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 episode 2 of Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo, in which our smiley guy gets our grumpy guy to smile more.
I also recapped episodes 5-6 of Love Is A Poison, in which our con man and lawyer make surprising progress with their relationship.
What did I watch this week? Something I really loved and something that went more than just off the rails. Let’s start with what I loved:
See Your Love – 看見愛 – 2024
Recently aired Taiwanese workplace BL with 13 episodes.
A wealthy young man who wants nothing to do with the family business hires a Deaf young man as a caretaker, mostly to take advantage of him.
In my initial review, I wrote about the madcap, comedic plot. A lot happens in the first few episodes and I wasn’t sure whether the show would be sincere or lose itself in silliness.
To my delight, the show calmed down and became sincere and sweet. A day after I finished it, I immediately began rewatching it. For me, this is a keeper.
Let’s talk Poor Rich Guys
Back in October, I had a battle of poor rich guys between Joker, Q, and Great.
The winner is Zi Xiang, one of our leads here, heir to a family business he isn’t interested in. His entire life he’s been forced to prepare for a life he doesn’t want, with no one interested in him otherwise. He’s immature and needs to grow, but doesn’t need anyone else pushing him.
When he meets our other lead he’s trying to escape these responsibilities any way he can. He hires Shao Peng to help him while he’s injured, hoping to use the other man’s deafness to his advantage. His escape fails, and just as he realizes Shao Peng was the only person to care about him, Shao Peng realizes he was being used and quits.
Zi Xiang can’t let the only person who ever cared about him go, but he also can’t force Shao Peng to return.
Interestingly, the frenetic feeling of the initial episodes calms down as Zi Xiang calms down. As his relationship with Shao Peng develops, Zi Xiang’s goal becomes less about escape and more about what he wants.
Shao Peng is a sweetheart but not a pushover. He comes from a loving family but is stuck in a trap too, because he wants to seem like everything is fine. After being discriminated against again and again, he keeps a smile on his face. It’s Zi Xiang who realizes how much Shao Peng is hiding.
As they grow closer they better understand each other, and it’s not just about Zi Xiang learning sign language. It’s about their different backgrounds, personalities, feelings, strengths, and weaknesses.
Don’t forget I don’t care about plot in fluffy romances, and apparently neither does Taiwan
I’ve only watched one other Taiwanese BL with mobsters but there are more. As far as I can tell they are never taken seriously. This is how I prefer it, I don’t like serious mob stuff.
But yes, there are mobsters in this story. And hit men. They’re here to accidentally help our couple get together, not to cause real drama or make anyone cry.
The plot is more of a series of romantic obstacles loosely strung together. After watching the last episode, I’m not even sure how some things were resolved. Maybe I’ll catch it on the rewatch, but it won’t keep me up at night.
Production wise keep your expectations low too. It’s not terrible but it’s not memorable. We spend time in houses, a hospital, a bar, it’s that kind of show.
It’s a good fluffy romance with an adorable main couple with the perfect height difference. They overcome silly obstacles and grow stronger to be together. The second couple is cute. It leaves you with a sweet, giddy feeling.
It’s a rewatch for me, and the rewatches are sweeter because I don’t have to brace for anything stupid ruining it. I can just enjoy the sweetness.
Completely random musing
I’ve only ever seen intertitles used with Taiwanese dramas, more than once too. Is this a thing?
Okay, now for the show I enjoyed but ultimately…
When the Phone Rings – 지금 거신 전화는 – 2024
Currently airing Korean romantic thriller with 12 episodes.
A husband and wife are living separate lives when she gets kidnapped. His response leads to exciting, ridiculous, regressive, over-the-top, fun dramatics.
It feels a little unfair to complain about a show going off the rails when that’s what made it so fun, but in the last few episodes, this show went from off the rails to train wreck.
The last two episodes are a whirlwind of needlessly nonsensical things happening that feel distant from the core story. Details involve spoilers, and I know it’s following the webtoon it’s based on, but for me it was disappointing and tiring.
It’s a trap I’ve seen plenty of stories fall into, they pile on things happening to try and make the ending “bigger”. I would have rather seen the second couple develop more and gotten a few more questions about our character’s tragic pasts answered.
And so much crying. Advice to anyone making dramas: If your last episodes are full of crying, are you trying too hard?
I think some problems started earlier
You can read my initial review for details on the setup, but for a quick recap: Everyone is rich and terrible. Our female lead has selective mutism, gets kidnapped, and is upset by her husband’s seemingly uncaring response.
This leads to her taking interesting actions as an act of rebellion with a husband who has ignored her for 3 years. They end up in a cat-and-mouse situation that gets more complicated when things like arson, murder, presidential dreams, twins, orphanages, college friends, long-kept secrets, etc, get involved. I loved all of this.
But around the series midpoint, the focus shifts away from the female lead’s anger and onto the secrets about the male lead. I don’t think this was a mistake, we needed to learn more about him, but they stopped giving her things to do. She became a passive watcher and pawn.
Our male lead is swoony, but I missed our female lead. I would have liked to see her use the newfound power she’d taken in the story’s first half. They should have let her be a more active participant.
But I still recommend this show for fans of over-the-top melodramatics
Despite that, most of the show was still a fun ride. The bad guys were really bad. The secrets were horrible. The pleasure of a show like this is seeing new ridiculous obstacles or revelations thrown at our leads with each episode. For the most part, it did this very well.
In particular, it reminded me of Flower of Evil, another show that starts with a married couple (though happily this time) and involves a lot of secrets. If you enjoyed that show, you might enjoy this show, and vice versa.
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