Anne: Another week has passed and I learned something new. I finally understood, or rather my husband finally understood, where all those simple socks had gone. It’s not the dryer…it’s the washer.
So…one Saturday, while my husband (in one of the rare moments) remembered he had clothes in the washer, he put the damp laundry in the dryer. All I heard was a bunch of insults. As he was taking the clothes out of the washing machine, one of the socks fell off and somehow landed on the edge of the drum. And when he tried to grab it, he pushed it over the edge and it fell outside the drum, but inside the washer assembly.
After another minute of cursing, he tried to reach for it with his hand, which obviously wasn’t going to work. So I gave the obvious answer and told him to Google the answer. And when he opened the front panel the next morning, there they were…all the lost socks over the last year (since we bought the new stackable washer and dryer). The final tally… 14 single socks.
Well, there it is. The mystery is solved! Who knew that’s where the socks went…and they’re just socks. That’s the other weird thing.
Anyway…let’s move on to the shows I’ve been watching over the last couple of weeks!
The inextricable destiny
I started this one partly because of the high ratings and interesting synopsis. What we know about the plot before we begin is actually very little. All the public knows is that Jiu Ling is the youngest daughter of a general, and she was horrified when she found out she was to marry Rong Yu, who is in every way opposed to She. In order to get out of this marriage, she decides to give him “poison” before the wedding. The “poison” turns against him.
So… here’s what really happened… Jiu Ling was sick when she was little and was sent to a famous “doctor” to be apprenticed and healed. When she finally returns home, she discovers that she was engaged to Rong Yu, the young master of the Astrological Association (or something like that). Jiu Ling comes from a military family. His father is a general, his first and second brothers exercise the same profession. His youngest brother, who may be a bit of a child, was also trained in martial arts. Even his second sister-in-law can fight. With a family like this, she wants a husband who looks like the men she admires and loves. Unfortunately for her, Rong Yu is a delicate, slightly nerdy man who looks at the stars for a living.
Meanwhile, his cult brother also re-enters society and is revealed to be the crown prince of a neighboring kingdom. However, due to some misunderstandings, Rong Yu is convinced that Jiu Ling returns his feelings (which I didn’t quite understand, how and why he loved her so much). When he finally realized that she didn’t love him, he was ready to let her go, but because of the parental unities on both sides, the engagement remained. So… before her sect brother returned home, he gave her a “poison” that would make Rong Yu forget his love for her.
Well… that poison backfired, or maybe something else, but instead of Rong Yu forgetting his love for Jiu Ling, it made him forget everything BUT her. Rong Yu became childish and even more infatuated with Jiu Ling than ever. However, after Rong Yu’s change and other things, Jiu Ling’s family no longer wants to align with Rong Yu’s family. So her father decides to occupy a border post that he had initially refused, taking away the whole family for 4 years.
A big secret that isn’t exactly a secret is that Rong Yu is able to see the future. The reason he told Jiu Ling’s father not to accept the position was that it would lead to him being branded a traitor and killing his entire family. Despite the “poison” erasing all but one of his memories, Rong Yu still retained his unique power. Even though his mental abilities don’t really allow him to understand what he sees, he knows that he knows many things that no one else can know.
For the first 10 episodes, very cute. And Rong Yu is super cute, in his childish way. And then, in episodes 11 to 13, the writers decided to see how much tragedy we could fit into these 3 episodes. Damn it ! Then in 14, another chapter seems to begin between the new emperor and Jiu Ling… and what seems to be a new romantic rival.
Also…don’t count out his sector brother yet…he’s busy trying to secure the throne in his own country.
One final question remains: We now have solid evidence that Rong Yu can see the future. So…did he allow himself to be poisoned, knowing what would happen to him?
Mature city
This was not an easy drama to watch. First, you need to be careful. I had to go back 3 episodes, when I got lost somewhere in episode 8. Second, no one is really likeable, and there is no “good” person among them. But as a crime drama/mystery…it’s top notch. And the kid (teenager) who played young Lu Zhi, for me, is probably the best character in this whole drama.
The plot is simple and begins with the death of a captain whose apprentice, San Geng, tries to solve his murder. Then a series of other victims appear, pointing the finger at revenge linked to a massive fire which killed the entire very wealthy Lu family 20 years ago.
All episodes are out. The mystery lies not in why, but in understanding the truth and the series of events that began 20 years ago and ends with the current serial murders. There are a lot of twists and turns. Even the origin of the Lu family was a big revelation. I wonder if San Geng ever realized who was really responsible for his father’s death. (It was a huge irony.)
The ending is about as good as we can hope for with the setup of this story.
A good day to be a dog
A bit more relaxing than the two above, this is (so far, unless there’s a murder buried in this story later) a super cute fantasy romance. Hae Na’s family is cursed (I don’t know why yet) to turn into a dog every time she kisses someone. They remain in their dog form from midnight to 6 a.m. for 100 days. If in those 100 days they cannot break the curse by making the person they kissed as a human kiss them in dog form, they will remain a dog for the rest of their life .
Hae Na and her cousin, along with a childhood friend (outside of this family) have a support system in place in case Hae Na or her cousin turns into a doggie. Hae Na is a high school teacher secretly in love with a fellow teacher named Bo Gyeom. Unfortunately for Hae Ha, while getting drunk one night, she kissed Seo Won, another teacher at the high school who has a massive fear of all dogs. In episode 2, Hae Na is at her wit’s end, trying to figure out how to convince Seo Won to kiss her, when he runs away (and disappears) every time he sees dogs within 20 feet of her. him.
So cute!
The truth of perfume
Following on from the last post about this mystery/crime/novel drama. Ok… the big bad… not really a surprise. The reason for the death of his family and everything else is a bit…may I say it…silly. Except for the main characters pictured above, nothing else works with the rest. I can’t believe they killed Yi Fei. Seriously, we couldn’t give Zhen Yan a good ending? Was that too much to ask?
Anyway…it’s a pretty good drama, but for crime/mystery, watch the first one I posted. Much better plot-wise. But this one has a nicer ML… so, you know… pluses and minuses.
My precious
The reason why I started this drama? Huang Zi Tao and it’s about doggies. And the doggies are cute!
The plot is pretty simple, and it’s Huang Zi Tao, so the story will follow a similar flow as the rest. It’s a pretty relaxing drama, and I don’t expect too many sections of painful melodrama, at least not ones that will beat the audience to a pulp.
Shen Mi, the ML, invests in the veterinary hospital taken over by You You. It was his father’s hospital, which he could no longer manage due to a recent heart attack/stroke (I don’t remember). The second ML is Shen Mi’s younger cousin Shen Chen, who also started working in the same hospital. When Shen Chen started working at the veterinary hospital, he didn’t tell anyone about his relationship with Shen Mi. And Shen Chen pursues his love interest through his family. There are quite a few funny moments and dialogues that result from this unusual love triangle. The MLs have a great relationship with each other, although they are both pursuing the same girl. Shen Chen is an unusual playboy. Although he never held a job and went through life doing what he wanted, he accumulated a long list of “accomplishments.”
Now Shen Mi has a huge secret that isn’t really difficult to find out. And that explains why he did his best to prevent a real cardiologist from becoming his personal doctor. It’s a romantic comedy! Very cute. Not much substance. But super cute! (I don’t know how they managed to get 40 episodes out….)
And that’s it for this week. I hope everyone has a good week and learns something new. You never know what you’ll learn if you keep your eyes open and Google at your fingertips!