Drama status: a mixed bag
Completed:
~ On Call 36 Hours [25][HK drama]
It doesn't bring anything new to the plate as far as plot points are concerned - if you're a tvb regular you'd have seen them one time or another - but'On Call' brings it all together seamlessly with the briskness and humour I have come to expect of hk dramas. It also has lots of heart and I was moved to tears at quite a few scenes from the beautiful relationships between family members, friends, lovers.
Unlike previous hk police procedurals which hurt my brain with some less than logical cases, this one's a medical one and I gladly bought into all the foreign medical jargon and cases thrown at me. Plus there were many meaningful lessons taught through the life and death situations encountered by the doctors at the hospital and gives the viewers food for thought on life and hope. The slow burning romance between Yat Kin Tau and Yu Zai was also the highlight of the drama and I love how their relationship is based on their mutual admiration and understanding of each other's strengths and flaws. Once I start writing on 'On Call', I feel like there's so many things I want to say about the individual characters but I'll leave that for another post. For now, I highly recommend everyone check it out here with english subs
~ Likit Fah Chatah Din [35][Lakorn]
In my previous post, I said I liked Jang and Duang together but as the series progressed, there really wasn't any significant development to either their characters or their relationship. Two good kids fall for each other, end of story. There were no real obstacles standing between them so they had to be continually kept apart by tiringly manufactured misunderstandings which could be immediately cleared by either one of them SPEAKING UP at crucial moments. Any hopes I had of Mike/Charebelle at least distracting me with an angsty relationship also came to naught when their characters don't even interact much till the very end. The ending hinted at them embarking on a new relationship to that would heal their emotional wounds but hey drama, I actually want to see them developing it and not have to imagine it happening of screen. They look cute together though, hopefully they get a chance to pair up in a lakorn soon. Last bit of complaint would of course be of Darakan whose sob story I still did not buy into despite all the last minute white washing. I was snorting and shaking my head when Jang was all 'poor mom, no one understands her when she tried so hard for the family'. Pffft. She took a bullet for Bancha I'd give her that but that doesn't negate the fact she was a crappy wife and mom. Doesn't mean I thought she deserved to end up dead but yea, I really didn't care for her.
I did like how Fahsai and Bancha were written though. Fahsai surprised me by turning out to not be the typical gold digger that I expecteder to be and I enjoyed both her quirky short-lived friendship with Din and her sis/bro relationship with Jang. As for Bancha, though he was the one who orchestrated the revenge plan and messed up so many people's lives, I can't help but sympathise with him.
Tl;dr, it wasn't brilliant but not teeth gnashingly bad either.
Watching now:
~ Three Kingdoms RPG [14/25][HK drama]
I don't care for time travel dramas but I started this fuelled by my shipping of Kenneth Ma/Tavia Yeung in 'On Call'. After watching KM as the perfect gentleman Yat Kin Tau, it took a while to get use to him as Tzema Shun, a ne'er-do-gooder who lives off his parents and whiles his days away playing online games. He travels back to the Three Kingdoms era where he meets his idol, the famed strategist Zhuge Liang (he idolizes ZGL not because he's into history but because he plays ZGL in the TK online game!) and eventually gets involved with the other familiar historical figures. This is a complete spoof of TK so if you don't want to see Liu Bei call Lady Choi a bitch (admittedly that was a funny moment) or historical heavy weights Zhuge Liang/Sun Quan/Zhou Yu play chor dai di then you'd do best to stay away from this drama. Tzema Shun is not often likeable as the self-centred and childish protagonist but it was only when he became more mature in recent episodes that I realised he was funnier as a brat, which may be why I have not been that enthusiastic in continuing this drama. Though I came into this for Kenneth/Tavia, their relationship is served as a side dish to the bromance which seems to be Zhuge Liang/everyone. Sometimes I wonder if the OTP is supposed to be Zhuge Liang/Tzema Shun what with him constantly acting like a jilted girlfriend around Zhuge Liang but well, it is funny if you don't take it too seriously.
~ Tokyo Airport : Air Traffic Service [4/10]
Fukada Kyoko stars in this as an airport ground staff who changes her career path to become an air traffic controller because of her promise to her boyfriend (friend?). I'm not sure if this is the first drama to feature the work of air traffic controllers but it sure is the first time i'm seeing it and it's an eye opener to see how planes are being guided and directed to land safely and we're reminded of the many 'invisible' people who work behind the scenes to keep our airports running smoothly everyday. That being said, a fixed set of commands are repeated on the job and even though human drama is added to make it more palatable for a tv audience, it's not the most exciting of dramas but the characters are likable and I don't mind spending some time with them when I'm in the mood for something mellow. And there's always Kaname Jun around in the background for eye candy. I presume he's gonna get an episode centred on his character so I'm looking forward to it!
~ Manee Dan Suaang [12/18][lakorn]
I should be posting on this soon once I finish it but in short, worth your time only if you're an Art Pasut fan.
~ On Call 36 Hours [25][HK drama]
It doesn't bring anything new to the plate as far as plot points are concerned - if you're a tvb regular you'd have seen them one time or another - but'On Call' brings it all together seamlessly with the briskness and humour I have come to expect of hk dramas. It also has lots of heart and I was moved to tears at quite a few scenes from the beautiful relationships between family members, friends, lovers.
Unlike previous hk police procedurals which hurt my brain with some less than logical cases, this one's a medical one and I gladly bought into all the foreign medical jargon and cases thrown at me. Plus there were many meaningful lessons taught through the life and death situations encountered by the doctors at the hospital and gives the viewers food for thought on life and hope. The slow burning romance between Yat Kin Tau and Yu Zai was also the highlight of the drama and I love how their relationship is based on their mutual admiration and understanding of each other's strengths and flaws. Once I start writing on 'On Call', I feel like there's so many things I want to say about the individual characters but I'll leave that for another post. For now, I highly recommend everyone check it out here with english subs
~ Likit Fah Chatah Din [35][Lakorn]
In my previous post, I said I liked Jang and Duang together but as the series progressed, there really wasn't any significant development to either their characters or their relationship. Two good kids fall for each other, end of story. There were no real obstacles standing between them so they had to be continually kept apart by tiringly manufactured misunderstandings which could be immediately cleared by either one of them SPEAKING UP at crucial moments. Any hopes I had of Mike/Charebelle at least distracting me with an angsty relationship also came to naught when their characters don't even interact much till the very end. The ending hinted at them embarking on a new relationship to that would heal their emotional wounds but hey drama, I actually want to see them developing it and not have to imagine it happening of screen. They look cute together though, hopefully they get a chance to pair up in a lakorn soon. Last bit of complaint would of course be of Darakan whose sob story I still did not buy into despite all the last minute white washing. I was snorting and shaking my head when Jang was all 'poor mom, no one understands her when she tried so hard for the family'. Pffft. She took a bullet for Bancha I'd give her that but that doesn't negate the fact she was a crappy wife and mom. Doesn't mean I thought she deserved to end up dead but yea, I really didn't care for her.
I did like how Fahsai and Bancha were written though. Fahsai surprised me by turning out to not be the typical gold digger that I expecteder to be and I enjoyed both her quirky short-lived friendship with Din and her sis/bro relationship with Jang. As for Bancha, though he was the one who orchestrated the revenge plan and messed up so many people's lives, I can't help but sympathise with him.
Tl;dr, it wasn't brilliant but not teeth gnashingly bad either.
Watching now:
~ Three Kingdoms RPG [14/25][HK drama]
I don't care for time travel dramas but I started this fuelled by my shipping of Kenneth Ma/Tavia Yeung in 'On Call'. After watching KM as the perfect gentleman Yat Kin Tau, it took a while to get use to him as Tzema Shun, a ne'er-do-gooder who lives off his parents and whiles his days away playing online games. He travels back to the Three Kingdoms era where he meets his idol, the famed strategist Zhuge Liang (he idolizes ZGL not because he's into history but because he plays ZGL in the TK online game!) and eventually gets involved with the other familiar historical figures. This is a complete spoof of TK so if you don't want to see Liu Bei call Lady Choi a bitch (admittedly that was a funny moment) or historical heavy weights Zhuge Liang/Sun Quan/Zhou Yu play chor dai di then you'd do best to stay away from this drama. Tzema Shun is not often likeable as the self-centred and childish protagonist but it was only when he became more mature in recent episodes that I realised he was funnier as a brat, which may be why I have not been that enthusiastic in continuing this drama. Though I came into this for Kenneth/Tavia, their relationship is served as a side dish to the bromance which seems to be Zhuge Liang/everyone. Sometimes I wonder if the OTP is supposed to be Zhuge Liang/Tzema Shun what with him constantly acting like a jilted girlfriend around Zhuge Liang but well, it is funny if you don't take it too seriously.
~ Tokyo Airport : Air Traffic Service [4/10]
Fukada Kyoko stars in this as an airport ground staff who changes her career path to become an air traffic controller because of her promise to her boyfriend (friend?). I'm not sure if this is the first drama to feature the work of air traffic controllers but it sure is the first time i'm seeing it and it's an eye opener to see how planes are being guided and directed to land safely and we're reminded of the many 'invisible' people who work behind the scenes to keep our airports running smoothly everyday. That being said, a fixed set of commands are repeated on the job and even though human drama is added to make it more palatable for a tv audience, it's not the most exciting of dramas but the characters are likable and I don't mind spending some time with them when I'm in the mood for something mellow. And there's always Kaname Jun around in the background for eye candy. I presume he's gonna get an episode centred on his character so I'm looking forward to it!
~ Manee Dan Suaang [12/18][lakorn]
I should be posting on this soon once I finish it but in short, worth your time only if you're an Art Pasut fan.