Dear kfangurl: How do I deal with drama fatigue?

So. Tired. 💤

So, full disclosure, you guys. This wasn’t actually submitted as a Dear kfangurl question.

What happened was, I had written very enthusiastic episode notes for episode 1 of Twenty Five, Twenty One, over on Patreon, and Natalia had commented in response:

“Oh no. Such a great recap but it only makes even clearer what I have suspected for a while: I suffer from KDrama fatigue! I don’t feel like watching anything? Is it serious, doctor??”

..Which made me think, Hey, that would make a pretty good topic for a Dear kfangurl post!

And so, here we are. If you, or people you know, are suffering from drama fatigue, I hope this post will be at least a little bit helpful. ❤️

Let me offer you a helping hand! ❤️

Dear Natalia,

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been feeling some drama fatigue. I’ve definitely been there myself, which is why I thought I’d write this post, to share the various strategies I use, to overcome drama fatigue.

At the same time, you might also find this Dear KFG post, on how to avoid becoming jaded with dramas, and this Musings post, where I talk about the various stages of evolution of a drama viewer, tangentially useful as well.

Everyone, as always, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts, insights and stories in the comments! 🥰

Also, you may have already noticed this, but I’m taking this opportunity to spam you all with (at least somewhat relevant) screenshots from Our Beloved Summer, because I enjoyed it a great deal, and I hope you’ll check it out, if you haven’t yet!

What I do, when I feel drama fatigue coming on

1. Do a drama litmus test

Lemme take a good look at ya..

One of the things that I always do, when I think I might be suffering from drama fatigue, is conduct a litmus test. Meaning, I figure out whether it’s me, or the drama in front of me, that’s the problem.

To test this, all I do is put on a firm drama favorite of mine, that I know I’ve loved in the past, to see if it still brings out the thrills and feels, for me.

I’ve done this before with Coffee Prince, a show which I love, more than a few times. When I’d felt like nothing was tickling my drama fancy, I’d put on Coffee Prince as a test, and every time, without fail, just the first few minutes of Coffee Prince, would have me perking up with engagement and interest.

That was enough to tell me, that it wasn’t me that was the problem; I just wasn’t watching the right shows, is all. 😁

Of course, you may not love Coffee Prince the way I love Coffee Prince. Just use whatever drama you know you love, and this litmus test should work just the same, whether you’re using Crash Landing On You, Misaeng, My Mister, or Stranger.

2. Rewatch a firm favorite

Let’s recreate them feels, shall we..? 🥰

If none of the currently airing dramas are hitting that sweet drama spot for me, one thing that’s worked for me many times, is to rewatch a firm favorite.

Who needs to keep abreast of what’s up in Dramaland, if we’re not feeling the feels, right?

Some shows that I’ve rewatched, for the lovely drama feels, include: Coffee Prince, Goong, Save Your Last Dance For Me, Queen In-hyun’s Man and Healer.

Of course, your firm favorites may be completely different from my firm favorites. The point is, pick something that you know you love, and watch that. It’s more than likely that all the great feels that made you love the show in the first place, will come flooding back. 🥰

3. Ask for recommendations from friends

Tell me about me, chingu~

If you’re feeling game to watch something new, and just feel jaded with the shows that you’ve been sampling, I’d suggest asking your friends for drama recommendations. Sometimes, our friends know us better than we know ourselves, when it comes to our drama tastes.

I’ve definitely watched some shows based purely on friends’ recommendations, and found some surprising gems to love.

Like My Mister, which I would’ve never attempted, because of the dreary looking posters, and the equally dreary-sounding premise, if so many of you guys hadn’t taken the time to assure me that I would end up loving the show.

Or like Father Is Strange, which I would’ve likely not attempted because of the high episode count, except for the fact that so many of my drama buddies kept speaking so highly of the show.

Fun factoid: I’d actually been in a bit of a drama slump in 2017, and along with that drama slump, I also found myself in a blogging slump, where I had no interest to write about anything much, really.

It was Father Is Strange, that brought back the feels enough for me to want to write it a review, and that’s what got me back on the drama train – and also, back into the blogging swing of things too.

4. Try a highly regarded older show

So.. many.. to.. choose.. from..

Most of the time, we’re so caught up trying to keep up with all that Dramaland has to offer, that we don’t get to check out older shows.

A drama slump is the perfect time to check out older shows that are widely praised and highly regarded. Just like with rewatching a firm favorite, who really cares about keeping abreast with Dramaland, anyway, if you can find a great drama to enjoy, right?

If you haven’t already seen them, I’d suggest considering shows like: Nirvana in Fire [China], Money Flower, Chuno, Life is Beautiful, Someday Or One Day [Taiwan], In Time With You [Taiwan], Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Sandglass.

Of course, if you guys have other great titles to suggest, please let us know in the comments below!

5. Switch it up

Yes, we are earnestly looking elsewhere, at least for a while

I find that switching things up can be a great way to eventually renew my drama love.

I find that if I’m feeling drama fatigued, it can be helpful to spend my screen time on other things, for a while. Like, YouTube, variety shows, movies, or dramas from other regions.

In terms of recommendations, here are a few from me:

Movies: My Brilliant Life, As One, I Can Speak, Our Times [Taiwan], Keys To The Heart, Little Forest, Miss Granny, My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday [Japan], Your Name [Japan].

Dramas From Other Regions: We Married as a Job [Japan], Bromance [Taiwan], Marry Me! [Japan], Sleeping Jukujo [Japan], In Time With You [Taiwan], Someday Or One Day [Taiwan], Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms [China].

Of course, if you guys have other great titles to suggest, let us know in the comments below!

6. Take a break

Let’s see other peop- er, shows, I mean. 😅

Sometimes, all we need to refresh our moods – and our drama palates – is some time away from dramas. That could take any form, from painting, to cooking, to working out, to reading.

The point is, absence can and does tend to make the heart grow fonder.

When I’ve taken time away from dramas myself, I’ve found that that tends to make me feel so much fresher, and ready to engage, when I eventually find myself in the mood to watch dramas again.

Of course, the time each of us needs, would be different. I might need a month; you might need 3 months. I think giving yourself permission to take that time away, can be hugely beneficial, to keeping your long-term drama love alive. 🥰

IN CLOSING

I hope you find this post useful, and that it helps you with some ideas on how to best navigate a case of drama fatigue. You might also find this Dear kfangurl post, on how I pick dramas to watch, tangentially useful &/or interesting.

Like I mentioned earlier, everyone, please feel free to add your own thoughts, insights and experiences in the comments below. As they say, sharing is caring. 🥰

I hope this post helps!

Love! ❤️

~kfangurl

..And this is how we fill our bellies with dramas..! 😉

POST-SCRIPT:

1. If you feel that I missed anything, or if you have your own insights that you’d like to share with the rest of us, do tell us about it in the comments!

2. Do you have a question of your own? Drop me a comment here or on the Dear kfangurl page, or send me an email!

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2 months ago

I would like to mention Station 11 on HBO Max. I hardly watch tv these days, while pretty much lounger ridden for over a year from a horrific back condition, I probably watched too much, that and last year’s dystopia madness–sheesh why watch fictional dystopia these days? Except to say the only series I have seen in months has been the dystopia series, Station 11, which has all the qualities that used to lead me to K Drama–ensemble, humanity, literacy, an entertainment with both heart and smarts, and as dystopia shows go, one remarkably redemptive. So, it may not be to everyone’s taste here, but I do think that it is important to remember what brings one to the dance of K Drama, whatever that might be, and seek it out wherever that might be.

I am not sure about the future, given the recent trends and Netflixification of K Drama that turned me off along with a number of shows featuring actors I generally like that did not move the needle forward for me; any popular medium after a point can get a bit tired, especially having reached such a point of popularity–I mean how can any medium just continuously crank out material that would please everyone.

I think for me the loss of having conversations with folks here about our mutual passions has been more difficult than not watching shows (currently, I seem to be spending my nights in a jag of painting, an avocation I had left alone for 30 years but now have happily come back to).

But a quick hello to you all.

Trent

2 months ago

Reply to BE

@BE! Good to have proof of life, so to speak! I hope your back is doing well? Or at least better, trending upward, continuing on the mend?

Your insights have definitely been missed, particularly on the back half of the My Mister watch. I understand about feeling tapped out on a particular art form or medium… it happens, you know? I hope you find joy in whatever you manage to find to fill your time.

P.S. I had Station 11 on my list of books to get to for the longest time, but unfortunately my attention and focus on fiction, genre or otherwise, has fallen off a cliff the last couple years. Hopefully it will revive at some point and I’ll get to it, I hear it’s quite good…

2 months ago

Reply to Trent

Thanks Trent. My daughter read Station 11 before seeing the series, and was glad she did so, also telling me that she does not know if she would like the book as much if seeing the show first. The series blew me out of the water, something, since I can barely watch an hour of television right now without getting antsy. And, as someone who was somewhat alienated by the diasporic gloom of last year’s big K D hits, it was quite gratifying as I said above to see many of the same kinds of great qualities I associate with the best of K Dramas in an American show.

seankfletcher

2 months ago

Reply to BE

It is nice to hear from you, BE. Thank you for the suggestion re Station 11, it looks very interesting. I just quickly read two reviews and it has received very high praise indeed: art within art with a strong beating heart. So, it is now on my list.

Your thoughts on the continuous cranking out of material are similar to my own. I was reading through some studies, interviews with show runners and the like around this very issue the other day (shouldn’t I have been undertaking something more more constructive? – yep, but, you know, it was interesting). I had that “ah ha” moment when the penny dropped re why there are so many remakes in one part of the world and the flogging of tropes again and again in another part of the world – there is only so much material that can be written to meet the number of shows churned out.

I think that’s great you are happily painting away – so much more constructive than what I do most evenings. I think blogging about your artwork would be a winner. That aside, if you are in a position to make comment on “The Verdict” now and again, “make it so!” 😊

2 months ago

Reply to seankfletcher

Thanks Sean. I seem to have a handful of fans for my paintings, but what I am decent at–abstract expressionism and what I call surrealistic cartoons–has a limited kind of following in 2022, arriving about 100 years too late. And my more realistic pieces–I am just beginning to learn about and develop an illustrative style. A long time ago, I wrote a kids book for my daughters–Mr. Stick Pab and the King of Giant Noses–and I am working my way up to maybe having an illustrated copy to send out by the end of this year. I am touched that sight unseen you might think my artwork would be interesting. For me, I just love doing it. I have been pretty serious for decades about writing, but painting–I just find it, well, fun.

And oh, when one has an interest, following one’s nose about it, ah one of the great pleasures of life–why not? There is also the popular audience, ie, cherchez la dough, that has to be contended with. What people like, whether I like it or not, has to be catered to. I watched so many shows in three years time, I was bound to eclipse my interests.

seankfletcher

7 hours ago

Reply to BE

Hello BE. I always find what other people are up to, interesting. Not that I am nosey, per se, but I admire how we all go about doing what we do.

The title of your kids book sounds delightful. An illustrated copy is definately the way to go. Being creative is fun, well it should be. My nana was a very good painter. Then she got into China Painting, I am very glad we have many of the pieces she had kept for herself. I can still recal when she painted many of them.

I look forward to when I don’t have to write about anything anymore. Then, I can back to writing songs.

But, on a more serious note, I do think you could have quite a following. Your ability for wonderful prose weaved in with your art works would attract a very appreciative audience.

phl1rxd

2 months ago

Reply to BE

BE! My heart is so very happy to see your comment. I have missed your witty and intelligent comments. I am also very happy to see that you are painting again. So great! I wonder if you are like me – when you picked up that brush again, it all came back in minutes, and that ‘feeling’ came back as well. It is good for your soul BE!

Back pain is a very difficult thing to bear. Please follow the doctor’s orders and I hope and pray that your pain has decreased.

I am going to let my daughter and SIL know about Station 11 (if they have not seen it already). I think they will like it very much.

Please drop in and say hello whenever you get a paint break. I always love to read your point of view! Sending healing energy and some good ‘ole fashioned hugs your way!!! 🤗🥰🙆‍♀️

2 months ago

Reply to phl1rxd

Amazing, one more thing we have in common phl.

My back is doing better, but I am beginning to fear that the surgical correction will only take me so far. I had pretty much decided, however, before the surgery, whatever the outcome, I was going to find ways to make myself happy. At 75, only short time left, one supposes, given to me, especially as time has taken on a freight train momentum over the past decade or so, even if my range of motion is limited, my mind is still going strong.

I have been pleased to discover that the land of paint has been a more familiar milieu than I feared it would be. I recently did a triptych of small, rather wild pieces–the “Cha Cha Cha Triptych”–“Rumba,” “Cutting a Rug,” and “The Dancers,” that I will e to our inimitable host K, with the hope that she will pass the attachment of the the trio on to you.

phl1rxd

2 months ago

Reply to BE

BE – I look forward to it! I always say that one of the best things about life is that we sometimes get a second chance. Creating scratches that soul itch, sabe? Drop a line from time to time so we know all is well. 🙆‍♀️🙋‍♀️🎨

phl1rxd

2 months ago

Reply to BE

BE – I am blown away. Sigh, the color! I can hear the clave and feel the movement. These are a celebration of ‘son’. If you had fear when you first picked up that brush, it does not show. There is such freedom in these. Bravo good sir. 👏

2 months ago

Reply to phl1rxd

Thanks phl, I had hoped you would feel them–it took about 3 months to get my footing back with those kinds of paintings. More quickly than I had expected, but I have been painting now 6 days out of every 7 for about four months. I had a painting teacher who once told me, it takes 30 good paintings before a painter’s confidence is all the way up, and I am about half way there now.

However, my forays into more representational, illustrative pieces–from landscapes to still lifes–are far more timid. I am proud, however, of a painting I did of the outside of the Detroit Tigers ComericA baseball stadium I labored over for my son in law’s (he grew up in Detroit a Tigers fan) birthday–done in an entirely different and far more conservative style, which I am trying to teach myself slowly.

beez

2 months ago

Reply to BE

@BE – So glad to see your post. Sorry you won’t be with us as much as before 💘, but please stop in here and there. 😥 but 🙂

2 months ago

Reply to beez

Thanks beez

Aiki4640

2 months ago

It happens with all things we like, at some point. It’s like we’re all filled up and there’s just no more space for something new. I get this feeling too.
Personally, I feel this way whenever I’m done watching a great story or read a good book that you’re left with the after effects of “the feels”. No other show or book would give you that fuzzy feeling anymore. You feel a slump or disinterest in any other show or book however much other people rave about it.

So I do what you mentioned here – switch it up. Watch or read something I haven’t before or something totally different. I always get a hold of some anime or web comic as a neutralizer — like you sniff coffee beans after trying out perfumes.

phl1rxd

2 months ago

Fangurl – great post, as always!!

lotusgirl

2 months ago

I like to go for the shorter shows when I’m feeling things lagging. Movies or the specials that are about an hour sometimes cleanse the palette. I also go back to my faves and watch favorite scenes from them. I used to read all the time, but now I listen on audible or through my library. I do a lot of painting while I listen. I need to keep my brain busy. I tend to change things up a lot.

uyen

2 months ago

this is so real! Rewatching old favs or even clips have been good for me. I also dipped my toes into k-web dramas and actually liked the teen/college plots. Growing Season was a surprise fav with female friendship and normalizing sex/sexuality. And breezed through A-Teen lol

Valia Sot

2 months ago

I would like to add that it’s perfectly natural for this to be happening? It’s impossible for us human beings to stay on a high level of enthusiasm for too long? Boredom is, for me, working to my best interests, it alerts me to the fact that I need some variety in my life, it’s telling me that every now and then I need to change the source of my entertainment (this is how I discovered kdramas after all), or… idk, stay in a quiet room and think of my real problems. But if it’s an entertainment “problem”, then… my opinion, or even advice, if you like, is just do number 6, take a break, read a book, play a video game, go out with friends or just do nothing. Devote these hours to cooking a meal or something. If you miss kdramas, you’ll be able to fully enjoy them again, with all your heart, later. Why should we develop stress over something we do for fun? If you feel like watching nothing, then just watch nothing.

Kate

2 months ago

What a timely post for me as well, thank you for the recommendations. I have started and stopped at least 4 shows over the last few weeks. Am currently enjoying „bring it on, ghost“ (enough to keep watching, recommended by some of you! Thank you ☺️) I did go back to old favorites and was relieved to find out my lack of feelz has more to do with the dramas I picked than being a general problem 😅

AlphaGirl Reviews

2 months ago

OmG! I’ve been wanting to ask you this question forever! Being a blogger there are times when I’m on a drama-watching spree and enjoy everything that I watch. But then there comes a time when I just cannot watch anything.

For example, January was a great month for me as I watched a lot of dramas from different countries and even enjoyed most of what I watched.

Come February and I just don’t feel like watching anything. Like nothing at all. Drama slump sometimes feels inevitable and I always thought how do you deal with this? Don’t you have days when you have to post a review but you just don’t feel like watching the drama?

I got my answer through this post. Thanks a lot for sharing this. 🙂 Will certainly try out all the hacks mentioned. Lots of love. <3 <3

Shahz

2 months ago

So the watch an old drama tip really helps me when I am in a drama slump. Particularly, if that drama is retro. I just find them sometimes more authentic. Maybe because they don’t seem to be as manufactured or driven to make the ” right” choices in they case cancel culture comes calling.
And great post!

Natalia

2 months ago

Thanks so much K, thank you friends for your advice here and on Patreon! I am sort of glad to see I’m not the only one, I guess?
Yes, I am taking a break as you suggest, checking out some international dramas and films (last night I watched Munich: The Edge of War, which although being a pale comparison to the very exciting novel, really hit a cord with me, at the times we are going through in Europe😔).
But the love is not lost, I am too looking forward to the release of Pirates (hail to the Pirate Queen!) and I think the release of Pachinko (I watched the trailer on Patreon, it is amazing) will certainly make me come back to Dramaland,so yes, I’ll just rest for a little bit for now!

jasgeena

2 months ago

When kdrama fatigue strikes I watch korean variety shows or some popular western movies.

CarpControl

2 months ago

Somehow, 16 eps k-dramas haven’t been doing it for me as well! xD [And this is usually right before the anticipation of the peak-season when all the good, ‘meaty’ dramas release] 😛

I find this to be the perfect time to indulge in single or 4-eps mini-series which I think Korea does extremely well!!!! More than the content, it’s often the predictable pace of things that turns me off…
Second choice would be 25-mins per episode, 10-ep length j-doramas. Or even movies, especially early 2000’s! ^^

Shahz

2 months ago

Reply to CarpControl

JJ and I have recently discovered the joy/ uniqueness and insanity of J dramas. We watched 5 to 9 recently and we were in hysterics through the show.

Narmada Padiyar

2 months ago

Hey KFG..this is my first commenting on your blog,though you have been my trusted handy guide on KDramas for the past 6 months.
My friend and I are currently going through a drama slump together🤣..so the timing of this post is perfect.

beez

2 months ago

Great tips Kfangirl. I just have one question for all of you? When do you people actually watch Kdramas? 😋

Or sleep?

I swear I can’t keep up. 😖

seankfletcher

2 months ago

Reply to beez

If you have read ever Phillip Jose Farmer’s wonderful Day World series, you will know my secret to how I watch the number of shows that I do 😂🤣😂

Trent

2 months ago

Some good suggestions, definitely. I’ve been feeling a touch of a mini-slump lately, so I’ve actually taken to watching a few movies lately to fill in the gaps. They have the virtue of not only (hopefully) being interesting or good in and of themselves, but also over and done with fairly quickly (compared to a drama), so they don’t take nearly the investment or attention stamina.

For example, watched Love and Leashes, just released on Netflix a week or two ago, and found it delightful. And just watched The Handmaiden, which has been pretty highly praised, and found it to be really very good–beautifully shot, interesting twisty plot, etc. (just don’t watch it with your teenage kids, or if relatively explicit sexytimes will ruin a movie for you). And looking forward to The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure coming out this week in worldwide release on Netflix (Han Hyo-ju as a pirate queen? Yes and thank you).

seankfletcher

2 months ago

These are all excellent suggestions, kfangurl. In terms of myself when in a viewing slump,I will get back to reading the backlog of novels I have. Sometimes, I will seek out more CDramas or JDoramas – which is what I found myself doing in the middle of last year. Then, as phl has suggested over on Patreon, I catch up on other international shows. During my worst slump in 2019, I actually rewatched Pride and Prejudice (the 1995 version) and found this did the trick.

Despite the spate of Kdramas that have just started, I found myself, since the start of the year, immersed in a number of really good CDramas – all of a sudden they have upped the ante in a big way and I do think it’s because of the shorter number of episodes now mandated, which is interesting. So, just when I started on my next CDrama – Royal Feast (which is the most stunning costume drama) and was seriously thinking of giving Kdramas a long holiday, along comes Twenty Five Twenty One – just a wow 🤩

2 months ago

Reply to seankfletcher

@Sean – YAY for 1995’s version of Pride and Prejudice

Right? So many of us are being pulled into Cdramas lately it seems. Shahz and I have been watching For Shinning One Thing. And when Shahz started talking about it she called it “Shinning” and my brain took a moment to catch up 🙂

I havent been wowed by Twenty Five Twenty One but enjoying it all the same 🙂

seankfletcher

2 months ago

Reply to JJ

@Jennifer – I have thought about taking a look at Shining, JJ – Lol re Shahz. I do like this type of premise. The 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice is very hard to beat 😊 There is a big push on to make sure there is more quality than content in CDramas, so it will be interesting how this pans out 🤔

2 months ago

Reply to seankfletcher

@Sean – I am enjoying Shinning at the moment with only being 10 episodes in and Shahz is on Epi 11 and no complaints from her, yet. So yes take a look at it 🙂

Oh good to know about Cdramas. Quality over content sounds excellent, no?

So far though nothing from the Cdramas I have watched has been able to “beat” The Bond or The Long Night for me 🙂

Shahz

2 months ago

Reply to JJ

I think JJ that was the way you read it as I have always referred to it as Shining or SoT not Shinning!

2 months ago

Reply to Shahz

@Shahz – YES! YES! YES! I spelled it wrong, OPS. SORRY. But I still thought it was the movie The Shining!!! Yikes, sorry. You know Spellng is not my forte when moving quickly 😬

Trent

2 months ago

Reply to seankfletcher

@Sean — yes, the novel read is a great suggestion as well. My primary recreational activity used to be reading novels, and I’ve been in a slump there for at least a couple years (not total stoppage, but many many fewer compared to baseline). So when something comes out by an author I like or who is on my “immediately pay attention to” list, good to pick it up and dive in (for ex.: Age of Ash, start of new fantasy trilogy by Daniel Abraham (one half of the writer duo who wrote The Expanse, the books the Amazon Prime sci-fi series is based on) just came out, I grabbed it to take it for a spin…

seankfletcher

2 months ago

Reply to Trent

@Trent – very similar to me. I just took a quick peek at the opening paragraphs to Age of Ash. Yep – that’s enough for me to download it 😊

Trent

2 months ago

Reply to seankfletcher

I’m only about a third of the way through it (I’ve slowed down recently, too!), but Abraham really has yet to miss with me on anything he’s written…

Elaine

2 months ago

Reply to seankfletcher

Another yay for P&P1995!! Jennifer Ehle was so arch, wry and absolutely beguiling as Elizabeth, while Colin Firth was full of restrained energy and passion rather than dull. His intense glares were rather too much at first and I initially didn’t find him good-looking, but his layers unfold over the course of the show!

I’m also enjoying Twenty Five Twenty One very much right now!

seankfletcher

2 months ago

Reply to Elaine

Yes – P&P1995 forever! Yes, Jennifer Ehle was awesome. I last saw her in The Professor and the Madman, which the critics panned, but I really liked. Penn and Gibson were terrific together. Anyway, what would I know!

phl1rxd

2 months ago

Reply to seankfletcher

Sean- I just took a peek at Royal Feast trailer. Costumes are stunning 💥 and the food looks so good. I was super hungry before the trailer even ended. 😏

However, I am not a big fan of ML. I may try an episode or two between Autumn Ballad and Condor Heroes episodes and see if I like it.

But yes, you are dead on the money when you say “the most stunning costume drama“. The colors are gorgeous earth tones and are a color palette change from most Ming Dynasty costume dramas. So now I have to research if these are historically accurate or not. You know I am a sucker for good visuals – let’s see how this goes….

P.S. If I start to watch I will say that after this I may gain a few pounds. 😆🙄🤣🙄 Cupid’s Kitchen inspired me to cook up a storm the week I watched it. (Thanks Shahz!)

seankfletcher

2 months ago

Reply to phl1rxd

Hello phl – I watched the comments by Avenue X this morning re Royal Feast, and I was laughing throughout. She has done some of the research for you re the costuming. I also found a fabulous website that goes through Ming clothing: http://www.newhanfu.com.

Anyway, AX is perhaps 50/50 re the drama at this point. I didn’t agree with many of her points re the actors and lack of plot – as it’s fan service only re the Yanxi Palace couple. Many are saying so, too. I dropped Yanxi Palace at the time as I was enjoying Minglan so much more.

However, it did occur to me that if I had watched the review by AX first, I might not have started my watch. 😱 However, this is the dilemma between watching a show because it is entertaining and a delight rather than one that is factual.

Yes, I must track down Cupid’s Kitchen, again. In the meantime I need to go for a run around the block and burn off those imaginary calories 😂😝😂

phl1rxd

2 months ago

Reply to seankfletcher

Sean – 😆😉 I did watch her review as well. I also laughed. She made some funny faces. I actually think the color palette is quite interesting. I enjoy researching the clothing and find it educational. Newhanfu is a great site! I will still watch (regardless of clothing as long as once I get into it, the OTP works) Royal Feast out – BUT – I am presently enamored with Autumn Ballad.

I am even watching over on the dark side as YT only has to E13. I am really, really enjoying this Sean. I guess I owe you another BIG thank you 😘 🤗 for this one. What a great OTP – really made for each other. I cannot get over how different Qiao Xin looks without those glasses she wears in a lot of her modern dramas. Bangs become her.

So thank you my friend for your recommendation! I am extremely happy right now with Autumn Ballad! 💖

I got addicted to Chef’s Kitchen despite the logic lapses. I think it was sue to the ML, who I really like. I cooked up a storm the week I watched that.

Yes, we will need a diet after these! I will let you know how I like Royal Feast after I scarf up Autumn Ballad. It is addicting.

seankfletcher

2 months ago

Reply to phl1rxd

My pleasure, phl! I am enjoying The Autumn Ballard, immensely. Perhaps my first reason is the OTP have made the show their own. There are those scenes where you can tell they genuinely had a good time together. Secondly, it is a very well put together show. We are not waiting around for 5-10 episodes to see what happens next. The bottom line is, I watch The Autumn Ballard ahead of all other shows, which means I am nearly finished 😊

With Royal Feast, the colour palette works for me. I like those earthy type tones. I also like the boldness of trying to re-introduce a whole range of food that was culturally significant, and perhaps, it would seem, long forgotten. I like the OTP and their slowly eveloving relationship.