I remember borrowing from a friend a book of Longfellow's poetry. I was young, still in undergrad, and highly impressionable. More than a decade later and I'm still not entirely sure why this one poem stuck with me. I've forgotten all the other poems of his that I read in that book except for this one. All I know is that this poem, this stanza (italicized below), is as evocative today as it was years ago.

Endymion

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The rising moon has hid the stars;
Her level rays, like golden bars,
Lie on the landscape green,
With shadows brown between.

And silver white the river gleams,
As if Diana, in her dreams,
Had dropt her silver bow
Upon the meadows low.

On such a tranquil night as this,
She woke Endymion with a kiss,
When, sleeping in the grove,
He dreamed not of her love.

Like Dian’s kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought;
Her voice, nor sound betrays
Its deep, impassioned gaze.

It comes,—the beautiful, the free,
The crown of all humanity,—
In silence and alone
To seek the elected one.

It lifts the boughs, whose shadows deep,
Are Life’s oblivion, the soul’s sleep,
And kisses the closed eyes
Of him, who slumbering lies.

O, weary hearts! O, slumbering eyes!
O, drooping souls, whose destinies
Are fraught with fear and pain,
Ye shall be loved again!

No one is so accursed by fate,
No one so utterly desolate,
But some heart, though unknown,
Responds unto his own.

Responds,—as if with unseen wings,
A breath from heaven had touched its strings
And whispers, in its song,
“Where hast thou stayed so long!”

This poem is in the public domain.

You'll notice the last TV Roundup was last year April. Something you should probably know about me: long-term follow through of hobbies is not my strong point. I am easily distracted by the next shiny new thing (hobby) or activity until I get bored. The new distraction could be a new show or something as mundane as real life problems or an anxiety spiral and avoidance of productive activities. Ho hum. Aaaaaaanyway.... I'm feeling that writing itch again and I don't want to spoil on Twitter, hence a blog post. A large majority of my viewing time has been sucked in by Netflix. This is great news for my budget as that means I could cut other streaming subscriptions.

Twenty-five Twenty-one (2022, TVN)

Go Yu-rim's woe-is-me brattiness was getting on my nerves and affecting my enjoyment of the show, so much so that I dreaded watching episodes 9 and 10. I actually put it off until Monday (I usually watch day of release) and likely would have put it off even more if I had any other shows. I am so glad I bit the bullet though. The show handled Go Yu-rim and Na Hee-do's reconciliation in a very satisfactory manner and now the show's back to being my weekly happy pill. <3

Thirty-nine (2022, TVN)

We are six episodes in and fully into the meat of the story. While the acting remains great, I was starting to get annoyed that the focus of the show was primarily Cha Mi-jo's (played by Son Ye-jin) POV. I get it. Son Ye-jin is the big star. Of course she'd have the most screen time. I initially didn't mind, I love Son Ye-jin unni, but the disproportionate screen time doesn't feel organic anymore. The show was marketed as an ensemble story but its 80% Son Ye-jin all the damn time. The dying friend, Jeong Chan-young (played by Jeon Mi-do, who is knocking it out of the ballpark btw), gets may be 15% and Jang Joo-hee (portrayed by the lovely Kim Ji-hyun) is lucky if she gets 5% POV screen time. That's what it feels like anyway. Unfortunately, Cha Mi-jo is kind of boring and so is her love line. Jeong Chan-young is actually the more interesting of the trio and its not just because she's dying.

The show was preempted last week to cover South Korea's presidential elections. Hopefully this week rectifies my gripes, because I would love to see more of the Chan-young's and Joo-hee's POV.

Forecasting Love And Weather (2022, JTBC)

This was another weekend show I dreaded watching. I AM SO ANNOYED at the insecure man-baby second male lead. I swear whenever he's on screen, I want to reach in and sock him. I don't get it. Whatever did the ladies ever see in him??? One stayed with him for 10 years and almost married him, one actually did marry him after only a few months of (adulterous) dating. He has little to no self-awareness, he's overly proud despite not having the competence to back it up, he even gets his girlfriend to do the work and then takes credit for it. He's immature, jealous, and insecure, and thinks everything is about him him him. IT'S SO AGGRAVATING AAAAARGH.

What's her face, the cheating partner, her name escapes me right now. I actually pity her. Marrying Assface was her punishment.

That reminds me, I'm actually quite pleased with the way the show handled the aftermath of the cheating and showing all four leads as nuanced characters - yes, even Assface McCheater. No one is "bad" 100% of the time. Reporter lady cheated on her boyfriend, I'm not disputing that what she did was wrong, but I was surprised to see that she had completely valid reasons for falling out of love and needing to move one from that relationship. I just wish she had the balls the end the relationship before jumping into the next one. It's the same with Assface, he was unhappy with the relationship but too much of a coward to end his relationship. Sigh. Both of them were wrong and are each other's punishment, with her being punished more than him imo. I have no sympathy for him.

A Business Proposal (2022, SBS)

This show was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much I did. I even binge read the source manhwa after watching the first two episodes. It was clear from the get-go that the drama adaptation made changes to the female lead and some plot points, such as the FL's job and work ethic, which I think really works and even elevates the drama. And can I just say that this is excellent PPL for company Bibigo. It gets exposure without being put in any negative light. *cough* Coffee Bay in Pretty Noona *cough*

Kim Se-jeong continues to impress, Ahn Hyo-seob is pretty good in this too. Both of them have different vibes from the manhwa characters but they've made the characters their own. The other two leads, Seol In-ah and Kim Min-kyu, are REALLY good. Chemistry-wise, it's fantastic. All four leads have chemistry with each other. I LOVE the friendships in this, the girls especially. They crack me up so much. I'm looking forward to lots more chaotic besties hijinks, with their lawful good loves staring on fondly.

AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!
Screen grab from @notseorina on Twitter.

The Love Equations (2020, WeTV)

I started a Gong Jun drama watching spree. I think I first watched TLE in 2020 but never got round to finishing it. It is just as enjoyable a watch as the first time I saw it, but once again got bored at around the same plot point. I will try to finish it this time though.

Begin Again (2020, iQiyi)

Still can't believe Gong Jun's in his late 20s. He has such a young-looking face. I would've guessed late teens to early 20s at most, but he's turning 30 this year. Begin Again is EXACTLY the kind of show I was in the mood for: sexy fluff. Well, it could be sexier - it was mostly talk - but I'll take what I can get. This show is funny and I love that the female lead (Zhou Yu-tong looking fiercely fashionable and radiating big boss energy) openly admires and lusts after the physical attributes of the male lead. It's something I could never do in real life, I'm much too reserved for that, but I admit my internal thoughts are sometimes more in line with FL's antics. Lost interest in the show towards the end but I enjoyed it overall. Oh, and there is a VERY CUTE KID in this. Kiddo was actually the reason I wanted to watch this show in the first place. 8/10 would recommend. (I almost forgot. Shout out to the gorgeous Wu Man-si. She's so pretty it almost hurts.)