TV: Midway Drama Review

I've been watching a lot of TV lately, so I decided to just pen down some of my thoughts regarding those that I'm still currently watching. I'm actually a little shocked at how many I'm juggling right now. 3/5 of the shows below are actually still airing so my thoughts on them may drastically change depending on the ending? We'll see.


It's Ok, That's Love
Currently at: Episode 12 and dying for the next

Gong Hyojin and Jo Insung?? I mean, what could go wrong. I am absolutely enamoured by this show, by the mish-mash of dysfunctional characters and their complex relationships. The theme of the show aims to shed light on mental illnesses and how it inflicts people; I would think it's a rather intriguing attempt to format it as a rom-com due to the severity of the topic, how it is often butchered in dramas and how rarely one surrounds a drama around it.

Insofar as I see, they've done a decent job in making it a light-hearted and attractive drama. While I would say that they might have potentially romanticised mental illnesses and it's severity (such as when it comes to recovery), and occasionally not giving satisfying enough conclusions or too flippant coverages to the various patients, it still has a rather special place in my heart. Might be too early to say, but I really enjoy the entire dynamics of the show. Overlooking the small little issues that critical little me brought up, thus far, it's a truly attractive drama with complex and unique characters.


Surplus Princess
Currently at: Episode 4

I was excited for this from the start and was pretty much ready to give it a good try just because Jo Boah was in it (she was a complete doll in 2014 movie Thorn). When the plot of the story first came out, I was almost certain that they might have gone for a sappy/cheesy love story with a plot that draws few resemblances to the original adaptation. But thank goodness it ended up being a funny, charming and light-hearted drama that I really enjoy. The acting's rather meh and there are some strange bits thrown in here and there, but it's also positively filled with nonsense plot lines, puns, references and parodies (my favourite thus far is the SNL GTA parody; perfect!!). It is an easy watch and I'm definitely curious on how the story will develop! The downside: only 1 episode per week.


Fated To Love You
Currently at: Episode 8

I'll start by saying that I don't love this, and I'm not really sure if I will. I guess the kind of plot did not attract me as much, the characters are not necessarily charming and it does come off a little bit cheesy for me. I do have a rather strong distaste for the weak+nice lady and pompous+rich guy combo. I also wonder if Jang Nara and Jang Hyuk(!) were miscasts due to the way they're portraying the individual characters and their chemistry, but I'll have to continue watching to find out.

I'm currently watching this on commute from home to university (thus explaining why I even picked it up in the first place) to keep me occupied for that duration. While I've been sounding rather negative, I don't by any means think it's a horrible drama. It's decent, but it simply did not hook me in any way and is not to my tastes. I'll probably still end up finishing though, and I wish to see their relationship blossom a bit more.


Keizoku 2: SPEC
Currently at: Episode 5

The only Japanese drama of the lot. I don't usually watch Japanese dramas, but this one caught my eye and I'm glad I got into it. A rather big franchise with orignals and movie spinoffs, so I'm quite curious where I'll go with this. It, in essence, is a detective drama with a comical genius and a deadpan guy solving crimes with supernatural elements in it. Two things I don't like as of now: how often they mention the err that is "90% of human's brain is untapped", and how in every episode they find the need to do the Cardcaptor-Sakura-detective-solving-paper-flying sequence.

Everything else, though, I really like! Rather interesting stories sandwiched between occasional laugh points, it's a pretty decent detective drama.


High School King Of Savvy
Stopped at at: Episode 10 (pending continuation)

I really wish to plough through the remaining episodes because the initial episodes were really charming and I really want to know how the plot will progress and how the show will wrap up.....but I'm finding it rather difficult as of now.

I know it's a really popular drama, but over time as the characters developed I started liking them lesser, and became rather turned off by the relationships in the show (I think the age gap had a rather big part to play). Jung Sooyoung, as hilarious and comical as she may be, started coming off rather annoying, and I found myself thinking along similar lines for Lee Minseok. I couldn't handle the relationship dynamics without feeling like throwing my mouse at my computer screen -- not a good sign. Which is really unfortunate, because I really wanted to like the drama with the recommendations from people around me and with how much I liked it initially, but I couldn't. So right now it's pending continuation, with a rather bleak future.

TV: The Genius 2 - Rule Breaker (Midway Point)

I'm at episode 6 and I have so much contradicting emotions.

Wow. That's really fucked up.

This was my previous raving shining review on The Genius - Rule Of The Game and I feel that, at the midway point, the sequel appears fell short. I am aware that this I'm not done with the show, and this does not represent my concluding thoughts so here I go.

The games are definitely much simpler with much lesser leeway for mind games. The PD of the show has said beforehand for 2's games to simpler, as in Rule Of The Game people were not able to uncover many of the hidden layers and alternative techniques during the course of the game. What happened instead: there were main games that didn't feel like they were one, either leaving pretty much no room for scheming through over simplification or being too planned, and main games that gave pretty definite outcomes halfway through the game - losing the beauty of excessively unexpected twists-and-turns that was in the first. Even some of the twists were rather expected.

And this definitely bled into how people play.

Perhaps it was that people already knew what to expect and fell more comfortably into how the show works. Perhaps it was the mix of characters, or lack off, where there were seemed to be only two distinct types of characters - the follower and the *smart* leader. I couldn't see the charm of the individual characters - the insufferable ones like loudness, ganging up (poor Jaekyung, and Eun Jiwon had the guts to say that she was at fault) and betrayal (and I'm saying this despite being one to tolerate well-played betrayal and realistic negativity). Also, their individual strengths in their various fields were not given as much a chance to be displayed, which was unfortunate.

There were too many plain annoying characters (too loud, too out of the loop...) than appreciable "bad" characters who are scheming and actually used their brains. Alliances were expected and not interesting, and people were more willing to betray than use their brains.



I'm probably quite emotional due to the departure of one of my favourite members in an obviously underhanded manner that can't be acknowledged as easily.

I still love the show. It's still one of the most unique ones out there, and I probably will go on watching it. For example, episode 3 was probably the best with amazing editing and the unexpected double-crossing by Duhee (the type of betrayal that actually worked) with the viewer being completely out of the loop due to good editing + Oscar-worthy anger acting heh.

I still enjoyed the episodes so far perhaps with the more obvious exclusion of 4 (the Blackout game fell short and had no interest if not for the nonsensical betrayalS; I thought Eungyeol's betrayal made no sense, and the others like that annoying Yooyoung in elimination round making even lesser) and 6 (wtf really? All time low with their lack of moral code + 50% of the show dedicated not to either games but to the discovery of the token + a pretty uninteresting main game with even Hong Jinho not participating in the game ultimately + Duhee getting eliminated even without the chance to use his brain in the episode AT ALL).

I'll conclude by saying that while it fell short, it's still pretty good.

Maybe. I can't tell yet, I'm a little emotional right now. The more I'm writing, the more I'm getting upset.

First with the elimination of the female lawyer who played the smart and strong woman card better than Kyungran, then with all the obvious alliances, then with the horrible betrayal by Eun Jiwon who I used to quite like (he has since swept his image through the rugs), and the cherry on top with the elimination of Duhee.

Sigh.

Update (7): It was a fun episode but wow is there still a reason for me to continue watching..... In such a sheer unfortunate manner as well..... 이럴수가.....