I'm not quite sure why I'm making this list. I guess so that I don't forget that I've already watched something and start watching it again? (which I have already done several times now)

Drama - Country of Origin - Completed/Completed through Episode # - My Rating (out of 5 stars)

( Taiwanese/Chinese DramasCollapse )

( Japanese DramasCollapse )

( Korean DramasCollapse )

Well, The Mindy Project has forced me to do what no other show was able to do. I've joined that mess that is called Tumblr. WHY IS IT SO POPULAR? UGH. But there is NOTHING about The Mindy Project on good old LiveJournal, and the fandom for pretty much every show ever has migrated over there, so I guess it was time. But... but... you can't converse! The tags are used for ridiculous commentary instead of organization! WTF is with that? So stupid. You can write something and maybe people will read it and maybe they won't and it's not at all like LiveJournal and AUUUUUUUUGH I HATE CHANGE. I HATE IT SO MUCH. I can't even really figure out how to navigate the damn thing. Is there a way to just have a tag on your dash instead of a person? Or can you only follow people? Pfft, I haven't even figured out how to follow people yet. Or how to get to my dash from the computer. The mobile version is much easier to use, but I'm not sure what all the symbols mean yet. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. But maybe now I can find more stuff about Korean dramas and kpop and what have you. But mostly I just wanted to find other people who were freaking over The Mindy Project finale. MINDY/DANNY, HOLY CRAP. I was holding my breath and flailing through that entire scene, and then it shattered my heart. AUUUUUUUUGH, DAMN YOU, SHOW. It broke me but at the same time I think it was handled brilliantly.

New Girl, on the other hand, has kind of disappointed me this season. I was enjoying the slow burn of Nick/Jess, but then they slept together and things got weird and it's just not as fun as it used to be. I mean, I admire the show for not hitting the reset button like most shows do, but it's like the fun was sucked out of their relationship because they're so focused on being perfect for each other instead of just being their goofy selves. IDK, maybe now that they've both affirmed that they want to be together they can relax and the group dynamics can go back to normal.

I've already gushed over The Office finale here.

Community. Oh, Community. IDEK with you anymore. Upon first watch, I wasn't all that fond of the finale, but once I figured out it was all in Jeff's head and not Abed's, it all made sense and it actually held quite a lot of meaning, especially on the Jeff/Annie front. He thinks about her. A lot. He wants her, but he still sees her as something that he could corrupt, which is why Good Jeff can't act on his feelings while Evil Jeff can. The second Annie gets angry at him he has to chase after her and hug it out and he looks so freaking blissful with her in his arms (as does Evil Jeff when he lifts Evil Annie up into a kiss). "Nobody sleeps with Jeff! Not even me." Hilarious yet interesting line from Annie. Good Britta sticking up for Evil Britta was the greatest, probably my favorite moment in the episode. Drunk Shirley was hilarious. Troy vs Troy was adorable (poor Evil Troy, failing so hard at being intimidating that even Good Troy rolled his eyes at him). And the ending speech was lovely, even if it was being cruel with the closeups on Annie during certain moments in the speech. DAMN IT, SHOW. STOP DOING THAT TO ME. He didn't mean it like that! He was talking to the whole group! But, yeah, this episode kind of proved that Annie is very prominent in his thoughts, but it's the group as a whole that truly owns his heart.

I can't even remember the Parks and Rec finale. I think my attachment to that show is long gone. I still enjoy it, but it just doesn't grab me the way it used to.

I miss Go On. A lot. That was the one new show that I thought was a shoe-in for renewal. I guess Matthew Perry + the large ensemble was too costly. But damn was that a good show, and definitely one that they could have eventually built their new comedy block around. Ugh, so much resentment, NBC. So much resentment. At this point I would gladly give up another season of Community for another season of Go On. MR. K, WHAT IS MY LIFE WITHOUT YOU? *cries for an eternity*

On the Asian drama front, I'm still following You're the Best Lee Soon Shin and it is still my favorite. I missed a few eps of When a Man Loves and just dropped it, and that's pretty much happening with Gu Family Book, too. IDK what my problem is lately. I think I just miss romcoms, and Lee Soon Shin is the only one fitting that bill at the moment. Unfortunately, the romcom part of it is only given to us in small doses since it's a family drama, but luckily the drama is so damn good that I'm enjoying almost everything about it. But... yeah, I wish there was more Soon Shin/Jun Ho.

Also, I recently inhaled the Chinese drama Sunny Happiness and adored the crap out of it. Oh did the leading man make me swoon, good god was he gorgeous.

I'm coming out of hiding just to say that the finale to The Office left me a sobbing mess. What a sweet, hilarious, wonderful, emotional, insightful, nostalgic ending to the show of my life. This show was with me for so long and captured so many of my thoughts and feelings that I could never really express myself, and even though it was wacky and over the top, there have never been any other characters in any piece of fiction that have ever felt so real to me. These people were like a second family and I love how it made the audience feel like a part of that. And even though in the real world most coworkers don't become as close as these people did, it still captured that complicated thing where you are with a bunch of strangers for hours on end every day suffering through the same shit and just trying to survive together, and you do whatever you can to make the day go by easier/faster, you find people that you can have fun with despite the boredom and torture that is called work, and you form a certain affection for these people (even the ones that bug the crap out of you), and it's sad when the group is broken, but the world moves on and new people show up to make the group different, but you'll always remember the good old days.

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Perfect ending to a show that I will always remember with the utmost fondness. Even in its darkest days I loved it to death.

So, it's been a good long while since any k-dramas have grabbed me, mostly because all there has been lately are melodramas, but finally, finally a new crop of dramas started, and I'm really enjoying them.

You're the Best, Lee Soon Shin - I have been following this one week to week since it started, and I love it so, so much. It's just so charming. There's nothing really stand-out about it, and it's a weekend drama so the story is taking forever to get started, but I love the characters so much that I don't seem to care. I mean, I do tend to fast forward to the main love story, but I get wrapped up in the family drama, too. But, yeah, my heart belongs to IU and Jo Jung Seok. They are just too damn adorable. Both of them. The hero is just the right amount of quirky and arrogant and total dork. JJS plays him so perfectly. And IU is just killing it as Soon Shin. I know she's an idol actor, but damn, she's just as good as all the other up and coming actresses right now. Anyway, this drama is just pure fun to watch and I can actually see myself sticking with this one till the end if it remains this entertaining (and that's 50 episodes. I've never followed a drama with that many eps, so, we'll see. But so far I don't want this drama to end).

Gu Family Book - SO FREAKING GOOD, OMG. So beautiful, so well-plotted, so well-acted, just... I LOVE IT. Granted, these first two eps were simply the origin story of the next generation, so from here on out it'll be a different drama, so who knows if I'll still love it as much. I think I will, though, especially if it goes in a romcom direction. But I can also see it going the way of Arang and the Magistrate, where I really loved it at first but then quickly lost interest. We'll see, we'll see, but so far, out of the new crop of dramas, this one has the most potential to be breathtakingly awesome.

All About my Romance - this is the one I was most looking forward to, because it has fairly big name actors and it comes from the writers of Protect the Boss, which was very nearly my favorite k-drama of all time (it went bad near the end, sadly, which kind of ruined it, but I seriously loved the rest of that drama). All I've watched is the first episode, and I was pretty meh about it. Nothing really grabbed me, and to be honest, I fell asleep halfway through. Went back to it the next day and finished the ep, and it did get good once the leads got to interact (which was in the last minute or so), so hopefully the show will get better as it progresses. The problem right now is that I have no motivation to watch more episodes. I think starting out with only one episode really hurt it. I just wasn't given enough to sustain my interest.

When a Man Loves - I had zero interest in this at first, and I think I only watched it because I am desperately hoping for a new k-drama to latch onto, and it looked super cheesy and totally the opposite of the kind of k-dramas that I usually like, but... I enjoyed it? It's not as melo or makjang as I assumed it would be, and actually it's kind of light-hearted at this point. I mean, the hero almost died in the first episode and the heroine's life was torn apart, but the hero was basically reborn and he stayed faithfully in love with the heroine for SEVEN YEARS without her ever knowing (or even thinking about him, really) and when they meet again he is so clumsy in the way he tries to woo her and it's adorable and she's all offended because he used to be the gangster that beat her father up and now all of a sudden he's in love with her and trying his darnedest to make her life better and she just doesn't understand how he can see their relationship so utterly different from how she sees it, and OMG, I LOVE THEM. I LOVE THEM, OKAY? But they are DOOMED and there are all kinds of outside forces coming between them (in addition to their own clashing of personalities) and... guh, I love them. I don't care that it's mostly because Song Seung Hun is so gorgeous. I can be shallow like that. But, I am even enjoying the side characters, like Jang Hee and his little brother (who becomes the "other" man, and the third ep does a good job of making me root for him, too), and the ex-girlfriend of the dead boss who is madly in love with Tae Sang (Song Seung Hun). Normally this kind of character bugs the crap out of me, especially in melodramas where they tend to be so utterly insane and evil that you just want to strangle them, but in this drama you actually kind of feel for her. Like, not enough to root for her, because she is still cruel, but she's cruel because she's hurting and she's lonely, and the only man that claims he loves her basically wants to kill her so that no one else can have her (seriously, this dude is beyond insane, and she keeps playing him like a fiddle, and it's hilarious and awesome but you know that it won't end well for her). I fear that the drama will make Tae Sang marry her just to save her from Evil Dude, and then Seo Mi will figure out that she loves him right at this point, and they will have this forbidden, angst-ridden love for each other that will probably end with one of them dying. Most likely Tae Sang. Or maybe the Ex-Girlfriend of Dead Boss ends up getting killed by Evil Dude, and it's really tragic and Tae Sang avenges her and then he and Seo Mi are free to have a happy ending. IDK. I'm just shocked that this is the drama that is like crack to me right now.

Did I ever mention that I've been following the Taiwanese drama Substitute Princess? IDK, but I've been following it pretty much since it started airing. I still don't know why I'm so addicted to it, because NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. Like, it's 13 episodes in and I still don't know which romance is supposed to be the OTP. I have never watched an Asian drama and not known who the intended couple is. Maybe that's why I'm still watching. Convention says that she'll end up with the rich dude, but her love for Guan Jun ga is so endearing and steadfast and I love Guan Jun ga with all my heart and I want so badly for him to get the girl, but he never appreciated her while he had her, and since he is a part of her family he can still be in her life without her ending up with him, so I feel like the odds are not in his favor. But I can't root for rich dude because I will always see his love for Da Hua as a substitute for his love for Liang Yan. You can't fall for the girl who looks exactly like your dead fiance and say it's totally because of her personality. Just, no. Never going to convince me with them. He just looks lonely and he's latching onto Da Hua because she's there and looks like the woman that he thought he'd be spending the rest of his life with. Guan Jun/Da Hua all the way for me. Sadly, it looks like most people are rooting for the rich guy, but like I said, I just can't with them. No sir. Liang Yan will always be between them.

I was eating breakfast at a restaurant this morning and "Take a Chance on Me" by ABBA started playing. The beginning notes alone put such a gigantic smile on my face.



Such a blast from the past. REMEMBER WHEN ANDY WAS THE GREATEST?

I can't remember if I ever talked about my love for Go On, but... I really love Go On. A lot. And my love just gets bigger with every episode. Mostly because of Mr. K. My love for him is so problematic that I pretty much ship him with everyone, and he is someone that I should never wish upon anyone, real or fictional. BUT OMG, HE'S SO ADORABLE. I used to OTP him with Sonia, and I kind of still do (it's preventing me from embracing Sonia/Danny), but lately K/Yolanda has been growing on me, mostly because I will always yearn for hate relationships to grow into love relationships. Especially since K is mostly just hating on Yolanda while Yolanda is so damn confused and kind of hurt by his inexplicable hate for her. I just want him to be the one who ends up seeing how awesome she truly is, and his admiration for her would give her confidence a boost. THEY WOULD BE SO AWESOME TOGETHER. Especially since they are probably the most intelligent and professionally successful members of the group. They would so be the power couple. But... they are also the most chronically screwed up in the head members, so...

My legit OTP, if this show had a fandom, would be Ryan/Carrie. When the show first started I promised myself that I wouldn't ship them, because they are that kind of ship that would constantly be teased and kind of be on the precipice of canon but never actually be canon, and OMG was I ever right. But it's weird because Carrie isn't exactly a main player and so she's only featured in a few episodes, but in those few eps she has managed to have a certain chemistry with Ryan that is this mix between unappreciated assistant, reluctant friend, and repressed romantic inclinations. I just can't. I can't resist that. Especially after the episode where he gave up sex with a hot lady to go and apologize to her for being a dick. Ever since that ep, her reactions towards him have been a little different, and OMG, DAMN YOU, SHOW. I was having fun just being a casual viewer, but now I am actually invested in an ongoing side plot that's mostly in my head and that is the most irresistible thing to me.

But really, I just love everyone on this show, and I love how everyone gets a moment to shine. The show never loses its central focus even though it has such a large cast, and at the same time, it never really shafts anyone, and I feel like this is what Community originally set out to do with its characters but never quite managed.

Basically, I adore Go On and if it had a fandom it would probably take over my entire life. So maybe it's a good thing that it doesn't have one (but also awful because I want all the Mr. K fic in the world. And Ryan/Carrie).

How DARE you revive my Jeff/Annie feelings to the likes of which I haven't felt since season 1? HOW DARE YOU?

With much begrudged love,
Me

PS
That episode was hilarious. I don't know what all the critics were on about. This was the first ep without Dan Harmon that has actually made me laugh out loud. I was gasping for breath at one point, which I thought would never happen again with this show. So, yeah, I enjoyed this episode immensely (aside from the Troy/Britta stuff. While Britta's encouragement of Troy/Abed is sweet, it kills me to see her settling for being someone's second best).

I did nothing yesterday except watch Korean dramas and read Christoph Waltz porn all night. OMG, I LOVE THE PORN BATTLE. Do you know how devastated I was when there wasn't a summer one? But OMG, it was so worth the wait. Though I do feel weird for so thoroughly enjoying the Django/Broomhilda/Schultz fics. I mean, I didn't ship Schultz with either of them while watching the film, and I still don't ship him with them in a sexy way (I kept giggling during the sex scenes in the fics), but ooooooooh how happy they could have been together! Schultz could have been the lovable, goofy uncle that always had an awesome story to tell while Django and Broomhilda were the kickass parents with the most epic love for each other and their family, and just... *sniff* And yeah, naturally Schultz would get lonely being around Django and Broomhilda, but that's when he can meet me, see, and we fall in mad love and have a bunch of babies together and our families live together in happiness forever. I am not usually a fan of self-insert fics, but apparently when it comes to King Schultz, I so am. My two favorites from the battle:

California by transmacabre (angsty and guuuuuuuh and I feel like they could have been this way for real, only, you know, without the Django/Schultz/Broomhilda kissy times, although this fic came very close to making me believe in that aspect of their relationship, too)

Dead or Alive by malkontent (Schultz/OFC, the Schultz dialog in this is flawless. I wish the author would write a full-length Schultz prequel to the film, OMG).

I am kind of shocked at the lack of Candie/Django fics. I was basically shouting, "Just make-out already!" in my head every time they had a scene together, but I guess people are too afraid to broach that in fic (way too offensive, but, you know, Django would be the dominate one, always). Or even Candie/Schultz fic, since Candie's final confrontation in the film was with Schultz. Or Django/Broomhilda, because their love truly was epic. IDK, but I love the fact that most Django fic is all about Schultz.

Also, there are two Hans Landa/Bridgette Von Hammersmark fics that are SO FREAKING GOOD, OMG. I died. They killed me with their dirtybadwrong sexiness.

Play Dead by lion_heart (Bridgette getting sweet, sweet revenge)

Lying Eyes by lion_heart (Hans is scary sexy. Literally).

On the Korean drama front, I checked out Level 7 Civil Servant and I am quite enjoying it. I mean, I wouldn't call it good considering there are many bits that I ended up fast forwarding through, but the bickering chemistry between the main couple is enough to keep me coming back for more. They are just so damn entertaining together, I can't get enough of them. But when they aren't together, the flaws of the show are too much to take. The parents of both of them are annoying and need to go, the female lead's over-the-top Candy characterization doesn't work for her in the least, the supporting characters aren't very interesting at this point (the parents, the teacher, the bad guys), and the damn show takes way too long to set up a premise that we knew from the beginning. It should have gotten to the bickering hijinks a lot sooner. On the upside, I am digging the spy school stuff, and I am loving Gil Ro's rival (I forget his name, but the dude that got shot by the little girl). And as I said, the two leads are highly entertaining together, so I quite love them (except, you know, when they're apart. Gil Ro is okay on his own, but not very interesting. The girl is annoying/kind of weak on her own, but awesome and strong and witty when she's with Gil Ro). There's a scene in the preview for next week where Gil Ro is yelling at her and says, "Why do you let yourself get treated that way?" and I really have to agree with him. She doesn't let him get away with treating her badly, and yet she's letting the other recruits walk all over her. Grow a spine, damn it! It's just frustrating that she sometimes has one and sometimes doesn't. A lot of people are complaining that Joo Won is too over the top, but I actually think he's done exceptionally well with the material he's been given. In fact, I am enjoying him much more here than I did with Gaksital.

I am still very much enjoying Flower Boy Next Door. I am so, so happy that we are finally getting some decent rom-coms again.

So, for some odd reason, a few weeks ago when I was sick and off for a few days, I decided that I wanted to watch an epic historical romance drama, and Bu Bu Jing Xin caught my eye (I just finished it yesterday). I was skeptical, because it had way more episodes than I am used to, and I had never watched a C-drama before (and the ones I've watched clips of in the past were super cheesy and kind of shoddy looking). And while BBJX started off super cheesy, it was also super pretty and it really drew me in. I'm not even sure why seeing as how Ruoxi annoyed the crap out of me, but the princes, ooooh the princes!

I fell so, so hard for 8th prince. SO HARD. He ended up being such a tragic character, and he was one of those highly ambitious characters with a good heart that I am so damn fond of. His ambition alienated everyone around him and ended up killing him, basically, and I eat that shit up. But oh, the poor guy. His father despised him (nothing was ever good enough for Daddy), his brothers ostracized him as a child because his mother wasn't of noble birth, the woman he was madly in love with resented the crap out of him for indirectly killing the man she was madly in love with, the woman who had reciprocated his love made him choose between her and the throne (and she concluded that she just didn't love him enough to support his fruitless endeavor), and the one person who actually did love and support him through everything ended up killing herself right when he started to appreciate her. And no matter how much he resented Ruoxi for not understanding him and falling in love with Fourth instead, no matter how much his life fell apart because of her, he couldn't stop himself from protecting her every step of the way. EVERYTHING was taken from him but he still cared about Ruoxi's happiness. OH, EIGHTH! Also, when Ruoxi and Eighth were in love, they were so damn happy and adorable and sensual and beautiful, and when they broke up it freaking killed me. And, okay, I understand that Ruoxi did what she did because she didn't love him enough to go down with a sinking ship and she couldn't deal with the inevitable pain, but... I just never understood what she saw in Fourth. Especially since Eighth had made her so happy (she was always such a downer when she was with Fourth). And even through her entire story with Fourth, nothing touched me so much as her final farewell with Eighth. Maybe it's because I had been waiting SO LONG for that closure, for them to acknowledge that they once loved each other and still do, and OMG, it got me. And Eighth just understood. He finally understood and he was at peace with their relationship and he was able to let go of her for good.

Now, Fourth and Ruoxi failed to grab me. I think the scene where he forced a kiss on her turned me off of him in a way where he just couldn't be redeemed. That scene was so random, especially since he had been harmless and cutely awkward around her prior to that. I was fully on board with them up to that point, but then he ruined it all, especially since the show used it as the moment that he got under her skin (she kept flashing back to it whenever she got romantic with Eighth). Ick. Just... ick. It prevented me from enjoying the moments that I otherwise would have, like the constant gift-giving and her sending them all back, his laugh after she said she'd never marry, her treasuring the hair clip, I couldn't enjoy any of it! And when she did finally acquiesce, it didn't feel like it was for love, it felt like she chose him purely because he was the safest option she had. Later we see that she understands him and he understands her in a way that never happened with Eighth, and that's why their love is supposed to work, but... oy vey, I just never felt the love between them. The show told me repeatedly that they were in love, but it never really showed me. The closest it came was the umbrella scene, I think. That scene at least made me accept their romance. But the romance itself just never seemed as epic as the show made it out to be. Bleh. Is it weird that I felt more from Nine and Yutan than I ever did from Fourth and Ruoxi? They only had like thirty seconds of screentime together, and I despised Nine. IDK.

Anyway, my insane love for Eighth is tempting me into watching Palace (which is new on Dramafever). Is it worth it? Has anyone watched it? Is Eighth just as wonderful on Palace as he is in BBJX? Does he get the girl in this one? Does he at least get a sliver of happiness in Palace?

Oh, also, as for k-dramas, I am in mad, deep love with Flower Boy Next Door. SO DAMN GOOD. And naturally I am in love with the older neighbor that has an unrequited crush on her. And I find that I relate to the main character all too well and that freaking scares me. It's mainly her voiceovers where she talks about all the things she should have done but didn't, all the things she wishes she was but isn't, the harsh realizations that she needs to change but can't bring herself to, her fear of letting life in. Damn it, show, stop making me self reflect!