Friday, November 22, 2019

356. Put Your Head on My Shoulder 致我们暖暖的小时光 (2019) Chinese

Xing Fei, Lin Yi, Tang Xiaotian, Zheng Ying Chen

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I guess I really liked this one, or at least it was what I wanted at the time, because I literally finished it in one weekend, starting it right after my last one and finishing it like two days later. That was not great because I was supposed to actually get things done that weekend, but oh well. I guess that's what this weekend is for... But it was super cute, and addictive, and I really enjoyed it. It was seriously cute from episode one. It was very slice of life and coming of age, with a cute romance between an ambitious to be in advertising accounting student and a genius physics student. I think that dynamic is literally one of the oldest tropes (spunky girl/staid genius) but this one did it much better than most because he wasn't the classic stoic genius kid, but he was a fairly realistic scientist. She was also not the typical spunky girl, because she also super practical and had all the street smarts he was lacking in his academic smarts. I absolutely loved how they portrayed him in that aspect, because he was so clearly in love with her for the start, but his approach to it was so logical and scientific that you wondered if they would ever be on the same page.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

353. My Girlfriend 我不能恋爱的女朋友 (2019) Chinese

Timmy Xu, Bridgette Qiao, Zhou Yi Xuan, Wang Jia Ning

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

This honestly wasn't amazing or anything, but I still really enjoyed watching it. Not quite sure why because the story was a mess. It was very typical and full of those classic tropes, such as him having a temper and her having a "curse" so she couldn't find love. Of course she also has narcolepsy so every time she gets rejected, or something super awkward or stressful happens, she falls asleep. Which of course makes them meet under the worse circumstances, so she ends up owing him money and he can trick her into being on his show. All of it very typical and fluffy. But it also had some weird things that made it not typical. Yeah, Chi Xin had a bad temper, but he wasn't the typical possessive or jealous guy. In fact, I really liked how he actually never chased after her the entire time but became, instead, a best friend or even best frenemy, since they fought all the time. I also loved that during their brief time of forced living situation, she accepted those terms because of a misconception that was caused by his one moment of jealousy, which led him to jump into a kiss cam moment in the opposite way he probably intended. Kiss cams are also apparently the new accidental kiss, they seem to be happening a lot in Chinese dramas lately.

Friday, November 15, 2019

355. What's With Money? 얘네들 머니? (2016) Korean

Jung Da Bin, Cha Hak Yun, Hong Bin, Chan Mi

Drama Rating: 2/10     Neck Score: A+

I was bored, I found it on Kocowa, and it had Vixx members in it, so I watched it. It was terrible. Basically a glorified educational video on how to be smart with money, with some ridiculous makjang in it. I guess it was designed to help high school students be financially savvy, but it is so boring and horribly written. What acting skills N and Hongbin have were not enough to make up for dialog that was basically reading a financial textbook out loud rather than something people would actually say. It's weird because Hongbin is the rich boy gone crazy so he's rebelling and sulky, and N is the poor good kid who is super financially savvy, and that dynamic was weird. Really, the best actor was probably the mean girl, but she might just have had the best written part, and it was the classic mean rich girl. Basically the show was nonsense, and at the end there was a weird Liar Game style contest where they were summoned to a team quiz off to deem their worthiness to join the financial club (cult?), but it made no sense. Then, to add insult to injury, there were supposed to be epilogues about all of the characters, which you had to vote to see, but since it was way later, they were not on Kocowa, so I didn't get to see any of them. I suppose I could maybe find them on YouTube, but I didn't care enough. But that ending had a very Click Your Heart webdrama feel to it. Best part of the show: it's super short. Ten 15 min episodes with N and Hongbin's cute faces trying desperately to act with some of the worst writing. Everyone was a trooper, but they all could only do so much.