Mischievous Fridays 06/21/13

Yey! Time for my first Mischievous Fridays post! Every Friday I'm going to be discussing the dramas I've watched during the week, so feel free to join in! 

Caution: Will probably contain spoilers! 

Dramas discussed: Last Cinderella, Monstar, Gu Family Book, Heartless City (aka Cruel City), Dating Agency: Cyrano, Jang Ok Jung, I Hear Your Voice, Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo, and King of Dramas. 

Last Cinderella episode 10. 

I'm still rooting for these two, but after this episode I'm starting to feel like Sakura and Hiroto are going to be the ending OTP. Bummer. I always felt like it was set up to eventually be Sakura and Rintaro. Sigh. My poor Naohito-san. Always stuck in second place (except for a few dramas...which are never the ones I want him to get the girl in anyway). Well, now I'm starting to regret watching this series because it honestly never really accomplished anything. There was potential abound but after watching 10 I'm convinced there is not enough time left for it to pull anything great. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. 

Monstar episode 5.

Five episodes in and I'm still not sure why I'm even watching this drama. Okay, that's a lie. It's totally because of Sul-Chan (Yong Joon Hyung). I don't really like any of the other characters, including Se-yi. Though I will admit there were times this episode made me giggle. I'm hoping thing start moving along a little faster though because I feel like it is just taking foooorever for stuff to happen. Though that could be because of the whole one-episode-a-week thing which I'm just not used to for K-Dramas. 

Gu Family Book episodes 21 and 22.

Ah, my baby. I feel like this drama lost a bit of it's momentum since around episode 17 but it got some of that back this week. It was nice to see things concluding for Wol Ryung and Seo-Hwa (despite that fact that it broke my poor fangirl heart) though I'm sad to say that Noble Idiocy has taken a front seat in the plot department for our leads. I'm hoping that it turns out differently than I'm expecting, because if anything Yeo Wool has surprised me the most during the duration of this drama thus far by going against popular drama cliches. It's possible she will put an end to Kang Chi's nonsense but we won't know until next week.  

This has been the only drama to really steal my heart so far this year. It's been awhile since I've been so obsessed about a show. Gu Family Book is the perfect example of a drama that is lacking in overall quality but still makes me crazy in love with it. It's a fluke of the universe I will never understand though I suspect it has a lot to do with Lee Seung Gi and that smile of his. I will be very sad to bid this show farewell next week. 

Heartless City episodes 7 and 8.

Another two slow episodes. It seems this drama focuses a lot on Set Up. Which is fine...but it also makes for a boring week (for me anyway). It was nice to have our two leads meet up again (finally), though this means they have only met twice in eight episodes. Oh, well. Hopefully my patience will pay out in the end. This is the first drama to actually surprise me with it's twists in ages so I'm unsure what to expect. 

Dating Agency: Cyrano episodes 7 and 8.

This drama is such an easy watch--which I suppose is to be expected since it is coming from the Flower Boy Series team. Speaking of which, this is the only drama from them that doesn't have "Flower Boy" in the title! Why wasn't it called "Flower Boy Dating Agency: Cyrano"? Come on, now! Anyway, this week was cute and even moved our leads further along in their own story. I'm even starting to get torn between which guy I want Min-young to end up with, which is gonna suck later. And who isn't totally excited for Gong Yoo's cameo next week? Woot! 

Jang Ok Jung episodes 21 and 22.

A better week than last week, but that's not saying much. My current feelings towards this show now are basically: I feel really bad for Ok Jung, I'm glad Lee Soon has finally got his act together but I don't quite feel bad for him yet, I loath Maid Choi with a burning fiery passion (which is so awkward because I loved her--not the actress, but the historical figure--in Dong Yi, obviously) and I really will not be sad when this drama ends next week. Please, someone put it out of its misery. I'm so disappointed because for 12-ish episodes Jang Ok Jung was everything it promised to be: a beautiful re-telling of an infamous historical figure. Then something terrible happened and it just became a makjang infested, B-rated sageuk. Gone is the former sizzling chemistry between Kim Tae-hee and Yoo Ah-in. Lost is the interesting and refreshing take on historical events. And forgotten is my former love for this drama. What a bummer. 

I Hear Your Voice episode 5 and 6.

This is my new weekly crack and I am so glad it's around because I'm going to need it when Gu Family Book ends. Another fun and exciting week! I love how this show has such an imperfect heroin who makes mistakes and has so much room to grow but I also love how she already does things that make us root for her. It's refreshing to have a drama like that...Candy is becoming a drama stereotype of the past. We need more female leads like this! 

What I also enjoy about I Hear Your Voice is that it has the perfect amount of cute mixed in with a pretty thrilling plot. Stalking murder out to get revenge on you? How can that not be exciting? I rarely find myself bored while watching. My only complaint is that I'm nervous when it comes to the OTP. I'm a Soo-ha/Hye-sung shipper and while Kwang-woo is adorable, I just don't want them to end up together. For reasons. It really feels like this show is aiming for Soo-ha and Hye-sung being the ultimate OTP but you just never know. I wish I had more assurance either way so I could prepare my heart. 

Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo episode 12

We have approached my least favorite arch in this story and it's probably because I have already seen every other version of this out there that I find this part so boring. I've been really surprised with this Japanese version, which is a million times better than the original J-Drama. Still not as good as the Taiwanese adaptation, but possibly on-par with the Korean version overall. I still feel like the actors look too young to be college students here. But on the other hand, I felt most of them looked to old to be high school students in other versions. 

I've liked how this drama has managed to keep many of the the things I love about Itazura na Kiss (the original story) while managing to craftily surpass the parts I don't particularly care for (probably to conserve air time). I think it has made this version easier to watch than, say, It Started with a Kiss which is much longer but not as expatiated as Playful Kiss which had the same amount of episodes. Plus this show has found new ways to present the same ol' material which is nice if not a bit ridiculous (a meteor? Seriously)? 

Episode 12 was the big Set Up episode for the angst and heartache to come. Which means I probably won't pay a whole lot of attention during episode 13 next week because...I already know what's going down and I'm not looking forward to it. Well, at least I also know good things are to come later. Possibly week-after-next. Let's hope. 

King of Dramas 

This is a drama that I finished watching which is not currently airing. My quick review (taken from my reviews @ MyDramaList): 

It was a little over the top and filled with "Seriously?!" moments but it managed to keep me hooked with a bit of charm, humor, and trolling episode cliff-hangers. I won't put it on my re-watch list but I wouldn't necessarily not recommend it either. Depends on what mood you're in.

We'll that's it for this edition of Mischievous Fridays! What are you watching? Feel free to give your input below. Just be sure and let us know if you are posting spoilers :)