We have three love affairs going on in these episodes. There is the main triangle of Bo Young, Min Ho, and Dr. Ye, as well as a new triangle with Yoon Joo, Dae Bang, and his hospital roommate; and then there is Nam Woo and a girl he knows from school. The first gets some resolution here, the second is the most entertaining, and the third is perhaps the most touching. Come along with us to see what happens! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.
There is a lot of falling down in these episodes. There are low points and crashes, in particular, one that we have seen coming for a long time. Sometimes it surprises you who turns out to be a friend, and as long as you have friends, there are also good times and getting back up. SPOILERS COMING OF COURSE!
Although we have some cute moments today, we are coming to the part of the story where our characters are getting into more difficult times. Min Ho, Yoon Joo, and the Chief, in particular, are running into their shortcomings and the consequences of their past. They come out of this episode with flying colors, however, and we get to see them at their best. SPOILERS COMING UP.
This really is an ensemble show with several interweaving storylines, and we find out a lot about our characters’ backgrounds in these episodes. We meet the families of Bo Young, Min Ho, and radiologist Joo Yong. We also find out about a past connection between roommate Yoon Joo and radiologist Dae Bang, as well as something about what happened to Dr. Ye at his previous hospital. Through it all the silly side of our characters keeps the thought-provoking side from becoming too heavy. I won’t tell you everything that happens, but WE WILL HAVE SPOILERS FOR THESE TWO EPISODES.
I keep thinking about this drama. I have gotten interested in how the poems fit into the story. Even though some of the people are rude, even though some of them are crazy, the poems bring them together in an endearing way. By this time we are starting to expect our characters’ annoying behaviors, and sometimes getting surprised with them. I’d like to talk mostly about the high points, which means THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.
A Poem a Day is being sold to us as a slice-of-life drama, with stories of physical therapists and other support staff in a hospital. I think whoever labeled it that way has only seen the first episode. It is clearly a comedy, and I think it would interest people to know that. The show has a kind of dry humor that comes from the personalities of the characters and all their quirks, but in the first episode, they are mostly annoying. It’s not slapsticky and so far we haven’t gotten any poop jokes, although by the second episode someone has holed up in a bathroom stall to cry.
Ryoma-den, as it is sometimes spelled, or The Story of Ryoma, is about the life of Sakamoto Ryoma. It encompasses his childhood, his kendo training in Edo, seeing American steamships arrive, and getting mixed up in efforts to protect Japan from the foreigners. He was a real person and one of Japan’s most famous national heroes (who I had never heard of before). Can a westerner who doesn’t know much about Japanese history enjoy a taiga drama? Let’s find out.
We have a new robot Kdrama! It’s about an android who is designed to learn and to be self-aware, and looks like a cute teenage girl. Well, why would they bother to design an ugly one? She graces our tv screens in a short web drama called I Am… only six episodes of fifteen minutes each. It’s an easy watch, and it is well done. Come with me and meet our latest robot, Annie!
Japanese Title: Final Fantasy XIV: Hikari no Otousan
With this title you would naturally think that it is a drama heavily about playing video games, but it is not. It is about a son using the game to reconnect to his uncommunicative father, and although there are scenes that take place inside the game, the main story is about their family in real life. It is in fact, based on a true story that Ichigeki Kakusatsu related on his blog between 2014 and 2016, and later wrote up in a book that he titled Hikari no Otousan.
Sometimes I have a hard time letting go of a drama that I am really fond of. In this case, I keep thinking about Just Between Lovers, a quietly endearing story of two people who find each other after having endured the same tragic incident in their past. There is something that I noticed all through the series and finally decided to take a good look at. I am talking about the coats. Seriously, for a woman who seems to be not very well off, she has a LOT of coats, and they are mostly really nice wool coats. Who else noticed it? Come with me and take a look at this! How many do you think there are?