First up, I'll talk about one that I actually tried on our trip to Lisbon, Portugal back in November...Taxi Driver. It stars Lee Je-hoon, who I generally do like. And, honestly, I can't say that I disliked the show. I watched two episodes of it. It's gritty, kind of a revenge-y Charles Bronson kind of thing. Tough guys sticking up for the underdogs. Basically, there's a secret organisation (club? group? likeminded individuals?) who run a sort of "rescue/revenge for hire" service undercover as a taxi business. So, a fair bit of action. Well-deserved beatings. Things like that. It was a little too grim for me though. The first two episodes mostly dealt with revenge for this poor slightly mentally challenged girl who basically aged out of the foster care system and got "sold" by her case worker to be basically a slave at a factory...and was both physically, mentally, and sexually abused while there. So, yeah, okay, they take revenge on her captors and those who facilitated it, but jeebus creepus, how depressing was that story?
So...I didn't download any more episodes after we got back in November and haven't felt the urge to watch anymore. I watch Kdrama to mostly escape (and avoid the gritty stuff that the husband usually likes to watch in UK/US shows). It even has a second season and there is nothing wrong with the show or the acting. I just didn't want to deal with the grim.
Next up...from this latest trip. I watched about 10 or 15 minutes of Thirty-Nine. The premise had sounded good -- a group of female friends about to turn 40 and the trials/tribulations/loves/dramas of their lives. You know, Oh, yay, people who don't look like teenagers. And I got through the first bit, which was essentially just a quick intro into who they are...and then it teases that there will be a funeral. One of 'em is gonna die. Yeah, no. I absolutely LOATHE it when shows do that, slam you with that right off the bat. It's before you actually care or are invested in the characters, so I suppose in some ways I should be grateful as I got there and went, Ah, hell, no and immediately turned it off. Might the show be amazing? Perhaps. I have no idea. It just wasn't something that I wanted to watch. I don't go for the gut punch shows.
Next up, Homemade Love Story. I made it about 20-25 minutes into that one. I'm not even sure why I had downloaded it, though it does sound very meet-cute. "Love blooms when a designer with a dream crosses paths with a brooding architect--but will their messy family drama leave room for romance?"
It looks to be one of those big ensemble cast ones and I had seen a lot of the actors in other things. None that were particular favourites, but actors I recognised. But...well...it just didn't grab me at all. The acting made me impatient. Even though it said 2020, it felt a lot older, like something from at least 10 years ago. I'm not even sure why. Did it bounce around too much? Was the acting flat? I don't know. It's entirely possible that it does turn into something really charming, but it didn't hold my attention enough to give it a go. Life is short, man.
Lastly, in the ones that I am definitely giving up on (another post to follow on some I haven't quite made up my mind on yet), is Mom, Don't Do That. It's a Chinese one and is about, I thought, an older woman dealing with the death of her husband and discovering herself in the aftermath of that. But, from the approximately 15 minutes of it I watched, it's really about her adult daughter dealing with her mom, who is apparently sleeping around with other women's husbands without remorse or thought and really bad fashion sense? It was over-acted and screechy and I didn't feel like I could identify (or stand to watch) either the widowed mom or her put-upon daughter. It was seriously a WTF am I watching here?? It was...well, it was remarkably easy to turn off. I'm sure it was supposed to come off as funny. I didn't find it funny. If I were to ask my normal questions of "Am I glad I watched it?" I would have to say No, no I am not. That's 15 minutes of my life I would like back, please and thank you.
