Woah! This felt like the longest summer season ever. I’ve been watching dramas quite steadily every week, but it was like things went on and on and only now does it feel like things are finally coming to an end. The wait before the autumn season is going to be unbearable.
Master’s Sun
At some point I fell in love with this drama and never looked back. It just became one of those shows that I couldn’t bear to save for the weekends because it was just too good and required an immediate viewing! I’m not even sure when that happened. As of this post I just finished the final episode, and in a word it was sweet. I personally was a huge fan of Gong-shil’s acceptance of herself. I would have preferred for them to show her spirit journey rather than tell, but again… “if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?” She did, and now she will — that to me is pretty satisfying. Overall, I have a lot of love for “Master’s Sun”, and while I recognize that there were a couple things that fell slightly below expectations (episodes 13 – 16ish, certain… twins), it was such a fun and adorable ride. So sad to see this one “get lost”! Haha.
Two Weeks
Although “Two Weeks” was very frustrating at times (everyone, and I mean everyone except Jang Tae-san was a blockhead), I’m still so glad it ended happily for everyone who deserved it. Even Teacher Kim’s ending was somewhat bittersweet; he had to atone for his crimes, but at least he had his doting father to watch over him. Seung-woo realized that he couldn’t really stop the train that was the connection between In-hye and Tae-san, but In-hye and Seung-woo handled it like adults, which was such surprising growth coming from the both of them. Considering how irritated I’d been by them (separately) over the course of the drama, I was a little taken aback, but pleased by their maturity. And I’ve said this before, but the true loveline existed between Park Jae-kyung and Oh Mi-sook. A lot of people were rooting for Jae-kyung and Tae-san (which… what are you even…), but I think it was incredibly telling that Mi-sook was the one that she saw as the slate was literally wiped clean.
Yamada-kun no 7-nin Majo
How nice is it to watch a short drama where everything just kind of makes sense within the parameters of what the story had already set in place? No inane twists or major last minute reversals… here for that! “Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo” didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel in terms of manga-to-live action adaptations, but it flirted with some deeper themes and was ultimately a solid, hilarious, and consistent drama. (I just prefer the idea that this drama would have been better suited for a spring time airing. Discovering witches in the dead of summer and spooky high school hijinks? So much fun!)
Hanzawa Naoki
Just couldn’t get with it. I missed out on the whole “Kaseifu no Mita”/monster ratings craze last year, and I wanted to continue this for Kagawa Teruyuki, but I found Hanzawa Naoki to be so sterile. I really wanted to root for him, especially with the whole “if you screw me, I’ll screw you right back” schtick! And I was a little unsettled by the way they’d framed the secondary (tertiary?) adversary of the first arc. Predatory/evil gay trope much? And everybody and their mother overacts. It was a little much. But you know, 42.2%. People were into it!
???
I still haven’t actually finished Mother “Woman” yet. I was incredibly moved by the first episode, and there is no doubt in my mind that I will enjoy it, but it strikes me as a show that was going to be too emotionally heavy to have taken in week after week after week. It’s destined for a marathon!
I did, however, take the opportunity to finish some springtime dramas from last season (“Sharehouse no Koibito”, “Nakuna, Hara-chan”) that I didn’t quite forget, but never really felt motivated to finish. Both were ultra cute; Oizumi Yo is such a joy to watch and “Nakuna, Hara-chan” reminded me why I still have a lot of residual love for Nagase Tomoya.
And speaking of Johnny’s, I finally finished “Pride”. Oh, PRIDE! I am ashamed to admit that I’ve been feeling far too apathetic about Kimutaku these days, but then I watch a show like this and he brings me right back! You pair him with one of the most electrifying and talented actresses in Japan (Takeuchi Yuko), and you’ve got chemistry that just kinda melts your face off. This was probably the great romance drama I’ve been waiting to watch, and I’m surprised that I held off on watching it for so long!