Drama Grab Bag

Yes, I’m still here and watching stuff too. I’ve even somehow managed to amass a full roster right now. 😀  It’s just that RL issues have not magically disappeared, soooo… still not much time nor energy to be dedicated to blog posts. Unfortunately this will be the state of things for quite some while yet, but at least I know there’s an end in sight… some time next year.

Drama Year 2022

I could probably copypaste most of last year’s end of the year post here as nothing much seems to have changed. Well, save for the dramas I did manage to watch. quirkycase @dramabeans pretty much said it in her post – “There were some dramas I enjoyed, but not many stuck with me afterward or made a strong impression.” Which is one reason I struggled with trying to write something, anything about most of those I watched. So I didn’t. The dramas I enjoyed the most were Under the Skin, Kikazaru Koi ni wa Riyuu ga Atte and New Life Begins. No surprieses there as those are the ones I was compelled to make a proper post about. All three were excellent in their own way and gave me planty of happy drama hours.

Grid – First Impressions

I do feel a bit apprehensive to be writing a first impression post after just one episode as the whole thing can go to pot later on *cough*The Veil*cough*. But… Grid is written by Lee Soo Yeon, who penned Stranger/Forest of Secrets, so one can be somewhat assured that Drama will stay on course.

Drama Grab Bag

I sometimes wonder how some long time drama watchers like kfangurl have been able to keep their interest in dramas intact. Many of those who were around when I got into dramas myself have disappeared from the internets, some probably moving on to other things. My own interest has sadly been slowly but steadily waning as the years go and the current RL situation with work has put another nail in the coffin. Apart from the very early years, when I watched just about anything I was able to get my hands on, I’ve always been kinda picky with my choices. But in the past couple of years it’s been uncommonly hard to find stuff to watch and even when I liked a drama enough to finish it, I often didn’t really have any deeper feelings for the story or it’s characters. In many cases I’d be hard pressed to recount what the drama in question was actually about. I watched it but wasn’t able to truly connect or care. I’ve also realised something while pondering upon why I’m enjoying Sword Snow Stirde. It’s sort of like a familiar, warm blanket I can wrap around me and feel content. The past year and a half have been mentally exhausting and I don’t have the capacity to process anything too complex or intellectually demanding. Comfort food is what mainly feels good right now.

Drama Year 2021

This has been a strange year. In a way it’s just like kfangurl wrote in her year end post – seems like the year went by fast but also it feels like I was stuck in time. It also feels like 2021 has been a continuation of 2020, only worse in some ways.

At the beginning of the year I decided to take a break from dramas and blogging but as the months went by, I realised it was actually more of a break from blogging. I’ve been battling exhaustion all year from ever increasing workload that usually leaves me totally drained. Weekends are mostly spent recovering from the previous week. The saddest part is that I don’t think next year will be any different. Sigh. Writing a blog post takes time, effort and some brainpower, none of which I have in excess and it shows. I made all of 4, yes frour, posts in 2021 and two of them were about GOT7, ha. I also seem to have developed an attention span of a gnat. I tend to “wander off” from dramas I’m watching after couple of episodes, never to retun. Even if it is something I was mostly enjoying. I did manage to stick to few dramas long enough to finish them and there are couple I do intend to continue with (Move to Heaven, Hospital Playlist 2, Luoyang). I’m also currently watching Sword Snow Stride 雪中悍刀行, which is quite entertaining and the cast is grrrreat.

Here’s what I watched this year (as far as I can remember^^):
Korea
Awaken, Forest of Secrets/Stranger (re-watch), Imitation, Navillera, Run On, Sell Your Haunted House/Daebak Real Estate, The Silent Sea (pretty good for a Korean SciFi drama – watched it from behind a pillow 😂 ), The Veil/Black Sun

China
Be Yourself (a nice college/coming of age drama), Definitely Not Today (darkly quirky and fun), The Imperial Coroner (bit of a hidden gem), Nirvana In Fire

Taiwan
Some Day or One Day

Black Sun (aka The Veil) – First Impressions

I don’t watch all that many Korean action/spy shows and I’m especially hesitant to watch any while they are airing. So many have gone wonky at some point, one way or the other. There’s just often too much of The Stupid in them. Yes, most action shows tend to be the same world over. Plenty of explosions, car chases, violence that tends to lean on the gratuitous side and so forth, pretty basic stuff. To make any show stand out in a sea of similar content, is the writing, execution and actors. I know there are plenty of people who are happy with just “thrills per minute” but I get bored if there is nothing else to latch onto. I want a good , engaging story no matter what the genre is!

Drama Grab Bag

Well, I’m back. Sort of. I still don’t have much time for blogging nor all that much incentive either, but I’m watching stuff and I actually found it in me to write one of these again. 😄 So, I guess things are moving to the right direction…

Drama Year 2020

This has been a difficult drama year for me. I’ve struggled watching dramas and struggled even more trying to write about them. Which is why the “cold winds of no content” has been blowing through this blog for most of the year. The state of the world has probably had something to do with how things stand but mostly I believe it’s just overall, persistent drama fatigue. Which is why I’m probably going to take some time off from the blog and dramas, as both have sort of started to feel like a chore, something I have to do insted of something I enjoy doing. I may still keep tabs at what my blogging pals are doing and even comment if the mood strikes. 🙂

Drama Grab Bag

Goodness, it has been quite a while since my last post! It’s not like don’t have any dramas to watch but rather I’ve had heck of a time trying to press ‘play’. It’s been a real struggle. Thus there hasn’t been much material to write about. Well, there are other factors too but I’m not going to go into that right now. Anyways, this post has been in the making for a loooong time and I’m SO glad I can finally publish something.^^

First Impressions: I’ll Find You on a Beautiful Day

It’s been a while since a Korean drama made me feel… well, much of anything. I’ve tried so many over the past few years but either dropped them then and there or just lost interest after couple of episodes. Even the ones I did finish didn’t eventally make all that big of an impression. The stories were ok but sort of forgettable.

It is a funny coincidence that I’ve been talking about Japanese dramas and their more relatable and soothing stories recently and then along comes I’ll Find You on a Beautiful Day, which oddly enough seems to have the same sort of overall feel. It wasn’t exactly ‘love at first sight’ but more like “Oh, what’s this familiar feeling? I like it!” Well, based on the first two episodes at least. What Drama reminds me of is one of my all time fave jdramas, Jasashii Jikan (Affectionate Time). Both dramas are set in a rural area during winter and feature broken relationships and people in need of healing. And there is coffee. 😀

This is a mood piece and the pace is rather slow. Some people will find it boring, others mendearing but I believe there are more than just me who liked it straight up. I liked the set up, the characters and the fact that it’s not in Seoul. I also like the OST which is instrumental (so far), except for the closing song 겨울이 꾸는 꿈처럼 (Like a Winter’s Dream) by Kwak Jin Eon. It’s lovely. There is something very calming and warm with a tinge of wishtfulness and a drop of sadness flowing through these episodes. If Drama keeps this up all the way through without going into convoluted histronics or manufactured angst, this could be a winner.

The first two episodes introduce the main twosome and give us some glimpses into their lives and what their past connection is. We also get to meet few of the supporting characters, who seem a lot like what our heroine Hae Won needs right now. I’m also rather intrigued about Hae Won’s aunt and what’s up with her. Yes, I’m definitely looking forward to the next episodes. 🙂