#s1 nailed the ensemble vibe

[itsonlystrange]

Since it’s the end of November, (literally 11:55pm as I’m writing this)

Here are my stranger things Hot Takes for No Nuance November!

Please respect my opinion :)

1. Billy is a racist and I don’t understand how ppl love him so much. He shouldn’t be idolized at all.

2. Steve would never date Billy after Billy assaulted Lucas, Max, and verbally assaulted almost everyone else. They’re enemies. Not enemies to lovers, just enemies

3. Btw Billy is dead lol, atleast I think he is.

4. Mike loves Will more than Will loves Mike

5. Season 3 wasn’t scary at all and I honestly wasn’t on the edge of my seat like i had been in prior seasons

6. Season 2 is superior. Not because of Byler. But because of the development we get, Bob, Max, autumn vibes, El being her own person, Kali, etc.

7. Season 3 is my least favorite. It just really missed the nail on the head for me.

8. Mileven would have been cute if season 3 never existed. I was fine with them being canon but then s3 ruined them

9. Hopper and Joyce would never work out as a married couple irl

10. Hopper was a horrible character In season 3 and a misogynist

11. Bob only died so that Joyce could end up with Hopper

12. Lucas is the most underrated party member

13. Lucas is Lowkey a misogynist

14. I love Lumax but it’s toxic that they’ve broken up six times in 6 months. I can’t see them getting married or being end game

15. We deserve Dr Brenner flash backs

16. Season 2 had the best monsters

17. Will’s bowl cut is adorable

18. El shouldn’t be in a relationship when she didn’t even know what a friend was when she was 12

19. Nobody is the main character. It’s an ensemble show

20. If el didn’t have powers most of the fandom wouldnt like her as much as they do

21. El is a phenomenal character but she gets stunted when she’s with Mike

22. If any of the kids are gonna do drugs, it’s gonna be Max or Mike

23. Will already has powers. Sensing the MF is literally a superpower how are we all ignoring that

24. Byler isn’t just a “fanon” ship that could never be canon. It has a huge possibility and it’s v possible.

25. Why does suzie even exist in the first place??

26. Dustin is the smartest out of the party

27. Dustin and Steve In s3 was basically just comic relief and I really wish they dug deeper into their characters

28. S1 e4, s2e6, s3e7 are the best episodes of stranger things

29. Season 1 was the scariest, season 2 was the most captivating, and season 3 was the saddest

30. I want Mike to be the next one to get possessed

31. Nancy can be a bit of a priss and she acts v privileged at times

32. The best sibling is Jonathon 100%

33. The best mom is Joyce

34. The best dad is Hopper (if that counts?)

35. Erica deserves to be more than just comic relief. She became a little repetitive

36. Season 3 feels more of a parody or a spin off instead of an actual continuation of seasons 1 and 2

37. The aesthetic and colors of s3 DO NOT fit the show at all. It felt so cheesy

38. Max is bisexual

39. Mike and Will are gay. I’m still unsure if Mike is bisexual or not but for now I believe he is gay

40. If el can’t decide what type of clothes she likes she shouldn’t be able to decide if she likes mike

41. One of the kids will die by the end of season 5. I have a feeling it’ll be El or Dustin

42. One of the teenagers will die by the end of s4 I think. (Robin, Steve, Nancy, Jonathon)

43. Every couple has had a cute moment but that doesn’t mean they aren’t toxic for eachother

44. Mike loves el but he isn’t IN love with her

45. El doesn’t have to die for Mileven to not be end game

46. I don’t think any of the Byers will die ever. I could be wrong, but they’ve just been through so much already.

47. Ok maybe Lonnie will die

48. My least favorite sibling is probably Erica or Holly

48 my least favorite mom is probably Terry- just bc we don’t know a ton abt her

49. My least favorite dad is ofc Lonnie

50. El Max was one of the best friendships of s3

51. El and hoppers reunion will be better than Hopper and Joyce’s

52. El and Max’s reunion will be better than Mike and El’s

53. Mike and Will’s reunion will be better than Mike and El’s

54. The four main boys reunion will be adorable oh my god

55. Mike is Christian, Lucas is catholic, Dustin is atheist, Max is atheist/Catholic, El is atheist, and Will is Jewish/Christian/atheist. Idk those are the vibes I get

56. Lucas and Dustin are straight

57. And finally, WE NEED MORE PETS IN STRANGER THINGS. GIVE DUSTIN A NEW CAT

[mego42]

Show recommendations with even a sliver of the Brio chemistry to tide us over until June 24th?

this was actually a weirdly hard question! brio’s chemistry is truly next level and it turns out, upon review, i don’t generally go in for contemporary dramas so much? i’m a genre baby and mostly stick to comedy for contemp. 

that said, i have a couple!

UnREAL (s1, specifically)

full disclaimer, I quit watching this show after s2 bc it (imo) lost the magic of s1 and made some choices i really didn't love HOWEVER i heard it recaptures it in s3/4 so one day i’ll go back. either way, season 1? AMAZING. pitch perfect dramedy. it’s a fictionalized version of bts on shows like The Bachelor and the chemistry between the (morally ambiguous) main character Rachel and her (even more morally ambiguous) mentor Quinn? WHEW. spoilers, it goes untapped (war crime, tbh), so it’s all subtext, but they nail that balancing act of we're in love but also a little in hate, but mostly in love, but also i will feed you to the wolves if i have to back and forth that beth and rio have.

You’re The Worst

two absolutely terrible but also compelling and eventually deeply sympathetic  LA hipsters (i know but the show continually roasts all of them) falling in completely unwilling love over the course of 5 seasons. idk if i would call this a dramedy as much as a comedy that does deep dives into some heavy topics in impressively multi-faceted ways while never losing the charming comedy vibe. season 2 features hands down the best look at depression (both living it and loving someone with it) i’ve ever seen. also, the supporting ensemble? GOD! TIER! i love them more than the main characters. 

The Americans

fair warning, this show is slow but it is SO GOOD and the leads have such amazing chemistry they ended up falling in love and getting married, hahahaha. it’s about two russian spies who have been undercover as married for so long the lines are blurred beyond all get out. the whole show is a masterpiece in tension and build and the ship is SO deliciously complicated and snarled up in real/not real and i love it. this one also takes place in the 80s so i’m probs stretching the definition of contemporary BUT it’s real world and involves cat/mouse crime games (just of the espionage variety) so i’m counting it.

other assorted shows that are absolutely not anything at all like good girls but i still think everyone should watch and they give good ship:

Chuck (this show is a DARLING with a god-tier ship, v nice though so their tension is of a different variety, and an incredibly found family ensemble)

Black Sails (everyone is queer, everyone is treacherous, everyone is eminently shippable, everyone really really really needs a fucking shower. god tier storytelling. s1 is really brutal on the sexual violence front but if you can get past that, it kicks off a truly incredible character arc and the show also chills out on that going forward)

12 Monkeys (this show is depressingly underrated considering how amazing it is. it’s 4 seasons long and they found out during s2 they were getting cancelled and spent the next two seasons building to what is hands down the best series finale i think i’ve ever seen. god tier found family, has a main ship that i didn't get that into, i was all about the non-canon but should’ve been goddammit ships, but other people go HAM for it)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (look in hindsight this show is problematic to the Nth degree but it’s also v good and does angsty ship like none other. plus it’s a formative part of who i am so i can’t like, not rec it)

[drivingsideways]

k-drama rec list

Prior to 2020 I’d maybe watched 2 k-dramas in my entire life, but this year I got sucked in, thanks to some great recs, and y’know, *gestures * everything.  

I think I’d held off watching kdramas because my impression of them was limited to romances that I didn’t enjoy at all. But this was the year I discovered the equivalent of “gen fic” kdrama- dramas that had wonderful ensemble casts, strong story lines that weren’t entirely romance focused and also a variety in terms of themes and styles. A big plus was that I found so many of these dramas had women leading the writers’ room, and seeing the effect of that in the story telling. (Notable exceptions: a certain “star” writer who should please stop inflicting her badly written, formulaic crap on the world, yes Kim Eun-Sook, I mean you, and whoever wrote that trashfire Flower of Evil)

So here I am with my own rec list! Caveat- these are mostly not the dramas released in 2020, I’m still playing catch up! :)

Under the cut for length

My Mister/ My Ahjussi  (2018, Written by Park Hae-Young, Directed by Kim Won-Seok, starring Lee Sun-kyun and Lee Ji-eun aka IU) 

This was definitely my absolute favourite of the shows I watched this year across western/ asian media. It’s a story about the thread that binds us all and the ineffability of human connection. It’s also a story that deconstructs ideas of masculinity and honour and shame in a non-western context, but with an extremely compassionate touch.  It’s a story that doesn’t shy away from showing the consequences of material and spiritual poverty; and how one can so easily feed into the other. It’s a love story that isn’t a romance, except that it’s a Romance. It’s about finding salvation in one another and in the kindness of strangers.  It’s about choosing life, and picking yourself up off the floor to take that one last step and then the next and then the next. The one quibble I have with the series is that it could have been better paced, it does get extremely slow after the half way mark. But god, do they land the ending. Both Lee Sun-kyun and IU turn in absolutely heartbreaking performances, and fair warning, be prepared to go through an entire box of tissues watching this series. 

Life  (2018,  written by Lee Soo-yeon  and directed by Hong Jong-chan, starring Lee Dong-wook, Cho Seung-woo, Won Jin-ah, Lee Kyu-hyung, Yoo Jae-myung and Moon So-ri.)

Medical dramas are very much not my thing, and I wouldn’t have taken a chance on it except that @michyeosseo said I should, and she was right! It’s a medical drama in the sense that it’s set in a hospital, but rather than a “case-fic” format, this is actually a sharp commentary on the corporatization of health care, and the business of mixing, well, money and what should be a fundamental human right. Writer Lee Soo-yeon was coming off the global success of Stranger/Secret Forest S1 when this aired, so I understand that expectations were probably sky-high, and people were disappointed when this show didn’t give them the adrenaline rush that they wanted. On the other hand, I thought that this outing was really much more nuanced in terms of the politics and also how the ending doesn’t allow you the luxury of easy-fixes. This show has a great ensemble cast, and while it took me a while to get used to Lee Dong-wook’s woodenness (i ended up calling him mr.cadaver after watching this and was surprised to learn that he’s very popular?), in the end I was quite sold on his version of angry angst-bucket elder-sibling Dr.Ye Jin-woo. His best scenes were with Lee Kyu-hyung who turns in a lovely, achy performance as the paraplegic Dr. Ye Seon-woo who just wants to live a normal life. The love story between the two brothers is actually the emotional backbone of the story, and I think they landed that perfectly. 

My one quibble with writer-nim is that she ended up writing in a forgettable and somewhat (for me at least) uncomfortable romance between the characters played by Won Jin-ah and Cho Seung-Woo. I think part of my uncomfortable-feeling was that I got the strong sense that the writer herself didn’t want to write this romance, it was as if she was being made to shoe-horn it in for Studio Reasons, and she basically grit her teeth and did the worst possible job of it.  I do wish we could have absolutely had the OT3 of my dreams: Moon So-ri/Cho Seung-woo/Yoo Jae-myung like, c’mon TV gods MAKE IT HAPPEN, just...look at them!!!! 

Anyway, that apart, I think this was a very engaging series, and by engaging, I also mean thirst-enabling, see below. 

 Stranger (aka Secret Forest  or Forest of Secrets) S1 & 2 : (2017-, Written by Lee Soo-yeon, directed by 

2017′s smash hit aired a much anticipated second season in 2020, and I managed to catch up just in time to watch that live, so that was thrilling :D . Writer Lee Soo-yeon  mixes up thriller/office comedy/political commentary in an ambitious series. I think S1 is more “exciting” than S2 in terms of the mystery and pacing,  but S2 is far more dense and interesting in terms of political commentary because it takes a long hard look at institutional corruption and in true writer-nim fashion doesn’t prescribe any easy solutions. Anyway, please enjoy public prosecutor Cho Seung-woo and police officer Bae Doona as partners/soulmates kicking ass and taking names in pursuit of Truth, Justice and just a goddamn peaceful meal, along with a stunningly competent ensemble cast. Also yes, Han Yeo Jin is a lesbian, sorry, I don’t make the rules. 

Search: WWW  (2019, Written by Kwon Do-Eun, directed by Jung Ji-hyun & Kwon Young-il, starring  Im Soo-jung, Lee Da-hee, Jeon Hye-jin)

GOD. Where do I start? +1000 for writer Kwon Do-Eun saying “fuck the patriarchy” in the most grandiose way possible, i.e. absolutely refusing to acknowledge that it exists. Yes, this is that power fantasy, and it’s also a fun, slice-of-life  tale about three women navigating their way through work, romance, national politics and everything in between. It’s true that I wasn’t entirely sold on the amount of time spent on the romance, and I really wish they’d actually had a textual wlw romance, though the subtext through the entire series is PRACTICALLY TEXT. But still, it maintains that veneer of plausible deniability and I think queer fans who are sick of that kind of treatment in media have a very valid grouse against the show. On the other hand, personally I felt that the queer-platonic vibe of the show is very wonderful and true to real life, and it was only reinforced by the ending. This is a show written by a woman for women (like me), and it shows. 

Hyena  (2020, Written by Kim Roo-Ri, directed by Jang Tae-yoo & Lee Chang Woo, starring  Kim Hye-soo and Ju Ji-hoon )

Those of you who’ve been watching hit zombie epic Kingdom are probably familiar with Ju Ji-hoon’s brand of sexiness already. I had not watched Kingdom and got hit in the face by Mr.Sexy McSexyPants’ turn as a brash, privileged-by-birth, up and coming lawyer who gets completely runover by the smoking hot and incredibly dangerous fellow lawyer/competitor from the other side of the tracks in the person of Kim Hye-Soo. When I say they set the room on fire, I mean it, ok. Every single scene between these two is an actual bonfire of sexual attraction and emotional hand grenades, and they’re both absolutely riveting to watch. “Flower of Evil” wishes they had what this show has- an actual grown up romance as opposed to a thirteen year old twilight fan’s idea of an adult romance. 

The “lawyer” shenanigans and the “cases” are hit or miss, and I think the occasional comedy fell flat for me. But that’s not why I mainlined like 6 episodes of this series overnight like a coke addict, and that’s not why you’re going to do it either. It’s so RARE, even in these enlightened days to find a female character like Jung Geum-ja: hard as nails, unapologetic about it, and not punished by the narrative for it. The best part for me is that she feels like a woman’s woman, not a man’s idea of what a Strong Female Character should be. Anyways, when I grow up I want to have what Kim Hye-soo has ok?

Other dramas that I watched this year, quickly rated:

The King: Eternal Monarch (3/10 and those 3 points are only for the combined goodness of second leads who deserved better- Jung Eun Chae, Woo Do Hwan and Kim Kyung Nam. Please head over to my AO3 and read my attempts to fix this garbage fire and rescue their characters from canon)

Flower of Evil (-10/100, dont @ me)

Tale of the Nine Tailed (5/10, I think it succeeds at what it set out to do, which is a light hearted, sweet fantasy-romance-melodrama, plus “second lead” Kim Beom will make you cry as the hot mess of a half human/ half fox spirit ALL TEARS character. I think if you’re into kdrama romances as a genre, this is probably a good bet?)

Signal  (7/10,  This was the first full kdrama I watched this year and would definitely recommend. It’s a police procedural with time travel shenanigans and has an engaging plot, good pacing, texture and compelling performances. My one disappointment with it was the way they wrote Kim Hye-soo’s character. As literally the only female character to survive in any way, she was given short shrift, and toward the end it really began to grate on me.)

Six Flying Dragons - (7/10, also would recommend if you’re interested in Korean historicals. It definitely already feels a bit dated in terms of styling and production values, and even scripting and acting choices. But it has a good balance of fantasy and history and political commentary. I was not a fan of Yoo In-Ah’s performance in this series, but it’s not anything that would make you want to nope out of the series. It’s GoT , if GoT was thoughtful about politics and characters and not the misogynist, racist trashfire that it became.)

My Country: The New Age - (3.5/10, and that’s 3 points to Jang Hyuk’s fan and 0.5.points to Woo Do Hwan’s heaving bosom. If you like your historical drama/fantasy with very pretty men, very gay subtext -seriously RIP to show makers who thought they could hetero it but didn’t account for Woo Do Hwan’s Tragic Face- lots of blood and tears and very nonsense plot, this is right up your alley. I probably would have enjoyed it more in other circumstances, I think? But this one just annoyed me too much at the time! 

I have a couple of more dramas to watch on my list, that’ll probably carry me over into 2021, so see ya on the other side! :D