Year In Review: 2022

I know, I know. This Year-In-Review is suuper late; I’ve always typically published my year-end post before 31 December each year, and now, it’s already the middle of March! 😅

If you’ve been around the blog, though, you’d know that this was because we’ve been having year-end posts from folks on Patreon, so that we can have a more wholistic look at Dramaland’s offerings, comparatively speaking.

What I mean is, I’m just one person, so there’s a limit to the number of shows I can check out in a year, even if I did nothing but watch dramas all year long.

With the community chiming in, we get to see a bigger range of dramas mentioned – and if certain shows get mentioned a lot as being really good (or really disappointing), then the rest of us know to pay extra attention. 😉

I hope that after 14 (!!) guest year-end wrap posts (they’re all listed here!), you’ve still got room in your heart for one more. 😅

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Open Thread: Winter Sonata Episode 20 [Final]

Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! Thanks for joining us for this fated commemorative group watch of Winter Sonata! This really is the final one. 🥲

What a ride this has been. Huge, HUGE thanks to Trent, for being our MVP, week after week, and allowing us to see this show through his eyes!

SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, before we begin:

1. There is NO SPOILER ZONE this week, since we are at the finale.

2. This is a heads-up, that after this show, we’ll be taking a break from group watches for a while, because I very much need some breathing space, and this is one way to get some. 😅

I’ll make an announcement, when I feel ready to take on another group watch – which will come, I promise!

Without further ado, here are Trent’s reactions to episode 20; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️

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Open Thread: Winter Sonata Episode 19

Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! Thanks for joining us for this fated commemorative group watch of Winter Sonata!

I know you guys thought this would be the final one – but surprise! It’s not. 😅 Details below, in the announcements section.

SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, before we begin:

1. Trent’s had quite an upheaval to his schedule this week, and long story short, he had to travel at the last minute, in order to cover someone else’s work, because that someone else had gotten into a car accident.

I’m amazed that he was even able to cover episode 19, honestly.

Trent’s working on the notes for episode 20, but will need a couple of days at the very least, since he’s juggling not only his own schedule, but someone else’s as well. We’ll release it when it’s ready; thank you for your patience!

In the meantime, can I just say, THANK YOU TRENT, YOU ARE A ROCK STAR! ⭐️❤️

2. There is NO SPOILER ZONE this week, since we are on the cusp of the finale – please hold your spoilery episode 20 thoughts for the episode 20 notes, when they come out!

3. This is a heads-up, that after this show, we’ll be taking a break from group watches for a while, because I very much need some breathing space, and this is one way to get some. 😅

I’ll make an announcement, when I feel ready to take on another group watch – which will come, I promise!

Without further ado, here are Trent’s reactions to episode 19; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️

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Flash Review: Fan Letter, Please

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve managed to review a short drama thing, but when I saw this one announced a while ago, I knew that I wanted to squeeze this into my schedule, somehow.

And so, when serendipity had it that I finished The Glory Part 1 (review here!) with 2 weeks to spare before Part 2 dropped, I knew I’d found my window.

And, I’m happy to say that it was well worth making time for this little show, because I would’ve been quite sorry to have missed it, for focusing too hard on all the other buzzier, full-length dramas that are always competing for my attention. 😅

Come see if this one would work for you too?

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Review: Crash Course In Romance

THE SHORT VERDICT:

When Show is at its best, it’s warm, funny and cozy-slurpy in the best way. Mature leads with fantastic acting chops and great chemistry? A shiny-pretty rom-com world? Easy-breezy music to score it all? Check, check and check.

On the downside, Show attempts to fit in a side of murder, AND a keen spotlight on the potential hazards of a highly competitive academic system, and after a while, Show’s focus gets muddied with these extras.

The downsides aren’t enough to be a deal-breaker for me personally, but I do think that your mileage may vary.

Overall, I found this warm, fuzzy and worthwhile, despite Show’s narrative detours into less warm, less fuzzy things.

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Spoiler Zone: Winter Sonata Episodes 17 & 18

Welcome to the Spoiler Zone, everyone!

This is for those of you who want to discuss spoilers, from a “I’ve seen the show and WOW now I’m noticing all these other details in retrospect” sort of angle.

Here’s a Spoiler Zone for you to dig as deep as you’d like, into spoiler territory, WITHOUT the need for spoiler tags or other warnings.

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Open Thread: Winter Sonata Episodes 17 & 18

Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! Thanks for joining us for this fated commemorative group watch of Winter Sonata! I hope you’re enjoying Trent’s notes; I know I am! 🤩

Woah. As I said to Trent, watching this week’s episodes, it became clear to me all over again, why this show had folks tearing their hair out, back in the day. 🤪 We’re in the final stretch, friends! Hang in there! 😅

SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, before we begin:

ZERO SPOILER POLICY

1. We will be adopting a ZERO SPOILER POLICY for this Open Thread, except for events that have happened in the show, up to this point.

The spoiler tags don’t work in email notifications, therefore, please take note that WE WILL NOT BE USING SPOILER TAGS FOR THIS OPEN THREAD. 

ANY AND ALL SPOILERS WILL BE REDACTED to protect first-time viewers in our midst (although, I’d appreciate it if you would save me the trouble of having to redact spoilers, heh 😅).

This includes, but is not limited to, how characters &/or relationships develop, later in the show.

We need to protect the innocent! 😉

SPOILER ZONE

2. HOWEVER!! If you’d like to discuss spoilers from a rewatcher’s point of view, I’ve created a SPOILER ZONE for you, where you can discuss all the spoilers you’d like, without the need for spoiler warnings. You can find it here!

Without further ado, here are Trent’s reactions to this set of episodes; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️

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Medical Care in Dramaland: A Community Thread

Hi everyone!

As you may know, there are monthly chat corners on my Patreon page, where folks gather to chit-chat on a daily basis.

Those corners are divided into the Deep-dive zone (where spoilers are encouraged – with spoiler warnings), Spoiler-free zone (where we chat dramas, but without spoilers) and The Water Cooler (where we chat about anything and everything else).

Well, over these last couple of days, one of the threads has turned out to be particularly entertaining and irreverently hilarious, so I just had to share.

Here is the thread (started by Merij), with contributions from everyone who took the time to participate, recreated for your entertainment. 😁 This conversation took place over 2 days.

I hope you enjoy – and if you’d like to be part of conversations like this, please consider joining us on Patreon!

Lens adjustment: this is all in tongue-in-cheek, irreverent fun; no offense intended, so may none be taken, too. ❤️

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PSA: On improving loading speed for the blog

Hi everyone,

This is just a quick announcement, that the blog’s site loading speeds SHOULD have improved.

But, in order for you to enjoy the faster speeds, you may need to clear your browser caches on your device.

I’ll talk a little more about this after the jump – but I just wanted to put it out there upfront, that clearing your browser caches might be the missing link, now that I’ve put fixes in place.

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Spoiler Zone: Winter Sonata Episodes 15 & 16

Welcome to the Spoiler Zone, everyone!

This is for those of you who want to discuss spoilers, from a “I’ve seen the show and WOW now I’m noticing all these other details in retrospect” sort of angle.

Here’s a Spoiler Zone for you to dig as deep as you’d like, into spoiler territory, WITHOUT the need for spoiler tags or other warnings.

Continue reading