Oh that's funny, I've eaten that candy sold by ancient people on the street there. We have similar candy here but not flat. Honeycomb.
I like this suggestion! My fear for the second season would be: Spoiler: SPOILER FOR THINGS Seong Gi-Hun in the black mask. This would just bother me as being an obvious development. I like your time skip idea. It wold also be cool if the daughter was in her 30's so we were quite aware that she was in the future. They could do anything with that! btw @marillion if you want another intense, sci fi style Kdrama I would recomment Sisyphus: The Myth. It's a time travel, dystopian thriller. Not as tight as our 9 ep Squid Game but very good.
Thanks! I'll have to check that out. My daughter is big into all thing Korean (except BTS. She's "outgrown them"), so I'm sure she's up on that show too. I agree with your concern for a second season. That would make zero sense and destroy the character's development from the first season.
I binge watched it 10 days ago. I usually don't really watch/read battle royal type things but this one had familiar faces in the cast (I don't care about spoilers so I knew who was under the black mask ). I think the writing is average, especially at the end. It's entertaining but it has no rewatch value for me. It's totally making a buzz right in France and Netflix even organised an event last week end in Paris to have people licking a candy
Yeah they have installations in Seoul about Squid Game. I did enjoy it but I have honestly watched a. too many shows in the Black Mirror style and b. watched too many kdramas for it to really hit me as amazing. Both those interest points were not new to me, but I've seen that those interest points have been new to many viewers, one or both.
So I just finished Sisyphus. You're right about it not being as tight. a few plot holes and questions I have, but overall, very enjoyable. Thanks for the recco!
Finally watched the end of Squtd Game. Show was VERY intense. I don’t agree with LeBron, who didn’t like the ending and caused a mini brouhaha when it got out on the internet. The director responded with what was probably supposed to be a joke, but lost something in the translation. At least I hope his response was a joke. The ending reminded me of the ending of the dystopian K-Drama crime stor Time to Hunt. Makes me think these types of endings may mot be uncommon in Korean productions.
So, last month I resubbed to Netflix to watch the new season of The Witcher and to catch up on some other stuff. I also decided to check out some of their Korean fare since there's so much of it and I've heard a lot of good things about some of it. Also, a friend of mine watches a lot of K-dramas and got me interested in them; she's more into romcoms, though, not really my style. I've since watched: Kingdom and Kingdom: Ashin of the North. Loved it, can't wait for more. Squid Game. Intense and tough to watch but overall I liked it and want to see where the story goes next. Just in terms of pure entertainment, though, I preferred Alice in Borderland, a Japanese show with a somewhat similar premise. The Silent Sea. Meh. Sounded cool and I love astronaut stuff but I wasn't impressed. Sweet Home. Again, a cool premise, but the execution was somewhat lacking. I liked most of the characters but the monsters were pretty corny and I thought it kinda fell apart towards the end. D.P. I really enjoyed this one. Kind of tough to watch at times, but it's meant to be. Hellbound. I generally liked this one. It's not really an action-packed monster horror like you might expect it to be, more of a slow-burn examination of religion and how it can become twisted. I thought the story structure was a bit odd, though; it felt like two seasons told in one. I've come to notice that all of the shows I've watched so far are actual Netflix co-productions, because most of the other K-dramas I've seen on the platform tend to have more episodes with longer runtimes (often longer than one hour each!) So I'm kind of curious to find out if the shows produced directly by Netflix differ from the Korea-only productions in terms of style and format.
I agree about Silent Sea. Interesting premise, but in the end it was just kinda meh. I'm interested to see what the Korean production of Money Heist ends up being like. The original invested a lot of time in crafting the story, so I'm not sure it can be fairly compared to, but we'll see. It stars one of the main Squid Game leads.
Oh yeah, I'd heard about their upcoming Money Heist remake. I was thinking of watching the original version but now I might wait until after the remake hits.
Anyone watching kdramas anymore? Me and my 17 year old are on episode 13 of Tomorrow. Pretty fun for a drama about suicide prevention... finally got Mr. LIM'S background...
I've been watching the remake of Money Heist, which dropped a couple weeks ago. As a whole I'd say it's pretty good, but almost too scene for scene as the original. They even kept the same city names for the characters. Some minor backstory changes, but still pretty spot on the same.
I’v been watching a zombie movie called 23 We Are All Dead, on Netflix, Pretty goof as these things go. Outbreak happens ar a high school, trapping the students inside. Cinrmarography is interesting, but the K-zombies are the real show. It’s wild.
Yes I'm still watching Kdramas and have been watching them all along Just saw Youth of May has landed on Netflix which has been on my watch list since I read about it so started it tonight. I'm interested in the historical event (Gwangju uprising, 1980) so am very excited to watch it. I've watched all of these except Sweet Home which was too creepy for me. I think Hellbound was the most original. Not sure how much the Netflix shows differ, I guess a lot of the time I'm not paying attention to whether it's Netflix or not lol. I guess they are more intense and less rambly, more concise? I don't like watching remakes if the script is the same. I tried a couple times and sometimes it really feels like an American show or whatever and not a Korean one in a way I can't get past. Haven't watched Money Heist but if I did I'd watch the original in Spanish unless it was known to be rewritten. Korea does do heist stuff well though. Oh I loved that one! Just a blast, some shocking moments and suirprises (surprisingly lol). Actors were great. Very enjoyable and didn't go on too long. \ I started that but got distracted, do you recommend? As to my own viewing, I rewatched some favourites such as Reply 1988 and Sky Castle. Really enjoyed the rewatches. Also watched off the top of my head.. A Taxi Driver: This is a movie, based on true events that took place during the Gwangju uprising in 1980. Very good. The Devil Judge: Set in a slightly dystopian modern day Korea, it's a classic K drama morality tale. Has everything, orphans, fires, the absolute abuse of power over the lowly people and how terrible this is, handsome and morally mysterious lead.. the dystopian element is very well done the way they just sliiiide it in there as an Alt.Korea, but subtley. Great idea for shows, really opens them up the storytelling possibilities without it being actual sci fi. Alice: Time travel sci fi, entertaining Hell is Other People: Weird, creepy as fuck psychological thriller that was too creepy for me but I couldn't stop watching it! Very well done, the female lead played the housekeeper in Parasite, she is a great, great actor. Also called Strangers from Hell Twenty Five, Twenty One It's Okay to Not Be Okay : I've quit both of these, though I'm about halfway through 25/21. Hometown Cha Cha Cha : This is one of those adorable, sweet, romantic comedies that I should have not been into but I watched the whole thing and it was like a warm and friendly blanket on a cold night. And quite funny at times. Miss Granny : Movie. An elderly woman is suddenly young again and goes off into the world to find happiness and redo life. A bit Korean Hallmark at times but also amusing and a simple watch. I started it because it has Na Moon Hee in it who is in my favourite, Once Again but we don't see her as much as I wanted ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYktm7nlbXY The Sound of Your Heart: The ORIGINAL not the hideous reboot! Make sure you watch the first one, Netflix has both. First one stars Lee Kwang Soo. This is a sitcom based on a webtoon about a webtoon creator.. it's very funny, yes it's a classic sitcom but many funny scenarios. The mother is hilarious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FST7XwqNh3U All of Us Are Dead: see above, excellent! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN5TD4VRcSM The Raincoat Killer, chasing a predator in Korea True story documentary about catching a serial killer. As I recall it was interesting if not particularly well done. This trailer is dubbed, of course I don't recommend watching a dubbed version! Couldn't find a subtitled trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeN1w_zr1O0 What Happened to Mr Cha? Movie. Kind of stupid, with moments, but mostly stupid. Googling "top 10 Korean movies netflix" gets you a lot of dross https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ZP8ywcn8g Liver or Die: This is an intensely melodramatic family drama full of dysfunction and some very out there characters. I LOVED IT. It's over the top and you want to smack them all half the time but it's also funny and at times touching. Would rewatch. I could see it being a love it or hate it show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25kzJu7rkfk My Name: Gangsters. VENGEANCE. Teenage girl who without any apparent superpowers can beat the crap out of people in search of vengeance. Violently cathartic and entertaining. btw I just disvovered that when the subtitles are in two languages as in this trailer you can MOVE one of them! Just click on it and move it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOl7iOrD31Q Beyond Evil: Korea really excels at crime dramas. I never, ever watch crime dramas from english countries, it's a genre I have zero interest in. But I've ended up watching a lot of K ones because they are done so well (Stranger season 1, holy crap). This one I watched until it was about 2/3 through and then I quit because it was just too stressful. It's excellent. I recommend it. I couldn't finish it and gave myself permission to quit because of the stress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQCOdcBAWtU Steel Rain: Movie. Absolutely excellent action thriller about North Korea and spies. AND apparently there is a Steel Rain 2 out! Trailer only in Korean. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIogf7UGMUY So Not Worth It: A comedy set at a Uni focusing on foreign students from Sweden, the US and other places. Very fresh, often interesting, of course at times cliched but the characters are well done. A lot of fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiTMZvK-ZsQ AND THAT'S IT. Other than probably some non-netflix movies I forgot. I'm dying to watch the one where Baekdusan, the mountain in North Korea that supposedly Kim Jong Un was born on turns into a super volcano and explodes. That was out here for about 5 days and I missed it and have been hanging out to see it ever since. Hoping Netflix gets it someday! Going back a few pages in this thread.. Here's a pic I took of the pub used in Itaewon Class:
Soooooo thanks to @teacake for mentioning this thread since I never come into this part of the forums. Kdrama! I've actually fallen off the wagon a little bit this year but late 2021 and most of 2022 I was binging this stuff with a friend. Although based on this thread it looks like my tastes were different than y'all's lol. Watching with a friend who loves the romantic and funny stuff as well as the dramatic stuff. Not so much into the historicals and only dipped our toes into the scifi stuff (although need to get back to Sisyphus, that was some goooood shit if rather dark). I guess what I/we love about Kdrama is the more... earnest stuff? Or rather, kindness? Most of the stuff I tend to watch isn't trying to be grim and gritty for grittiness' sake and people generally are decent to each other. Also the cinematography and imagery and music. And for the most part the romance tends to be charming. On Squid Game: I was... I dunno, maybe it's because I watched it after watching a lot of other Kdrama I wasn't terribly impressed? Some good moments for sure but that ending... Spoiler: Ending two dudes punching each other out in the mud and rain? pretty sure I called that several episodes earlier and hoped it wouldn't go there. I mean it wasn't bad, but I didn't find it that amazing. Also: where were the women? Overall I think I preferred Alice in Wonderland as well for that sort of vibe. My Number 1-has-yet-to-be-surpassed is probably Hotel Del Luna. Lee Ji-eun is a goddess... and I need to watch more of her material actually. It dealt with real darkness but also really touched me, and even when things happened that I thought were overly-harsh it made sense in context and was just... painfully unfair like life sometimes is. And there were some truly beautiful storylines and I loved the humor. I also really adored Run On, a Netflix co-production. Wonderful leads, quirky but also really genuine and heartwarming. And while the main romantic leads were the stars, Choi Soo-young in particular was truly delightful and I watched So I Married the Anti-Fan just for her (not nearly as good, but fun enough and she again was a delight). It was actually Touch Your Heart that turned us on to the more romantic/light side. We'd been watching Crash Landing On You (more on that in a moment) and wanted to try something a little lighter but also after Hotel del Luna and Crash Landing were like "Okay, let's pick the thing that sounds the dumbest to prove it's not all good." Well, 20 minutes in and we were having a great time, whoops. Again - for a premise that sounded really silly (and was really silly) there was just so much heartwarming (and also the start of learning about various KDrama tropes). There was a rough stretch towards the end, but it stuck the landing sooooo well. Crash Landing On You was fantastic, and really sucked us in, and had some really powerful moments and tears were shed and laughs were had, but... then the end. Spoiler It's a silly thing maybe, but the death of the British/SK conman with a heart of gold and more importantly how it left Seo Dan shattered just felt so unneeded. Also, the (as it turns out tropey) "our leads don't actually get to be together for another 5 years" thing felt kind of bad. Overall still thought it was great, but with some things I didn't care for. Currently stuck partway through 25-21; not because dissatisfied but just have been on kind of an unintentional hiatus. Oh, and we have a bad habit of watching shows that star Park Min-young even if they're not very good. The woman is incredible in her rom-coms but she sometimes has some... less-than-ideal material. What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, Her Private Life, and Love in Contract - all fun watches, but some... issues. Anyway, happy to talk about them more. There's like another half-dozen shows I've seen that I didn't mention; between that and K-pop I've taken a deep dive into K-content since the pandemic.
@Thestral thanks so much for reviving my thread. I didn't have any replies for so long I just stopped posting my reviews LOL but I will see what I've watched since! If you like "kindness" you might like My Mister. It's basically about kindness between disparate people. And have you seen my all time favourite, Reply 1988? That has kindness, romance, humour.. I've now watched it 3 times. Another great Kdrama full of the kindness of friendship (I will plug this forever) is Dear My Friends which has many great Korean actors and is all about OLDER PEOPLE! It's damn lovely and also hilarious. I agree about Squid Game. Every single one of my friends went insane for it but only one person stuck around and watched some more Kdrama. It was good, but it didn't have the impact on me it had on others because I'd already been watching Kdramas for years so some of the things that stood out in contrast to Hollywood were not new to me. It's true I don't like romance. But Mr. Sunshine deeply moved me and I am just a bit in love with him. Yeah that was SUPER DUMB. And unsatisfying. For a long time KDramas would bug me in having very unsatisfying endings but I've noticed newer ones have really upped their game. Interestingly I've read a lot of translated K-fiction (approximately 100 books now) and often the ending of a novel just.. stops. You could have ended it at any point, it's like someone just decides "this is the last page". Could not finish. I just canna do it Captain.. but lighthearted romances are not my thing. I have yet to watch Sec Kim. DO YOU WANT A RECOMMENDATION?! Stop me now LOL I listen to older K music at this point.. Sanulrim: Psychedelic rock but also not.. late 70's debut. My FAVOURITE stuff Kim Kwang Seok: Very beloved folk/alt singer, late 80's. The 80's in Korea were not the 80's in the West so this is coming from a completely different context. Listen to a ton of Trot, the oldies, the new babes.. But I won't overdo the suggestions here LOL. If you don't know the genre have a little dive
Here's some things I've watched since my last reviews post: Glitch: This has UFO's, cults, angsty young people, conspiracies, a constant thread of not knowing how much is true and how much is religious manipulation. IT WAS A HOOT! Yeah. It did NOT do my least favourite thing where a show keeps layering conspiracy upon conspiracy like Lost so you think they are just pulling it out of their ass every episode. It was very cohesive and had some great characters. Little Women: This was very popular in Korea and went deep into the K-trope well of poor vs Chaebol rich. I got about halfway through it and couldn't keep on, somehow it never really held me. Narco Saints: Based very loosely on true events this is set in Suriname which really pissed off Suriname. It's about a failing business dude who wants to export skate to Korea from Suriname and while there gets heavily mixed up in organized crime and the Korean secret service. It's a romp.. ridiculous and intense and enjoyable. Live: Live is written by Noh-Hee Kyung who wrote Dear My friends, one of my favourite ever K dramas. I've been trying to find and watch all her material. Live is about cops, from training through to being on the street. I thoroughly enjoyed it, slice of life being my favourite genre. It has the usual heartwarming moments, dramatic events, the great K-trope fight against corruption and just some really interesting and sympathetic people. BIrthcare Center: In Korea after you have a baby you don't go home, you go to stay in a post-birth Hotel, many of which are quite resort like. You stay there for A MONTH, or did, many opt to only stay a week these days. While there you are fed a traditional post birth diet (seaweed soup every day lol) and have parenting lessons. You lie around recovering while the workers take care of your infant. This show is mostly Korean humour but it will surprise Americans in how graphic it is about birth realities. It's slapstick, mothers kibbitzing, the trope of the useless dad and some heartfelt commentary. Extraordinary Attorney Woo: @Thestral everybody loves this show and it's supposed to be deeply heartwarming. I did not love this show. But I am very much in the minority. I think you should look it up if you're looking for some heartwarming K fare (I quit watching it) Alchemy of Souls: This is some WEIRD ASS SHIT. It's a saegeuk (historical drama) with demons, avatars, spirits, lovers, royalty, possession, brothers fighting for the favour of a father, dramatic showdowns of the elements.. anyway it was too much for me Our Blues: @Thestral I am sure you will love this! It's also written by Noh-Hee Kyung and has one of my favourite actors in it Lee Jung-Eun. She was in Once Again a 50 episodes classic family drama I posted about further back in this thread. Our Blues is set on Jeju Island and is a wonderful slice of life telling the stories of interconnected families. You have romance, teenager issues, parenting dramas, old friends reconnecting.. all against the beautiful backdrop of Jeju. It's a wonderful comfort show that is also super interesting Remarriage and Desires: This was high soap hoping to be more, set around a matchmaking agency. I'm really not sure why I finished it, I remember it frustrated me. There were definitely a few good payoffs. Movies: Decision to Leave: I saw this at the Korean Film Festival last year. It was VERY VERY BORING. One of those movies where everything is so understated it feels like a coma. In Our Prime: Classic math nerd kid and old man who secretly knows math but WHY?! movie. I liked it. Very satisfying. Film Festival. Hommage: Woman film director tracks down footage from another era and the woman who dared to make those films. Touches on Korean history, hardship of women trying to advance in a male dominated field. Interesting topic, a little slow. Film Festival Escape from Mogadishu: I LOVED THIS, Korean action movie with lots more going on. In Mogadishu, Somalian civil war breaks out in the late 80's. The North Korean and South Korean embassies must work together to escape the country with their families. It's a ripper yarn, based on true events. Children: This is a very sad movie about 5 children, known now as the frog boys, who disappeared while hunting for frogs on a mountain near their village in 1991. There's no happy endings here. It's a very famous crime in South Korea that has never been solved. It's very well done. I cried. Canola: Set on Jeju it's about a teenager seeking her family and moving in with her grandmother after being feral on the streets of Seoul. It's a lovely movie, beautiful and touching. Sad and gentle and warm hearted. The WItness: A man witnesses a murder and things begin spiralling out of control. Classic thriller with good twists. AAAANNND.. that's all folks For now. Thanks Thestral for kicking the thread, I like having a record of everything I watch. Please post more! While I watch the edgy hard stuff it's mainly because they are often extremely well done. I'd rather watch slice of life dramas but there's not as many of those as romances.
PS one more suggestion for you @Thestral . Hometown Cha Cha Cha. Adorable. Sweet. Romantic. Big cast. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though it wasn't my usual preference because it was so well done!
You're very welcome! I've kind of fallen off doing Trek or western media in general (unfortunately) but been enjoying a completely different - but somewhat similar in some ways - culture. Thanks! I know that was kind of a strange criterion but in comparison to American stuff being all... well, non-positive?... I've found the Korean stuff to be refreshing in that way. Decent and wholesome without the creepy vibes of being absurdly "family friendly" and adult without having to be "adult" in the... American sense of the word? Thanks for the recommendations ( I mean, in general of course haha, I appreciate them!). The Reply series is on the list for sure but it keeps being put off for some reason, as if we want it to be a "special" time. Yeah. Also, I've come to realize now that's kind of a trope, but the "Evil American" guy just made me laugh in terms of the acting; I get he was supposed to be kind of a buffoon in addition to a dangerous threat but even then I thought he was kind of absurd. It's not a criticism, just something that stood out to me and kind of made me laugh. And that's lovely about Mr. Sunshine! I think with Crash Landing Spoiler: ending it was particularly hard because up until then, the writing had been so well-done and satisfying... and I really wanted the "secondary couple" to have a happy ending. And it was just so infuriating that the main couple had to wait sooooo long to actually be together for real. And it was the first time seeing how unsatisfying an ending in a K-Drama could be (Hotel del Luna and Touch Your Heart by contrast had extremely satisfying endings). It doesn't make the show less good but it was kind of a sting. And gawd, that sounds crazy about the fiction haha. I enjoyed it because of the leads and some really stellar moments but overall it's hard for me to recommend - the supporting cast/office hijinks in particular could be a little painful. I thought Her Private Life was a better one for PMY in the end. I'm always happy for recommendations! I'll have to check out some of those when I get a chance. Been very much into the current K-pop scene in a way I absolutely never have been for any American music. It's a little absurd objectively but also a fun ride. No idea if I'll ever get to this but I wanted to say this illustrates something else I've really appreciated about K-Drama is that the ones I've seen go for one season, tell one story, and are done. So it's much longer than a movie, but not on and on and on like some series. Dig the short reviews. Extraordinary Attorney Woo is definitely on the list! Oooooh yes, Hometown Cha Cha Cha is definitely on the list. Really liked the leading dude in Startup - which I started watching because of Bae Suzy's reputation and really liking two of the other leads from other shows, but he was another standout. Thanks for the recommendation!
I am a consumption multi tasker and K Dramas are perfect. I can watch K Dramas whose genre I would never touch in an american show (crime, historical) and thoroughly enjoy them because there's a parallel experience going on, that of another culture. Even the tropes are different and that makes them hilarious. I totally get that. The family friendly element in American tv is something that almost has a taste it's so marked. Sometimes K Dramas crack me up too because in the middle of a show that is very wholesome there will be an absolutely horrible event that would never appear in such a wholesome show made elsewhere It's been very interesting seeing how much I've taken for granted as "the way tv shows are done". Honestly I only recommend wholeheartedly Reply 1988, the most acclaimed of the three. One of the others is a bit dull and the other one has some fairly toxic romance tropes (but isn't dull). You don't need to watch them in order, their only connection is that the adults are played by the same actors in each one (different characters). Just writing about Reply 1988 makes me want to watch it again LOL. A lot of people watching their first K Drama with Squid went nuts at the bad acting of the white people. There's a pool of non-Korean actors in Seoul who get called on for "we need a white person" parts. They have other jobs and if they were really good actors they'd probably take themselves elsewhere for bigger roles. I'm sure the same could have been said in the early days of American tv where a script called for "one asian man" with 5 lines. I had watched so many K Dramas by the time Squid Games came out that I didn't even notice the bad acting until people started talking about it I'm completely used to the fiction now and I have trouble reading American fiction (which sounds terrible.. but I never read much fiction prior to the K journey). I feel like life.. just has endings without everything coming together in a way that makes sense. We want it to make sense so we write stories where it does but a lot of Korean fiction seems at peace with the randomness of life events as far as the end of a story goes. It's a markedly different approach (and of course books do vary). Spoiler: Crash Landing The Crash Landing ending pissed off a lot of people even as some thought it was SO romantic.I think they wanted a dramatic ending with beautiful scenery? FUN is definitely the word! Tell me your faves! One K-Drama joy I have is Shazaming any music I hear on the show. Reply 1988 was particularly great for that and I have good Reply playlist now which led to a big explore of singers and groups. Everything is of the era so it was really interesting. I absolutely love that about them. Since the big popularity explosion for Korean media thanks to Squid, Parasite etc.. there's been pressure to do a second season. Squid and Hellbound are making second seasons as are some happy romance shows that would never have made a second season before this. It's a little frustrating because I think the Hollywood policy of making a series pump out seasons until it finally crashes and burns is terrible. Hopefully it's won't become a K standard. I couldn't get into Startup, I think I watched 3 eps. But I know a lot of people loved it!