have some sort of chemistry (well, I suppose you could but it would be a bit of an uphill battle) and Shin Hye-Sun and Kim Myung-Soo have that in spades. This shows not only during the more romantic scenes, what’s expected, but also during their fights, what’s even better (if that makes any sense). This isn’t the first time I’ve seen L acting, in fact, he played the character of Yoo Tan in the short kdrama One More Time, with actress Yoon So-Hee playing his love interest, Moon Da-In. He sold me on that show then, as did Yoon So-Hee, but I feel his acting’s improved in this, or maybe the script and length of the show allows him to flesh out his character more, showing us more sides of his personality as the show draws to its end. And it’s really amazing to see how effortlessly Shin Hye-Sun can don the skin of the strong, cold, and harsh Yeon-Seo in one scene, and then swap it for the playful, romantic, and vulnerable Yeon-Seo that Kim Dan falls in love with in the next. Just watch more of those KBS World TV clips if you don’t believe me. These two steal every scene they’re in, but I feel Shin Hye-Sun is really the standout here. (At the time of this posting, Shin Hye-Sun has won the Top Excellence Award (Female) in KBS’s 2019 Drama Awards for her role in this show, so congratulations to her on an award well deserved!)

What I didn’t like:

How the show meanders towards the end. I laid out the plot in the most succinct way possible, but it’s hardly that straightforward. Dan’s mission should, in theory, be over when Yeon-Seo learns to love again, but then the show would then be over a lot sooner than Episode 32. The writers know that so they move the goalpost, at some point revealing that Dan also had to learn to love for the mission to be truly over. Not only that, but they both had to be willing to sacrifice everything for their loved one in order for God to believe their love was sincere or something, what leads one to think they need to commit suicide and the other to think they need to commit murder. I don’t know, by this point the show’s either stretching things out to reach the 32-episode mark or they’re milking each scene for every ounce of drama they can get, probably both. This problem gets compounded by the fact that...

Some (other) things don’t make a whole lot of sense. To start with, the theology and consistency on this show is all over the place. The same God that apparently ordered a couple of angels to shoot someone, gangsta style, because an angel broke the rules and fell in love with a human, is moved by our lead couple’s Romeo-and-Juliet love story and by Yeon-Seo’s ballet performance. Oh, and by the way, shooting someone is not how unruly angels are dealt with, God can simply pull a Thanos and have them vanish into mist, so why did he decide to use a gun that one time? Because drama! God also decides that the best time to send Dan to Heaven is when Yeon-Seo is lying commatose in the hospital (what a dick), to which Dan says, “Fuck it, I’m staying here,” and God lets him return as an angel so he can help Yeon-Seo wake up, interfering once again and thereby ceasing to exist... except he’s still an angel an episode later! What the f*** is going on here?! Archangel Hoo broke the rules once and he got the Thanos treatment, so how come Kim Dan gets so many second chances?

Some characters are either superfluous or their arcs are unclear. As an example of the latter, there’s the character of Ji Kang-Woo (played by Lee Dong-Gun), Yeon-Seo’s ballet instructor and Kim Dan’s rival for Yeon Seo’s affection. It’s revealed early on that he’s an angel-turned-human after breaking the rules and falling in love with a human himself... whom the gangster angels promptly killed. It’s never explained why she had to die while Yeon-Seo and Kim Dan are allowed to stay together, but apparently Kang-Woo is satisfied that his pain was necessary so he could help them trick God or something. I’ve no idea. But the award for the most superfluous character has to go to Ni-Na’s secret ballet instructor who only appears when the script dictates and is not developed at all. I can’t even remember if she had a name! What was her point even?

OTP: Probably one of the best pairings of the year (says the guy who’s watched maybe 4-5 2019 shows out of who knows how many).

Verdict: This is a case of the pros outweighing the cons. There’s simply too much that works for me, so many scenes and songs that stayed with me thanks to the strong performances of our leads and some of the supporting cast. I was never unaware of its more glaring flaws, what prevents this show from reaching Goblin levels of quality, but I could easily find myself rewatching it from time to time.

Rewatch meter: High

Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon (2017)

From left to right: Park Bo-Young as Do Bong-Soon; Ji Soo as In Guk-Doo; and Park Hyung-Sik as Ahn Min-Hyuk.

Release Date: February 24 - April 15, 2017

Episodes: 16

Available on: Viki, Netflix

Summary: Do Bong-Soon has a secret: she is insanely strong, a superhuman ability that has been passed down to the women in her family for generations. She also aspires to create a video game with herself as the main character. When Ahn Min-Hyuk, the CEO of gaming company Ainsoft, chances by her as she’s beating up half a dozen thugs, he’s instantly mesmerized by both her beauty and strength. The recent target of anonymous threats, Min-Hyuk decides to hire Bong-Soon as a bodyguard (she ends up being more of a secretary) and she accepts with the promise of joining the planning department of Ainsoft once the culprit is caught. Meanwhile, detective In Guk-Doo, Bong-Soon’s secret crush and childhood friend, investigates a series of strange kidnappings and murders in Bong-Soon’s neighbourhood. When the culprit targets Bong-Soon’s best friend, Bong-Soon and Min-Hyuk find themselves involved in the hunt for the criminal.

What I liked:

Gangster Bong-Soon. Okay, maybe saying she’s a gangster is a bit too much, but after beating a bunch of school bullies into submission, they soon look up to her as their new boss, taking orders from her and even looking out for her so that her secret isn’t exposed. It’s pretty funny then that Bong-Soon has to save her crew from being harassed by the new neighbourhood bullies, acting the part of a gangster for a short while.

The need for training. I appreciate the fact that Min-Hyuk foresaw the need to help Bong-Soon have full control of her strength, although he also created routines to bolster up her endurance, not to mention some of the moves she learned could have come in handy when she was depowered (sadly, she doesn’t use them). And all of this training does indeed pay off, as we see Bong-Soon fight smartly and using only as much strength as is needed to get the job done, as opposed to her Episode 1 self who used way too much strength with hilarious results. You can witness the results of Min-Hyuk’s training in the fight with the “new bullies” I mentioned previously, as well as the one at the beginning of Episode 9. Beyond fighting, her training also had positive results in her everyday life, like now being able to hug people without worrying about choking them.

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The leads and their chemistry. The chemistry of these two is off the charts (it’s over 9000!!!). Everything about Park Bo-Young as Do Bong-Soon screams cute, from her short height to the way she talks, and even her glares of disapproval when Min-Hyuk does something he shouldn’t have. She’s also confident when she needs to, but not afraid to show vulnerability around the people she loves. I could shower similar praise on Park Hyung-Sik as Ahn Min-Hyuk, especially where the vulnerability department is concerned. Male leads tend to be more stoic (like In Guk-Doo), so it was quite refreshing to see how devastated Min-Hyuk was when he learned the identity of the one threatening him, or how crazy-in-love he is around Bong-Soon (she’s his kryptonite). Min-Hyuk is never afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve and it shows in every single scene. These two can just stare at each other in silence and convey more emotion than any spoken word.

The humor. I’m not talking about the dumb hospital scenes that feature humor more similar to what you’d find in a crappy Hollywood “comedy” (peeing jokes, really?), but things like Hyung-Sik’s ad-libbing throughout the show (he’s having a blast), or the more funny interactions between Min-Hyuk and Bong-Soon, even the ever-changing Romeo and Juliet scenes as Bong-Soon’s feelings for the different characters evolve.

What I didn’t like:

The sudden disappearance of Min-Hyuk’s family. Initially, the show has two distinct storylines: the string of kidnappings/murders, on the one hand; and the threats to Min-Hyuk, likely related to the question of who in his family will become the new Chairman of Ohsung Group. As expected, Min-Hyuk has several brothers who are a bit jealous of his success with Ainsoft and intuit their father will name him the Chairman, so it makes sense one of them is behind the threats. Once the storyline is resolved however, Min-Hyuk’s family is completely out of the picture, even during his marriage, what I find extremely odd.

The randomness of the depowering rule. Very early on the show explains that, while the women of the Bong-Soon family are blessed with superhuman strength from birth, they can easily lose this ability should they try to use it for less than honorable pursuits. It can be something as simple, and apparently harmless, as using this strength to become an Olympic weightlifting champion, as Bong-Soon’s mother soon found out, but it’s usually tied to using this ability to hurt innocent people. Naturally, once this rule was made known, it was only a matter of time before Bong-Soon would lose her powers as well, and this did indeed happen towards the end of the show. The problem I have with it is two-fold: its execution and its consistency. Bong-Soon doesn’t purposefully hurt an innocent man, she’s tricked into doing so by the villain. One could argue that whatever higher power granted this ability can’t tell the difference, except that argument falls apart entirely when you realize Bong-Soon has already purposefully used her power to hurt innocent people, like that one time she crushed Min-Hyuk’s foot to keep him silent (among multiple examples). That this event is played for laughs should have no bearing on the outcome. Furthermore, we later see Bong-Soon pleading for her strength to return so she can save Min-Hyuk, so it would appear that whatever higher power was listening is intelligent. At the end of the day, we all know this happened because the writers didn’t want to limit the fun possibilities of Bong-Soon abusing her power a little bit, saving it for the right moment to amp the drama. So, in reality, I was aware of it, and decided to roll with it.

OTP: Cuteness overload.

Verdict: This is one of the strongest shows in this list (no pun intended), more so given how much it’s able to pull off in 16 episodes as opposed to other shows’ 32, which is why I’m more lenient in terms of its writing. This is simply a good, fun, show, easily rewatchable thanks to the cute OTP. While its soundtrack may not be on par overall with the one from Angel’s Last Mission: Love, it still features some solid, memorable, songs (’Heartbeat’ by SURAN being the most obvious, but also ‘Double Trouble Couple’ by MAMAMOO, or ‘Super Power Girl’ by Every Single Day), not to mention a highly effective and comedic use of sound effects. Definitely one of my favourite shows.

Rewatch meter: High

And that brings us to the end of Part 1. I hope you had a good time reading through this post, maybe even found a show to your liking. What were some of your favourite shows in 2019? Stay tuned for Part 2!

#kdrama #while you were sleeping #kdrama w #my strange hero #the secret life of my secretary #angel's last mission: love #angel's last mission #strong woman do bong soon #strong girl bong soon #netflix #viki #kdramas

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anahera-sdm · 5 years

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Hotel Del Luna (2019) Thoughts

Warning: will contain spoilers. I suggest you watch the drama first to relate with what I’m talking about because it will be messy.

Disclaimer: Everything written only reflects my own thoughts. There’s a possibility of incoherence. Forgive me, sometimes my brain is all over the place.

Ever since IU was announced as a main lead for this drama, I have been looking forward to it. I have enjoyed IU’s other dramas especially her most recent one in Netflix - Persona. Yeo Jin goo is an actor I like but the last drama of his that I was able to finish (and barely at that) was Orange Marmalade (2015). I couldn’t get into his next dramas after that and ended up dropping them.

After seeing the plot and the fantasy tag (I always have a soft spot for fantasy dramas), as much as I enjoyed and looked forward to new episodes of its predecessor, Arthdal Chronicles, I also could not wait for it to start.

Additional warning: Everything is all over the place and this is going to be a lengthy post. I wrote everything that I wanted to talk about right after watching the subbed version of the last episode but there is no proper structure. I apologise in advance if you decide to read everything.

I don’t even know where I should start. The Hong Sisters really did well with this drama - the years spent on it was worth it. That ending was, I can’t believe I’m saying this but I was so satisfied even though they didn’t spend much time together in this life. I was expecting a bittersweet ending when the drama started anyway. I loved the ending and that reincarnation scene (although it is not definite but just an ‘eventually, it will end up that way’ scene) was everything to me. I don’t know why but I loved how they didn’t try to extend Man Wol’s time with Chan Seong (example, releasing her from the hotel and making her human again). It was enough for me because Man Wol also spent enough time suffering. Her time with Chan Seong, although brief, was good enough because she experienced the love she needed and she gets sent off full of it.

That twist at the end though, how Chan Seong was chosen by Mago - I’m crying. Chan Seong was definitely a reincarnation of someone from her past. They were actually acquainted during Man Wol’s childhood - and he was the one who introduced her to the guesthouse of the moon.

So now, let’s go to the other parts I really wanna talk about.

One of the reasons why I got hooked and invested with Hotel Del Luna was the fact the way they executed the comical elements despite the horror and drama tags. Additionally, the music and the CGI were really well done. The soundtrack really gets me.

The other reasons, well, IU can really pull off Jang Man Wol - a protagonist who can be ruthless, has a slightly bitchy attitude, crooked (but her actions can be justified) and holds a deep resentment. Yet, she has her cute sides too; all the Kim Joon Hyun moments were a sight to see (her obsession for the restaurants he’s been to, enjoyed it! Later we find out her obsession to find good restaurants were actually influenced by Chan Seong who went to the past! Mind blown!). And her fighting scenes were so cool. IU’s eyes are really expressive in my eyes -

Appreciate.

I love how despite being crude in her ways when it comes to dealing with the grudges of the souls she’s helping, there is an underlying meaning to it - example, Hyun Joong being able to graduate because of the money donated by his friend. And, I can’t blame her for loving money and wealth. After all, that was what she didn’t have when she was living. I have to add that one of the things I look forward to every episode was IU’s outfit changes. She looks so good in everything! [I actually couldn’t stop myself from buying some of the stuff she wore. Hold your horses, I can only afford the cheap ones like the earrings and hair clips from Get Me Bling that she wore. And I wanna do a face palm because I accidentally bought 2 sets for one of her earrings so now I’m like, what do I do with this?]

The bickering between the leads together with that comical/mischievous soundtrack, pure gold. It’s easily one of my favourite moments. It’s just really funny how sometimes Jang Man Wol is left without words because Chan Seong is right.

The more I watch this gif tho, it starts to look weirder to look at so don't watch it more than 10 times.

I also like how they dealt with Man Wol’s back story - not giving the viewers everything in just one episode. Instead, it was spliced and distributed nicely throughout. Oh but gods, I was a wreck when everything was laid down - Chung Myung’s sacrifice... I just can’t. And how he was with her as a firefly since the beginning... My heart... I actually forgot that scene from the beginning until they showed it again. I though it was just an artistic shot. I actually wanted Man Wol to go with him to the afterlife when it was finally time for him to go. When she escorted him, I wanted her to walk with him during that moment. But at the same time, I can see that there was only a one-sided love left between them because Man Wol spent so many years resenting him that there was no love left. When she finally learned the truth, the only thing left in her was forgiveness and that was the only thing she can offer. The CGI on the bridge to the afterlife though, the aesthetic, props to the CGI team.

Can I just talk about how the actor grew on me? Like, omg, I’m now looking forward to any drama he’s going to be on. [Note: I have since seen him in a new drama, The Great Show (I was watching it because of Lee Sunbin (one of my favourite actresses)) and he’s the teen version of the male lead! I screamed when I saw him.] I should check him out on his previous dramas but when I saw the list of dramas, I don’t think I’ll get into them yet.

Help my heart, their story is so sad.

Helping Kim Seonbi /Kim Si Ik solve his grudge was really fun to watch. And the ‘fact’ that he was the writer of those stories almost all Koreans know, what a twist. Man Wol really cared for him despite not showing it to him - how she tried to find a way to solve his grudge and how she cried after he finally left.

Choi Seo hee’s story was an unfortunate one but it added more flavour to the already flavourful drama. Those who value family ties or still have crooked views when it comes to family lineage will resonate with her story and perhaps have a change of heart.

Hyun Joong; I love how they gave more depth to his story. That it was not only because of his sister that he was staying as a hotel staff but deep inside there was a resentment. When they wrapped his story up, all I can do was to smile wistfully. His story arc with Yuna was a great addition despite their bittersweet goodbye.

The Sanchez story arc; I... I... He was such a fun character and a good friend to Chan Seong. I sincerely thought they were going to get rid of his character when he went overseas to oversee the funeral of his girlfriend. But we got him back and see another side to him - a rather relatable side where if one loses a loved one, they would find ways to reconnect or hold on to any sliver of hope that they’ll be able to once more be able to talk to them or give them something. Probably, not making sense anymore, but if you’ve lost a loved one before, you’ll get what I'm talking about. After finally getting over it, well, he was not the same Sanchez after that but there was growth in his character.

Mira and Young soo. A twist of fate, these two. Enemies in the past life but became lovers in their current life. Their bitter fates became sweeter this time around. I can't entirely hate on Mira’s past life because her next lives were spent repenting (although it wasn’t shown). Her currently life was finally rewarded, if you can call being with Young soo in her current life a reward. I kept on thinking Mira was just like Chan Seong (not a rich person) but I was so surprised to learn her parents were kimchi factory owners and that Young Soo ate those kimchi since young.

Mago - easily my favourite character. Wait, characters. Because of how many personalities/sisters she has. Really have to give mad props to the actress. She is just so good. Probably my favourite sister has to be the pink sister and then the eldest. It was so funny when they were having a meeting discussing about the new hotel owner and mentioned the ‘poor’ sister still stuck in Joseon dynasty.

Ah, the cameos in this drama. I can’t not cover that.The amount of cameo is just, whoa! This drama is so rich with it. Some really memorable ones to me are: Kim Won hae (as a corrupt mayor), Lee Joon Gi (as an exorcist; Park Il Do hahah, The Guest feels (I ought to make a post on my thoughts about this drama soon); can’t forget the Scarlet Heart feels too), Lee Si Eon (as an astronaut; I couldn't help laugh at the scene), Lee Yi-kyung (as an actor who can’t really act; Waikiki feels!), Kim Joon Hyun (as himself; I screamed because the first few scenes didn't show his face), Park Jin Joo (as an imaginary spirit), Sulli (as the granddaughter of Chairman Wang), Nam Da reum(as a water deity; I really don’t like the fact he’s younger than me; kidding. He’s a talented kid.) Hwang Young Hee (as IU’s previous manager; she’s a really good actress) and Kim Soo Hyun (as the new owner of the hotel; He renamed it Hotel Blue Moon. I’m telling you, I hyperventilated when his scene came. Such a good way to end the drama - at least for me. Hotel Blue Moon as a drama please!)

For the last episode, I wanted to watch it during the actual broadcast time but I actually calculated the time wrongly (thinking I'm 4 hours ahead but actually just 3 hours; good thing I checked the site). I missed the first 25 mins of the actual broadcast. But I eventually re-watched it with subs and came to write this post). I can only understand roughly 80-85% of the dialogue for the raw version but even then, I was bawling - all the goodbyes; it was so sad but so satisfying at the same time because they were sent off really well. From Kim Seonbi’s to Choi Seohee’s. Painful to see the goodbyes but also very heartwarming; how they finally come to resolve their resentments, came to realizations and tied up loose ends - it was so beautiful. The relationship between the Hotel crew was just so precious - Jang Man Wol crying as she realises how she’ll miss them. Feels. Feels. Feels.

Overall, I learned so many things in this drama and came to certain realisations such as treasuring the time you have with others, don’t take it for granted. One day, when the time to say goodbye comes, you won’t regret anything. Also, even the people who did bad things in their life can have the chance to live a better one in the next once they have paid for those wrongdoings.

This drama was a perfect blend of comedy, drama, horror, fantasy, romance. In terms of food, it satisfied my cravings. Watching this drama was one of the best things that I did this year. As much as I want to talk more about this drama and cover more areas, I should stop here. All in all, I would say, I really loved this drama. I’ll definitely go back to watching this when I have nothing else to watch. P.S. I ought to make a Jang Man Wol inspired look but when I tried, I failed.

I’ll miss you, Jang Man Wol-ssi.

Rating: 10 / 10

Re-watch value : 10 / 10

Soundtrack : 10 / 10

#hotel del luna #iu #yeo jin goo #korean drama #jang man wol #gu chan seong

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tialightwood-blog · 5 years

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18+ Rough Waves -Two-

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you!” Lara looked very insulted.

“I don’t understand what the big deal of not knowing that they exist,” I said and opened the other soda.

“What is the big deal?! You’re missing out great music and great people!” she said angrily and stood up looking like she was about to kill me.

“Okay calm down, I totally agree with you,” I said and stood in front of her and slightly pushed her to sit down again. The fact that she was angry was laughable to me and I knew that there was no need to argue with her. “I indeed live under a rock musically wise, so I will ask you one more time, who are those people?” I said and sat back on my chair.

Lara took a deep breath and looked right into my eyes; her facial reaction was steady. She looked like she was about to give an important presentation. Lara is always good with her facial reactions; she has a steady poker face that can’t be played with. Unlike me; I can’t hide my emotions it will always be written across my face.

“Get me a pen and a bunch of papers,” she said and moved everything from the table between us.

“Why?” she stared at me deadly. I hate this stare; it freaks me out a little. “Okay,” I got up quickly and got her what she wanted.

“Clear your head and focus,” she said firmly and put the papers on the empty table.

“Okay, I’m ready.” I sat on the chair and looked at the papers as she held the pen.

“BTS or Bangtan Boys.” she wrote it on the center of the page and drew a circle around it. “They are seven idols in the band.” she drew seven arrows. “RM, Jin, Suga, J-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook.” she wrote each name after each arrow “Each one has different positions,” she said and looked at me to make sure I’m listening.

“Okay,” I said to confirm her.

“I’ll start with the positions and with RM,” she said and flipped the paper and wrote the word positions and the name right under it on the beginning of the paper “RM is the stage name of Kim Nam Joon, his positions are leader of the group and the main rapper okay,” she said and looked again at me.

“Okay,” I said and felt like she was going to test me at the end of whatever she was doing.

“Jin is the stage name of Kim Seok Jin, his positions are the visual and a vocalist." I felt like she was writing an article teaching people the steps of how to know Korean bands, couldn’t help but giggle. “Focus Tia!” she shouted at me made me giggle more.

“Sorry, continue please.”

“Third one is Suga, his real name is Min Yoon Gi and his position is a lead rapper.”

“Wait, there is a difference between the main rapper and lead rapper?” I asked.

“Yes, you will know the difference when you listen to the songs.”

“I’m going to listen to the songs?!” I asked sarcastically but Lara ignored my question and just gave me one of her death stares. “Continue,” I said to stop her stare.

“J-hope or Jung Ho Seok, his positions are the main dancer, rapper and sub vocalist.”

“Hmm.” I shook my head.

“Then Jimin, his real name is Park Ji Min and his positions are the main dancer and lead vocalist.”

“Two main dancers?”

“Shut up.” I smirked. “Then here’s my favorite one, V, his name is Kim Tae Hyung and his positions are lead Dancer, vocalist and visual.” I looked at her, I was about to open my mouth to say something, but she raised her hand “Yes, Tia another visual,” she said without raising her eyes from the paper.

“Lastly we have Jungkook or Jeon Jeong guk and his positions are the main vocalist, lead dancer, sub rapper, center and maknae which means the youngest in Korean,” she said and looked at me.

“Wow Jungkook has a lot of positions,” I said and raised my eyebrows.

“Yup,” Lara said and shook her head in agreement and then looked again at the paper. “You need to know that age is very important in Korea,” she said. “From the oldest to the youngest,” she said and started to write years beside each one’s name. She wrote beside Jin’s name the year of 1992, Suga 1993, J-hope 1994, RM 1994, Jimin 1995, V 1995, and then Jungkook 1997. At this point, I really didn’t understand what is the point of knowing any of that, but I didn’t say anything. “So next thing personalities,” Lara said and took another blank paper.

I took a deep breath and hugged the bowl of chips hoping it will end soon.

Next Morning.

May 7, 2017.

12:00 PM.

My alarm made its usual noise. I took it and throw it at the floor; It was a metal one that never breaks. I sat up and moved my hair away from my face. I was very tired; I didn’t get much sleep. I spend the whole night with Lara telling me or to be more precise teaching me about BTS and K-pop in general. She told me about everything I needed to know to be a professional K-pop fan. She refused when I tried to listen to any BTS songs before knowing who they are and how they work, but she showed me their pictures. I was surprised at how handsome each one is, especially Jungkook. I got up and went to take a long cold shower to help me fully wake up.

12:30 PM.

I went downstairs heading to the garden where grandma and Lara were sitting. “Hey you,” Lara said and ate a whole mini muffin at one bite.

“Morning grandma.” I blow her a kiss, she smiled back and then I looked at Lara “Hey, when did you wake up?”

“At 11:00 AM.” Lara used to sleep late due to her work, she always drew after midnight, her creativity doesn’t work in daylight.

“We’re not opening early today, go sleep more if you need to,” grandma said and looked at both of us.

“I’m okay,” Lara answered.

“I have some writings to do before heading to the restaurant,” I said and stood up heading to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

Grandma’s phone ranged, it was on the coffee table in front of the TV. “Bunny give me the phone please,” grandma shouted to me. I was already done making the coffee, I took her phone and went back outside. Grandma took the phone and started to talk in a loud tone; she was talking to one of her old friends. She left us and continued her call inside the house.

Lara was already done with her breakfast and she started to drink her tea while playing a game on her phone. I took one of the pastries with my left hand and moved my chair to face the far view of the sea. I closed my eyes enjoying the taste of the freshly made pastry. I had many things to do this day. Another article I needed to write, a lot of supplies I needed to buy for the restaurant. My mind was organizing everything, it’s a habit I have; organizing everything first inside my mind then write it down. My head was leaning back a little while my legs were rested on another chair in front of me.

“60’s fashion… Elena Nathanael…club soda…tomatoes…” I whispered to myself, Lara didn’t move her eyes from her phone. She knew what I was doing at that moment.

“Potatoes,” Lara said.

“Also, potatoes…,” I repeated. I was seeing everything I need to do inside my head like imagining it before I do it. I kept saying other things I need to buy before heading to the restaurant, my voice was in a whisper but loud enough for Lara to hear. “And…Jungkook,” I said and opened my eyes widely.

Lara moved her head to the left and looked at my shocked face. “Did you say Jungkook?” Lara asked.

“His photo pop in inside my head!” I said and looked at her in surprise.

“Which photo?” Lara said and looked back at her phone.

“The sweaty one.”

“What?” she said and moved her head again to look at me.

“He was wearing a white t-shirt, very sweaty, he was holding a part of his t-shirt up showing his perfectly fine abs, his hair was like kind of wet and he was biting his bottom lip…” I stopped and bite my own bottom lip.

“T, are you okay?” Lara said with the widest smile ever.

“Huh?!” I realized what I said. “Yeah…uhm it’s… a good photo,” I said and sat up straight.

“Right,” Lara said and smirked. At that moment grandma entered the garden and stood on the head of the table. She looked at me and stepped closer.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong with your face? it’s really red?” grandma said and put her hand on my right cheek.

“Nothing!” I said quickly and put my hand on my other cheek; it was very warm. I didn’t notice that my whole body was getting hot.

“Are you okay? Do you need to see a doctor?” grandma asked.

“No! it just the hot weather!” I said and waved randomly.

Grandma looked at me then at Lara who was still smiling. “Grandma, I think we need to get Tia a date,” Lara said and winked at her, Grandma giggled and looked at me.

“My bunny is all grown up,” she said and played with both of my cheeks. I didn’t have any love experience before and grandma knew that; she always argued with me that I need to have a boyfriend and to enjoy my youthful life to the maximum but I’m not that outgoing person like her and Lara.

I smiled at her. “I’m going to Melina’s house, don’t forget to buy everything on the list,” grandma said and left.

“Okay,” I shouted after her.

The house main door closed after her. “Manos?” Lara said suddenly.

“What?”

“I will ask Manos out for you,” she said.

“Not funny!” Manos is our old friend and neighbor who had a major crush on me when we were in middle school, I never really thought of him being more than just my good old friends.

“I’m not kidding, the man had a crush on you for like forever now! Just give it a try,” she said and took one grape to eat.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“He’s simply not my type.”

“Who is your type then?”

Jungkook image pop in again in my head. I didn’t know how to reply. “I don’t know yet! But I do know that Manos is not my type,” I said firmly and looked away.

“Are you thinking about sweaty Jungkook again?” Lara looked at me and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“No,” I said and took a big sip of my coffee, trying hard to remove his image from my head.

#bts #bts fic #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #bts jungkook #bts jungkook x reader #bts v x reader #bts taehyung #jungkook #taehyung #greek mythology #magic #fantasy

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kimbapmmbapbap · 6 years

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Current Favourite Dramas

So I thought it would be a cute idea to share my top ten favourite dramas as of 2017. Maybe I will come back to this next year and it has completely changed or more or less stayed the same. I hope this will also come into use if someone wants to watch a new drama or wants to get into watching them!!! I will also include reasons why people may not like it just so if there is something you really hate when watching dramas, that you know it is there!!!

Anyway, here we go:

10 - Playful Kiss

I honestly love this one! It was the first drama I ever watched which is why it has to be on this list. If you look online, it seems to have a lot of hate around it due to the female character and that it is just one big cliche, but to be honest it is so nice once in a while to watch something a bit cheesy, and that doesn’t require much thought while watching it. For those who don’t know what the plot is, it revolves around a girl who is in the lowest class in her school and follows her love story around a boy who is the smartest and coolest in the school. At the beginning he hates her and often embarrass her on purpose in front of their classmates. But as fate makes their families live together, their love grows closer.

What may put you off this drama is its over clicheness, and the foolishness of the main leads. If you dont like too much cheese, then this may not be for you, but i do recommend it if you want something easy to watch and if you are interested in the Itazura Na Kiss franchise!!

09 - Smile, You

I fell onto this drama about two years ago and my god I was glad I did!!! The cast, the story, and the chemistry is just amazing!! It is a classic hate to love relationship between the main couple, the drama faces issues of money, family and changing the way you live. It involves two families: the Seo’s and the Kang’s. The Seo family are rich after inheriting the grandfathers business however they go bankrupt due to carelessness, and have no over option but to live with the Kang family, who has been serving under the Seo’s, and have to learn how to live frugally. I absolutely loved the female lead, she started off being a spoilt brat and always getting what she wanted, to someone who wants to work and earn her own money.

The only issue i find with this drama is that I constantly got frustrated with the other family members due to their stubbornness and constantly thinking that they are right when they are being stupid and annoying!! but other than that, I honestly think this drama is an amazing one. It is a 45 episode drama, but the episodes used to go by so quickly so it didnt take too long to watch!!

08 - My Father Is Strange

Oh my goodness, this drama honestly completely surprised me. It made me laugh and cry and smile with happiness. The whole cast were amazing and played their roles so well, it was almost like they were a real family. It revolves around a family of five who seem to be living the perfect live. However, when someone turns up claiming to be the fathers son, it all gets disrupted. What I liked about this drama the most is that each of the family members have their own individual story, and focuses on them building new relationships. I loved Jung So Min and Lee Joon’s character in it so much that i genuinely want them to be together irl!!!

The only issue i find with it was that some of the side stories dragged too long and the in-laws of one of the daughter’s in the family were a bit annoying!! But that shouldnt put you off it the drama. Even though it is a 52 episode drama, like Smile, You, it went by quickly and is something I think both drama veterans and newbies will enjoy!!!

07 - Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

This was an absolutely beautiful, funny, and meaningful drama. The chemistry between the two characters was amazing, loved this couple!! That is not the only reason why I loved this drama. I honestly think the main reason I liked this drama is because it is the first one I have watched that has brought on the message on how serious mental health is, it doesn’t try to make a comedic or weakness element to it which i think it amazing!! The story revolves around a girl who is aiming to be a weightlifter and is studying at a sports university. It shows struggles with love, friendship, and mental health.

You know what, I honestly can’t think of a reason why you might not like it, other than that the female lead is a bit stubborn and foolish at times. It is a mood warmer and is certainly a must to watch.

06 - Secret Garden

Secret Garden was my first favourite drama. The plot is so good, and it thrilling and nerve-wrecking up to the end. It is another hate to love relationship drama, and features a lot of body swapping. The story focuses on the relationship of a stunt woman and a male ceo of a rich shopping centre who’s personality needs a bit of working on. The two end up drinking a potion that causes them to swap bodies when it rains. This leads to some funny, sad, and interesting moments between them. I loved the extended cast and their own stories, and it also features young Lee Jong Suk!!!!!!!

You may not like it if you dont like douchey male leads and cliches of evil mother in laws. It is a classic drama which I feel is almost wrong if you dont watch it!!!!

05 - Suspicious Partner

One of my favourites from 2017!!!! This drama is filled with funny moment, romance, and suspense!!!!! The Chemistry between Ji Chang Wook and Nam Ji Hyun was just unreal, I cant explain how much I love them!!!!!!! There was so much sexual tension and hot kisses!!! The story surrounds a woman who wants to be an attorney and a man who is a prosecutor. Everything changes for both of them after the female lead is framed for the murder of her cheating ex boyfriend. The acting in this drama was incredible, especially by the villain of the story, he was so good!!!

What was annoying about this drama is that there was a breaf period where the couple broke up when they didnt need to!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!! I was so annoyed, but it didnt ruin the drama for me, and overall it was such a good drama, the plot was on point and was so suspenseful on how they were going to proof the killer of murder!!

04 - Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

HOOOOOO BOI!!! This drama was a whirlwind of emotions, which is why I loved it!!!!! The first couple of episodes fooled me into thinking it was going to like a historical rom com, boy was i wrong!!!! If you are going to watch this prepare laugh a lot, cry a lot, feel betrayed by certain characters, and to fall in love with all of the princes!!!! If you do not know what this drama is about, well it revolves around a girl in the present day who when saving a boy from drowning is brought the the Goryeo times of Korea and finds out she is in the body of the cousin of the wife of one of the royal princes, and she soon has to find out that she has to adapt to royal life in korea!!!

I feel like if you research this that you will find a lot bad press about it, but don’t listen!!! It does have a rather different ending to what most thought it would have had, but you know what, i honestly believe that the ending was perfect, even though it broke my heart, it fit so well with how the story was told!!!! I do recommend in watching an up beat drama afterwords because its a sadden!!

03 - You’re Beautiful (joint 02)

The next 2 drama’s on this list are pretty much on a tie of second because of how much I loved them!!! You’re Beautiful is an absolute masterpiece in my opinion!!!! It is such a fun loving show, it made me laugh and smile so much, the chemistry between all of the characters was amazing and its nice to see that they are still all friends (this was made in 2009). The OST was so beautiful and catchy, I love Park Shin Hye’s singing!!! The plot consists of a nun in training who has to pretend to be her twin brother due to him having plastic surgery issues while getting ready to debut with as one of the biggest boy group as its new member. The lead of the group Tae Kyung and Mi Nam dont get on at the start due to several incidents, but after finding out she is a girl, he ends up with having to look after her in situations and both end up slowly liking each other.

Similar to playful kiss and secret garden, it holds a lot of cliche, and personally I did not the kind of love triangle and the second female lead, however I thought she was alright in the last episode. But overall, it is such an up beat drama. I watched this when I was going through a tough time in my life, and it really helped me get through some of my problems!!!!

02 - Pinocchio (joint 02)

I’ve got to say, I was so surprised by this drama!!! Everything about this drama is just ahhhh!!!! Park Shin Hye and Lee Jong Suk are my absolute favourites, they both perfectly acted their roles and their chemistry was beautiful!!! I recommend this drama with all my heart. Like I mentioned, I loved this main couple, but the reason why it gets my top pick was due to its plot. I loved the whole mystery element to it and how they used journalism to find the answer of how Dal-Po’s (ljs) father’s death was abused and caused the death and disappearance of his brother. It was an on edge, suspenseful drama, but also had its comedic elements. I absolutley loved the supporting cast, even the second male lead, which I rarely ever do!!

The only fault i find with this drama is that when I first watched it, i thought the first 3 or 4 episodes were quite slow, but now i find those as some of my favourites as it tells the past and how dal po was effected by the death of his father and how poor journalism changed his life!!! I cant tell you how many times I’ve watched this one, i remember the first time I watched it, I started it again straight after!!!

01- The Best Hit

As I am writing this, I can’t stop smiling!!! That is how happy The Best Hit made me!!! I found out about this drama a few days before the first episode aired due to the release of Beautiful Beautiful, a song for the soundtrack, and I instantly fell in love, not only with the song but also because it starred Yoon Shi Yoon who I absolutely adore!!!! There are so many reasons why I love this drama, so here are some: the 2 Days 1 Night references and cameos were amazing (the drama is directed by the past director of the variety show and Cha Tae Hyun who like YSY is a cast of the show). I liked how the plot of the drama was a mystery. No one knew where it was going, who was going to end up with who, what was going to happen to YSY’s character. I also liked how there wasnt really an evil character, and those who you thought were, they were just stupid. The plots consists of Hyun Jae (ysy) who is a famous pop star in 1993 time travelling to present day. He finds out that in 1994 he dissapeared, creating a conspiracy on if he is dead or alive. He finds out he has a son, and tries to help him achieve his dreams while falling in love along the way!!! It is so funny and sweet, I remember the waiting time each week for a new episode to arive!!!

What some people may not like about it is that there are sever continuity errors and areas which could have been developed further, but you have to hand them credit, it was the directorial debut drama for both PD Yoo and and Cha Taehyun!!! Honestly, this is one of my all time favourites and will all ways be!!! Please please please watch this drama!!!!!

SOME HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

The Ledgend of the Blue Sea

Oh My Ghostess

Boys Over Flowers

Flower Boys Next Door

Personal Preference

Because This is My First Life

While You Were Sleeping

#krdrama #2017 #playful kiss #smile you #my father is strange #weightlifiting fairy kim bok joo #secret garden #suspicious partner #Moon Lovers #you're beautiful #Pinnochio #the best hit #the legend of the blue sea #boys over flowers #oh my ghostess #flower boys next door #personal preferance #because this is my first life #while you were sleeping

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just-some-other-reviews · 6 years

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Because this drama aired at the same time as Witch’s Court – which was during my end of semester – I finished this drama only recently. Since in the evening I didn’t have the time to watch two episodes each Monday and Tuesday, I dropped this drama half-way, but I still finished it.

Because This Is My First Life is a romantic comedy. Yoon Ji-Ho is a woman in her thirties whose life is stagnating. She can’t do what she wants, she has to give up on love and ends up leaving her apartment – owned by her younger brother since she’s in an ultra-conservative family that believes in patriarchy – when her brother impregnates his girlfriend and decides to marry her. As she’s seeking a place where to stay, Yang Ho-Rang - one of her high school best friend with Woo Soo-Ji – informs her that an acquittance of her boyfriend, Nam Se-Hee – a man in his thirties that have no intention to get married –, seeks a roommate. She decides to move in with him.

As always, I tried to put the less spoilers it was possible in the review, but some might have escaped me, so please stay careful as you read.

So, you’ll have to forgive me, but the first episodes of that drama are quite far-away in my memory. I remember that I found it quite funny. The start falls more in humor, quiproquo and the “ridiculous” rather than the dramatic. Sure, the life of female lead is quite miserable, but it’s not bad – well not bad until the near-rape by one of her coworker (yes, I spoil that because I think it’s awful and it was for so long passed under silence). Overall, the story goes between humor and pure drama, which isn’t bad until the end when it goes full in drama and the plot becomes quite heavy. But, before talking about the ending, I should just finish with the beginning. The drama – as soon as the quiroquo is finished – the drama falls into a “marriage contract” one, who seems like a realistic progression for these two characters, even though I must admit that their marriage (and cohabitation aftermath) was quite weird. They are an unconventional couple, even though I must admit that such characters are often portrayed in marriage contract dramas. If their interactions with each other are weirdly funny, the interactions with the family of their “other half” is way more hilarious (the ones with their own family is just tragic because they have difficulties with their own parents). As the drama progresses, the hilarious first steps of their relationship, there is some jealousy, which is absolutely adorable because it falls right in a good progression. Rather than eternizing itself on like the hesitant first steps (or just the conflict between the characters like many marriage contract drama would), it goes quite quickly in the feelings. Once the characters start having feelings for each other, of course, you need to put drama. When they seem settle together, the intrigue finally appears. We learn why Se-Hee has given up on love and it’s heartbreaking. Such things happen in like the last four episodes, so I’ll just briefly pass over it to not spoil too much. This backstory is quite heavy and makes the last episodes a bit hard to bear (especially the last episode who is mostly drama when it comes to the main romance). But Se-Hee x Ji-Ho isn’t the only romance in the drama. Since it shows “unusual” couple there are also two side romance. One is between Sim Woo-Seok and Jang Ho-Rang who is the lovey-dovey couple who goes through a lot of shit because they have different goals in life. Most of the time their relationship is quite frustrating because it’s mostly composed of bickering, tears and break-up. It was probably the romance I liked the less, even though they were cute together. The second one is Woo Soo-Ji and Ma Sang-Goo who is the couple with a woman who doesn’t want to get serious and just wants to have sex. They turn a lot around each other (Sang-Goo being the one who’s attached to Soo-Ji), but they have quite a good progression and you gotta love how loyal Sang-Goo is and how little drama there is. So, overall, how was the drama? I think I talked way too much about the plot, but here is my conclusion. The drama contains a lot of indecisions, which gives him some lengths. The story progression is okay, but, at the same time, it wasn’t that good, but I can’t say it wasn’t realistic. But somehow, I thought it was quite good mostly because it gives an excellent life lesson. The ending says “life your love life how you want, even though it may be against the conventions in place”.

For the characters, there were a tone of them. A lot had a really small role and only appeared for a few episodes before vanishing for like half of the drama and reappearing at the end. For what it was of recurring characters, most of them have a good progression. Even though they are all adults in their thirties, they all mature a lot through the drama and learn either how to love or how to live with each other without trying to push their own expectations on the others (mostly for what it is of Sim Woo-Seok and Jang Hong-Ra). Even though they all start as quite typical characters, the vast majority of them gain a lot of depth through the episodes. The female lead was quite defeatist, and I thought that she was quite easily swayed by men. She seems a little bit naïve and I thought that she tended to get too involved in relationships too easily. Also, she tends to make regretful choices (I was so scared that she was going to be badly hurt because of them), which lead to some drama, but she has a great majority and deals with a lot of her situations with Se-Hee with a certain distance that, personally, made her so awesome, especially when she deals with the second female lead. Talking about the second female lead, I was quite pleased by her because rather than trying to put herself between the two leads she quickly realized their feelings for each other and decided that it wasn’t her right to get in-between them and gave up saying that her relationship with Se-Hee belonged to the past rather than the present. I believed for quite a time that Se-Hee was quite laidback which was a little bit annoying. He looked also quite insensitive, but since through the drama he was probably one of the character that progressed the most, I can’t bring such thing against him. Since he gained depths and things slowly explained his behavior, I strongly believe that he was one of the more complex character of the drama. For what it was of the second male lead, he was presented in such a creepy way that I couldn’t really appreciate it even if it was proved that he wasn’t as creepy as that later on. But, at the same time, he wasn’t appearing often, so I think that he wasn’t a really developed characters. I think that the characters of the main romance are probably the more developed one. Yes, the ones of the side romance are developed, but they don’t have the same depth. Also, their personality stays quite cliché through the drama. Jang Ho-Rang is the woman who absolutely wants to marry and don’t want to give up on her dream to have a family with a man that doesn’t seem really interested. Sim Woo-Seok is the boyfriend who feels unworthy of his girlfriend. Ma Sang-Goo is the smitten man who is ready to do everything for the woman he loves. Woo Soo-Ji is the woman (typically, it’s a man in drama) who doesn’t want to settle because she’s scared of love.

I’ll conclude here. This review is way too long. The plot would be a 7/10. The characters would be a 4/5 because, damn, the main characters were so good. The tearjerker factor would be a 1/5.

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chimfires · 7 years

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one // p.j chapter one

I always hated airports. Such a hassle to get form point A to point B. Add a passport, and you're signing up for a headache. I was flying from Philadelphia to Korea. South Korea. A new job opportunity. Helping ease the weight of a KPOP group, and helping with their choreography. I didn't look up the BTS boys, simply because I didn't wanna have any thoughts before meeting them. I didn't wanna have any expectations, simply because you could be one way on camera, and another way in person. I did this with every one of my clients, to give them a fair chance to impress me. One thing I knew..

These boys were talented.

My heart raced as I grabbed my suitcase and looked around. The manager sent a car for me, all I had to do was locate the driver. Handfuls of signs written in Korean flashed before my eyes. I took a deep breath. I knew little Korean, so I was screwed. Then, in English writing I saw my name.

Lia Castro.

I took a sign of relief. I slowly walked up to the man, and he smiled at me.

"Lia?" He asked. I slowly nodded. He motioned for me to follow him, and led me to a truck. He placed my suitcase in the trunk, and opened the door for me.

"Thank you" I said shyly. I got into the car, as did he, and he began driving. Silence filled the car and after a few moments he cleared his throat.

"Have you ever been to Korea?" He asked.

"No it's actually my first time.." I said

"Like what you see?" He asked. I nodded.

"It's beautiful. Question." I said.

"Ask away." He said.

"How are these boys? I haven't searched them or anything.." I said.

"They're.. entertaining. But genuinely talented" he said. I slowly nodded.

"Okay.." i said slowly.

------ We pulled up to a studio. Big hit was on the outside.

"They want me to leave you here, I'm going to take all your belongings to the dorm. Go ahead and get acquainted with everyone, give the woman at the desk your name, and she'll direct you." He said. I nodded.

"Thank you so much" I said. He smiled and I walked inside. I walked slowly up to the desk, and the woman gave me a warm smile.

"Hi.. I'm Lia.. Castro.." I said. She nodded and handed me a pass.

"Straight down the hall, make a left, first door." She said. So quick.

"Oh.. thank you." I said. She nodded and continued typing. I began walking down the hall, following her directions. I could hear music.. loud music.. and laughing. My heart raced. I walked to the door, and tried opening it.

Nothing.

"Min yoooongggiiii!!!" I heard a voice yell. What the hell? I knocked and a few seconds later, still heard nothing. The music blasting from inside the room. Frustrated I knocked once more, harder. I heard the music shut off, and whispering. Nothing. I knocked once more, getting slightly irritated, and in the midst of knocking, the door swung open. I jumped, dropping my hand.

"Hi." I said. The boy before me was tall, and lanky. I recognized him, because he was known as Mr. worldwide handsome, which I could see. Behind him, 6 more boys scattered about.

"Oh hello.. who are you? Did they let a fan in again?" He asked. I tried to keep from laughing and shook my head.

"No.. I'm lia? They hired me to help with choreography? Well not help, but make you guys even greater than you are?" I said. He looked back at the guys, and one looked up from his phone, holding a thumbs up.

"He sent an email out. Her names Lia.. Castro?" He said. I nodded. The boy looked down at me.

"Well hello. My name is Jin. I am big brother of group. Come in." He said. I walked in, beginning to feel uncomfortable, because there were seven gorgeous boys standing before me. Each one of their outfits were looks, and this was dance practice?

"Hi Jin.." I said. I looked over the group. The one who had the phone, cleared his throat.

"I'm min yoongi. But call me suga if that's easier." He said. I nodded.

"Nice to meet you.." I said. He was blonde, and once he smiled, he revealed a gummy smile that could make anyone melt. I looked over at the following member. He was younger in the face, but muscular. Dark hair, and a cute smile.

"This is jungkook. Golden maknae, international playboy. And... He's afraid of girls." Jin said. A smile grew onto my face.

"I don't bite. Trust me" I said. I heard him whisper a faint "Oh my god." Before waving. I smiled, returning the wave. He was adorable. A tall member stood next to him, he looked like he was a model. Mysterious almost. Brow hair framed his face.

"I'm taehyung.. or V.. yes V." He said, holding up two fingers to make a V. The boys began dying and I nodded.

"Hi v" I said smiling.

"I'm rapmonster. Rap mon. Nam joon. Your future husband, whatever you prefer" he said. The boys hollered. I felt my cheeks heat up. The driver warned me that they would flirt, especially since I was foreign to them.

"Right.. hi.." I said.

"I'm your hope.. your angel.. J-Hopeeeeee" the following member said. I knew I was gonna love him.

"J-Hope.. right they want me to work a lot with you and.."I looked over at the last member. He was standing by the speaker, phone in hand. Dark hair, parted off the middle, framing his face. Full lips. And a cute little nose. It was almost like he took my breath away.

"Jimin? Am I correct?" I asked. He put his phone down, and walked over to me. He took my hand and shook it, never breaking eye contact.

"Yes. Jimin. Nice to meet you.." he said. A small smile growing onto his face. I felt my face grow warm, warmer than when Rap mon flirted with me.

"You too.." I said in almost a whispered.

"Well it's clear she's off limits." Suga whispered. The guys began laughing, and jimin smiled bit his lip, and walked to his phone. I took a second to let my heart rate slow before I looked at the group.

"So who have you worked with? How do we know you're good? No offense.." j hope said. I shook my head.

"It's not problem, i get it. You could literally look me up on YouTube. I major in ballet, and hip hop. Dabbled into different cultures of dance.." I started.

"Funny. Jimin did ballet." Jin said. I could see Jimin raising his fist in the air, almost as in to signify a victory.

"I've worked with many household names. To name a few. Selena Gomez. Ariana grande. And Justin Bieber." I said. I heard a gasp, and my eyes focused on jungkook.

"Justin Bieber?" He asked. I nodded.

"And how old are you?" V asked. I smiled.

"I'm 20... in American years so to you guys I think I'm 22?" I said. They began speaking in Korean and rap mon cleared his throat.

"Guys that's rude.." he said. They all said quick apologies and suga spoke up.

"How do we know you're honest?" He teased.

"Well. Look me up." I said. The boys quickly crowded around on the floor, surrounding a laptop. After bickering on how to spell my name, (instead of asking) they found me. My most viewed video was my showcase as a senior. Ballet and modern piece. They watched video after video, and then 7 pairs of eyes stared at me.

"Work with me. I suck at dancing." Jin said.

"No no me." Rap mon said. He and jin began arguing, and I laughed because Jin was speaking so fast, that his head was going up and down, causing his hair to move.

"Don't worry. I'll work with each of you, and if I'm liked enough then I won't be going anywhere anytime soon" I said.

"Oh trust me, you're liked enough.." I heard someone said.

"I just ask one thing." I said.

"Yes?" They asked.

"Please dot underestimate me. I've been underestimated by many artist because of, 1. My age. And 2. The fact that I'm a female." I said.

"Don't worry. We won't" Jin said. I nodded.

"Good." I said.

"Well it's time to go. Where are you staying?" J hope asked. I handed him the paper with my address and his eyes lit up.

"You're in our dorm building across from us" he said. A devilish smile grew onto his face.

"... yay?" I asked. They all began laughing.

"We do prank wars. You're a fresh victim." Jungkook said. I was surprise he spoke.

"So fun." I said. Little did they know that I was a pro at it. I'll let them think I'm helpless.

"Do you wanna ride with us?" They asked. I shrugged.

"I guess? I got left here by the driver.." I said. They nodded, and led me to a car. There as only room for them, so suga sat on Jin's lap.

"You're lucky you're nice." He said. I smiled and answered small questions the whole ride.

----- Oh helllooooo! Welcome to my story. The story is starting in September of 2016, so before they won the billboard award and when they were a tad younger. I hope you guys enjoy this story! (also her names Lia, like me because I started this on Wattpad, so yeah lol) & alsoooooo @everythingismixed-up advised me to post so yeah! I hope you guys enjoy. If you like, or are curious as to how things play out message me & I’l update ASAP.

~lia

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loflol · 7 years

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Kdrama recs

some kdrama recs and just my thoughts. Scroll to ending for only names of the kdramas

Most of these kdramas are fairly new and the actors are fairly young (no lead over 30) because that’s just my taste in kdramas...?

Strong woman Do Bong Soon

10/10 would recommend, funny af, Park hyung sik is our favorite extra™ smol bean and Park Bo young is our favorite superhero who puts a lot of people in the hospital (it’s okay though). And then there’s Jisoo who’ll make us cry once again bc he just always does (I didn’t actually cry though but a lot of other people did)

EXTRA:

Most fluffy romantic dates ever?

Transexuell character who steals every scene? (He’s only in the last episodes though :(((()(he says “I’m a lady!” once)

Gay characters?

(commenters on viki are hilarious af btw)

Pinocchio

Favorite series ever bc my tears are still streaming down my face. Strongly recommend. Everyone should watch this show, especially if you want a good cry. I swear to god, I cried three times during just the first episode and I NEVER cry during the first episode

Lee Jong Suk is perfect as always and plays a witty character with high IQ and Park Shin Hye is just Park Shin Hye, there’s nothing more to say about that. Addictive af.

(I think there was only 2 episodes where I didn’t cry)

Doctor stranger

Lee Jung Suk is back again(bc he’s my favorite actor so just deal with it) and once again you’ll probs cry during the first episode. This series kinda throws you through an emotional rollercoaster and is highly addictive (aren’t all kdramas though??)

Lee Jong suk plays Park Hoon who escapes from North korea after having been captured (?) there for most of his youth, during his time there he was thought to become a surgeon and then shit happens. The surgeries (even though fake) will probably leave you with goosebumps ad tears

(His hair during the time when he’s finally back in south korea is amazing and I support it 100% but please don’t fight me on this bc i’m not very strong)

This show is really good but i don’t really like the ending, but still really worth the time!

Small tip: Don’t eat while watching (I did, but whatever)

The Heirs

First kdrama I ever watched and i was forever hooked. This is the typical rich boy, poor girl kdrama with a love triangle and second lead syndrome and maybe you’ll cry because of it. Don’t forget the awkward (but precious) english and the wrist graps. Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye and Kim Woo Bin are in it and do you really have to say more? And Park Hyung Sik is also in it and his role is funny af and i love him, and then there’s CNBlue’s Kang Min Hyuk who plays an adorable character who deserves more recognition

This show is either super angsty or pure crack depending on how you see it.

~ LooOOvEEeeE iS ThEe MooOOMEEEEEEEEEEenT~

The Legend Of The Blue Sea

i’m still laughing and crying and everything else because here you once again got an amazing show and amazing characters and wow, I love this series sooooo much. If you like mermaids, fate and conmen then this is the show for you. Here we have Lee Min Ho who is more amazing than usual (and his hair is probably at it’s peak in this series according to me) and then we have Jun Ji Hyun who’s brilliant in her acting (as expected) and we also have CROSS GENE’s Shin Won Ho who plays a nerdy quiet hacker and i absolutely love him in this series

I know i’m bad at reviews but just watch this show

School 2015: Who are you

This show…. Just, prepare for the biggest second lead syndrome ever. This show also has bullying, and a suicide attempt while also having a mystery. It’s still a high school drama though. The first episodes are really addictive but i’m still kinda mad about the ending, it’s still worth watching of course. Here you’ll also find BtoB’s Yook Sung Jae, and let me just tell you; He’ll make you cry. The lead is Kim So Hyun and she is amazing, and there’s also Nam Joo Hyuk.

tbh, I don’t really remember much of this series, it’s good but it’s not the best

Page turner

Okay, so this series is perfect if you want some drama during just a short time. It’s only three episodes long but manages to still be amazing. Ji Soo plays his role outstanding, like, he’s just amazing in this series, and it’s really different from all his other works. Then there’s once again Kim So Hyun in the lead who plays a piano player who comes in an accident. Shin Jae Ha holds the last main and some people don’t like his character in this drama but i’m still kinda crying because of him??

Cheer up! (Sassy Go Go)

Okay, so I liked this series, it’s certainly not the best according to me but still totally worth the watch. It’s a cheerleader drama but it deals with some heavy issues, that can be portrayed a bit wrongly, I still think they did an amazing work with dealing with them, but if you watch on viki, then don’t have comments on in the end because they’re kinda horrible.

This show made me cry, not as much as Pinocchio or Doctor stranger but still. The second lead syndrome is kinda big in this one as well. We have Jung Eun Ji, Lee Won Keun and Ji Soo in the leads and then there’s also Vixx’s N.

The show contains self harm and an attempted suicide.

---

since i’m still new to kdrama i haven’t been able to finish anymore than these (I started watching around a month ago and this up here is literally around 100 hours so don’t judge me too much) here’s a list of all the other kdramas i’ve started but not finished

My love from the star

Aliens and amazing, perfect leads

Suspicious partner

Okay, so this show is amazing and you should already be watching it, it’s on air right now

I hear your voice

Really good, Lee Jong Suk is in it so what do you expect

School 2013

So this is Kim Woo Bin and Lee Jong Suk and it’s supposed to have the best bromance ever witnessed in the history of kdramas so give it a try

W - Two worlds

This one is really interesting and once again we have Lee Jong Suk who plays a cartoon character in a famous webtoon, but when the creator tries to kill off Lee Jong Suk’s characters life shit happens. This one is actually kinda sad as well but it’s also really really funny

Orange marmalade

Vampires if you like that (I didn’t but I didn’t give it a real chance)

Good Doctor

This show is definitely worth the watch, it’s painful to watch, not because it’s bad, but because the main character deals with Autism while trying to be a doctor. It’s a very sad story as far as I’ve watched it, but it’s really wonderful

Healer

So this one is really good if you like action, i’ve almost finished it so just give this one a try

Descendants Of The Sun

Military and doctors, this series is really good and emotional. The leads are also really good.

The Best Hit

Also still on air, good series but kinda cracky? One of the leads are an old (but young) kpop idol and one of them is a trainee who doesn’t succeed. But he has rap in an episode which is perfect and i’m not sure of many times i replayed it

Moorim school

This one is kinda good but i cringed too much that i kinda gave up, it’s still good though and it’s a fantasy story I guess, and one of the main leads are Vixx’s Hongbin so worth checking out

Goblin

Okay so this one is a story you should actually really check out since a lot of people love it, I wasn’t the biggest fan though but I didn’t really give it a real chance

Yong Pal

Loved the beginning, once again there’s doctors but not really doctors, and i absolutely adored the first five episodes but then it got kinda dragged out and i had school and everything, but also totally worth checking out, it’s good, i promise

Doctors

this one was a bit confusing and I didn’t even finish the first episode but it’s worth checking out, Park Shin Hye is in it so…

Cheese In The Trap

I got stalker vibes from it but a lot of people love it, so check it out

Blood

Also vampires but I don’t really know much more than that

Innocent Man

This one is about revenge i think, but i’m not sure as always, didn’t watch much of it

Dream High idk

kinda liked the beginning but became bored, is about trainees i guess but there’s also drama and shit

Hi! school: Love on

didn’t finish the first episode but it’s an angel in it I think, I don’t really remember anything

TOP RECS (Finished kdramas)

Pinocchio

Strong woman Do Bong Soon

The legend of the blue sea

Doctor stranger

Cheer up (Sassy go go)

Heirs

Page turner

School 2015: Who are you

TOP RECS (Unfinished kdramas)

Suspicious partner

My from the star

Healer

W- Two worlds

The best hit

Descendants of the sun

School 2013

I hear your voice

Good doctor

Yong pal

Innocent man

TOP RECS (A lot of people loved it, but i didn’t really give it a try)

Cheese in the trap

Goblin

TOP RECS (the idk)

Dream High

Hi! school: Love on

Orange mermalade

Blood

Moorim school

I’ll probably make a more serious one somewhere in the future

#Kdrama #Kdrama recs #kdrama rec #kdrama recommendations

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thekoreanlass · 6 years

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Live, Love, Laugh

Jugglers is a romantic comedy drama that centers on the life of jugglers in the office, or so Jwa Yoon Yi (Baek Jin Hee) coined the term for secretaries like her, that offer their life just to perfectly serve their bosses. Because secretaries need to know everything about their bosses and have to do it perfectly to make their bosses look good in the public eye, juggling task (aka multitasking) is their specialty.

Of course, what will go wrong if you have the perfect sidekick with you? None! They are like both their bosses’ strength and weakness because they knew them like the back of their hand.

This approach into tackling the stressful work of secretaries in the corporate world is quite refreshing, for the fact that they have not once been the center of a drama. It’s always the CEO or the boss that is under the spotlight and the secretary is always just like a lost puppy following them.

In this drama, as an example, Jwa Yoon Yi represents the legion of secretaries out there that has the same job description as her. You think that her jobs is simple–to keep her boss’ schedule organized. However, we see in this drama something more than the normal job of secretaries. Besides that, she serves her boss food and drinks, make sure that she’s present at meetings to take down minutes for him, she attends to anyone who wants to speak to him, accepts calls for him. More than that, she also needs to sort out his own personal matters, like making sure it doesn’t get out he’s dating different girls per day even if she has ‘Misery’ for his wife, buys gifts for his women, bring the best suite and tie for him and worse sacrifice for him.

Bong Jang Woo (Choi Dae Chul), her boss, is the ultimate asshole. In most dramas and in reality, he is the perfect example of the boss you don’t want to ever cross with in your life, especially when he stabs you on the back and pins you as his scapegoat away from an impending doom. Eventually, Yoon Yi loses her position as his secretary because of him, but that won’t be revealed until later in the drama.

Anyway, the good thing about her removal from position is that it’s only temporary (and well at least she doesn’t have to deal with the asshole anymore even if it’s sad that she worked for him for so long and this is all she gets from him? No thank you?). She spends her days uselessly and lazily while waiting for another secretary posting. Since this is the only job she knows how to do flawlessly, she is devastated after one failure. But I think I understand how that feels even if I’ve never been fired. It’s just that, if I were in her shoes and I am at that age, I would also think hard about what I am going to do next after everything–title, position, salary–has just been stripped off me.

Her luck pushes through, though, when she’s hired to be the secretary of the anti-social managing director of YB’s Video Department, Nam Chi Won (Choi Daniel). Chi Won, however, never had a secretary in his entire career and doesn’t plan on having anytime soon. He’s forced to take her in, however, after the appointment has been unexpectedly made (all thanks to the plotting of a certain villain named Jo Sang Moo (In Gyo Jin), who hates Nam Chi Won with a passion) and with Yoon Yi’s persistent personality and dedication for her work, it’s become hard to really kick her out.

Their relationship gets even better, despite the constant pushing and pulling namely because of Chi Won’s cold personality and the wall he built around him, when Chi Won starts living in the old, ratty house that Yoon Yi owns after seeing a lease notice at the gate of her house one night. Thanks to Yoon Yi’s mother who is desperate to get her married–and well her friends who did the posting for her–and her persuasive conditions for the house, Chi Won is convinced to moved in. After all, the rent is cheap and he’s most definitely broke after just getting a divorce. Plus, the house used to be his childhood home, but after a certain fire incident where he got his trauma from, I guess, he can’t live in the house anymore.

This turn of events may not be that original, but oh well, who doesn’t want any cliche development like this? Wherein they live under the same roof and eventually begin a fluffy journey of falling in love with each other while finding themselves?

Chi Won’s personality may be prickly and he doesn’t think he is wrong or that he needs anybody’s help, but he realizes soon that Yoon Yi’s generous personality, her efforts of knowing him to serve him better and her devotion to her role as his secretary won’t ever changer any time soon. She eventually ruins his defenses one by one and Chi Won finds himself vulnerable to her, yet he learns to trust her. And it means a lot to him, knowing that he thought he’s a lone island for a very long time. Now, there’s a person he can rely on. And Yoon Yi finds herself in a better position, because despite Chi Won’s prickly personality, he’s not cheap like Bong Jang Woo. In fact, he’s a million times better than him, because he cares for her.

Through thick and thin, somehow, they manage to work things out together and despite their obvious differences, they admit to their feelings eventually. I guess, I like that part the most, especially when Chi Won came for her one day with an umbrella in hand to shield her under the rain. That is one of their moments when I feel like falling in love is a good thing, but it is all the more better when he’s not ashamed to tell everybody ‘she’s my girl’.

That’s probably what I like the most about Chi Won. Despite him being stingy, he’s a cute geek who loves quotes from manhwas and is someone not scared to show the world his love for Yoon Yi, even if everybody else is saying something else. That’s probably also one of the charms of this drama; unlike other dramas that start to have problems after a boss and their secretary is found out having an affair or relationship, they resort to breaking up because ‘it’s the best for them’. This cute couple is different because they rowed through the tides together and soon came out victorious together.

Add to the mix some crazy but funny villains like Bong Jang Woo and Jo Sang Moo (along with Line 1 and Line 2 who’s working for him to spy on Nam Chi Won) and their plots to overthrow Chi Won, and you get to pee your pants in anticipation of what’s to happen next, but also feel calm at the same time, knowing there’s always some sort of miracle that will happen and their plans will just backfire.

Some power struggle here and company politics there, but it’s nice that we know the protagonists will always be the winners. This level of conflict doesn’t make the story ultimately realistic, but is optimistic in a good way that it doesn’t make the drama frustrating or hard to watch.

With warring bosses, of course, it also test the friendship between two secretaries: Yoon Yi and Ma Bo Na. Bo Na is Jo Sang Moo’s secretary. She is also very capable like Yoon Yi, but because Bo Na also wants to do better like Yoon Yi and move up the ladder, she becomes blinded by envy and Jo Sang Moo’s promise to bring her up with him in a better place in the company. This causes a rift between the two and Bo Na tries to help Jo Sang Moo oust Nam Chi Won out of the company for calling out to corrupt officials and attacking his own company, YB.

Bo Na, however, isn’t that bad. Yoon Yi knows of this and believes her friendship with Bo Na is just as important as Chi Won is, that’s why despite their misunderstanding that rooted from Bo Na’s envy towards her, Yoon Yi understands Bo Na’s situation and still comes to visit Bo Na’s shoemaker father, who is deaf. Bo Na is so shaken upon witnessing this, that she surrenders back to friendship. She realizes that Yoon Yi sincerely cares about her and that she’s aware who really Bo Na is.

And through Bo Na’s help, Jo Sang Moo is thrown to jail after his corruption is exposed. Soon after, everyone works to oust Bo Jang Woo (who I think is worse than Sang Moo) with the help of his wife, ‘Misery’. Jang Woo is both Chi Won and Yoon Yi’s biggest nemesis and with the level of his villain-ness in the story, I guess, he just deserves to be punished like he had in the last few scenes. That was totally hilarious! Bo Jang Woo being dragged out by Misery like a defeated-looking puppy.

Bo Yool and Jung Ae

So, I ultimately left out this pairing for this reason. I think they deserve a corner of their own in this post, especially that they also played a huge part in the story of Jugglers.

Hwangbo Yool (Lee Won Geun), is the grandson of the pioneer of YB. He’s also the cool, kid at heart managing director of YB Sports, that considers Nam Chi Won as his brother from another mother and follows him like a lost puppy despite Chi Won’s constant attempts to shoo him off. Because he’s high maintenance and has many unreasonable demands from his employees, all of his past secretaries quit.

Then Wang Jung Ae (Kang Hye Jung), one of Yoon Yi’s closest friends, appears in his office one day–pretending to be her younger sister–as his next secretary, to hide the fact that she’s already thirty-ish and a divorced mother of one.

Because of Jung Ae’s difficult living conditions, she is forced to run away from loan sharks–which her ex-husband is in debt to, take care of her difficult son alone, pretend like she’s a different person to get a decent job that will earn her a living, and adjust to a working environment, which she’d been pulled away from for far too long after being a dedicated housewife for almost half her age.

Jung Ae doesn’t know anything. She’s aware how hard it is to be a secretary and cope with the demands of being one, but because she needs to learn it as soon as she can, she pushes herself to work harder, At the same time, Bo Yool sees this hardworking side of her that he grows fond of Jung Ae.

Jung Ae, on the other hand, is a true mother at heart, and this is often seen whenever she unknowingly takes care of Bo Yool during his not-so-great days. She dotes on him and does things for him that his dead mother can no longer do for him, eventually making Bo Yool open his heart for her.

Their pairing could have been something great despite the age gap, because they truly have good chemistry, that is why I still wonder up to this day what Bo Yool really feels for Jung Ae, since the ending provides us answers how they setup a small company, with Jung Ae still Bo Yool’s secretary just that she’s gotten seriously better at it, but doesn’t elaborate whether they are just truly partners in crime or there’s really room for a potential romantic spark between them, which we were lead to believe in the beginning.

But oh well, maybe it’s not their intention to really make the two of them fall in love with each other since the story clearly emphasizes Jung Ae’s instincts to take care of Bo Yool arising from having a son, but it would have been really great if there’s something more to that, right?

Nonetheless, both of them are really great people whether as a pair or as individuals who rooted also for bot Chi Won and Yoon Yi.

Friendship overcomes it all

I love how the drama portrayed the friendship of four individuals–Yoon Yi, Bo Na, Jung Ae and Kyung Rye–who stood by each others’ side no matter what they go through. It made friendship mean so much more than just all laughs and talks to ‘we also fight and make up’.

Although they have to show it in a much intense way, wherein we start to question whether friendship can be restored or not, I think that it’s good to see something different and raw and real. Seeing friends fight for the same reason that Yoon Yi and Bo Na did makes it really frustrating (I even considered slapping Bo Na for acting whiny), but seeing them make up and learn to forgive and accept each other again touches me, knowing that not every friendship is as strong as what they have.

Not many friends in dramas return as friends. Most of the time, one of them continues to back stab the other and eventually ends up being the protagonist’s worst enemy.

But at least, Jugglers is one of those dramas that shows us friendship is just as important as a happy ending is.

Over all

Romance in the office, like what Jugglers is besides it tackling about the work life of secretaries, isn’t very original–‘we’ve already seen that before in so many dramas–but they add their own flavor to it and make it their own. So, instead of feeling annoyed by the cliche, I feel like I am seeing something new. I can’t find any ill bone to it to the point that I can criticize the drama like I normally do with the others.

It’s so funny, heart warming, and real to some extent that I didn’t get tired watching it. In fact, at some point I got addicted to it that I even watch it while doing something else. It made my heart happy because it’s fluffy and light and I seriously don’t have any problem if the villain is as lame as Jo Sang Moo is. That just makes everything better for me, knowing I don’t have to see someone dying or getting kicked out because of abuse of power.

Plus, the characters’ chemistry with each other is so prominent that I feel like they must have had a fun time filming Jugglers, which is a good thing if it truly is the case. Furthermore, everyone’s just so good at their role that it made me believe Yoon Yi and Chi Won are really so in love, that Bo Yool likes Jung Ae to some extent, that Sang Moo is evil but is also just a victim of power.

The sequence, pacing and story flow, too, is very solid. There’s not too many strong conflicts, but I guess that’s why this is a rom-com. You get the lesser villains at least and win in the end.

Over all, I can say that I can recommend this to everyone. The drama tackles about office life and romance, which I know sounds boring most of the time, but I think you can’t just underestimate something not unless you flip the cover and begin learning something about it. Because who knows? Maybe you’re missing out on something big already if you don’t try, right?

Rating Jugglers, I give it 4.7 out of 5.

Backtrack: Review on ‘Jugglers’ — Juggling with Love and Life while having a good Laugh Live, Love, Laugh Jugglers is a romantic comedy drama that centers on the life of jugglers…

#2017 #Baek Jin Hee #Choi Daniel #comedy #drama #english #Jugglers #K-drama #KBS2 #review #romance #thekoreanlass

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