2022 Watchlist Wrap Up

As we countdown less than a week to the new year, here are my 2022 watchlist wrap up !

In total this year I completed 9 k-drama, 8 C-drama and 10 movies. Some repeats and not all are released in 2022. This year I stayed within my comfort zone. This year's theme is "Love". I did not venture far from this genre. 

But, I must say that C-Drama takes the lead in 2022. 

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To start off, I present the crown for best drama (in my watchlist) to 

Love Between Fairy And Devil (LBFAD) !!

A drama that had everything I needed and love to see! I was obssesed with the drama after it ended. Constantly looking up posts, photos, reading what others say. This lasted for about two months and then I had to stop myself and get back to reality. 

I have tried watching costume C-dramas before but has always been put off by,

(i) the length of the episodes (40s - 50s)

 (ii) the slow pace

LBFAD is the first fantasy costume drama I completed with only 36 episodes. Ironically, after it ended the LBFAD nation agreed they could have used another episode or two to show the viewers life after the horrible fate DongFang QingCang and Xiao LanHua had to go through. 

In LBFAD we get a combination of a good story, characters that are properly developed and consistency. As well as, Dylan Wang as DongFang QingCang. Brother carried the universe on his shoulders without breaking a sweat with his long locks always on point. 

I read the director took 4 years to review and amend the script countless times. I am amazed truly by the dedication and passion to tell a story and most importantly, when the time came they gave it their all.

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As for the C-drama that fell short of expectation would go to She and Her Perfect Husband. A year long wait that ended with a tad of disappointment. 

The story started off with a lot of potential but lost its way here and there especially after episode 30. Yes, we still got a happy ending in the last 10 seconds but here is why I hated it :

YangHua and QinShi are described as two very capable, intelligent individual. They were both sincere in helping each other and from what I see, are also very considerate to the other person. They are genuinely nice people. So, from one perspective they are a match for one another.

However, there were obvious problems in their relationship. And, that is communication. Too much left unsaid between them for no obvious reasons. Really.

What irks me most about the whole story is how little effort was put into developing our main character's love story. I feel like they tried to do too much, tried to showcase the many different phases of being in a relationship and meaning of marriage through side character story and forgot out main couple exists. Even the ex-boyfriend and his annoying fiance gets too much screen time.

As for the sudden divorce,

I can understand where YangHua is coming from. The relationship did feel one sided. However, QinShi too made effort to always show her appreciation to him. But, I suppose, it is not enough for YangHua? This is the part things got really weird.

He asked for divorce, he hang out with his ex-girlfriend and child that is obviously not his but he did not bother to clear the misunderstanding, he goes to her parents and said I want to take care of QinShi forever. Dude? You asked for divorce and went no contract for over 7 months? It was a fake marriage after all. 

AND, to top everything of, his reason for the breakup and staying away is to "wait for QinShi to come to him". But, she never did? She went running to the airport but they missed each other. So, he didn't even know.

When he suddenly shows up I was annoyed. If I was QinShi, I would not accept him back. I don't get it. Why did you leave me? 

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❣️ are personal favourites of mine.

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Next Up K-Drama!

Top of my list for k-drama this year are Twenty Five Twenty One and My Liberation Notes. Two very different stories. 

Though many has expressed their disatissfaction with the ending for Twenty Five Twenty One, but we can all agree it was a great drama. The cast, the story-telling and the build-up leading to the ending. 

I think they never meant for the two to be together in the future seeing how they started the drama. The kid's name is KIM.

My Liberation Note is the type of drama I like. Depressing. I love it. Aside from that eldest sister whom I cannot connect with from the beginning, this drama speaks life to me.

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As for the K-drama that fell short of expectation would go to (and I am a little apprehensive to say it because I am fully aware of how popular it is) Alchemy of Soul. 

I could not understand where the story is headed. They keep repeating the same words about soul shifters without anything really happening (once you realise it).

I would have dropped it earlier if not for the cast charismatic acting and hoping the "real story" would come up in the next scene. 

But, as I tried to figure out where this whole soul shifting fiasco is headed, I realised the story was going in circles. They are not even trying to make sense.

Not to mention the endless filler scenes. Sure, they can add adult love triangle but why is that getting more screen time than trying to resolve this Naksu / MuDeok situation. All the theories poeple came up with was immediately annihilated by that S1 ending. 

On top of that, they wasted a few major characters like JangGang who appeared two times and turned into ashes? and BuYeon who is supposedly so amazing but her body gets destroyed by, well, a bell.

The way they kept dragging the story made me wonder if this is an experimental project with big names to boost?

I am keeping tabs on S2 only because I want to know how they will end it. The reviews so far are split into people who love the drama for whatever it is and people like are starting to question if this story is going anywhere. 

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❣️ are personal favourites of mine.

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Lastly, Movies !

Special mention goes to Adoring, a 2019 C-Movie about pets and their owners. 6 different stories combined into one and, the transition between each are seamless that it feels like one complete story. 

When there are animals involved, expect to cry.

As for the movies that fell short of expectation goes to : Fantastic Beast (FB) and Jurrasic World (JW).

For someone who absolutely love HP movies, I could not hide my disappointment for FB franchise. This is the 3rd movie and each one got worse after the other. 

Maybe they tried too hard to capture the same feel and essence as HP but, they fell short. There was no magic. Just heavily dramatised characters. 

The same for JW. This is the last movie and they gathered all the characters together but gave us a less than an exciting ride. 

The story was predictable and the run was too long that I kept checking the time to see if it's ending soon (I mean, we have seen 6 before). They used the same format for the last one. The last dinosaur fight scene was predictable too. You sit there and think Owh ya, I've seen this before.

❣️ are my personal favourites.

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That's the end of my 2022 watchlist. Hopefully I will continue to make these lists yearly.

And, pray I start reading books again, so, I can make a similar list for books read.

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              ❗️❗️  Happy New Year ❗️❗️

2023