LIST OF THOUGHTS

• The beautiful views of High River, Alberta are perfect to make you feel calmer (which teenager me perhaps didn't appreciate as much as adult stressed me). The place is a character on its own and I'm not gonna lie, I'd love to take a tour of the locations one day if there's ever a chance to experience them myself because they are breathtaking.
• Of course, the horses! I love the way the series centers on the love for horses, the support, and the connection they form with humans. With all the characters we get to see so many areas in the big equestrian world (something that made this city girl feel like getting a glimpse into a different life).
  
• Through the stories of horses, we also get to see the stories of the humans. Amy, the protagonist is a "horse whisper", someone with a special gift to understand and help troubled horses and, most of the time, their problems are linked to the humans behind them. Because of that we see themes like grief, trauma, addiction... and the process of healing and growing. Life is hard for both horses and humans and they need second chances to get back on track ;). I realized it's show that started talking about mental health way before it became an open discussion and that it has done it so well.
• Each of the protagonists has flaws we can identify from the very first episode and that are what often puts them in trouble. This is part of what keeps the plot going for the show for so many seasons.
• We see the main characters growing up and as a result of that, we witness when they reach important events in their lives as time passes. Good moments like graduations, weddings, births, but also their struggles through divorce and grief. There are things the audience can feel related to.
• Now the show is not perfect. There's a lot of characters that get forgotten and while I understand how it must be very difficult because of actors' schedules there are some that I find unforgiven. I mean, I had my hopes up that Lou was gonna end with Native Canadian Scott like in the books so I was crushed that the writers decided to go with "a different direction" because then we see Lou having terrible relationship after terrible relationship. Also, where's Tim Fleming's son? How can you forget about a son for ten seasons? I'll give the show credit though because it has managed some really good comebacks of old characters so we can get to see their clousure like Mallory.
  
• Definitely, one of the big keys of the show to stay for so many years is its faithful audience. Is kind of like Little House on the Prairie, it comes from books, is a show about family for families and generations have grown watching it. How long will this show keep going? I don't have a clue, but I do know that there are so many people that like me, love the show and will keep watching as long as is still there.

Horses, beautiful valleys in England and teens, this show was totally screaming out loud my name. Is one of those shows that make me feel calmer and forget about the stress of life because horses! On each season the stories were so interesting and great that I fell inlove with the show so yes, I was absolutely devastated when I came to the last episode and found out there will be no more seasons (thank God there were the special seasonal episodes to ease my pain but I'm still crying). My favorite part of the series was its characters so here's my rating list of them (although not all of them are here, sorry hot Marcus). 

 

 

Suzy has become a warranty for great kdramas. And she has proven it once again with this kdrama because Start-Up definitely goes to my favorite list.

• It has a great love triangle.
At first, I assumed it would be like in other dramas and Sol Dal Mi's love interest was Han Ji Pyung. He is rich, handsome, cold but a good person at the bottom and with a sad backstory. Usually kdramas go for men like that. So what was my surprise when this drama went in the other direction. 

Han Ji Pyung still gets his love story, only is a different kind of love. And it was absolutely beautiful because it was the kind of love he needed. Probably one of the best stories I've seen for a second lead. His story with grandma making him at the end inspired to help other orphans in the same situations he was in (with that perfect cameo at the final episode of Yeo Jin Goo in person) felt like a great ending.




Usually soft, shy guys that knit like Nam Do San aren't the protagonist. But at some point I realized that a) He was with Sol Dal Mi more than Han Ji Pyung and b) I wanted him to end up with our protagonist. The way he stared adoringly at Dal Mi and supported her made me be like "please don't break this sweet boy's heart". But the point where I really started to cheer for him was when he decides he won't take someone else's credit anymore and will instead become a strong person. His character arc is incredible, it was so satisfying to see how far he grows. We see Nam Do San and Sol Dal Mi grow together and they are very similar as both prioritize their beliefs like when they rather helping others over money.

• The bromance of Samsan Tech's pioneers Lee Cheol San, Kim Yong San and of course Nam Do San. We see the deep friendship and chemistry these 3 have. It was such a great moment when they say goodbye to their old office because we see how much they have matured.
  

• It shows what technology can be when is used for good causes. We usually see technology's bad and shallow side but here we see the possibilities of using it to improve people's lives. NoonGil, an app that helps people with vision problems and Tarzan a car that drives itself that will prevent people from dying in car accidents. It made me feel so inspired seeing Nam Do San and Sol Dal Mi working hard to achieve their dreams with projects inspired by Dal Mi's grandma and dad and that had the purpose of making a change. It was a story with a heart since the very first episode until the end and I loved it.
  

 

THE APPLICATION

THE INTERVIEW(S)

THE JOB 

By the end of 2020 I needed vacations desperately. As I scrolled through the kdramas to decide which one I'll watch during those days I realized I needed one that let me escape from thinking about anything work-related (have you seen how many kdramas are settled in an office?) But then I found one with the perfect ingredients: a bookstore, a little town, a love from the past. Bum! just what I was looking for.

• As I mentioned I wanted needed a gateway in the form of a kdrama. Just like the protagonist Hae Won, I felt myself healing as I watched this drama. 
  
• The scenarios, the slow rhythm of the town reminded me the feeling of peace a lot of the Ghibli movies give to me. Through the drama we see a lot of scenes of the town community, from their everyday lives to the events they organize where everyone is involved. I wish a place like that existed so I could move there.
  
• When I read in the synopsis the word "bookstore" I said, this is totally for me. As if that wasn't enough to win my heart the Goodnight bookstore host a book club. People talking about books OMG I'm melting! We get to know a little about the lives of each of the members which are very interesting mix of ages and personalities. I also found out that this is an adaptation of a book and I'm just over the moon *praying for a translation*.
  
• The backstories of the characters are slowly told through the drama in such a perfect way. Especially for Hae Won's mother and aunt it was important to see their story unfold this way. I cried when it was revealed what had happened to them.
  
• I love a good love from the past returning to the present. Because you get two storylines in one and because they portray second chance love.
  
• Eun Seob is a complicated character.Not only because of his backstory (which is already unexpected in a good way) but also in his personality. I'm an introvert too and can relate to him since we both find it easier to write our emotions and thoughts or show them in our actions rather than to say them out loud but I still struggled to understand him sometimes I was like boy, wake up! she's already making it easy for you.
  

I'll Go To You When The Weather Is Nice (When the Weather Is Fine) was like was catered to me, with all the things I love and needed that I just can't believe my luck that I found this kdrama at exactly the right time. It felt like going somewhere to heal.

 

You know that feeling of emptiness when you finish a good kdrama? I was of course expecting it when I finished The King, but this time I felt lost for quite a while because this drama was so perfect in so many ways. In the middle of the pandemic, this drama gave me a reason to be excited about every week. Because it gave me not only the visuals of Lee Min Ho and Woo Do Hwan but also an intelligent story with mind-blowing twists.  

• We saw it in Goblin and now we also have it in The King: a great bromance. Jo Yeong and Lee Gon are the definition of #FriendshipGoals. From the moment they meet as kids to the end where we see Jo Yeong protecting the king in both his adult and young forms. I couldn't help but fangirling every time I saw this pair on scene for the chemistry they had in every episode.
• And speaking of Jo Yeong, let's talk about the boy that stole our hearts and made us swoon, Woo Do Hwan. This handsome man deserves so many awards because he is an incredible actor. He made Jo Eun Seob and Jo Yeong so unique and different and then he takes it to the next level when he plays one of them pretending to be the other. Some of the best scenes are when we have this pair interacting with each other. There is one episode where we barely see him and let me tell you, I really felt his absence.
• Woo Do Hwan and Lee Min Ho in uniforms. I didn't know I needed in my life the image of Lee Min Ho washing rice in a uniform until I saw it.
  
• That epic action sequence of Jo Yeong and Lee Gon. They look so cool, and this comes from a person that usually gets bored with action scenes (seriously, I've slept in a lot of action movies) but this one had me at the edge of my seat and made me feel totally impressed. It was shot like in a video game and has a perfect choreography of the actors and the cameramen that made me so excited. 
• The best hugs scenes everrrrrr. The scene where Lee Gon saves Tae-Eul in the middle of the street is just glorious. And not just that, but that kiss on the neck? probably one of the sexiest kisses I've seen in a kdrama.
• The writer is a genius. There are so many little details that later on we understand and see how everything connects. As a viewer, I got the satisfaction of seeing things coming together. Some of them I did guess correctly like that the guy saving young Lee Gon was his older self (thanks to City Hunter I can now recognize Lee Min-Ho anywhere) while others totally made my mind explode: pretty much everything in episode 14.

 

So Abril, what are you doing watching 13 year-olds? you weren't even part of the generation that grew up with the books. Well, excuse me yes I'm a 29 old woman that still loves teen shows and a YA book fan that knows how iconic the books were (see, good things can come up from Twitter). In short, this show is totally my style. And I didn't know how much it is my style but after watching the first episode, it was clear I needed The Babysitters Club in my life.  

As each episode is narrated by one of the girls you get to know them more, their families, and you see their friendship growing. And you can't help falling in love with the series because basically everything that is good in this world is in it. 

All of the girls have challenges to face, they aren't perfect and are 13, that age when changes are pretty much part of your everyday routine, so they go through things in life a lot of us can feel familiar with. Personally, I feel I was more like Mary Anne, a shy introvert, and yes, overprotected too.  I loved seeing her grew in the show, how she finds more of a balance with her dad and how not only she voices herself, but others that can't too.

All the episodes are gold, GOLD people, but for me the episode I found the most really interesting is "Claudia and Mean Janine" when Claudia learns more about her grandma and finds what she really wants to express in her art. Claudia Kishi is the girl I wish I was, she is so cool and confident and I love how she expresses herself in her fashion.

I really wish we get another season, I liked how diverse the main cast is and the way it portrays important themes as transgender rights and equality. Is a series I wish I'd had when I was a 13-year-old but I'm happy I can appreciate it as a 29-year-old.

First episodes are important, from them I decide whether I'll keep watching or not because it sets the atmosphere of the kdrama. Every now and then you'll get to a great first episode, one that makes you feel like you have found a precious gemstone. I've looked into my collection of those gemstones and chose the best one (yet). Ready? The best first episode award goes to... While You Were Sleeping. (Ok, you knew already because of the header above but just go along with me).

I remember when I watched it I was completely awestruck, gasping and feeling excited with every scene, and when it finished I thought: now that's a first episode. Because it was P.E.R.F.E.C.T. (I watched it again to write this entry and let me tell you, I fell in love with it again because it is that good).  

• You get all the feels. Is funny, then there's action, then is sad, and then there's more action. And let me tell you, action scenes aren't my cup of tea (what can I say, in movies, they even put me to sleep), so they have to be really good to keep me interested. Why it works here? because they made me get invested in the characters and what happened to them and because they were there for the story.
• And speaking of the story, it manages to set the premise of it so well. And that's so hard to do because this drama goes back and forth in time and that means you don't want your audience to get confused. The fantasy element had to be put perfectly clear for everyone to understand how it worked but in a slow way because they also wanted to surprise us at the end. 
• I'm telling you, Park Hye Ryun is a genius screenwriter. She is the one behind amazing kdramas (Pinocchio, I Hear Your Voice, Dream High) and just when you think you have watched her best drama, she surprises you with more because she just keeps improving more and more. Masterpieces, that's what she writes.
• You don't expect all those twists and turns (in just one episode!) I'm just saying, I was at the edge of my seat for the whole episode.
• Watching Suzy and Lee Jong Suk in a kdrama is already a delight for my eyes but is even better when they play such adorable protagonists. In the first episode, we get to know a bit of who they are as we see them in their respective perspectives.
• We get a perfect circle in the story a.k.a, we start and end with the same scene. The whole episode is to get to know what happens in between those scenes. Because even when they are the same, they happen at different times. And the cinematography of that scene in itself is so beautiful that it becomes iconic.
• The bests first episodes need to make you want more. That's why this one is a success because it leaves you thinking: wow, if this is just the 1st episode, the rest of the drama must be amazing too, I can't wait to see more of it.

Yeap this is another drama where the protagonist falls in love for the bad/cold guy but, this one is actually different because she isn't really in love with him but with his best friend, the good guy, and I'm shocked because this is a protagonist who actually sighs for the guy that treats her right.

• I like that asian dramas set in high school/university actually show the characters studying hard for their exams and getting worried about their grades. This is what my experience actually was as a teenager, most of my time would revolve around homework and exams because being a student is hard and I was always (very proudly) a nerd.
• When I first watched a Chinese drama I wasn't sure if the protagonists were in jr. high or high school because of how young and innocent they are (is your fault occidental tv and your 20-year-old actors playing teens). But now I'm an experienced fan that doesn't get fooled by their baby faces so of course, I know they are high school students (after a few scenes).
• The bad boy, Lan Tian Ye, is the one going for the protagonist's heart but he has it hard against his best friend because Lin Jia Ze is a total sweetheart and #boyfriendgoals. 
• Tao Ya Ting, the cousin, was such an interesting secondary character. Su Can Can is at first jealous of her because of how perfect she seems. She is the girl that has the looks, the talent in both school and music, and her mom constantly talking about her accomplishments makes it worse. But Tao Ya Ting is a lonely girl, that lives with just her dad since her mother left. She is very mature but that just makes more difficult for her to connect with her classmates. 

I love this kind of dramas, they make me feel nostalgic and bring back the happiness of my own memories of growing up. The story feels close because we have all been through those moments, from our first love to the struggle of getting our first job. With the story of friendship and its innocence, Wait, my youth touches your heart and leaves you with a good feeling inside.

Over the years, I saw Dance Academy becoming a tv show with more and more depth as it's protagonists and the audience grew up. It dared to go further with the characters without losing its essence. And I liked to see its movie taking a step further in that direction. Most movies are about chasing dreams, but this one portrays what that really means and how reaching them doesn't necessarily mean to be happy.


"She is a passive protagonist," says Tara about Persephone as she and Ben are trying to adjust the dance to their own version. The same you can say about Tara at the end of the tv show when she can never dance again after she falls for a second time. Like Persephone, she is living an imposed life. Not being able to dance is like going to the underworld for her (so I guess that makes Christian the hot Hades of the story).

In the movie they redeem her just like Tara is doing with Persephone as now she gets to choose the life she wants. However things aren't easy, she has recovered from her injury in the physical aspect but now she has to face the mental scars it left too. Flashbacks of her fall hunt her every time she bends while dancing and the scenes capture it perfectly in a cringing but beautiful way as she imagines herself drowning.

After a lot of struggle, Tara does finally get a contract to be part of a ballet company, she achieves the dream she has been working for her whole life, hurray! but then she realizes something: that it doesn't make her happy. Her dream isn't what she expected anymore. Along her journey to get it, she has found herself, and what really matters to her. She experienced the life of a professional ballet dancer and the reality of having to give up everything for it, isn't worth it anymore. Just like she changed the perspective of Persephone's story, she realizes she can do the same with what happened to her and have other possibilities that truly make her happy with the people she loves. 

I have to admit I wasn’t sure about this drama, but when the first episode ended I was totally hooked and I ended up watching it super fast. What I loved about it is the question it brings: Beauty is mostly subjective because is different for everyone, but maybe we can all agree with the conclusion this drama makes about when a person is truly beautiful.


The premise was very fresh: A girl who was super pretty in her childhood changes over time, to the point her childhood friend, Ji Sung-Joon can’t recognize her anymore once he sees her again at the age of 30. She is ashamed of both her life and looks so she makes her best friend take her place. But then they meet again at their new jobs in a fashion magazine and since Ji Sung-Joon doesn't know who she really is, he treats her poorly.

LIST OF THOUGHTS
(Beware some Spoilers)

• Ahh, the innocent first love story. Why do we (and dramas) like it so much? Oh yes, because is not only super sweet but it also makes us feel that these people are fated. Their love is so pure because they have fallen in love twice. This time it has extra sweetness because he was once chubby and grieving and she would defend him and support him.
• Ji Sung-Joon, why is this guy so rude, like dude, you so don’t deserve a girl like Kim Hye-Jin. WTF happened to you in America? If he was bullied by his looks, why does he keep that pattern with others?
• This girl is golden, she is genuine good. And her character arc, oh my god is so amazing. Kim Hye-Jin explores what real beauty is and her conclusion of it was very inspiring and it has stayed with me for its depth.
• The rectangular love works because of its characters. I mean you can’t hate her best friend, Min Ha Ri, because we can see how much she is just craving for love. And the number two, jeez, Choi Siwon I choose you, you are my number 1! (and not only because he is so hot but also because he sees the amazing girl she is). It’s sad because you always know he doesn’t have a chance, but his story at the end was very cool.