#the biggest issue is pacing and some of the side character arcs

[prettyboykatsuki]

bnha is so overhated bro boooo

[briefhottubcoffee]

Hey so I love spyxfamily, yet I have some issues with the pacing lately. I miss The Forgers like crazy and I am desperate for more Yor content. I suppose that’s what I’m most worried about, she’s not getting fleshed out enough and being used to her full potential. She’s such an amazing character!

That said, I do have complete faith in Endos storytelling capabilities. He’s created a truly amazing story with compelling characters (side characters included) awesome world building, and both light and dark themes. I think, in pointing out the slow pacing and lack of the Forgers recently, we’ve forgotten all the awesome directions the story can take with all the different plot points Endo has set up at this juncture of the story.

I feel like, based on the narrative, the story is about to reach a big climax, a change in the status quo for the Forgers. Exciting things have happened, but nothing has truly changed the status quo, or the relationship dynamics between the main characters. Since we have reached 100 chapters, and the way the narrative is propelling upward, I think we are due for a big shift. Not the biggest, but a change for sure. Just remember all that’s been set up! Here are a few things I’m fairly confident is gonna happen soon to the Forger’s in the story:

Manga spoilers obviously!

- Twilight is going to continue to try to distance himself from the family, because of the Wheeler stuff, but he will be challenged on that and face a work vs family thing. This is a big theme of the series obviously, and it will take a lot to break down his walls. But it will happen.

- Twilight will learn something about Anya’s past. Most likely related to her knowledge of classical language. Perhaps her history with other families or where she is from. I doubt he’ll learn about her mind reading, that would be huge, but I’m honestly kinda hopeful he does because I don’t want Anya to have to hide anymore. Whatever he learns will affect him and hopefully bring him and his daughter closer in the end.

- This means we will finally get the Anya backstory Endo’s been hinting at for a while! Again, I expect this to lead up to a sweet family moment that brings them closer.

- A new Yor arc. We are truly due for one and I don’t think Endo is ignoring her purposefully. It just may take a while to set up because it will be a big climax of the story. Perhaps Garden lore. A big assassination that affects her character or the plot.

- Yor will get closer with Melinda and maybe find out what the heck is going on concerning her relationship with the other Desmond’s.

- As this happens I think Garden will come into play. I don’t think they like the Desmond pro war agenda. Yor may report her findings from Melinda to them or something. This would be a continuation into that one panel of the Shopkeeper when Yor brought up that Loid was interested in their politics. They will start questioning Yor’s husband as well.

- Damian will confirm Anya can read minds, but will keep her secret. Maybe Becky finds out as well. Dimitri will come into play somehow. I would love to see Damian stop bullying Anya so severely and truly start treating her like a friend, while still struggling with his crush.

- Some Authen’s chapters with some information on their backstory. Are they related to Anya’s mind reading stuff?

- We were recently introduced to Chloe! Yuri’s co-worker and potential romantic interest. I think we will see more of Yuri x Chloe. This will hopefully help him in his crazy obsession with Yor lol.

- Yuri maaay become more suspicious Loid is Twilight (a reach I think). He may also start to like Loid more! (an even bigger reach lol).

- BUT I do think Endo is setting up a funny chapter where Yuri has to stay over and Loid and Yor will have to share a bed! That’s been hinted at several times!

- I also think we are leading up to a big moment between Twilight and Yor. Some type of physical affection. (I’d love a hug, but I’ll take some erotic hand holding once they’re forced to share a bed or something) It’s not a reach, the setup is there for a shift in their physical relationship. This will obviously change things between them. Again, Twilight will be confronted with his feelings after the Wheeler arc and struggle with his feelings for Yor.

- Yor is definitely going to realize she is in love with Loid.

- Finally, after the Wheeler arc, Handler gave Fiona some important patient files for Twilight. I think this will lead to a big break for Strix. He may also meet Melinda as Loid Forger in this capacity.

So yeah, based on basic narrative storytelling, we are due for a climax and change in status quo in sxf! I’m excited to see which way the story goes, there are so many different directions. I’m confident some of these points will happen sooner rather than later. Of course Endo could throw us for a huge loop. But he has setup all of these points and it’s bad storytelling to leave them open ended with no closure or shift in the story.

We have to remember Endo is setting up a truly big story! We should be excited about that. I think it’s fine to criticize the slow pacing (and lack of Yor) but I can only hope it is just building to something big!

[gffa]

Hi Lumi. This year I’ve watched The Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Tales of the Jedi and I’m watching Ahsoka as episodes are released. But I feel like I’m missing some context as to why people are wary of Filoni. What things should I know so I’m caught up, so to speak, in the fandom discussions?

Hi! That's a lot of Star Wars to watch in a year, I hope you're having fun with it all! And I will gently remind everyone that Filoni is not the be-all-end-all of Star Wars creators--Henry Gilroy was there for TCW and Rebels, too. George Lucas was holding writers' meetings years after the show started (at least into 2010!). The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett are far more Jon Favreau's shows. The Bad Batch is Brad Rau and Jennifer Corbett. Resistance was developed by him, but was run by other producers. It's just that Filoni tends to get the most camera time and has become the face of Star Wars creators. That said, the issue with Filoni is kind of two-pronged, though, they overlap. 1. He's done a lot of interviews where he's said a lot of anti-Jedi things that have drifted from reasonable critiques in the beginning to eventually "Qui-Gon Jinn was the only true Jedi. [blatantly wrong citations]" This has put a lot of people off him as a creator, because we love the Jedi Order that Lucas talks about and established, which Filoni has actively contradicted over the years, despite being promoted as someone who follows Lucas' themes. And it's hard not to be aware of his interviews when watching his shows and it's hard to enjoy shows that do your faves dirty, you know? 2. His writing has become weaker over the years for a lot of us--Rebels is a show most of us love and found to be incredible. Many of us really love The Clone Wars, which he was heavily involved in/was probably the central voice after Lucas started phasing out. But his biggest story told over the course of those series--basically, the story of Mandalore's history and fall to the Empire--has been extremely thin for a lot of us. And a lot of us get frustrated at his inability to be objective when it comes to Ahsoka's character, that we love her as a character very much, but it hasn't felt like Filoni really knows what to do with her character arc and yet almost everything he writes is centered around her. His final season of The Clone Wars? Gave her the walkabout arc and the Siege of Mandalore arc, both of which often did not hold up well under scrutiny. His episode of The Book of Boba Fett? I actually really loved it, but it absolutely just stopped the pacing of that show to focus a lot on her. More on Luke, but he couldn't resist putting her in there, either. Tales of the Jedi was half devoted to Ahsoka and so much of it wasn't even about her time as a Jedi! We're frustrated because he doesn't set things up well anymore--Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister?? Why wasn't that established in The Mandalorian instead of pulling out randomly in Ahsoka? Why does Sabine Wren suddenly so badly want Jedi training, when they barely even had a conversation in Rebels?? There's a lot of good that Filoni has given to Star Wars, I think he genuinely cares about the Force and what it means--he's very consistent on how it's not easy and how it takes discipline and control, that he has been consistent on how anger and fear are paths to the dark side, even his episode of TBOBF had Ahsoka saying, yeah, attachment is a path to the dark side, because the Jedi mean "attachment" in a more Buddhist-aligned way. A lot of his writing for the character of Ahsoka is actually pretty good, like I've been enjoying her being a prickly, traumatized hot mess in the show! It's just that I kind of hate all the interviews he gives and I think he's a lot less objective than a lot of fans and media coverage that would hold him up as a perfect writer/interviewee about all things Star Wars, and it all comes together to make him kind of a hot-button topic.

So, a lot of people LOVE Filoni's work, a lot of people are frustrated by it, a lot of people are casually fine about it, a lot of people HATE Filoni's work and it can be a fun mix of any of the above or even other issues that come up. (And that's all fine! I have my views on Filoni's work, but it's fine if others hate it more than I do or love it more than I do, there's room for us all, all of it is valid.)

But I think if you want to understand some of the roots of this corner of fandom's frustration, two (admittedly long as heck) homework assignment reads would be:

- My own rebuttal to Dave's behind the scenes Mandalorian Gallery talk (this is jokingly referred to as "Davegate" because I refused to take it too seriously) - @david-talks-sw's collection of comparisons between Lucas' commentary on the Jedi and Filoni's commentary on the Jedi

This response itself is more focused on laying out the problems a lot of people have with Filoni's writing, but also honestly I still have my giant collection of Jedi source material citations that quotes his commentary, I still bring up Filoni's quotes in current meta a lot, I still talk positively about the things I enjoy from his shows, so overall there's equal amounts of both praise and criticism here. So, as short as I can make it (which isn't very, shut up, I know! XD), that's basically what people mean when they say they're wary of Filoni.

[tavina-writes]

I've watched Word of Honor, Who Rules The World, and Mysterious Lotus Casebook(I'm also not sure if the Untamed is wuxia or xianxia or something inbetween?) I don't think I mind longer shows but over...60 episodes is probably a harder sell. I like recognizing actors from project to project but I also don't know all that many so I'm happy to see fresh faces. I haven't seen any older cdramas so I can't say for sure, though I watch us shows from the 90s sometimes? I've paid for iQiyi in the past though I've let my subscription lapse. Does that help?

HELLOOOO sorry I got so busy and couldn't answer earlier Nonny!

I think based off of this, I would suggest you watch Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017) first. (It has Meng Ziyi in it!) This one can be found on iQIYI with good subtitles -- you'll need an account though sadly :( -- it's 52 episodes long (so on the longer side for a contemporary cdrama but pretty average sized for cdramas overall). And it was made for introducing a new generation to LOCH so it doesn't go at as fast a clip as LOCH 2024 (came out this year, beautifully done, goes really fast and does assume you know the general storyline even if you haven't seen it since you were 8). I do think 2017 assumes you know some genre trends also so having seen other wuxias is a good thing!

@autumnslantern also wrote a great writeup of our journey through the various LOCHes here.

Below find some general thoughts on all of the LOCHes I've seen, copy pasted from a discord ask I got a few days before your ask!

my childhood favorite LOCH is the 1983 TVB Jade version, which is very noncanonical to the book but So Much Fun <-- may not be your cup of tea if you don't enjoy that special 1980s charm :dogkek: It has, however, my absolute hands down favorite version of the Huangs (this IS the writer room where the Huangs were their special little meow meows and Kenneth Tsang personally created at least two generations of Huang Yaoshi apologists so) but yeah I love this version for how well it understands the characters, not how much it follows the plot.

I was not as fond of LOCH 1995 TVB reboot version (there were some interesting plot issues, but imo the biggest problem is that KangCi is played by 30 year olds and JingRong by 20 somethings, increasing the dynamics that in this universe KangCi are twice divorced 30 somethings trying to make this work again for the 3rd time as though they're stuck in a timeloop, the actors gave it their all and it was very good! just! perchance, suspension of disbelief interesting.) I would rate this one as a pretty solid adaptation overall though, my minor quibbles aside, just not my personal fave

I enjoyed LOCH 03, I think it has the best Mongolia 1 and 2 that I have ever seen adapted to screen, and really does a good job on this front. The Temujin Corruption Arc here has me by the THROAT. and this also has the best ever Tuolei. (Fun Fact! all the Mongolian Characters in this adaptation are played by Mongolian Actors, and it did pretty well on Mongolian traditional clothing also!) Unfortunately, it was also made for the whole 5 LOCH Mongolia Arch enjoyers in the world so the ratings are terrible. this one has interesting CGI choices, some pacing issues towards the end, and tbf in my personal opinion Li Yapeng did a better Linghu Chong than Guo Jing, but the Guo Jing characterization choices felt purposeful? JingRong is delightful together but Li Yapeng Guo Jing is a bit flat when he's by himself. Zhou Xun was Jin Yong's favorite Huang Rong, overall I enjoyed 03 but I can see why almost no one else did

LOCH 08: my personal nemesis, I would delete my memory of LOCH 08 if I could but then I might watch it and reintroduce myself

LOCH 2017: for a LOCH made with couch cushion money this is really a smashing adaptation. Minor quibbles on them making Huang Rong less problematic, kind of character assassinating Huazheng, giving Temujin the world's best skincare products known to man, and somehow taking a blowdryer to Huang Yaoshi for the sake of coolness, but I forgive them. There's lovely fight scenes in this version, and Chen Xingxu acted his socks off as Yang Kang

LOCH 2024: You can tell this one was made by people who idolized LOCH growing up. I love love love the production and color palette of this one, it reminds me of an updated late 90s early 00s Wuxia vibe with all the new tech that makes wuxia so cool in this decade. Hands down, Ci Sha quickly became my favorite Guo Jing of all time, and I think they really get what makes JingRong click. Some very interesting backstory connotations, I really hope they air the prequels so I can see this in the order they wanted it to be shown in. This loch also suffers from pacing issues, and will assume you already know the story esp bc at 30 episodes for the main story, it's the shortest of all the LOCH tv adaptations and that trims a lot of the extra side quests that make LOCH LOCH.

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

January Drama Wrap Up

January was a month of ups and downs (and some very big let downs) but over all I enjoyed what I watched. I tried out a new country's dramas and discovered some classics at the same time and I've built myself a pretty solid Currently Watching List to take me into February.

📊 The Stats

Total Dramas: 12

Currently Watching: 3

Completed: 4

Dropped: 2

On Hold: 3

My To Watch List: 60

🎭 The Dramas

🤼💰 Like Flowers in the Sand - Currently Watching

Like Flowers in the Sand is going to be another one of those k-dramas I am never going to be able to explain to my non k-drama watching friends without sounding like I've lost the plot a little.

"It's a small town drama about a minor league ssireum team and a wrestler who's been in a years long slump. There's also an investigation into a murder linked to match-fixing but that's kind of a side plot and it's linked to the wrestler's childhood friend who's reappeared incognito after disappearing mysteriously many years ago ... I promise it's good!"

It's probably not the drama for everyone but as someone who has historically loved sports centered k-dramas and who loved When Camilla Blooms this drama ticks so many of my boxes. I'm very excited to watch the complex relationships and politics of small town life be put under a microscope and dissected and I can already tell I'm going to love how morally grey all the characters are.

It also doesn't hurt that the ML is the biggest himbo to ever ever himbo and I love him and his empty brain to bits.

Prediction: I become a ssireum fan.

🕹️💌 Love For Love's Sake - Currently Watching

I've been staying away from K-BL these past few months because I've been struggling with their short run time but Love for Love' Sake lured me back in like a moth to the flame and I have no regrets.

Is Love For Love's Sake Perfect? No, there are definitely some pacing issues that are leaving me feeling very temporally confused about how quickly or slowly events are unfolding and the lower than average k-drama budget does show at certain points but, do you what?

I don't care.

I wholeheartedly love this drama and it's going to have to mess up its last 2 episodes Last Twilight style to change that.

The relationship between the main couple? Adorable. The openly gay leader of the school delinquents? We stan. The oddball friendship group forming because they're all slightly crushing on the ML? Sign me up! The addition of a glitch in the game that's starting to mess everything up? Horrifying and I love it.

Prediction: A new favourite K-BL is born and it's all thanks to this mf

🩺😭 Doctor Slump - Currently Watching

I'm watching this because it's on my Plan To Watch list and Netflix started playing the trailer after I'd finished watching an episode of The Way of the Househusband.

I won't lie, this is definitely the drama, out of all the dramas I'm currently watching, that I'm least certain I'll finish but, at the same time, I was pleasantly surprised by the first two episodes. Yes, it does do that typical comedy k-drama thing of mixing ridiculous over the top laughs with some incredibly difficult topics (because who doesn't want to be laughing hysterically one minute and then doing some deep self-reflection the next?) but so far the balance and the boundaries between the two moods has been relatively well struck and only time will tell if it manages to stay that way.

I appreciate tackling the topic of burn out and depression in a country that still champions overwork and mental fortitude above all else and I'm interested to see where it goes with that part of its arc. The "being framed for murder" I am a little less certain about, but it has definitely added a layer of intrigue to a story that would otherwise be relatively mundane and by the books.

As I said, time will tell if I continue to enjoy Doctor Slump but I'd say my only quibble with the drama so far is that I'm not sure "accused of (and potentially framed for) murder" and "suffering from depression due to burn out and work place abuse" quite fit what is normally meant by the word slump.

Prediction: Maybe I won't drop this half way through like I thought I would.

👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🎥 BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita - Completed

My first Japanese BL ever and it was a good one. Yes, it was 3 episodes long, but it used its runtime perfectly. All of the main characters felt properly fleshed out (and the side characters were caricature enough that you only really needed one scene to know who they were and what they stood for), the pacing was great (it couldn't afford to drag but it didn't speed through scenes either), and it found the right balance between BL shenanigans and forrays into deeper messages. This was exactly what I needed at the time and, for someone who doesn't normally like mini-dramas that much, I enjoyed myself immensely.

Verdict: 8/10, I also want a life-size cardboard cutout of Aoyanagi to cuddle and hide behind when I open the door.

✒️💕 Cherry Magic, Japan - Completed

I'm planning to buy the manga.

I plan to watch the film next month (I never watch films).

I may have even checked out the fanfic scene in a bout of withdrawal.

Anyway, what I mean to say is that I get the hype, I really really do. This drama is fantastic.

Cherry Magic is one of those classics that you watch as a newbie and go "oh yeah I get why everyone is obsessed with this". The premise is novel and well executed, the characters are oh so easy to love, the main romance is so incredibly shippable, and the friendships are just as endearing.

I personally love the role Adachi's mind reading plays in shaping his relationship with Kurosawa and how the way it's handled means the audience feels what Adachi is feeling right alongside him. How can you not be charmed by the inner monologue of someone so sweetly and respectfully head over heels for you? But at the same time just because you're charmed, does that mean you like them back or is it just because you can see them at their most vulnerable? And what about once you're in the relationship? Do you give up the thing you know made it possible? Or do you pull back so you can't mess up once the crutch you rely on is gone?

There was so much quiet nuance to Adachi's and Kurosawa's relationship to each other and those around them and, when I one day sit down for a rewatch, I'm looking forward to unpicking them all.

Verdict: 8.5/10, Adachi and Kurosawa are going to be one of those couples that's impossible to leave behind. This is going to stick with me for a while, and once it's unstuck I'll just watch it again.

📸🌦️ Welcome to Samdal-Ri - Completed

I know some people thought the premise of Welcome to Sandal-Ri was unrealistic but, personally, I found it hard not to draw parallels between what happened to Cho Sam Dal in the drama and what happened to Kim Seon Ho in real life. Yes, the situations may differ somewhat (Sam Dal faces false accusations of work-place bullying by an employee while Seon Ho was accused of coercing his girlfriend into getting an abortion) but there were enough similarities (the media frenzy and the sheer intensity of the backlash, the scandals happening just as their careers peaked, the gradual revelation of what actually transpired) that I would be very surprised if there was no link at all.

For that alone, Welcome To Samdal-Ri had my attention from the get go. If this story were from a Western perspective, I would certainly have been much more wary of a story tackling false accusations (looking at you Euphoria) but from a Korean perspective, where celebrity culture is far more intense and volatile and in which false accusations have happened before and cancel culture can indeed end a career for even minor infractions (like dating), I wanted to see how it would be handled.

Ultimately I was satisfied, not wowed, not disappointed, satisfied. The show didn't dig that deep into the subject (personally I would have appreciated Sam Dal's case juxtaposed against another case in which the accusations turned out to be true) but it handled it deftly enough and felt "case-by-case" enough that I didn't feel as though it inadvertently gave off the message of "not believe anyone bringing accusations against celebrities".

Other than my own personal interest in the premise, Welcome to Sandal-Ri did a good job of holding my interest. In terms of overall vibe, it felt like a mix between (perhaps unsurprisingly) Hometown Cha Cha Cha (the idyllic small-town community filled with friends and loveable elders) and Our Beloved Summer (childhood lovers unfairly broken up but still pining for each other after years apart). The pacing was good, the characters loveable (I am now in love with Cho Hae In), and each episode felt like sinking into a warm bath for an hour.

Verdict: 8/10, it tackled an interesting topic while providing its audience with plenty of comfort and heart. It could have done without the love triangle though, just saying.

📃👩‍❤️‍👩 Out of Breath - Completed

I don't have too much to say about Out of Breath given it was 3 episodes long and less than an hour run time in total but I'm glad I watched it. Firstly, because it was nice to watch a (rare) Korean GL and secondly, because it managed to fit a lot into its short run time. Two break ups, a love triangle/unrequited love, cute dates, commentary on living queer in Korea, commentary on being out in Korea.... This show really had it all.

It was short, it was sweet, and it had a lot to say. I can't say I'd watch it again in a hurry, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a realistic portrayal of queer (and specifically) lesbian life in Korea.

Verdict: 7.5/10, it unpacked a lot in a short amount of time, the couple was extra cute too.

🫂💕 Cherry Magic Thailand - On Hold

I realised very early on into watching Cherry Magic Thailand that I'd probably get a lot more out of it if I watched the original first. I'm not normally someone who says watching the OG is necessary to watch the adaptation (in fact I normally rebel against that idea with a whole lot of passion) but in this case it became very clear that without watching Cherry Magic Japan first, I was missing important reference points and comparisons that were pretty key to understanding and appreciating that plot fully.

Anyway, I've now watched and loved Cherry Magic Japan so Cherry Magic Thailand is back on the menu, I just want to give myself enough time away that when I go back to it, it's with completely new eyes (and I'm excited for when that moment comes).

Verdict: On Hold until I can give it a proper fresh start.

🩺🍲 Cooking Crush - On Hold

I watched this at completely the wrong time. I struggle with rom-com dramas at the best of times but by now I should know that I absolutely should not try to watch one when I am going through a period of high stress.

I am not kind to rom-coms when I am stressed, even the ones I might otherwise enjoyed.

As it is, I initially dropped Cooking Crush because I was struggling to stay focussed enough to finish an episode and the characters were grating on me. Looking back, part of me thinks that my lack of focus and general irritability may have had less to do with the drama itself and much more to do with the fact I could barely focus on anything during that time period and that I had barely any spoons left to give people in my actual life, let alone fictional ones.

So...

Anyway, Cooking Crush has continued to come across my dash in gif, meme, and analysis form and I've realised that I actually really like what I'm seeing, enough so that I've moved it out of the "dropped" pile and into my "on hold" list so as to give it a second shot in the not so distant future (something that doesn't normally happen).

I genuinely think I might like this drama, I just need to make sure I'm in the right mindset for it first to give it a fair shot 💪

Verdict: On Hold until my next holiday.

🐍🦅 The Sign - On Hold

On paper The Sign sounds like it's right up my street, after all what's not to love about star-crossed lovers doomed by the threads of fate and history to lose each other?

But that's the thing, "on paper". In real life The Sign is well, messy and a bit too cop-heavy for my liking. Sure there are some great moments, Billy and Babe's chemistry is on fire, and it may have one of the best and most artistic sex scenes ever to grace the BL screens of the world but sexy times does not a good show make and I've found myself torn about whether or not I should keep going or just give up at this point.

To help me decide I've taken the "on paper" part of The Sign very literally and bought the book to read. If I like the book (the translation is a bit choppy but I can overlook that if the story is good) then I'll finish the show, if I don't then into the land of the dropped it goes.

Verdict: On Hold until I've actually experienced it on paper.

🌄🖕 Last Twilight - Dropped (episode 10)

I won't lie, this is the second time (the first time being Only Friends) that I've ended up being grateful my busy schedule got in the way of my drama watching because wow this show really took a tumble at the last hurdle. There was so much Last Twilight could have done, so many societal boundaries it could have crossed and reshaped and re-imagined but instead it went with... well a literal "fix it fic" ending that fixed nothing but instead broke all it had built up beyond repair.

I'm not going to go into detail about how Last Twilight let nearly every single one of its principal characters down, about how Mhok was never allowed screen time to process his own emotional trauma, about how the show briefly touched upon and then completely glossed over the very different social and financial circumstances of the both couples and the effects this would have on their experience of the world, of how there was so much ableist messaging around both the treatment of Dad's character which was always lurking under the surface but which only really came to light alongside the ending..... All I'm going to say is that, up until episode 9, Last Twilight had a choice about what messages it wanted it's audiences to come away with at the end, and it picked the wrong fucking ones.

It could have been a challenge to the ableist and classist mainstream norm so often portrayed in the media, instead it perpetuated harmful and hurtful rhetoric and stereotypes against the very people it claimed to champion.

Maybe one day I'll watch it again, but only because I want to properly break down what went so wrong.

Recommended reads by people who expressed it better than me:

This Discussion under "Last Twilight, episode 12: final reflections" by @waitmyturtles

"Last Twilight: Ep 12" by @wen-kexing-apologist

"Last Twilight Episode 12" by @lurkingshan

This post by @simplemindedmockingjay

Verdict: Dropped for betraying it's audience and those it claimed to champion.

👨‍⚕️⏳ Triage - Dropped (episode 10)

This one hurts me.

This one well and truly hurts me.

Because, the thing is, I loved so much about this show. It does so much right and up until episode 10 I was preparing to rank it among my favourite BLs of all time; the plot was fast moving and carried you from episode to episode in a whirlwind of anticipation, the romance (although minor compared to most other BLs) was highly shippable, the characters had depth and flaws and strengths that made you root for them, and the time loop plot device was doing things that were genuinely new and innovative.

I was hooked.

And then everything I loved just disappeared.

I don't know what possessed the creators of this show to completely change the universe of the drama for the last 2 episodes, maybe they thought the old one was getting stale (it wasn't).

All I can say is I absolutely hated the new turn of events.

Familiar characters with entirely new personalities and character arcs who I was apparently expected to root for (I don't know who they are anymore), time travel rules thrown out of the window because the plot demanded it be so (I'm sorry but the notebook time travels now? And a kiss will bring back memories?), the entire premise of the show just dropped and never even properly answered (why did Tin need to save Tol????? What about his heart murmur????)....

No.

Just no.

I'm out.

Verdict: Dropped for becoming a completely different drama in the last 2 episodes

⭐ The Awards

I fell in love with a lot of people and things this month so let's talk about them

☺️ Smile That Could Launch A Thousand Ships

Yuuichi Kurosawa (and his actor Keita Machida) is, quite frankly, a ridiculously gorgeous man in the most normal of circumstances but his smile takes it to a whole new level.

Truly a sight that could light up a room (and the whole building the room was in), this smile is filled with such genuine happiness and love that it's hard not to smile right back just as brightly, whether you be a hapless audience member beaming at your computer screen or a flustered Adachi trying desperately to hold on to your heart.

What I also love about this smile is that it only comes out when Kurosawa is properly, over the moon happy. He's got other smiles for other occasions and they're all very pretty but this one? This one sits above them all and makes them pale in comparison.

🩷 Biggest Crush

I have a type and that type is Cho Mina (and quite possibly Kang Mi Na, I clearly need to work through her filmography for... science). But seriously, this woman is STUNNING and is made all the more so by her dedication to her daughter and her refusal to let society pressure her into being ashamed of being a young single mum. She's strong, she's kind, she's independent, she's beautiful both inside and out. I don't care if she got the least screen time out of all the sisters, she stole the whole show for me and I am smitten.

📃 Line That Hit Me Like A Freight Train

"I'm used to pretending to be normal"

"pretending to be normal"

I'm going to be forever grateful to Cherry Magic for giving me positive and thoughtful Ace rep in Fujisaki, for showing her happy and confident and unbothered by society's expectations that she should one day couple up and settle down, for giving voice to the Ace experience of "pretending to be normal" in simple line that holds so much meaning and so many layers.

I know it's not canon, but in my head Fujisaki does tell Adachi out loud one day, and she gets her response of "is that so".

🛌 Plot Device That Made Me Sit Up and Go "Yes"

I may have ended up dropping Triage but credit where credit is due, it did do a lot of things right and one of those things was its ideas around time loops/ time travel. The idea that where you fall asleep at the end of the time loop directly affects how far back you travel back in time for the start of the loop?

Genius.

Why haven't I seen this done before??? It's such a clever way to provide the loop-character with the agency they need to actually make changes without breaking the established rules of the time loop and it allows for each iteration of the loop to be significantly different depending on how early or how late the changes to the timeline are made.

It literally solves almost all of my usual issues with time loop narratives.

It was genuinely intriguing watching Tin try to work out where he needed to fall asleep in order to go back as far as he needed and it was such a shame that, as the show neared its end, that aspect of the time loop experience just sort of fell away.

I want more time loop ideas like this and I want them now.

🌄 Scene That Took My Breath Away

Last Twilight may have ended by taking this scene and its significance and flushing it down the toilet but you know what, the author is dead and I killed him. I'm taking this scene back.

Day wanting his last experience with his quickly disappearing sight to be a homage to the book that helped him come to terms with his disability and see the world anew, his description of the sunset he could see in his mind's eye that is far more brilliant and beautiful than reality could ever dream to be, his clear moment of realisation that yes, he could live without his sight and not only could he live without it, he could well and truly thrive, the last thing he sees being Mhok's face as the ultimate declaration of love....

The last twilight in episode 9 could have been a truly special moment and, taken in isolation, it still is. It's just such a shame that such a beautiful depiction of growth and healing and self-love and self-acceptance was ultimately papered over with an ending that didn't fit it at all, one that erased the positive and affirming messages this scene held.

[tater-tot-jr]

I’m making this specifically at the request of @anonym-potato

Anyway, HSR 2.5 yapping. (Spoilers, duh.)

So, that was pretty neat. It wasn’t perfect, and had more glaringly obvious flaws than the last few patches, but it was enjoyable all around. I already know there are gonna be people calling this patch trash. It’s not. Don’t listen to them.

To get down to brass tacks, let’s talk about a few things that really stood out to me. The beginning was very very strong. Feixiao mentoring Yanqing was sweet, and it was funny to watch Danny get dragged back to prison for a third time. It was also nice to get some explanation about the situation with Hoolay’s imprisonment and learn just a tad bit more about what Dan Heng went through. Those three definitely had the side story of the patch, but they served their purpose well.

Before we go further I’d like to talk about some of the issues I had. They didn’t ruin my experience, but they were noticeable enough for me to talk about it. That Hoolay fight was super fucking hard, right? My friends (who have much better teams than I do and have actually put money into the game) also agree it was strangely difficult. I felt like he did too much damage to you and didn’t take enough damage, and that made his whole fight really clunky to play. Additionally, the pacing was a little wonky. Some sections felt like they were too early or too late in the story. The biggest example is the conclusion to the Dan Heng/Jing Yuan/Lingsha story. It felt a little forced and out of place. Although the actual content of the mission was great. Dan Heng just fucking chucking his spear at Taron after he had just spent forever talking about how they wouldn’t dare break the dragon people code was so funny.

Let’s talk characters. Yanqing finally got to complete his arc, and he got a massive W. His growth in 2.4 and 2.5 has been a highlight of both patches. I like how dedicated he is, I like how he’s really seemed to grow up. He had some really badass moments. He probably landed the single biggest blow on Hoolay we’ve ever seen, barring self inflicted wounds. I’m just happy he finally got to grow into himself a little more, if we don’t see much more of him I won’t be upset. He had a satisfying conclusion to his arc.

Okay okay listen, I know this was supposed to be Feixiao’s patch. I know. She was great! We got to learn a little bit more about her and her lore, and I think everyone loves our lacking general. But… she had her patch stolen lmao. Jiaoqiu was 2.5’s baby, he was the bitch of the hour, he was the star of the show. I’m not even mad about it either. Shit was peak.

Jiaoqiu’s arc with Hoolay was the best part of this patch. It was so hard to watch. They really didn’t pull their punches. I mean some of the things they choose to put Jiaoqiu through… Since you’ve gotten this far I don’t care about spoiling you. The way the choose to end his story in 2.5 was tragic. I was sure they were actually going to kill him, I was losing my mind. Him drinking the poison because he knew that Hoolay would want to drink his blood is so unbelievably badass. If he had actually died from that I don’t think anyone would be bashing the writing. I’ve already seen some debate about if they should’ve actually killed him, or if his survival is more interesting. Personally I like keeping him alive as a choice, specifically because they took his sight. The more I thought about that the more I realized how cruel it is. He’s a doctor, and a cook. You can’t really be a doctor while blind, and he probably couldn’t cook meals with the level of complexity he’d like. Not only that, but he’s clearly deeply traumatized by the experience. Wondering aloud if Feixiao is really speaking to him or if it’s a trick to kill him. He said he was content but honest to god I don’t believe him. I don’t think those are the words or the tone of someone who is actually at peace with their decision.

And his VA? Hello?? Brother must’ve had rent due or something because goddamn he killed it. Jiaoqiu kept getting more afraid, injured, and miserable as the story progressed and his VA managed to portray that without going over the top or sounding hammy. There was so much emotion in his voice, it was crazy. That was an all time great HSR vocal performance.

Those are most of my thoughts for now. I suppose I’ll probably be back for 2.6.

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (Wii U)

A mess but still underrated.

It's no secret that the development of Rise of Lyric was kind of a mess. The first game released by Big Red Button, an American studio founded by ex-Naughty Dog devs, it went through a few iterations before Sega required it to be released on the Wii U as part of an exclusivity deal. This caused problems for the engine which was not designed for the less powerful hardware, and it shows in persistent performance problems. This combined with an infamously large post-release patch led to the game acquiring an odious reputation in general and particularly among 3D Sonic games, which already have a spotty track record.

Knowing all this, I actually had a good time with this game. It has its strengths and you don't have to dig too hard to find them. The textures may be low-res but it has strong art direction. The slower-paced gameplay with exploration, combat, and puzzle-platforming sections is something I prefer over the usual 3D Sonic style. It's a forgiving co-op adventure set in a sub-universe that I've quickly come to love (mostly thanks to the silly and easy-going TV show). In short, its poor reception is a bit overblown.

The Sonic Boom subseries launched with this game, a 3DS game, a toyline, and a TV show. Archie Comics ran a short spinoff set in this world and another 3DS game followed, as well as a throwaway Hardlight mobile runner game. So far, I think the show is the strongest work: it's a short-form comedy adventure episodic series with emphasis on the funny, and it consistently hits the mark as far as I've seen. (It also struck me as oddly similar to the Donkey Kong Country animated series with its tropical island setting, flamboyant and ineffective villain, and being a French coproduction.) The comic didn't quite nail the tone—aside from the issues written by the show’s writers—and was interrupted by financially-disastrous crossover event shenanigans, and as for this game, well I'll get to that.

Along with refreshing the setting, Sonic Boom reframes its main characters in ways that I appreciate: they work well as comedy characters, with redesigns that better get across their personalities. Sonic has blue arms as he should and a nifty scarf, Amy has a practical tunic and a personality beyond “loves Sonic”, Tails is given goggles and pouches, and Knuckles is now actually big and brawny. New to the main cast is Sticks, an oddball wild child-type character with a raspy voice. She has a great design and works well as an agent of chaos, although some of her "paranoid" humour falls flat for me.

Now that Boom has been cut off as a failed spinoff, Sticks is the biggest loss. She showed up in Runners and the Rio Olympics game and that's it. Also, she's barely in this game! Her role is simply as an NPC who sends you to find collectibles, and she has only a couple of voice lines. It's a real shame, and another symptom of the game's troubled development. As for the rest of the cast, Boom has a lot of fun new side characters, some of whom appear briefly in this, but RoL also includes Metal Sonic and Shadow, who are only in a couple of episodes of the show. Their roles in this game are pretty underwhelming, only showing up for boss fights and then getting forgotten about.

The main new face here is Lyric, a snake cyborg guy who has been imprisoned for a thousand years. The game starts with a few gags to make you think it's still a comedy but when this guy shows up they pretty much drop all that, and in tone the game becomes a pretty bland action story (although I did like the very brief time travel arc). Naturally he teams up with Eggman for a bit before they betray each other, and his army of very shiny robots forms the goon squad that you spend the whole game smashing to bits. The story seems to have been another casualty during development, with none of the show's writers involved and meddling by Sega combined with content cuts leading to a bland and rushed plot despite some clear ambitions.

The four playable characters can be swapped between at any time, as long as they're present in the story (the game frequently separates them into pairs). They largely play the same but also have unique abilities, and get tasked with specific segments tailored to their skills (often in 2D). For example, Knuckles can climb walls while Amy can swing and walk on balance beams. When given the choice I often favoured Amy for her mid-air triple-jump or Tails for his ranged combat utility. Another central mechanic is the Enerbeam, a laser grapple that can throw robots around or let you swing or ride rails. When playing in 2P co-op, one player uses the TV while the other has their own screen on the Gamepad, which I'm always a fan of. Up to four players can compete or collaborate in the specific multiplayer modes which seem kinda fun if you have willing participants.

The structure of the story mode has you returning to two hub zones between levels, where you can explore and do a scarce few NPC quests. The characters' slow movement speed works well for the levels but less so for these open zones. Here you can also spend scrap found in levels to rebuild landmarks, a nice but underused mechanic. In levels there's robot fights which feel a bit clumsy and there's sure a lot of them, and the occasional mediocre vehicle section. But this is a 3D Sonic game so there's also a lot of autorunning sections: the pace in these is so fast that you can barely react and the framerate absolutely tanks, but there's little penalty for mistakes and they're decent as flashy little setpieces with changing camera angles and such.

I have to talk about the collectibles and currencies in this game. There's scrap from beating robots and opening chests, which you use for buildings but also passive upgrades to your characters. Accumulating crowns unlocks new tiers of these upgrades. But there's also rings because this is a Sonic game. These act as a health system but you get tons of them so you rarely go beneath your cap. Why is there a cap? Well you only lose a few when you get hit. You can extend your cap by making progress in Shattered Crystal on 3DS and connecting your systems, which is very dumb and funny. But even at your cap you want to collect them because your cumulative total unlocks concept art and stuff. Also, doing sidequests unlocks selectable passive buffs which are mostly useless. The whole customisation and upgrading thing frankly needed some work, but it's a neat idea.

That's Rise of Lyric in a nutshell really. Sonic Boom is a breath of fresh air for the Sonic franchise, and the idea of this game as a change of pace for Sonic gameplay has potential. But as so often has been the case, Sega shoots themselves in the foot, development goes through hell, the games suffer as a result, and then no one is happy. I want to get across that I find the game inoffensive and a decent example of its genre, not totally deserving of the scorn it gets, but it could easily have been so much better and that is obvious for anyone to see. Oh well, maybe next time Sega launches a Western-focused multimedia Sonic spinoff it can get a tie-in game that gets the time and attention it deserves... you know, the next one after Prime which didn't even get a game at all!

[mirageofadesert]

Rating cdramas I watched as a newbie pt.1

!!Spoiler Warning!!

The Untamed 9+1/10 

Acting: 10/10 World-building: 9/10 Production: 7/10 Storytelling: 9/10 Re-watch Value: 10/10  Pacing: 7/10 Bonus: +1 for Chemistry & Fight Scenes 

The Untamed was the first C-Drama I watched. At the time, my BTS focused Twitter TL started to watch the drama during BTS 2019 break and I joined them out of curiosity. The first few episodes left me very confused, while the beginning of the flashback in episode 3 failed to grab my attention initially. It wasn't until episode 10, that I was completely sold. Later on, the show made me cry so much. In retrospect I think, that this drama doesn't just have a high re-watch value, it actually gets better watching it a second time.

When I watch the initially confusing beginning now, it makes me tear up. While I didn't care about all the side characters at first, the second time around I was full of emotion and sadness seeing their story play out. However, the initial pacing was a bit too slow and I almost stopped watching the show. The overall world-building is interesting, but it left me with a lot of question regarding the sect system and the Wen sect felt especially flat. The highlights are definitely the acting by the main characters and the supporting cast, as well as Yibos fighting scenes. One of the biggest problem of the show is the production: From low budget CGI to cheap looking props, to strange camera angles and lighting issues.

I would always recommend this to someone who hasn't watch cdramas yet. It's easy to get into and the story and characters are equally well done!

---

Word of Honor 8/10 

Acting: 8/10 World-building: 8/10 Production: 5/10 Storytelling: 8/10 Re-watch Value: 8.5/10  Pacing: 9/10 Bonus: A psycho with red eye makeup and a fan.

Neflix was really adamant that I would like this show and after a while I (fourtunally) gave in. As much as I love it now, initially, it took me a while to get into the characters and world. I was often confused about the story, which actually added tension. I cried so much during that wedding. Some of the acting of the side characters was rough, so was the production at times. The romantic slowed down fight scenes really made me cringe so hard I had to pause the video multiple times. One of my favorite things is the world-building, especially the social constructed ghosts, even through it took me a while to fully understand them. The story arc between the Scorpion King and his adoptive father messed me up a bit, but it gave the show even more nuances. I love this show so much now, Wen Kexing has my whole heart.

---

Back from the Brink 6-1/10

Acting: 6/10 World-building: 7/10 Production: 8/10 Storytelling: 4/10 Re-watch Value: 4/10  Pacing: 4/10 Bonus: -1 for making me hate Liu Yao Yuan's character and acting

YouTube started to recommend the show to me and I started out really liking it. Especially the familiar arc was fun and when Tian Yao took the heart scale from Yan Hui I was ready to cry. However, at some point the show turned into a mess. The characters become more and more flat and the emotional impact of the events were non existing. The acting was another weak point of the show - and I do think it's the fault of the bad script. Neo Hou is doing a good job as Tian Yao, while Zhou Ye as Yan Hui is carrying the show. Riley Wang lacks as Bai Xiao Sheng and I think he doesn't suit this genre. All the villains are flat and boring. But Liu Yao Yuan as the dumb prince Zhu Li is a crime. I hated this character every time he appeared on screen for being annoying and unnecessary. But what really made me lose it, is when I recognized the actor as having played Wang Zhi in The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. He did such a great job there and was one of my favorite character. It takes a especially bad script, superficial directing and one-dimensional character to make a talented actor to give such a horrible performance. 

--

Till the end of the Moon 10/10 

Acting: 10/10 World-building: 9/10 Production: 9/10 Storytelling: 10/10 Re-watch Value: 10/10  Pacing: 10/10 Bonus: In my Tantai Jin obsession era

Who needs sleep and sun light, when you got Luo Yunxi as Tantai Jin suffering so prettily? Not me apparently, since I binged the show in one weekend, skipping sleep, only to re-watch the show the second I was done with the last episode. Is there room for improvement? Of course. The editing messed up the pacing, but I still loved it the way it was. My main grievance is that they had to cut so many episodes and side stories. I see a lot of people complain about the complex story-line and plot holes, but I actually think that if you pay close attention its all explained quite well. Only the re-birth connection took me a bit to fully understand. That's why I also like the pacing - it's faster than normal, but that led me to be obsessed with the show by episode 2 (usually it takes me at least 6-10 episodes). I cried, I laughed, I squeaked and vibrated in excitement. The acting is great through out the show, even the supporting cast is pulling their weight next to two strong leads. The chemistry between Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu is really something. I loved watching the bts moment, when they were overacting their parts only to fall into character so well, once the camera was on.

The show - and Luo Yunxi - pulled my out of a hyper-fixation, that was turning draining and effecting my mental health negatively. I will forever be thankful for this, but also stay cautions not to be dragged into fandom toxicity again.

Part 2 coming soon... (including Love is Sweet, Love Between a Fairy and a Devil, And the winner is love and more)

[avemstella]

so that archon quest, huh. Would be absolutely thrilled to hear what u have to say about fontaine act V :] i love all your takes on furina & neuvillette & fontaine as a whole, and of course childe [pretty much an honorary fontanian with how he unintentionally got wrapped up in everything whoops]

Oh boy, I have so many thoughts. To start with some non-spoilerly stuff: I loved it so much. I'm not sure if I'll say it's my favorite Archon Quest yet (I think I would have to go through some of the older ones), but I think it's safe to say Fontaine overall as an arc is my favorite. Even its weakest part (the prison stuff, tbh it was a pacing issue) was still really solid and the ending, while not perfect, really landed. Genshin continued the trend from Sumeru of having the playable characters really take the stage and god there were some great standouts (Navia/Neuvi/Furina to name my favs, but I also loved my fatui and there really isn't anyone I've disliked). And well, the quest (and Furina's chara quest) made me cry like a baby, so that's a win.

Tbh, I think my biggest issue, wasn't even really an issue with the story but just a case of I had a very clear idea of what I wanted out of it (the woes of writing speculative fic pfft) and when it wasn't that I'm like "awww darn". Thats on me, and I genuinely really loved what we got, but it do be like that sometimes haha.

Spoilers below, oh boy (also my Furina fic spoilers too lol).

Eldritch abomination Furina I'll mourn u forever. I can't complain because Furina splitting herself in two to go fuck u to the heavens is such a boss ass move I can't haha. Okay, but I will say, even if I'm probably the only one, I do wish they brought some Remuria stuff up in the main quest. They had the perfect set up with Ajax being there with his Greek myth references and just ahhhh, one can hope they do something with it later. But yes, just know it's my silly headcanon that Focalors just lied about being an Oceanid to Neuvi and is one of King Remus's fucked up Primordial Sea experiments that maybe caused the Abyss rift at the fall of Remuria.

But yes, Furina, Furina, I'm crying. She really destroyed the girl failure accusations in the most glorious way possible. She literally didn't fail once (either of her), she plotted out a plan to trick the heavens, give back what was stolen, and save her people and she did it perfectly. As you're probably well aware, I'm a big fuck u Celestia gal, so it was just so satisfying to see her just obliterate the throne (even when I was crying haha). And honestly, super relevant to the state of the real world, but her giving back sovereignty to Neuvi in my mind is a very clear decolonization metaphor. Ages past descenders came to Teyvat, killed the dragons and created their own order, and now Focalors is returning that power back to said dragon (or well, the dragon's heir, it's a bit vague if Neuvi's literally the old dragon's soul reincarnated or just the body).

The entire scene between Neuvi and Focalors was great, though I will admit I have one issue with it (and even then I go back and forth on it haha). Neuvi in that scene doesn't have a big attachment to Focalors. What I mean is that ultimately Neuvi only ever knew Furina (which side note I'll get into this next, but I do view them as the same person, but still), and with Focalors' 'death' he's not technically losing anything, the person he's sad over will still be there. Like don't get me wrong, he's very empathetic and can be sad over this person who is dying for them, but I feel like it could have been even more heartbreaking if he had met Furina/Focalors before the split, or he had interacted with Focalors somehow in the past, and so in this moment he wasn't just watching Furina's sacrifice, but the sacrifice of someone he shares memories with. But that's me being picky haha and not really a critique on the writing.

But yes, Furina! Focalors! As I previewed before, I'm going to come out swinging with a possibly hot take. They are, and always were the same person. Yes, Focalors is the divinity, but as we see after Furina is allowed to rest her persona, Furina is also super mature and knowledgeable. In Neuvi's flashback quotes of Furina, it's her softly giving important advice about living with humanity, which is what Focalors was all about. And much like Furina, Focalors loves preforming, she loves humans, she gets all excited about Furina and her future, and is sad she won't get to experience it.

Not to remotely downplay Furina's suffering (because holy shit my poor girl), but Focalors too played her role. Unlike Furina who had Neuvillette and all her friends post this, Focalors was all alone in the Oratrice, waiting for the day she had to kill herself. Furina, has the promise of a future, despite all the suffering she endured to get there. She gets the reward of a happy life as a human surrounded by people who love her, and while it was touch a go for a bit, she was told one day her play would end. In contrast, while Focalors didn't have the same anxiety that Furina had, Focalors knew from the beginning she would never get to see her people saved. Technically she, like Furina, didn't even know if it would even happen. She put her faith in Neuvillette to follow through, and while she had the utmost faith in him, she could never know for certain. But much like her mirror Furina, Focalors weighed her suffering over the people of Fontaine's, and never once faltered. Furina was willing to possibly kill herself via primordial seawater in order to keep up her ruse, whose to say Focalors wasn't the same. Smiling at Neuvillette until the last moment because she couldn't risk him interfering, hiding away her anxieties and sorrow, so he wouldn't look so sad. Furina's performance ended, Focalors' never will.

Focalors was so certain she couldn't be human, but as we see from the Oceanids it was totally possible. And even more vitally, we see from the other Archons it's possible. They might fumble around a bit (some more than others, looking at u Ei), but they are learning and immersing themselves with their people. While not an Archon, it's the same with Neuvillette. Focalors should have had the same opportunities as Furina and the rest (mostly because she is Furina), but the world isn't kind, and that's why her sacrifice hurts.

If u can't tell I have a lot of feelings about Focalors/Furina and while I can appreciate a joke about Focalors giving Furina anxiety, I'm also like, they are literally the same person working together, she deserves the world (all of her).

But yes, I can go on and on about Furina, but for now I'll move onto our boy Childe. To get it out of the way, a little disappointed that we really got no answers about him. Poor guy didn't really have any lines. Also, not big on Skirk's design, mostly the outfit. Putting her next to Dain and uh, yeah (like don't get me wrong don't mind the color scheme and all, but could she not have gotten some kind of armor. Or look more like Foul Legacy or something idk).

But onto more happier notes, I'm so happy to see Childe finally getting to do well in a fight. I know it's a meme for him to get beaten up, but my dude is the Vanguard, let him win sometimes (he doesn't technically win here, but he was fighting an eldritch whale monster for ages and helped save Fontaine, I'm giving it to him). And Skirk, while her design is mostly less to be desired, I'm winning on guessing her hair and eye color haha. Also, while I'll always love my version, I'm liking her personality so far. Her yeeting Childe, while I admit took me out a bit (I thought she threw him farther into the Abyss and was like, "uh guys, yall worried about my poor boy here???" and then was a bit baffled at them saying he was fine) was so fucking funny. It's cool to learn "Foul Legacy" refers to a literal person, and I found the fact that Skirk's relationship with Foul is basically the same as her relationship with Childe very amusing. And it seems she's Khaenri'ahn, maybe? Also, I thought she was listing off her master's other names at first, so when she said Gold I got super hyped that I guessed correctly about the narwhal being Rhine's in my fic, but then they were like nope pfft. I'll take it as a win.

Sidenote, Alice and Rhine where are yoooouuuuuu.

Ultimately, while I enjoyed the Childe and Skirk stuff, it really just feels like a set-up for later stuff. Which isn't really a problem, but I was hoping we'd get something a bit more concrete. Like, I thought we were going to get answers about the "it" that Skirk saw in him, and it would have to do with the Narwhal, but now it seems those were mostly unrelated??? While I did find baby Ajax accidentally waking up a big world eating monster up kind of hilarious, it did feel a little incidental, if that makes any sense. Like, Fontaine's doom was an accident and not the result of anyone's choices. But that might just be a me thing. (and the quest needed more Arle, where was she??? my not really based on anything theory is that whenever we get Furina (or maybe Nevui's) 2nd character quest, Arle will be the boss fight. A reverse of the normal final Harb boss fight during the Archon quest)

Okay, because I really don't want to end on a downer (as I said uptop, I genuinely adored this quest haha), here are some minor spoilers from the Narzissenkreuz Ordo quest that have me by a chokehold.

I wasn't ready for a sudden Ajax. What does this mean??????

And this one just makes me laugh. Whichever Ordo member wrote this, I vehemently disagree with u and am on Khaenri'ah's side with this one. I'd much rather have bread then some higher power nonsense. In my fic I tend to write Khaenri'ah more akin to a modern nation than a fantasy one, and its nice to see me vindicated pfft.

Other random notes, enjoyed that the Fatui weren't just cartoonishly evil in both the main and world quests. I like some nuance. I saw that Sandrone hint, that was fun. Though it makes me wonder when we'll get Columbina lore (especially because if the theory about Harbinger boss fight order based on the Constellation circle is true, she should be showing up soon. Though also I half think that order will break because if it doesn't, it means Sandrone will probably be the final Harb boss which is an odd choice.) As revealed on Furina's weapon, Egeria being around during Remuria raises so many questions around the timeline of events. Genshin pls tell me when the Archon war takes place in all this pls (if they tell us in some lore I haven't read yet, whoops). (also on egeria, I mourn my version but hey, she exists in my heart and in my fics pfft. I can't wait to write her in smfwtwd and venti fic, though she's getting a new name for confusion and better symbolsism)

the contrast between Neuvi and Furina after the quest is so funny and sad. Neuvi "Furina is the best, I want her to be happy". Furina, "Everyone hates me, Neuvillette most of all, I can never face him again." And the other Archons, they are all like Furina, wow u are so cool (which just highlights Neuvi's utter disdain for them other than Nahida haha).

And most vitally, Furina and Venti should be best friends. Musically inclined performers who definitely aren't plotting to overthrow the heavens. I think they are neat (they also both have Latin names!).

[lunar-years]

I don't necessarily want to be too hard on Sudeikis because like, I've never written a tv show, but at the same time I will be because I don't think he had the skill level to lead the 3rd season on his own the way he did, and it shows. I Know the show is called Ted Lasso but it honestly felt like he was too wrapped up in providing himself with moments to shine that he forgot about wrapping up huge plot points for other characters and for some reason decided their time was better spent wasted on weird side plots. If I was a suspicious person, I'd honestly say that it felt like he was sabotaging other actors by either turning them into one dimensional cut outs of themselves with no depth (Roy), dropping huge issues for the character and then completely washing over them, and also forcing a highly emotional moment by a great actor to be a farce (Jamie), or neglecting any actual potential character development and sacrificing a well developed character for a cheap shot at "yas girl boss" (Keeley)

hmm i know a lot of people blame the bad pacing and super long episodes on Bill Lawrence's departure and Jason's lack of show-running knowledge. I'm not saying he didn't make the problem worse in s3, but to be fair I think that was already well underway as a problem in s2 (when i think Lawrence was still involved?), so I don't really blame him alone. The pacing was only tight and great in the first season and then it went downhill from there.

As for the character stuff...I disagree that Sudeikis was only concerned with writing himself moments to shine (and if it’s true he did a terrible job of it lmao), because imo Ted's character is just as much of a sloppily-written mess in s3 as the rest of them (and also I think Ted's plot was less central in s3 than it was in s2 especially). Apart from the scene with Ted and his mom at the end of Mom City and maybe his season finale locker room speech, I can't really think of any scenes that are standout in terms of really emphasizing Jason's acting range/serving as award-fodder.

I also strongly disagree that he was intentionally sabotaging his fellow actors by giving them bad plots LOL. Actually I think it was quite the opposite, in that he was extremely focused on giving each of the others a “highlight reel" episode to present to the Emmys committee. Like, you can look at the season and immediately pick out which episode was written for each emmy submission (Paris is Juno's episode, Chelsea is Brett's episode [still shocked he didn't submit it tbh], International Break is Hannah's episode, etc.) Like, Mom City was clearly written with Phil winning his emmy at the forefront of the writer's room minds, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. heck, that's my favorite episode of the season! (side note that I agree with you that Jason is to blame for THAT jamie boot room scene though because like wow was that bad directing, and the bts video shows he was the one telling Phil to play it like that lmao). But i do think the segmented structure of the episodes probably did contribute to the pacing problems and the lack of cohesiveness in the season as a whole.

(I also don’t think Roy was one-dimensional in s3 🫢. Apart from a few things that didn't quite land for me, I really liked where they took Roy's arc this season on the whole. IMO they gave him more depth by really diving into his insecurities, showing him as a leader with Isaac, learning to be a friend to Jamie, coming into his own as a coach and a person, going to therapy and becoming manager. And his ending was ultimately satisfying for me).

ANYWAY, in my opinion Jason's biggest crime was being so rigidly committed to the three season vision of the show he dreamt up in the beginning, even when the show and plots had gotten too big for that original vision to contain. Season 3 could have been separated into two seasons easily and it would have given them the time they desperately needed to address many of the characters and relationships in a much better and holistic way, as well as dedicate more time to thoughtful endings for all of the main plots. Instead they tried to do way too much with way too little space. And also gave a weird amount of screen time to pointless characters (cough Zava cough Shandy...)

[clonerightsagenda]

Ok let's put this to bed. Or more appropriately in the grave. Nice stuff first:

The show was well paced and didn't drag! After my increasing frustration with the second half of HDM, I appreciate that. While it veered further away from the books in the second half which annoyed me on principle, I don't think there was anything wrong with the changes from a structural or storytelling perspective. Adding hints toward later plot twists helped provide an overarching plot to propel the season since they squashed two books with separate story arcs together.

One of my favorite things about the books is the thought put into little details of how society would respond to this situation, and the show added some new ones - the salt sprinklers, places of business having countdown clocks to sunset, those all made sense and were great touches. The ghost lamps also looked super cool.

All the kids in this situation are victims, but Lucy doesn't see herself that way and is comparatively privileged as an unsupervised agent/not night watch, so her narration skates over a lot of the horror lurking in the background. The show gets outside her head and into the darkness a bit more, which I don't object to on principle, though I do think they weakened themselves by having almost all the agents be older. At least have some younger extras besides the canaries at the auction. DEPRAC being more active worked well both from a logical standpoint and as an additional source of tension. The biggest issue here is that the books are also really funny - a major hallmark of Stroud's work is dealing with heavy shit while being hilarious - and while the show got darker it did not have much of a sense of humor.

As I said, George came off the best of the trio, and Flo also benefited from being given additional depth and not getting subjected to Lucy's uncharitable narration. The others though... I appreciated they did not cast someone stick thin as Lucy, and I liked her relationship with Norrie (helps beat the internalized misogyny allegations, helps confirm the bisexuality allegations, if they'd had any sense in future seasons the Belle Dame would've looked like her) but as I complained about at length I feel like they saw 'female character with empathy powers' and slammed the 'hysterical woman' button too hard. Lockwood... also as I said you can tell non-Lucy observers think he's obnoxious in the books but he's endearingly childish enough that you forgive him, whereas his show version was just annoying and it felt like we kept rehashing the same beats. Finally the skull's character does shift noticeably between book 2/3-5 but they cut his backstory and most of his lines, so IDK where they were going to take him for the rest of the series. Sorry if you don't find Lucy's toxic codependent frenemy hostage situation compelling, showrunners, but it was a highlight for me. He was another casualty of the show not having a sense of humor imo. Without the first person pov that's where most of the jokes come from.

Overall, while it would have been neat to see if they did anything visually interesting with the Other Side sequences, I am not bummed that this got cancelled. I would've still watched it but I would've made an 'annoying adaptation choices' bingo card and filled it out while eating M&Ms. I'd bet $10 they would've murdered Kipps for the fucking love triangle.

[onceuponalegendbg]

Alright so, my thoughts on what is hopefully the first season of the One Piece Live Action adaptation.

I really really enjoyed it.

Oh my god the pacing of this show, for the most part, is so good. The pacing of this show didn’t make me want to pull my hair out. I feel like that’s one of my biggest gripes with the anime, because of the nature of what it is, it will draw things out forever and by the time we get to the point I’ve already lost interest. Not a problem here… for the most part, but I’ll touch on that in a moment.

The overall look and feel of the show is actually what it needed to be. It didn’t take itself too seriously, especially at the beginning, was fun and captured the spirit of adventure the show has. The sets were also just incredible and I have to applaud the use of practical effects where they could. Really helped make things seem more tangible… because it was. And the CGI they do use, for the most part, looks really good. Not completely realistic but not “oh wow that’s cheap.”

Do you realize how hard it is to make a character like Arlong actually seem threatening in live action? And not come off looking incredibly stupid? A lot of that is due to the make up team obviously, but also the voice and presence of the actor. Mckinley Belcher III really pulls some weight, despite obviously not being as giant as his anime/manga counterpart.

The cast for this show was spot on. People have been praising Inaki Godoy, as they should. He deserves it. He’s a great Luffy. Mackenyu was great as Zoro, perfect amount of swagger. Jacob Romero was fun as Usopp, actually made me kind of like Usopp. His chemistry with the actress playing Kaya (Celeste Loots) was so good. Taz Skylar was good as Sanji though I feel he really didn’t get a whole lot of time to show off.

Though unsurprisingly to me, I think my favorite performance was from Emily Rudd. Nami was already my favorite of the crew members but Emily really just hit all the right notes for me. Those screams when the Marines are taking her money? Perfection. But also everything leading up to the Arlong Arc, her trying to keep her walls up but also realizing she cares about this ragtag group of weirdos she’s found herself with, the subtleties in how she’s absolutely torn because she knows it can’t last forever. And when she’s playing tough amongst Arlong’s crew it doesn’t come off as cheesy or forced, she sells all of it.

I think overall there was only one weak performance for me but they still did what they were supposed to.

Alright, now with my positives out of the way…

I feel like we spent too much time with the Marines. Don’t get me wrong, the development for those characters was fine, but the more we cut back to them the more I was like “really? Again?” This was really my only gripe with the pacing, cuz it felt like a lot of the time we were just having Koby discover the same thing again and again. Koby is idealistic, oh no the Marines/Garp do something to threaten that idealism, rinse and repeat rinse and repeat rinse and repeat. That’s why I almost completely stopped commenting on that side of the story.

As much as I dislike saying it, outside of the great acting from everyone involved, the Arlong Arc kind of felt a little weak to me? Don’t get me wrong, I knew it wasn’t gonna beat the anime. The way you can emphasize things in animation is just more dynamic than live action. So I knew to keep my expectations somewhat more grounded. Still.

I lot of my issues are with how they told the story. I feel like a lot of the punch for the Arlong Arc came from Nojiko and the village knowing. They pretended to not know so Nami wouldn’t feel guilty abandoning them. And then that moment where all of the village is ready die fighting, Nami realizing she’s about to lose everything anyway after eight years of trying to protect it, that all leading into her breakdown… Not to mention Nami just continuing to deny Luffy’s help, throwing dirt, crying, telling Luffy this has nothing to do with him until finally finally she asks for help. Heck, we don’t even get Bellemere’s name spoken in this show! And the emphasis on Luffy destroying Nami’s prison! I just feel like we needed a bit more time with this story, which we could have got if we cut a couple Marine scenes.

Obviously, again, I wasn’t expecting a complete one for one retelling. I don’t mind changes as long as it still carries that emotion.

Would I still feel that way if I hadn’t seen the anime? I don’t know. I like to think I’d still be a little concerned about the pacing of that arc but that’s only speculation on my end.

It also just felt a little off that we had this big climax with Arlong and then we had to throw in that little confrontation with Garp. That kind of took some wind out of my sails. I get why they needed it, especially since they probably weren’t sure if they were gonna get a second season. Still.

All of this being said, I must reiterate that I really enjoyed this show. It wasn’t perfect but for an adaptation of an anime it was pretty spectacular. There was a lot of passion and love put into this, and it definitely shows. Hopefully we’re getting that season 2 eventually, and hopefully Netflix doesn’t do what they do and cancel it after that second season. *knock on wood*

[aotopmha]

Dawntrail lvl 95 MSQ spoilers!

I ended today's session a little bit after the solo duty.

It's another zone I adore as just a location to go around in!

Dawntrail will be the first expansion on my list to max the Shared FATEs in just for this reason, I think.

And as I expected Bakool Ja Ja ended up being much more interesting than I thought he would ever be.

(I want to specify from my other post that he is indeed not one of the siblings. He's the only non-sibling claimant, in fact.)

In my previous post I went into how we're finally getting more nuanced thematic and character writing, but we're still firmly in A Realm Reborn cheese territory when it comes to the spirit.

Every single story with the different peoples we have met so far has been pretty simple at its core. And so is Bakool Ja Ja's little redemption arc and Koana's moment of reflection.

I keep ping-ponging between this being A Realm Reborn 2 and Stormblood 2 because it is both incredibly straight-forward and has some neat nuances at play, but really it is just a mix of the two, but without the massive focus, stake and pacing issues.

Instead of going to 10 places before reaching your goal you have one complete story in one place and move on to another one.

Instead of 5 or 8 characters or locations, you have to talk to 3 characters or go to 1 place. Most I've done is, I think click shinies in 5 different locations.

And instead of getting lost in side distractions while a location is under attack by a giant monster or desparately fighting for their freedom, the adventure through the land and learning about its people is the main point.

Dawntrail has both A Realm Reborn's and Stormblood's massive love for cheese, but also their love for building the world you travel.

If you really disliked A Realm Reborn or Stormblood, you might have similar issues with Dawntrail or if you hated the trust and friendship cheese in the Endwalker patch content, you most likely will hate the peace and cooperation cheese in Dawntrail.

We're absolutely back to pretty blunt core writing here. But it's neat blunt writing with at least some substance backing it to me.

Another aspect of Dawntrail I have not commented on are the many more cutscenes, with what feels like fewer of them voiced. I'd be interested in the statistics.

Which I don't mind, but I can see it to be jarring after it got so much more common with the past few expansions.

Each time I think there might be a break, I get another cutscene. So I think they might have overcorrected on trying streamline the questing experience.

And as much I think they've been solid, all of the solo duties so far kind of have been "the same" down to two of them being against the same character, so that's another area I feel where they are cutting corners this expansion.

It works out because all three duties involve two-headed Mamool Ja, but it is something that stood out to me. And I also don't mind it.

Shadowbringers and Endwalker really stood out for some of their solo duties for me, but if they must save their budget, I'd rather it be voice acting and solo duties than skipping out some content.

I do not get why Square Enix just won't give more money to what is still probably their biggest cash cow.

We recently straight-up got news we got the most concurrent players since A Realm Reborn.

Corporations gotta corporation, I guess.

(To specify, I have no idea how the budget for the game has or hasn't changed, but it *feels* like it has roughly been the same.)

[kindredhearts13]

Let’s talk about Thony and Arman

Alright y’all, I’ll be back to go more in depth on the episodes later on (I know I’m already behind, I’ll catch up before Monday)- but I felt the need to throw in some perspective because I checked the tag today and it feels like a part of the fandom is on fire. So, here it is:

We are only THREE episodes into the second season. 

Outside of a few promotional stills and very vague episode synopsis, we do not have enough information to make definitive statements about the trajectory of this season or its characters. Everything we’ve all been sharing, including myself, has been purely speculative and only the rest of the episodes will reveal if we were actually correct. 

I’m going to break down how I’m feeling about Arman and Thony and their relationship, and where I feel like it is headed- so, that’s going below the cut:

(Also, spoiler warning: I discuss the synopsis for 2x05 towards the end w/ a labeled warning beforehand)

Okay, so let’s be honest- the in person reunion between Arman and Thony was not what most of us hoped for. It was frantic, rushed, and felt like they were both focused on, well, not each other. And the reality is: they weren’t. Whether or not most people liked Marco and Thony was already done with the marriage, her husband still died- the father of her child- and that is still going to weigh on her. It should; in fact if it didn’t, I would be really upset because that would be out of character for her. One of the biggest points of contention in the relationship before his death was her relationship with Arman- whether it was justified contention or not- it caused issues with Marco and it is currently causing issues with Fiona. Not to mention her father-in-law wanting to take Luca away and never officially agreeing to not try. Plus, her nephew accidentally killed her husband, his uncle. And to top all of that off, Luca is sick again and his body is rejecting his liver. Our girl has a lot up on her shoulders. 

And yes, last season Arman literally tried to hold the weight of it all with her- but he hasn’t exactly been as emotionally available. Plus, he is still married and has given Thony no indication that his marital status is changing anytime soon. (If he had, we would know). Though it may seem like an unimportant detail to some, Thony isn’t going t just ignore all that has happened and be romantic and gaze longingly at this man in the midst of everything she’s dealing with when he isn’t even giving her a reason to do so. 

Arman also has a lot going on- the difference is that we know and are continuing to learn how unravelled he becomes under pressure. His tone is sharp, his words are biting, and the emotionally aware part of him needs some poking before it wakes up. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I love Arman, but he needs to get his shit together because right now- he doesn’t deserve Thony or Nadia. He keeps lashing out on people instead of actually dealing with his problems, and if the writers really take on that challenge- that should be a major character arc for him. 

In my opinion, neither of these two are out of character. The issue is that the pacing is a bit askew at the top of its second season due to a not very well established timeline. We’re supposed to expect months worth of an emotional shift in Arman from last season’s finale to this season’s premiere that truly only happened in a few weeks time. This is part of the reason why I feel like it was a mistake to kill Hayak so early on because Arman needs the ending of his relationship with Hayak and his death to really help ground this emotional journey he is on. (I’ll get more into this in my episode dissection.) 

Now to wrap: a note on 2x05

@delarosa-morales just dropped a GREAT post with a lot of excellent points, and I’m in the same line of thinking with most of them. Arman is a criminal. That hasn’t changed. Yes, he has a good heart. Yes, he has fallen for Thony and Luca. Yes, I’ve written fan-fiction focusing on his softer side because that’s the sexiest side of his character to me. But the reality is that he still did what he had to do to get ahead, and he’s desperate. So, yeah- he might do some stuff that he’s going to be ashamed of later. And I kind of think it’s brilliant to have Arman potentially betray Thony in the 5th episode of the second season because he discovered that she was working with the FBI in the 5th episode of the first. Just like that episode did, it’s going to force them to actually deal with their shit. I knew from 3 episodes into season 1 that we were going to have a huge rift between Thony and Arman, because the rift is needed to bring them back together and make them stronger- it is the basic format for these grittier shows. IF this is that rift, let’s do it and see the way that these characters and their relationships evolve because of it. 

Finally, let me say (and zero offense or judgement to anyone that does): I do not watch this or any show purely for a romantic relationship, UNLESS that show is explicitly about that romantic relationship. And we’ve been told time and time again that this show is NOT about Thony and Arman’s romance. It is aspect of it, but Elodie herself made it clear that part of what drew her to this role is that Thony’s motivations and arc weren’t based in this romance- it was secondary to everything else, in a way.

Not to say that the relationship won’t and shouldn’t evolve, but I personally don’t need romantic fireworks every single episode; so I’m not as bummed because I trust that when these intimate moments do happen (and the whole Arman acting like a shy teenage boy around his crush in front of Thony when Bosco was talking to him was definitely one of those moments); there will be for a reason and have more meaning behind them. I don’t want these characters to do something for the shock or raciness of it- I want it to happen because it makes sense for them and the story and because of good writing. So, that’s where I am. 

[marigold-22]

Shadow and bone season 2 spoilers

I feel very conflicted. I liked so many things but I also disliked a lot.

To begin with the things I liked, I absolutely loved Mal, in the original trilogy he was by far my least favorite character he just felt like a complete asshole who was super unsupportive of Alina and was just very annoying. In the show he is great he was a good partner to Alina and was very supportive he contributed a lot to Alina’s arc but also had his own arc that was well developed and contributed to the story. Another thing I liked was that they just completely removed the entire sun army plot line, in the books it felt like an irrelevant piece of filler, also adding in the apparat as villainous figure in the books just felt like it took away from the villainous presence and development of the darkling, this brings me to my next point. The darkling was amazing in his development and felt like a great counterpart to Alina, speaking of which Alina had a significantly stronger presence than in the books, in the books she felt like she had very little power at all and that just felt like the wrong place for a protagonist to be, however in the show she is a force to be reckoned with and it feels like she and not just her sun summoning is the reason that the darkling was defeated and the fold was destroyed.

Now for the things I didn’t like. The biggest issue plaguing the show is the pacing, the second season is super rushed and because of that many character’s arcs are completely ignored, to begin with Nikolai does not get even close to enough development, his relationships with the other characters appear out of nowhere, it’s like one second Alina is challenging Nikolai on everything and the next second she’s best friends with him, they also left out the Nikolai being a monster plot line which in the books felt essential to his character development, however I did really enjoy much of the onscreen time and development that he did have. Nikolai is just one of many characters that had their development sidelined or even completely lost because of the rushing. Another victim of the rushing was the general feeling of a ravcan civil war, this is one of the things that I feel very conflicted about, the show took a trilogy of books that was primarily a story about a large scale country wide civil war and attempted to turn it into a more interpersonal story, I have no problem with this in concept in fact I actually think I like it more, the problem is that they made it more interpersonal but also tried to keep the civil war storyline, again I don’t necessarily think that this is inherently bad it’s just very hard to pull off and I don’t think they did, Their weren’t enough large scale battles to make a civil war believable and honestly I think that this could have been corrected if they had extended the shadow and bone story into 3 seasons.

Let’s talk about the crows, this and the ending are the 2 things that I feel the most conflicted about, not actually because of what happens in the show but because of what it means for future geishaverse shows. The crow storyline was extremely well done we got introduced to Wylan and each of the crows got plenty of character development and that’s the problem, most of the crows have already finished their arcs from crooked kingdom before six of crows even happens, Kaz had his whole pekka revenge thing happen and beat up per haskel already, Inej also pretty much finished her arc but I’ll talk about that when I talk about the ending, Jesper is about halfway through his arc already but he at least has some room left for development, on the bright side Nina and Wylan have gotten very good introductions hut haven’t even started their arcs yet meaning that they have significant room for growth in a possible six of crows season/spin off. Overall I feel mixed about the crows I really liked them in this season but I worry that their development could get stunted in future seasons.

Finally let’s talk about the ending, I have seen a wide variety of opinions about it ranging from adoring it to despising it, I feel positive about it but have a lot of issues with it nonetheless. Yet again the ending worries me because of what it might mean for future grishaverse shows, to begin with I absolutely love the idea of Alina being a more important character and adore the idea of an evil Alina arc also Mal being sturmhond makes me happy, I just like the idea of Mal and Alina being more present in future stories along with the fact that the end of the original felt to fairytale like and in my opinion didn’t fit the rest of the book my one big worry with Alina is that she will steal Zoya’s arc from king of scars duology which would be terrible I would much prefer a villain arc. As for other characters it seemed like they teased king of scars with Nikolai and I hope that he gets more development in that, Inej is the character that I fear for the most it’s just character development wise I don’t know where she goes from here and we haven’t even gotten six if crows yet.

Anyway there is a bunch more stuff I could talk about concerning the ending, character development, and differences compared to the book but this post is already long enough and I’m tired so I will just say that overall I really liked this show and am excited to see what comes next, it has a lot of issues and doesn’t at all stick to the source material but honestly I think it’s better than the source material at least when talking about the original shadow and bone trilogy, however when it comes to future seasons I think they need to be more careful about the characters and how closely they stick to the source material.

[consumeronionbulletin]

Hospital Playlist (2020, 2021)

This show was great! Some of the medical stuff was a little too real (for my taste), but the characters were the best! It's great TV, where you just get to follow around these interesting people with cool jobs for a year or two of their life. What's not to enjoy?

What Worked

The scenes with the band. All the friendships. Most of the romance stuff. The thoughtful approach to medical issues. The fact that they avoided most of the typical medical drama tropes. The cute little kids (especially the actor that played Lee Ik-jun's son). All the scenes with the five just hanging out!

What Didn't Work

The pacing was a little slow sometimes, which I didn't have a problem with, but I know bothered some people. Some of the medical stuff, but again that's more of a preference.

The Performances

This is a show with a huge ensemble cast and lots of guest stars. And the writers are good, so they make sure and give each of them a few moments, at least, to shine. There's no way to cover everything without writing a huge novel. So I'll stick to my favorites.

Jo Jung-suk as Lee Ik-jun. This guy was just so much fun to watch. All of the funniest moments on the show were centered around him. All of the cringiest dad jokes also featured him. I never got tired of watching him.

Jeon Mi-do as Chae Song-hwa. I loved this character, and this actress. The biggest "in-joke" this show ever did was hire an experienced musical theatre actor and make her pretend she couldn't sing for two seasons. And it was still charming to watch! She was the heart of the show, and we need more smart, goofy, nerdy characters like this on TV.

Yoo Yeon-seok as Ahn Jeong-win (Andrea). It took awhile for me to warm up to this character, because he felt too good to be believed. But once we got to know him, and saw more about his point of view, he became one of my favorites.

Junk Kyung-ho as Kim Jun-wan. It took longer for me to warm up to this character, but that was mostly the writing. By the end of the first season, I really enjoyed watching him be the grumpy straight-man for all the antics going on. I also really liked his relationship with Lee Ik-sun, even though the arc felt a little manufactured.

Kim Dae-myung as Yang Seok-hyeong. The show did really good on the medical stuff with this character, but less good with the everyday life stuff. He had to deal with some of the most sensitive and heartbreaking situations and the actor and the writers handled them all very well. Worth watching because of this.

Kwak Sun-young as Lee Ik-sun. I saw her in Encounter and she was really enjoyable, especially when they let her break out some of her comedy skills, but she wasn't particularly memorable. She was great in this role. Lots of good chemistry with both her romantic arc and with her family stories. Just charming and funny and the show did a good job of letting her shine. The romantic arc had a little fake drama added, but the actors still made it work.

Shin Hyun-been as Jang Gyeo-ul. The show took its time with this character, and didn't really bring her to the front until season two. But I liked her interactions with the other characters, and her romantic arc was really good too. She handled the family drama stuff in it particularly well.

Ahn Eun-jin as Chu Min-ha. I feel like the character is kind of a mirror for her romantic interest in the show (Seok-hyeong). She got a ton of character stuff and was forced to stand to the side in alot of the medical stuff. Ahn Eun-jin basically carried the romance arc for season two (which is partly on the writers), but she made it fun to watch.

Ha Yoon-kyung as Heo Sun-bin. This was one of the actor's earlier roles, but she did a good job with what they writers gave her. You can see why they started giving her bigger roles later on (especially Extraordinary Attorney Woo), though she was definitely a minor character here.

Everyone else: Again, there are so many people and the guest stars / "patients" show up occasionally later on, which is nice when you can remember who they are. The two med-student twins were fun to watch. The old people antics were enjoyable, and the actors for them did a good job with the drama when it was called for. There were lots of adorable child actors that rarely got annoying. Just alot of good talent showing up when needed.

TL; DR:

I'm not usually a fan of medical dramas. The last one that really hooked me was maybe ER and that was such a long time ago it may as well be the stone age. But I loved this one. The actors were great, the show was serious when it needed to be, but was not afraid to joke around and that created a really good balance.