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A big change in RL – in short I quit my stupid job finally. It was never going to get better, and I was only fooling myself thinking that it could. But now I’m free, and I can afford to just take a rest for a few months. And after that we’ll see.
Anyway I spent a lot of time lately watching dramas to distract myself from thinking about RL things. And here is my drama watching report. It got long, sorry, I really watched a lot of things lately. 😊
First two kdramas – The Matchmakers and Sell Your Haunted House.
The Matchmakers
It’s an adorable and funny and heartwarming fusion sageuk about unlikely couple who has to work together for plot reasons to get older single men and women to marry as matchmakers.
More behind the cut with a few spoilers.
Jung Soon Deok is a widow living in a home of her wealthy father in law. She secretly leads another life under the pseudonym as the best matchmaker in the capital city. She’s smart, kind, level-headed and resourceful.
Sim Jung Woo is intelligent and handsome young man, who was picked to become the princess' husband at 18. But his wife died unexpectedly during the wedding ceremony, and after that he basically spent the next 8 years locked in the palace, unhappy and bitter, because according to the Joseon period custom, he can't remarry and he can’t take any position in the government.
Jung Woo is two years younger than Soon Deok and what is the best and brought me a lot of joy, he is the embodiment of a sheltered virginal blushing maiden trope, who doesn’t know why her heart beats so fast when a cheeky handsome man stands a bit too close, and who constantly has to be rescued from being knocked down by passing carriages or from packages falling on his head, or things like that. 😊
I loved everything about this drama – the two leads and their chemistry, two adorable secondary couples that made me squee with delight, the very well developed and interesting main female villain, and all the other supporting characters.
But most of all I loved the screenplay. It promises right off the bat to subvert a few annoying tropes and then it keeps that promise (yes, Heartbeat I am looking at you right now 😉). And yes, these were all the tropes I don’t like (like for instance 'I am leaving you because I love you' trope), so the subversion was a big plus for me.
Oh, and there were sympathetic gay characters (yes, minor characters, but more than just one), that weren’t treated like a punchline to a joke. Since it’s a kdrama, and a sageuk at that, it did end tragically for one of them, but still, it was a nice surprise to see.
Sell Your Haunted House
I was so impressed with the quality of The Matchmakers' screenplay that after finishing that drama I instantly started watching Sell Your Haunted House, which was written by the same writer Ha Soo Jin. Watched three episodes for now, love it a lot. I will write more about it later. But let me tell for now I am more than willing to watch whatever drama that writer writes next no matter the subject.
Now let’s talk about BL dramas. I watch five shows that are currently airing, all Thai BL dramas. Behind the cut there are short reviews of Last Twilight, The Sign, Cherry Magic, Dead Friend Forever, and For Him. No spoilers, apart from very minor ones about For Him.
Last Twilight – the 11th episode was a bit disappointing, but it’s still a very good drama, and I love it a lot, and I can forgive one not so stellar episode. I hope the finale the next week will be amazing.
The Sign – continues to be very entertaining and very pretty, and Billy and Babe have fantastic chemistry. I wouldn’t say no to another drama with them as the main couple.
Cherry Magic – so yeah, like I’ve said, for now it’s only available in Thailand, and at first I thought there would be no possibility of watching it on account of the lack of English subtitles (since it’s only airing in Thailand). But guess what, there are official English subtitles, so I did find the other way to watch it, and I’m glad, because I like it a lot, it’s such a cute and funny and sweet drama, perfect for relaxing on Saturday evenings. And the ending of the last episode was so adorable and touching that it made me clap my hands and say aww out loud a lot. 😊
Dead Friend Forever - it is a bit too dark for me, and I don’t like jump scares at all. But in general it is quite good, and I am interested in the main mystery, so for now I am watching. But only in the mornings. 😊
For Him - it had pretty good first three episodes, and then got kinda bad and nonsensical. But the main couple has nice chemistry, even though I am losing interest in them now. And I’m way more invested in the secondary couple – an age gap pairing (the younger is 19 years old, and the older 25) Chao/Phai. They start as an one-night stand after meeting in the club one night, or rather the older one Phai thinks it’s a one-time thing (and he thinks Chao is more or less the same age as him), and Chao instantly falls in love and basically already thinks about Phai as his future boyfriend. In the morning Phai is all: I went to have a one-night stand with a guy my age, but whoops he’s 6 years younger, and apparently we’re dating now. LOL I love them, and now I watch this drama only for them.
And I watched three dramas that aired in 2022 and 2023 – Unforgotten Night (so bad, I don’t really know why I watched it all 😊), Oh My Sunshine Night (eh, rather mediocre), and My Personal Weatherman (so, so good, I’m obsessed).
More behind the cut, with minor spoilers, and three promo pics for My Personal Weatherman.
Unforgotten Night
You know that I love Big Dragon, and it does a few things well, but still I wouldn’t really recommend it without a lot of caveats. But comparing to Unforgotten Night, Big Dragon is a masterpiece in writing, directing, acting and chemistry. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun watching Unforgotten Night. I did. It was in that ‘so bad it’s good’ category for me – a very entertaining trainwreck. The main couple had no chemistry IMO, the screenplay was bad, and one of the secondary couples was boring as hell to me and I fast-forwarded through all their scenes. But I did like one of the secondary couples, and it gave us the adorable and canon M/M/M threesome, which happen very rarely in BL dramas.
Oh My Sunshine Night
It was a decent university BL for the first 10 episodes. It instantly made me fall in love with the secondary couple, which is chock full of my favorite loyalty kink – it’s a rich boy/his devoted bodyguard pairing. Rain and Phayu reminded me so much of Nueng and Palm. Phayu is the son of the very wealthy family’s loyal butler, who was raised with the family’s two sons (Rain is the older son), and now goes to the university with them, and serves as their driver and their bodyguard at the same time. He calls Rain ‘Khun Rain’ or ‘Khun Nu’ despite Rain telling him many times not to do that. He’s very protective, loyal to a fault and very in love with Rain. Rain is in love with him, too, but it’s clear that he isn’t sure of Phayu’s feelings and afraid of using his position and unintentionally forcing Phayu to do something that Phayu maybe doesn’t want. Although Phayu is absolutely unable to hide his love and longing, it’s written all over his face and in his pretty eyes.
Anyway, like I’ve said it was a decent university BL for the first ten episodes, and then it swerved rather unexpectedly into ridiculous, and unfortunately very boring, lakorn. There are BL dramas where I would gladly watch 18 episodes, but Oh My Sunshine Night wasn’t one of them. I fast-forwarded a lot through the last 4 episodes. Especially since the main pairing did nothing for me and I was only interested in Rain/Phayu. They did have a lovely happy ending, so all in all I was satisfied.
My Personal Weatherman
This is my current biggest fascination. I finished watching it on Friday, and I already want to start re-watching it.
Based on what I read about it I thought it would be more dark and fucked up and depressing. But it’s not, it is kinky and full of complicated, messed up feelings, but surprisingly fluffy and wholesome at the same time.
It’s a short (only 8 episodes) Japanese BL drama about two boys who fell in love in college, and who end up living together but both are so repressed they actually don’t realize they’re in love. It’s another one of this “we stumble into d/s dynamics and never really discuss it, but we’re still absolutely compatible with each other and it works perfectly” trope I like so much. Well, ok, it doesn’t really work perfectly with Segasaki and Yoh, because like I’ve said they are both very repressed and very stupid, and unable to talk directly about their feelings. And usually I hate, hate, hate when the plot of the drama hinges on miscommunication. But here I actually don’t mind that at all, and even like it to my surprise, because all their fights and misunderstandings are absolutely based on their personalities and what we know about these characters and their insecurities, and their fears. Sometimes it is frustrating, but it’s never out of character for them IMO. It's really well done in this drama.
I found this interesting meta on tumblr about Segasaki and Yoh’s relationship and their speech patterns. Like the author said in conclusion: “they're so dumb and so Japanese”. 😊
And both main actors are very good and very beautiful, and have scorching hot chemistry. See for yourself:
Anyway I spent a lot of time lately watching dramas to distract myself from thinking about RL things. And here is my drama watching report. It got long, sorry, I really watched a lot of things lately. 😊
First two kdramas – The Matchmakers and Sell Your Haunted House.
The Matchmakers
It’s an adorable and funny and heartwarming fusion sageuk about unlikely couple who has to work together for plot reasons to get older single men and women to marry as matchmakers.
More behind the cut with a few spoilers.
Jung Soon Deok is a widow living in a home of her wealthy father in law. She secretly leads another life under the pseudonym as the best matchmaker in the capital city. She’s smart, kind, level-headed and resourceful.
Sim Jung Woo is intelligent and handsome young man, who was picked to become the princess' husband at 18. But his wife died unexpectedly during the wedding ceremony, and after that he basically spent the next 8 years locked in the palace, unhappy and bitter, because according to the Joseon period custom, he can't remarry and he can’t take any position in the government.
Jung Woo is two years younger than Soon Deok and what is the best and brought me a lot of joy, he is the embodiment of a sheltered virginal blushing maiden trope, who doesn’t know why her heart beats so fast when a cheeky handsome man stands a bit too close, and who constantly has to be rescued from being knocked down by passing carriages or from packages falling on his head, or things like that. 😊
I loved everything about this drama – the two leads and their chemistry, two adorable secondary couples that made me squee with delight, the very well developed and interesting main female villain, and all the other supporting characters.
But most of all I loved the screenplay. It promises right off the bat to subvert a few annoying tropes and then it keeps that promise (yes, Heartbeat I am looking at you right now 😉). And yes, these were all the tropes I don’t like (like for instance 'I am leaving you because I love you' trope), so the subversion was a big plus for me.
Oh, and there were sympathetic gay characters (yes, minor characters, but more than just one), that weren’t treated like a punchline to a joke. Since it’s a kdrama, and a sageuk at that, it did end tragically for one of them, but still, it was a nice surprise to see.
Sell Your Haunted House
I was so impressed with the quality of The Matchmakers' screenplay that after finishing that drama I instantly started watching Sell Your Haunted House, which was written by the same writer Ha Soo Jin. Watched three episodes for now, love it a lot. I will write more about it later. But let me tell for now I am more than willing to watch whatever drama that writer writes next no matter the subject.
Now let’s talk about BL dramas. I watch five shows that are currently airing, all Thai BL dramas. Behind the cut there are short reviews of Last Twilight, The Sign, Cherry Magic, Dead Friend Forever, and For Him. No spoilers, apart from very minor ones about For Him.
Last Twilight – the 11th episode was a bit disappointing, but it’s still a very good drama, and I love it a lot, and I can forgive one not so stellar episode. I hope the finale the next week will be amazing.
The Sign – continues to be very entertaining and very pretty, and Billy and Babe have fantastic chemistry. I wouldn’t say no to another drama with them as the main couple.
Cherry Magic – so yeah, like I’ve said, for now it’s only available in Thailand, and at first I thought there would be no possibility of watching it on account of the lack of English subtitles (since it’s only airing in Thailand). But guess what, there are official English subtitles, so I did find the other way to watch it, and I’m glad, because I like it a lot, it’s such a cute and funny and sweet drama, perfect for relaxing on Saturday evenings. And the ending of the last episode was so adorable and touching that it made me clap my hands and say aww out loud a lot. 😊
Dead Friend Forever - it is a bit too dark for me, and I don’t like jump scares at all. But in general it is quite good, and I am interested in the main mystery, so for now I am watching. But only in the mornings. 😊
For Him - it had pretty good first three episodes, and then got kinda bad and nonsensical. But the main couple has nice chemistry, even though I am losing interest in them now. And I’m way more invested in the secondary couple – an age gap pairing (the younger is 19 years old, and the older 25) Chao/Phai. They start as an one-night stand after meeting in the club one night, or rather the older one Phai thinks it’s a one-time thing (and he thinks Chao is more or less the same age as him), and Chao instantly falls in love and basically already thinks about Phai as his future boyfriend. In the morning Phai is all: I went to have a one-night stand with a guy my age, but whoops he’s 6 years younger, and apparently we’re dating now. LOL I love them, and now I watch this drama only for them.
And I watched three dramas that aired in 2022 and 2023 – Unforgotten Night (so bad, I don’t really know why I watched it all 😊), Oh My Sunshine Night (eh, rather mediocre), and My Personal Weatherman (so, so good, I’m obsessed).
More behind the cut, with minor spoilers, and three promo pics for My Personal Weatherman.
Unforgotten Night
You know that I love Big Dragon, and it does a few things well, but still I wouldn’t really recommend it without a lot of caveats. But comparing to Unforgotten Night, Big Dragon is a masterpiece in writing, directing, acting and chemistry. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun watching Unforgotten Night. I did. It was in that ‘so bad it’s good’ category for me – a very entertaining trainwreck. The main couple had no chemistry IMO, the screenplay was bad, and one of the secondary couples was boring as hell to me and I fast-forwarded through all their scenes. But I did like one of the secondary couples, and it gave us the adorable and canon M/M/M threesome, which happen very rarely in BL dramas.
Oh My Sunshine Night
It was a decent university BL for the first 10 episodes. It instantly made me fall in love with the secondary couple, which is chock full of my favorite loyalty kink – it’s a rich boy/his devoted bodyguard pairing. Rain and Phayu reminded me so much of Nueng and Palm. Phayu is the son of the very wealthy family’s loyal butler, who was raised with the family’s two sons (Rain is the older son), and now goes to the university with them, and serves as their driver and their bodyguard at the same time. He calls Rain ‘Khun Rain’ or ‘Khun Nu’ despite Rain telling him many times not to do that. He’s very protective, loyal to a fault and very in love with Rain. Rain is in love with him, too, but it’s clear that he isn’t sure of Phayu’s feelings and afraid of using his position and unintentionally forcing Phayu to do something that Phayu maybe doesn’t want. Although Phayu is absolutely unable to hide his love and longing, it’s written all over his face and in his pretty eyes.
Anyway, like I’ve said it was a decent university BL for the first ten episodes, and then it swerved rather unexpectedly into ridiculous, and unfortunately very boring, lakorn. There are BL dramas where I would gladly watch 18 episodes, but Oh My Sunshine Night wasn’t one of them. I fast-forwarded a lot through the last 4 episodes. Especially since the main pairing did nothing for me and I was only interested in Rain/Phayu. They did have a lovely happy ending, so all in all I was satisfied.
My Personal Weatherman
This is my current biggest fascination. I finished watching it on Friday, and I already want to start re-watching it.
Based on what I read about it I thought it would be more dark and fucked up and depressing. But it’s not, it is kinky and full of complicated, messed up feelings, but surprisingly fluffy and wholesome at the same time.
It’s a short (only 8 episodes) Japanese BL drama about two boys who fell in love in college, and who end up living together but both are so repressed they actually don’t realize they’re in love. It’s another one of this “we stumble into d/s dynamics and never really discuss it, but we’re still absolutely compatible with each other and it works perfectly” trope I like so much. Well, ok, it doesn’t really work perfectly with Segasaki and Yoh, because like I’ve said they are both very repressed and very stupid, and unable to talk directly about their feelings. And usually I hate, hate, hate when the plot of the drama hinges on miscommunication. But here I actually don’t mind that at all, and even like it to my surprise, because all their fights and misunderstandings are absolutely based on their personalities and what we know about these characters and their insecurities, and their fears. Sometimes it is frustrating, but it’s never out of character for them IMO. It's really well done in this drama.
I found this interesting meta on tumblr about Segasaki and Yoh’s relationship and their speech patterns. Like the author said in conclusion: “they're so dumb and so Japanese”. 😊
And both main actors are very good and very beautiful, and have scorching hot chemistry. See for yourself:
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I'm glad you're able to watch Cherry Magic after all. <3
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Sell Your Haunted House has been on my to watch list for a while, maybe I should watch it at last...
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I had very mixed feelings about My Personal Weatherman. I didn't want to watch it because the blurb I saw basically described it as 24/7 BDSM - so NOT my thing - and I'm glad it didn't turn out to be that but felt it couldn't quite make up its mind what it was... I still... enjoyed it overall?
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but felt it couldn't quite make up its mind what it was
Heh, I can actually agree with that - like I've said IMO it was dark-ish and kinky, but at the same time strangely fluffy. Not a combination I expected. Like you I put away watching it because I thought it would be very dark. But damn, it hit my id hard. It's nice to have a new obsession, even if it is again a very small fandom. But hey, we're both used to that, aren't we? ;)
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Even things like Cherry Magic which has a key 'super power' element is more about how we make snap surface decisions about people and the power of friendship. The End of the World, With You is about the apocalypse and how that might bring life/relationship into sharp focus. My Beautiful Man is on the surface about obsession but over the course of the series and film is really more about craving a love where the person sees you for who you really are, faults and all and still loves you.
Using My Personal Weatherman as an example, I mean, 'dark-ish and kinky' but the dom also doesn't want him to have to do laundry on rainy days. *g*
The only drawback is that as they are almost always short run/limited episode series they open up questions they don't always have the time to answer... Ta da! Fan fiction! ;D
Tiny fandoms need love too... The problem is fans of tiny fandoms could use a little more sustenance as well. ♥
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Oh yes, I feel this so much. I would love the 2nd season of My Personal Weatherman, because I feel like we've only just scratched the surface of Sagesaki and Yoh's relationship. I want so much more about them.
Tiny fandoms need love too... The problem is fans of tiny fandoms could use a little more sustenance as well.
Truer words were never spoken. :DDD
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♥ ♥ ♥
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My Personal Weatherman sounds adorable and I haven't watched a jdrama in a while, so definitely planning to check it out - thank you for the rec!
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And ohhh, I hope you'll like My Personal Weatherman. I would love to entice more people into watching it. :)