how do we get over a cracky drama that completely hijacks our brain and emotions, locks us into itself and locks us out of any attempt to move on to another drama?
I have encountered a few of those, that even when I moved on, nothing seemed satisfactory for a long time, I simply craved another one, like for example NirvanaIn Fire or The Rise Of The Phoenixes, just to name a few (there were of course more).
I picked 50 more (!!) shows to touch on in this post, with a quick “status update.” Mostly, these are dramas that people tend to ask me about, and also, shows that I’d like to give shout-outs to, but which I’m unlikely to write reviews for.
There are still more shows that I’ve either sampled or watched to completion, which I am not including in this list, but maybe (just maybe?) another post, another time? 😅
Yes, I know that’s not a rose. I’m going to pretend it’s a rose.. apple. 😉
Some time ago, a remark by long-time friend of the blog Beez got me thinking.
Basically, we were talking about how I’d dropped The K2, despite Show serving up a whole lotta shirtless via a gloriously nekkid fight scene. Beez then said, and I quote, “Wow. Kfangurl, I think the K-Bloom is off the rose for you.”
Essentially, Beez felt that even though the OTP in The K2 had been uninspiring, that Ji Chang Wook‘s chemistry with second female lead Song Yoon Ah had been so sparky and sizzling, that if that hadn’t been enough to hold my attention, then, well, I must not be as taken with kdramas – or perhaps dramas in general – anymore.
This got me thinking about my evolution as a drama viewer, and what’s captured me each step of the way, and I thought you guys might perhaps find this interesting or relatable, and so here we are.
If you’ve been around the blog for a bit, you’d likely know that I’m generally not one to check out remake after remake of classic shows. Which means that I’m far from this movie’s target audience, since this is the nth remake of Mischievous Kiss.
The thing is, though, late last year, I happened to catch the trailer of Fall In Love At First Kiss 2019, and whaddya know, I actually wanted to check this out, and even made a mental note to look out for it, after its release in February 2019.
Basically, I was drawn to how cute and sunny the trailer looked, plus the fact that this comes from Frankie Chen, the director of Our Times, a movie that I loved and watched something like 2.5 times on three different flights.
I was also drawn to the fact that this stars Darren Wang, whose bad-boy-with-a-warm-heart character I’d really enjoyed in Our Times as well.
So, did this meet my expectations in bringing back all of the feels? Let’s dive in to find out.
Remember when I fell hearts-in-eyes in love with Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, for how simple and endearing it was? So many of us remarked, then, that we wanted more of such simple and endearing shows like it, to love.
Well. Guess what, you guys? I think I’ve found a pretty strong contender for your affections, in this sweet lil drama.
And, I honestly think it doesn’t even matter if you don’t usually watch Chinese dramas. I feel pretty confident that kdrama fans will find it pretty easy to love this one too.
Coz, first of all, there are familiar elements in it, that will make this one feel extra accessible to the average kdrama fan; to me, this show kinda-sorta feels like Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, Answer Me 1988 and Playful Kiss all got together and had a cute baby.
Second – and most importantly – of all, aren’t simplicity and warm fuzzies universal, after all? 😉
So a funny thing happened. Liebster season snuck up on me when I wasn’t even looking.
When the first signs popped up, hinting that Liebster season was upon us again, I hardly took notice. I was all like, Well, I had a good go at that last year, and it was a heap of fun.
Surely after 9 whole Liebsters, though, no one’s going to want to ask me more questions about myself. Right?
Wrong.
When I wasn’t looking, those Liebsters seemed to multiply in a little room all by their sneaky little selves. Almost like they had a will all their own. And now, I have a serious heap of questions to answer *starts sweating bullets*
I plead hectic Real Life schedules as the reason that I delegated the job of answering the Liebster questions to Future Me (hey, after watching so many time-travel dramas, you gotta learn something, right?)
So here I am, Future Me (er, now Present Me?) to the rescue! Let’s see if you guys can stick with me all the way to the very end, eh? I promise to make this as pain-free as possible 😉
And, thanks to all you sweethearts who nominated me – I feel like I’ve been rained on by showers of lurve ❤
So today Stephanie posted on her blog Crazy for Kdrama a post titled Second-hand Crack. In it, she describes her experience re-watching Smile Dong Hae, and finding that it just wasn’t as cracktastic the second time around.
That really resonated with me, coz as some of you may know, I’ve been marathoning Beautiful Days for review, and that review’s been taking a while to actually get written.
The reason is pretty much the same as Stephanie’s experience with Smile Dong Hae. I’d loved Beautiful Days on my first watch, and had devoured it pretty quickly.
Fast forward several years, and now that I’m watching it for the second time, I still find it pretty engaging, but it’s just not as cracktastic as I had first found it.
Which begs the question: What exactly makes drama crack stay fresh / turn stale?
Looks cute and attractive with its good-looking leads, bright, youthful color palette and peppy, happy music.
BUT. Requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. Female lead is written as unbelievably naive and tends to behave like a kid rather than a 20-something woman. Not cute.
Also, the story basically turns into makjang-lite with a Disney vibe.
Only if you’re bored and have nothing else to watch.
Or if you just want to ogle Donghae. Or the pretty, pretty cakes. Or both.
