Monarch Industry/The Rebel Princess. Watching this was so much fun? I am usually SO BORED by palace politics/am hitting that fast forward button like a mother the second I see a sea of ministers, but I was transfixed for damn near every scene. The shining jewel in the garbage pile.
Beyond Evil. Just fuck me up and then play some piano over it. The cast was out of this world, the plot was twisted, i wasn’t into the first 2-3 eps and then suddenly it hit me like a brick and kept bricking. my blood pressure is still elevated. something about women-directed and written thrillers just hits different
Mad for Each Other. Okay, the ending was a Choice, but the rest of the show is a solid romance healing drama with some comedy that does a way better job at tackling mental health/recovery than the majority of other shows i’ve seen. loved the male lead
Dali and the Cocky Prince. the stealth hit!!! i had no expectations for this, but it turned out to be a pleasant romance story with some melo and comedy. the otp is great and kim min jae is having the time of his life playing the male lead.
Dramas That Were Good or Okay but Seemed Better than They Were Because 2021 Was a Dumpster Fire
My Roommate is a Gumiho. Fun, mostly light-hearted romcom with fantasy hijinks and a lot of lampshading/trope subversion. Bonus points for a great side couple
Hold On, My Lady. this is a silly stupid little thing, and nowhere near close to a masterpiece, but it made me laugh, and has my favorite trope of criminal lady/upright dude, so on the list it goes.
Squid Game. overhyped? perhaps, and the last episode was awful. but it was still a quick and entertaining watch and I got attached to some of the characters. bonus points for it being the first drama my partner ever watched!
I’m Still Watching This, But It’s Promising
Hometown Chachacha. Still have 5 eps left somehow??? but a solid romcom with a dash of healing and a lot of pretty scenery and people
Rainless Love in a Godless Land. melo, atmospheric, pretty, cool worldbuilding, and from the people who did someday or one day aka my favorite drama ever. slow-paced, so going to binge it all once it’s done/i next have time
Word of Honor. I’m only 6 eps in but everyone on this dysfunctional and thirsty family wuxia roadtrip is making my day
We Could’ve Had It All
River Where the Moon Rises. Awesome premise, great setting. Totally derailed by the scandal and it sucks. Might give it a try another day, since they re-filmed the first eps with the new lead i think?
The Long Ballad. One of my favorite couples in a cdrama....as the secondary couple, and not much else i was into
Doom At Your Service. A prime rib of a main ship with a gross, coleslaw-y love triangle subplot that just wouldn’t go away
Jun Jiu Ling. i was in love with the idea of this and the cast, and the first eps were an entertaining mess because they had jin han as an absolute wreck, but it just fell so flat???? somehow????
Shows That Aired/Are Airing in 2021 That I’m Excited to Watch
Happiness. Zombies and fake married is the combo I never knew I needed
Our Beloved Summer. I LIVE for exes having to work together as a trope, and enjoy then-and-now stories. I love the 3/4ths of the cast I know
The Red Sleeve. I’m not really into concubine stories (despite my watch list saying otherwise lol), but I keep hearing good things and Junho’s a plus
My top 10 dramas that aired in 2020! These are not always Objectively the best, but rather my favorites/ones that crossed off all the tropes. Note that I haven’t seen or haven’t completely finished the heavy hitters It’s Okay Not to Be Okay, Hospital Playlist, Crash Landing on You, and Itaewon Class yet, but they all got high ratings
10. 18 Again | shitty powerpoint
Premise: Remake of the Zac Efron/Matthew Perry movie 17 again. Washed-up, tired husband gets transported into his teenage body and Shenanigans ensue
Highlights: The plot twists being all about how the main guy is actually a v nice man, an entire family ready to fight someone in a parking lot, moments of A+ comedy, so so much dad energy
9. Into the Ring | Review
Premise: local woman tries to take on the corruption of her district politics. her soon-to-be boyfriend says “kick their ass, baby, i’ll hold your flower”
Highlights: quirky sense of humor that stays consistent throughout the drama, one of the best OTPs with really refreshing dynamics, a chaotic good and a lawful good team up to fight crime! and fall in love!
8. Kingdom 2
Premise: zombies in joseon korea somehow don’t stop bullshit attempts to take over the throne
Highlights: Production Value(tm), great acting, great set design, lots of high-paced action
7. The Romance of Tiger and Rose | Review
Premise: A screenwriter accidentally ends up writing herself into her own television show, where she is in the role of a princess who dies by episode 3
Highlights: fucking hilarious, no really, probably the funniest drama i watched this year, a murder cat husband, A+ trope and self-awareness, cute!
6. Twisted Fate of Love | Shitty Powerpoint
Premise: A general travels 8 years back into the past in order to stop an uprising against the emperor and she tries to conduct many assassinations. local corrupt politician--who is actually one of the said uprisers--falls hard and tries to wife it up
Highlights: T H E power couple, anti-hero male lead who actually stays an anti-hero, one of the rare shows where i like the male and female lead equally, this will probably be higher but it hasn’t finished airing yet/being subbed yet
5. Flower of Evil | shitty powerpoint
Premise: a very attractive detective is married to a very attractive artisan who is basically a stay-at-home dad who cooks real well. this is all way too good to be true, and turns out it is, because her husband might just be a serial killer
Highlights: A C T I N G, one of my favorite couples this season, fast-paced and intriguing plot, just a really good time (but not for the characters)
4. Kairos | shitty powerpoint
Premise: a young woman, whose mother is missing, realizes that she’s able to call a man who lives one month in the future at 10:33pm every night. said man has just had his entire life torn apart. the two team up in an attempt to stop the tragedies in their lives
Highlights: great character development, tight execution, fast-paced, so many WHAT THE FUCK moments, cliffhangers that get you AMPED, great plot start to finish
3. Love and Redemption | shitty powerpoint
Premise: oh boy. *deep inhale* many years ago, heaven and the devil realm battled in a cosmic shit show, with THE GOD OF WAR being the trump warrior for heaven and THE STAR OF MOSHA being the trump warrior for the devils. THE STAR is defeated and the GOD OF WAR disappears
cut to today: xuanji is a girl who belongs to a warrior sect, and she was born with the inability to understand the 6 senses. she meets sifeng, who belongs to the most dramatic clique you’ll ever see, and he’s forbidden to love. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS.
and oh yeah she’s the reincarnated GOD OF WAR and so so so much shit is going to go down for everyone and it’s all set to a bitching soundtrack
Highlights: this was 100% percent my brand of crack, surprisingly feminist, surprisingly not heteronormative. just lots of pleasant surprises from start to finish on this one and awesome characters across the board
2. Go Ahead | Review
Premise: A slice of life/melo that follows a found family of two single dads and three kids as they all grow up together. as high schoolers, they’re separated by Circumstances, but they reunite 8 or 9 years later
Highlights: you wanna cry? this will get you to cry. probably the best parent/child relationships i’ve seen in a drama, lots of beautiful family moments across the board. all the mains are wonderful. deals with issues such as toxic parenting, emotional abuse, depression, and abandonment in real/respectful ways
1. Mystic Pop-Up Bar | Review
Premise: a shaman pisses off god 500 years ago and to repay she has to solve the grudges of 10,000 humans (i think, idr the actual number). to do this, she runs a pop-up bar where she gets humans magic!wasted and enters their dreams. she teams up with a retired ghost!cop-turned-sous chef and a magical baby young man whose touch gets others to tell their secrets
Highlights: my favorite female lead of the year, my favorite found family of the year, my favorite male leads of the year, my favorite ship of the year, the best the best
Series: goodbye, my princess / the eastern palace
Episodes: 52 (regular) 55 (director’s cut--this is the version i watched)
Genres: tragedy, romance, train wreck, historical, political, costume porn, scenery porn
Spoilers in the Rec: for the set-up
If You Like, You’ll Like: “what are you going to do, stab me?” says man stabbed, moon lovers but make it worse, empress ki, a show where literally every love confession ends with someone using a knife, a v fucked up deconstruction of the “runaway princess” trope
Rank: 9.5/10
^ yes this looks v. healthy, soak those clothes in the cold water of the river styx it’ll be fine
PREMISE
xiaofeng is a very bubbly and naive princess from western liang state, where she’s grown up happy and sheltered. her father is pro-peace with the li empire, and makes an arranged marriage for her to their crown prince. being a Precocious Naive Young Royal with a certified Thing for her teacher, gu jian (who seems Stoic but is actually a Softie), she eventually convinces him to run away with her so she can avoid the marriage.
little does she know that gu jian is actually a sleeper agent for a disgraced family of the li empire who are willing to do anything to get power VENGEANCE honor again.
wow, this will be fun she said. this will be good, she said.
meanwhile...
prince li chengyin, the 5th prince, is accompanying his elder brother, the crown prince, to western liang in order to broker a marriage with their princess. on the way they are ambushed by what look like members of the danchi--a nomadic, warrior state. the crown prince is killed, and the 5th prince is left for dead. eventually, chengyin makes his way to western liang, where he learns about the history of his mother’s family, the gus, and meets his cousin gu jian. together, they vow for power VENGEANCE honor as well as a way to uncover the truth about the murder of the crown prince
one way to do that is to figure out a way to infiltrate the danchi
conveniently, gu jian knows a runaway princess whose grandfather is their leader.
ope. i came out here to have a good time
gu jian and chengyin conspire to have chengyin pose as gu jian’s Totally Normal Cousin Who is Definitely Not An Enemy Royal as they help the princess “run away” from an unwanted marriage to the “safety” of her grandfather’s people.
ah. ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. hah.
MAIN CHARACTERS
xiaofeng
our titular princess!!! omg does she have a wild fucking ride of character development. happy and sheltered! oh no. oh no. oh, god. happy again! oh god. no. oh fuck.
she’s awesome. growing up in the desert (her father’s people) and the steppe (her mother’s people), xiaofeng’s lived a pretty great life of mischief and riding horses. incredibly kind and extroverted, she makes friends everywhere and a lot of them are women and that is Awesome. not a mean bone in her body. wine-child who likes to cross dress. cdrama’s best dressed.
prince li chengyin / gu xiaowu
the 5th prince of the li empire and wants power VENGEANCE honor for his momma. he infiltrates xiaofeng’s Runaway Marriage Camping Trip in the hopes of uncovering military secrets of the danchi, to get vengeance for his brother and also some military merit so he can get more vengeance. 2 vengeances for one betrayal--sweet deal. however, on the way to the danchi, he hardcore falls for xiaofeng even though he’s lowkey trying to bring about devastation for her family. ruh oh.
falls in love with the Mark, betrays people constantly and then wonders why they’re mad at him. the show/narrative never, at any point, tries to hide the fact that he is making some Severely Fucked Up Decisions and it’s amazing. genuinely loves xiaofeng very, very much. epitome of “you made your bed now lie in it.”
gu jian
xiaofeng’s teacher and also her first love. he has feelings for her back, but he’s Bound by Duty to the gu family and subsequentially the li empire. he chooses duty, and orchestrates the meeting between xiaofeng and chengyin “xiaowu” in order to get chengyin in the door to the danchi tribe. he then watches them fall in love, fully knowing the fucked up shit that’s about to go down and how much pain it will cause xiaofeng.
wears oversized scarves because a dude’s gotta accessorize. dramatically observes people from tall places like a sailor moon villain. whistle baby whistle baby let him know
SOME SUPPORT CHARACTERS SELECTED BY HOW MUCH THEY ARE MY FAVORITES
a’du
Q U E E N. a member of the danchi tribe, and xiaofeng’s best friend and bodyguard and girlfriend. xiaofeng says punch and a’du says how hard. the two of them are ride or die together, and a’du would do anything for xiaofeng. does not approve of any of her boyfriends in any capacity because LMAO she has eyes.
general pei
the Strong, Silent type and a general who is loyal to the li empire and serves chengyin. he befriends xiaofeng and genuinely cares about her. she teaches him the flute and he plays it for her whenever she’s sad and it’s precious :(. unclear whether or not his feelings for her are platonic or romantic, but it’s all v Pure and Well-Meaning. the ladies love him
he shi
(far right) a’du’s brother and the danchi’s best warrior. look he’s barely in this but i have a thing for friendly giants and this one plays the flute
mi luo
spy-turned-bar owner from western liang, who becomes one of xiaofeng’s best friends. she’s just a really cool lady and she keeps everyone absolutely hammered throughout the story, which they all need. to cope.
OTHER SUPPORT CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT MY FAVORITES BUT ARE IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT AND/OR I WAS TOO LAZY TO MAKE A SCREENCAP OF
zhao se se. a noblewoman in the li empire who has been in love with chenglin forever
the empress. basically every cdrama empress you’ve ever encountered. moving on.
khan tömür. ACTUALLY one of my favorites but i was too lazy to get a screencap. xiaofeng’s grandpa and leader of the danchi. loves his grand daughter so, so much. does not approve of any of her boyfriends either because he also has eyes.
ming yue. a famous courtesan in the li empire who xiaofeng later befriends. she’s a perfectly fine character i was just bored w/ her subplot.
gao yuming. every Evil Minister you’ve seen in a cdrama, although he gets extra points for having one of the most annoying, blatantly evil voices of all time
second prince, li chengye. i actually liked him a lot too. the crown prince after the first crown prince dies, chengyin’s brother. anything else is spoilers
Drawbacks
there were a couple of subplots that i had 0 interest in, which is what kept this from being a perfect 10 for me. i didn’t care about anything related to minister gao + the empress, but that’s admittedly because im not all that into palace politics. the ming yue stuff was also not that interesting to me because i’ve seen that subplot a billion times.
nothing else enjoy the fucking ride.
Reasons to Watch.
this show makes no secret that it’s not going to be a good time. you jump in fully aware that it’s a tragedy and knowing that ahead of time makes it so much better. you see chengyin start to gradually lose his shit and it’s amazing. it’s so good.
character development! almost every character grows (or destructs) based on what’s happening around them and i was really impressed with it. xiaofeng’s in particular.
ACTING. omg both the leads killed it. you can see the switches flip and it p much defines the show-not-tell i love it
music! it’s really pretty ;;
FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS. FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS EVERYWHERE. xiaofeng makes so many friends and it warms my heart
if you’re into fucked up romances that also have moments of genuine cuteness/softness this is 100% your thing
The Aesthetic. costumes and scenery are on point, behold a parade of images:
(the Red Dress is iconic but this ^ is actually my favorite costume of hers)
Series: bridal mask / gaksital
Episodes: 28
Genres: historical, action, drama, romance, tragedy, people screaming each others’ names in all capital letters 2006 anime style
Spoilers in the Rec: im going to try to avoid them. im really, really going to try. but no guarantees
If You Like, You’ll Like: zorro, robin hood, v for vendetta, chicago typewriter, vigilante shit, kate beaton comics on My Nemesis, mr sunshine, watching people become progressively unhinged, bad guys that become good guys, good guys that become bad guys, Parallel Narratives, cat and mouse games but they’re both cats, 2010 hair in a 1930s world, people in a room together internally thinking does he know that i know that he knows?
Rank: 9.5/10
GAKSITALLLLLLLLLLLLLL PREMISE
set during the japanese occupation of korea in the 1930s, bridal mask centers on lee kangto, an absolute shit weasel. like. good god, what an asshole. anyways.
kangto is a korean police officer who is employed by the japanese--meaning he’s essentially a rat/turncoat to his own people and supporting their colonization and abuse of power. it’s especially fucked up because kangto’s older brother was tortured so much by japanese police officers that he’s essentially lost his mind. people hate kangto. straight up hate him.
as a lieutenant in the imperial police, kangto’s been working to catch members of the korean resistance movement, but left and right he’s been thwarted by...
THE BRIDAL MASK (gaksital in korean)
a mysterious figure who wears a mask resembling a korean bride’s traditional makeup. bridal mask is essentially zorro, fucking up shit left and right and generally making kangto lose his shit. he makes it his goal to be the one to apprehend and arrest this mysterious figure. seems straightforward, but as kangto’s search for the bridal mask continues, and the people around him are drawn into the hunt, it’s clear that shit’s not what it seems.
MAIN CHARACTERS
lee kangto/sato hiroshi/lee young
a korean man who works for the japanese as a police officer. 0% approval rating from the koreans and maybe a 5% approval rating from the japanese. kangto’s initial goals for joining the police force were to help his family get out of poverty, but his morality’s been cha-cha sliding progressively darker the longer he works for the police force. he becomes obsessed with catching the bridal mask and everyone would like him to really quit being an asshole but he will not.
catch phrase is bingo! takes over the nightclub stage when he’s feeling swaggy. would shoot the love interest. shoots pretty much anyone wearing a mask, really, then yells about it
oh mok dan / mild spoiler: esther / spoiler: boon yi
a patriotic korean woman associated with the independence army, mok dan commits acts of subterfuge and gathers intel against the japanese forces. her day job is a performer at a circus, where she lives and hides out from japanese officials whenever shit goes awry. when lee kangto sees her getting saved by bridal mask, he assumes she’s the bridal mask’s lover and therefore intends to use mok dan as The Bait. mild spoilers it turns out she was once childhood friends with lee kangto’s best friend, kimura shunji
wears many amazing suits. has no problem with spitting or shooting. fears no boxes. can take a punch or 5. basically my dream girl it’s fine
kimura shunji
a japanese man and kangto’s best friend. coming from a family of influential, imperialist asshole samurai cops, shunji is the black sheep as he works as a music teacher for korean children, and is generally against the corruption and abuse of power when he sees it. basically the only one kangto’s never a straight up asshole to, including his family. the two practice what appears to be kendo together (i know jack shit about martial arts), and shunji’s a capable fighter. my default is to assume shunji is everyone’s favorite character, because he is my favorite character :’D, but if not i think he’s definitely the most compelling in the series.
wears bowties when he wants to dress to impress. rides bicycles both happily and tragically. has a thing for a childhood friend who saved his nanny. will give you a ride home after you’ve been tortured. save this man from his family.
ueno rie/ra ra/ spoiler: chae hong joo
a korean woman from a rich family that was murdered by the independence army who later became a gisaeng. as a gisaeng, she crosses paths with a very important japanese man who later adopts her into his family. because the japanese police keep fucking up the apprehension of bridal mask, her adoptive father calls her to korea from japan in order to kill the vigilante
stealth fave?! will step all over you and makes grown men cry. hyper competent and hardcore. bridal mask’s best dressed (try again with the bow ties next year, shunji). men are weak
the bridal mask GAKSITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the mysterious figure either ruining or making everyone’s day. dramatic horse escapes. dramatic rescues. generally just drama. symbolically destroys japanese flags/insignia a lot. GAKSITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SOME SUPPORT CHARACTERS SELECTED BY HOW MUCH THEY ARE MY FAVORITES
mok damsari
mok dan’s father and a general in the independence army. v good at being rescued dramatically. knows how to make an exit and also bombs. dispenses life wisdom when he’s got free time in between rounds of being torture
lee kang san
kang to’s older brother, who joined the independence army and was tortured by the japanese police to the extent that he’s now lost his mind/severely mentally ill. dude just needs a hug or 20 and to never chase after a car ever, ever again because it makes me sad.
katsuyama jun
ueno rie’s bodyguard, which is amusing to me because she can clearly kill anyone she needs to, so it’s kind of like he’s a butler as well. stoic af, says maybe 20 lines in the entire series, but look, he’s cool
i dont like any of the japanese police officers because they’re dicks so they don’t get a feature :|
Drawbacks
the production value is something you gotta settle into LOL. there’s the cheesy martial arts sound effects, sometimes it skews a little narmy, but once you get used to it and once the show gets progressively darker (and how) you adjust and then don’t notice it
my main #1 beef: mok dan starts to disappear in the last fourth of the series. like she’s still there, but she’s doing bullshit like making soup and just sitting at a table with nothing to say. as a character that’s so important in the first half, it’s severely disappointing the route that her narrative takes toward the end/she does become something of a satellite character even though i still love her
there are main character deaths--more than one. some people would say the ending is bittersweet but to me i think it’s straight-up sad (which is fine with me/appropriate for the story, i just know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea)
there’s torture and for the most part it’s shown / it’s not off-camera
shit gets dark. the first handful of eps might lull one into thinking is something like zorro or robin hood, but there’s a lot of fuckery and death by the time you get to the end
Reasons to Watch
i mean, it’s fun! which is a messed up thing to say about a dark show, but there’s a lot of twists and the show’s an extended game of cat-and-mouse that’s a good time because the audience knows certain things but the main characters don’t. the drama of it all!
Now That’s What I Call Character Arcs. kang to + shunji’s respective character arcs are amazing and are referred to as the best part of the show for a reason. you’ll hate and love them both throughout the series and it’s great. shunji was my favorite
i love both the female leads a lot. they’re totally different in personality and the sides that they’re on, but they’re both compelling and they have their own troubles and goals to work through
one of the main characters looks around the chaos happening and decides to just fucking leave all these people behind forever lmao i love it
acting is great! some people knock on mok dan’s actress but i thought she was perfectly fine for the character
i’ll admit, i’m into characters who become progressively unhinged and the actor who plays the character who does is so so A+
there’s romance but gd does it get dark sometimes. this is a plus or a minus depending on who you are lol
