Happily Flawed Blog

Watch The King: Eternal Monarch - For Woo Do Hwan Only....

Monday, 17 October 2022

The King: Eternal Monarch kdrama review on Happily Flawed Blog

This is the first #kdrama I watched in two days! Not two straight days. There were some breaks in between but I finished it quickly because all the episodes were available and they fitted my weekend flow.

Staring Lee Min Ho, Kim Go-eun, Woo Do Hwan, Jung Eun Chae and Kim Kyung Nam, this fantasy modern drama is set in a alternative universe which give us a dumbed down fictional depiction of what could have happened if South Korea remained a monarchy. Corea. The Kingdom of Corea.

It's cute and simple, in that it understands exactly what will keep us intrigued but didn't get too complicated with this time-travel-mystery-thriller-stuff.

I am late to this party, this was a popular drama back in 2020.

Truthfully this character is the only reason that kept me going through each 72 minute episode.....

I think we had this conversation in my last blog post. Slicked back hair and well- fitting suit.....this time they added a black horse..... < insert emoji with star eyes>

Here are my other favourite elements.

The Friendships were more Powerful than the Love Story.

We had a leading good-looking couple and they played their role and gave us small small butterflies, but what stood out for me was the loyalty and commitment expressed in the friendships and colleagues working together.

In fact watching their relationships evolve was more interesting. Not a bad thing...just interesting that the couple was not an all consuming one. A criticism would be that the detectives needed to do more than just chasing down criminals and fighting in the streets....

Woo Do Hwan's Performance

Just the juxtaposition in the two characters ....wow...he really played his two roles with such serious talent and finesse.. They were complete opposites yet believable! Round of applause and standing ovation Mr Woo!

The Villain was Evil.

He was cold, frightening, calculative and elusive. He tried to kill a child just so that he could control time. He run a life-swapping-world-swapping business. He did his part, nothing new here in the #kdrama world.

And now for what I didn't like...

Madam Prime Minister's Weak Character Arc

I don't know... but this character had so much promise and unfortunately was such a waste...

I think she was meant to bring all the fashions, since our heroine was not interested but even in that area she never quite nailed it.

Her entrance in the beginning was great, but after a while it becomes clear there really wasn't enough depth to her on so many levels.

An ambitious and competitive woman controlling a country with the 4th largest GDP in the world and she let the Emperor Lee Gon slip out of her hands without even so much as a juicy piece of manipulation, extortion or scandal. I was disappointed...

You can watch it on Netflix

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Watch the #kdrama Its Okay not to be Okay - Emotional Trauma through Fairy Tales

Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Its Okay not to be Okay kdrama review on Happily Flawed Blog

"Please get rid of all my bad memories,

so that I won't have a nightmare again.

Then I will do whatever you ask."

From the first episode,

it is evident why everyone is talking about this remarkable #kdrama.

It's Okay not to be Okay is great storytelling from the get go. I forgot the actors were acting. I still believe this is who they are. This drama doesn't drag, there is momentum in every episode. It's dark, sad and unapologetic right from the start.....

A children's author dressed in black eating an extremely-rare-blood-oozing steak in a restaurant,

A father and daughter admitted to a mental hospital because, the father

tried and failed to kill himself and his child with a drug overdose,

A hospital carer beginning his day shift with old and recent scratches and small wounds on his back.

The same carer prevents the author from killing a patient by holding a knife from the very very very very sharp end...

Definitely not what I was expecting when I saw the title; it cleverly includes some murder mystery with some thriller elements as well. Staring Seo Yea Ji, Kim Soo Hyun, Park Gyu Young, Kim Joo Hun and Oh Jung Se, this #kdrama speaks to the most misunderstood in in our society, the people who don't beat to the everyday drum. These people teach us the most in the drama. Cue tears.....its beautiful...jolting sometimes but beautiful!

"It's funny how people who should be wearing a patient gown aren't wearing one."

Here's what I liked ...

WARNING TINY SPOILERS AHEAD

Our Problematic Heroine

"Obsession is noble and beautiful"

Our heroine is weird, impulsive, and stunning with an insane great sense of fashion. (side note: I want to have this kind of fashion sense now. )

We don't like her. She is rude, manipulative, entitled the list goes one....if this was a western drama she would be the killer but it is not, it is a Korean drama.

Fortunately, she really triggers the whole motion of the story by returning to her childhood home(a haunted castle in the middle of nowhere). She is running from a scandal and chasing the male lead; of course she ends up being forced to deal with her past.

The Story of Family Caregivers

"But you are are more of a kid than I am

why am I like a kid?

Because you want to be loved."

Our hero has suffered. He has been neglected since the day he was born always swallowing or eating his feelings as demonstrated in episode 7. He must take care of his big brother. This is his sole purpose in life, making him forgo any other areas (friendships, romance etc....)

He is also a carer that works in specialized hospitals, so it really is a 24/7 commitment for him; taking care of others and his brother. No break unless his loyal best friend Jo Jae Soo( Kang Ki Doong) steps in. No wonder he begins to have angry outbursts

During their childhood, Ko Moon Young observes the worst in him and doesn't judge him maybe

that's why they belong together. Such an emotional moment watching Moon Gang Tae forgive himself for wanting his brother to die.

I love the depiction of Sang Tae's animated mind in Episode 2 . Very creative...showing without telling...

I appreciate how their relationship is not perfect. Sibling relationships are not perfect but they are the heart of who we are. There's a scene where Gang Tae finally expresses his frustration and feelings with his brother's selfishness, they fight and Gang Tae with his nose bleeding feels relieved that he was finally been honest about his emotions. In episode 11 when Sang Tae takes him out for lunch and does all the things a big brother should do....woosh...my heart....tears...just tears.

Chosen Family and Redemption

" You eat like a bird,

that's why you are so skinny."

Ko Moon Young is all the red flags. Her mother is a killer...a real one, and her Dad tried to kill her as a result. In my head this couple does not make sense for many reasons yet Moon Gang Tae gives Ko Moon Young , what she needs, a family. A real one with breakfast round the table in the morning and they care....they take care of her.

The fantastic thing is Ko Moon Young must also form her own relationship with Sang Tae. I like this element so much; watching them learn how to communicate with each other because they both love Gang Tae, made for heart warming and hilarious moments.

OK psychiatric hospital accepts Sang Tae and they tap into his gifts. He is his own person with his own character arc; starting as a misfit and a burden to finding his purpose and earning an income in the end. The hospital staff become family to Gang Tae and Sang Tae.... there are mother, sister, brother and father figures teaching them and us something every episode.

P.S: But why does Lee Sang In sit on a throne during the publishing house meeting?

Also let's talk about how 80% of the shots are just classic. How do they do this in Korean dramas? Does that mean every director or location scout is a perfectionist? Because like how?

My first #kdrama crush.

I was in denial when I first watched this.

The second time around I realized this was my first #kdrama crush...

My oh my when he slicks that hair back and wears a suit....

Lastly a big round of applause to the child actors. They were exceptional!

Watch it! Watch it ! Watch it!

It's a must watch on Netflix

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Watch Love like the galaxy - Our Epic 2022 Summer Period Idol Drama

Thursday, 29 September 2022

Love like the Galaxy cdrama review on Happily Flawed Blog

JUST IN! My cynical cold heart has lost the battle.

It's over . The white surrender flag has been raised.

I can't watch Chinese dramas without believing in a mushy lovey-dovey love that conquers all.

And this drama was the bestest.

Not the best but the bestest!

At first the title discouraged me. I thought it was a fantasy drama,

which is not my comfortable go-to, I am still discovering that arena.

A colleague at work said that I needed to watch it,

I am so glad I did.

Leo Wu's and Zhao Lusi' s chemistry is oooooffffff the charts!

The #cdrama has it's serious emotional intertwined storylines but what I enjoyed so much is how the comedy creeps up on you. Humor is skillfully crafted and used so wonderfully; your small grins turn into big laughs, not too often but in all the right places. The actors know how to play off the awkward moments. It's also so effortless how they flow from comedy to drama and back again throughout.

My New Absolute Favourite 2022 #Cdrama Couple

I already said above, that they were meant for each other. They are the best thing to happen to my cdrama laptop and tv screens in 2022. I also believe that this was made more incredible by how well they played their leading roles I saw and disagreed with some of the reviews that mentioned our Mr Leo was too stiff.

I feel Mr Leo Wu understood his character, and what a skill to be able to make us laugh while remaining in his role as a dedicated strategic warrior and leader tortured by deep internal torment.

Zhao Lusi played her immature, stubborn, playful character perfectly. The depth and the growth in the arc by the end was evident. Is she also considered a Mary Sue? Tell me in the comments.

The Father Figures

Honestly for what Bao Jianfeng (Emperor Wen) and Guo Tao (Cheng Shi) were meant to do... they were great in their supporting fatherly roles. They didn't over shine but there were so many memorable moments. Through laughter they provided wisdom. Sometimes we forget the Emperor was the leader of a nation; maybe that would be one of my minor criticisms.

The Empress and Imperial Consort Dynamic

It was other people that wanted them to hate each other, NOT them. From the few c-dramas that I have watched the empress is always feuding with an imperial consort or many consorts; they have to display loyalty to their family clicks . In this #cdrama, the love of Emperor Wen's life happens to be the consort and he made both palaces of equal status to deter negativity and competition. The Empress(Tong Lei) is a neglected wife but not in a physically cruel way just in the sense that she is a gentle timid soul who is alone in this arranged-marriage-to-secure-power-alliances dynamic.

The episode with the betrothal banquet was epic! We catch glimpses of the sharp bark and bite of Consort Yue(cao xiwen) in earlier episodes but this I felt was where her royal- rebel-for-good-in-the-palace nature really came out in all its full glory.

One Type of Mean Girl

To me the mean girls were ALL the same person. I often got confused.

This could have been decided on and done better; maybe by giving different coloured costumes, and maybe not having more than two targeting the female lead at the same time.

Avenue X is right, evil cannot just be one sided, there has to be a back story there to make it interesting and human. We need good character development on the evil side too please.

Special Mention - Two Interesting Love Interests

The soft one and the bully...

I was not a fan of the empathic Mr Lou Yao. (Yu Cheng'en) but he grew on me and their break up scene had me in tears.

Yuan Shen(Li Yunri) brought an interesting dynamic; his jealousy always festering in the background and fighting for attention with slick cutting comments.

Old Madam Cheng stole every scene

Overly-dramatic and unapologetic about it. I loved the commitment of Xu Di .

This Chinese drama is worth ALL your binge watching hours. I have tried very hard to not leave spoilers in this blog post that will take away from your enjoyment so please go watch.

You can view it on You Tube or WeTV . While watching or when you have concluded, do comment below and tell me your thoughts.

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Hurt People Hurt People Bla Bla Bla....

Wednesday, 7 September 2022

I first heard the statement "All attack is a call for help" in my teenage years, I was most likely watching something profound like the Oprah show, but I am not so sure.

I really miss Oprah's presence on my TV screen, that show was worth every Emmy it worn....Anyway the statement stuck and remained in my head, even though I was yet to understand the true meaning of it. It is attributed to the book A Course in Miracles. Never read the book but maybe that will change one day.

Then in my late teens or early 20's I came across it again while attending university. I bought the book A Conversation with God by Neale Donald Walsch-Book 1. Love the book, because it is such a wonderful way to trigger personal and internal conversations about how we form our relationship with God. For those of us brought up in strict faiths ( I am a Catholic) sometimes we need to read and appreciate such perspectives.

I accept that human beings are complicated.

We are stubbornly complex.

This is not going to change any time soon, as a species we are both a miracle and a parasite at the same time according to Yuval Noah Harari. I am writing this post because someone has walked into my life who 'hates' me for no reason..... this is not the first person to behave towards me this way; usually my coping mechanism is to behave like the memes below....

Then I rake my brain trying my best to find the reason they are behaving this way.

"I must have done something ... but what?

If I did contribute to the negativity, I am always happy to initiate an apology and find a way forward but on some rare-impactful occasions, the person hates me because I exist. Just the sight of me is a trigger to a well of discomfort and uncontrollably rage. The person will then proceed to be petty and passive aggressive in ways that baffle and confound me. On this occasion it is a person in a position of power ; I get belittled, isolated and gas lit on a weekly basis. All forms of what I remember we called 'girl bullying' /relational bullying when I was studying my first university degree.

A month ago, when I finally realized what was happening , I wasn't as broken and dejected as the first time, however inside me was a cake of confusion, hurt and sadness iced with helplessness and hopelessness. Fortunately, I returned to my former tactics. I remembered to say my prayers . Most importantly I did what my father had told me, I didn't let it distract me from my work, because that is what bullies want; their victims underperforming and failing.

I fought quietly for myself and asked God for those little pockets opportunities he provides to show the people that need to see what I could do, a chance to see it. He came through as always.

Hurt people, hurt people they say.

I allow 'having a bad day', even 'having bad weeks' , we all have them, we all have our struggles, but when you are determined to destroy people's spirits then I have to say .....no more excuses and God will decide what grace you deserve.

No compassion left in me towards them, they have exhausted it ALL...In God's hands they must go.

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Watch The King: Eternal Monarch - For Woo Do Hwan Only....

Monday, 17 October 2022