Welcome to my Saturday blog post, where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I want, because I’m petty that way.
This week, I recapped episodes 7-8 of The Prisoner of Beauty. A surprising amount of conflict revolves around a vicious knife attack on a … wooden box.
I also recapped episodes 5-6 of I’m the Most Beautiful Count. Prince/Worradej might have better luck at returning to their time if they weren’t so distracted by Kosol.
What did I watch this week? I finished two very different shows with a common need to keep things simple. Let’s start with:
Beyond the Bar – 에스콰이어: 변호사를 꿈꾸는 변호사들 – 2025
Recently aired Korean Legal Drama (with romance?) with 12 episodes.
A brilliant but unconventional young woman is hired to work at a law firm under a brilliant, cold, older man. Will I get the romance I want?
This show started strong, lost momentum after the middle, and ended… less strong. While an enjoyable watch, it chose uncomplicated righteousness over complex and difficult.
To me, this was a broken promise
The show began with a new lawyer who was a mess and a boss who was cold and unapproachable. We were given hypothetical cases that seemed black-and-white on the surface, but the right argument could turn into a muddy gray.
But as the show went on, our female lead became less messy, and our cold fish became warmer. They both became really… nice. Good people. Nice, good people.
And while the cases remained complex and interesting, there were no questions about who the bad guys were. Our victims were very victimized, and our bad guys were the worst society has to offer. Sometimes our leads took questionable actions, but never against people for whom there were any questions.
This extended to a case that was an important part of the second half of the show, about corruption within the firm itself. It didn’t involve our female lead, but a character introduced mid-show. It had to do with… I’m not even sure because my brain wouldn’t pay attention. I think it was about corporate takeovers and trading and technology and… I don’t know why it was in the show.
But you know what’s fun? Watching bad guys get what they deserve
The bad guys were SO bad that seeing them scream and wail and get what they deserve was very satisfying.
While the sharper edges of our leads were somewhat sanded down into something more pleasant, I enjoyed their genuine respect and admiration for each other and the way they worked together.
(And the romance? No spoilers.)
The complicated legal questions and the ways of getting around them were still interesting.
And plenty of people don’t want the discomfort of morally gray characters without clear-cut good and bad. This show gives some interesting gray legal areas while leaving you with the comfort of a solid ground about who you want to win. Sometimes it’s nice to have that kind of foundation.
There was also a nice message about love, hammered in with a sledgehammer, but appreciated.
All that said, I wouldn’t hesitate to watch a season two, and this time I’d better understand what the show is offering.
I also finished:
Stay By My Side After The Rain – 雨上がりの僕らについて – 2025
Recently aired Japanese salaryman BL with 12 episodes.
A kind, handsome salaryman has decided to hide his sexuality and live without love, but then he runs into the guy he had a crush on in high school.
While I liked this show and thought the leads were adorable, it’s a weak entry into the world of Japanese BLs with a lack of heat that hurt it.
Normally, I don’t mind a chaste show
Especially considering Japanese BG shows also suffer from dead fish kisses and uncomfortable, un-intimate intimacy. But this show directly addressed the character’s sex life and repeatedly made a big deal of our characters nearly, but not, kissing.
The image above, from nearly the end of the show, is about 5 seconds before some pudding gets spilled. Chaste is one thing. Being teased and then taunted is another.
And this weakness extended to the “darker” part of the show as well.
In a similar but different situation to the show above, this show also kept things black-and-white. Or, just white. Because there are no bad guys here, only people one important conversation away from realizing the error of their ways and redeeming themselves.
This isn’t the kind of show where I want intense conflict, but there were a few characters I wasn’t ready to forgive as fast as the leads were.
There are twelve episodes, but I don’t have a whole lot to say
The show is sweet, domestic, heatless, heartfelt, and well-intentioned. Two nice guys get together and work through things. It’s the show equivalent of the Marimo moss ball one of our characters has as a pet.
If you’ve had a hard week, if you need everyone to be good and well-intentioned underneath it all, if conflict feels like sandpaper on your heart, this show is here for you.
The show is based on a 4-volume manga series that you can purchase in English through my affiliate link (3 are out, one is pre-order). The show follows the manga closely, but the manga has more heat and conflict, so I prefer it.
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