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a thing i'm watching
I am still enjoying My Journey To You the premise of which is: woman who was raised in an assassin ring since she was a child and has no choice but to do what they tell her because they also control her sister is sent on a mission to infiltrate a secretive cultivation family/sect. She has to pretend to be a potential bride and of course will inevitably fall in love with her mark. Good times!!!
But! I'm putting it on hold because I learned that the Korean drama The Guest is leaving Netflix at the end of the month, and I've been meaning to watch that one for a zillion years and so I've got to watch it now! And it is so good! Horror isn't really my thing, but I heard it praised so highly and I understand why. I watched four episodes this weekend, which is a lot for me these days.
A psychic, a detective, and a sexy, sexy exorcist Catholic priest had an (incredibly violent and traumatic) encounter with a demon when they were children. They're then parted, without ever knowing each other's identities. Fastforward 20 years, and that one encounter has shaped everything about their current lives. The psychic and the priest are both searching for the demon, wanting to destroy it. Of course they cross paths and end up also pulling the (skeptic) detective into their orbit. Together, they fight crime! Demonic crime! I love them!
This is OT3 territory, y'all! Such a good OT3 and I've only watched four episodes but I am so excited to watch them all fall in love with each other even though the show won't explicitly go there. Who cares? I can go there myself!
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All three of them are messes in their own way:
Our psychic Hwapyung has done absolutely nothing with his life except work as a taxi driver and move from place to place, tracking down the demon. He is the flippant, annoying one. I love him.
Our detective Kilyoung is the human incarnation of (ง'̀-'́)ง. She is ready to fight anyone at any time. She spends most of the show pissing off her superiors, beating up bad guys, groaning about how much she doesn't want to deal with this demonic shit, and running (to catch bad guys). I am obsessed with her.
Our priest Yoon/Matthew is played by KIM JAEWOOK who I have only had a crush on since Coffee Prince and Antique in the early 2000s. This casting is an attack on me personally. Anyway! He is the cold, withdrawn one who has lost everyone he loves (actually, they've all lost almost everyone they love) who thinks he can handle all of this on his own and really wants the other two to go away. I am hopelessly devoted to him.
This show really Goes There with the demonic and the violent so if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, avoid it. But if you can handle that (or if it appeals to you), I recommend this so far and I have on good authority that it ends well.
My one critique is that even though the psychic comes from a family of shaman and the priest is...a priest and so we have a religious backdrop to everything, so far the show shows no inclination to actually explore the nature of faith, etc. A huge missed opportunity but a common one--people seem happy to use religion as a set-piece without ever actually grappling with it in any real way.
If you're thinking (literally no one but me is thinking this), "Lauren, don't you have another OT3 from a Kdrama about childhood trauma and solving mysterious violent deaths?" you are correct. Mawang (Lucifer) gave me so many feelings back when I watched it especially because a) that cast! (Uhm Taewoong, Shin Mina and Ju Jihoon? THANK YOU KDRAMA GODS!) and b) the psychic was a librarian!!! But I suspect it would not hold up as well as I would wish. Maybe one day I'll revisit it.
But! I'm putting it on hold because I learned that the Korean drama The Guest is leaving Netflix at the end of the month, and I've been meaning to watch that one for a zillion years and so I've got to watch it now! And it is so good! Horror isn't really my thing, but I heard it praised so highly and I understand why. I watched four episodes this weekend, which is a lot for me these days.
A psychic, a detective, and a sexy, sexy exorcist Catholic priest had an (incredibly violent and traumatic) encounter with a demon when they were children. They're then parted, without ever knowing each other's identities. Fastforward 20 years, and that one encounter has shaped everything about their current lives. The psychic and the priest are both searching for the demon, wanting to destroy it. Of course they cross paths and end up also pulling the (skeptic) detective into their orbit. Together, they fight crime! Demonic crime! I love them!
This is OT3 territory, y'all! Such a good OT3 and I've only watched four episodes but I am so excited to watch them all fall in love with each other even though the show won't explicitly go there. Who cares? I can go there myself!
(x)
All three of them are messes in their own way:
Our psychic Hwapyung has done absolutely nothing with his life except work as a taxi driver and move from place to place, tracking down the demon. He is the flippant, annoying one. I love him.
Our detective Kilyoung is the human incarnation of (ง'̀-'́)ง. She is ready to fight anyone at any time. She spends most of the show pissing off her superiors, beating up bad guys, groaning about how much she doesn't want to deal with this demonic shit, and running (to catch bad guys). I am obsessed with her.
Our priest Yoon/Matthew is played by KIM JAEWOOK who I have only had a crush on since Coffee Prince and Antique in the early 2000s. This casting is an attack on me personally. Anyway! He is the cold, withdrawn one who has lost everyone he loves (actually, they've all lost almost everyone they love) who thinks he can handle all of this on his own and really wants the other two to go away. I am hopelessly devoted to him.
This show really Goes There with the demonic and the violent so if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, avoid it. But if you can handle that (or if it appeals to you), I recommend this so far and I have on good authority that it ends well.
My one critique is that even though the psychic comes from a family of shaman and the priest is...a priest and so we have a religious backdrop to everything, so far the show shows no inclination to actually explore the nature of faith, etc. A huge missed opportunity but a common one--people seem happy to use religion as a set-piece without ever actually grappling with it in any real way.
If you're thinking (literally no one but me is thinking this), "Lauren, don't you have another OT3 from a Kdrama about childhood trauma and solving mysterious violent deaths?" you are correct. Mawang (Lucifer) gave me so many feelings back when I watched it especially because a) that cast! (Uhm Taewoong, Shin Mina and Ju Jihoon? THANK YOU KDRAMA GODS!) and b) the psychic was a librarian!!! But I suspect it would not hold up as well as I would wish. Maybe one day I'll revisit it.
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If you find any good fic, do let me know!
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I can't remember if you've watched The Exorcist TV series? If not, you might like it, it did such a good job exploring faith and religion from different angles and in very realistic ways. Sadly, it was cancelled, and we got robbed of a third season where priests would have teamed up with shamans and rabbis to kick demon ass... it's been 5 years, and I'm still salty! Anyway, I'm not great with horror and violence and demonic stuff, but I still really liked it! I might check out The Guest, because it seems it might have a similar vibe!
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Fwiw, I am not a horror person--I just look away at some of the violence.
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My one critique is that even though the psychic comes from a family of shaman and the priest is...a priest and so we have a religious backdrop to everything, so far the show shows no inclination to actually explore the nature of faith, etc.
Ah, that was one my main critiques of Hospital Playlist, too. One character's whole deal was his indecision about taking orders vs. remaining a doctor, and in two seasons he somehow managed to not have a single interesting conversation about it. Such a waste!
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One character's whole deal was his indecision about taking orders vs. remaining a doctor, and in two seasons he somehow managed to not have a single interesting conversation about it. Such a waste!
THAT IS SUCH A WASTE!
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I've got two episodes to go and I still recommend it! Let me know if you watch it!