📺 ~ Twinkling Watermelon

rating: 5.5/10

okay... been a while since i've seen a network 16-episode kdrama in FULL within three days. i enjoyed watching this ngl. i was hooked to the screen, which often happens with korean dramas. this felt like a guilty pleasure watch ngl. i was emotionally connected to eungyeol and haechan's bond and definitely ended up shedding a few tears for them, which was surprising to me. what can i say, i just love me some whumpy angst. haechan never figured out that eungyeol had a whole heartattack and was admitted to the hospital 😭 i hated the miscommunication trope going on. i feel like there's sm potential with timetravel stories and the past characters finding out that the other person really is from the future but we never get that here. it's just teased. oh well. eungyeol's older brother was so cute i was attracted to him. eunyu was an interesting figure, maybe coz she was such a shit-stirrer lol. enemies to lovers weeeee. YOON CHUNGAH MY CUTIE PIE SHE WAS SO ADORABLE OMG THE ACTRESS NAILS HER SO WELL I LOVED HER AND HER CRUSH ON HAECHAN AND HOW HAECHAN LEARNS TO SPEAK TO HER SHE'S SUCH A FEISTY LIL KITTEN I LOVE HER BEST CHARACTER NGL. the first two episodes were purely setup for the main plot so i was very confused in the beginning coz i knew (from social media) that this was a time travel plot lol. man i really don't got much to say about this except that this was fun to watch. it's a cringey teen rom-com (heavy on the cringe in the first few episodes coz i was finding it difficult to suspend my disbelief for these teen hooligans lol) but cute. OH MAJU BTW I HAD A CRUSH ON TEEN MAJU AS WELL (did u see his hands-). okay i'm done here bye.

📺 ~ Weak Hero (Season 2)

 rating: 8/10

 binged this all night haha, was awake til 5am watching it on dad's busted HP laptop. there were elements of this season that i really liked. it has a lighter tone than the last one. i was sort of worried that the events of the previous season wouldn't be properly handled here because s1 was just the prologue to sieun's story, but i was proven wrong thankfully. suho's condition and the fallout with beomseok are a large part of sieun's inner conflict in this season. he carries the guilt for it for so long. and then the adorable cast of loyal hooligans show up to lighten the load on his shoulders and it's happily ever after! seriously though, i loved juntae, gotak and baku. they're such colorfully realised characters and genuinely good for sieun—definitely the highlight of the season. i didn't really know how to feel about the union plot, however. their threat felt overpromised. baekjin and seongje weren't just two-dimensional antagonists, which i appreciated, but these weirdos are just glorified high school bullies. we got a glimpse of their actual gang connections, who were way more threatening and definitely have to do something with baekjin's "death" (quotations coz someone said he isn't actually dead??). i mean, baekjin was quaking in boots in fear when the bossman confronted him head on for the last time (good acting there coz his eyes were shaking event he didn't flinch for a second). the action sequences were ofc crazy asf. the choreography of the fights in this show never disappoint coz someone always pulls a crazy move lmfao. sieun's one-on-one tussles with seongje and baekjin were great. bro will forever be the greatest crashout i've ever seen on my screen. juntae was so adorable i want to put him in my pocket. his actor has RANGE coz wdym he did this after xo kitty. HE'S JUST SO CUTE HE'S SUCH A CINNAMON ROLL. gotak my man. i have a raging crush on him. i just do. just his vibe in general and his fierce loyalty to his friends. i love it. AND BAKU. bro was aurafarming even before he ever appeared on screen and then blew everyone tf away the moment he entered with that Slam Dunk soundtrack. he's so goated haha. i'm glad suho is finally awake AND I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HIS DYNAMIC WITH THE REST OF SIEUN'S FRIENDS IN S3!! PLSPLSPLS LET HIM BE INTEGRATED INTO THEIR FRIENDGROUP IT'LL BE SO GREAT PLSPLSPLSPLS I'M BEGGING THE WRITERS—ok that's it i'm leaving bye.

📺 ~ Weak Hero (Season 1)

rating: 9.25/10

PHENOMENAL show with PHENOMENAL writing. i was just put off by the fact that beomseok was made the villain in the latter half. that was dispiriting coz he wasn't actually an evil person, he just wanted friends who wanted him too 😔 ah man. nuances. i can't bring myself to hate him. he's had a hard life. his father is a piece of shit. the queercoding on sieun and suho was so crazy lol. ik i initially only knew their homo ahh dynamic from edits but damn they weren't kidding with the actual homoeroticism of their friendship. they care about each other sm. they're more than friends less than lovers. they should kiss highkey. they literally beat people up for each other. like yes king! get revenge from the scum who dare hurt ur man. sieun's crashout in the finale was so peak. this guy's a monster unit lol. bro has no fear. still looks like a little kitten who's gonna rip ur throat out any second. i really liked the direction in this. kudos to all the staff behind the scenes who worked hard on this. y'all cooked here. kinda sceptical for s2 tho coz sieun's in a completely different town now, away from suho :(((( but people be glazing the other members who're going to join the cast so that's the only thing i'm looking forward to. and suho waking up ofc. COZ IK HE WAKES UP HAHAHAHAHHAA.

📖 ~ Queen of Nothing

rating: 2/5

go queen! give us nothing! i'm mad i didn't make that joke in my goodreads review (i'm gonna change it now just u wait). watch me go and read all the one-star reviews for this book and The Wicked King on goodreads. i just cannot fathom how the first book was an absolute gem and the other two turned out to be poop. the worldbuilding from the first book doesn't even stretch to the rest of the installments. i will give this book the concession that jude was at least an active participant in the plot and was actually doing SOMETHING (unlike the second book...) but after the first half it becomes so terribly BORING. and not to mention that the entire selling point of this trilogy is jude and cardan's relationship and yet, they have MINISCULE emotional development. like i kid u not, after the first book, THERE WAS NO EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN THE TWO TO WARRANT THEM BEING IN LOVE THIS WAY, AND EVEN MORE FOR JUDE TO FORGIVE HIM SO EASILY AFTER THAT ASSHOLE MANOUVRE HE PULLED AT THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK. it's basically character assassination for jude to not hold a grudge and forgive both cardan AND taryn so easily. just like that?? after they both betrayed and stabbed u in the back in major ways? it pissed me off so bad bro bol nhi skte. no justice at all. the narrative just expects us to automatically forget taryn and cardan's blunders AND NO WE WILL NOT. i don't give a flying fuck that cardan was an abused and stunted child, HE STILL DID WHAT HE DID. and jude and cardan's relationship reads too much like lusty love for me to care. like i kid u not i felt like jude was getting the feyre from acotar treatment in this book in some ways. and that battle sequence at the end was so ass. so what if jude was disassociating? there were better ways to write that. and cardan emerging from the corpse of the snake like he was a titan-shifter made me roll my eyes. IN FACT, him turning into a snake AT ALL was just so ridiculous. the political intrigue just morphed into an absurdist clown show by the end. there are stupid decisions made. grima mog the cannibal granny was a g so i liked her. we got a glimpse of oak and his love interest in this book too but i'm not sure if i want to read that duology yet, if ever. anyways, this was mid bullshit. first book was the best book.

📖 ~ The Wicked King

rating: 1/5

rating the first book 5 stars and then giving the second one 1 star is crazy work. how did the first book do everything i love and the second book do everything i hate. The Wicked King made me feel like helena from Alchemised. cardan greenbriar u just shot up to the top of my shitlist. i will fkin beat you up lil boy. i hated this bro. all the agency jude had from the first book just VANISHES. suddenly she’s being humiliated, is powerless, and is getting played by everyone she trusts like a strung up puppet. NO ONE in this book is good. cardan sala madarchod idk what he was trying to do with that absolute dogshit he pulled at the end but i have never felt such visceral hatred for a character like i did in that moment. chutiya sala. won’t be forgiving him for that for a long long long long time, if EVER. itne gaaliya aare bhai mu mein uske liye. never trust a man bro. fuck em all. never trust anyone. only bomb and roach are sort of trustworthy but pata nhi kab tak chalega wo bhi. u can tell how angry i am because i have reverted to my mothertongue haha. I HATE THIS BOOK!!! NO ONE IN THIS BOOK MAKES SENSE!!! THEY’RE ALL ASSHOLES. i despise how powerless jude is in this narrative I HATE IT SM UGH I CANNOT SEE PAST MY LOATHING HOW TF DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN. i’m so turned off i’m not even excited about reading the final book in the trilogy and just googling the plot. awful. dogshit. i hate this. fucking cunts, the lot of u (in a bad way).

📖 ~ The Cruel Prince

rating: 5/5

i was going to write a review fresh off of finishing this book but after a nonstop 12-hour reading sprint my brain and eyes were so fried that i abstained until i felt more sane. it's about nine hours later rn and i've been running on the fumes of only two hours of sleep but i thought i should get this out before unwittingly starting the second book already. this book is so cunt. jude is so cunt. cardan is so cunt. holly black i love you for creating this cunt story. i love love LOVED jude as a protagonist. none of that weepy passive moral guilt shit and thinking there is power in no power. jude is the truest strong female main character i've read in a long LONG time. do i want to be her or be with her? no one knows. cardan? ohmygod put a leash on him and lock him inside the cage in my basement i love this cunty pretty boyfailure who can't fight with a sword to save his life and is at the complete and utter mercy of the one girl he's obsessively hated for so long that it has morphed into scathing attraction. the political intrigue is not too complex (i mean, this is a YA book) but jude is such an active player in moving the chess pieces that it is genuinely so fun to watch as it all unfolds. safe to say my jaw was on the floor when jude pulled that feint and had cardan crowned as king instead of oak. SHE IS SO CUNT. i'm sorry i can't think of any other word to describe her, cunt is perfect. i love how she's a killer and how she thinks. most mentally strong fmc ever. also, jude and cardan's relationship HAHAHAHAHAHA dude that's the best part genuinely coz i was LIVING for every single one of their interactions. just when they were becoming something resembling friends, jude nukes it and makes cardan king, which is the last thing he wants, AND OH LAWD THE SHEER LOATHING IN HIM HAHAHAHA ITS SO EROTIC TO WITNESS I CAN'T WAIT TO READ WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. in other news, locke and taryn are fkin rats and i hate them. oak is a cutie patootie baby i wanna adopt him and play games with him. vivi is a real g, i stand by her. everyone else is a fkin cunt (this time i mean it derogatorily). oh wait ghost, bomb and roach are chill, they're invited to the cookout. i totally called oak being the mysterious royal baby btw. i appreciated the non-romanticised depictions of faerie lore in this world because unfortunately the hyper-sexualized canon of fae popularised by sarah j maas makes up for most modern interpretations and i was glad to read an iteration far removed from that idea. also thank you holly black for inventing the dagger against neck trope. u will always be famous. anyways, #pegcardan2026.

🎨 ~ The Makeup Remover

rating: 8/10

i'm only now realising that i never wrote a review for this YIKES. i only finished it a week ago so let me try to get my thoughts out. the ending was botched and rushed for sure. i think it threw a wrench in yesuel and yuseong's story. it was a damn shame that we never got to see their relationship evolve after literally the entire manhwa was spent on their emotional development with each other. it was literally the best part of the entire comic and while i was glad to see yuseong fall first and harder, it just... didn't go anywhere. they had such stellar communication with each other too but the narrative didn't allow them nearly enough time. someone extinguished this slow burn before it could come to fruition. it was such a nice manhwa to read thematically too. i definitely see that it's a more nuanced look at what True Beauty was trying to do back in the day because the characters here actively challenge their beliefs and try to change their opinions. already this comic has stellar character work, especially with heewon. she's not a one-dimensional character and instead of taking the easy route and being painted as the obvious villain, she's a smart cookie who recognises her preconceptions to be wrong and changes herself. the makeup looks were so fun to see as well. seonwoo was blegh i hated the guy. BUT THIS COMIC IS JUST SO CUTE I WISH YESEUL'S RELATIONSHIP WITH YUSEONG HAD PAID OFF IT'D'VE BEEN THE PERFECT MANHWA OTHERWISE.

📺 ~ The Pitt (Season 1)

rating: 9/10

started for the yaoi, stayed for the chaos. one of the strongest ensemble casts i've seen in a good long while. i love how the show doesn't feel like it's dragging and maintains it's pace well. it's astonishing how they were able to pull this off considering that the entire season takes place over a single shift, and some additional hours coz that mass casualty event climax is the best of the season. it's so fascinating to see healthcare professionals in their element. we really wouldn't be anywhere without them. did i potentially get some spoilers while scrolling on tumblr? yes, particularly about frank langdon's substance abuse issues. that was such an interesting thread, and it was hilarious how trinity santos clocked it in a single day lol. she literally JUST met him. BY THE WAY, i hated her in the beginning but she became my ride or die by the latter half of the season. i love her now haha. yk who else i love? our resident soggy twink, dennis whittaker. HE'S SO PRECIOUS. i'm glad he's gonna be living with trinity now because being homeless sucks. he deserves the world. i want to hug him and be his friend. VICTORIA JAVADI HAHAHA she's so adorable i want to pinch her cheeks. she's also a competent doctor with the way she performed during the mci protocol. her mum's an ass tho, too overbearing. i hope vic and matteo work out, even as friends. FRANK AND MEL THO. MEL'S PROBABLY MY FAVORITE CHARACTER ON THE SHOW AND HER DYNAMIC WITH FRANK IS SO SOULMATE CORE I LOVE IT. IMAGINE HAVING THAT MUCH CHEMISTRY IN A SINGLE DAY AND Y'ALL JUST MET. samira mohan is my people's princess. it was so funny when she was riding that adrenaline high after the mci was called off. homegirl's eyes were bloodshot and her hair was frazzled but she was still smiling psychotically and enthusiastic about work. shipping her with jack abbot my goat fr. their ship name, mohabbot, is so adorable and creative hehe. robby needs help, clearly. but i don't know what much to make of him. i think it'd be really fun if him and carmy from The Bear ever talked. they're cut from the same cloth.